Fear in Generations

Americans proved that the United States is a divided nation in the election of 2016. Donald Trump used the power of fear to strengthen his campaign to win the election, but using the influence of fear to command the public is not an unfamiliar to the US. These tactics are rooted in the backbone of America. Both John Winthrop in “A Model of Christian Charity,” spoken in 1660, and John Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” spoken in 1741, used the wrath of God to persuade audiences to follow their convictions. Edwards and Winthrop eloquently professed their beliefs,  but Trump broadly spouted and tweeted his unrefined statements. Nevertheless, John Winthrop, John Edwards, and Donald Trump charismatically used the power of fear to convince their listeners to believe in their ideals.

John Winthrop, the governor of Plymouth Colony, persuaded the Puritans to ardently worship God by threatening them with God’s wrath. In 1620, his sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” warned the settlers about the consequences they would face if they betrayed the word of God. He believed that if the Puritans “sought great things for [themselves] and [their] posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against [them]” (Winthrop p 20). Winthrop preached against selfishness and used the strength of God to keep the English in line. He declared that if the Puritans“hearts shall turn away…[they] shall surely perish out of the good land” (Winthrop p. 21). Winthrop used God’s power as a threat to persuade the Puritans to remain faithful to their Lord in order to thrive in the New World. He utilized fear to inspire people to follow God’s word. In contrast, John Edwards, another minister, used fiery portrayals of hell to discourage humans from sinning.

Edwards exploited the powers of fear to portray humans dependence on God. In 1741, his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” manifested that sinners will face a fearful judgement day in front of God. He asked the people “consider the fearful danger you are in it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit…. you are held over in the hand of God” (Edwards p. 62). Edwards’ metaphors emphasized the power that God holds over the human soul. Unlike Winthrop, Edwards graphically depicts the power of God to generate fear. Edwards believed that “your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead and tend downwards… towards hell” and that “if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf” (Edwards p. 60). Edwards brutally describes the consequences of sinning to strike fear in the hearts of sinners. Similar to Edwards, Donald Trump used radical statements to strike fear into the minds of Americans.

Donald Trump utilized fear to rally his angry supporters and to generate fear within vulnerable Americans. His slogan, “Make America Great Again,” implied that America was in a dire place and needed to be rescued. In proclaiming “I alone can fix it,” The Donald alluded to one of the most feared and hated leaders of all time: Adolf Hitler. He called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” which tapped into Americans’ fears of terrorism, leading to Islamophobia. Trump’s inflammatory tweets caused white Americans to fear for their safety, and vote for him. He additionally created fear in Americans when he claimed that Mexicans, who were “rapists and drug dealers” were stealing American jobs. He promise to build a wall to prevent Mexicans from entering the country appealed to many American’s fears. Furthermore, The Donald generated fear in women by disrespecting them when he described them as fat, ugly, and pigs. Trump’s infamous comments about women, “It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it . You can do anything. ... Grab them by the pussy,” condoned misogyny by objectifying and bragging about his physical dominance over them. Boasting about committing sexual assault immediately created an unsafe culture throughout America.

The use of fear by Winthrop, Edwards, and Trump demonstrates the power that fear maintains when ingrained in human minds. All three men used fear to achieve a purpose. Unlike Winthrop and Edwards, who utilized the fear of God to convince their followers to be virtuous, Trump used fear to generate conflict between Americans, in what was the most acrimonious political campaign in modern American history. Fear can generate hate, but humans must believe that love will always trump hate.