“Weird” does not begin to describe the American atmosphere at this moment. The media and internet seethe with talk of civil war; but everyone is going about their daily business. The weather is uncanny: temperatures in the Northeast, where I live, have been about 20 degrees above normal and autumn leaves swirl to the ground in summer heat. Similarly, the internet swirls with the heat of imminent political apocalypse. But compared with the mass violence of the Sixties, it is like living in Norway. If anything, the national mood is more festive than alarmed as Halloween swings into action. Can we really be 10 seconds from civil war?
Civil war tends to happen along lines that are regional, as in the American civil war; tribal, as in Sudan; or ideological, as in Spain in the Thirties. None of that is occurring here. Regional? MAGA and liberals are scattered in and across every state in the union. Tribal? There are no actual tribes in America, with the exception of Native American tribes — being black, gay or Catholic is not like belonging to a “tribe” the way being a Hutu or a Tutsi was in the Nineties. Ideological? Harris’s ideology seems to reconfigure itself every day, and far from being steeped in any kind of ism — fascist leaders were nothing if not educated in their world view — it is likely that Trump does not even have a library card. Civil wars are preceded by intense, if sporadic violence. There has been no intense political violence in America — both assassination attempts on Trump were the politically incoherent work of unstable loners. There has been violent rhetoric, which, though disturbing, has not crossed the line into actual calls for violence.
I have yet to meet or talk to anyone, from various walks of life, who is afraid of what will happen after Election Day. And yet we are told that fear is in the air by journalists who interview true believers at political rallies, or solicit answers in surveys conducted over the phone, in which individuals, eager to make a good impression, tell strife-hungry journalists what they want to hear, or simply want to vent.
Before Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden last night, the internet was sizzling with cries that the rally would resemble the Nazi assemblies of yore. But nowhere in Leni Riefenstahl’s famous cinematic account of the Nuremberg spectacle was there a segment where, once the massive gathering ended, workers rushed to convert the rally site to the German equivalent of a Knicks game the following evening. (They are playing the Cleveland Cavaliers — from a former swing state!)
The whole evening was less Nuremberg rally than Trump’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” experience, that eerie moment when a heavily drugged, super-sexualised Marilyn Monroe sang to JFK on the occasion of his 45th birthday at a gala event in Madison Square Garden. But this was Trump singing to himself. He spoke, startlingly, about “if” he wins rather than “when” he wins. This was his last hurrah, and he knew it. He had to give one flamboyant middle finger to the city that rejected him before his middle finger faded into history.
Trump spoke for his customary 90 minutes. Some people started leaving 20 minutes into his speech; the rest cheered and laughed as though they were at a music festival, not a political rally. The yardstick for excellence in just about every realm of American life now is individual pleasure and satisfaction. For all Trump’s darkness about “enemies from within”, and murderous immigrants, and soaring crime rates, and mass deportations, you felt he was playing not to a burning desire for revenge, but to a good-old American Saturday night fever. It was jarring to watch him sway to the rally music before he spoke, then to abruptly swing into talk of American carnage, almost as jarring as it is to watch Harris amateurishly readjust the expression of her face from indignation to a broad grin in the space of a nanosecond. Both figures are the phoniest presidential candidates in modern American history. The difference is that the obviously unstable Trump is a first-rate monstrosity. Harris is a second-rate mediocrity.
I’m sorry but for me, as an interested and engaged observer from the UK, this election, like no other, represents a historic decision point for the US (with consequent ramifications for the rest of the anglosphere). Will America continue on its current trajectory, hurtling towards economic and cultural catastrophe in the hands of the Biden/Harris blob puppets? Will feelings and lazy rhetoric continue to trump reason and even facts? It seems to me that Trump has put together an impressive team of big-hitters with drive, ambition and some genuine intellectual clout: Musk; Kennedy: Vance; Ramaswamy. We know who they are, what they want to do and how critical it is that they do it. By contrast, we don’t even know for sure who the faceless people are who are pulling Kamala’s strings; we can only guess at a loose convergence of corporate interests, megalomaniacal billionaires and deluded ideologues.
I am very firmly from “the left” and my values haven’t changed. But I no longer recognise the values and outlook of those who claim that label today. A week or so ago I came to what for me was a startling conclusion: the Democrats are no longer the good guys. It may appear that there is a huge conceit in an Englishman thinking that he can have something meaningful to say about American politics, but this piece is vacuous, silly and profoundly missing the point.
Add Tulsi Gabbard to that team and Trump has put together what seems like a highly competent and passionate team wanting to make a real difference.
Hear Hear! Well said.
Hard to believe the quality of this piece. Hard to believe someone spent part of their life writing it and hard to believe Unherd paid for it. Halfway through I found my attention wandering until I just stopped reading. There is nothing of substance here. This is trash journalism.
Silly drivel.
I didn’t understand where the author of this article was coming from until the final paragraph. Trump insane and will result in a nuclear apocalypse and Harris controlled and run by a committee. Ah the ideal outcome for another Obama presidency as he will pick the committee. Sad, really sad.
You forgot to add …”will be operated by committee, along more or less rational lines”.>> There is nothing rational when it comes to the Democrats
Lee is reassuring us that Kamala will be the best choice because she is nothing but a puppet of “rational” committees. Having seen the absolutely insane and irrational decisions that have been made by bureaucrat committees over the last thirty years that is not comforting. From war to economics to Covid-19, trying to get a rational explanation for their decision making is terrifying.
If decisions are made by committee no one is responsible for the (bad) outcomes
If Trump is elected, some clear, Milei-style purge will be needed. The Siegel class, are turning increasingly fascistic and consider that elections should not interfere with their continuous rule.
Those “elites” should be purged from civil service, taxed, and removed from any position of power. Because the painful truth is that a significant portion of our “elites” reject the concept of democracy, and citizen sovereignty. The reason Trump is popular is because he confronts their yoke.
Why do Lee Siegel’s ruminations make me feel like I’m trapped in an elevator with a guy who doesn’t have anything to say but won’t shut up?
I have yet to meet or talk to anyone, from various walks of life, who is afraid of what will happen after Election Day
perhaps the author should get out a little more. Because the govt is afraid of what might happen, to the point that a federal directive has been issued authorizing the military not just to aid civilian law enforcement if needed, but to use deadly force in doing so: https://alexlekas.substack.com/p/what-happens-november-6th-and-after
To call it unprecedented sells the matter short. Mr. Seigel also conveniently forgets who multiple cities went into full prep mode in 2020 preparing violence in the event that Trump won. Again, in the event that Orange McBadman won. What will happen this time? Already, ballot boxes have been set ablaze by the leftist Antifa crowd in areas that are heavily blue.
While gazing at his navel, the author manages boilerplate idiocy like this: “There is no doubt that a mentally unstable Trump, should he be president again, poses a threat to America and to the world,” No doubt. Really? Does he forget that Trump was already president once and neither the country nor the planet were threatened. The nation enjoyed economic growth and stability, while the US engaged in exactly ZERO new wars.
Harris, on the other hand, if she comes out on top, will be operated by committee, along more or less rational lines.
Committees don’t operate rationally. They operate by groupthink (like this article). The Russian Empire and USSR survived and even strengthened under centuries of murderous strongmen only to descend into absolute dysfunction and then collapse following just 30 years of bureaucratic committee.
What a crap article. Trump is only unstable to leftists. It’s like being labelled a Nazi because one has legitimate concerns about mass immigration. The unstable lunatic is Harris. The Democrats have stabbed America in the back.
Sorry but Lee Siegel just didn’t see the same rally as any normal person who isn’t virulently anti-Trump. Nobody left during Trump’s speech. What is he talking about. The atmosphere in there was absolutely electric. As for illegal immigrants, yes 70%+ of US citizens want illegals to be deported. Yes, many thugs and gangs are coming across the border. Yes, dumping 20,000 Haitians in a town (Springfield, Ohio) of only 40,000 to start with is a recipe for disaster. Lee, get off your hobby horse and start reporting properly and accurately.
One other thing Lee. May I suggest you listent o the Jo Rogan-Trump interview. Maybe then he will realize that Trump is not unstable or insane, but is actually perfectly normal and loaded with common sense. And just so we’re clear there were no new wars under Trump and the Middle East was getting into a good place with the Abraham accords which, unfortunately, Biden didn’t pursue because, of course, everything Trump did was bad.
I am finding it astounding how many supposed professional political commentators have been opining about Trump over the past few days haven’t bothered watching any of the Rogan interview.
A good case in point was Spectator TV’s panel discussion broadcast yesterday, with all 3 professional commentators giving statements and comments about Trump as fact in complete ignorance of what was discussed on Rogan. James Kanagasooriam’s views were a particular case in point – “we don’t know Trumps opinions about Taiwan…etc”.
If he’d watched it he’d know.
Now, you might not generally like Rogan or watch him, but to ignore this event is ludicrous if you’re a professional commentator, given its social significance and reach. It aired 3 days ago and has had just shy of 38 million views (on youtube alone – it will be more considering many listen/watch on spotify).
More and more journalists and commentators are exposing themselves as anachronistic and out of touch. That goes even for those with some sympathetic views on Trump.
I say this as someone who is not a particular Trump fanboy but the cognitive dissonance is deafening.
I also watched the Spectator panel and thought, that the journalists seemed at times pretty clueless. As professional commentators reporting on the US election, they should at least have taken the time to listen to the whole Joe Rogan interview, which answered many of their questions.
Although I read Lee Spiegel‘s article, I think I will skip his next ones, because there is little insight and only biased reporting. After all he already told us in September about “The night Trump lost the election”….
I’ve got a theory that his contributions serve nothing more than to conjure commentary and bolster engagement on the platform. The time spent wading through Siegel’s severe case of TDS was long ago identified as a bad investment for myself and straight to the comments is where I immediately go.
‘Are you going to present this, ever?’
LS is such a snore. I wish Unherd would change the roster. These TDS folks add precisely nothing to my day. “Ideological? Harris’s ideology seems to reconfigure itself every day, and far from being steeped in any kind of ism” She is very clearly an ultra-progressive, materialist and globalist. They are globalists, hate civic-nationalism, want open borders, digital currencies, digital ID, face recognition and most worryingly, a good number of them quite literally want white people (a non-culture according to Joy Reid) eliminated as a category. Ans as for ‘ likely that Trump does not even have a library card’ this is such dumb insult it’s hardly worthy of comment.
Rogan had to keep reminding him of the question. It was painful to watch.
Trump calls it “weaving” but anyone who has had a parent with Alzheimer’s (like me) knows that one of the first faculties that goes is “sequencing” or the ability to order thoughts to reach a destination (if in physical space) or to reach a point (if in the conceptual space).
And the compilation videos of his slurring are coming out faster than ever before now.
Between his trouble sequencing and his slurring, he is clearly showing signs of dementia.
I just buried a parent who suffered from alzheimers and dementia for several years, and you are full of schitt.
Or just possibly the accumulation of being dragged through the courts by the Democrats, constant smearing, invasion of his home, two assassination attempts and constant campaigning.
one of the first faculties that goes is “sequencing” or the ability to order thoughts to reach a destination
Hardly. The first signs are repeating things and trouble using nouns.
I thought this publication was called UnHerd. An article like this is just more MSM “Herd” propaganda. You’re starting to disappoint me with this crap.
How do you know that no one left early at the rally? Were you there? There were plenty of witnesses who saw people leaving, some of them before Trump arrived. When people wait for hours both lining up and waiting indoors for Trump, they are tired. When I went to a Rolling Stones concert many moons ago, I waited for four and a half hours—in the stadium—for the Stones to take the stage at 11:30 at night. I had waited hours outside. I fell asleep for half of the concert. Tired.
“No one believes Trump when he summons a vision of America as being overrun by barbaric immigrant hordes, or so ridden by crime that a person cannot walk across the street to buy a loaf of — barely affordable! — bread without being murdered or raped.”
It may be hyperbole, but the fact is that people remember what their towns used to be like, and what they are now, and Trump is the only person acknowledging that fact. Everyone else just wants to either ignore it, or gaslight them that nothing is happening at all, and anyway even if something is happening, its all wonderful so shut up bigot!
Trump and his ilk only exist because they are all people opposed to the current direction of travel in Western democracies have got. Everyone else is in the ‘More of the same’ party. If Western political elites had not decided 25-30 years ago to all start singing from the same hymn sheet, and had provided real alternatives to the electorate, then Trump, and all his mini-me versions across Europe would not exist. The Western elites decided to ignore a massive proportion of the electorate and said to them ‘Whatcha going to do about it?’. Well now the electorates have done something, they voted for Trump, and Bexit, and the AfD and and and.
And its all the fault of the likes of Lee Seigel.
What’s far more worrying is another Lee Siegel article.
It is drivel like this that caused me to cancel my subscription.
yeah – I don’t think I will renew
I hope the mods read yours and others comments. Mods, Unherd is becoming a trashy, braindead magazine. Do you have to start losing subscriptions before you wake up?
Lee, G. F. Y.
The fascist shtick + Trump is stupid shtick, while defending *Kamala* and after defending dementia Joe only shows you are the person riding the short bus.
Americans are tired of the democrat tactic of “who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes”.
It is over. Lefties lied, lefties rioted all of 2020, lefties lied about the election, they lied about J6 and now you lie about MSG.
democrat lies have consumed the party. We are watching in real time the same violent hysterical psychosis that democrats deployed against America in 1860. G. F. Y.
I think this writer, like so many American commentators, is so steeped in the belief that the US is a ‘classless’ society that he will never understand what is going on around him.
He represents the people who are so consumed with hating Trump that they have never stopped to consider how his candidacy was made possible.
Harris is not, by most accounts, a paragon of mental stability. She giggles inappropriately, has appeared to be inebriated in public, talks in strange, fatuous riddles, and has a volcanic temper.
Any committee she heads could well be equally insane – a coterie of leftists will often be a coterie of the deluded and the irrational – and can make terrible decisions. The USSR, the PRC, and Cambodia under the Khymer Rouge were all run by committee, with cataclysmic results.
Trump will at least have the country’s best interests as a consideration. Harris will not. Most leftists actively dislike capitalism, the free market, personal freedoms, and the rule of law, and have said as much, regularly.
Except for the actual assassination attempts on one of the candidates?
And the ‘mostly peaceful ‘ rioting of 2019 that left cities burnt out wrecks
I see Lee’s fever dreams are becoming more vivid.
Where was Mr. Siegel living during the four years of Pres. Trump’s presidency? Did I sleep through the nuclear war and other evils deeds the left claims Pres. Trump did? If he didn’t do all the bad things expected of him back then, why would he do it the next four years?
Trump, and Vance, are sensible leaders, mentally stable, as made obvious during the 4 years of remarkably successful Trump’s presidency, in spite of “resistance”, an opposite of the greatest Anglo-saxon invention – loyal opposition. Unherd is certainly not worth of any support
All over then. Let me drink the best whiskey, then sit waiting for the bomb.
Or I could just ignore this nonsensical drivel
If you want to know what a fascist America looks like, go back about a century to when Woodrow Wilson was President. Some of the ambitions of the Democrats at that time were quite terrifying when viewed through the prism of the rest of the 20th century.
Worst president ever. Shocker!! He was a progressive.
Indeed. Fascism is a progressive creed just like the other flavours of Marxism.
“Unherd” should be aware that if Lee Siegel is it’s lead writer with his article’s being the headline story…they won’t be around for too much longer
People aren’t thinking clearly about the nuclear war threat hence the fear of nuclear war with Russia is completely overblown. Here’s why.
China and India have both told Putin that nuclear war is a line he can’t cross or THEY would have to withdraw all support for him. He can’t afford that. His economy is already crumbling as it is (21% interest rate is the latest sign of that).
There is no tactical advantage to using a nuke that doesn’t also wipe out his own troops or cause fallout on Russian soil.
As long as Putin is a rational actor, he stays alive. The moment he uses nukes, he ceases being that and every intelligence agency goes after him. The US recently leaked that they know exactly where he is at all times on purpose. Putin would never be able to leave a bunker for the rest of his life.
Finally, Ukraine with its drones has shown the entire world—including Russia—that Russia has no air defences to speak of. Many were moved to the Ukrainian front where they were destroyed. The remainder are being picked off by Ukraine week by week. Sure, Russia may get to use a tactical nuke—but then everyone else has their pick of whichever targets inside Russia they want.
How one labels those who have different political views (e.g. referring to them as Hitler, Nazis, fascists, etc.) is an effort by the one to dehumanize “The Other” so that innocents – as measured by the actual law of the land – may be destroyed via extrajudicial pseudo-religious sacrifice (read: cancelling) without any impact to one’s conscience.
In short, it is how one assuages their moral cognitive dissonance.
There is a lot of whistling past the graveyard going on here. But one statement really caught my attention: “The yardstick for excellence in just about every realm of American life now is individual pleasure and satisfaction.” Boy, is this ever true. So much of our culture (especially pop culture) is now all about self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, self, self, self. It’s disgusting and depressing. America’s spirit of individualism seems to have no checks on it and it’s running amok.
Just one note which shows the writer isn’t interested in listening to Trump’s side: he had a good, long-form (10 minutes perhaps?) talk about the threat of nuclear war on Joe Rogan’s podcast, what other countries’ stances are and how he would avoid it. He called it the greatest threat to the world. I have to take the writer’s word for it that Kamala hasn’t talked about it.
Actually that was for me the most interesting part of the interview. I am also terrified of the threat of a nuclear escalation and got reassured by Tump’s reflections. He put the Global Warming doomsters into their box.
Where is the evidence that Trump is “mentally unstable”? are the same unserious remarks he has indulged in for the last decade now harbingers of being deranged? Says who?
Article that pretends to be even handed is anything but.
Utter tosh and piffle from Lee Siegal, as usual. Nothing new, just repackaged TDS.
“Harris, on the other hand, if she comes out on top, will be operated by committee, along more or less rational lines.” Anyone who has supported gender ideology, does not operate on more or less rational lines. They are deluded and dangerous to women. That is why I am NOT voting for Harris.
“They are deluded and dangerous to women”. You can remove the “to women”. Gender ideology is “dangerous” period and anyone who supports such appalling lies is a menace to society.
Please, don’t bother including this ignorant, anti- American in future selections. Criticism is one thing when it is based on understanding; his is vapid and sophmoric.
Just like supposed “intellectual” Sam Harris, Lee Seigel has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. For those who may not believe this is a real thing, the American Psychiatric Association says otherwise…
https://article107news.com/psychiatrists-add-trump-derangement-syndrome-to-list-of-depressive-disorders/
Psychiatrists Add “Trump Derangement Syndrome” to List of Depressive Disorders
October 21, 2020
by Maxwell Paddington
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Psychiatric Association has added Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
According to Dr. Macon Bank, the criteria for TDS diagnosis includes:
Since November 8, 2016, there has been a grief response characterized by intense preoccupation with thoughts of Donald Trump with at least 3 of the following symptoms experienced to a clinically significant degree, nearly every day:
1. Identity disruption (e.g., feeling as though part of oneself has died)
2. Marked sense of disbelief about Donald Trump
3. Avoidance of reminders that Donald Trump is President
4. Intense emotional pain (e.g., anger, bitterness, sorrow) related to Donald Trump
5. Difficulty moving on with life (e.g., problems engaging with friends, pursuing interests, planning for the future)
6. Emotional numbness
7. Feeling that life is meaningless
8. Intense loneliness (i.e., feeling alone or detached from others)
The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The duration of the reaction clearly exceeds expected social, cultural or religious norms for the individual’s culture and context.
I’m surprised “Macon Bank” did not insist on his more professional name when he discusses medical matters. When he writes for peer-reviewed journals, I am sure he is “Dr. Making Bank.” Please. Seriously. Will someone try to keep up with idioms, even one this old?
“Not the Musk who is so ham-fistedly trying to interfere in the election process by promising money to people who sign a petition as registered Republican voters. ”
This is factually wrong if it’s the million dollar lottery you’re referring to. Musk pointedly said that they can be republican, democrat, independent or none. He wants people to register and vote.
It’s difficult to believe any of the other claims (mostly anti republican) that I’m less familiar with.
J Arthur Rank
7 seconds ago
Agree with several other readers’ comments.
Lee Siegel is an American writer and cultural critic. He is a Democrat and is a biased, uninformed journalist that uses pejorative language describing those he hates, sparing the same language for those he supports. In 2002, he received a National Magazine Award. His selected essays will be published next spring.
This is what this journalist’s bio should read.
Didn’t even read (why bother). You can pretty much guess what this guy Siegel is going to say, and you know it won’t be well written, and you know it won’t be true & accurate.
Why bother? So that you know what you’re talking about, that’s why.
I don’t agree with the article’s conclusion or the general attitude of the writer, but there are still one or two tangentially interesting points made nevertheless.
Go ahead, John, waste your time reading Siegel, feel free. Care to point out the tangentially interesting parts?
UnHerd needs to take a hard look at some of what it is publishing. This is, in my opinion, one of the best current platforms for reading and discussion, but fair and balanced is not two opposing extremists lying and shouting at each other. If you are not between center-left and.center-right, you are probably not worth paying attention to. I want to be able to depend on UnHerd to cull the wheat from the chaff.
What a load of rubbish. We deserve better from Unherd.
That’s it Lee, people queued five hours to go to the Trump MSG rally to leave early. Another self styled “intellectual” writes a sneering exercise in condescencion, and indulges the conceit of excluding his dear reader from his scorn, “of course we’re not like that are we? “. Siegel affects impartiality by royally despising both the blue and the red behemoths. All it boils down to in the end is a long puff of hot air, and a boring one at that.
Mr. Siegel seems to have a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, selectively—or perhaps unconsciously—ignoring that Trump already served a full term, during which the country fared ‘pretty, pretty good’ compared to Obama’s first, second, and now de facto third term through his feeble stand-in, Biden. For those catastrophizing Trump’s presidency like Mr. Siegel, here’s a little video put together by Nicole Shanahan, Sergey Brin’s ex-wife, who has since overcome her own bout of TDS and is now on a mission to help others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDKYJXYemn4&t=6s
If we are heading for a civil war it will start with the lefts reaction to a Trump victory.
They are preparing to do two things.
Prevent Trump from taking office if he wins.
Deal with his supporters. Saw an article the other day by a lefty commentator that specifically asked the question of what to do with the 50% of the country that supports Trump even if Harris wins.
Read this today. Might be worth your time.
https://tomklingenstein.com/is-the-left-preparing-for-war-if-trump-wins/
An article that will not age well.
As stated in other comments, the DJT/Rogan interview is obvious proof that Trump is no unhinged monster. Yes, he rambles widely instead of speechifying – in other words, he speaks like a normal human being, not a party-line robot.
I’m no Trump fan but it did rapidly become obvious after 2016 that while he’s about as coherent a public speaker as a drunk uncle at a wedding, he thinks a whole lot better than almost anyone who disagrees with him politically.
In fact he arguably constitutes evidence supporting the increasingly-common view that the last 30 years of Liberal consensus in the West can be characterised as stupid people who know how to look and sound good while making a pig’s ear out of everything they touch.
I still don’t like him, not out of any personal animosity, but because the fact that he’s a contender at all shows that the system is badly broken and perhaps unfixable. Trump is who Americans vote for when they’re so angry that they don’t care what happens next. That’s not a good thing, even if I sympathise with why they’re angry.
He has his sights set on the swamp…. No other politician would be doing this.
Exactly!! And acting as if you do not care what happens next is not the way you get good outcomes.
Sincere question – since I know you as a serious person: Just what evidence do you base that on? Not that he is stupid – he could not have done that well on luck and inherited wealth alone – but the impression he gives me is that he does not think at all. Apart from being basically uninformed he decides on gut reactions, and his reactions are heavily driven by the needs of his ego. Admiration and support to those who are strong and show him respect (like Putin), petty vindictiveness to anyone who refuses to to support him, and contempt for anyone else. Where do you see the thinking in a man who kept shooting from the hip so that his aides had to struggle to contain him – and whose take-home message is that next time he needs to surround himself by yes-men so he can shoot from the hip without interference?
Three examples of things that I would never, on the day of his marginal and controversial victory in 2016, have believed he’d get right but managed to do so:
North Korea: Trump was the first President since Ronald Reagan to face a nuclear-armed aggressor in an escalating situation. Commentary at the time was that he was so far out of his depth we’d end up in a nuclear war by accident. As it happened, it de-escalated far faster than even the most optimistic predicted.
The economy: I’m a low-tax small-state libertarian but even I couldn’t believe that the Trump tax cuts would work: they looked reckless to me, and yet I was wrong: the USA’s growth started climbing in response. It is true that this didn’t yet have a significant Laffer effect at the time of the 2020 election, but it did improve the debt/GDP trajectory somewhat. The imprecations of doom from the usual suspects in opposition to him were certainly wrong, anyway.
The Abraham Accords: this almost got nailed while he was in office and it was only the distracted state of the Biden administration that led to the attack on Israel which has temporarily delayed the normalisation of Arab/Israel relations. When this works – and it will – Nobel Peace prizes will be deserved. How much Trump can claim direct credit is another question, but the fact his that his administration knew to prioritise it while in office, and that counts for something.
In short, the evidence you’re looking for can be found by ignoring everything Trump says, and focusing on what he does.
Fair enough answer, but I find it very unconvincing.
North Korea: As I remember the US administration was trying to pressure North Korea into cutting down on its nuclear plans, and the NKs were making trouble about it. Then Trump decided to stop pushing, give them a summit – which is a HUGE propaganda victory for Kim Young’un – and ask for NOTHING in return. Clearly if you give them gifts and leave them to do what they want they are not going to make trouble, but at best Trump abandoned US policy goals, and allowed NK to keep building their bombs undisturbed. Surrendering your objectives while convincing the voters you have won may be a useful political skill, but I would hardly call that ‘getting it right’.
As I understand you, Trump borrowed money and made huge tax cuts. The economy grew (well, Duh!), the bond markets did not crash, and the deficit grew, for some future president to deal with. Much like me borrowing 15 years income and buying a Porsche – even if I succeed in getting it past the banks it is hardly a sign of deep thinking. BTW – has anyone ever seen a significant Laffer effect i.e. that cutting taxes led to higher government incomes?
The Abraham accords? Well, they were good, and they did happen on his watch, though, as you say yourself, it is hard to say how much of that Trump himself actually caused. But when you get to “it was only the distracted state of the Biden administration that led to the attack on Israel” we are into fantasy politics. Hamas and Iran wanted to hurt Israel and scupper the accords – and neither is partricularly attentive to US desires. Just what do you think Biden ought to have done would have kept Hamas in check? And how do you know?
Yawn, sorry a few paragraphs in I reached max saturation for conventional opinion. Trump is the worst, got it.
Lee Siegal misses the most salient point about Harris.
She was appointed candidate, in lieu of any democratic process, by someone or ones, unknown to the voters. The question automatically arises: Who are they and why are they hiding their involvement?
In this time of “eat bugs” and “the next pandemic” and “Net Zero or bust!”, etc. the next question is: “What are they planning?”.
That leaves many of us thinking that Harris might be far more dangerous than Trump; who is, after all, a known quantity.
Unherd readers would be better served purchasing articles written by it commenters rather than some of the hacks that are featured.
It’s a shame the quality of articles for unherd is becoming increasingly poor. I have to ask myself why I still subscribe but there are a a few good writers still I suppose. This piece was distinctly second rate and lazy
no way to block authors ?
This is as good as it gets from Siegel, I suppose.
Which of two unsatisfactory people is most likely to cause a nuclear war ?
Harris clearly. Trump actually has quite a good record of avoiding war and conflict. She does not.
I think we’ve reached the point in this fevered election season when journalists have run out of things to say, and so are forced to reach ever further for a story idea.
The author of the current article does a good job building suspense as he describes our current state of political dysfunction. He then debunks myths about the main dangers facing America, but he warns real dangers exist.
Having set the hook (as good fiction writers are taught to do), he then reveals the first of these real dangers: Elon Musk!
How is Musk such a danger? Apparently because he owns Starlink which is essential to the prosecution of the Ukraine war, and, by implication, might be essential to future wars. The Generals, we’re told, want to keep Musk sweet and so keep a tight hold on Starlink and perhaps other Musk-inspired technologies. The implications seems to be, and perhaps I’m wrong here, that the Generals will be ever more powerful in domestic issues if only they can keep hold of advanced technology. Either that or they’ll be so grateful to Trump for backing Elon (and vice versa) they’ll go along with a Trump coup.
The author seems to be channeling the 1960s thriller “Seven Days in May” where Burt Lancaster plays General James Mattoon Scott who organizes a coup against the US government (happily, he fails).
Is this really the danger we’re all facing? The author throws in (somewhat more convincingly) nuclear war as something else we should worry about when we’re tired of worrying about Elon. Maybe he’s right about nuclear war, but just as the author informs us he hasn’t encountered people worrying about being killed while walking across the street for groceries, I haven’t encountered anyone worrying about nuclear war.
The best thing about getting the November election over with is journalists can find new things to write about–genuinely scary things.
You think this November election won’t be extended into December, or even next year?
🙂
‘The Generals, we’re told, want to keep Musk sweet and so keep a tight hold on Starlink and perhaps other Musk-inspired technologies. The implications seems to be, and perhaps I’m wrong here, that the Generals will be ever more powerful in domestic issues if only they can keep hold of advanced technology. Either that or they’ll be so grateful to Trump for backing Elon (and vice versa) they’ll go along with a Trump coup.’
I got that impression too. It’s quite a funny analogy from the author, but pure fantasy surely. It’s a really weird rant the author goes on about musk, half way through the article. I’m not sure it’s really a very coherent essay. He seems to have forgotten about the rest of the enormous corporations that make weapons and tech in America, like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, northrop grumman etc. Tech companies like Google and Amazon both work with the American government too I believe. I think some of them are probably older and more deeply embedded in the political system than starlink.
If musk has used starlink to assist America in its proxy war against Russia surely that shows he is helping, rather than hindering, and certainly not the threat the author makes out.
I don’t see how he is any greater threat than any of the other mega Corp CEOs that work with the American military.
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This article reads like a stream of consciousness. No shade thrown at the author, who I’m sure is very capable in other topics and times, but this article is not as tightly wound together as other articles on Unherd have been. It’s mildly interesting to read, but makes me no wiser in any regard.
«There is no doubt that a mentally unstable Trump, should he be president again, poses a threat to America and to the world, just as a mentally unstable Biden would have had he run and prevailed. Harris, on the other hand, if she comes out on top, will be run by committee, along more or less rational lines»
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What an idiot! Only someone with a negative IQ could assume that Harris would be any different from Biden. Replace one moth-eaten doll with another, even more worn out, and claim that it will bring us happiness? Where do they sell such a weed?
Those who can, write. Those who can’t get National Magazine Awards, apparently.
America is simply another empire that as with every single empire in history, is in terminal decline.
Absolutely correct but may I add that such decline has reached Terminal Velocity
Particularly so with the ever growing mountain of debt
Everyone is in terminal decline
Trump tends to harrass allies and flatter the adversaries of America, which is distrubing, though frustration with NATO is to some extent fair and has long been expressed by administrations before his first one (his tarriff stuff is obvious nonsense and won’t happen).
Everyone worries about his lack of evidence for the ‘stolen’ 2020 election. But again, he left in the end.
He does modest deals then proclaims them ‘the best ever’. His dicator-love is a provcation as much as it’s felt. He’s a showman and is too old for the job. Mid terms will see to his clout and then he’ll be gone and the world can relax.
Stupid article full of futile centrist blather.
I enjoyed this article, particularly regarding our blasé attitude to nukes. I thought this also very apposite:
‘Both figures are the phoniest presidential candidates in modern American history.
The difference is that the obviously unstable Trump is a first-rate monstrosity. Harris is a second-rate mediocrity.’
It reminds me of the recent general election here in the UK: an irrelevant piece of political theatre peopled by bad actors and mediocre wannabes.
No wonder the US population views it in the same way as they would a baseball game. It reminds me of that Frank Zappa quote: ‘Politics is the entertainment branch of industry’.
I always think that pundits’ articles should be reviewed after a year or so and the pundits performance given a star rating for accuracy.
In this case I think the article should be printed off on archival paper and locked away, ready for review. Otherwise it may be ‘disappeared’.
Good grief! Is there no end to the bluster and vacuous ruminations of Mr. Siegel? How exactly does he know how many people left the love fest at Madison Square Garden? Does he also know how many of Harris’ fans left her rallies? In fact the total numbers as estimated by serious crowd analysts (https://ash.harvard.edu/programs/crowd-counting-consortium) consistently show both candidates drawing about the same number of supporters. But who cares if you generalize about crowd size without supporting data, especially if you’re engaged in an effort to dismiss one candidate and reluctantly endorse another.
So forget his mistaken account of what Trump offered those in attendance at the gardens, or his frequent swipes at anything Trump, or his pathetic attempt to propose the idiot Harris would be better for us since she will have handlers, as if the presidency is, as others have commented here, rule by committee.
His is an amateurish legitimizing of the possible election of a fool like Harris, someone who has no accomplishments in her life except sleeping with powerful men to secure her upward social mobility. And we’re supposed to feel ok with that because others will simply tell her what to do as president. Great theory of democracy in action by the humble Mr. Siegel.
He pretends to see the big political picture as he lambasts what he thinks is the dreary and hopeless situation confronting us over and over ad nauseam. In spite of what he takes to be a farcical polity, he wishes to nudge us toward a light weight word salad candidate rather than someone who has actually handled the office of the presidency against an army of malignant conspirators in both parties. So, he doesn’t notice the rats leaving the sinking ship who already sense the very real possibility of Trump winning? But then for him orange man bad, empty headed twit better because . . . . what, she won’t really be allowed to be president? And that’s better how???
“But nowhere in Leni Riefenstahl’s famous cinematic account of the Nuremberg spectacle was there a segment where, once the massive gathering ended, workers rushed to convert the rally site to the German equivalent of a Knicks game the following evening“. That is unsurprising. I don’t think the Germans were that into basketball in those days (and the Knicks themselves weren’t founded until 1946).
I’m not in the US, and Twitter is not reality, but this article does not match my current understanding of the country. Trump is clearly winning this election, but I don’t believe he will be the next president, and that means things are going to turn ugly.
I used to suffer from TDS. I have been cured of that for two main reasons: the fight to preserve free speech and because Trump has said that he’s going to unleash RFK Jr (my preferred candidate) on Big Pharma and Big Food. Do you imagine, for one second, that Pharma will permit that?
From what I read and hear, plans are already in place to use the 14th to prevent him from becoming president again.
https://tomklingenstein.com/is-the-left-preparing-for-war-if-trump-wins/
This is like one of those Bob Dylan songs that didn’t make release the first time round. The whole is incoherent but it has some ear-catching phrases.
And then there’s the debt mountain.
“Weird” does not begin to describe the American atmosphere at this moment. The media and internet seethe with talk of civil war; but everyone is going about their daily business. ‘
‘It is hard to have a civil war when people on both sides keep checking their phones. But self-contained screen-worlds are perfect for fomenting mental and spiritual chaos.’
Perhaps the censorship industrial complex should take note. It is surely preferable for said civil war to take place on the Internet, than on the streets. I feel like this is a good argument against censorship. It is rather hard to have a civil war if people are immersed in their phones, if people are battling it out on the Internet it is surely a good vent for frustrations over battling it out on the streets. The author seems quite surprised that the media and the Internet are ‘seething with talk’, and that this has not translated into civil war on the streets. I don’t think this is surprising, the Internet and msm love the hype. I feel like the powers that be get far too carried away in this hype themselves.
‘And yet Putin has threatened to unleash nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and the Middle East is hurtling toward a final reckoning. No one doubts that Israel would use its nuclear arsenal were its existence threatened; once Iran has a similar capability, no one doubts it would resort to the same….. But instead of urging Americans to confront the possibility of nuclear horror, some politicians and journalists in America like to play chicken, fatuously reminding America’s leaders of their obligations to Taiwan, for example, no matter what such obligations would entail, if China invaded.’
America is hiding from the geopolitical sh*t show now unravelling around it’s ears. Let’s not talk too much about that. Nobody really knows what to do about it, it might be quite expensive to sort out and America is in serious debt, best not mention that either. That would require vision and solutions, culture wars are easier. Let’s shout about woke people and f*scists.
‘There is no doubt that a mentally unstable Trump, should he be president again, poses a threat to America and to the world, just as a mentally unstable Biden would have had he run and prevailed. Harris, on the other hand, if she comes out on top, will be operated by committee, along more or less rational lines. ‘
I’m not sure there is evidence to support the claim that trump is’ mentally unstable’. Just because Harris is operated by a committee, does not mean that it will be rational. Surely this is nearly the same committee that has been helping Biden. I’m not sure Ukraine is going well, they have caused carnage for Europe and now the middle east is on the brink, they have had various problems in bond markets and serious inflation in the energy markets, banking problems, including a bank run scare, I’m not sure they have been selling rational up to this point.
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I tried. Turgid.
A scintillating discourse hung on a TDS template. I can empathize (up to the limit of my own average IQ) with the author’s cultural alienation, which hums along as a counter melody to his wit. One observation, an American Civil War may be quick. It will take place around 3am CST. The lights will be out for a couple days, then the winner will turn them back on. Watch the former paratroopers.
Well I guess there are no democrats that read unherd articles. Can we just get this sh*tshow election over with? It’s a media farce. Nothing will change, if anything the oligarchs like Musk and Bezos will have even more power and influence, in 4 years most people will still be skrewed.
“Lee Siegel is an American writer and cultural critic. He is a Democrat and is a biased, uninformed journalist that uses pejorative language describing those he hates, sparing the same language for those he supports. In 2002, he received a National Magazine Award. His selected essays will be published next spring.”
This is what this journalist’s bio should read.
Well seen.
Indeed. Me for rationality.
I think most of the world shares your feeling. Harris is mediocre in much the same way as George W. Bush (Bush, Jr.). And if elected, it will be her handlers who drive the country while she looks out the window of the Oval Office. So, more predictable and safer. With Trump you get neoconservative idiots like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo who are much more likely to trigger the nuclear war that, as Siegel aptly notes, we are working very hard to not think about.
Duane, Trump fired neocons as quickly s possible. Neocvons mutinied against him. He has discussed this in some detail. Most neocons are voting for Kamala. Please do try and keep up.
No mention whatsoever of the recent Supreme Court ruling whereby a President is exempt from The Law with the caveat that The Presidents actions were in the remit of their duties
At a stroke the Central plank of the American constitution was thrown in the dustbin
That No One is above the Law
The door to Dictatorship is now wide open for Trump should he win
Get a grip and stop watching MSNBC…. Or just stop listening to Harris.
Re Tawain oh how The West is slowly but surely being led to War
Make no mistake about any of the following
Tawain is irrefutably Chinese
This is a civil War that has still to conclude and consequently the following are the only possible solutions under all International Law that no other Nation can interfere in the Internal affairs of another If so then the other is fully within their rights to declare War upon those that do interfere
So how does this ongoing Civil war
Conclude
1 China surrenders and Tawain wins
2. Tawain surrenders and returns to the fold of The Motherland
3. Tawain returns to the Motherland by way of peacefully negotiation
4. If 3. Above fails then China applies full force in order to reunite
Tawain with the Motherland
And to reinforce points 3 and 4 China has passed into Law the undernoted that none can repeal
A ) By 2040 Taiwan must return to
The Motherland
B ) All peaceful avenues must be fully explored to do so peacefully
C ) Should B ) fail then full military force deployed
In the event of full force China has also passed into Law
D ) Any whether from Mainland or Tawain who resist reunification shall be classified as Traitors and as such will be hunted down and brought to Court and the full force of the Law applied
1. China has clearly and plain for all to see A Red Line in The Tawain Straights and Sth.China Sea and any who cross that line in the event
Of military action to prevent Reunification
Then Instantly China shall declare War upon you
And solely on the Basis of Unconditional Surrender
Further stating that China shall win and fight to the Last man standing
Dare not call this out either by stupid mistake , miscalculated error or blatant deliberate action
China has effectively built a 2nd Great wall to which it refers to as a
Access denial area
Just like their 1st Great wall it’s function is not deterrence but one of guaranteeing that should any who breach the Wall then they shall have no means of escape and your destruction is certain
“Trump is a first-rate monstrosity. Harris is a second-rate mediocrity.”
This is the best summation of the Hobson’s choice Americans have this election year. Democracy is dead, just another reality TV show to entertain the twisted masses who love Survivor and Dancing with the Stars. Large international corporations and banks run the world and Presidents and Prime Ministers do their bidding, they are their hired hands. Participating makes me feel dirty.
I have filled out a ballot, but I can’t bring myself to mail it in. I refuse to choose which person will be the least, worst President.
Unfortunately, the truth will fall on the deaf ears of the true believers that makeup Unherd’s readership.
I share your frustration, but don’t you have an opinion or position on abortion, LGBTQ rights (including the denial of parental involvement in decisions about castration), constraining free speech–esp of religious groups, etc.? Seems to me, there are enough differences between the two, and the inevitable outcomes they will produce.
Those issues are part of the show. They are meant to distract us from the real issues, the need for political and economic reform. The media pushes our buttons, and we argue with each other over nothing very important. These issues effect very few people. And if you can complain about your freedom of speech then no one is taking it away from you.
You’re demonstrating nothing more than your own self-imposed limitations by casting a slur on Unherd‘s readership. Participating in Comments should – by your own standard – make you feel dirty too.
The UK election on July 4th was exactly the same: a non-choice
No new comments allowed on this one after 3 scathing reviews below the line?
My comment was sent into the ether for a bit. This is what it said; “This is as good as it gets from Siegel, I suppose.”
Why in the world would this be moderated?