Poison Pyramid: The Tyrannous Tiers of Trumpism

There is tyranny in the womb of every Utopia. Bertrand De Jouvenel We’ve had about four months of Trump 2.0 now, and the most staggering thing about his new term is the sheer volume of damage he is able to do, mostly just from speaking and tweeting off the cuff. The overall sense is of a bloated and bored sultan, lying on a mountain of … Continue reading Poison Pyramid: The Tyrannous Tiers of Trumpism

The Illusory Future of Trumptopia

Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind. King Lear Those who are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of vivid and fixed visions, so that those who are most ignorant think they know the most. Theodotus (2nd century C.E.) The dizzying pace of Trump’s rampage through the tattered hallways of American precedent continues. The Walmart Price-Fixer-in-Chief can wreak … Continue reading The Illusory Future of Trumptopia

The Tyranny of Easy Answers: Trump’s comic-book destruction of America

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein There is always an easy solution to every problem — neat, plausible, and wrong, H.L. Mencken The world is not about Batman and Robin fighting the Joker. Things are more complicated than that. And nothing is scarier than the people who … Continue reading The Tyranny of Easy Answers: Trump’s comic-book destruction of America

A Different Project for 2025: Finding an Off-Ramp from Trumpism

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller You have to see it to be it. Billie Jean King Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day, and by a cruel twist of fate, Inauguration Day for Donald Trump. As we lurch into this new year and new era, partisans … Continue reading A Different Project for 2025: Finding an Off-Ramp from Trumpism

Convergence & Cataclysm: The Tectonic Plates of Trumpism

Clinging to politics is one way of avoiding the confrontation with the devouring logic of civilization. John Zerzan The only paradise is paradise lost. Proust In the big picture, the pandemic was probably the best thing that could have happened to Donald Trump. Had there been no Covid, he would have cruised to reelection, mainly due to the favorable conditions inherited from the Obama years. … Continue reading Convergence & Cataclysm: The Tectonic Plates of Trumpism

Election 2024: The Aftermath

Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: it is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future…Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in … Continue reading Election 2024: The Aftermath

Bridge to Nowhere: Democrats After the Debate Debacle

Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. Joe Biden, March 2020 Bridge is nowhere; over the bridge, you feel an emptiness inside you. Bridge is nowhere. Mehmet Murat ildan Disclaimers: First, I am not a registered Democrat. I used to be, but in 2020 I changed over to the Green Party, and I’ve been voting those candidates ever since. Living in … Continue reading Bridge to Nowhere: Democrats After the Debate Debacle

Reaping the Whirlwind: The Conservative Dilemma

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7 With the 2024 election looming like an autumn iceberg in the mist, many people, liberals and conservatives, are wondering: “How did we get here?” How is it that, with the world collapsing around us on multiple fronts, we’re again stuck with two doddering octogenarians, who no one really wanted, vying for … Continue reading Reaping the Whirlwind: The Conservative Dilemma