I echo that sentiment. With Trump holding the line and backing off the Insurrection Act stance, I think Conundrum has Paid Subscribers in all branches of governance and law enforcement. God speed!
Did you have this article written and in the pipe ready to go, in anticipation of the leftist lunacy in Minneapolis? Great article. These really are your best work.
Was totally shocked to read that Tannenbaum was the originator of the "Dramatization of Evil" theory - I was taught about this in my college psychology class. I assumed some naive person came up with it and the second order effects were pro-crime. Nope! He knew exactly what he was doing.
Kinda off topic but everyone show watch "Mussolini: Son of the century" by Sky (on mubi) and maybe Mystery grove will review it on the pod if we are lucky (paid subscribers only ofc)
Unintentionally or not, the show covers many of the themes that are emphasized on this substack and tries to do an honest telling of the history rather than being post WW2 progressive propaganda. Additionally it's actually top tier cinema and has great dialogue/screenwriting which is rare these days. Basically the show covers Italy in the post WW1 period and Mussolini's rise to power and does a decent job exploring the more romantic side of fascism and the overall ideology of Italian fascism. Mussolini is trying to hold together a very rambunctious coalition with lots of hot headed personalities and former ww1 veterans (guys that are actually prone to action) and take them from being a rag tag "revolutionary group" to form and actually run the government and deliver real results for the people. Throughout the show he has to juggle honoring the pure romantic version of fascism while making sacrifices to achieve real political wins, this is complicated by a lot of Italian black shirts unstable personalities going off the rails and giving the fascists terrible press with random acts of violence or simply being unable to carry out basic tasks. Then there is petty infighting from the "true fascists" who threaten to cost them the election because of "their principles". Outside the fascist group, to form a government he has to work with other groups like the "moderate liberals", catholics, and socialists who are just as stubborn. Mussolini is always juggling various problems from just the lack of good human capital to work with, the fickleness of public opinion, and the monarchy. I hope this gives you a good sense of the show and how similar it is to our present time (especially if you are in the online right sphere on twitter) and the need for Project 2035: A movement built to last as well as level headed leadership and party adherents.
disclaimer: in broad strokes the show does align with a true telling of the history, but I'm sure some of you here could nit pick the artist liberties it took
This was the first thing I thought of when I saw what they did in Minneapolis. I’ll always appreciate articles like this for helping expand my base of knowledge to better interpret modern situations like this.
Have you read The Revolt Against Civilization by Lothrop Stoddard? Its from 1922 and is basically a reserved and scholarly elaboration on your thesis about the nature of communists from the famous Twitter screenshot. At the very least it gives rare insight into how American WASP elites viewed the revolutionary movements of the time.
How many of these leftist groups in America just try and force a cultural revolution through Maos tactics by shaming and intimidating their enemies through the mob and their media allies?
Total and complete disgusting behavior.
Same people who the Bolsheviks used for their rain of terror they’re now using here, unemployed criminals (will use force to get you to comply) who mock people in their places of worship when they have nothing but disgust for the Christian faith while getting away with it even though it’s a federal crime to disturb people in their places of worship.
It's astounding that as this partisan insurrection continues to harden, the administration is fixated upon...annexing Greenland...With words, the administration embraces "promoting European greatness" by restoring Europe's "civilizational self-confidence and Western identity" (which next to resettling Afrikaner refugees leaves me speechless and not that long ago would have been unthinkable), yet its every action, by contrast, is designed to antagonize and actually diminish Europe. Why? Is this some latent chauvinistic philistinism from the conthervative moofment, rehabilitated as "based"?
All of that is to say nothing of how unpopular these foreign adventures are domestically. From NPR/Marist, the net negatives on military intervention are as follows: Venezuela -13, Iran -15, Mexico -22, Cuba -24, Greenland -40. From CBS/YouGov, 53% of respondents answer that Trump is focusing "too much" on foreign policy. "Voters think Trump is focusing on foreign affairs and other matters at the expense of their most pressing concerns," reports the WSJ, namely "rising prices and the overall economy." Like it or not, our government is still a democracy, Trump isn't president-for-life, and if he loses the midterms badly enough, the second half of his administration will be swamped in lawfare, leaving his successor in a bad position for the next election. If the Blue Party wins in its current radicalized state, not having been forced to reform itself, it'll permanently consolidate power by re-opening the borders, jamming through amnesty at all costs, adding fake new states (D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, etc.), and suppressing dissent (Douglass Mackey on a mass-scale). It won't even need to pack the Supreme Court, or abolish the Senate and the Electoral College, although in time it'll have the constitutional numbers.
Americans are as unideological as they are uninformed, and "it's the economy, stupid" isn't nearly as reductive and vulgar as we'd like to think. If the economy continues to decline, the Blues will stump on "are you better off now than you were four years ago," and Americans, after voting for Trump four years ago, will turn around and vote for a Mamdani-type, or as Scott Greer puts it "American Chavism."
Keep poasting, man. I'm convinced that your takes are getting attention at the highest levels.
I echo that sentiment. With Trump holding the line and backing off the Insurrection Act stance, I think Conundrum has Paid Subscribers in all branches of governance and law enforcement. God speed!
Did you have this article written and in the pipe ready to go, in anticipation of the leftist lunacy in Minneapolis? Great article. These really are your best work.
Was totally shocked to read that Tannenbaum was the originator of the "Dramatization of Evil" theory - I was taught about this in my college psychology class. I assumed some naive person came up with it and the second order effects were pro-crime. Nope! He knew exactly what he was doing.
Kinda off topic but everyone show watch "Mussolini: Son of the century" by Sky (on mubi) and maybe Mystery grove will review it on the pod if we are lucky (paid subscribers only ofc)
Unintentionally or not, the show covers many of the themes that are emphasized on this substack and tries to do an honest telling of the history rather than being post WW2 progressive propaganda. Additionally it's actually top tier cinema and has great dialogue/screenwriting which is rare these days. Basically the show covers Italy in the post WW1 period and Mussolini's rise to power and does a decent job exploring the more romantic side of fascism and the overall ideology of Italian fascism. Mussolini is trying to hold together a very rambunctious coalition with lots of hot headed personalities and former ww1 veterans (guys that are actually prone to action) and take them from being a rag tag "revolutionary group" to form and actually run the government and deliver real results for the people. Throughout the show he has to juggle honoring the pure romantic version of fascism while making sacrifices to achieve real political wins, this is complicated by a lot of Italian black shirts unstable personalities going off the rails and giving the fascists terrible press with random acts of violence or simply being unable to carry out basic tasks. Then there is petty infighting from the "true fascists" who threaten to cost them the election because of "their principles". Outside the fascist group, to form a government he has to work with other groups like the "moderate liberals", catholics, and socialists who are just as stubborn. Mussolini is always juggling various problems from just the lack of good human capital to work with, the fickleness of public opinion, and the monarchy. I hope this gives you a good sense of the show and how similar it is to our present time (especially if you are in the online right sphere on twitter) and the need for Project 2035: A movement built to last as well as level headed leadership and party adherents.
disclaimer: in broad strokes the show does align with a true telling of the history, but I'm sure some of you here could nit pick the artist liberties it took
This was the first thing I thought of when I saw what they did in Minneapolis. I’ll always appreciate articles like this for helping expand my base of knowledge to better interpret modern situations like this.
Have you read The Revolt Against Civilization by Lothrop Stoddard? Its from 1922 and is basically a reserved and scholarly elaboration on your thesis about the nature of communists from the famous Twitter screenshot. At the very least it gives rare insight into how American WASP elites viewed the revolutionary movements of the time.
It's very striking how their rhetoric may as well have been lifted from a Signal chat. It never changes.
“We built this country,” said the man who arrived 5 minutes ago.
Mob violence.
How many of these leftist groups in America just try and force a cultural revolution through Maos tactics by shaming and intimidating their enemies through the mob and their media allies?
Total and complete disgusting behavior.
Same people who the Bolsheviks used for their rain of terror they’re now using here, unemployed criminals (will use force to get you to comply) who mock people in their places of worship when they have nothing but disgust for the Christian faith while getting away with it even though it’s a federal crime to disturb people in their places of worship.
Keep going, your work matters.
*something happns*
“Mystery grove talks about this”
It's astounding that as this partisan insurrection continues to harden, the administration is fixated upon...annexing Greenland...With words, the administration embraces "promoting European greatness" by restoring Europe's "civilizational self-confidence and Western identity" (which next to resettling Afrikaner refugees leaves me speechless and not that long ago would have been unthinkable), yet its every action, by contrast, is designed to antagonize and actually diminish Europe. Why? Is this some latent chauvinistic philistinism from the conthervative moofment, rehabilitated as "based"?
All of that is to say nothing of how unpopular these foreign adventures are domestically. From NPR/Marist, the net negatives on military intervention are as follows: Venezuela -13, Iran -15, Mexico -22, Cuba -24, Greenland -40. From CBS/YouGov, 53% of respondents answer that Trump is focusing "too much" on foreign policy. "Voters think Trump is focusing on foreign affairs and other matters at the expense of their most pressing concerns," reports the WSJ, namely "rising prices and the overall economy." Like it or not, our government is still a democracy, Trump isn't president-for-life, and if he loses the midterms badly enough, the second half of his administration will be swamped in lawfare, leaving his successor in a bad position for the next election. If the Blue Party wins in its current radicalized state, not having been forced to reform itself, it'll permanently consolidate power by re-opening the borders, jamming through amnesty at all costs, adding fake new states (D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, etc.), and suppressing dissent (Douglass Mackey on a mass-scale). It won't even need to pack the Supreme Court, or abolish the Senate and the Electoral College, although in time it'll have the constitutional numbers.
Americans are as unideological as they are uninformed, and "it's the economy, stupid" isn't nearly as reductive and vulgar as we'd like to think. If the economy continues to decline, the Blues will stump on "are you better off now than you were four years ago," and Americans, after voting for Trump four years ago, will turn around and vote for a Mamdani-type, or as Scott Greer puts it "American Chavism."