What If

What if instead of amassing at the Capitol to support a Real Estate Developer, all those rebels had showed up on Wall Street and done what Occupy was supposed to do- occupy. What if they had stormed the real halls of power because they were angry about injustice and inequality rather than migrant caravans. What if a couple hundred thousand rebels had taken over the offices of CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs,Barclays, Morgan Stanley, etc..demanding the banks hand over the billions they have stolen or stop raping the earth What if the rebels understood the difference between individual freedom and collective emancipation, changed their motto from "Don't tread on me" to don't tread on us What if all those fired up insurrectionists understood the problem wasn't a secret paedophile Satanist ring but Americanism and the patriotic devotion it engenders What if the rebellion had focused on saving the planet from profiteers rather than mask mandates

Wounded Pride

From an article in the NYTimes: apparently the Proud Boys are so dissapointed in the way Trump slinked off stage they leveled the worst possible insult his way, calling him "flacid". It suddenly occured to The Boys that Captain Hook is sitting by the pool sipping pina coladas, scrolling through porn sites, while his faithful footsoldiers are facing hard time. And they aren't happy. Awed by the Spectacle of Trump's erect largeness, he embodied that masculine potency which gives their lives meaning...but once again they are cucked and hung out to dry. They are a cult based on dissapointment and abandonment so Trump's treachery should not have been much of a surprise, but still it cuts deep. I hope someone gives us a Lacanian analysis of this strangely comedic phallus...someday. There is less and less for them to be proud about- certainly their ability to discern true leaders can be questioned. Trump is a player and he played these rubes the way he has made a career playing rubes, letting them imagine they too could "grab all the pussy" they desired, they too could have a babe like Melania ( in four years did she smile even once?), they could all hang together at Mar a Lago, tennis, golf, followed by drinks in the lounge. The obverse of these flag-draped nitwits are the self-described "anarchists" of Portland in their black skinny jeans and hoodies. Why the press insists on linking them to BLM protests is curious- either the journalists are lazy or ideologically motivated- I can only guess. But the bottom line is they give anarchism a bad name and they should find a new gig. Like being helpful somehow.

Libertarian Fascism

It is difficult for foreign observers to analyze the recent events at the Capitol. We Americans are an inventive people, not easily understood by those not raised here. We are complex in a surreal sense, endowed with a native pathos that expresses itself in wildly divergent, not necessarily rational forms. Take the recent, populist embrace of libertarianism for example. Prominent among the insignias and emblems displayed at the recent "insurrection" is the Gadsen flag, whose motto "don't tread on me" encapsulates the sentiment of many who "love their country, but fear their government". Mostly they fear the government will take their guns and impose taxes or other regulations. This is why it is hard to square this patriot tea party ethos with fascism, to conflate the two as some are wont to do. Certainly there is an element of ultra-nationalism in this dumbned-down libertarianism, but again, Americanism is a uniqely incohate ativistic assemblage, one Mussolini would not recognize. This Gadsen flag waves next to confederate, US and Trump flags, and the class assemblage is just as varied, with those owning Subaru dealerships marching alongside plumbers and Uber drivers. The truly hard-core militia types would bristle at the suggestion they are fascist in the same way Democrats bristle at being called socialists. It is they who are defending our constitutional republic, freedom, liberty, etc..But such liberal sentiments have often driven the shock troops of fascism through misrecognition, propaganda and political illiteracy. Which are symptoms of purposeful neglect by a ruling power elite which prefers weak citizens in the same way they prefer weak, de-stabilized states. It is when those weak states or citizens suddenly "fail" ( which is practically every instance) that those same elites cry out in shock and alarm. For my part, I prefer having things out in the open, exposed to the light. I would rather know the actual extent of these dark, if clownish and incohate, forces and for that we have The Donald to thank once again.

Trump Train De-Railed

Even my neighbor took down his flags,finally, yesterday. Without his twitter account The Donald is losing audience share, folks returning to the Kardashians or Sponge Bob. It occurs to me that Stop the Steal is a meme the Left could steal and re-purpose now. "Stop Stealing Our Wages" Stop Stealing Our Resources, Stop Stealing Our Future. I remain interested in how folks dress (Tucker Carlson referred to the clothing of the woman who was shot, Michael Moore reflected on how the insurrectionists dressed like him)and was struck by the congressman from Georgia who spoke at the rally, dressed in camo hat and carharts ("one of us" apparel) whereas Trump dresses like the elite dandy he is- something the salt of the earth crowd seems impressed by. The camo congressman described the "weak" Senators as those who "drink brandy and smoke cigars", the ultimate symbolic reference to the Trump entourage. No one picked up on it because irony died long ago. The perfect segue into this statement by the head of the company building the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline: “With added focus on improving the health and safety of our environment, our people and overall well-being of the communities we work in, we truly make a difference during the construction of each infrastructure project and beyond,” added Poteete. One last note on the Insurrection (now the official term, along with sedition): It was fortuitous that antifa didn't show up to confront the "mob"(another official term)and divert them into a street fight. The lesson: give them plenty of rope- stay away- let them implode. This goes for the inauguration- unless you have well-dressed, trained, disciplined cadres with a plan, stay away.

Something Happened!

But what? My colleague suggests Trump "shot his wad", that is, followed the inevitable trajectory of psychotic narcisim and pushed a little too hard, sending all his success over the cliff in one explosive climax. How strange it must have been for him to watch the unleashed monster, the bizarre force he had animated with desire, plunge beyond his control into no-man's land. An ancient but true story. Wad shot, the dream turns to nightmare. But this delirious, passionate "force" ( what the media is labelling mob, thugs, cretins, etc..) was charging forth, inspired by that Myth of the Righteous Crusader, that "the tree of liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants" and now History was in motion! To be an actor in an Epic! All that Marvel comic, paintball warrior Fantasy suddenly come true, all the accoutremonts ( the flak vest, the helmut, the tatoo and flag,) the gear, finally finding a use! The Father phallus Trump had rhetorically touched the flaming core: weak versus strong, false versus True, erasing all doubt. This was It, The Event, the culmination of all those internet hours, all that tweeting and trolling, come to this! So you fight your way in and surge through the doors and...now what? What was the plan exactly? You were following those dudes who were leading the chants but now they seem a bit unsure...Outside the crowd still roars: Stop the Steal! Maybe you did! Because something happened, right?

2020 Nothing Happened

The folks on Chapo Traphouse just figured it out: Recalling the Bernie run and the George Floyd rebellion they realize, "looking back on these big events it seems like nothing happened".By which they mean that all the left activism, be it electoral or in the streets, resulted in zilch. Some military bases get re-named. Which seemed to pierce the armour of snark they tend to cover themselves in and allow in a bit of uncharacteristically sincere reflection. We can only make jokes about going in circles for so long. Then it stops being funny, farcicle or even tragic. It just becomes lame. The "looking back on the year" bit did have one poignant moment: recalling the vapid, farcicle, MSNBC inspired Trump impeachment.The same person who does strategy for BLM apparently does strategy for the Dems. But the real story of 2020 is covid of course, what it has exposed to those able to see and what tendencies it has reinforced in those who choose not to see (or are unable for whatever reasons). I go back to my boss and his assertion last Februrary that he had done some statistical analysis in a previous job which allowed him to predict the virus would not be a big deal. He is a microcosm and metaphor for generalized America, the absurd grandiosity, of allowing profit to over-ride all other concerns, to know but act as if you don't know, all of it. And it took his mother in law dying of the virus to insert him back somewhat into( still a flag-waving, God fearing) reality. But most importantly, he still, despite being wrong about the virus (and so, so much else) could never hesitate to trust his instinct, to feel confidence in his opinions, to be assured he is right. Which is another sense in which Nothing Happened. When things are swallowed by the memory hole, there is no reason for doubt. I also watched a replay of a talk given by a climate scientist about a year ago in front of a large crowd of local activists. He spoke in no uncertain terms about the dire emergency we face and yet here we are one year later and Nothing Happened.