I do think one of the lasting effects of Trump is that an increased number of disaffected voters -- now on the left as well as the right -- have become authoritarian curious.
Yes, that segment from Douthat was absurd. And to be fair, the rest of the panel pushed back hard. But he was basically saying that Trump is not actually anti-democracy because he uses democratic rhetoric while destroying democracy.
I notice something in this interaction: Michelle is using shortish sentences & carefully qualifies what she says—sometimes even apologetically. Douthat lobs long diatribes back at her. it's a not very passive passive-aggressive exchange where he tries to drown her with a tsunami of blah blah blah.
"Ross, have you heard who they think should be allowed to vote? Does that maybe contextualize what they mean when they say that Trump won the 'real' voters of America?"
If this dialogue spoke for itself, the United States would not be facing the political crisis it does. Most of the media and much of the public assumes politics now is much as it ever was.
In other words, any fascistic action is justified if I cultivate my own self-delusions enough to believe that I'm actually saving the democracy I'm destroying. Did I get that right?
I think it’s pretty well established that about 30% of people would like to have an authoritarian government because they feel so afraid and insecure and they think that an authoritarian government will protect them and their interests.
Given some of the takes and the battles I've seen people pick on twitter and bsky over the past eight years, I sometimes wonder if the human id is actually just Stalin.
"Maybe we all secretly like strongmen" is just a half-step from "He says what we're all secretly thinking," which is a very curious definition of "all."
Just reading the transcript is enough for me. Apparently these authoritarians are not really posing anti-democratic threats, per RD. Though I find January 6 to be rather anti-democratic but maybe that is just me.
I mean more toward an Antarctican system of governance. Penguinism is the ism fit for the next era. The cultural peak of civilization.
Can we really trust a groundhog to competently administrate Winter? They don't even wear tuxedos..
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It's... not at all correct that everyone would succumb to that temptation if given the chance
Nor even that everyone would find it an attractive proposition
Not in any other sense I don't think
I do not want to rule the world. Or, really, anyone other than myself. (I mean, I have cats. They respect me, but I don't rule them.)
I *really* don't want a strong man ruling... anything.
Can we really trust a groundhog to competently administrate Winter? They don't even wear tuxedos..