Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
From Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen and Jie Chen: As our Table 4 above showed [not shown here], Trump had largely financed his primary campaign with small contributions and loans from himself. As late as mid-May, he remained convinced that his success in using free media and his practice of going over the head of the … Continue reading ““How Money Won Trump the White House””
The Lesson of the Watergate affair: The major scandal of Watergate as portrayed in the mainstream press was that the Nixon administration sent a collection of petty criminals to break into the Democratic party headquarters, for reasons that remain obscure. The Democratic party represents powerful domestic interests, solidly based in the business community. Nixon’s actions … Continue reading “On an “Independent” Mainstream Media Standing Up to Trump”
This post is about propaganda and how it works, and how it is working today in an unhealthy way in the United States — as perceived by me, an Australian. When I was struggling in my last days in a religious cult I picked up The Mind of the Bible-Believer by Edmund Cohen and I … Continue reading “The Mind of the Trump Supporter”
If it fits. . . . I live in Australia but some things I have seen of ardent Trump supporters seem . . . not entirely desirable. Am I mistaken for thinking that there is a certain clamorousness, a certain closed-mindedness against the views of “the other”? Back in 2007 I posted 10 characteristics of … Continue reading “Characteristics of Trump Supporters”
This is the final post in the series covering Nancy Fraser’s article, “From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond” that was published in the American Affairs Journal in 2017. Previous posts so far: Understanding the Rise of Trump (1) Understanding the Rise of Trump (2) Understanding the Rise of Trump (3) Understanding Trump’s Rise, Presidency – … Continue reading “Understanding Trump’s Rise, Presidency — and a Positive Resolution to the Crisis”
An article by a Trump supporting “deplorable” caught my attention today because it made the same point as Nancy Fraser made about Trump’s betrayal of his populist base by giving in to the “Neocons” — and it was written over two years ago. Yesterday I posted Nancy Fraser’s analysis of Trump’s betrayal of his populist … Continue reading ““Deplorables” Losing Hope in Trump”
The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear. — Gramsci We now come to Nancy Fraser’s analysis (Gramchi) of Trump as President, hence the title adjustment. Previous posts in the series: Gramsci’s theory of hegemony Nancy Fraser’s perspective builds on the concept of … Continue reading “Understanding Trump’s Rise, Presidency – and Beyond (4)”
Continuing the series based on the article by Nancy Fraser. Previous posts: Understanding the Rise of Trump (1) Understanding the Rise of Trump (2) –o– There was no force in politics to oppose the eroding of working and middle class standards of living. Anti-liberal voices were excluded from respectable public debate. Hence what Fraser terms … Continue reading “Understanding the Rise of Trump (3)”
This post continues with a discussion (begun here) of Nancy Fraser’s analysis, Fraser, Nancy. 2017. “From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond.” American Affairs Journal 1 (4): 46–64. I like to think in images so have prepared a few for this post. If you find them confusing then stick with the words. If they’re confusing then … Continue reading “Understanding the Rise of Trump (2)”
I have belatedly caught up with some of Nancy Fraser‘s analysis of the current worldwide political condition that has seen Trump in the US and a rise in ethnocentric and authoritarian movements worldwide and I’d like to try to set out her ideas over a few posts here as I find opportunity. Above all, I’d … Continue reading “Understanding the Rise of Trump (1)”
From Rosa Rubicondior Three-toed Skink Is an Evolutionary Intermediate Which came first the lizard or the egg? – The University of Sydney Today from the the reptile world, we have a very nice example of evolution in progress, or at least in a state of dynamic equilibrium between two characteristics, each of which could be … Continue reading “Evolution and missing links; fundamentalist discovers the real world; Muhammad; Detering and Trump”
As many readers know I was a member of a religious cult for too many years in a former life and have since delved into some of the specialist literature by psychologists, sociologists and historians to help me reflect on and understand that experience. I have mentioned before how fascinated I was when once watching … Continue reading “Trump, Trump Supporters, and Cults”
Continuing from Towards Understanding . . . It does feel like something to be wrong. It feels like being right. — Kathryn Schultz per J. Quinton Fifth point. The sins, the flaws, the character defects in the leader make no difference to the “true believer”. They are forgiven or in some other way excused and overlooked. … Continue reading “Trump Movement as a Cult / 2”
I was dismayed after leaving a religious cult to discover that fallacious thinking that had led me into the cult was not restricted to cult members but was evident throughout society all around me. How I had been so shut off from “the world” not to have noticed how much we shared with “the world”. … Continue reading “Towards Understanding the Trump Movement as a Cult”