I admit it: Like many liberals, I
am feeling a fair bit of MAGA freude — taking some pleasure in the
self-destruction of the American right.
There has, after all, never been a
spectacle like the chaos we have seen in the US House of Representatives this
week. It had been a century since a speaker was not chosen on the first ballot
— and the last time that happened, there was an actual substantive dispute:
Republican progressives (yes, they existed back then) demanded, and eventually
received, procedural reforms that they hoped would favor their agenda.
اضافة اعلان
This time, there has been no significant
dispute about policy — Kevin McCarthy and his opponents agree on key policy
issues like investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop and depriving the Internal
Revenue Service of the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats. Long
after he tried to appease his opponents by surrendering his dignity, the voting
went on.
But while the spectacle has been amazing
and, yes, entertaining, neither I nor, I believe, many other liberals are
experiencing the kind of glee Republicans would be feeling if the parties’
roles were reversed. For one thing, liberals want the US government to
function, which among other things means that we need a duly constituted House
of Representatives, even if it is run by people we do not like. For another, I
do not think there are many on the US left (such as it is) who define
themselves the way so many on the right do: by their resentments.
And yes, I mean “resentments” rather than
“grievances”. Grievances are about things you believe you deserve, and might be
diminished if you get some of what you want. Resentment is about feeling that
you are being looked down on, and can only be assuaged by hurting the people
you envy.
Consider the phrase (and associated
sentiment), popular on the right, “owning the libs”. In context, “owning” does
not mean defeating progressive policies, say by repealing the Affordable Care
Act. It means, instead, humiliating liberals personally — making them look weak
and foolish.
‘Owning the libs’
I will not claim that liberals are immune
to such sentiments. As I said, MAGAfreude is a real thing, and I am feeling a
bit of it myself. But liberals have never seemed remotely as interested in
humiliating conservatives as conservatives are in humiliating liberals. And a
substantial part of what has been going on in the House seems to be that some
Republicans who expected to “own the libs” after a red wave election have acted
out their disappointment by owning Kevin McCarthy instead.
And does anyone doubt that resentment on
the part of those who felt disrespected was central to the rise of Donald
Trump? Are there any pundits left who still believe that it was largely about
“economic anxiety”?
When the world’s greatest economic and military power seemingly cannot even get a functioning government up and running, the risks are global.
I am not saying that the decline of
manufacturing jobs in the heartland was a myth: It really did happen, and it
hurt millions of Americans. But the failure of Trump’s trade wars to deliver a
manufacturing revival does not seem to have turned off his base. Why?
The likely answer is that Trump’s
anti-globalism, his promise to Make America Great Again, had less to do with
trade balances and job creation than with a sense that snooty foreigners
considered us chumps. “The world is laughing at us” was a consistent theme of
Trump speeches, and his supporters surely imagined that the same was true of
domestic globalist elites.
And I have a theory that Trump’s own
underlying ludicrousness, his manifest lack of the intellectual capacity and
emotional maturity to be president, was part of what endeared him to his base.
You fancy liberals think you are so smart? Well, we will show you, by electing
someone you consider a clown!
Superpower or global laughingstock?
The irony is that the MAGA movement has
succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of sinister globalists (if any exist) in
making America the opposite of great. Right now, the world really is laughing
at us, although it is terrified, too. America is still the essential nation, on
multiple fronts. When the world’s greatest economic and military power
seemingly cannot even get a functioning government up and running, the risks
are global.
I mean, even with a speaker in place, how
likely is it that the people we have been watching the past few days will agree
to raise the debt ceiling, even if failing to do so creates a huge financial
crisis? And there may be many other risks requiring emergency congressional
action even before we get to that point.
Of course, the world is laughing even
harder at Republicans, both the ultraright refuseniks and the spineless
careerists like McCarthy who helped empower the crazies. For what shall it
profit a man, if he shall lose his own soul, and still not gain enough votes to
become speaker of the House?
I am not sure what we are in store for, nor
is anyone else. One thing is sure, however: America is already less great than
it was when Nancy Pelosi ran the House, and it is shrinking by the day.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
