by Eric Dregni
04/17/2025
Many have criticized that President Trump is not a bookworm. I disagree since he must have studied George Orwell’s “1984” as an instruction guide to his presidency. Here are the parallels:
– Newspeak. Characters in “1984” celebrate simplifying the English language by banning redundant words, for example, deleting “bad” and replacing it with “ungood.” Trump understands that words are power, so contracts are being reevaluated or canceled with universities and organizations that use certain DEI words, including “female” and “Black.” Perhaps these words could be replaced with “unmale” and “unwhite.”
– Rewriting the past: The lead character in “1984,” Winston, works as a “journalist” and rewrites past articles to confirm what the Party is doing in the present. The Trump administration and the Pentagon are deleting photos and files to conform to Trump’s political perspective, including photos of the Enola Gay (get it, “gay”) plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. Orwell advised: “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past.”
– No arts nor science: Trump’s recent takeover of the Kennedy Center, dismantling of the National Institute of Health, withdrawal from the World Health Organization, and closure of the Department of Education reflect this passage in “1984”: “In our world … There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent, we shall have no more need of science.”
– Doublespeak. Orwell writes: “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies … knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic…” Even if we know that Russia invaded Ukraine, Trump says it’s the other way around. How many times have we tried to interpret Trump’s speeches as meaning the opposite, but then he means exactly that? Annexing Canada? A third term? King Trump? Is he joking? Are we in the Backwards-land of “1984” where “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength”?
– Doublethink. This, according to Orwell, is “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them.” You cannot deny that the Party is always right, otherwise you are guilty of “Thoughtcrime” and sent to Room 101 (or El Salvador).
– 2+2=5 If you can make people believe something they know isn’t true, they’ll believe anything. The litmus test for Trump was what the Democrats called the “Big Lie” that he beat Biden in the 2020 election.
– Changing enemies. In “1984,” Oceania is battling Eurasia but then announces it has always been at war with Eastasia instead. The Soviet Union had been our nemesis for decades, but Trump suddenly switched to embracing Putin’s Russia. Former friends Western Europe, Mexico and Canada are now our rivals.
– Two Minutes of Hate. Trump has extended this outpouring of vitriol to more than 90 minutes at rallies and speeches to Congress. His targets vary, but his favorite target is the media as “enemies of the people,” a favorite phrase of Josef Stalin.
– Anti-Sex League. Sex is filthy; love is forbidden. In “1984,” sex is “our duty to the party.” Sex is solely to procreate and shouldn’t be enjoyed, especially by women. “Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card.”
Parallels can be drawn to the elimination of abortion, restriction of contraception and prosecution for suspicious stillbirths or miscarriages. The anti-sex stance perhaps reflects more on conservative Republicans since Trump was a notorious playboy, close friends with Jeffrey Epstein and found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.
– The only love is that for Big Brother. Trump famously said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Perhaps he’s right. “People love me. And you know what, I have been very successful. Everybody loves me.” To make sure, though, new staff at the White House undergo a “loyalty test” and some undergo a polygraph “lie detector” test. “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty,” Trump said, which he feels is essential to lead.
In “1984,” Orwell writes, “There will be no loyalty, except loyalty to the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother.” The young rebel Julia in “1984” scoffs, “All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour.”
– Victory! Our president boasts that he never loses: “We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning.” To win, however, he warns we must crush the “enemy from within.”
This reflects O’Brien in “1984,” who dreams of, “A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph … there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever. And remember that it is for ever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there.”
Next up, how Trump learned from Machiavelli’s “The Prince.”
Eric Dregni is a Minnesota writer and college teacher. Among his books are “In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream“ and “You’re Sending Me Where? Dispatches from Summer Camp.”
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