This is very insightful, particularly about the F-word (there is no version of fascism that wasn't economically dirigiste within a nation-state of an ethnic compactness and, usually, a size that has no comparison with the workings of the American federal government). I'd just say that, while it was never, in any universe, going to succeed, I think those chemically-frenzied crowds of Jan 6th were, in their own way, attempting a coup; that they had no idea of how they'd do it, that there was no available mechanism for them to succeed, doesn't mean they didn't think they could.
Trump has always struck me as a kind of postmodern General Boulanger figure, driven by his own vanity and adopted by political forces for their own purposes, purposes that often rub rough against that monstrous vanity. Quite where it ends up is anyone's guess - Boulanger was too distracted by his own sentimentality to seize the reins of the state - but liberals searching for any kind of ideological consistency, a kind of grand programme of seizing and exercising power, will always find themselves tangled up.
Ross, you’re obviously intelligent and your sociological analysis of the Trump rally is incisive. Unfortunately, you are either too young or too New Yorker to understand that his true believers see him as their last, best hope to make America the white mans paradise again. They believe that the last election was stolen and will most certainly use their stockpiles of guns if their messiah isn’t reinstated. Since many cops and soldiers are among the faithful, what then? What if his next chairman of the Joint Chiefs does order the troops to fire on the protesters, unlike Milley?
Insightful. Particularly the point we are a federalist republic, not a democracy.
It constantly trips up liberals who are waiting in vain for the halcyon [sic] FDR New Deal years to return. Once in a blue moon they figure out how to govern--gay marriage was an issue where they went grass roots and organized bottom to top--with ballot initiatives, state legislature lobbying and lawsuits in state courts. They had real momentum and conservatives on the ropes until the Supreme Court recognized it. Reinstating abortion should be another. So far the results are promising. The problem with Democrats is you can't rely upon them to learn anything from their mistakes.
I would perhaps have specified the "democratic elites" who failed America in 2016 were Hill & Bill Clinton. Imagine a Democrat who won't bother to campaign in PA, MI or WI. Imagine one who galvanizes their opponents by calling them "Deplorables" (an insult they wear proudly). Or one more wooden and unapproachable than HRC? I can't. Trump couldn't have won without her. Biden could have though--maybe not handily but easier than in 2020.
I would add Guns & Religion as the gift that keeps giving schmucks like Trump an advantage over Democrats. True Believing G&R cultists have shown again and again they will vote against their own economic interests if you pander to them on these two topics. A thrice married agnostic billionaire born and raised in Gomorrah can be The Anointed One! Until Democrats figure out how to neutralize crazy it will be a slog. LOL
Yeah, it's pretty silly to say Donald Trump doesn't have the brainpower to be a successful fascist. He doesn't need to have ideas - that's what the Heritage Foundation is for!!
I haven’t seen too many commentaries that posited Trump could be a *highly successful* dictator (except from a few of his more fanciful supporters) so this looks like a strawman to me in that sense.
But I think a renewed *effort* could do nigh irreparable (for our lifetimes) harm, not just to the politics of some states, and the functionality of some federal institutions, but maybe most importantly to our culture.
Millions of people have apparently welded their personal identity as Americans, and their view of the country, to the self-serving impulses of this angry scammer. Whether Trump just conspicuously fails from here on, or succeeds to some degree in serving himself, he will eventually be gone. Obviously some younger figures will then compete for his mantle, trying to emulate his style to capture the same voters. I doubt anyone can work the same voodoo as well, but win or lose, the whole combined period in which *this* is the Republican model will have lasting effects.
At best, we will still have a lot of citizens believing the shit he told them, about how this country is garbage, whenever he isn't president to "make it great." I don't think we've ever had so many Americans hating the actual America before (that is, not the "real America" of their imagination, but the literal reality and current inhabitants).
Another excellent piece, but I will quibble with one point - Biden didn’t have a chance in 2016, not because he couldn’t have beaten Trump- I think he could have- but because he never would have gotten through the primaries. He didn’t have an important “first” identity characteristic to pull the identitarian liberals away from Clinton, and certainly no socialist bona fides to pull leftists away from Sanders. There is no block left for Biden and he would have been quick road kill in the primary. He was almost road kill in the 2020 primaries and only survived long enough due to a new found hunger for electability that the Democratic Party certainly didn’t have in 2016.
This is very insightful, particularly about the F-word (there is no version of fascism that wasn't economically dirigiste within a nation-state of an ethnic compactness and, usually, a size that has no comparison with the workings of the American federal government). I'd just say that, while it was never, in any universe, going to succeed, I think those chemically-frenzied crowds of Jan 6th were, in their own way, attempting a coup; that they had no idea of how they'd do it, that there was no available mechanism for them to succeed, doesn't mean they didn't think they could.
Trump has always struck me as a kind of postmodern General Boulanger figure, driven by his own vanity and adopted by political forces for their own purposes, purposes that often rub rough against that monstrous vanity. Quite where it ends up is anyone's guess - Boulanger was too distracted by his own sentimentality to seize the reins of the state - but liberals searching for any kind of ideological consistency, a kind of grand programme of seizing and exercising power, will always find themselves tangled up.
Ross, you’re obviously intelligent and your sociological analysis of the Trump rally is incisive. Unfortunately, you are either too young or too New Yorker to understand that his true believers see him as their last, best hope to make America the white mans paradise again. They believe that the last election was stolen and will most certainly use their stockpiles of guns if their messiah isn’t reinstated. Since many cops and soldiers are among the faithful, what then? What if his next chairman of the Joint Chiefs does order the troops to fire on the protesters, unlike Milley?
Insightful. Particularly the point we are a federalist republic, not a democracy.
It constantly trips up liberals who are waiting in vain for the halcyon [sic] FDR New Deal years to return. Once in a blue moon they figure out how to govern--gay marriage was an issue where they went grass roots and organized bottom to top--with ballot initiatives, state legislature lobbying and lawsuits in state courts. They had real momentum and conservatives on the ropes until the Supreme Court recognized it. Reinstating abortion should be another. So far the results are promising. The problem with Democrats is you can't rely upon them to learn anything from their mistakes.
I would perhaps have specified the "democratic elites" who failed America in 2016 were Hill & Bill Clinton. Imagine a Democrat who won't bother to campaign in PA, MI or WI. Imagine one who galvanizes their opponents by calling them "Deplorables" (an insult they wear proudly). Or one more wooden and unapproachable than HRC? I can't. Trump couldn't have won without her. Biden could have though--maybe not handily but easier than in 2020.
I would add Guns & Religion as the gift that keeps giving schmucks like Trump an advantage over Democrats. True Believing G&R cultists have shown again and again they will vote against their own economic interests if you pander to them on these two topics. A thrice married agnostic billionaire born and raised in Gomorrah can be The Anointed One! Until Democrats figure out how to neutralize crazy it will be a slog. LOL
Excellent take on Trump
EXCEPT I disagree with you about fascism. Trump may not be our Hitler but he is our Huey Long, paving the way for Hitler and fascism.
Also most of Bernie’s rallies were larger — I remember herding 27,000 people into Washington Square Park in 2016.
And I was on the stage in Kingsbridge, Queens where 33,000 fans showed up.
It seems you don't take project 2025 seriously and I wonder why.
Yeah, it's pretty silly to say Donald Trump doesn't have the brainpower to be a successful fascist. He doesn't need to have ideas - that's what the Heritage Foundation is for!!
Seconded, I liked the rest of the article, but I thought Thomas Zimmer’s take on Trumpism, J6 and fascism last week was the best one
I haven’t seen too many commentaries that posited Trump could be a *highly successful* dictator (except from a few of his more fanciful supporters) so this looks like a strawman to me in that sense.
But I think a renewed *effort* could do nigh irreparable (for our lifetimes) harm, not just to the politics of some states, and the functionality of some federal institutions, but maybe most importantly to our culture.
Millions of people have apparently welded their personal identity as Americans, and their view of the country, to the self-serving impulses of this angry scammer. Whether Trump just conspicuously fails from here on, or succeeds to some degree in serving himself, he will eventually be gone. Obviously some younger figures will then compete for his mantle, trying to emulate his style to capture the same voters. I doubt anyone can work the same voodoo as well, but win or lose, the whole combined period in which *this* is the Republican model will have lasting effects.
At best, we will still have a lot of citizens believing the shit he told them, about how this country is garbage, whenever he isn't president to "make it great." I don't think we've ever had so many Americans hating the actual America before (that is, not the "real America" of their imagination, but the literal reality and current inhabitants).
Nice, pleasantly unusual to see a progressive writer trying to be perceptive and honest.
Another excellent piece, but I will quibble with one point - Biden didn’t have a chance in 2016, not because he couldn’t have beaten Trump- I think he could have- but because he never would have gotten through the primaries. He didn’t have an important “first” identity characteristic to pull the identitarian liberals away from Clinton, and certainly no socialist bona fides to pull leftists away from Sanders. There is no block left for Biden and he would have been quick road kill in the primary. He was almost road kill in the 2020 primaries and only survived long enough due to a new found hunger for electability that the Democratic Party certainly didn’t have in 2016.