Trump claims that criticisms of him are “fake news” although he himself has spread false stories such as the one that Barack Obama a Kenyan Muslim who never attended Columbia University, the one that Hillary Clinton was very ill and therefore couldn’t have served as US president, etc. (see Holloway 2017).
Adorno explains the ideological logic of the friend/enemy-scheme:
So, the group to which they count themselves – and it does not matter which people it is – is presented as being endowed with all kinds of good qualities and is counted among those who can be saved, while the others that they reject as negative and whom they either have to psychologically foreclose or at least do not want to have there, are considered as the wretched. This is the outgroup or at least the minority in their own area with which they are currently dealing. (Adorno 1960, 253–254, translation from German)
Right-wing authoritarians construct out-groups such as illegal immigrants, Mexico, China, Muslims, oppositional politicians, and critics. They are presented as threatening the greatness of the nation. According to Adorno, identification with the leader and hatred against the out-group allows emotional release (Adorno 1975, 16–20). Such a release of aggression encourages “excess and violence” (17). Violence is the fourth characteristic of right-wing authoritarianism.
4.4.4 Violence and Law-and-Order Politics
Donald Trump frequently expresses his admiration of the US army on Twitter and considers armament and nuclear weapons as appropriate means of political communication (see the examples in Figure 4.5).
Chapter Four | Adorno and the Media in Digital Capitalism
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Digital Authoritarianism