First draft of a column for Project Syndicate... The constant questions were two and only two: Was he obsequiously loyal? Was he powerless? A “yes” to both, and he would be praised, honored, and promoted. A “no” to either—unless he was the always-constantly-obsequiously-loyal-to-Mao Zhou Enlai—and he would be taken down a peg, or sent to work as a pipe-fitter, or wind up dead. Always, always there were enough who saw chaos as a ladder and doing Mao’s bidding now to their advantage. Mao was dangerous to cross, had a charismatic link with a gullible base, and would not be a force for long: Mao was old, and low-energy, and rapidly on his way to meet Karl Marx.
The property of being something that cannot be questioned arises in lots of ways, and sometimes it attaches to people. Let's call this property _holy_; it's beyond regular mortal persons, and becomes facultatively axiomatic, something that cannot (at least publicly) be questioned.
Mao Zedong became holy through a combination of heroic deeds, propaganda, and the folk process.
Trump became holy through a combination of propaganda (The Apprentice is absolutely mammonite propaganda), the evangelical detachment of the habits of belief from doctrine (If a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and you're selling prosperity gospel, you ditch the doctrine) leaving an opportunity to fixate belief, and the folk process. (Not the _same_ folk beliefs, but the same process.)
If your power comes from holiness, you prove you are holy by being something which cannot be questioned. Competence doesn't much enter into it; the social constraints do. The effective response to holiness is to survive demanding answers to questions; this is why it's important to haul Trump into a courtroom and make him answer corruption charges as any mortal must.
It is deeply ironic that Republican politicians have created conditions for an auto-genocide by politicizing public health measures. Most individuals not in thrall to MAGAism will support the public health measures in the interest of their own health. Because mask wearing and vaccination are "politically incorrect" in MAGAland, the toll of COVID will be higher there. This will be particularly true among the elderly FOx viewing demographic.
Can’t you get this in the NYT or Post?
The property of being something that cannot be questioned arises in lots of ways, and sometimes it attaches to people. Let's call this property _holy_; it's beyond regular mortal persons, and becomes facultatively axiomatic, something that cannot (at least publicly) be questioned.
Mao Zedong became holy through a combination of heroic deeds, propaganda, and the folk process.
Trump became holy through a combination of propaganda (The Apprentice is absolutely mammonite propaganda), the evangelical detachment of the habits of belief from doctrine (If a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and you're selling prosperity gospel, you ditch the doctrine) leaving an opportunity to fixate belief, and the folk process. (Not the _same_ folk beliefs, but the same process.)
If your power comes from holiness, you prove you are holy by being something which cannot be questioned. Competence doesn't much enter into it; the social constraints do. The effective response to holiness is to survive demanding answers to questions; this is why it's important to haul Trump into a courtroom and make him answer corruption charges as any mortal must.
It is deeply ironic that Republican politicians have created conditions for an auto-genocide by politicizing public health measures. Most individuals not in thrall to MAGAism will support the public health measures in the interest of their own health. Because mask wearing and vaccination are "politically incorrect" in MAGAland, the toll of COVID will be higher there. This will be particularly true among the elderly FOx viewing demographic.