It's been 85 years since Nazis packed Madison Square Garden (source), in the last public event where it was acceptable to have such views in public.
73 million Americans voted for Trump in the last election, knowing what they know about him three and a half years ago.
I have a strong will to live, and when I first heard about the death instinct, I thought it was a bit weird, but as I get older, I see it more and more in the body politic, and in myself.
With this governor who killed a dog because it just wasn't working out as a hunting dog (source). Some people are in love with the Sophie's Choices in life, where you get to kill something in a "hard decision." It's like Ivanka making his son conquer his fears by going out on his tricycle in the rain during a hurricane. They're afraid that charishing being afraid will become a way of being.
I couldn't get through George Will's articulation of his conservative instinct because it absolutely can't just be doing unpopular things. That's a moving target, not something stable.
There is a kind of maturity in saying you can't do everything you want and there are some hard choices in life. But like all political ideology, simple insights can be distorted into wackadoo thinking. To me the whole point of the conservative instinct seems to be, these days, to oppose the liberal instinct. The reason they can't define woke is because this is an emotional blind spot and they prefer the Sophie's Choices, find it hard to imagine kindness and empathy. They get confused and think idiot compassion is compassion, so they repudiate compassion, instead of integrating it, and the split that leads them to such confusing ways of being.
We're having our flirtation with fascism moment in America, maybe it's more like a decade or two than a moment.
Let me be clear. I would not want a liberal or progressive dictatorship. I believe in democracy over ideology. Even if the ideology makes sense to me, more so than democracy at times. There will be a correction for swinging so far right. For all the people that hated Roosevelt, there was a correction. Every political idea that wins too much, there is a correction. What I really believe in is the dialectic, that America will swing back and forth to try and be above ideology and do the right things.
Fascism is simplifying, and people like that simplicity.
I know a woman who went to live in Hungary because she likes the far right wing Christian nationalism. I hope her kids are OK though, because she was from Africa and her children are mixed race, and unfortunately those far right wing Christian nationalist aren't into mixing of races.
She told me a story about how she tricked her father into getting her glasses. That seemed to be the pivotal moment in her life, she was vigilant and thought she knew better when her children tried to trick her. She was the one who really knew what was going on. We all cherish our understanding of the world, hope it's the truest version, right.
Democracy says we need to crowdsource our vision of reality, not make one vision the one true version. That's hard for those who want simplicity and to follow a strong leader.
Trump will be studied quite a lot over the coming decades of his departure. How could people be so naive? Did they really hate the liberal imagination so much? Was it really a Sophie's Choice?
Despite this grave danger, NY Times continues to work really hard to find people who will write positive (and deluded) deluded editorials about Trump.
6/8/2024 Pierre South Dakota:
7/15/24 Nazi's in Nashville.
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