…is that suffering only matters when it happens to you or to an extension of your ego. All other suffering is non-existent, contemptible, funny, and/or guilt manipulation.
Indeed, as a writer and honer of pithy phrases, I have to say that I burn with envy that some insurance exec could so pithily summarize the entire antichrist ethos of corporate conservatism with such staggering and satanic simplicity. “Guarding against unnecessary care” is the very guts, marrow, and soul of what this cult is all about. Not just medical care, of course. Any care. Any movement of the mind, heart, or soul to extend itself for the good of another if there is not something in it for the all-consuming Self. That is corporate conservatism in a nutshell. Any relationship that is not transactional and oriented toward enriching the Self at the expense of another is a waste of time in that world.
Meanwhile, the core defining defining psychological trait of the MAGA Cult is that suffering, even when it does happen to you, is worth it if only you can have the spiteful satisfaction of feeling as though somebody you hate is suffering even more.
That will be the consoling thought that sustains the Cult through the cruelities Trump and his cronies are inflicting on the US and the world. The question will be how much the footsoldiers in the Cult and the extensions of their egos can endure at the hands of their orange messiah before the dawning and dreadful thought breaks across their minds that Trump and his profiteers off of their suffering do not give and never have given a shit about them and they have been played for the biggest suckers in American history.
Pride is a helluva drug and it may sustain the Cult against admitting they were wrong till the day they die–a day that will be hastened for many of them by the neglect and contempt of the messiah for whom they lay down their lives in worship of his spite and cruelty.
Trump won’t notice if they live or die–unless their corpses are useful platforms for him to stand on to shout more lies to more suckers.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
― Lyndon B. Johnson
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10 Responses
Exactly.
MAGA has become a cult, that worships Trump. They seem to attribute to him near divine wisdom, so when he spews nonsense, they regard it like pearls of wisdom in disguise.
The cruelty is the point. Put immigrants in cages, treat gay people like dirt, make the poor go hungry. This is applauded by the MAGA faithful and incredibly regarded as being “religious.”
Yes, treating the less fortunate badly is somehow righteous.
Trump’s appeal is that he gives these people permission to be their worst selves. That he is a liar, con artist and cruel is not a defect. No, it’s a feature, baked in the cake. The religious right loves him for these reasons.
Finally, conservative and right wing are not the same. Mussolini was not a conservative. I wish the media understood this, but they do not.
Hmm… Right wing is polyvalent. There is a certain set of “right wing” policies depending on country and era, conservatism in 21st century USA is different from conservatism in UK, for example, let alone many other places.
There are three primary axes along which a platform can align: welfare: none→welfare state; regulation of economy: laissez-faire→centrally planned; ideology/ideals: conservative→progressive. Then there’s a fourth axis of how authoritarian means are employed to execute the platform and control the results, ranging from complete faith in the democratic system with its checks and balances to totalitarian police state.
Due to how the Overton window is positioned in USA, mainstream Democratic and Republican platforms would be considered right-wing in most of Europe. That said, for most US-based writers and readers, right-wing means GOP, so as little welfare as possible with a tendency to reduce what exists, laissez-faire economy with continued belief in trickle-down economy, and conservative ideals, and the only real thing that changed is the authoritarian means by which those are to be executed.
Mussolini was very progressive in 1920s Italy. He was staunchly anticlerical and as such opposed by the Church, but to win the Catholic vote in early 1930s, he made several token gestures, signed the concordat and the Lateran treaty, wed in Church, made sure his children went to first communion, but by 1938, he was back to his old practices. Yet point it out and people will say that he was Catholic, conservative and right-wing.
Fascists weren’t right wing or conservative. They were authoritarian, collectivist/etatist (with regards to means of production), supported total welfare state and were extremely progressive. They did tend to call upon the grand past, drew upon the cultural heritage and engaged in tribal ritualism to give the pretense of conservatism, but were anything but.
The only reason why fascism is considered right-wing is because it was opposed to communists (NOT communisM! — communisTS!) and communists styled themselves as the only truly left-wing political power as an umbrella term to attract blue collar voters. But by and large, fascists only opposed communists because they catered to the same voter base.
The far right and MAGA are best understood not as conservatives but as nihilists or even anarchists of a sort.
Conservatives want to preserve a legal, political and cultural order. MAGA and Mussolini and others of that ilk want to burn it all down. They are much more akin to the people who were burning stores and police stations back in 2020.
The only unnecessary care in hospitals is the fawning over sufficiently rich patients and providing them with all the luxuries that they desire.
I’m sure somebody more articulate could reword it into a pithy phrase.
The whole MAGA movement has a strong streak of anarchy. Dismantle the government, anti science, anti intellectual,etc. They are modern know nothings. This is not “conservative.”
Our neighbor is a judge for OSHA specializing in mine safety, now worried about her job; her daughter just got laid off in New York City where she worked for a USAID-funded entity. As my husband said tonight, “This won’t end well.” Regarding United Health, my husband’s brother is a pulmonologist and said it is well-known among docs that you have to submit claims to them multiple times before getting paid.
The other side of the coin is the burned out doctors. My second son wanted to be a doctor. When he was a kid in high school he had an internship at Kaiser and was really into it.
The doctor he shadowed was so frustrated with his life, his workload etc. that he told him confidentially that if he had it to do all over again he’d choose another career path.
We have Kaiser insurance right now. The doctors are guarded and worried. After a month of being sick I asked my daughter’s pediatrician two weeks ago to please do a culture. She refused. When she spiked a fever two days after the consultation she gave her a prescription for Amox without knowing what she had.
There must be something akin to hell. While I believe that God only metes out what we deserve in order to burn the dross out of our souls–it must feel like hell to face the reality of all of the innocent and feeble ones who were traded like lambs for the slaughter so that some executive/shareholder/oligarch can have…What? Seriously, what? Nothing in this world is actually that great. A guilty soul weighs a million pounds.
Country clubs, luxury cars, beach clubs, five star hotels, mansions…honestly not that impressive. Seen enough. Meh.
I cringe when some of these oligarchs are called geniuses. Who but a fool would trade in human misery?
The trouble is that too many people, especially in R circles, now want to trade in human misery. They all want to be Elon Musk who can and will say and do anything, no matter who it hurts so he can have money and power. The Snake just elected as president is exactly the same. (The Snake – the poem he would read at his rallies, completely missing the fact that he was describing himself.) The world revolves around him. Which might in the end spell the end of Musk, who, whether he likes it or not, isn’t the president – no matter how much he wants to be in charge.
As for souls – they flat out don’t care. I very much doubt that they think they have one. I, in my hope, don’t think there are humans in hell. But I find myself thinking that people like Trump and Musk deserve one. Of course, I do believe in Purgatory, which can last a seeming eternity.
I don’t think there are humans consigned to hell. I do think there are humans that can’t bear to experience heaven when faced with the extent and reverberations of suffering they have gleefully inflicted upon others.
Mark calls them dimestore antichrists. I used to think that the big-time antichrist would be some slick, attractive, smooth talker with irresistibly good manners. Now I’m not so sure. This scenario is even more humiliating for humans.