America’s Next Authoritarian Will Be Much More Competent Trump was ineffective and easily beaten. A future strongman won’t be. Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic, Nov. 6 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trump-proved-authoritarians-can-get-elected-america/617023/ . . . "I suspect that the Republican leadership is sanguine, if not happy, about Trump’s loss. It’s striking how quickly Fox News called Arizona for Biden, and how many Republican leaders have condemned <https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1324511245635117056> the president’s rage-tweeting and attempts to stop the count. They know that Trump is done, and they seem fine with it. For them, what’s not to like? The Supreme Court is solidly in their corner; they will likely retain control of the Senate; House Republicans won more seats than they were projected to; and they are looking at significant gains in state Houses <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/us/election-state-house-legislature-governors.html> as well, giving them control over redistricting for the next decade. Even better for their long-term project, they have diversified their own coalition, gaining more women candidates and more support from nonwhite voters." . . .
"The situation is a perfect setup, in other words, for a *talented* politician to run on Trumpism in 2024..." . . . "Make no mistake: The attempt to harness Trumpism—without Trump, but with calculated, refined, and smarter political talent—is coming. And it won’t be easy to make the next Trumpist a one-term president. He will not be so clumsy or vulnerable. He will get into office less by luck than by skill. Perhaps it will be Senator Josh Hawley, who is writing a book <https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/521425-gop-senator-writing-book-criticizing-big-tech-for-tyranny> against Big Tech because he knows that will be the next chapter in the culture wars, with social-media companies joining “fake news” as the enemy. Perhaps it will be Senator Tom Cotton, running as a law-and-order leader with a populist bent. Maybe it will be another media figure: Tucker Carlson or Joe Rogan, both men with talent and followings. Perhaps it will be another Sarah Palin—she was a prototype—with the charisma and appeal but without the baggage and the need for a presidential candidate to pluck her out of the blue. Perhaps someone like the QAnon-supporting Representative-elect Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who first beat the traditional <https://durangoherald.com/articles/330414> Republican representative in the primary and then ran her race with guns blazing, mask off <https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/13/lauren-boebert-congress-409983>, and won against the Democratic candidate, a retired professor who avoided campaigning in person. Indeed, a self-made charismatic person coming out of nowhere probably has a better chance than many establishment figures in the party." . . . [i've been sharing this article elsewhere, thought i'd picked it up on marxmail, but quick check indicates it had not yet been here, Dayne] On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 10:26 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/10/biden-establishment-democrat-next-donald-trump > / On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 1:47 PM Ken Hiebert <[email protected]> wrote: > ( I use the word “we’"somewhat loosely. In fact, I live outside the US.) > > Sunkara has a point. So we dodged a bullet this time. But who’s to say > what we will be confronted with in 4 years, or 8 years, or 12. If our fate > is tied to the continuation of the Democratic party in office, we’re in > trouble. It’s unlikely that they will pull off the miracle of staying in > office into the indefinite future. > > Seen in strictly electoral terms, it’s hard to see our way out of this > mess. At what point do we break from the Democratic Party and launch a > left challenge? If this year was not the right time, what reason do we > have to believe that we will be better placed next time? > > All I can suggest, and it’s hardly original, is on the ground organizing > for whatever it is that can gain some traction. Sunkara makes some > proposals to do this. > > But he also warns against “narrow identitarianism.” Is this why he makes > no mention of Black Lives Matter? It seems to me that, whatever happens in > elections, a powerful anti-racist movement will be a bulwark against > reaction. Similarly for a strong women's movement and LGBT struggles. In > my view, building these movements does not cut us off from organizing > beyond our ranks. > > _._._,_._,_ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#3400): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/3400 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78164400/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
