3 ms·

> A joyless theocracy produces wittier videos than the Trump administration "One joyless theocracy produces wittier videos than another joyless theocracy" woul

> A joyless theocracy produces wittier videos than the Trump administration "One joyless theocracy produces wittier videos than another joyless theocracy" would have laid bare the comparison, I guess. But this isn't terribly surprising. One of the pillars of the Trump regime is people having grown tired of cloying propaganda that aims to live up to positive ideals (perhaps even earnestly), but then falls terribly short. It's been replaced with some sort of empathizing with the emotional struggles of an entitled dictatorial simpleton, not even claiming to do anything for any type of good reason, but rather just lashing out to exert some kind of mark on a world they don't understand. So traditionally-effective lofty-ideal propaganda just isn't in their wheelhouse. If there had been some attempt to manufacture a casus belli in that context, then perhaps more Americans would look at the current war and end up identifying with the "totally unforeseeable" struggles of our local regime. But instead without feeling a need for any of this to have happened, we just see utter incompetence, graft, a puppet of Netanyahu, a distraction from the Epstein files (the likely reason for being a puppet), and so on.

jfengel 6mo ago
That's the thing. Trump is wildly entertaining. He flirts with the joyless theocracy we have here, but he's not part of it. It's interesting that he's finally gone to a place where the joyless theocrats aren't following. They're still happy that he's bombing The Adversary to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, but they know he's not succeeding and it looks like God isn't helping. Meantime, the atheist money-worshippers don't like wasting money and prestige. He needed a big win to offset the fact that his economic program isn't working. Up until now his supporters have always found excuses, but for once they're floundering. Obviously his opponents hate it, and he should have been able to use that. It should be easy to accuse Democrats of loving Iran; he's been accusing Democrats of loving Muslims since forever.
- mindslight 6mo ago
  I don't know that I would set Trump apart from the joyless theocracy. Yes, it's obvious that if he actually stepped into a church either he or the church would combust. But what is the substance of Trump's "entertainment" ? I've seen too many family members go through the process of growing old and becoming mentally incompetent (incontinent?) to respect his destructive entitled flailing as entertainment. So it seems like the core of his entertainment is the same fire and brimstone harm-the-"other" that is at the core of religious fundamentalism. Basically decades of reactionary talk radio boosted religious fundamentalism into the secular context, so now that people who don't even identify with religion are effectively religious fundamentalists. As for whether the wheels are actually coming off the cart now or merely different dissent is being highlighted, I'm not going to get my hopes up. I've seen too much ignorant blind "but Republicans are better for $ISSUE" to think that reality is going to have a significant effect. I saw a comment here a week back or so describing the American body politic as thoroughly unserious, and it strongly resonated with me. (It applies pretty damn well to much of the errant groupthink of the blue tribe as well)

jfengel 6mo ago

That's the thing. Trump is wildly entertaining. He flirts with the joyless theocracy we have here, but he's not part of it. It's interesting that he's finally gone to a place where the joyless theocrats aren't following. They're still happy that he's bombing The Adversary to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, but they know he's not succeeding and it looks like God isn't helping. Meantime, the atheist money-worshippers don't like wasting money and prestige. He needed a big win to offset the fact that his economic program isn't working. Up until now his supporters have always found excuses, but for once they're floundering. Obviously his opponents hate it, and he should have been able to use that. It should be easy to accuse Democrats of loving Iran; he's been accusing Democrats of loving Muslims since forever.

mindslight 6mo ago
I don't know that I would set Trump apart from the joyless theocracy. Yes, it's obvious that if he actually stepped into a church either he or the church would combust. But what is the substance of Trump's "entertainment" ? I've seen too many family members go through the process of growing old and becoming mentally incompetent (incontinent?) to respect his destructive entitled flailing as entertainment. So it seems like the core of his entertainment is the same fire and brimstone harm-the-"other" that is at the core of religious fundamentalism. Basically decades of reactionary talk radio boosted religious fundamentalism into the secular context, so now that people who don't even identify with religion are effectively religious fundamentalists. As for whether the wheels are actually coming off the cart now or merely different dissent is being highlighted, I'm not going to get my hopes up. I've seen too much ignorant blind "but Republicans are better for $ISSUE" to think that reality is going to have a significant effect. I saw a comment here a week back or so describing the American body politic as thoroughly unserious, and it strongly resonated with me. (It applies pretty damn well to much of the errant groupthink of the blue tribe as well)