I do a lot of “wordsmithing.” One of the consequences is that I appreciate –and am jealous of–examples of superior writing. I’ve referred before to Lincoln Square, and recently I’ve been absolutely gob-smacked by the excellence and clarity of that site’s prose.
I’m going to cede most of today’s blog to some of the most perceptive paragraphs–but I urge you to click through and read both essays in their entirety.
On November 20th, the essay was titled “The Party That Forgot How To Blink”
Trump didn’t bother courting the middle; he declared war on it. The man didn’t run a campaign — he ran a group-therapy session for people allergic to accountability. If you were broke, it wasn’t automation — it was immigrants “stealing jobs.” If you were single and couldn’t get laid, it wasn’t your personality — it was feminism. If you were uneducated, it wasn’t disinterest — it was “the elites.” If you didn’t get promoted, blame DEI. If you lost an argument online, blame CRT. His rallies were motivational seminars for men who think foreplay is a liberal conspiracy. Somewhere in that stew of insecurity, the manosphere — that digital wasteland of fragile masculinity and podcast mics — found its messiah.
On November 19th, from an essay titled “How the Monster Turned On Itself.”
The smiles are tighter. The knives are increasingly out, not for the hated “socialists” but for one another.
The people who once lived to “own the libs” spend more of each day subtweeting each other, accusing one another of being disloyal to MAGA, of being globalist plants, Soros puppets, or, worst of all in that ecosystem, insufficiently devoted to Dear Leader.
This is what happens when you build a movement on raw power and loyalty checks instead of principle, paranoia instead of policy, vibes instead of values.
Eventually, the purity tests get so extreme that no one can pass them. The circle keeps getting smaller until the last three guys in it are accusing each other of being communist Deep State sleeper agents.
As the essay then notes, MAGA has done incredible damage to America. It has also wrecked the GOP and hollowed out conservative institutions.
But once you train everyone to think in terms of enemies and traitors, of obedience and betrayal, they can’t stop when the Democrats are out of the room.
All the 2028 aspirants are shanking one another. The influencers are attacking the think tanks. The Groypers attacking the “respectable” right. The populists are attacking the donor class. The donor class is on an extractive sprint before Trump dies. The online true believers are attacking the politicians who actually need to win elections. It is a five-alarm, all-hands-on-deck circular firing squad.
It began in the Obama years.
They told themselves it was about deficits, the Constitution, and small government. It was not. It was about the pissy grievances of suburban and rural dudes with fake Oakleys and erectile dysfunction who are just positive their job was being taken by a Mexican, not a McKinsey consultant and a private equity firm.
It was about cultural panic. It was about race. It was about people who felt the country drifting away from them and wanted someone to promise they could roll history back to 1958 (or perhaps 1858) by yelling at immigrants on Fox.
Then Trump came down that escalator.
He distilled every bitter little resentment on the right into a single-malt of wretched hatred. Overnight, all the old constraints of Republican politics, the donor class, the gentry conservative think tanks, the “serious” media ecosystem, and the alleged principles of the religious wing went out the window.
The old Republican Party did not die on election night in 2016. It died in stages, slow, humiliating, and for some, lucrative. You’ve heard the tale by now: sure, everyone knew better, but they decided to play along.
There was no neutral ground. There was no “agree with him on policy, disagree on tone.” Remember those days? “I didn’t see the tweet” became “I read the tweet and had it tattooed on my back to show how much I love Donald Trump.”
You either wore the red hat or you were a traitor.
And here is the important thing: once you teach people that loyalty to a person is the highest good, they never stop hunting for disloyalty.
They started asking who is secretly a RINO. Who is secretly woke. Who is secretly “controlled opposition.” They started by looking sideways at one another and wondering who was going to be the next one thrown off the sled.
They trawled through millions of tweets, parsing every word, every connection, every bit of writing, peering with intent for any sign someone might not be true to the Dear Leader and the cause.
That is the DNA of the MAGA civil war. A movement built on loyalty, grievance, and paranoia eventually runs out of external enemies and starts eating its own.
I couldn’t have said these things half as well.
Terrific, thanks for posting. I’d argue with your last sentence, but this was great to wake up to.
One of the best of the year. I’m sending it everywhere. There is one individual who personifies the damaged psyches described above. He’ll never change, but it won’t matter.
Sheila, none of us could have said these things half as well. No one I know writes that way. And I suspect (but am not smart enough to prove) the reason is the pervasive use of A.I.-generated similes. This “wordsmithing” from Lincoln Square contains numerous examples. I read an unhealthy number of blogs and posts each day, and if one thing stands out it is how stylistically similar much (not all) of the writing has become. I don’t believe that’s coincidental or accidental. I believe it stems from the writer’s desire to be prolific in a way that captures the imagination through clever illustration.
All those references to “circular” and “eating themselves” made me think of the old “Oreo Circle Jerk Party.”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
I’ll have to add them to my list, but like John, I already read an unhealthy amount of blogs from the US and abroad. They all compete for my eyeballs, and some are ready to be scrapped for new ones. I don’t base my reads on being a good wordsmith – it’s all about content.
As they start to eat each other, I am happy to provide some Morton’s Nature Seasoning so that they can better taste their own souls.
It is much easier to push responsibility for failure onto anyone but yourself than it is to learn from the failures and try to find another way.
In defense of those many fragile people, men and women, who use grievance and racism to make themselves feel better (or worse?) about failed life choices, the current workplace, housing and financial environment is stacked against all of us, not just them. The oligarchy have positioned themselves to make the rules to their benefit, changing them as it suits their immediate goals. It can be overwhelming to say the least. But instead of realizing who causes the barriers and controls access and moving to oppose them, they find the easier target, often one that is closer to home and dear to their personal bias.
The handlers and grifters know how easy it is to defect and misdirect. “Squirrel” come to mind. Those who keep their minds, eyes and ears open recognize the scam for what it is. The rubes keep minding the squirrel. It is easier to find a scapegoat that to look in the mirror.
Sometimes it feels like a fool’s errand to point out the flagrant hypocrisy and corruption that is so obvious. Maybe we need a bigger squirrel! LOL
RESIST.
Well written articles that didn’t actually say anything we didn’t already know. Still, it’s great to read anything that is organized and thoughtful.
thanks, this is why i come here to engage. the quotes,blasphany and being i do not social media keeps me aware of the WTFs. ammo, er info, are my talking points with like blue collars. the people here have allowed me a intelligent open society im feeding from. thanks all
happy TG,, but im wondering. seems the ads venues etc on any media is glossing ovet TG for the nationalist Xmass instead. decor,lights,themes,stores,your trump neighbors etc all seem to drown out feeding (shut down/hunger)and the nation that was thankful at one time for this nations natural wealth..
best wishes..
They don’t have souls, John.
NOTHING can be improved, until we realize that Both parties are a mess.
Most work for self or political party power.
These are well written, but so are your observations, Sheila.
I have but two wishes –
First that the MAGA movement really does implode, and second, that the succeeding coalition of big tent Democrats, Independents,, and “Lincoln Republicans” recognize that this is not a time to “return to normalcy”, or to “put on the breaks”, lest we go too far left. We need massive systemic reform, no fear of prosecuting law breakers, and a push for New Deal 2.0. The original New Deal helped spur growth and equality in the 20th Century (as incomplete. as it was); we need New Deal 2.0 for the 21st.