Big Other: Society and State

You have to love the names for some of these Think Tanks: “The role of pro-Russian politicians is to introduce divisive topics into society,” said Oleh Saakyan, a political analyst at the National Platform for Resilience and Social Cohesion, an independent think tank. Those in power see planetary social/political/economic relations as a card game. It is all about what cards you hold, who you can bluff, what you are willing to risk. A terrifying way to organize the globe. Everyone is now talking about Trump as the transactional president, as if this is wholly unprecedented, as if it hasn't always about what you could get. Think East India Company, United Fruit Company, C&H Sugar, Dole, Standard Oil, etc. etc.. Capitalism is a system of transactions for labor and commodities and finance. The cards you hold are power you have at your disposal. “It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state or a one-state or any other state,” he (Trump) said at a White House news conference. Nothing throws off the liberal intelligencia like post-rational performance art: Frank Bruni of NYTimes: My belief is that his shamelessness has mattered more than his personality. He has a truly unusual willingness to be as dishonest, disloyal and vulgar as necessary to get what he wants. brushing off a question about whether he still considers the Ukrainian leader a dictator. “Did I say that?” Mr. Trump asked. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question.” Mr. Trump expressed a mix of optimism and fatalism about his chances of making peace. “I think it’s going to happen, hopefully quickly,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen quickly, it may not happen at all. Trump on Kier Starmer: “He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.” And by kissing the ring and presnting Trump with a gold embossed invitation to dinner with the King, Starmer avoided a lecture, unlike Zelenski, who insisted on arguing with The Donald on The Donald's own TV show. Ooops! We are told not to normalize Trump, like we are not supposed to normalize perversion or obscenity or pornography. We are supposed to hide and repress these things, keep them taboo or hand them off to a fetish.That way we can pretend to have Resilience and Social Cohesion! Trump actively establishes the terms of a new Big Other. He promises enjoyment while undermining the authority of knowledge. Disavowal married to conspiricy theory (denial of the real).