Welsh rarebit

Something they have/had in common with both Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America: a rigid ideological vision that makes it impossible to bend in the face of changed realities. (No matter what happens to the US economy Trump’s belief in tariffs isn’t going to change.)

The strategic incompetence seems to go hand in hand with a fundamental lack of interest in the countries with which they become involved. This being a feature not of the US military but of the national culture.

Great work, Elizabeth.

Cribbins gave an immortal performance as “Nervous” O’Toole in The Wrong Arm of the Law.

As in the great song from The Music Man “Marian the Libertarian.”

Indeed. In such a matter it would be better to be wrong than right.

A Calman cartoon had a couple on a couch in front of a mirror, with one saying “Look at those disgusting middle class people.”

The principle of Trump’s Razor: The dumbest explanation is generally correct.

Yes, that rings true.

His entire set of assumptions about America’s trade and security relations to its allies could very well have come from his Russian handlers over the years. His beliefs harmonize perfectly with Russian interests.

Thanks.

The entire premise of Nazism was that in WW1 the soldiers had been betrayed by the civilian population (with the Jews and socialists in the lead). The task for the new state was thus to indoctrinate and police the civilians so that, as war was resumed, it wouldn’t happen a second time.

It’s in Rousseau’s First Discourse, as I recall, so it has deep roots there.

Preference for Spartan austerity over Athenian luxury is of course a hoary old trope among authoritarians.

German saying: Vater werden ist nicht schwer. Vater sein dagegen sehr. (Becoming a father isn’t hard. Being a father however is very hard.)

Think of liberalism as a chariot pulled by three horses: one ethical, one sociopolitical, one economic. The challenge to the driver is to get them pulling in the same direction.

Agreed.

Worth looking also at The Magic Mountain, which contains furious intellectual face-offs between the liberal Settembrini and the proto-fascist Naphta. Not to be missed.

They seem to hope that by a combination of propaganda and violence they can cement the November 2024 configuration into a permanent reality.

If.

The home of the brave.

Loot for the few, racism for the many. That’s been the winning formula all along.

And how do they get away with it? Because their power is founded on the mighty fortress of white American racism.

The easy way into Mann is his early Buddenbrooks based on his own upbringing. By far the most personal of his novels.

Excellent, but don’t miss his Reflections of an Unpolitical Man, written during WW1, a long and convoluted exposition of the anti liberal mentality. He had experienced it all himself and from within.

Thanks.

If that’s so I’d hate to see her scowl.

She hasn’t pretended very hard.

Who’s in charge in the White House now? Is this Susie Wiles’s moment?

It’s hard to imagine Trump doing without Miller. He expresses so perfectly all the racist hatred in the MAGA masses and in Trump himself.