Make America the opposite of great

I admit it: like many liberals, I feel a bit MAGAfreude – take some pleasure in the self-destruction of the American right.

After all, there has never been a sight quite like the chaos we’ve seen in the House of Representatives this week.

It had been a century since a president had been elected on the first ballot, and the last time that happened there was a substantial dispute:

Progressive Republicans (yes, they existed then) demanded, and eventually received, reforms of procedure they hoped would further their agenda.

This time, there was no significant dispute over politics:

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 evaders.

Long after he tried to appease his opponents by relinquishing his dignity, the vote continued.

But while the show was amazing and, yes, entertaining, neither I nor, I think, many other liberals are feeling the kind of exhilaration Republicans would feel if the party roles were reversed.

On the one hand, liberals want the US government to work, which, by the way, means we need a properly constituted House of Representatives, even if it’s run by people we don’t like.

Second, I don’t think there are many on the American left (as it stands) who define themselves as many on the right: with their resentments.

And yes, I mean “complaints” more than “complaints”.

Complaints have to do with things you think you deserve, which could be reduced if you get part of what you want.

Resentment has to do with feeling offended and can only be appeased to hurt to the people you, on some level, envy.

Consider the phrase (and associated sentiment), popular on the right, “you own the liberals.”

In this context, “own” does not mean defeating progressive policies, such as repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Instead, it means personally humiliateand to liberals, make them look weak and foolish.

I am not going to claim that liberals are immune to such sentiments.

As I said, MAGAfreude is a real thing, and I kind of feel it too.

But liberals have never seemed as interested in humiliating conservatives as conservatives are in humiliating liberals.

And a substantial part of what’s happening in the House appears to be that some Republicans hoping to own the Liberals after an election red wave have done as they disappointment to possess kevin mccarthy Instead.

And does anyone doubt that the resentment of those who felt slighted was central to Donald Trump’s rise?

There are some experts left who still believe it was largely “economic anxiety“?

I’m not saying that the decline in manufacturing jobs in the Midwest was a myth:

it really happened and it hurt millions of Americans.

But the failure of Trump’s trade wars to bring about a manufacturing renaissance doesn’t appear to have alienated his base.

Why?

The probable answer is that the anti-globalism of Trump, his promise to Make America great againit had less to do with trade balances and job creation than with a sense that stuffy foreigners regarded us as boobs.

“The world is laughing at us” was a constant theme in Trump’s speeches, and his supporters surely imagined that the same was true of domestic globalist elites.

And I have a theory that Trump’s underlying ridicule, his manifest lack of brainpower and emotional maturity to be president, was part of what endeared him to his base.

Do you liberals think you are very intelligent? Well, we’ll prove it to you by choosing someone you consider a clown.

The irony is that the MAGA movement has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of leftist globalists (if any) in making America the opposite of great.

Right now the world is actually laughing at us, even if it’s also terrified.

The United States remains the essential nation, on multiple fronts.

When the world’s greatest economic and military power can’t seem to even manage a functioning government, the stakes are there global.

I mean, even with a spokesperson in charge, how likely are the people we’ve been observing over the past few days to agree to raise the debt ceiling, even if it would create a massive financial crisis otherwise?

And there could be many other risks that require urgent congressional action before we even get to that point.

Of course, the world laughs even more at Republicans, both those on the right who reject and the characterless social climbers like McCarthy who helped empower the insane.

What is the use of a man to lose his soul if he does not get enough votes to become Speaker of the House?

Not sure what to expect, and no one is.

One thing is certain, though: America is already smaller than it was when Nancy Pelosi ran the house, and it’s shrinking by the day.

c.2023 The New York Times Society