ABSTRACT
Politics is never about an immutable present; it is always about the complex interplay of past, present, and future. The complex relationship between past, present, and future is nowhere more evident than in the core idea of the Trump campaign, which was the promise to "make America great again". An important fantasy that operates simultaneously on different levels and sometimes sponsors a dark future hidden in an optimistic rhetoric is the fantasy of progress. The phrase "fantasy of progress" can have different and conflicting connotations. The opposite of pleasure in the child's state of being a child is envy for the child and contempt for the childlike experience of the world. The more humiliating it feels to be a child in the eyes of the parent, the more difficult it will be for the child to find gratification in those child activities that facilitate development of the capacity to be an adult.
