Seoul Gazette - Outdated showers, inefficient toilets: Trump's nostalgia for retro ways

Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has sought to reverse environmental standards for many household appliances, using a familiar refrain: it was better before.

"I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc.," Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.

The 78-year-old billionaire has for years complained about modern showerheads, saying they slow the flow of water.

"You turn on the shower, if you're like me, you can't wash your beautiful hair properly," Trump said in 2020.

During his first term, Trump reversed federal regulations limiting water flow on a number of appliances, only to see them reinstated by Democrat Joe Biden.

And during his election campaign, Trump also accused Democrats of wanting to ban gas stoves and gasoline or diesel-powered automobiles, framing it as a freedom issue for Americans.

- 'I always look orange' -

And the former reality TV star also frequently rails against LED light bulbs, which have been gradually replaced by incandescent bulbs over the past decade.

"I'm not a vain person... but I look better under an incandescent light than these crazy lights that are beaming down on us," Trump said in 2019. "I always look orange."

In his Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump announced that he would sign an executive order to return "to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe."

Andrew deLaski, head of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, ASAP, which advocates for energy efficiency standards for everyday items, called Trump's concerns outdated.

"Today, there's a huge array of modern, efficient products that are top performers," he said.

According to ASAP, LED bulbs "lower energy costs for households and businesses, and reduce pollution."

Similarly, "showerhead standards save consumers money on their water and energy bills and help protect the environment," the group says.

- MAGA -

But the crusade of the Republican leader, a notorious climate skeptic, seems to have less to do with environmental or economic considerations and more with yearning for times past.

Since he entered US politics in 2015, the billionaire has used nostalgia as a powerful electoral tool.

"Donald Trump seems to understand, and perhaps himself be susceptible to, these nostalgic appeals," said Spencer Goidel, a political science professor at Auburn University in Alabama.

The researcher, who has studied nostalgia in politics, drew a parallel with people's musical tastes.

"Most Americans think the best era of music was the era in which they were in young adulthood," he said.

People tend to remember the outstanding songs and forget the bad ones.

"In society, the same is true. The great men and women of history are immortalized. The mediocre, sometimes corrupt or incompetent, men and women are forgotten," added Goidel.

It's hardly surprising, then, that politicians are seizing on nostalgic sentiment, because "crafting a future-oriented message is difficult."

"It's much easier to argue we should return to the way things were," the researcher said.

Trump's signature slogan "Make America Great Again" taps into the same idea.

While nostalgia is not inherently Democratic or Republican, it "is associated with racist and sexist attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and voting Republican."

According to Goidel's research, "people with higher levels of nostalgia are more supportive of a strong man breaking laws and institutions, as well as greater support for political violence."

U.Hyeon--SG