Trump would be nothing without his enablers--Fox, the mainstream media which magnify his every move, a variety of decisive Senators and a variety of spineless Senators, House Republicans, Alex Jones, etc. Trump is a stupid, narcissistic, dangerous man. The 14th Amendment (or the 25th) should have been invoked years ago. He will effectively give us to Russia or China, and start writing love letters to Kim Jong Un. There will be a war in Europe. His slavish followers all hope to gain something by sticking with him. As long as they benefit personally, then to hell with the country.
I want the former President indicted under aRICO statute for threatening politicians.
This essay, while accurate, fails to fully state the immensity of the danger.
The danger isn't authoritarianism, though many states currently exist under 1-party rule. The danger is anarchy writ large.
Millions of gun-bearing Anericans are hopped up on a toxic mix of twisted religion, blinding hatred of Democrats, mistrust of institutions, 24/7 propaganda from right-wing media, lies from cowardly and craven GOP politicians, a weak opposition party, and a cynical legacy media.
Democracy fell in Hungary, but its citizens aren't armed with weapons of war. If they cease to fear consequences, they'll break the final redline of a civilization and the violence and carnage will be nightmarish in scope.
This country has zero chance of surviving, even in its current quasi-democratic form, unless those with a platform start speaking the unvarnished truth.
- The nihilistic pseudo-populism of Trump long pre-dates Ronald Reagan. Spiro Agnew is an important early example from the post-Eisenhower era. Before the end of Eisenhower's presidency, it wasn't clear how the modern political coalitions would shake out, so the nihilistic populists didn't always have (apparent) allegiance to one of the major political parties. John R Brinkley is a striking interwar example.
- The nihilism is extremely important in shaping the behaviors of the movement, and in explaining its fellow travelers. Nihilistic populism, specifically, is characterized by the belief that there is no such thing as a legitimate defeat (as the populist is the avatar of "the true people"), and therefore any tactic used in the pursuit of victory must be righteous. This naturally draws in *other* political nihilists as coalition partners - people like Mitch McConnell, who, although not populists, view any behavior that accomplishes some particular goal as legitimate regardless of side effects or Rawlsian generalization issues.
- The development of one nihilist coalition encourages nihilism on the part of its opponents, as the nihilists operate without the constraint of generalized norms or rules. But this behavior only hardens and grows the populist faction within the broader nihilistic coalition, because it fuels the "no legitimate defeat" framework. The breakdown of norms thus becomes justification for breaking further norms, until the whole decision-making apparatus breaks down into feudal flux.
This is a chance for me to reflect back on Reaganism with which I was quite sympathetic at the time.
I hope to expand on this later in my own SubStack, but here is my quick take:
Optimism: Genuine and very much needed at the time.
Foreign Policy: Good. The Soviet union really was an Evil Empire and yet he was willing to negotiate with Gorbachev
Protection: Bad then against Japan as now against the Chinese (narrowly targeted strategic imports a exception to import barriers being bad)
Tax policy: reduction in business income taxes, good revenue reduction and deficits, bad.
Military spending: Military procurement is extraordinarily inefficient, but given what it is, I do not know if Reagan's expenditures were good or bad.
Deregulation: Some regulation makes the economy more efficient some less. "Deregulation" under Reagan was just aimed at those regulations that were most annoying to sectors who caught the administration's ear, not mis-regulation. A great loss in opportunity cost terms.
Net? The legacy of tax cuts and deficits overwhelmed any good that was done.
Foreign Policy : I don't think Reagan's Policy choices in the Southern hemisphere and parts of the middle east were good. But that's just me. The USSR, yeah.
‘Wild’ is a misleading substitute for ‘racist fascist’. Yes, the 1st KKK was ‘wild’, but to what end? The goal was to terrorize Black people and keep them in service to their former enslavers. Yes, the 2nd KKK was ‘wild’, but to what end? The goal was to terrorize Black people and keep them ‘in their place’, in service to the economy and White Supremacy. Trump used the word to call out his noose & gallows toting KKK-style lynch mob #Jan6th with “will be wild”. The goal was to install racist fascist Trump as dictator and terrorize the nation. MAGA=KKK
Trump would be nothing without his enablers--Fox, the mainstream media which magnify his every move, a variety of decisive Senators and a variety of spineless Senators, House Republicans, Alex Jones, etc. Trump is a stupid, narcissistic, dangerous man. The 14th Amendment (or the 25th) should have been invoked years ago. He will effectively give us to Russia or China, and start writing love letters to Kim Jong Un. There will be a war in Europe. His slavish followers all hope to gain something by sticking with him. As long as they benefit personally, then to hell with the country.
I want the former President indicted under aRICO statute for threatening politicians.
This essay, while accurate, fails to fully state the immensity of the danger.
The danger isn't authoritarianism, though many states currently exist under 1-party rule. The danger is anarchy writ large.
Millions of gun-bearing Anericans are hopped up on a toxic mix of twisted religion, blinding hatred of Democrats, mistrust of institutions, 24/7 propaganda from right-wing media, lies from cowardly and craven GOP politicians, a weak opposition party, and a cynical legacy media.
Democracy fell in Hungary, but its citizens aren't armed with weapons of war. If they cease to fear consequences, they'll break the final redline of a civilization and the violence and carnage will be nightmarish in scope.
This country has zero chance of surviving, even in its current quasi-democratic form, unless those with a platform start speaking the unvarnished truth.
You would accept though that Russiagate was and is a fabrication, like burying the Hunter laptop as "Russian disinformation" was also a fabrication?
Excellent analysis.
A few points missing from this analysis:
- The nihilistic pseudo-populism of Trump long pre-dates Ronald Reagan. Spiro Agnew is an important early example from the post-Eisenhower era. Before the end of Eisenhower's presidency, it wasn't clear how the modern political coalitions would shake out, so the nihilistic populists didn't always have (apparent) allegiance to one of the major political parties. John R Brinkley is a striking interwar example.
- The nihilism is extremely important in shaping the behaviors of the movement, and in explaining its fellow travelers. Nihilistic populism, specifically, is characterized by the belief that there is no such thing as a legitimate defeat (as the populist is the avatar of "the true people"), and therefore any tactic used in the pursuit of victory must be righteous. This naturally draws in *other* political nihilists as coalition partners - people like Mitch McConnell, who, although not populists, view any behavior that accomplishes some particular goal as legitimate regardless of side effects or Rawlsian generalization issues.
- The development of one nihilist coalition encourages nihilism on the part of its opponents, as the nihilists operate without the constraint of generalized norms or rules. But this behavior only hardens and grows the populist faction within the broader nihilistic coalition, because it fuels the "no legitimate defeat" framework. The breakdown of norms thus becomes justification for breaking further norms, until the whole decision-making apparatus breaks down into feudal flux.
This is a chance for me to reflect back on Reaganism with which I was quite sympathetic at the time.
I hope to expand on this later in my own SubStack, but here is my quick take:
Optimism: Genuine and very much needed at the time.
Foreign Policy: Good. The Soviet union really was an Evil Empire and yet he was willing to negotiate with Gorbachev
Protection: Bad then against Japan as now against the Chinese (narrowly targeted strategic imports a exception to import barriers being bad)
Tax policy: reduction in business income taxes, good revenue reduction and deficits, bad.
Military spending: Military procurement is extraordinarily inefficient, but given what it is, I do not know if Reagan's expenditures were good or bad.
Deregulation: Some regulation makes the economy more efficient some less. "Deregulation" under Reagan was just aimed at those regulations that were most annoying to sectors who caught the administration's ear, not mis-regulation. A great loss in opportunity cost terms.
Net? The legacy of tax cuts and deficits overwhelmed any good that was done.
Foreign Policy : I don't think Reagan's Policy choices in the Southern hemisphere and parts of the middle east were good. But that's just me. The USSR, yeah.
‘Wild’ is a misleading substitute for ‘racist fascist’. Yes, the 1st KKK was ‘wild’, but to what end? The goal was to terrorize Black people and keep them in service to their former enslavers. Yes, the 2nd KKK was ‘wild’, but to what end? The goal was to terrorize Black people and keep them ‘in their place’, in service to the economy and White Supremacy. Trump used the word to call out his noose & gallows toting KKK-style lynch mob #Jan6th with “will be wild”. The goal was to install racist fascist Trump as dictator and terrorize the nation. MAGA=KKK
Love the title. I've always thought that Trump is simply Reagan when he was drunk.