He outed those on what I like to call the far and loony left who are condemning Corey Booker for not talking about Gaza. Booker was perhaps concerned that our very own Rome is burning. True, there are many on the far left who are not looney (see my Taxonomy of Five Versions of Conservative, Moderate/Liberal, Progressive and Left Ideology: Utopianism, Libertarianism, Pragmatism, Authoritarianism and Patrimonialism, under Other Works on my home page.)
From what I can see most are well-behaved in these protests. As Marc put it: “As a 60 year veteran of these sort of demos and protests what a relief it is to finally see some not led by these “leftists” trapped forever in a 1968 mindset. On this topic I refer you to Max Sawicky, a veteran boomer leftist economist who sternly warns those expecting a sudden magical burst of socialism to be wasting their time. As he did and so did I for too many years. It is NOT inevitable.”
We have a lot of thinking and rethinking to do. But let’s remember that our resistance to Reagan did succeed in preventing most of his damage (see Piven and Cloward’s New Class War). We may be able to do it again. Alas, Trump may have factored opposition in and he may care most about the most racist things he is trying to do, mainly attacks on immigrants and repression of dissenter, so we may need to focus more squarely on those items.
you underestimate his megalomania. He doesn't care only about one thing, such as racism or immigrants--he cares about destroying the "everything" that others care about. Their caring is what arouses his vengeful envy, the fact that their everyday lives and relationships could give them sustenance reminds him of his alien condition as someone who has never been able to have such pleasure. His power to destroy those lives and that way of living is the only consolation for being hopelessly, terrifyingly cut off from them--cut off from "the magnetic chain of humanity" as Hawthorne put it. If we demonstrate and show our solidarity, this means he has to shoot us...it's not clear who or what (calculus) now will stop him.
Good point, Jessica. What you are saying is consistent with the notion of his nihilistic mentality. Still, I think that by feinting at SS and Medicare, which he must know are a third rail, he may conceal his true targets which are, yes, chaos generally, but we have to ensure we don't lose our focus on the most vulnerable of humanity.
I peg him as patrimonial and nihilistic in nature, not fascist. My substack Review section essay on Wendy Brown's Nihilistic Times and Foiles' Reading Arendt in the Waiting Rroom explains my thinking on this: https://tinyurl.com/DoverOnNihilisticTimes
Yes it was great to see the people take to the streets !!! We have to mobilize and organize NOW ….
If given a choice between receiving something earned Trump would rather steal or obtain it through extortion. That is his weakness, he's klepto.
Thanks for this objective goal focused piece. I just became a paid subscriber and I am restacking.
thank you!
No, but his horrible tariffs may help send Republicans in congress to the unemployment office. That’s is our only hope to stop his madness.
4/7/25: Marc Cooper's substack piece (https://thecoopscoop.substack.com/p/have-we-just-turned-the-corner-toward-8fe) is being widely discussed outside substack. Marc Cooper asks if we have turned the corner on the movement to stop Trump from doing some at least of his damage. Yes and no, he said.
In my Trump/Vance Watch beat on my substack (https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/trump-and-vance-watch), I commented:
Marc concluded: “This was mainstream America coming into the streets and that has a truly revolutionary aspect to it.”
He suggested: "See my friend Micah Sifry’s NYTimes gift op-ed on this crucial topic of movement leadership. It’s right on the money.” See: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/opinion/federal-workers-protest-trump-resistance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9U4.tLNQ.tJ6z67kYxF2m&smid=url-share&fbclid=IwY2xjawJfrFVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlNgTOV2xRMWBpkM8QIPgBVm-NW0oruxxum1rulGh-TJBwq8qBCQ6l1zNlI2_aem_GKqFmXUDBpG77scKFgzNKg
He outed those on what I like to call the far and loony left who are condemning Corey Booker for not talking about Gaza. Booker was perhaps concerned that our very own Rome is burning. True, there are many on the far left who are not looney (see my Taxonomy of Five Versions of Conservative, Moderate/Liberal, Progressive and Left Ideology: Utopianism, Libertarianism, Pragmatism, Authoritarianism and Patrimonialism, under Other Works on my home page.)
From what I can see most are well-behaved in these protests. As Marc put it: “As a 60 year veteran of these sort of demos and protests what a relief it is to finally see some not led by these “leftists” trapped forever in a 1968 mindset. On this topic I refer you to Max Sawicky, a veteran boomer leftist economist who sternly warns those expecting a sudden magical burst of socialism to be wasting their time. As he did and so did I for too many years. It is NOT inevitable.”
I also liked Max’s piece, which is here: https://sawicky.substack.com/p/crisis-mongering?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=222e4&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
We have a lot of thinking and rethinking to do. But let’s remember that our resistance to Reagan did succeed in preventing most of his damage (see Piven and Cloward’s New Class War). We may be able to do it again. Alas, Trump may have factored opposition in and he may care most about the most racist things he is trying to do, mainly attacks on immigrants and repression of dissenter, so we may need to focus more squarely on those items.
you underestimate his megalomania. He doesn't care only about one thing, such as racism or immigrants--he cares about destroying the "everything" that others care about. Their caring is what arouses his vengeful envy, the fact that their everyday lives and relationships could give them sustenance reminds him of his alien condition as someone who has never been able to have such pleasure. His power to destroy those lives and that way of living is the only consolation for being hopelessly, terrifyingly cut off from them--cut off from "the magnetic chain of humanity" as Hawthorne put it. If we demonstrate and show our solidarity, this means he has to shoot us...it's not clear who or what (calculus) now will stop him.
Good point, Jessica. What you are saying is consistent with the notion of his nihilistic mentality. Still, I think that by feinting at SS and Medicare, which he must know are a third rail, he may conceal his true targets which are, yes, chaos generally, but we have to ensure we don't lose our focus on the most vulnerable of humanity.
I peg him as patrimonial and nihilistic in nature, not fascist. My substack Review section essay on Wendy Brown's Nihilistic Times and Foiles' Reading Arendt in the Waiting Rroom explains my thinking on this: https://tinyurl.com/DoverOnNihilisticTimes