Resisting Apocalypse Now!
Reflections on America's 1933 moment and the battle to come
Reading Simon Rosenberg's “Hopium” email today brings to mind several things I've been thinking about. Most of these are centered on the troglodyte nature of Liberal Strategy and a defunct notion of “Democratic Honor.” As Rosenberg writes, “Trump and his global allies are playing a different game than we are used to. They have invented a whole new deeply illiberal game with all sorts of new pieces and rules. We have been slow, dangerously and recklessly, slow in recognizing how the rules of the game have changed.”
Indeed. We have not merely been slow, but head-in-the-sand negligent in allowing the old Guard, with its Emily Post notions of political formality, to dominate Democratic norms. Below are four related thoughts that I've shared with friends and loved ones for a good long time already, but have articulated more vigorously in the last few days.
1. Dems need to very consciously (and with as much solidarity as possible … a hard thing for Libs!) develop a general communication medium/network that can rival what the radical right has with Fox. We have an outstanding collection of very smart substacks and even some pretty good meme and slogan factories. But nothing that serves as the locus of anti-Trump thought and promotes unity among sane voters, particularly for Dems and fellow travelers who resist reading anything longer than 200 words, or who are always eager to face off with ideological allies in Circular Firing Squads over semantics and shades of meaning.
2) Along with this, of course, is that Libs need to abandon their impulse to 'high road' hyper-moralizing when it comes to fighting this war with the blatantly evil and nazi regime-masters that flexed its muscles on Inauguration Day, 2025. In short, Dems need to understand not only do we need to get down in the ditch with them to fight with the pigs, but that the fight has to be won in a style that is entertaining and appeals to 3rd graders.
3. And in reference to the last sentence in the previous paragraph, Dems need to full understand that this IS a pig-fight of a war and not a political race. These people are trying to squash us. They want to brutally repress any disagreement with extreme Nazi ideology – an ideology that is now right out in the open – and/or to impose their own brands of fanatic cristo-nationalist restrictions and plutocratic kakistocracy. It's time for all Dems, from Fetterman to AOC, to either join our army or get the hell out of the way so we can fight our own vicious guerilla PR war of honesty and integrity. THIS IS OUR WWIII, and we really, really need to recognize that fact and abandon gentlemanly and diplomatic notions of genteel politics.
4. And finally, Dems need to realize that like ALL the successful GOP politicians of recent decades, it's just as important for our candidates to be “entertainers” as it is for them to be politicians. The 2024 election, after all, was not won on ideas and issues, but on sheer entertainment and gross comic value. As James Carville often points out, winning is EVERYTHING in politics, and no matter how “good a man” (or maybe a woman) might be, we can no longer afford candidates for high office who don't have the chutzpah and public appeal to drive audiences to intense emotion … whether it's anger, fear, or amusement. Which is to say that “the ditch” referred to above is one of cheap and maybe even ugly media usage … and Dems who cannot accept that idea need to get used to the idea of accepting fascist dictators instead.