Thread by @RadioFreeTom

If Trump wanted to add 15 more countries to NATO and fund the World Bank from Social Security taxes, Lindsey Graham would propose the legislation and guys in diners in Ohio would be explaining why it was the right thing to do - as long as some intellectual objected first. /1

https://twitter.com/wrmead/status/1092624574716538880

I'm not sure how long we have to go on pretending Trump's policies reflect a "view," any more than any other group of populist idiots. What does the current Italian govt want to do? Heard about them lately? They're bogged down in dumb stuff. Because populism isn't a program. /2

It's stupefying to watch intelligent men and women wishcasting "ideas" onto Trumpism or Leavers or Europopulists. There's no "there" there. It's the Seinfeld of political movements: about nothing, but passionately about nothing. /3

Yes, yes, I know. Immigration. Income inequality. Gas prices.
Mostly, it's about change, and why people hate it, and why they want to be bought off rather than accept it. More transfers for me, and also, please magically create an idealized version of 1970 that never existed. /4

The tell is that people are aggrieved over things that aren't true. Ask Americans - or even the French - how many Muslims live in their country. How much they think gas should be. What they think was better in 1970 or 1980 or 1990. They can't tell you in any real way. /5

In fact, ask them what they *want*. As a thought exercise, say: "You win. What do you want?" They can't really answer that, either, because they know the answer is impossible (or racist, or self-serving). Mostly, they want to piss off other people. That's the key. /6

That's why you can never find a compromise with the hard-core 35 percent in the US, or the rioters in Europe. (Short of just sending cash to them as a buy-off.) Imputing "policy" preferences to them is a mug's game, and it's long past time to stop playing it. /7x