Scapegoating is Cowardice, Not Leadership

By Brad Butcher

April 25th, 2025

Ordinary Americans do not want a return to the era of passive, rubber-stamp presidents. From 1866 to 1901 — Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley — presidents largely avoided bold leadership (Beschloss, 2008). They rubber-stamped the status quo, failed to confront growing injustices, and let corruption fester. During that time:

• Monopolies like Standard Oil and railroad cartels grew unchecked (Brands, 1997).
• Worker exploitation surged — child labor, no safety standards, seven-day workweeks (Zinn, 1980).
• Political corruption was rampant — Congressmen were bought, judges were bribed (Goodwin, 2013).
• And the federal government was either complicit or powerless (Chernow, 2004).

To regular people, such do-nothing leadership is infuriating. It means problems like economic inequality, racial injustice, and collapsing infrastructure sit and rot. But to the oligarchs — the monopolists and corporate elites — that era was paradise. Passive presidents meant no regulation, no resistance, and unlimited power.

The era only ended when public anger ignited the Progressive movement, and we got Teddy Roosevelt, a president who used government power to confront corporate abuse and fight for the public good (Morris, 2001).

Today, many people think Donald Trump is a “man of action.” But that image is a carefully marketed illusion.

He talks a big game, but his record shows minor achievement — except one major item: tax cuts for the rich (Center, 2018). He damaged alliances, worsened division, and hollowed out institutions (Applebaum, 2020). But through sheer performance, he still convinces millions he’s a bold, get-things-done leader.

Why?

1. He performs dominance, and many confuse dominance with competence.

Trump talks loudly, brags endlessly, and lashes out at opponents.
In a culture that rewards “alpha” displays, this feels like strength, even when it is empty bluster (Lakoff, 2016). People mistake aggression for achievement.

2. He tells people what they want to hear: “You are under attack, and only I can protect you.”

He casts himself as a hero standing against “corrupt elites,” “immigrants,” and “the woke.” By inventing threats — “deep state,” “Muslim bans,” “trans athletes,” “critical race theory” — he makes people feel cornered and then offers himself as the savior (Hochschild, 2016).

3. A 24/7 right-wing media machine backs him.

Fox News, OAN, Breitbart, and talk radio repeat the same story: Trump is fighting for you. Even when his policies only help the wealthy, media spin reframes it as a win for the working class (Benkler, 2018). Truth becomes optional. Feelings override facts.

4. He weaponizes “wokeness” as a cultural boogeyman.

Real “wokeness” is just awareness of injustice and empathy for the unseen.
But Trump and allies distort it into:

• “They are trying to erase your culture.”
• “They want you to apologize for being white, male, or Christian.”
• “They want to cancel everything you love.”

This turns compassion into a threat and encourages cruelty as a defense (Lukianoff, 2018).

5. He allows people to hate, blame, and feel victimized.

Many Americans feel lost in a changing world — automation, globalization, diversity, and declining faith in institutions (Fukuyama, 2018). Instead of helping them adapt and grow, Trump offers an easier route: blame someone else. Blame “the woke,” immigrants, minorities, and liberals. It is emotional heroin: comforting, righteous, addictive, and deeply destructive.

Scapegoating is not leadership. It is cowardice.

Blaming others does not solve anything. It hurts the innocent, distracts from real problems, and lets bullies act out their worst impulses. Instead of saying, “We made mistakes, let us fix them,” cowards say, “It is their fault — punish them.”

History offers the most horrifying example:

The Nazi regime, facing national humiliation and collapse, did not take responsibility. They blamed Jews, Roma, the disabled, and dissenters. They turned a struggling nation into a mass grave, murdering millions and handing Stalin half of Europe in the aftermath. (Evans, 2003)

Scapegoating did not save Germany. It annihilated it.

Trump and others are repeating this tactic in softer, but still dangerous, ways:

• Blaming immigrants for low wages while ignoring unchecked corporate greed. (Shierholz, 2018)
• Blaming “wokeness” for discomfort, instead of asking people to grow.
• Blaming minorities and progressives while offering no solutions to dying towns, broken healthcare, or crumbling roads.

It is the same coward’s move — in a modern suit.

Authentic leadership looks different.

It does not yell.
It does not scapegoat.
It does not hide from hard truths.

Authentic leadership stands in the mirror, saying, “We let the rich hoard. We let wages stagnate. We neglected both rural and urban America. But we can fix it — together — if we face the truth.”

Trump is not a real “alpha” — he is a performer of dominance, not an embodiment of it.

Real strength — actual alpha behavior — means:

• Taking responsibility when things go wrong.
• Protecting those weaker than you, not scapegoating them.
• Building coalitions, not tearing them apart.
• Standing firm for principles, not flip-flopping whenever convenient.

Trump:

• Lies constantly (The Washington Post documented over 30,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency).
• Backpedals the moment something gets tough.
• Makes up fantasies to cover failures (e.g., “Mexico is paying for the wall,” “I never said that,” “The election was stolen,” etc.).
• Betrays loyalty the instant it is not helpful for him.

That is not dominance —
It is emotional cowardice wrapped in bluster.

Authentic leadership is steady, consistent, responsible, and courageous.
Fake leadership is loud, erratic, self-serving, and cowardly.

Trump is a master of bluff and bravado, not substance and strength.

References

Applebaum, A. (2020). Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. Doubleday.

Benkler, Y. R. (2018). Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press.

Beschloss, M. (2008). Presidents of War. Crown.

Brands, H. (1997). The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s. University of Chicago Press.

Center, T. P. (2018). The TCJA’s Impact on Federal Tax Revenue. Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Chernow, R. (2004). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Press.

Evans, R. (2003). The Coming of the Third Reich. Penguin.

Fukuyama, F. (2018). Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Goodwin, D. (2013). The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. Simon & Schuster.

Hochschild, A. (2016). Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The New Press.

Lakoff, G. (2016). Understanding Trump. Rockridge Press.

Lukianoff, G. &. (2018). he Coddling of the American Mind. Penguin Press.

Morris, E. (2001). Theodore Rex. Random House.

Shierholz, H. (2018). The Effects of Immigration on the U.S. Labor Market. Economic Policy Institute.

Zinn, H. (1980). A People’s History of the United States. Harper & Row.