Opinion: Why Trump and his allies are basically comic book villains

An old meme about Superman advocating for diversity in America is making the rounds on the internet, just in time for an election that, once again, centers on Donald Trump’s vision of a white, Christian, anti-immigrant America.  

The meme about Superman is traveling again, and because of Stephen Miller’s unconscionable statements (and those of many others) at Madison Square Garden, I’m especially glad to see it.

It actually only barely counts as a meme — it’s a straightforward image of a poster, a colorization of an image first seen in 1949 on a book cover made by National Comics Publications, the predecessor to DC Comics. It features Superman, standing surrounded by schoolkids. Boys and girls, white and Asian and Black kids are represented — Superman even gives the Asian child an avuncular pat on the face.

This 1949 piece of comic book art advocating for diversity has been making the rounds on the internet recently.

In a text bubble Superman says “… And remember, boys and girls, your school — like our country — is made up of Americans of many different races, religions and national origins. So ….” Beneath the image the quotation continues: “If YOU hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion, race or national origin — don’t wait: tell him THAT KIND OF TALK IS UN-AMERICAN. HELP KEEP YOUR SCHOOL ALL AMERICAN!” All-caps from the original. 

I bring it up because Stephen Miller, with his “America is for Americans and Americans only” reboot of the old Nazi slogan about Germans and Germany, takes quite the opposite position: to him “all-American” doesn’t mean e pluribus unum; “all-American” means ONLY American, and “American” means white, Christian, and born here. All of the speakers at Trump’s unabashedly Nazi-adjacent rally agreed. Different equals bad; different equals unwelcome.

I want to make myself clear: The Trump campaign is against Superman. 

This is worth thinking about, especially because of Superman’s differences from many other comic book heroes. Batman has a very dark backstory; Spider-Man, we might say, has issues. Every modern superhero has a complex, mixed moral character. That makes for great stories, but it does complicate the good-guy superhero thing.

Superman came before all that. All Superman was, was good. He was a good guy. He was strong and good, and he used his strength to defend people being harmed by people who were powerful and bad. He protected children and schools, citizens and workers. None of these were complex notions then, and again: he was unabashedly good, so Superman was a great choice for a poster helping teach kids that fascist purity claims are terrible. 

It’s hard to imagine a political party choosing to be the party of “Superman is a liberal snowflake,” but here we are. And the thing is, it’s not just Superman. Surely Superman was the greatest immigrant-makes-good story we told ourselves, and clearly despite all the evidence that immigrants are good for the culture and the economy, many people now hate and fear immigrants, so it’s tempting to think maybe this is just an immigrant thing. 

It’s not. 

 

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Take a look at the far-right GOP now and think about any of our traditional good guy-bad guy stories and see where the Nazi-adjacent GOP comes down. 

Christmas is coming soon enough, so you can plan on watching “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in which James Stewart’s pro-citizen good guy George Bailey stands up against Lionel Barrymore’s terrible business-first Mr. Potter. We all love it when despite Potter’s lying and thieving and manipulation the community supports Bailey’s goodness. 

The modern GOP laughs at Bailey, calling his building and loan “socialism,” and applauds Potter for keeping the money Uncle Billy lost, just as it lionizes a man who uses wealth and power to steal from and harm workers. Turning money back to its rightful owners is a sucker play in Trump world. The GOP is all in on Potter.

Go back a few years more and look at A Christmas Carol, in which the miserable Ebenezer Scrooge badly mistreats Bob Cratchit until ghosts show him how his behavior ruins lives. The modern GOP barely needs to translate Dickens: “Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?” Scrooge knew what to do with the poor and downtrodden, and Trump world embraces his original approach, rolling its eyes at Scrooge’s heart filling with love as thoroughly as it does George Bailey’s lesson of gratitude. 

Trump inhabits the world Bailey lived in before he met Clarence the angel — everything is terrible. And he embraces Scrooge’s solution: seize the money, fix nothing, and throw the different or less-fortunate into cells of one sort or another. 

Another popular meme says, “I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care for other people.” 

One of our political parties sides with Mr. Potter and first-act Scrooge and says, simply, caring for other people is for saps — or anyhow, people different from you aren’t really people. 

And like the meme, I don’t know how to explain to the GOP that they should care about other people. I can’t even hope for help from Superman, because they scorn him too.

I wonder if Hercules is busy.