Article in question from CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/adam-gopnik-anti-elitism-antisemitism-anti-urbanism-1.7458841
Trying to make sense of the current political storm, this article helped me.
I keep coming back to the question: what’s the end goals/motivations of Trump supporters? They know he wants to break the government and, yet, thinks it’s worthwhile. Why? Motivation will be multifaceted and we read all kind of proposition from dementia to dark gothic MAGA (as a plot from billionaires to each be king of their own techno-feudal city state). I don’t want to be naive but don’t want to be fear mongering either. Any agenda is enabled by the population and sufficient support.
This article’s take on anti-elitism as a rejection from the uneducated mass of educated immigrants because they perceive them as competition and as being responsible for their failure to achieve success… it leaves me a bit depressed because it takes effort to open up to any difference (immigrants, sexual orientation… ) and the mass of average (poorly) educated population doesn’t have the ressources to make this effort. And then the division in our population can be exploited by dangerous individuals for further pain.
How do we fight this now (and frankly forever because this weakness is intrinsic to this world, for every generation)?
Isn’t the obvious answer to, “Why?” that he is trying to end the era of American global dominance? He comes right out and tells us that on his hat when you consider everything he says is either a projection or a lie.
Ending the era of US global dominance to what end? Paying less in overseas military bases? Just progressively close a few of them; if you don’t want to subsidize German defence: leave Germany… I can imagine the strategic position to have big manufacturing capacity in what’s relevant to future war effort inside the US boarder, but why reducing your commercial network?
Trump could always be petty and want to break things if he perceives to have been wronged in the past. Let’s believe that for a moment. Then consider the next piece of the puzzle : the 30-60% of the population that support him are all sharing this deep pettiness of being taken advantage of by the government and without the hint of fear at less government, more problems? The solution to the Trump problem lies in what does the population want, how is Trump successful at convincing people? Hence the anti-elitist proposition.
He is literally a foreign asset. He is a deeply flawed, weak-minded individual who openly worships foreign dictators. His behaviour is AT BEST a pathological need to get the approval of these authoritarians, but I truly think that in addition to that which we can plainly see, he is being influenced by foreign states.
You might be right, but I wonder if it’s simpler than that. I think he just wants payback on every person ever who embarrassed or angered him. So he’s burning it all to the ground in order to hurt the people who voted against him…whatever makes Dems most angry is what he wants to do. In that sense, he’s easily manipulated by his inner circle of grifters and foreign strongmen that he idolizes.