A few thoughts on Borat. The main target of the movie is clearly Trump supporters, but I feel bad that Kazakhstan gets caught in the crosshairs. Based on his stereotype, you can see Cohen wants to critique Russians, Germans, and Arabs for historical reasons. 1/n
He picks on Kazakhstan as some kind of amalgamation of all three, despite it being a pretty successful country over the last two decades. This is likely because of its lack of influence, and because most Americans know nothing about it, letting him create any image he wants. 2/n
In the beginning, he tells us Kazakhstan celebrates the Holocaust. This is a completely invented slander. I know it's a movie, and these are jokes, but it's a joke with no historical basis at all and just takes advantage of the ignorance of the viewer. 3/n
Another thing that the viewer doesn't know is that Kazakhstan suffered one of the worst mass killings of the twentieth century itself. Instead of at least targeting the nations responsible, he's picking on an innocent victim. 4/n
Particularly striking since his message is supposed to be one of liberal tolerance. While many of Cohen's grudges are ethnic and historical, most are modern. You'll see jokes about Karens, racism, QAnon, Covid denial, all the liberal tropes. 5/n
If he was more of a pure ethoncentrist and less of a modern liberal, he'd love Trump for his Israel policy and ignore the rest. Although Borat was funny at certain points, there's nothing particularly interesting or novel about his critique of Trumpism. 6/n
Sacha Baron Cohen's bio is #StopHateForProfit. It seems to me that under such a regime Borat should be the first thing to go. The movie is not actually as un-funny as you would expect from his real life political views, completely lacking in empathy or self-awareness. 8/n

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More from @RichardHanania

22 Oct
I’ve been wondering why Trump doesn’t push for stimulus. Another question: given Trump ran on cutting immigration, why does he never mention he’s done it?

Seems personal resentments, over the media, Hillary, etc now occupy so much brain space there’s no room for anything else
It’s not on Hannity or something Leslie Stahl asked him about, so he probably doesn’t even know.
Personal resentments were always part of the package, but he’s gone down a rabbit hole to the extent that now they completely consume him. Why did this happen? I think two reasons
Read 4 tweets
21 Oct
I've seen people compare the American gerontocracy to the Soviet Union in its last decades. What an insult to Brezhnev & co., they never humiliated their country to this extent. theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/… Image
The girl is given to Giuliani as a replacement present for a monkey. Image
In 20 years, from being promoted as "America's mayor" to defended as "un-fooled and placid." Image
Read 4 tweets
21 Oct
The Republican strategy has been to

1) Use cultural issues to rile up voters to hate Dems
2) Use that hate to fight Dems tooth and nail on economic issues, fight wars
3) Roll over and die on cultural issues

Worth revisiting this. davidfrum.com/article/waterl… Image
Talk radio and Fox News hosts have same incentives as politicians. If they go too hard on cultural issues, they'll be cancelled. They compensate by being "really tough" on Obamacare or Hunter's emails, profiting off of hate but not getting at what motivates the movement.
Trumpism was seen as a rebellion against the GOP, in reality it was the perfection of the con. He's getting his followers riled up about debate moderators and Leslie Stahl, none of them are even noticing Republicans are refusing to pass a stimulus bill or govern much at all.
Read 5 tweets
24 Sep
I have a new paper in @SurvivalEditors on the US intervention in Syria, and why it made the human rights situation worse. This thread explains how American involvement exacerbated and prolonged human suffering. 1/n tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
There's a story interventionists tell. They say the US got involved in Iraq and Libya, and the situation turned out bad. But the US "did nothing" in Syria, therefore inaction can have costs too. 2/n Image
This is a rewriting of history to cover up a terrible record. The US sanctioned the Syrian regime, tried to destroy its economy, and put $1.5 billion into arming and training rebels. In no way is this "doing nothing," even if it's less than what regime change advocates wanted 3/n
Read 12 tweets
23 Sep
This thing is still banned. And although I should be angry at the censorship, I can't stop laughing at the thought of the Gabbard-Crenshaw "No war and also forever war" ticket as the way to unite the country and scare the elites, with which one we get determined by coin flip. ImageImageImageImage
"Heads, 3 more wars. Tails, 2 fewer. The people have finally taken their democracy back."
I'm starting to think that basing your entire politics on who agrees to go on Joe Rogan doesn't really lead to a coherent program.
Read 4 tweets
22 Sep
Imagine believing this tells you more about political parties than the class of people surveyed.
And who has ever heard of a transnational elite all in the same profession and getting their news from the same sources all having the same bias!
Imagine believing there's a single human being on earth who is familiar with the platforms and practices of every single dot on that list.
Read 4 tweets

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