Judith asked:
The reason Judith and others have lost perspective and feel at sea is because we’re in the grip of a nation being governed by crisis and spectacle.
We can expect a dizzying round of crises and spectacles between now and November.
If the Democrats and those opposed to Trump pull together, Trump will lose. He can’t win in November with his current levels of support—as long as his opposition doesn’t crumble and splinter.
After Trump loses, the battle will not be over. I’ll explain, but first, a bit about crisis and spectacle.
Timothy Snyder explains Trump’s method of “governing”: Trump manufactures one crisis after another, does outrageous things to keep everyone spinning with outrage. He lurches from one drama to another.
The phrase “crisis and spectacle” comes from Illyn, the Russian philosopher whose ideas inspire and guide Putin. Ilyin was a Russian nobleman who went into exile after the communist revolution. He was an admirer of Hitler and Mussolini.
Illyn wrote guidelines for Russian leaders who would come to power after the fall of communism. (He died in 1954). Ilyin believed fascism would eventually replace both communism and democracy. He admired totalitarianism and order.
Ilyin admired totalitarianism and order. The nation, for him, was like a body, the citizens the cells. Each remained in its place. Fascism = order. Democracy & communism = disorder & chaos. He disliked the middle class, which always striving for social advancement.
Ilyin believed this fractured society and created chaos. He thought the rulers at the top should rule, everyone else must remain in their place. He thus advocated oligarchy (a few people hold all the power).
The task of government, for Ilyin, is to create stability, which can’t happen with a middle class always trying to lift itself up. Thus the task of the oligarchs is to preserve the status quo, which means preserving their own wealth and power.
But you can’t tell the people THAT. So you tell them the oligarchs are “redeemers.” They earn loyalty by protecting the people from enemies. The fascist way to power is to promise to restore the nation to its mythic greatness. (MAGA)
OK, so if leaders don’t govern in the usual sense (devising policy to better the lives of the citizens) what do they do all day? They create crisis and spectacle!
Resister Elf asked:
Think of it as finding a scapegoat. Fascist leaders create an “us v. them” mentality; they protect the citizens from “enemies.” For example, when Trump wanted to protect America from the “invading” (homeless, poverty-stricken) migrants.
The idea behind constant crises and outrage is to keep you off balance. The idea is to shock you and wear you out. The idea is to make you feel helpless. OK, let’s talk about feeling helpless.
Heather says “our despair is entitlement”:
OK, that was a bit harsh—but I agree. People born after the Civil Rights and women’s rights movements inherited an expanding liberal democracy. But this whole “liberal democracy” thing is fairly new.
Before the rapid changes of the 1950s and 1960s, racial discrimination was legal. There were no laws against sexual harassment. Etc. I’ve seen people in a spin and panic saying “Things have never been this bad in America! OMG we’re losing everything and we’re in autocracy!”
I suspect the words “things have never been this bad” aren’t said by African American women with a sense of their own history. Think of what life was like for most black women in America in 1850. She didn’t own her own body, literally.
All the great progressive heroes (MLK, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Susan B. Anthony, etc. etc.) fought the same battles against the same forces. After Trump loses in November, his supporters are not going to fold up shop and learn to love liberal democracy.
They’ll keep plotting and trying to seize the steering wheel and turn us backwards again. Progressives push forward. Reactionaries push back. It never ends. I advise people not to go down “what if” rabbit holes because we cannot predict what turns the fight will take.
If you want to know what you can do, read my post on Susan B. Anthony and then see my list of things to do.
I think both. Trump is definitely aware of the tactics. Steve Bannon, Manafort, and others consciously use the tactics. They coach him. Trump is also a natural liar and a natural creator of chaos.
I’ve been arguing for a while that people underestimate him. James Comey, who saw him up close, said he has above average intelligence. Sometimes I think wonder if the spelling errors are intentional.
If the idea is to send everyone into a spin and distract, that does it. H spins the mockery as elitist.
People say he is incompetent. Trump is an incompetent leader of a liberal democracy. He fails big time. But if you evaluate him as a fascist governing by crisis and spectacle, he’s highly talented. Really one of the best.
This is because you’re adding the word “genius.”
I said “talented fascist.” It doesn’t take a genius to be evil. It doesn’t take genius to be a good fascist. All it really takes is a willingness to lie and be cruel.
Most people view evil as so contrary to what’s normal, they think it takes a genius. It doesn’t. Perhaps what’s hard to wrap your mind around is the idea that there are indeed people who are willing to inflict mass suffering to advance their own interests.
First hand accounts from people who have worked with him, including Cohen’s testimony, indicate Trump is driving this. Yes, he takes advice and guidance, but when Trump got Andrew McCabe alone and did the mafia boss thing, there were no strings on him.
The idea that someone is pulling the strings and he does nothing more than follow orders fails to give him the credit he deserves for being a highly competent mafia boss. He may answer to a higher boss, but he knows how to manipulate and pressure people.
I give Trump credit for knowing how to bully people, manipulate people, and corrupt people. Comey said, “Trump eats your soul in pieces.”
Trump is good at it. And he wants to create crises, spectacles, and send you into an endless spin of outrage.
Rest well and save your energy.
We have the election of our lives ahead of us.
