Skibboleth
It's never 4D Chess
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User ID: 1226
Skibboleth
It's never 4D Chess
20d ago
The entire "gibs" model is an arbitrary and emotive distinction. Anti-welfare factions have political programs full of handouts and special treatment for favored groups; they're just far less likely to use the framing of economic justice.
Skibboleth
It's never 4D Chess
20d ago
If we're insisting on historical analogies, Trump is a less dignified Peron, but if we're actually exercising our faculties we should realize that these analogies obscure more then they reveal.
Democracy just doesn’t work in non Anglo and definitely non European societies.
Japan and Taiwan seem to manage alright (admittedly, Japanese democracy is kind of weird by western standards, but they have real elections and democratic accountability); the South Koreans got off to a rough start but pulled themselves together in the past few decades; non-Anglo western Europe has unambiguously functional democracies, including some of the most desirable countries to live on the planet; much of post-Soviet Eastern Europe has done quite well for itself under democracy despite a lack of democratic traditions to fall back on.
I don't know on what basis you declare "democracy doesn't work" versus the US have a current problem with an anti-democratic right-wing populist president and his cult of personality. If anything, the evidence points the opposite direction - nearly all of the most functional countries in the world are democracies and virtually none are autocracies.
This is, essentially, the "Elite Human Capital" bit. It's pretty clear that Hanania both genuinely believes the modern conservative movement is an army of uneducated rubes led by grifters and takes a particular delight in needling them about this (helped along by the way many are clearly very sensitive about it).
I think the theory that he is just doing it for engagement/money doesn't really follow. He's already on record as a Death Eater (re: beliefs on race, class, etc...) which poses a major obstacle to rehabilitation, and the safe, easy choice would have been to stay on the Trump train. As is, trying to pivot to the reformed ex-right winger angle is a fairly risky play, especially given that he hasn't really recanted any of his controversial views, just changed his priorities.
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