To be an active participant in contemporary American politics is to sift through oppositional rhetoric that weaponizes times long since passed. Nothing is permitted to solely and completely exist in or of the present moment. Liberalism is not merely rights-based or egalitarian — to those who oppose it, it is a dangerous manifestation of Cold War-era communism. Similarly, conservatism is not merely values-based or traditionalist; it is nothing short of reactionary devolution that reverts us to antebellum America. 

It is within this era-specific political rhetoric and culture that we find one of Donald Trump’s recurring outcries: the world is a witch hunt, all political opponents are enemies and accusers and — most significantly — he, Donald Trump, is the one true and tragic witch. 

Trump depicts his opponents as merciless, bloodthirsty and ultimately misguided persecutors, while he takes on the self-aggrandized role of the marginalized, bereft and misunderstood martyr whose steadfast adherence to saving his country has been viciously dismissed, attacked and maligned. 

It is easy to argue that Trump has nothing to do with witches at all, that his tantrums reflect his immaturity, his reasoning lacks reason and the term “witch hunt” simply became a renewed buzz phrase following the Red Scare, now implemented to deflect his own ineptitude and culpability. 

There is great difficulty in conceptualizing similarities between accused witches of yore and Donald Trump. While the former were indeed marginalized, socially ostracized and multitudinously bereft, the latter possesses billions of dollars at his disposal, strong supporters, vetted personal legal teams and a manufactured, disingenuous air of superiority. On the surface, it seems that he has confused — or altogether disregarded — the distinction between being persecuted and prosecuted. 

But perhaps there is some truth to this superficially paradoxical comparison.

Let us take a moment to close our eyes and venture slightly north of New Haven, Connecticut, to Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1692. Religious piety and morality ostensibly reigned supreme, but fear, especially of that which could not easily be explained, presided above all else. Accusations of blasphemy and demonic possession took hold, often emanating from mere boredom or agitation. 

It is within this context that spectral “evidence” pervaded courts of law, the implications of which were horrific, destructive and deadly. Concisely, spectral evidence constituted an acceptable and admissible form of testimony in the 16th and 17th centuries, wherein witnessness, adults and children alike, claimed to have dreams or visions of the accused exercising evil, unholy powers over innocent members of society. In other words, dreaming that someone was a witch was sufficient evidence to sentence them to death.

Reflecting on Trump’s political history, one cannot help but recognize some striking similarities. But he’s not playing the role of the witch. His self-aggrandizement, narcissism and oftentimes malinformed rhetoric separate him from those that were wrongly persecuted. 

Donald Trump is the witch hunt.

Trump’s vitriolic insults and attacks hurled at his opposition in conventions, debates, interviews and social media posts too often seem like they’re coming from someone who does not live in the same physical or metaphysical reality as the rest of us. 

Just as Puritan witnesses of the 17th century might have unethically manufactured truth through visions and dreams, Trump attempts to turn falsehoods and fallacies into reality simply by uttering them. However, having a silver tongue does not constitute a sort of alchemy that spins golden truth from murky lies and misinformation. To him, simply professing an idea’s existence automatically concretizes its veracity. Herein lies what I call Trumpian spectral evidence: because Trump stated an idea, it must be accepted as truth simply because he said it. It cannot be refuted or questioned. He believes that the law should always be on his side, as it was for the accusers in Salem, Massachusetts.

Donald Trump has confused his role in this contemporary witch hunt. Long before he will ever be seen as the innocent martyr destroyed at the hands of fear and prejudice, he is the fear-monger and prejudice-instigator, the bored teenage girl and embittered woman, if you will, who believe they speak the truth simply because their lips are moving.

Yet despite this concrete reality, Trump continues to exist in his own spectral realm, believing that he is the persecuted victim in the case for which he is lead prosecutor. It takes a higher ability that many of us lack to self-reflect and recognize that we are, what we hate. It is only then that the employment of spectral evidence can no longer serve us, as we cannot believe what we know to be lies.

MIA GORLICK is a first year in Pierson College. She can be reached at mia.gorlick@yale.edu.