Let's make fun of Trump, bash him, etc. while we can!

[Eric the Green]

(01-28-2019, 02:54 PM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(01-28-2019, 01:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I think we blues do believe we are mounted on a moral high horse compared to you reds; I'll give you that. We on the Left do think that moral values are important; but it's certainly likely that most reds believe that as well, as long as they are of the traditional religious kind, or at least moral values of American self-reliance.

I see it this way: the Left tends to base its political thought on some sort of moral values. For modern American Left (and Americanised Left in Europe) generally right to self-expression is paramount. The individual needs to have his material needs satisfied to express himself, so the Left views its as a moral duty to ensure noone is hungry. Equality is another "moral high horse" for blues, who are reds or purples on my diagram.

The Right is divided. The "old Right" with its Christian values (black on my diagram) is very moralistic, while the anti-PC "new Right" (blue on my diagram) often takes pride in promoting unabashed egoism. For example Mencius Moldbug, the "founding father" of neoreaction, mocked idealism and described secular humanism as no more reasonable than theism. I like the Christian right on some issues (mainly concerning sexual morality), but for anti-PC types like Moldbug or the UK blogger Sargon of Accad I have no feelings save disgust.

It has been very clear for years that the Christian right and the Libertarian-economics right (neo-liberalism) are the two main factions in the Republican Party, and they are joined at the hip and overlap. Militarism is another strong component of the Republican brand, which we often call neo-con. George W Bush when he was president specifically mentioned these three items on the white house webpage as their purpose. Racism is in the background of neo-liberalism, although not explicitly stated, and so it has been since Nixon's southern strategy.

Now under Trump, the Christian right continues to back him, and he rewards them with policies, even though Trump is scarecly moral himself and totally egotistic. But I don't see that as any kind of ideology. It doesn't seem to be a factor at all for the Christian right; they back Trump. Some neo-liberals don't, but most do, because except on trade Trump policies are so thorougly neo-liberal libertarian free-market trickle-down economics. As for militarism, Trump is less interventionist, but not immune to it, and he is keen to build up the military just like previous Republicans. The main difference is that Trump is more outspoken in his racist xenophobia, although not completely overt about his racism, except in his anti-immigration policies which are the cornerstone of his campaign and his presidency.