Many people will know Dr Seuss for the Cat in The Hat, The Grinch and The Lorax, but Theodor Seuss Geisel was far more of a political activist than we give him credit for now more than three decades after his death. Indeed President-elect Donald Trump leans heavily on a famous Seussism in his own language. America First was adopted by Trump as a means of building his populism on fertile nativist ground.
This America First attitude was linked by Seuss in his cartoons to Nazism, and whilst this might seem a bit far-fetched, he did so with good reason. A certain right-wing form of nationalist populism can be linked to Nazism through the lens of exceptionalism of nationality, race, military etc. Whilst not calling for racial expunging, Trump is calling for the displacement of minorities, and has a storied love of isolationist imagery (Build the Wall).
Populism is easily sown and grows virulently because it doesn’t thrive on logic, but rather heated opinion. Whilst they will point to figures on immigration, they will not seek to make a claim or contextualise those figures, choosing instead to allow disconnected figures to demonise communities of colour. Seuss knew that racism was a dangerous and foolish thing. Why is it foolish? It’s just based on the melanin content of one’s skin, nothing more, and given the old leathery pumpkin who spreads these messages, he should be more sympathetic.
It's a well-trodden path but Trump’s mother was an immigrant and his grandfather was an immigrant, the same goes for most of his wives. The common nickname for Trump, Drumpf, was his paternal grandfather’s surname. It is perhaps fitting then that Seuss portrays the America First ideology as one akin to Nazism, as well as one that belongs in a circus.
Indeed, the two are joined at the hip, this is no rash association. However, Republican opinion is very different as 68% of Republicans believe that Nazism is left of centre and 43% see Nazism as the pinnacle of leftism as of 2023. There are extreme views on either side, however, it is important to realise that the Overton Window skews heavily to the right in terms of popular opinion in the USA and Trump takes the biscuit in recent years.
Satire cannot afford the gormless simplicity of politicians, as one must satirise both sides. A famed cartoon of one of Seuss’s contemporaries across the pond, David Low, shows Stalin and Hitler bowing to each other. Both were dictators and killed millions, but they are satirised in identical ways. To satirise other politicians is difficult, and this is the thing with Trump. I often think Trump and Boris Johnson, to make another hackneyed comparison, are too easy to satirise, but because of this they become more complicated. Why? Because they’re already too ridiculous. Now someone like Vance is more complicated. Whilst his views are arguably more extreme than Trump, he wears them lightly, and presents himself as the serious man to Trump’s slapstick.
Seuss takes slapstick and makes it a serious thing though, employing it to ridicule dictators and the nationalistic attitudes that they so often take. This is the way we, creators, fight them.
Often though the seriousness of our ideals come down to things we were taught as kids. Basic morals make our political opinions, and we twist these basic morals to form the correct view of the world for us. If we are raised on extremism, we will view this as the only cromulent view of the world, and this is where I think Seuss’s views matter in today’s world. America First is an example of this, but also, we lose our inquisitiveness as we age. As the mother in the thumbnail cartoon thinks what she is reading is perfectly acceptable, the children are rightly shocked and horrified. America First itself is a far more sinister term than we imagine, given America First’s history in advocating for Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
As Seuss would and did say, “I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights”. Those close to these ideologies will see great things and the camaraderie within the organisations will ensure they prosper and spread the message far and wide, but it’s the little people who it will hurt - the silent or silenced majority.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Dr Seuss
Licence: public domain.
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