@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD OK, so I see you two arguing about this the other day, and I have a different take that I think may get more to the heart of the issue. I think people like VDH signed on to Trumpism in part for real ideological reasons. 1/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD VDH has been going on about immigration forever. (Mostly because he feels his own neighborhood in rural CA has gone to the dogs, so he extrapolates improperly from his own circumstances.) He likes Trump because of the Wall. Fine. 2/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD But where they got in over their heads is that they didn't project the extent to which Trumpism would not just be another ideological branch of the right but would be militantly anti-intellectual. 3/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD They didn't realize that Trumpism doesn't care about ideas or consistency and demands only loyalty--so backing their man, and doing everything needed to push for The Wall, would push them to have to betray a lot of the other things they believed. 4/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD Or maybe it's also that "populism" is a lot more appealing in the abstract than in the concrete. It's easy to appeal to "the people" and the mob when you imagine they will agree with you. 5/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD But then you sign up with the populist mob and find it wandering off in its own directions and expecting you to follow--or else become one of the "out of touch elite" bad guys. If populism has a real hold on your psyche, you feel this as a serious dilemma. 6/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD So I think the change in some of these intellectuals might come, not so much from a reversal in their ideas, but from some of those ideas being pushed to logical consequences they weren't prepared for. 7/
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD They thought they could hold a reasonable, intellectual version of Trumpism/populism/nationalism, but found out that's not possible. That's my working hypothesis. 8/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD An example will clarify this. Say you believe that immigration is wrecking the country and we need a wall--but no one wants to listen and it's not happening. So after shouting about that a bit, you move on to the other big issues of the day. 9/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD So maybe you complain about eminent domain abuse, about Obama's attempt to rule by executive order, about wanting to bring the troops home instead of fighting terrorism. See where I'm going with this? 10/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD You can make all these arguments and don't have to choose between your ideological priorities--so long as no one is actually trying to Build the Wall. 11/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD Then Trump comes along and he finally wants to Build the Wall--by withdrawing troops from the fight against terrorists in the Middle East and sending the military to build the wall by executive order on land seized through eminent domain. NOW you have to choose. 12/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD If you were a computer on Star Trek, this is the point at which you would scream "does not compute" and smoke would come out and you would explode. Since you're a human, you spin a lot of unconvincing rationalizations. 13/8
@RadioFreeTom @EsotericCD But it comes from the fact that you held a lot of contradictions or conflicting priorities that you didn't have to resolve until somebody tried to put one of those priorities into practice. 14/8
