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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDigsby: Losing the 21st Century - Putin and American conservatives: peas in a pod
https://digbysblog.net/2023/07/01/losing-the-21st-century/I like Tom Sullivan's analyses.
We dont turn back our clocks for another four months. If American conservatives could have their way, they would turn back the last half-century. Back to when America was great in their eyes, in MAGAs eyes. Back to when white dominance and The Lost Cause went unquestioned. Back to before the country agreed with the Civil Rights movements demands for equal voting rights and civil rights for minorities. Back to the world of the Cleavers and the Nelsons. Back to when women, too, knew their places.
Nostalgia not for lost innocence but for lost dominance is what made Donald Trump so attractive to the movement that grew up around him.
Speaking recently with Amanda Marcotte, David Neiwert (The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Rights Assault on American Democracy) observed that fascism and neo-fascism have actually been present in America since at least the early 1900s. The increasing radicalization of the right has been there for years. Trump as their charismatic leader simply exploited it, gave it a mainstream platform, Neiwert says:
All to preserve (or to restore) the power structures of the last century.
That is in part why MAGA Republicans display such affinity for Vladimir Putins Russia. He too wishes to retain the traditional power dynamics that pertained during the last century (and prior to that). That death grip on what was destroys lives there, Fareed Zakaria writes:
By multiple measures, the Russian people lag behind the rest of the 21st century.
Russia has a longstanding inferiority complex that mimics that of American Southerners. They still pick at the scabs of their defeat in the Civil War and resent seeing monuments to their romanticized insurrection finally come down. MAGA Republicans organize discontent over their lost social dominance that accompanied modernization and the computer age. Their resentments make Vladimir Putin a kindred spirit.
Nostalgia not for lost innocence but for lost dominance is what made Donald Trump so attractive to the movement that grew up around him.
Speaking recently with Amanda Marcotte, David Neiwert (The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Rights Assault on American Democracy) observed that fascism and neo-fascism have actually been present in America since at least the early 1900s. The increasing radicalization of the right has been there for years. Trump as their charismatic leader simply exploited it, gave it a mainstream platform, Neiwert says:
I dont think theyre capable of winning, but I think a lot of people can get hurt and I think there will be a lot of people hurt by this, including them. One thing Ive learned about right wing extremists over 30 years of covering them is that people who get involved in these movements destroy their lives. Its one of the most toxic forces in America. It draws people into the abyss. It ruins their family relationships, ruins their relationships in the community. A lot of the time they wind up in prison.
All to preserve (or to restore) the power structures of the last century.
That is in part why MAGA Republicans display such affinity for Vladimir Putins Russia. He too wishes to retain the traditional power dynamics that pertained during the last century (and prior to that). That death grip on what was destroys lives there, Fareed Zakaria writes:
Ive been stunned by one statistic ever since I read it: A 15-year-old Russian boy today has the same life expectancy as a 15-year-old boy in Haiti. Remember, Russia is one of the worlds richest countries in terms of natural resources. And it is an urbanized, industrialized society with levels of education and literacy comparable to, and perhaps even exceeding, other European countries.
This analysis comes from an August 2022 working paper by scholar Nicholas Eberstadt, who has long studied demography. He points out that for three decades now, Russia has been depopulating. With a brief respite from 2013 to 2015, deaths have outpaced births, but he notes that this trend is one that we see in many industrialized countries.
What stands out in Russia is its mortality rate. In 2019 before covid and the invasion of Ukraine the World Health Organization estimated a 15-year-old boy in Russia could expect to live another 53.7 years, which was the same as in Haiti and below the life expectancy for boys his age in Yemen, Mali and South Sudan. Swiss boys around the same age could expect to live more than 13 years longer.
By multiple measures, the Russian people lag behind the rest of the 21st century.
Russia has a longstanding inferiority complex that mimics that of American Southerners. They still pick at the scabs of their defeat in the Civil War and resent seeing monuments to their romanticized insurrection finally come down. MAGA Republicans organize discontent over their lost social dominance that accompanied modernization and the computer age. Their resentments make Vladimir Putin a kindred spirit.
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Digsby: Losing the 21st Century - Putin and American conservatives: peas in a pod (Original Post)
erronis
Jul 2023
OP
dchill
(38,547 posts)1. "Their resentments make Vladimir Putin a kindred spirit."
That's pretty much on the money.