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Truth, Lies, and Leadership: from Mao to MAGA
Trump’s “loyalty tests” are reminiscent of Communist China
In 1977, the Chinese Communist Party was in turmoil. It needed to find its direction after a chaotic decade of Cultural Revolution and the death of its longtime leader, Chairman Mao Zedong. In the wake of the Great Helmsman’s demise, the party leadership found itself in a fierce power struggle that was about more than simple politics — it was about the nature of truth itself.
The leadership had split into three main camps. The most radical was the Gang of Four, headed by Mao’s widow Jiang Qing, who wanted to accelerate the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Before he died, Mao had selected Hua Guofeng as the next leader, and he and his supporters were nominally in charge of the party apparatus in the immediate aftermath of Mao’s death. But Hua was challenged by reformers like Deng Xiaoping who wanted to run China more pragmatically.
The Gang of Four was the first to go. The Cultural Revolution had been destabilizing and violent, and few Chinese people wanted more of the same. Plus, the Gang served as convenient scapegoats — if the party could blame the excesses of the Cultural Revolution on them, it could keep Mao’s reputation intact so that he could continue to serve as the symbol of Chinese communism. The party made a…
