PUTIN'S PAWNS: Beware the Hillary Clinton-Loathing, Donald Trump-Loving Useful Idiots of the Left

[DonViejo]

JAMES KIRCHICK

The Republican nominee’s words are music to the ears of progressives averse to the Democratic nominee’s support for the U.S.-led liberal world order.

In this weirdest year, there may be no weirder phenomenon than the rise of the progressive Donald Trump supporter.

There exist two broad species of this political genus. First are the radical instrumentalists who see the Republican nominee as a noxious but necessary way-station on the road to socialist revolution. Two months ago in this space, a writer named Christopher Ketcham made the “left-contrarian arsonist” case for Trump, arguing that, “What’s needed now in American politics is consternation, confusion, dissension, disorder, chaos—and crisis, with possible resolution—and a Trump presidency is the best chance for this true progress.” While acknowledging Trump as “fascistic,” Salon’s Walter Bragman urged his fellow lefties to at least acknowledge that, “he would shake the current system to its core.” In March, actress Susan Sarandon explained to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes her hesitancy to support Hillary Clinton in the general election because “Some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in.”

With their purposeful enablement of right-wing populist extremism over center-left incrementalism, America’s latter-day revolutionaries are behaving like Weimar-era German communists, who, on Joseph Stalin’s orders, attacked Social Democrats as “social fascists” rather than battle Nazi brown-shirts. Clearing the way for an actual fascist to take power would “heighten the contradictions of capitalism,” a dialectical Leninist concept holding that conditions must deteriorate drastically in order to wake the proletariat from its slumber.

Today in America, the stakes may not be as great as they were 80 years ago, but the political strategy is similarly irresponsible. Exultant in their moral narcissism, these lefties for Trump display no concern whatsoever for the consequences of their juvenile behavior. It shouldn’t surprise us that the vast majority of them are white and upper middle class, precisely the sort of people most insulated from the ravages of a potential Trump regime.

But it is the second group of progressive Trump fans, subtler in their sympathies, who warrant the most concern. These are the so-called anti-imperialists who harbor deep revulsion at the idea of American power being used for good in the world. America, they believe, is more often than not a source of evil and disorder—a jaundiced view of our global role that they share with the Republican nominee. Unlike the aforementioned wannabe revolutionaries, most of these progressives haven’t endorsed Trump. But they nonetheless embrace the radical departure in American foreign policy that his presidency promises.

-snip-

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/15/beware-the-hillary-clinton-loathing-donald-trump-loving-useful-idiots-of-the-left.html

[Adrahil]

1. Not hard to spot....

Just look at any thread about Ukraine.

[Demsrule86]

2. Exactly

Why they don't see any evidence that Putin is colluding with Trump....and yada yada. And the concern is so deep and so heartfelt too.

[Hortensis]

3. :) A bunch are speaking a lot more freely and every

bit as...marvel-ously as this author describes over on that little forum that some True Believers fled to. There are some conspiracies promoted there by some that I suspect they will never recover from. Seriously sad--in order to explain the inexplicable, corruption has to be incredibly widespread.

The similarity to the far left in pre-Nazi German politics is unmistakable, except for the numbers. I'll only start worrying if, as the Kochs seem to be attempting, a movement uniting both the far right and left arises--as in Germany.

Itm, the absolute cluelessness of these people is astounding. It's obviously never occurred to any of them that chaos might put in power not them but giant, far more powerful business libertarian, cum business fascist, cum religious and social right forces.

[charlyvi]

5. Exactly.

For every George Washington there is a Josef Stalin, or a Mussolini, or a Pol Pot, or a Vladimir Putin, or a Robespierre, or a........you get the picture.

[Hortensis]

10. Yup, and our main versions are very well organized,

very well funded, and very sophisticated, though clearly still learning from their mistakes. Very unlike these people.

[JaneyVee]

4. Pay no attention to the regressive left.

[UtahLib]

6. People fueled by hate make sick decisions.

[Hortensis]

7. American exceptionalism, though deep-seated,

is manifested most strongly as a conservative concept heavily bound up with religion and nativist assumptions that racial and/or cultural superiority completely explain our nation's advances. Russia very much has its own deep-seated Russian exceptionalism dogma. Although in mild doses it can be healthy, in both nations this has lead to aggression against other nations and atrocities within.

This author's sanitized glorification of American Exceptionalism as only its best, most healthy manifestations* helped explain what initially mystified me, his belief that the far-left's antipathy to foreign involvement is far more dangerous than flirting with destabilization within. Well, yes, Israel does depend on us for its existence, and some far-left liberals are doing their best to promote the divestment boycott sanctions against Israel.

Okay, I get it now. But really, I think his portrayal of this group as a serious threat to America is very much overstated. To Israel, possibly could do some damage if ignored, but America's pro-Israel blocs are very strong.

*He's not the only one. Liberals have attempts to coopt the term for inspiration to work on what is genuinely good about us.

[Arazi]

8. I hate Trump, Im voting for Hillary and this article gets a lot wrong

I don't think American foreign interventions have been a good thing, most have been pretty big clusterfucks.

American Exceptionalism when applied internationally looks a lot like Libya, Syria, Honduras, Iraq etc etc.

And believing that our hegemonic wars for global greed are wrong doesn't make me a Putin lover either

[JRLeft]

9. ^ This

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. I despise them every bit as much as I despise Putin.

[DemonGoddess]

12. ^^^This!!!