Kristol on Trump’s Authoritarianism
An accurate description.
Allow me to share the following excerpt from Bill Kristol’s Bulwark newsletter today, as I think it resonates with my previous post:
How do you undermine a healthy democracy? Scapegoating minorities is a good start. How do you consolidate power? Purging the security agencies is a key to success.
From the moment he came down the escalator in Trump Tower, Trump has understood the political utility of scapegoating minorities.
In the world according to Trump, immigrants, especially immigrants of color, account for the misery, the carnage all around us.
Who’s responsible for the plight of “Real Americans,” for the unprecedented oppression and persecution of the straight white Christian men who once reigned supreme in our fair land? Minorities.
What small group can be an easy object of a Two Minutes Hate, to use Orwell’s conceit from 1984? Transgender individuals.
What programs can we blame for any disaster? How about DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion?
In the first two weeks of his second term, Trump has accelerated the demonizing and intensified the scapegoating. Immigrants have been a singular target of many of his executive orders. But so have transgender individuals, and so too have diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
He also notes, to go along with James Joyner’s post today, how the purges of the federal government likewise are wannabe authoritarian moves.
If there is one Republican who really should STFU it’s Bill Kristol. Kristol was the genius who urged Sarah Palin (remember her?) on the GOP and the McCain campaign, and who was on the wrong side of everything during the Bush II years. Kristol owes the American public a really big mea culpa before he opens his piehole again. Nice that he’s anti-Trump but pardon me for thinking he’d be there in a nanosecond if Trump were to seek his advice.
Greedy oligarchs and corporate mavens like Trump, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, the late Brian Thompson (R.I.P.), etc. — and their kind’s conspiracy of price gouging, slave wages, enshittification, and lobbying against quality-of-life legislation.
“Trump has understood the political utility of scapegoating minorities.”
So have the majority of Republicans elected since at least Nixon.
@Not the IT Dept.:
FWIW, I completely agree. Just because Kristol is right on something doesn’t mean we need to amplify him. Who to amplify and why is something I think about a lot.
Personally, I try to avoid “even [so and so] says X,” if [so and so] is something I think is wrong on most topics.
Coincidentally, I came here right after reading Ross Douthat’s interview with Steve Bannon in NYT. More on that later, time permitting. Do we remember how Douthat got his cushy job at NYT? NYT did a long, thorough search for a good conservative columnist to replace Bill Kristol, then they settled for Douthat. And why did they have to replace Kristol? Because he was caught lying in his columns too blatantly even for the Opinion page.
This seems relevant to the discussion on other threads about Republicans lying, which I think should include the intellectual honesty of pundits. It would seem that back in Kristol’s day NYT saw no need to fact check opinion pieces. IRRC they made statements at the time that it was opinion, it would be wrong to check facts. Douthat seems to still be receiving little editorial oversight. Compare this to the situation that caused Paul Krugman to bail from NYT.
Please also see:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/oppose-oppose-oppose-and-do-it-loudly
@MBunge: Ah, so the “you made me hit you” defense.
Just stop. No one is buying your garbage takes. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that excuses these blatantly anti-democratic and unconstitutional moves. Nothing.
@Not the IT Dept.: Alternative take: maybe people should be allowed to change their minds and learn, especially when they do so very publically.
@Matt Bernius: FWIW. I agree with the “Even X says…” approach. That isn’t what I was intending here.
But also, as noted, I think Kristol, and the Bulwark in general, has been quite good on the subject of Trump.
And in the case of the above, I think he is correct.
@Jen: FWIW, Bunge should be ignored.
@MBunge:
I am going to ignore the obvious problems with your post wrt authoritarianism and the ridiculous working you used. Also, I will eschew making the obvious arguments about Trump’s relationship to the rule of law.
A link, which is exactly one more than you provided:
If it was such a crisis, then why did Trump argue against a solution, even if it was not his preferred plan? I mean, if these immigrants are a danger, any reduction in undocumented migrants would be a net good, no?
Well, he told us:
Oh, I see. Then why didn’t he do it?
One more comment on Kristol: I fully understand the opprobrium sent his direction. By quoting him I am not saying “all is forgiven.”
But I will say that I would rather have GOP full of Kristol’s, especially the one I have been encountering since around 2017, than the GOP we currently have.
And it is exhausting enough to sort through the relentless BS of the current admin for me to get super worked up over pre-Trump Escalator errors if people have chosen the right side post-Escalator.
But no, I am not excusing his endorsement of Palin.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Yeah, MBunge should be ignored.
But I’m on one today (also see the comment on the FAA post.) This is not good. A couple weeks into this administration, and wading through the obvious bullshit is already getting to me.
@Steven L. Taylor: Ah, thanks. I do get the contrarian set mixed up sometimes and forget which ones are worth engaging and which ones are not. Thank you.
@Jen: It’s hard to keep track. He is banned, but just can’t quit us.
@Kurtz: It has been a long two weeks. I totally get it.
@Steven L. Taylor:
For the record, I didn’t think you were. I also think its really challenging to do at times like these.
FWIW, I’ve been trying to write something about Turley’s negative reaction to the J6 pardons (and Sowell’s strong feelings again tariffs) and NOT turn it into an “even X agrees that” posting.
The tl;dr isn’t to say this is a reason to agree with either of them, but rather what should this mean to the people who always say they are right?
@Steven L. Taylor: This. Anti-Trumpers of all stripes and backgrounds need to be united atm — focused on defending American values and Western civilization from the MAGA’s disgusting perverts, Nazis, and freaks.
This is no time for purity purges. We can go back to sorting and backbiting later. Kristol despises Donald Trump. That’s what matters c. 2025, so it’s good enough for now.
Trump has removed all information from health websites across the board.
This includes data and research that is the property of the American people–we paid to have this research conducted, it belongs TO US.
@Steven L. Taylor:
There’s such a thing as admitting he might have had something to do with the GOP descent into authoritarian fervor. Nice that Kristol changed his mind. But some time in the basement of repentance might be a good thing too.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Agree that the Bulwark has been quite good on the subject of Trump, but when I want to hear from their cast of former republicans, I tend to skim or skip over Bill Kristol. I didn’t even remember that he pushed Palin on the McCain campaign, but her selection did result in a snap change in my support from McCain to Obama. I do recall that Kristol, like Cheney, indicated that Iraq had a role in the 9/11 attacks.
@Not the IT Dept.: I mean, sure. But also: at this point, I have bigger issues to deal with.
@Eusebio: Palin was the final nail in the coffin for me, as well. And yes, Kristol’s WoT stuff wasn’t good.
But, in fairness to the entirety of the Trump administration, I can’t get too worked up about getting some pound of flesh out of Bill Kristol at the moment.
I guess we’re just going to ignore Trump and Musk shutting off the USAID CIA front while they investigate corruption and the theft of taxpayer funds and release what they find it as they find it because… that’s what an authoritarian would do…sure, that’s logical. I’m no fan of Trump, but I refuse to pretend he’s an authoritarian at this point, and so far in his short term he’s turning the deep state, bureaucratic oligarchy upside down, something LOOONG overdue. Keep pretending though, reality isn’t for everyone!