I recently read The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America, an essay collection by Adam Serwer. He nails something that a lot of the media refuse to see when covering TFG and his cult. [Warning: the racist violence discussed is pretty grim, so feel free to skip straight to the Top Comments.]
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A lot of right-wing cruelty is weirdly impractical. I get why some cruel things (like stealing from the poor to give to the rich) benefit those who do it. But others benefit no one, like having the cops harassing unhoused people from one block to the next when it would be cheaper to house them. And some cruel policies could actually backfire on the people who support them: the life-threatening pregnancy that you can’t terminate could be you, or someone in your family. It can be hard for liberals to wrap our minds around these choices.
Here on dkos, I’ve seen discussion of how TFG’s overt bullying makes his followers feel righteous about being bullies. Serwer notes another aspect: cruelty can actually be a bonding experience for those inflicting it. He describes lynching photos where the killers would gather for a smiling group picture, their victims visible behind them. (Such photos were actually sold as souvenir postcards.) In a similar vein, he mentions Christine Blasey Ford’s description of her two wannabe-rapists’ laughter, the sound “indelible in the hippocampus.”
As the NYT and CNN descend on one diner after another to interview TFG’s supporters, the pundits seem anxious to come up with a different, more palatable reason for his appeal. But the MAGA right’s crusade against imagined enemies gives them more than the immediate dopamine rush: it gives a sense of belonging, makes them part of an “us” united against “them.”
And I’m not sure what rational people have to offer them that would compete with that.
On to Top Comments!
Fromm inkstainedwretch:
geekyde’s reply to sepiasiren on sepiasiren’s diary, concerning the absolutely disgusting misogynistic defense posed by a female lawyer defending the insufferable, indecent, indefensible iDJiT.
Top mojo, courtesy of mik:
Picture quilt, created by jotter, brought back by elfling & the help desk crew: