another thread i want to emphasize--and one that came up in my discussion with bret devereaux last week--is how successfully responding to a constitutional crisis requires understanding the nature of that crisis. it's therefore worth considering what trump+musk *think* they are trying to do-- - ThreadSky

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com • 60 days ago

another thread i want to emphasize--and one that came up in my discussion with bret devereaux last week--is how successfully responding to a constitutional crisis requires understanding the nature of that crisis. it's therefore worth considering what trump+musk *think* they are trying to do--

Reposted from Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li

on neon liberalism today: the great @jamellebouie.net. we talk the political economy of the antebellum south, constitutional settlements, and the still-revolutionary
potential of the reconstruction amendments.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBBZ...

Comments

issavalleygirl.bsky.social•60 days ago

Very illuminating thread that has really put things into perspective for me. Thank you

thukpa.bsky.social•60 days ago

📌

wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social•59 days ago

Really interesting breakdown. Part of me wonders, though, if we're ascribing meaning where there is none. Extrapolating a philosophy onto the petty and short sighted actions of a toddler who rarely thinks beyond the immediate demands of their ego.

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

and why it's wrong lmao

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

i'm going to follow bouie in dividing the breakdown of the neoliberal era constitutional settlement into three connected systems: politics, economics, and culture

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

on the political front, the trump theory seems to be that we need to resolve our era of gridlock by means of a charismatic authoritarian president who pushes against all restraint

https://americanmind.org/salvo/renewing-american-purpose/

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

on the economic front, the trump theory seems to be that our economic malaise / cost of living crisis is a result of deindustrialization driven by world trade, and that by erecting high tariffs we can reindustrialize (and ultimately make things cheaper??)

ckjohnsonbk.bsky.social•60 days ago

Maybe explained by “conservative economic populism,” a kind of Maoist return to our halcyon industrial past.

ckjohnsonbk.bsky.social•60 days ago

David Atkins: https://bsky.app/profile/davidoatkins.bsky.social/post/3lkgn6kbj422d

ckjohnsonbk.bsky.social•60 days ago

Eamon Javers is listening carefully to understand Trump’s economic & business thinking. https://bsky.app/profile/eamonjavers.bsky.social/post/3ljzlozfnsc2c

queengwenevere.bsky.social•60 days ago

I’m reasonably certain that on the economic front, the only ACTUAL theory and goal those people have is stuffing more money into their personal pockets, and the whole “reindustrialize” schtick is just a front.

Hence this admin’s “bribe the mob boss for perks” approach to tariffs and everything else

queengwenevere.bsky.social•60 days ago

For Trump it’s business as usual: what can he turn into bribes/grift

For Musk, it’s also business as usual: rampage over everyone ELSE’S business (in this case the whole country,) take what he wants for himself and sabotage the rest of the potential competition

For the GOP, it’s bring back slavery

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

in culture, the theory seems to be that the wave of wokeness--and yes this did happen; the sea change on trans rights in my lifetime is incredible--is a an elite conspiracy, "the cathedral" implanting "woke mind virus" and if they can just turn off the cathedral everyone will be conservative again

christosilvia.bsky.social•60 days ago

I think there's a pretty mundane / obvious explanation here, they don't like that people can be trans now, incorrectly see the past as not containing trans people, and then try to figure out how to go back to the way things were

sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com•60 days ago

ultimately i think all of these initiatives are, on some level, responding to real crises, to a real breakdown in the previous constitutional settlement. i also think their theory of the case in each instance is pretty insane, none more so than in terms of culture

calmerfuture.bsky.social•60 days ago

I think the re-industrialisation part is more about creating large numbers of well paid industrial jobs, which then reinvigorate the economy

(which won't happen because of automation, but that's the goal)

Trump doesn't really care if things get expensive for most people

riggsveda.bsky.social•60 days ago

📌

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