Urgent Lowdown interview with political theorist @Yascha_Mounk on why progressives must change if they are to beat off the radical right https://shows.acast.com/the-lowdown-with-nick-cohen/episodes/did-woke-win-it-for-trump
I've spent over a decade imploring my left wing friends that it's a gift to the right, but the truth is, the worldview of what's become institutional and cultural left is in itself despicable. It's despicable on its own terms and no reference need be made to the right to condemn it.
Hear hear. It’s denial of basic material reality for ideological purposes just as much as saying two plus two make five. It’s pure post-truth post enlightenment hocus pocus and as asinine and debasing as anything on the far right.
It might be that only a belligerent narcissist could have pushed back against it successfully, but what price will we, I don't just mean Americans, pay?
It never seemed likely that the push back would be a liberal one as I don't see many standing up for those values.
Sport is taken extremely seriously by Americans. There is sponsorship and enormous money to be made from it. It is a path, or at least an aspiration, out of poverty.
When biological men are allowed to compete with women in sport it is a shocking realisation for millions of women that something has gone horribly wrong.
I believe that the average left leaning voter does vote left IF it is financially, etc. beneficial for heer/him (i.e. all in for the welfare state).
BUT, they are also culturally conservative and hate to be told what to think (i.e. against deeply held prejudices, stereotypes, etc.) and whom to accept into their society, esp. at the expense of their perceived job prospects (see Brexit discussion against the Poles in particular, but not against 'brown people" whom they feel superior to).
For me this "reaction" is a replay of the "reaction" in the 1920s/1930s, never mind what happened after WW2.
I’m generally sympathetic to Yaschas argument but very frustrated that at one point he does what everyone does is the current debate, holding the left to a ridiculously higher standard than the right on what is exactly the same principal
So Trump gets credit for a throwaway line about not signing a national abortion ban when everyone knows he will appoint only judges who will legislate a ban from the bench, his solicitor general will argue for bans in the courts and he’ll reverse the federal govt position on Milfesteprone
Then in the very next sentence he declares as a fact that Harris did nothing to signal a break with her left flank despite the fact she took the very tough decision to support the Border Bill (maybe too late but she did it) and never gave the Gaza protestors the time of day (imagine the Hosannas that would have been thrown Trumps way if he had refused to support the views of right wing Christian’s on Israel)
It’s hard enough for Dems on cultural issues as it is without a world being created where their allies give them no credit for breaking with the activists on their left while the left screams betrayal
Thanks Nick, I am again and again amazed that you find people like Yascha and get them on your podcast. Besides that the US is really a far away country we know little of.
I've spent over a decade imploring my left wing friends that it's a gift to the right, but the truth is, the worldview of what's become institutional and cultural left is in itself despicable. It's despicable on its own terms and no reference need be made to the right to condemn it.
Hear hear. It’s denial of basic material reality for ideological purposes just as much as saying two plus two make five. It’s pure post-truth post enlightenment hocus pocus and as asinine and debasing as anything on the far right.
Absolutely!
It might be that only a belligerent narcissist could have pushed back against it successfully, but what price will we, I don't just mean Americans, pay?
It never seemed likely that the push back would be a liberal one as I don't see many standing up for those values.
Scary times.
Sport is taken extremely seriously by Americans. There is sponsorship and enormous money to be made from it. It is a path, or at least an aspiration, out of poverty.
When biological men are allowed to compete with women in sport it is a shocking realisation for millions of women that something has gone horribly wrong.
'Harris is for they/them, Trump is for you'.
That's what won it for Trump.
They definitively did.
I believe that the average left leaning voter does vote left IF it is financially, etc. beneficial for heer/him (i.e. all in for the welfare state).
BUT, they are also culturally conservative and hate to be told what to think (i.e. against deeply held prejudices, stereotypes, etc.) and whom to accept into their society, esp. at the expense of their perceived job prospects (see Brexit discussion against the Poles in particular, but not against 'brown people" whom they feel superior to).
For me this "reaction" is a replay of the "reaction" in the 1920s/1930s, never mind what happened after WW2.
I’m generally sympathetic to Yaschas argument but very frustrated that at one point he does what everyone does is the current debate, holding the left to a ridiculously higher standard than the right on what is exactly the same principal
So Trump gets credit for a throwaway line about not signing a national abortion ban when everyone knows he will appoint only judges who will legislate a ban from the bench, his solicitor general will argue for bans in the courts and he’ll reverse the federal govt position on Milfesteprone
Then in the very next sentence he declares as a fact that Harris did nothing to signal a break with her left flank despite the fact she took the very tough decision to support the Border Bill (maybe too late but she did it) and never gave the Gaza protestors the time of day (imagine the Hosannas that would have been thrown Trumps way if he had refused to support the views of right wing Christian’s on Israel)
It’s hard enough for Dems on cultural issues as it is without a world being created where their allies give them no credit for breaking with the activists on their left while the left screams betrayal
Thanks Nick, I am again and again amazed that you find people like Yascha and get them on your podcast. Besides that the US is really a far away country we know little of.
What the Left love more than anything else is being right. And it’s nauseating to most people.