Russell Vought, one of the architects behind Project 2025, believes there is nothing left to conserve. He desires revolution – and to burn down the system
The American evangelical tradition can't be separated from racism. Racism melded with a more primitive, punitive, dualistic, life-hating and extreme strain of Calvinism. Really, really bad shit, and Vought is a core constituent, I think, one of those who would have been fighting at the barricades for Hitler until the end and, if he survived, romanticizing the Reich until he died.
You never know, though, until their lives are on the line. I look at the times when these kinds of lunatics drove the world into insanity and mass slaughter and, even knowing the outcome, can't discern the true believers. The opportunists and cynics will punt when the crisis comes and try to save their skins. Of course their constitutional claims are pure bullshit. Marketing tactics.
They'll claim the high ground while groveling before some piece of shit like Trump because it's pure, survival-driven desperation. Imagined, because they're nuts. I recommend everyone read or re-read George Lakoff, especially the articles he wrote after Don-boy entered the scene. It's a way I've found to get a grip on it -- it's so far gone into authoritarianism and disconnected from reality.
Not that you can't make a case for authoritarianism, but not their inhumane, paranoid kind and CERTAINLY not on the basis of the American constitution, a raging Enlightenment document, and Christianity, a manifesto against tribalism and intolerance. Typically, people this fucked up reveal themselves through their fixations, turned back on themselves. They're everything they lay on us.
“Trumpism was never about making America great again. It’s about weaponizing your fear and resentment. Immigrants, women daring to expect control over their own bodies, trans kids, and “wokeness”—these weren’t your enemies until he told you they were. Trumpism isn’t about policy, principles, or progress; it’s a spectacle, a theater of grievance where you gleefully cast yourself as the victim while ignoring the real threats tearing this country apart.”
Anyone have any ideas about how to fight back against this? It seems like so much of this is going to happen behind the scenes until it's too late. What do we do?
The palingenetic myth can also possibly stand for a return to a golden age in the country's history so that the past can be a guidebook to a better tomorrow, with an associated regime that superficially resembles a reactionary one. Fascism distinguishes itself by being the only ideology that focuses strongly on the revolution in its myth or, as Griffin puts it:
.. to put government in the hands of outstanding personalities instead of non-entities.
Through all of that, there would be one great leader who would battle the representatives of the old system with grassroots support. In the fascist utopia, one mass of people will supposedly appear who have only one goal: to create their new future. Such a fascist movement would ideally have infinite faith in its mythical hero who would stand for everything the movement believes in. According to this utopian ideology, under the guidance of their leader the country would then rise like a phoenix from the ashes of corruption and decadence.
The decades animus of the wealthiest American strata for any curb on their behavior, is the direct consequence of their sociopathic view of human nature as fundamentally sociopathic. The irony in all this is their idea of a natural order of tyranny by wealth, is the exact reason to have social curbs on their behavior. The only way the natural order can be established is by eternal conflict, and even a society of sociopaths is best off if they ensure no party gets ahead of any other.
“ Each person seeks mastery over a world of slaves” James McGill Buchanan
Ideologues are always dangerous because they do not compromise and therefore do not offer practical solutions to present problems. It is one thing to have the strength of your convictions. It is another to work with those who do not share those convictions.
My only counter would be that he's an intellectual. To me, at least, an intellectual engages in critical self-reflection and good faith interrogation of opposing points of view. Vought seems to do none of this which I think places him squarely in the category of a psuedo-intellectual.
Vought sure spends alot of high minded verbiage to convince us there are too many people in America who cherish freedom, fairness, and equal rights and is willing to deport millions of them to make sure the fascist voting majority he prefers will remain so.
"Power now lies with the executive, Vought explains. Not with the president, however, but with the agencies, unelected bureaucrats, civil servants. And these agencies are fully in the hands of a “permanent ruling class” of leftist elites."
It would be laughable, if it wasn't actually totally scary, listening to these soon-to-be "unelected bureaucrats" like Vought, Musk and Rama-smarmy complain about... unelected bureaucrats.
Nice, and essential, reporting, Thomas! To agree with several who have already made the point, conservatism that becomes explicitly authoritarian and revolutionary is simply fascist (as in, the German Conservative Revolution, which was a rough analog of Mussolini's movement). Vought, like many in the National Conservative set, hopes to usher in fascist/falangist policies and tactics, only under a different name (like the European New Right or Meloni's Brothers of Italy). This isn't to say we should all call him a "fascist" in print (most Americans clearly either don't understand or don't oppose fascism). But we should probably understand him through that specialized lens. It's much more dangerous than mere "reaction."
well, the word isn't conservative, but neither is it radical. It is Reactionary. I've never figured out how you can read the Constitution "four square" and come up with a Christian Nation. Bill Gates was brought up Christian. Does that make Microsoft a "Christian Corporation?" Nor can I fathom how trying to make "religious liberty" a reason to disobey laws with impunity is somehow a "bedrock view" of the Constitution. And was not the whole POINT of having a Senate a vision of the expertise of its members in political matters putting a brake on the mob? If "abortion" isn't mentioned in the constitution, neither is "rejecting experts."
Vought is scary BECAUSE he is not an incompetent choice. We are all going to have to learn that (as I've been preaching from the get go) not all MAGATS are dumb, and we have to craft different ways of resisting the varieties there actually are.
Not fun reading but very informative and scary! These fascists have been hiding in plain sight - said exactly what they are going to do and poised to implement the new national order Day one January 20th!
Yes this is unnerving to read. But Vought and his ‘intellectual’ radicals are ‘leading’ from the very back of the front line. Who do they believe are going to actually carry out their radical ideas? All the young white men who can’t lift their heads from their phones? Are they the foot soldiers? That’s laughable. People are generally lazy and they don’t want to actually risk their lives and or even risk scraping their toes. So—yes, scary. But we’ll see.
The American evangelical tradition can't be separated from racism. Racism melded with a more primitive, punitive, dualistic, life-hating and extreme strain of Calvinism. Really, really bad shit, and Vought is a core constituent, I think, one of those who would have been fighting at the barricades for Hitler until the end and, if he survived, romanticizing the Reich until he died.
You never know, though, until their lives are on the line. I look at the times when these kinds of lunatics drove the world into insanity and mass slaughter and, even knowing the outcome, can't discern the true believers. The opportunists and cynics will punt when the crisis comes and try to save their skins. Of course their constitutional claims are pure bullshit. Marketing tactics.
They'll claim the high ground while groveling before some piece of shit like Trump because it's pure, survival-driven desperation. Imagined, because they're nuts. I recommend everyone read or re-read George Lakoff, especially the articles he wrote after Don-boy entered the scene. It's a way I've found to get a grip on it -- it's so far gone into authoritarianism and disconnected from reality.
Not that you can't make a case for authoritarianism, but not their inhumane, paranoid kind and CERTAINLY not on the basis of the American constitution, a raging Enlightenment document, and Christianity, a manifesto against tribalism and intolerance. Typically, people this fucked up reveal themselves through their fixations, turned back on themselves. They're everything they lay on us.
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2017/05/02/berkeley-author-george-lakoff-says-dont-underestimate-trump
White supremacy is one hell of a drug…
AN OPEN LETTER TO MY GLOATING MAGA NEIGHBOR
“Trumpism was never about making America great again. It’s about weaponizing your fear and resentment. Immigrants, women daring to expect control over their own bodies, trans kids, and “wokeness”—these weren’t your enemies until he told you they were. Trumpism isn’t about policy, principles, or progress; it’s a spectacle, a theater of grievance where you gleefully cast yourself as the victim while ignoring the real threats tearing this country apart.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/patricemersault/p/an-open-letter-to-my-gloating-maga-450?r=4d7sow&utm_medium=ios
From this piece, Vought sounds not just dogmatic and ideologically wrong, but, in fact, unhinged.
Anyone have any ideas about how to fight back against this? It seems like so much of this is going to happen behind the scenes until it's too late. What do we do?
Banality of evil ring a bell? I can’t decide which of the Fuhrers minions he most resembles- Eichmann? Himmler?
Gee, that sounds awful familiar.
—
The palingenetic myth can also possibly stand for a return to a golden age in the country's history so that the past can be a guidebook to a better tomorrow, with an associated regime that superficially resembles a reactionary one. Fascism distinguishes itself by being the only ideology that focuses strongly on the revolution in its myth or, as Griffin puts it:
.. to put government in the hands of outstanding personalities instead of non-entities.
Through all of that, there would be one great leader who would battle the representatives of the old system with grassroots support. In the fascist utopia, one mass of people will supposedly appear who have only one goal: to create their new future. Such a fascist movement would ideally have infinite faith in its mythical hero who would stand for everything the movement believes in. According to this utopian ideology, under the guidance of their leader the country would then rise like a phoenix from the ashes of corruption and decadence.
—
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palingenetic_ultranationalism
The decades animus of the wealthiest American strata for any curb on their behavior, is the direct consequence of their sociopathic view of human nature as fundamentally sociopathic. The irony in all this is their idea of a natural order of tyranny by wealth, is the exact reason to have social curbs on their behavior. The only way the natural order can be established is by eternal conflict, and even a society of sociopaths is best off if they ensure no party gets ahead of any other.
“ Each person seeks mastery over a world of slaves” James McGill Buchanan
Ideologues are always dangerous because they do not compromise and therefore do not offer practical solutions to present problems. It is one thing to have the strength of your convictions. It is another to work with those who do not share those convictions.
Reactionary is the proper term to apply to such people. That is what trumpism is.
My only counter would be that he's an intellectual. To me, at least, an intellectual engages in critical self-reflection and good faith interrogation of opposing points of view. Vought seems to do none of this which I think places him squarely in the category of a psuedo-intellectual.
Vought sure spends alot of high minded verbiage to convince us there are too many people in America who cherish freedom, fairness, and equal rights and is willing to deport millions of them to make sure the fascist voting majority he prefers will remain so.
"Power now lies with the executive, Vought explains. Not with the president, however, but with the agencies, unelected bureaucrats, civil servants. And these agencies are fully in the hands of a “permanent ruling class” of leftist elites."
It would be laughable, if it wasn't actually totally scary, listening to these soon-to-be "unelected bureaucrats" like Vought, Musk and Rama-smarmy complain about... unelected bureaucrats.
I keep thinking about that too.
Nice, and essential, reporting, Thomas! To agree with several who have already made the point, conservatism that becomes explicitly authoritarian and revolutionary is simply fascist (as in, the German Conservative Revolution, which was a rough analog of Mussolini's movement). Vought, like many in the National Conservative set, hopes to usher in fascist/falangist policies and tactics, only under a different name (like the European New Right or Meloni's Brothers of Italy). This isn't to say we should all call him a "fascist" in print (most Americans clearly either don't understand or don't oppose fascism). But we should probably understand him through that specialized lens. It's much more dangerous than mere "reaction."
well, the word isn't conservative, but neither is it radical. It is Reactionary. I've never figured out how you can read the Constitution "four square" and come up with a Christian Nation. Bill Gates was brought up Christian. Does that make Microsoft a "Christian Corporation?" Nor can I fathom how trying to make "religious liberty" a reason to disobey laws with impunity is somehow a "bedrock view" of the Constitution. And was not the whole POINT of having a Senate a vision of the expertise of its members in political matters putting a brake on the mob? If "abortion" isn't mentioned in the constitution, neither is "rejecting experts."
Vought is scary BECAUSE he is not an incompetent choice. We are all going to have to learn that (as I've been preaching from the get go) not all MAGATS are dumb, and we have to craft different ways of resisting the varieties there actually are.
Not fun reading but very informative and scary! These fascists have been hiding in plain sight - said exactly what they are going to do and poised to implement the new national order Day one January 20th!
Yes this is unnerving to read. But Vought and his ‘intellectual’ radicals are ‘leading’ from the very back of the front line. Who do they believe are going to actually carry out their radical ideas? All the young white men who can’t lift their heads from their phones? Are they the foot soldiers? That’s laughable. People are generally lazy and they don’t want to actually risk their lives and or even risk scraping their toes. So—yes, scary. But we’ll see.