Essay: Trump’s America compared with George Orwell’s 1984 – key similarities

On several occasions, we speak of literature on a light note. Sometimes we see the fictitious work of writers as part of history or a future that may never come to pass in our generation. Whether the authors highlight concerns over the economy, environmental degradation, political anarchy and censorship, morality, or general societal guidelines, it remains fiction and we use it as such. Even when the past or futuristic creativity seems to be a reality, we ignore and only use it in the lines of education and commentaries in the media. However, the dynamic nature of things in almost all spheres as far as a nation is concerned forces us to link these works to our present. George Orwell’s work 1984 is among the literature that has gained fame in the past two years because of the congruence in its rich content to the American politics today (Gopnik, 2017). Could we be slowly falling in the ditch of dictatorship while we boast of democracy as a public relation strategy to maintain the supremacy? Are we really aware of the current affairs and can we keep check of our government today? This essay compares Trump’s America to George Orwell’s 1984 by discussing key similarities.
The first aspect which draws attention is continuous monitoring. In 1984, Winston Smith believes the big brother is not a good person because he seems to be everywhere. Winston is frightened by the writings ‘big brother is watching you’ which are located almost everywhere in the house, at work, and in the streets (Orwell, 1). A further evidence of the presence of the party leader who is also referred to as the big brother is the presence of the telescreens in Winston’s apartment (Orwell, 5). This leaves Winston with no choice but to hide in a corner hoping that he is out of the telescreens watch to write his diary. Monitoring in Orwell’s Oceania is not just by use of telescreens but also through spies. When Winston speaks to O’Brien and Julia hoping that they will help him in his mission against the big brother only later realize that the two are Big brother’s spies. America today is in the same situation. Since Trump’s government took power in January 2017 there is a total overhaul of the flow of information. According to The Guardian (2017), we are seemingly under another police watch other than the usual law enforcers as provided by the constitution. As the big brother monitored his subjects through telescreens and spies, President Trump is using ‘controlling’ the media. Some of the incidences include the media blackout issuance on Environmental Protection Agency arguing that it propagated Chinese missions and not America’s. Another aspect of control and monitoring is the on and off sacking and appointments in very critical departments. The most recent one is the relief of duty of the former secretary of state Rex Tillerson while on an official duty and immediate appointment of Mr. Pompeo among others. According to BBC news (2018), Trump argued that they had major differences with the former officer and tends to speak on the same wavelength with the new appointee. This is just one of the several cases in which the supposed ‘anti-Trumps’ have found been sacked and replaced with perceived supporters.
The second similarity is manipulation of information to cover the truth. In 1984, Orwell puts it as doublethink. In the first chapter, we meet a Winston Smith who is very bitter with the current leadership regime. Winston believes that the Big Brother is a bad leader exercising dictatorship yet manipulating his supporters. O’Brien advises Winston to implement the DOUBLETHINK theory (Orwell, 6). Winston’s persistence with the anti-big brother issue leads to Julia’s betrayal as noted from his diary, ‘she turned her back on me’ (Orwell, 268). Later, O’Brien who is a member of the inner party takes Winston through a mental torture forcing him to ‘say two plus two equals five’ (Orwell, 304). Other opposers like Goldstein who publicly declared hate for the Big Brother died in the end. Through a series, of tortures like starvation and severe beatings, the last part shows a Winston who fully supports Big Brother and argues that bad leadership is an idea of Oceania’s enemies. The USA is a living testimony of doublethink. Some political commentators liken President Trump to O’Brien while others see him as a reflection of the Big Brother of today. As the Big Brother, he uses his special agents to convey ‘false’ information and tries to convince the public that it is the truth. During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to control migration and drug trafficking by constructing a wall between the American and Mexican borders. However, after ascending to power, the legislators rejected it following budget constraints, Klaas reports that the wall is still under construction but through renovation and patchwork of the existing fence at the border (USA Today, 2017). Is repair a construction of the wall? Furthermore, Trump’s special team continues to give information contrary to what the media releases which it often calls fake news. After the inauguration, many wondered of the crowd in attendance of the ceremony. As most media houses depicted a low turnout, the official photos from the president’s advisor showed a big crowd of supporters witnessing the event (Kaye & Clayton, 2017). In Trump’s America, the varying information which comes from the government is alternative facts which should be considered first before what the other media relay to the people. Whenever a piece of information is not congruent to what Trump says or seems to underscore his credibility as our president, it becomes fake news.
The third aspect is the distraction of the opponents. In 1984, the Big Brother used several strategies to distract those who operated from the opposing party or the public with a different opinion. The proletariats in 1984 had nothing to worry about since they had no information of what went on in Oceania. In the first part, Winston wishes that he was not a member of the ruling party since those on the other team knew nothing thus worried about nothing. In chapter seven, Winston recounts that ‘it was not difficult to keep them in control as the thought police moved within them spreading false rumors…’ (Orwell, 379). By keeping the opposing team focused on petty issues and without strong political feelings, it was easy for the big brother and his ruling party to accomplish their goals within and advance attacks outside their territory.  Immediately after the announcement of his victory, Trump faced a serious challenge of controlling the rumors about his involvement with the Russian government in leaking vital intelligence information. However, not even a single investigating body has come up with a conclusive judgment on the same. This is probably because the president has continually used the voter fraud issue to distract the public from the direct involvement of Russia in the previous election process (The Guardian, 2017).  In common occasions, the public and the media have reported the president issuing hate statements along racial and gender lines especially against African Americans, immigrants, and women. However, the president destructs the public by immediately paraphrasing the statements, deleting tweets from his personal accounts, or simply calling them fake news (Klaas, USA Today, 2017). On another recent instant, Trump Junior launched a trade expansion in India which many saw as an advancement of the family’s personal business other than more pressing public issues. Could these be cover-ups while more sensitive issues remain undetected in the watch of Americans?
The rapid increase in the purchase of George Orwell’s 1984 in the American market is a true reflection of the parallelism between this fictional London, Oceania and current America. Despite the fact that different leaders come up with many styles and strategies to not only remain in power but also to keep supporters and opponents in check, Trump’s style is very similar to the 1984’s Big brother. Main points of congruence include manipulation, control and monitoring, and opponent distraction. They may not be too obvious as in 1984 because of the public awareness but we are more or less living 1984 regime today.