3/20
3/20
I find my mind going back to 9/11 a lot. That state of mind is rising up in me again (does it ever really leave?). It’s a mixture of moral outrage, nausea, despair, fear, and anger. It is exceedingly unpleasant. What is causing it? The current political situation, of course. The planes flying into the towers; Musk with his chainsaw. There is a feeling of palpable evil in these images. Musk and Trump are destroying thousands of lives, blowing up government agencies, smashing democracy to pieces, indiscriminately deporting and detaining people, the works. They do so gleefully, triumphantly, reveling in their destructive power. How did the killers of 9/11 manage to stage such a vile and violent act? How did Trump and his associates manage to stage the wanton destruction of American life we are seeing unfold? Is there nothing in the “system” to protect us from such mayhem? How can we stop it going forward? There is a feeling of impotence, hopelessness. We watch the news in appalled fascination. The terrorists succeeded in instilling fear, and so has the present government. They might descend on you at any time. Death threats are rampant. No one is safe. The guard rails are down. The laws of morality and state are flouted. It feels like terrorism—the domestic kind. It doesn’t help that half the population is (currently) okay with it. Covid was traumatic, but so is what we are going through now. The miscreants are taking a sledgehammer to civilization. They are wielding brute power untrammeled. I don’t want to make this comparison, but psychologically it exists: we are being re-traumatized. The American (and world) psyche is being bruised and battered with untold consequences to come. The difference is that 9/11 happened suddenly on one fine day and was visually spectacular; what is happening now is drawn out and largely invisible. But the destruction is real, the wounds deep, and the future uncertain.
Terrorists rarely think of themselves as terrorists and do they strike terror for fun? Musk and Trump are gleeful about their rampage- like Mongol horsemen- but they do in a strange way see themselves as doing the Lord’s work.
I think Musk is acting in purely selfish interests- his megalomania of settling Mars- plus both are CEOs, they see government as a waste and entertain a fantasy that government is waste like taxes are theft.
They are very simple-minded people.
An apt analogy indeed.
We wake to reports of these events unfolding and go to bed disturbed and dismayed by them. We wonder where, if any, pushback is going to come from? It seems as if there is a kind of oppositional paralysis affecting America. The Canadians, at least, are not rolling over. There’s maybe some consolation in that your sentiments, I’m sure, are very widely shared around the world.
Tyranny has a mass psychology, as does terrorism of one kind or another. This could be the world’s 9/11 if things go really badly.
People of my acquaintance in the business world view Trump as someone who can be played or factored into their calculations. I read of many such people in the newspapers and in magazines. They can’t imagine how bad Trump can be. They assume he’s another Reagan, for that was one angle of his campaign message, or that Trump 2.0 would be something like Trump 1.0 They are grossly miscalculating.
They can’t do addition.
Trump is set to fire not just government employees, but the constitution and America, meaning all foreigners AND all Americans; although Hitler aimed for a “Thousand Year Reich” and Trump to “Make America Great Again,” Hitler aims to kill and conquer, while Trump to wreak chaos and fire.
Pretty close to the truth of our situation.
Trump would like to deport everyone who doesn’t bow down to him, or worse in some cases. He has the mind of an irate spoilt child.