No, We Do Not Have a “Nihilist” in the White House

Far From Being “Mindless,” This Nineteenth Century Philosophy Requires a Deliberate, Desperate Awareness of the Horror of Our Condition 

There has been, quite literally, much ado about nothing of late. Shadowing the rise of Donald Trump is the rise of what Friedrich Nietzsche called the “uncanniest of guests”—namely, nihilism. Google the words “Trump” and “nihilism” and more than half a million links light up. At the very least, nihilism is the most ubiquitous of guests.

But what shade of black are we discussing? A representative sampling includes: “The Year Hope Began to Triumph Over Trump’s Nihilism,” “Trump’s Leverage in the Shutdown Fight: His Own Nihilism,” “Trump’s Mindless Nihilism,” and “Trump, …