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Notes -
The Flight 93 election thesis would support the emergencyism of the Right.
But I don't see it as the central tendency of the Trumpist blob. That's much more personalistic, and Trump himself doesn't seem to think of the political situation as an emergency. He has fits of pique and rhetorical nastiness, but to get on his good side all you need to do is be a bit friendly and he rolls over like a puppy hoping for a belly rub. That's not someone worried about the fate of the Republic. And the Right mostly follows his cues.
One thing, though: you can name emergencies identified by thinkers on both political sides, and they're all wrong. The US would muddle through those. But there is an eminent existential emergency, and neither side is seriously grappling with it: AI. Right now it's just an amorphous recognition that something big is coming, manifested by the public into complaints about data centers drinking all the world's water. But as it becomes more concrete, we are going to see a rapid shift away from our current preoccupations.
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