Yarvin and Bannon are what passes for an intellectual foundation of Trumpism, hazy dreams of a fuedal world based on wealth and tech, retrofitted onto a golden goose who they believe they can con into giving them power. Like everything around Trump, the election, the campaign, the devotion of his base, none of it is rational. A collection of resentments and self-indulgent fantasies posing as analysis to justify tyranny of a self-appointed micro-elite of billionaires and snake-oil salesman. And they want us to take it all seriously.
I think you could just as easily turn that upside down and say Trump is what passes for the embodiment of the Leader those guys are looking for, not ideal but whatchagonnado? Other than that, right, exactly.
Yeah, that was meant to be my point. They'd much rather have some combination of Musk and Rogan, a tech wizard knucklehead at the top, someone like themselves. But that's the thing about Trump, everyone around him swims in his wake in hope of scavenging some power. No one actually supports him, because there's nothing to support but the power he has, the power from commanding the Republican party voter base plus some chunk of non-voters who vote for only him. Its why the Republican party is full ride-or-die, he's the return of Reagan they prayed for, or close enough.
Having never heard of Yarvin before a few days ago when I heard Marc Andreesen citing him as some kind of super brain whilst also spouting the notion that FDR, even though dead for almost 80 years, keeps our government in thrall and in check in order to accomplish nefarious mischief, I can only conclude that the lot of them — Yarvin and his disciples — are nut cases to the max. Thank you for confirming, in writing, my conclusions. These people — Yarvin, Andreesen, and their ilk — are in need of a comeuppance. Where are Ramona and Henry Higguns when we need them most?
I've known for a long time that Andreesen is a right-wing asshole - a man is known by the company he keeps - but I hadn't seen his gibbering lunatic side till now.
I'm pondering 'ignorance' today. We (here in this cozy little corner) have understood the willful ignorance of the right for decades (following on my realization that they'd run out of ideas 60 years ago and were coasting on outright mendacity for feeding the rubes). OK so far as it goes. But there's another ignorance – the willful ignoring of what the fascisti have been up to day in/out over those decades.
With rare exceptions (the few, the proud, the bloggers) we (I, anyway) have deliberately avoided delving into the mailings, the thin, slimy magazines, the late-night tv ragers, the email comeons for eternal youth and arthritis remedies, the across the internet spectrum fear mongering and the capitulation of what had once been assumed the dominant messaging industry players. So we've failed to take the fight to them, 'cause we didn't even know their extent.
Follow the money, OK. But generate your own money, with intent to blast the marketplace of ideas with reality-based, verifiable information? Here's a couple nickels fer yer tin cup.
Thinking like the rabble is stupid. Ignoring the rabble is perilous. Owning the rabble is strategic.
You're on the right track. People who are aware of politics have a hard time wrapping their minds around a worldview that politics and governance are irrelevant and boring. The thing is, those people vote, and when Trump is on the ballot they vote even harder because they've heard of him and find him entertaining. The Democrats need a new approach, either attracting Trump's voters, or perhaps more productively finding and motivating "independent" voters willing to listen to a message they haven't heard so far.
One thing that I discovered by watching a couple of old FDR clips is that he was also highly entertaining, and could put a lot of cheerful fight in his voice. That’s probably how you win voters who aren’t geared to think about the million ways the vast administrative state is working to make their lives possible.
Oh yeah. It’s possible that the fun Joe Biden of the vice presidency 2009-16 did something like that and even diehard Biden defenders like me should admit that he wasn’t doing it in 2020 and after. Though neither were the other Democrats, very much including the ones I thought I liked best.
Harris and Walz gave that the old college try, but it didn't connect with enough voters. Who knew there's a wrong way to cheerfully fight? Connecting with voters who don't want to be connected with is a heavy lift. So far the things I've seen work are
Not a Politician Celebrities (Eisenhower, Reagan, Trump) war hero = celebrity
Amiable dunces backed by a ruthless propaganda machine (Bush the Lesser)
JFK was a bit of all 3, not a dunce but his old man was by god gonna make his son president come hell or high water. Nixon was Joe and Jack in 1 person. Bush the Greater rode Reagan's fumes into office. Carter was America's pennance for Nixon, while being almost as ambitious as Nixon but without his political skills. LBJ was thrust into the job, undone by the sins of promoting true racial equality and believing his generals.
Its a hell of a grab bag with no obvious through line between them. They all connected in different ways. Others have tried to reduce their appeal to a formula, but that trick never works. Americans see their Cheif Executive as an avatar for America and themselves, so they want to connect with him, but the mechanism is opaque at best, after the fact rationales, a guy you want to have a beer with, a "strongman", somebody who understand me. There's a bond that can't be manufactured, only promoted. But promotion matters. Most of these guys won on razor-thin margins, ignoring the Rube Goldberg Memorial Electoral College.
Yarvin and Bannon are what passes for an intellectual foundation of Trumpism, hazy dreams of a fuedal world based on wealth and tech, retrofitted onto a golden goose who they believe they can con into giving them power. Like everything around Trump, the election, the campaign, the devotion of his base, none of it is rational. A collection of resentments and self-indulgent fantasies posing as analysis to justify tyranny of a self-appointed micro-elite of billionaires and snake-oil salesman. And they want us to take it all seriously.
I think you could just as easily turn that upside down and say Trump is what passes for the embodiment of the Leader those guys are looking for, not ideal but whatchagonnado? Other than that, right, exactly.
Yeah, that was meant to be my point. They'd much rather have some combination of Musk and Rogan, a tech wizard knucklehead at the top, someone like themselves. But that's the thing about Trump, everyone around him swims in his wake in hope of scavenging some power. No one actually supports him, because there's nothing to support but the power he has, the power from commanding the Republican party voter base plus some chunk of non-voters who vote for only him. Its why the Republican party is full ride-or-die, he's the return of Reagan they prayed for, or close enough.
Having never heard of Yarvin before a few days ago when I heard Marc Andreesen citing him as some kind of super brain whilst also spouting the notion that FDR, even though dead for almost 80 years, keeps our government in thrall and in check in order to accomplish nefarious mischief, I can only conclude that the lot of them — Yarvin and his disciples — are nut cases to the max. Thank you for confirming, in writing, my conclusions. These people — Yarvin, Andreesen, and their ilk — are in need of a comeuppance. Where are Ramona and Henry Higguns when we need them most?
Just you WYTE, 'Enry 'Iggins!
I've known for a long time that Andreesen is a right-wing asshole - a man is known by the company he keeps - but I hadn't seen his gibbering lunatic side till now.
I'm pondering 'ignorance' today. We (here in this cozy little corner) have understood the willful ignorance of the right for decades (following on my realization that they'd run out of ideas 60 years ago and were coasting on outright mendacity for feeding the rubes). OK so far as it goes. But there's another ignorance – the willful ignoring of what the fascisti have been up to day in/out over those decades.
With rare exceptions (the few, the proud, the bloggers) we (I, anyway) have deliberately avoided delving into the mailings, the thin, slimy magazines, the late-night tv ragers, the email comeons for eternal youth and arthritis remedies, the across the internet spectrum fear mongering and the capitulation of what had once been assumed the dominant messaging industry players. So we've failed to take the fight to them, 'cause we didn't even know their extent.
Follow the money, OK. But generate your own money, with intent to blast the marketplace of ideas with reality-based, verifiable information? Here's a couple nickels fer yer tin cup.
Thinking like the rabble is stupid. Ignoring the rabble is perilous. Owning the rabble is strategic.
TL;DR: The entirety of American media has devolved to disinfotainment.
You're on the right track. People who are aware of politics have a hard time wrapping their minds around a worldview that politics and governance are irrelevant and boring. The thing is, those people vote, and when Trump is on the ballot they vote even harder because they've heard of him and find him entertaining. The Democrats need a new approach, either attracting Trump's voters, or perhaps more productively finding and motivating "independent" voters willing to listen to a message they haven't heard so far.
One thing that I discovered by watching a couple of old FDR clips is that he was also highly entertaining, and could put a lot of cheerful fight in his voice. That’s probably how you win voters who aren’t geared to think about the million ways the vast administrative state is working to make their lives possible.
Oh yeah. It’s possible that the fun Joe Biden of the vice presidency 2009-16 did something like that and even diehard Biden defenders like me should admit that he wasn’t doing it in 2020 and after. Though neither were the other Democrats, very much including the ones I thought I liked best.
Harris and Walz gave that the old college try, but it didn't connect with enough voters. Who knew there's a wrong way to cheerfully fight? Connecting with voters who don't want to be connected with is a heavy lift. So far the things I've seen work are
Not a Politician Celebrities (Eisenhower, Reagan, Trump) war hero = celebrity
Once-in-a-generation campaigning savants (Clinton, Obama).
Amiable dunces backed by a ruthless propaganda machine (Bush the Lesser)
JFK was a bit of all 3, not a dunce but his old man was by god gonna make his son president come hell or high water. Nixon was Joe and Jack in 1 person. Bush the Greater rode Reagan's fumes into office. Carter was America's pennance for Nixon, while being almost as ambitious as Nixon but without his political skills. LBJ was thrust into the job, undone by the sins of promoting true racial equality and believing his generals.
Its a hell of a grab bag with no obvious through line between them. They all connected in different ways. Others have tried to reduce their appeal to a formula, but that trick never works. Americans see their Cheif Executive as an avatar for America and themselves, so they want to connect with him, but the mechanism is opaque at best, after the fact rationales, a guy you want to have a beer with, a "strongman", somebody who understand me. There's a bond that can't be manufactured, only promoted. But promotion matters. Most of these guys won on razor-thin margins, ignoring the Rube Goldberg Memorial Electoral College.
It’s strange that they want some kind of general justification—and one this stupid. Why even bother?
RIght. It is a puzzlement. Maybe it's just that he understands the bosses are still stupider than he is, and easy to satisfy?
These dudes are wannabes thinking they are getting nearer, nearer...
They really seem to believe they are relevant and VITAL. And to be fair, maybe Bannon is, to some extent.
FDR scared them so much they changed the Constitution so there could never be another one.