Well said, Jay. I particularly liked “stenographers of disaster and ticket-takers at a Roman circus.” While the press is free, which it may not be for much longer, it should double down on Project 2025.
Thanks, Rona. I think it's fair to say that the press has had its eye almost everywhere these years but sharply on the ball. Project 2021 is in big letters all over it.
It seems somehow fitting to see the pandemic as a perfect metaphor for the state of our nation, which, astoundingly, has permitted one coronation and is now considering another of the very same person. And just as the coronavirus is still with us, though perhaps in altered form, so, deeply shamefully, is "45". Unlike the vaccine developed during the pandemic, there has been no seemingly effective treatment against the viral agent that "45" is and the infection he has spread and continues to spread. Every day I am more astounded by his ascent and Americans' willingness to grant him entry to the Oval Office once again.
We have before us a wholly exhausting man, a whiner, poorly educated, certainly not a good business man in any sense of the word "good" (at least 7 bankruptcies!), a grifter, a cheater, unethical and amoral. He cannot speak intelligibly or well; he shouts, he goes off onto nonsensical tangents (just the other day in Florida he spoke again about Hannibal Lector), he has no command of facts, historical or otherwise. And consider how he talks about America - not one good word because one good word would disprove the possibility of "MAGA" - a theme he stole, by the way. (I don't believe in American exceptionalism.)
What is it his followers believe he's "leading" them to? For 3-1/2 years I have lived in a very different part of the U.S., about 450 miles from Arlington, Va., my birthplace, long my home and how I regard it still. I don't hear so much "45 talk" now as I did when I moved in late 2020. Fewer pick-ups are flying the American flag on a stick but those that do fly them with no regard for safety. There is no denying, however, that, with some exceptions on the street where I live, this is "45 country." To ask professed followers how exactly they've benefited from what took place in the prior administration and why they again are giving support is to see a veil descend over their eyes; they have no good answer, because there isn't one for them. Moreover, they confuse accomplishments made during Biden's term or display complete misunderstanding of how the inflation works, what tariffs cost us, etc. Lower grocery prices are not going to matter when there is no "rule of law," no social justice, no justice period. What scares me is that the supporters have the consequential power to vote "45" back into office. What happens when they realize how mistaken they've been to believe in him?
Virus is a good metaphor for what Trump introduced (as the active agent, not the origin) into the national bloodstream. It is astounding, and there seems no cure. Lots of people latched onto the cult analogy some time ago, and I think that's literally accurate. Allegiance to Trump has all the earmarks of irrational cultish submission and veneration supported by a false reality. As with cults, it has been shown that some people can be deprogrammed, but how do you deprogram 70 million people? Many people think that kind of number is an argument of some kind, but we've seen mass descents into delusion before, even evil. Even after a cataclysmic world war, a holocaust, and Nuremberg trials, there are still Nazis in Germany. Even after the purges and the gulag, there are millions of Russians who miss a Stalin they never knew.
I always held what I thought a nuanced perspective on "American Exceptionalism," a term I never actually myself used. I thought it was a reasonable estimation of what we also often called the American experiment. The nation had originating and later formative ideas (commitment to immigrant opportunity, for instance), in a particular historical and developmental creation, that offered an exceptional ideal compared to the originating mythos of other nations: the very idea of "America" that existed in the mind of almost any immigrant who ever braved adversity to get here. As a Senegalese security guard at Charles de Gaulle Airport spoke it to me, "America -- it is the dream!"
Certainly, it should never have meant to anyone that Americans (a rightly motley group) or the actual American nation is exceptional -- so that, for instance, so many have had such a hard time believing that this was actually happening to us. They continued to imagine there was some special wisdom in the American electorate that accounts for Trump that could be polled and appealed to electorally. Tell them we lowered inflation, we canceled their grandkids' student debt, we have it better than most of the world. That'll win their vote away from crudity and cruelty.
We lost it all this past decade. We aren't just not an exceptional nation (in any sense). We aren't even a regular or ordinary nation now. We're a common nation.
Quite simply: I agree! Saying "I denounce Trump" would reveal not only patriotism, but ethics. Not doing so defines the elected members of his party. I have never before believed this about Republicans--and have not always voted for a Democrat straight down the ballot line, but my view has changed: My freedom and yours are at stake. Our very Constitution is at stake. Who would have ever thought that our two-party system would bring us to this point? I stand with you, Jay.
Mary, though I have not ever voted for a Republican (I've voted for ex-Republican independents -- and Socialist Labor in 1976!), I've always appreciated and respected the conservative spirit -- cautious, worldly respect for the earned wisdom of the past not to be readily discarded in pursuit of visionary dreams. American conservatism, Republican or not, once included those who represent such a virtue. That is no longer the GOP, which is simply a corrupt gathering of reactionary, authoritarian opportunists who actually possess to respect for the earned wisdom of the past.
You write with great passion and skill. I've been to two political fundraisers this weekend for Democrats running for open Senate seats––Elissa Slotkin in Michigan and Angela AlsoBrooks in Maryland. They are both impressive and inspirational.
Essays like yours make me ask myself am I doing enough for 2024? My answer is no. So I will do more. Thank you.
Well said, Jay. I particularly liked “stenographers of disaster and ticket-takers at a Roman circus.” While the press is free, which it may not be for much longer, it should double down on Project 2025.
Thanks, Rona. I think it's fair to say that the press has had its eye almost everywhere these years but sharply on the ball. Project 2021 is in big letters all over it.
I’m voting for democracy. I’m behind Joe 100%.
I'm voting for democracy, too -- Joe or Joe Blow. (Sorry. I couldn't resist. It's also true.)
You do have a way with words, Jay.
It seems somehow fitting to see the pandemic as a perfect metaphor for the state of our nation, which, astoundingly, has permitted one coronation and is now considering another of the very same person. And just as the coronavirus is still with us, though perhaps in altered form, so, deeply shamefully, is "45". Unlike the vaccine developed during the pandemic, there has been no seemingly effective treatment against the viral agent that "45" is and the infection he has spread and continues to spread. Every day I am more astounded by his ascent and Americans' willingness to grant him entry to the Oval Office once again.
We have before us a wholly exhausting man, a whiner, poorly educated, certainly not a good business man in any sense of the word "good" (at least 7 bankruptcies!), a grifter, a cheater, unethical and amoral. He cannot speak intelligibly or well; he shouts, he goes off onto nonsensical tangents (just the other day in Florida he spoke again about Hannibal Lector), he has no command of facts, historical or otherwise. And consider how he talks about America - not one good word because one good word would disprove the possibility of "MAGA" - a theme he stole, by the way. (I don't believe in American exceptionalism.)
What is it his followers believe he's "leading" them to? For 3-1/2 years I have lived in a very different part of the U.S., about 450 miles from Arlington, Va., my birthplace, long my home and how I regard it still. I don't hear so much "45 talk" now as I did when I moved in late 2020. Fewer pick-ups are flying the American flag on a stick but those that do fly them with no regard for safety. There is no denying, however, that, with some exceptions on the street where I live, this is "45 country." To ask professed followers how exactly they've benefited from what took place in the prior administration and why they again are giving support is to see a veil descend over their eyes; they have no good answer, because there isn't one for them. Moreover, they confuse accomplishments made during Biden's term or display complete misunderstanding of how the inflation works, what tariffs cost us, etc. Lower grocery prices are not going to matter when there is no "rule of law," no social justice, no justice period. What scares me is that the supporters have the consequential power to vote "45" back into office. What happens when they realize how mistaken they've been to believe in him?
Virus is a good metaphor for what Trump introduced (as the active agent, not the origin) into the national bloodstream. It is astounding, and there seems no cure. Lots of people latched onto the cult analogy some time ago, and I think that's literally accurate. Allegiance to Trump has all the earmarks of irrational cultish submission and veneration supported by a false reality. As with cults, it has been shown that some people can be deprogrammed, but how do you deprogram 70 million people? Many people think that kind of number is an argument of some kind, but we've seen mass descents into delusion before, even evil. Even after a cataclysmic world war, a holocaust, and Nuremberg trials, there are still Nazis in Germany. Even after the purges and the gulag, there are millions of Russians who miss a Stalin they never knew.
I always held what I thought a nuanced perspective on "American Exceptionalism," a term I never actually myself used. I thought it was a reasonable estimation of what we also often called the American experiment. The nation had originating and later formative ideas (commitment to immigrant opportunity, for instance), in a particular historical and developmental creation, that offered an exceptional ideal compared to the originating mythos of other nations: the very idea of "America" that existed in the mind of almost any immigrant who ever braved adversity to get here. As a Senegalese security guard at Charles de Gaulle Airport spoke it to me, "America -- it is the dream!"
Certainly, it should never have meant to anyone that Americans (a rightly motley group) or the actual American nation is exceptional -- so that, for instance, so many have had such a hard time believing that this was actually happening to us. They continued to imagine there was some special wisdom in the American electorate that accounts for Trump that could be polled and appealed to electorally. Tell them we lowered inflation, we canceled their grandkids' student debt, we have it better than most of the world. That'll win their vote away from crudity and cruelty.
We lost it all this past decade. We aren't just not an exceptional nation (in any sense). We aren't even a regular or ordinary nation now. We're a common nation.
Excellent! I recently wrote about the ever-eerier connections to MAGA and Orwell’s 1984.
https://open.substack.com/pub/arniesabatelli/p/ignorance-is-weakness-war-is-hate?r=1nwa2p&utm_medium=ios
Thanks, Arnie. I just read your very fine piece and will be sharing it on Notes.
Quite simply: I agree! Saying "I denounce Trump" would reveal not only patriotism, but ethics. Not doing so defines the elected members of his party. I have never before believed this about Republicans--and have not always voted for a Democrat straight down the ballot line, but my view has changed: My freedom and yours are at stake. Our very Constitution is at stake. Who would have ever thought that our two-party system would bring us to this point? I stand with you, Jay.
Mary, though I have not ever voted for a Republican (I've voted for ex-Republican independents -- and Socialist Labor in 1976!), I've always appreciated and respected the conservative spirit -- cautious, worldly respect for the earned wisdom of the past not to be readily discarded in pursuit of visionary dreams. American conservatism, Republican or not, once included those who represent such a virtue. That is no longer the GOP, which is simply a corrupt gathering of reactionary, authoritarian opportunists who actually possess to respect for the earned wisdom of the past.
Jay,
You write with great passion and skill. I've been to two political fundraisers this weekend for Democrats running for open Senate seats––Elissa Slotkin in Michigan and Angela AlsoBrooks in Maryland. They are both impressive and inspirational.
Essays like yours make me ask myself am I doing enough for 2024? My answer is no. So I will do more. Thank you.
Thanks, David. I know how committed you are to this cause.
Thanks so much.