masculine coded violence as a spiritual project of national rebirth
where have we heard that before?
Seeing war as am antidote to alleged civilisational decline and a recipe for civilisational renewal is a thoroughly fascist worldview
I generally agree, but I also think it's significant that some of those voices are turning on ICE raids. It shows they're not buying the hallucinatory western civilizational emergency rhetoric about immigrants and I think that's good
Maybe the way to put this is there's kind of a through line from the Rogan-bros alienated by ICE violence to the large percentages of young people who oppose Iran war. Vast majority of youth are not on board with MAGA delusions about civilizational total war from Minneapolis to the Mideast
we're seeing *most young people* getting pushed the other way, I mean
totally, I'm not really talking about rifts in MAGA, I just mean that the *overall* pool of reactionary youth is actually pretty small, and we're seeing Trump's failures push huge amounts of young people the other way
Oh yeah, I get this. I just meant that the overall pool of reactionary youth, the ones that continue to get more radicalized even as Trump reigns, is extremely marginal, and we're seeing most of them getting pushed the other way...I think what I reported on there is good news
In short, I think what we're seeing from young people right now is somewhat encouraging. Look at these numbers!
I talked to youth pollster John Della Volpe. His interviews w/young men find something different from what @michellegoldberg.bsky.social reports. The combo of Trump's economic failure/Iran war has alienated precisely those who expected MAGA to provide stability. 2/2
newrepublic.com/article/2076...
This young dudebro who talked to @michellegoldberg.bsky.social basically says the "America First" movement is a source of empowerment for young people like him who feel no sense of agency or independence. Fortunately, this probably isn't all representative. 1/
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/o...
It's the same way that Mussolini invented fascism to carry on the legacy of Rome. Most people don't want violence, but fascists do. That's an important difference between democracy and fascism.
bsky.app/profile/greg...
This is a major aspect of fascism
Their world view is pathetically predictable: manly & in control, or you're nothing.
Amazing. Millenia of human history, men *still* haven't learned that "might makes right" is 🐂💩.
So what we have here is a war run by political hustlers and extreme religious weirdos convinced they can beautify the world through ultraviolence—and that’s before we talk about Iran.
This kind of talk from Pete Hegseth is another reminder that he sees this war as the antidote to supposed civilizational decline, as a recipe for civilizational renewal and rapture (see below)
Very informative (and frightening) conversation. Recommend a listen.
And now follow professor Saunders
Also this:
bsky.app/profile/greg...
“[Trump is] making a terrible situation worse; his inability to conduct any sort of diplomacy at any level is harming his own ability to prosecute the war. He will have a harder time declaring victory & going home because he’s not using American diplomatic resources and in fact has dismantled them.”
Gillibrand calls for Hegseth to resign over bombing of Iranian elementary school. More to follow, one assumes:
Wow. Trump is now making hugely consequential decisions about the Strait of Hormuz based on FAFO. On our pod, @profsaunders.bsky.social really nails the dynamic here: There's basically no one around him to constrain this sort of madness any longer:
newrepublic.com/article/2076...
Ok, I will admit that of all the patterns my ADHD recognized and followed through on, none of them led to this one.
Not one.
A week ago, I'd've laughed at anyone suggesting this.
lmfaoooo they're so cooked
This is really something. New Marist poll has Trump underwater with noncollege whites and even noncollege white *men.*
It looks like Global Civilizational Total War isn't doing it for them (see below).
He can win them by playing "YMCA" more often.
It directly addresses young men!
The morning newsletter from @thebulwark.com notes that even before Trump attacked Iran, young men were already concluding he was prioritizing foreign policy over the economy, alienating them. Iran war is exacerbating that dynamic (cites my reporting):
www.thebulwark.com/p/sing-godde...
The important part here is that the officials are leaking this information. Trump won’t live forever and these people don’t want to bury their careers with him.
The White House’s failure to think a step or two ahead—such as what Iran could do with the Strait of Hormuz—is another “reminder of what it means to purge government and decision-making of all the experts.”
@profsaunders.bsky.social dropping some political science with @gregsargent.bsky.social.
Yep, in this discussion @profsaunders.bsky.social is extremely illuminating on the impact gutting the diplomatic corps will have on the course of Trump's Iran war and more generally the impact of the gutting of expertise as well. She's really good in this chat. You'll learn a lot.
A depressing but interesting conversation with @gregsargent.bsky.social @newrepublic.com on the miscalculation (noncalculcation?) the Trump administration made over the Strait of Hormuz. There’s gonna be a Trump premium on oil for a while.
Some intelligent writing — on the internet!!! — in this thread.
