Good piece Eric. It's striking how the Trump brand is damaging conservatives elsewhere. On a point of fact, isn't it the case that Trump didn't pardon all the Jan 6th rioters? There was a subtle distinction, with those convicted of violent offences having their sentences commuted to time served. They still have a criminal record, and by the standards of most jurisdictions serving 3-4 years is a more severe penalty than you would expect to get for the sort of incidents seen on Jan 6 - accepting your point that a punishment is appropriate.
Sound essay. I think that the basic idea here is correct. When my brother phoned me in the middle of the night to tell me me that Trump had been elected I said "thank God"...and I meant it!!. No-one can doubt my pro-Trump credentials, compared to Biden (or Harris). But my reaction had as much to do with the desire to get away from the [inter]nationally destructive consequences of the Leftist authoritarian regime that everyone suffered under Biden/Harris (which also impacted upon the rest of the world) as it did any strong commitment to Trump's MAGA "vision" (which is now ALSO impacting upon the rest of the world). To me, they are both divisive and nationally destructive authoritarian regimes - see my comment here last month. And neither of them represent what is really desirable for the nation or for the wider world. Speaking imperially about making Canada the next US state speaks volumes and I quite understand Eric's feelings towards that. Trying to establish some kind of sensible common ground seems the most sensible way forward, and I am encouraged here by hearing about even more Left wing figures who are recognising the errors of the past few years in addition to the likes of Yascha Mounk and Susan Neiman etc. The more sensible people like that who are in in the room, the better. But the more maniacal and authoritarian people on 'our' side need to listen up too!
You do know that the poor "illegal immigrant" in that AI image is a fentanyl dealer and not just some random wanderer looking for a better life, right?
I'm two sentences into this essay and already it is arrant nonsense. Non-binary, transgender 'rights'- type blah blah is not "morality" gone too far. Far from it, it is off the scale performative narcissism gone too far. Race grifting, competitive victimhood blah blah similarly....nothing to do with "morality"; everything to do with performative vanity with a side-helping of self pity. The author of this essay needs to go into a darkened room and have a real good long rethink about the concepts he is mis-using.
Wow, you seem to have taken a leaf out of the leftist playbook in thinking that the more outraged you are, the better your argument.
As Konstantin Kisin often says, 'everything is understood in comparison'. Perhaps something by Owen Jones might have warranted your wrath but an essay by Eric Kaufmann? Really? The golf analogy he used in the piece could have had you in mind. Talk about a purity spiral!
My comment was warranted by the wrongeheadedness of misconceiving wokeness as an excess of morality..... whether written by this person or that person is entirely beside the point.
I don't think Trump is operating outside a moral frame. He constantly appeals to moral norms and incites moral outrage. All politicians appeal to morality. But there are conflicting moral systems in the US, so each side views the other as evil.
Trump is rejecting certain assumptions (or delusions) about the geopolitical order. He is openly acknowledging that it is based on power, not laws or ethical principles. For example, he's not treating national borders as sacred. The left does the same thing, but in a different way. They reject borders as a meaningless construct when migrants invade Western countries, but insist that we must defend the sacred borders of Ukraine.
We're at a time when morality (and culture in general) is increasingly dysfunctional. We need an intellectual class that can get outside a moral frame. Morality can't solve our problems, and is often the cause of our problems.
Going postal on Trump is nonsense. It makes me question your conservatism. Now, I know that there is no widely conception of just what is conservatism, but Trump bashing is most certainly not conservatism by any definition. Criticizing his policies because of his bombastic personality is unfair to him as well as to the truth. Smarmy sympathy for Zelensky represents an ignorance of the history of Russia and Ukraine, as well as of Zelensky himself. He is a clownish puppet installed by the CIA as a foil to stir up war with Russia, that America was planned for America to support, to, in turn, enable American interests to feed off the spoils of both Russia and Ukraine.
The CIA is a Democrat party invention to stir up wars across the world because war is a racket just like the Mafia only bigger. War always enriches so-called nonbelligerents, the bankers who finance them and the military industrial complex. Labor unions couldn't exist without high paid workers in munitions factories, including such giants as Boeing, Northrop Drummon, Douglas, and Curtis-Wright.
In spite of Trump's support of Israel, he is genuinely interested in world peace. For many Americans, for many reasons, believe Israel is a special case. Millions of Americans visit Israel for religious reasons, for instance Palestine is the birthplace of Christianity as well as being the land of the historical Jews. Their blindness to the genocide of the largely Arab and Muslim residents, and their, basically, theft of property, including homes, farms, and businesses is ignored.
Besides, the rush to condemn Trump dumps on policies that, given more rational insight, is highly beneficial to America and Americans. But it feels so good to make moral judgements.
So, why is my honest criticism unfair, but his misplaced criticism of Trump fair? One can be independent and intellectual without credentials. I do not see myself as being pure and loyal blindly. When and where Trump is wrong I will say so; it would be unfair not to. His critics are often not fair.
Nicely written Eric with useful links embedded. I wonder if the right is operating with a different moral set, such as ingroup loyalty, sanctity vs disgust, and so on. The woke were fixated on the singular ethic of equity of outcome and fairness. I think you are right that some on the right are not using a well balanced set of ethics and morals. Ideally, I'd like these politicians to show a balanced set of morals between freedom and truth as priorities, and goodness/fairness as a second tier. In the case of Trump, I'd like to see a deeper analysis of complex issues (e.g., tariffs), which I guess comes under the ethic of truth.
Great piece - much needed clarity in time of tribalism
Good piece Eric. It's striking how the Trump brand is damaging conservatives elsewhere. On a point of fact, isn't it the case that Trump didn't pardon all the Jan 6th rioters? There was a subtle distinction, with those convicted of violent offences having their sentences commuted to time served. They still have a criminal record, and by the standards of most jurisdictions serving 3-4 years is a more severe penalty than you would expect to get for the sort of incidents seen on Jan 6 - accepting your point that a punishment is appropriate.
Sound essay. I think that the basic idea here is correct. When my brother phoned me in the middle of the night to tell me me that Trump had been elected I said "thank God"...and I meant it!!. No-one can doubt my pro-Trump credentials, compared to Biden (or Harris). But my reaction had as much to do with the desire to get away from the [inter]nationally destructive consequences of the Leftist authoritarian regime that everyone suffered under Biden/Harris (which also impacted upon the rest of the world) as it did any strong commitment to Trump's MAGA "vision" (which is now ALSO impacting upon the rest of the world). To me, they are both divisive and nationally destructive authoritarian regimes - see my comment here last month. And neither of them represent what is really desirable for the nation or for the wider world. Speaking imperially about making Canada the next US state speaks volumes and I quite understand Eric's feelings towards that. Trying to establish some kind of sensible common ground seems the most sensible way forward, and I am encouraged here by hearing about even more Left wing figures who are recognising the errors of the past few years in addition to the likes of Yascha Mounk and Susan Neiman etc. The more sensible people like that who are in in the room, the better. But the more maniacal and authoritarian people on 'our' side need to listen up too!
You do know that the poor "illegal immigrant" in that AI image is a fentanyl dealer and not just some random wanderer looking for a better life, right?
I'm two sentences into this essay and already it is arrant nonsense. Non-binary, transgender 'rights'- type blah blah is not "morality" gone too far. Far from it, it is off the scale performative narcissism gone too far. Race grifting, competitive victimhood blah blah similarly....nothing to do with "morality"; everything to do with performative vanity with a side-helping of self pity. The author of this essay needs to go into a darkened room and have a real good long rethink about the concepts he is mis-using.
Wow, you seem to have taken a leaf out of the leftist playbook in thinking that the more outraged you are, the better your argument.
As Konstantin Kisin often says, 'everything is understood in comparison'. Perhaps something by Owen Jones might have warranted your wrath but an essay by Eric Kaufmann? Really? The golf analogy he used in the piece could have had you in mind. Talk about a purity spiral!
My comment was warranted by the wrongeheadedness of misconceiving wokeness as an excess of morality..... whether written by this person or that person is entirely beside the point.
I don't think Trump is operating outside a moral frame. He constantly appeals to moral norms and incites moral outrage. All politicians appeal to morality. But there are conflicting moral systems in the US, so each side views the other as evil.
Trump is rejecting certain assumptions (or delusions) about the geopolitical order. He is openly acknowledging that it is based on power, not laws or ethical principles. For example, he's not treating national borders as sacred. The left does the same thing, but in a different way. They reject borders as a meaningless construct when migrants invade Western countries, but insist that we must defend the sacred borders of Ukraine.
We're at a time when morality (and culture in general) is increasingly dysfunctional. We need an intellectual class that can get outside a moral frame. Morality can't solve our problems, and is often the cause of our problems.
Going postal on Trump is nonsense. It makes me question your conservatism. Now, I know that there is no widely conception of just what is conservatism, but Trump bashing is most certainly not conservatism by any definition. Criticizing his policies because of his bombastic personality is unfair to him as well as to the truth. Smarmy sympathy for Zelensky represents an ignorance of the history of Russia and Ukraine, as well as of Zelensky himself. He is a clownish puppet installed by the CIA as a foil to stir up war with Russia, that America was planned for America to support, to, in turn, enable American interests to feed off the spoils of both Russia and Ukraine.
The CIA is a Democrat party invention to stir up wars across the world because war is a racket just like the Mafia only bigger. War always enriches so-called nonbelligerents, the bankers who finance them and the military industrial complex. Labor unions couldn't exist without high paid workers in munitions factories, including such giants as Boeing, Northrop Drummon, Douglas, and Curtis-Wright.
In spite of Trump's support of Israel, he is genuinely interested in world peace. For many Americans, for many reasons, believe Israel is a special case. Millions of Americans visit Israel for religious reasons, for instance Palestine is the birthplace of Christianity as well as being the land of the historical Jews. Their blindness to the genocide of the largely Arab and Muslim residents, and their, basically, theft of property, including homes, farms, and businesses is ignored.
Besides, the rush to condemn Trump dumps on policies that, given more rational insight, is highly beneficial to America and Americans. But it feels so good to make moral judgements.
That's not fair on Eric--he is obliged as an academic to think critically and independently, rather than stay pure and loyal to one side or the other.
So, why is my honest criticism unfair, but his misplaced criticism of Trump fair? One can be independent and intellectual without credentials. I do not see myself as being pure and loyal blindly. When and where Trump is wrong I will say so; it would be unfair not to. His critics are often not fair.
"Going postal on Trump is nonsense." was unfair, was it not? Because it was a more considered evaluation--rather than going postal.
And "It makes me question your conservatism" is an appeal to loyalty to a group.
It may also be unfair because small c conservatism may involve a criticism of the brash, and a careful evaluation before changing everything.
Can you write proer complete sentences please
Nicely written Eric with useful links embedded. I wonder if the right is operating with a different moral set, such as ingroup loyalty, sanctity vs disgust, and so on. The woke were fixated on the singular ethic of equity of outcome and fairness. I think you are right that some on the right are not using a well balanced set of ethics and morals. Ideally, I'd like these politicians to show a balanced set of morals between freedom and truth as priorities, and goodness/fairness as a second tier. In the case of Trump, I'd like to see a deeper analysis of complex issues (e.g., tariffs), which I guess comes under the ethic of truth.