I have had many frustrating conversations with people who view Trump as an existential threat.
I have made the case over and over that while Trump is in many ways strange or peculiar, there is nothing in his actual record to justify the deep horror he inspires in so many people, the sense that he constitutes a unique and special danger to the country.
I have tried repeatedly to make the case that Trump’s presidency was, in terms of policy, fairly mainstream Republican. I have tried to persuade people that there was practically nothing that could be fairly described as autocratic in Trump’s governing style. I – a legal layperson - have failed to get any one of maybe a dozen lawyers I’ve spoken to about this over the years to find me actual instances of unconstitutional behavior in Trump’s presidency.
The suggestion in this article – that Trump embodies a certain necessary force of creative destruction – has me reconsider the whole thing. Maybe the people with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS) – the people unable to even talk about the man without their blood pressures rising – have the deeper vision. Maybe they are seeing not a man – what I’ve been talking about - but the signal of the chaos which must follow the collapse of a society which no longer has faith in anything.
My sense is that a lot of people simply have lost faith in our ability to get anything right anymore, in spite of good intentions and lots of money being spent on plans and programs which are under the direction of hordes of well credentialed 'experts.' Incompetence seems to be the order of the day. That the attempt on Trump's life was even allowed to occur illustrates this point. How could some 21-year-old kid with no military training spot the chink in the armor of a security plan created by a supposedly elite group like the Secret Service? And if they can't protect a former president, just think of our chances when the chaos comes. No country for old men, indeed.
Frank Lee is right it is that simple. The propaganda probably has hold of your spouse and children and neighbours and colleagues and parents. Ask them, you will know within 45 seconds.
Forty-five seconds sounds about right to me, too. You just have to ask a person, with respect to any strong assertion they make about the world: "How do you know that?" What comes next tells you everything, and it works across the political spectrum.
See Gurwinder's brilliant essay (link below) on epistemological heuristics. He opens with this great Orwell quote (also below) and then draws an illuminating five-part taxonomy of propaganda styles. It's unforgettable.
Orwell: “The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played.”
Likewise. You'd think, if you don't like a candidate, just argue for better policies and wait for the election, that is how democracy works. Not even Trump could make himself president for life. So TDS is something far deeper, a sort of primal rage against the man who says 'no' to the herd, and T himself a symbol of something deeper too, which is a scary thought.
No, the TDS people perceive the deeper level that the liberal democratic order is stupid. That the Leftist America (post-60s America) is shit. That they suck and arent actually smart nor important and that the world has not changed in the way its falsely constructed to look like. The construction worker is morally superior than the HR person, curse words, beer belly and all. They are real humans, the libtards and the whole edifice of fake and gay psuedo-humans are wack and lame. All that which globohomo trumpets as progress is in fact the road to perdition, meaninglessness, endless sterile bullshit. Liberalism (and materialism) is on the wrong side of history. Thats why theyre apoplectic and Trump breaks their brains. They are correct that he is a existential threat to the entire world they thought they lived in. Their global, flaccid, feminist empire of bullshit is gonna cone down because it was always fake and gay. Jesus Christ is King 😁
I have had many frustrating conversations with people who view Trump as an existential threat.
I have made the case over and over that while Trump is in many ways strange or peculiar, there is nothing in his actual record to justify the deep horror he inspires in so many people, the sense that he constitutes a unique and special danger to the country.
I have tried repeatedly to make the case that Trump’s presidency was, in terms of policy, fairly mainstream Republican. I have tried to persuade people that there was practically nothing that could be fairly described as autocratic in Trump’s governing style. I – a legal layperson - have failed to get any one of maybe a dozen lawyers I’ve spoken to about this over the years to find me actual instances of unconstitutional behavior in Trump’s presidency.
The suggestion in this article – that Trump embodies a certain necessary force of creative destruction – has me reconsider the whole thing. Maybe the people with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS) – the people unable to even talk about the man without their blood pressures rising – have the deeper vision. Maybe they are seeing not a man – what I’ve been talking about - but the signal of the chaos which must follow the collapse of a society which no longer has faith in anything.
My sense is that a lot of people simply have lost faith in our ability to get anything right anymore, in spite of good intentions and lots of money being spent on plans and programs which are under the direction of hordes of well credentialed 'experts.' Incompetence seems to be the order of the day. That the attempt on Trump's life was even allowed to occur illustrates this point. How could some 21-year-old kid with no military training spot the chink in the armor of a security plan created by a supposedly elite group like the Secret Service? And if they can't protect a former president, just think of our chances when the chaos comes. No country for old men, indeed.
“You have to say to yourself, OK I will be part of this world. I will put my soul at hazard.”
Spend a day in their media feeds, and you will likely understand why they are so captured in their irrational opinion. Propaganda works.
Frank Lee is right it is that simple. The propaganda probably has hold of your spouse and children and neighbours and colleagues and parents. Ask them, you will know within 45 seconds.
Forty-five seconds sounds about right to me, too. You just have to ask a person, with respect to any strong assertion they make about the world: "How do you know that?" What comes next tells you everything, and it works across the political spectrum.
See Gurwinder's brilliant essay (link below) on epistemological heuristics. He opens with this great Orwell quote (also below) and then draws an illuminating five-part taxonomy of propaganda styles. It's unforgettable.
Orwell: “The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played.”
Gurwinder's link: https://www.gurwinder.blog/p/why-you-are-probably-an-npc
Thank you I’ll give that a read
Likewise. You'd think, if you don't like a candidate, just argue for better policies and wait for the election, that is how democracy works. Not even Trump could make himself president for life. So TDS is something far deeper, a sort of primal rage against the man who says 'no' to the herd, and T himself a symbol of something deeper too, which is a scary thought.
No, the TDS people perceive the deeper level that the liberal democratic order is stupid. That the Leftist America (post-60s America) is shit. That they suck and arent actually smart nor important and that the world has not changed in the way its falsely constructed to look like. The construction worker is morally superior than the HR person, curse words, beer belly and all. They are real humans, the libtards and the whole edifice of fake and gay psuedo-humans are wack and lame. All that which globohomo trumpets as progress is in fact the road to perdition, meaninglessness, endless sterile bullshit. Liberalism (and materialism) is on the wrong side of history. Thats why theyre apoplectic and Trump breaks their brains. They are correct that he is a existential threat to the entire world they thought they lived in. Their global, flaccid, feminist empire of bullshit is gonna cone down because it was always fake and gay. Jesus Christ is King 😁
Tucker C 🎯