That March 2022 event was sparsely attended. There were Proud Boys doing "security." There was the pastor of our local Christian Nationalist Church hanging out with hosts from our local MAGA AM radio station. There were cars and t-shirts with Qanon slogans. That nuttiness had no future, right?
A few weeks after that "nutty" March 2022 event, that pastor and those Proud Boys and the Oregon Republicans who spoke on that stage (which was rented to them by the Proud Boy who owned it) were all at the Reawaken America tour when it came through town. The local sponsor was that pastor's church.
Yikes!
Yes, and that event also came to The Villages when f'n Loomer was running for congress. Even Roger the Stoned showed up.
When politicians do "constituent service," they're beholden to everyone in the electorate. When politicians do only "fan service" they're beholden only to their fans, & especially the most avid amongst them. The nutso present we currently inhabit was, unfortunately, not hard to foresee in Feb 2024.
I believed you then, sir.
But I know many relatives who are cool with whatever the guy does but were nowhere near any of these events and they are the ones most responsible imo
i double dog dare any white house jourmanalist of some ilk to ask trump about ashli babbat's worthiness for military honors — e.g., a posthumous medal of some sort for "beyond the call of duty" service to our trump-worshipping nation.
This "fan service" dimension of Trump, where he's focused on keeping the most extreme elements of his coalition happy because he knows the others will accept whatever he does, is what lay behind the "right wing ratchet" effect discussed in this thread from last fall. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Robert Paxton discusses continual radicalisation as a distinctive feature of fascism in Chapter 6 of "The Anatomy of Fascism":
Needless to say, it is the conspiracy-saturated element of Trump's political persuasion that his most avid fans find most compelling. We must root out the Communist deep state vermin seeking to destroy America, like...the CDC vaccine head, USAID, Lisa Ford, etc. rightlandia.ghost.io/its-funny-un...
I remember back in 2014-2015 ish when a woman near me said she'd like to see T run because he's entertaining. Like WTF?
As I wrote in that March 2024 piece..."Absurdist lies + power = Authoritarian terror." "DC crime is out of control & we're being invaded "(absurdist lies) + $45 billion for masked goons & concentration camps (power) = authoritarian terror (our present moment). Trump's fans are LOVING this.
Remember Hulk Hogan's absurd introduction of Trump at the 2024 RNC? The most commonly used phrase in that speech was "real Americans." You, Trump's hardcore fans, are the only "real Americans." The other people are our enemies who must be crushed. That was not a distraction. youtu.be/MO1zhWze2J4?...
dude dropped dead a year later lol
Trump's fan service is not a distraction from something more real, it is the essence of the political culture he's built & installed into the hardware & software of the Republican Party. This is why his fans don't know much or care about policy. They want action. They want their fantasies fulfilled.
It's important to note that Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic, conspiracy-obsessed fans since his first term. This is not new. One of his Mar-a-Lago golfing pals back in 2017-18 was a far right meme obsessed Florida doctor. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Oh yes, one of many far right meme obsessed Florida doctors, I'm afraid.
Do we think this outlasts Trump? Are there others they will follow so blindly?
Depends on the economy, I think, and all indicators are baaaaad.
It doesn’t matter. Vance has the billionaires. They’ll just wield power and enact their plans without seeking - or needing - the cheering crowds.
I think the 'maximum' version of this exists with Trump at the helm, but these people were here before Trump and will be there after. The future of their power really depends on how people weild political power to make these people accountable for their present and future damage to our society.
Constituent service is pretty boring, though very important (esp. if you need it). Fan service delivers little of material use, but is very emotionally satisfying. It makes you feel like you're participating in a world historical movement to save the country from "them." bsky.app/profile/seth...
"Them" is that special touch. "They."
To be clear, Trump has not just rank-and-file fans (who get little of material benefit from what he's doing) but also a small cadre of real constituents (who are his fellow corrupt billionaires & the grifter hangers-on) who are profiting mightily from this admin www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Trump’s first campaign rally in March 2023 sent a strong signal. In two years, the country slow-walked into fascism. "In an extraordinary display, Trump opened his rally by playing a song, ‘Justice for All,’ that features a choir of men imprisoned for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection…"
Prescient!
It was all movement building. Like the trucker convoy and the online Facebook groups and Twitter spaces and all the other places where extreme ideas found expression and community. The internet and its siloed worlds created absurd groupthink on a mass scale, guided by algorithms and disinformation.