The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
J.D. says:
Just ordered it on Amazon (yes, I know I'm horrible, but I rarely have time to peruse an actual bookstore). Thanks for the recommendation.
Jestbill says:
Denver Public Library.
Kaleberg says:
If you just learn about the world from the news, all kinds of stuff seems to be surprising. Books like this are a great way to anticipate problems and understand the driving forces. Some of these are better than others. John Gunther did a whole series of popular books like this in the 1960s. More people should have paid attention. More recently, I'll recommend Kaplan's Monsoon which discusses the politics of the nations around the Indian Ocean. I wasn't surprised by the situation in Burma.
Gene Altshuler says:
One good recommendation deserves another. One of the most revelatory books in recent years that explains the mind-set of those who support Trump in Arlie Hochschild's Strangers In Their Own Land. Stunning in the insights it provides to people wallowing in industrial pollution which has sickened themselves and their children say: "Pollution is the price we pay for Capitalism."
I know your first reaction is that these people are woefully ignorant, there is that but it is not that simple.
Mo says:
Thanks for the recommend, ordered it immediately. Which we can do now, thanks to Kindle.
Too, also:
China's Asia Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road, by Tom Miller
The Silk Roads: A New History of the Worls, by Peter Frankopan
Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River Between Russia and China, by Dominic Ziegler
The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia's New Geopolitics, by Andrew Small
China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa, by Howard French
The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia, by Bill Hayton
Scm says:
I second the Robert Kaplan recommendation, his work is consistently good. Quality insight in this vein also comes from George Friedman, via Stratfor, Geopolitical Futures, and his own independent writings.
Heywood J. says:
I'll throw in for Kaplan's Monsoon as well. Great book, it's all coming true, just faster.
Dave Dell says:
Public Library. I'm too old and have too many books to add one to the permanent collection unless I know I'm going to re-read it.
wetcasements says:
Best book I read this summer was Michatel Twitty's _The Cooking Gene_. He re-enacts 18th century slave kitchens to demonstrate that "American" food has deep roots in African and the Caribbean.
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Couldn’t resist, bought it right now. Antidote to empty, no basis in fact, wheels off the carriage discussions.
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