08-05-2020, 06:21 PM
The Sad Cult of Esoteric Trumpism
By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY
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July 30, 2020 1:10 PM
In retrospect, it seems ridiculous that anyone put their faith in a president as weak as Trump, who can’t even turn infrastructure week into infrastructure projects, to alter the course of history. And many of those who did have recognized as much, and moved on to other pursuits or grudges. But for those leftover, esoteric Trumpism has degenerated from the speculative and crankish to the outright quackery of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which in an odd way tackles the problem of Trump’s weakness head-on. The basic theory is that down is up, stupid is smart, and weakness is strength. The president may look like someone who doesn’t control his mouth or the White House, but QAnon have an answer for that: He’s actually deliberate, purposeful, even masterful in exposing and stopping the corrupt ring of pedophiles, Deep Staters, and other malefactors that controls the world.
I don’t want to make light of this, exactly. Though conspiracy theories are often pursued by their enthusiasts as a harmless distraction and escape from real life, they can be dangerous, occasionally addling minds in a way that leads a man to, say, take a rifle into a pizza shop. But there’s something sad about QAnon followers, too: Those who have clung to a stubborn faith in Trump look set to soon find that he has abandoned them in a world he hardly changed — a world said faith has led them to believe is run with impunity by an omnipotent, ultra-competent cabal of kiddie-diddlers.
[url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-sad-cult-of-esoteric-trumpism/#]212
Then again, that’s the pattern of cults, isn’t it? A revelation of truth from on high will set you free; a Gnostic secret, known only to adepts, will make the world into a prison.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/t...-trumpism/
By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY
[/url]
July 30, 2020 1:10 PM
In retrospect, it seems ridiculous that anyone put their faith in a president as weak as Trump, who can’t even turn infrastructure week into infrastructure projects, to alter the course of history. And many of those who did have recognized as much, and moved on to other pursuits or grudges. But for those leftover, esoteric Trumpism has degenerated from the speculative and crankish to the outright quackery of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which in an odd way tackles the problem of Trump’s weakness head-on. The basic theory is that down is up, stupid is smart, and weakness is strength. The president may look like someone who doesn’t control his mouth or the White House, but QAnon have an answer for that: He’s actually deliberate, purposeful, even masterful in exposing and stopping the corrupt ring of pedophiles, Deep Staters, and other malefactors that controls the world.
I don’t want to make light of this, exactly. Though conspiracy theories are often pursued by their enthusiasts as a harmless distraction and escape from real life, they can be dangerous, occasionally addling minds in a way that leads a man to, say, take a rifle into a pizza shop. But there’s something sad about QAnon followers, too: Those who have clung to a stubborn faith in Trump look set to soon find that he has abandoned them in a world he hardly changed — a world said faith has led them to believe is run with impunity by an omnipotent, ultra-competent cabal of kiddie-diddlers.
[url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-sad-cult-of-esoteric-trumpism/#]212
Then again, that’s the pattern of cults, isn’t it? A revelation of truth from on high will set you free; a Gnostic secret, known only to adepts, will make the world into a prison.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/t...-trumpism/
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.