Vance is beginning to appear particularly dangerous, I think. Trump’s circle is full of corrupt imbeciles, but he’s profoundly ideological, he’s a walking pathology of revenge fantasies. He’s repulsed by the hillbillies he claims to represent, but hates even more the liberals who mock him.
I’m usually not keen on psychological readings of political figures, but in Vance’s case his contempt for liberal democracies is just saturated with a kind of solipsistic sense of personal wounding, that their very existence is a rebuke to the identity he’s chosen. He may yet prove the true monster in a gaggle of bumbling idiots.
JD is a heartbeat away from hanging out with Mike Pence, if he gets in Donald's way. Stephen Miller already has some understandings with the boss that the VP title doesn't sway. He's a smart one, so he has probably priced these risks in.
"They barely even deliberate at all: they do what Trump wants and rationalize it ex post facto."
This captures something central to everything right now, from military aggression to the forced deportations to AI boom "vibes shift" campaign. Trump drops another bomb, everyone (in the world!) ducking and covering, while his people jump around trying to rationalize and justify the destruction with their stupid Us/Them binaries; Biden/Dems weak, Europeans ungrateful subjects, Muslims cannon fodder, etc.
The idiocy is somehow a superpower though because it just turns them all into fullspeed ahead bulldozers, in this case bulldozers on meth binges. They might superficially care about public opinion but they don't act like they care about public opinion.
As bad as this was, as much as it broke laws and regulations, nobody's going to be fired. Why? Because this is the team that will go along with the insanity of say, invading Greenland and they will be hard to replace.
This group chat team should be given to Errol Morris to make documentary gold with, after his film with Robert McNamara and his masterpiece of a follow up with Donald Rumsfeld.
Vance is beginning to appear particularly dangerous, I think. Trump’s circle is full of corrupt imbeciles, but he’s profoundly ideological, he’s a walking pathology of revenge fantasies. He’s repulsed by the hillbillies he claims to represent, but hates even more the liberals who mock him.
I’m usually not keen on psychological readings of political figures, but in Vance’s case his contempt for liberal democracies is just saturated with a kind of solipsistic sense of personal wounding, that their very existence is a rebuke to the identity he’s chosen. He may yet prove the true monster in a gaggle of bumbling idiots.
JD is a heartbeat away from hanging out with Mike Pence, if he gets in Donald's way. Stephen Miller already has some understandings with the boss that the VP title doesn't sway. He's a smart one, so he has probably priced these risks in.
Excellent article today John!
"They barely even deliberate at all: they do what Trump wants and rationalize it ex post facto."
This captures something central to everything right now, from military aggression to the forced deportations to AI boom "vibes shift" campaign. Trump drops another bomb, everyone (in the world!) ducking and covering, while his people jump around trying to rationalize and justify the destruction with their stupid Us/Them binaries; Biden/Dems weak, Europeans ungrateful subjects, Muslims cannon fodder, etc.
"These guys might look like idiots, and talk like idiots, but don’t let that fool you: they really are idiots."
That will be their epitaph.
I wish I were surprised by this, but no, it supports my priors. Never has “a tale told by an idiot” been more apt.
The idiocy is somehow a superpower though because it just turns them all into fullspeed ahead bulldozers, in this case bulldozers on meth binges. They might superficially care about public opinion but they don't act like they care about public opinion.
As bad as this was, as much as it broke laws and regulations, nobody's going to be fired. Why? Because this is the team that will go along with the insanity of say, invading Greenland and they will be hard to replace.
…and things got out of hand.
Hannah Arendt would not be surprised.
This group chat team should be given to Errol Morris to make documentary gold with, after his film with Robert McNamara and his masterpiece of a follow up with Donald Rumsfeld.
These evil idiots are going to send us all down to "How Start?" Hell again and again.