Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson expressed real optimism over President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory last month, arguing it was a rejection of wokeism above all else.
He told Fox News Digital last week that he believes Trump’s election shows the "goodness" of Americans who chose to take their country back from far-left radicals vandalizing their culture.
"See, I don't know if this was welcoming what Trump had to offer, or rejecting what the hedonistic and power-mad progressives had on the table. I think it was more the latter," he said.
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Peterson’s remarks on the election came during an interview with Fox News Digital about his new book, "We Who Wrestle With God." The work hammers home the crucial importance of the Bible to the functioning of western civilization and urges readers to look to Scripture in order to recapture the sense of meaning he says our modern culture is losing.
As the psychologist told the outlet, when western civilization abandons Scripture as the central narrative underpinning everything, it looks to fill the void with unbridled ambition for "power and hedonism."
"Now, those stories cannot sustain individuals psychologically, and they can't sustain cultures," Peterson said, shedding further light on where western culture’s current crisis of meaning – as he has described it, comes from. He has pointed to this dynamic as being at the root of the culture war in the west.
When asked if he thinks Trump won because people were more concerned about the economy or if they were more perturbed by the cultural slide towards the far left, the psychologist pointed to the latter.
"I'm more optimistic than that. I don't believe that it was narrow economic self-interest that propelled the rejection of what the progressives were offering," he said.
He did offer a note of caution to those who believe they can save society with political figures.
"It's certainly not the case that it would be wise to rely on salvation through the political. That's never been a credible offer," he said, adding, "I'm pleased, I would say, with the results of the election, but there's plenty to do and it could go very badly sideways."
Drawing wisdom from the Biblical texts he's been poring over lately, he told Fox News Digital, "You see, in the Old Testament accounts, the Israelites are always clamoring for a king. And the voice of the Divine counsels them, saying, 'If you follow my ways, you don't need a king.' And there's a reason for that. The reason is, is that if everyone did what they could and should, there's no need for authority, especially central authority."
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Peterson described Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris as "essential goodness" of the American people.
"And I think it is a testament to the enduring faith of Americans and their essential goodness," he said.
The renowned lecturer also said that another good quality of Americans is that they don’t inherently mistrust successful people.
"The thing about Americans that makes them rather unique, is that Americans don't assume that if you're successful, you're a thief," he said. "In fact, they assume the opposite. And they understand that some successful people might be thieves some of the time, but that success itself is not indicative of oppression and exploitation."
"And they're right about that. They're deeply right about that," the Canadian psychologist added.
