Reading "Doppelganger" by @naomiaklein based on a recommendation from @pluralistic
The analysis of the mirror world of Bannonite conspiracy theories is poignant and important.
Just as scary, however, is the mirror world into which "hard centre" democrats receded after Trump's victory in 2016: The election was "stolen" by Russian interference, Trump was a "Russian asset", Putin was the evil mastermind behind it all. Instead of owning up to Clinton's loss, they all seemed to have gone insane.
Just like the tendency to blame the "white working class" for Trump's victory. In actuality, the white working class was under-represented among the Trump voters.
Why did these centrists supposedly all defending "reason" go down that rabbit hole? Maybe it is and was too painful to recognize that business as usual and dynastic entitlement (and "lean in" feminism) is not what the US needs right now. What it needed at the time was Bernie Sanders.
I make this observation because while reading the book I was kind of waiting for this point to be made ... of some Democrats' tremendous own goal attacking Trump for being the traitor and Russian spy he's not instead of as the right-wing populist he actually is. Like ... I wonder what the connection between that kind of "centrist" insanity/orhodoxy (think TINA, War on Drugs etc.) and COVID-style conspiracies is, at the end of the day.
Carsten Agger