Our *blink* moments

I’ll bet you’re a skeptical left of center person because of the blink moments in your life. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about blink moments over a decade ago. The idea of a blink moment is one where your senses pick up some fundamental truth before you’re even aware of it.

I can think of two that have shaped me politically. One was when I was a student at Pitt and Reagan and Bush were running. I hadn’t voted in the last election because I was too young. But I was old enough that year. So I went to an auditorium on campus to see Bush’s campaign speech. I can’t figure out what triggered it but right away, he lost my vote. I noticed how he walked. There was a haughtiness about him. He looked like a guy who was used to barking little orders at people and watching them scurry. He delivered his speech and disdainfully dismissed questions from students. It’s like he hated the very idea of talking to us in the first place.

I got a visceral feeling of unpleasantness about him. This is weird because he was praised by family and friends as being this super nice guy. But I didn’t see any of that. I saw something physical rippling beneath that suit and I didn’t like it.

The second blink moment I had was in 1989. I was in Disneyworld. I was in a car in the parking lot. Maybe we were leaving. My daughter was a sleepy little thing and I was listening to the news on the radio. It was all about the war on drugs. I had the sensation of all these evil people lurking all over the place dealing drugs, killing over territory and taking over our country. They were right there in my neighborhood. And that terrified me. But I wasn’t quite sure if it was the drug lords that were terrifying me or the terror itself that was terrifying me. That sense of unease made me wonder why the hell I was so uneasy. I was living in America, visiting a pristine theme park, having a wonderful time. I had a good job in the field I loved and my daughter was well taken care of. If drug lords were all around us, not just in the inner city, I was unaffected. It didn’t seem like an insoluble problem that the greatest country in the world didn’t have the resources to fix. I wasn’t living in Haiti. Why was I so freaked out??

I stopped freaking out about the drug wars in that instant. I just got a sense that someone was trying to push my buttons. Now, maybe that’s because I was raised in a high control religion that used fear and anxiety to indoctrinate and control its followers and children. Whatever it was, something triggered a red flag response in me. I was vigilant after that about what I heard on the radio.

I guess you could say I had a third blink during the second Bush years when one morning I woke up and realized that NPR just didn’t sound right anymore. I had been a faithful listener for decades. I subscribed. I had a WNYC messenger bag. (Still do. I love that thing.) But I woke up one morning post 9/11 and Morning Edition sounded out of tune. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was very subtle. It was like using words with slightly different meanings. Or maybe it was new journalists. What was that guy’s name who eventually went to Fox? Juan something? Yeah. He wasn’t singing in tune. I stopped listening to NPR.

Anyway, these blink moments I now realize had some connection to the Bush family. I’ll just let that sit for a moment while I contemplate it. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I was reminded of them this morning as I was listening to the latest Vox Conversations podcast Why Fascism in post-Trump America isn’t going away. The interview was with Jason Stanley who wrote a book on it. It gets to the heart of the Trump cult and how it works.

At one point, Stanley says the fascist methodology has been in the works since the Reagan years. I recognized Newt Gingrich because I’d read his famous pamphlet on manipulating minds through specific language. But Newt didn’t try to hide his intentions. I mean, his targets most likely didn’t know what he was doing but it wasn’t like he didn’t publish his techniques.

But the Bush’s were much more subtle. And they had a broad network of powerful people.

(Eisenhower was right in some respects. Any party that seeks to do away with social security, unemployment insurance, and labor laws would soon find itself non-viable. Unless they learned lessons from previous fascist movements and figured out how to get ordinary people to let down their guard and turn on each other. This is what has happened and what Eisenhower, one of the ultimate antifa generals of WWII failed to recognize. The old Republican Party never could have pulled this off. That’s why it had to purge the moderates. And now we see what is left. In a way, the Republican Party is no more. It’s in name only.)

Reagan was just the sunny optimistic face of a bygone era. I’m not sure he was fully cognizant of who was using him or to what degree he allowed himself to be used.

Yeah. It’s been around that long.

I would like to tie some people down and make them listen to this podcast so they know their blink moments. Fascism isn’t what they think it is. Propaganda isn’t what they think it is. And it’s because they don’t recognize it for what it truly is that they become its greatest perpetrators – and victims.

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That Stanley interview is definitely a must listen. Some other interesting things:

Fascism always arises out of democratic societies because we value our freedom of speech, assembly, religion etc. Some people use that freedom as a tool to gain power.

There MUST be accountability for what has happened in the last four years. There will be a strong push to act like it never happened. But the insurrectionists and Trump must be held accountable or they will feel that there is no reason to not do it again. And the next time, they will be successful.

According to their backgrounds, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are the elite of the elite coastal elites. Doesn’t matter what state they represent.

Trumpers are into Sado-populism. We all kind of knew they wanted to stick it to the libs. They know we can’t stand Trump. So they’re delighted to be able to vote for him again. And again. And again. And his kids too. Why not Ivanka? How about Don Jr.? Think of how miserably unhappy they can make us. That’s what makes them hard. There’s a lot of joy in watching us squirm.

So if Trump can’t run again, who will be his successor who will pick up his activated base? Stanley says it might very well be Tucker Carlson.

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And another thing:

I’ve heard many different political science types try to define fascism but their definitions always lacked clarity and precision. Fascism always seemed like an elusive thing so I’ve been reluctant to use that word too often. Language counts. It’s so incredibly important to get the words right. If you throw a word around and it’s too fuzzy, it becomes a substitute for clearer thinking and a shortcut for people who defer to others to do their thinking.

Jason Stanley’s definition of fascism based on what has happened in the US is very clarifying. Fascism is a method for gaining power. What happens after gaining power are well known artifacts of fascism. But it’s the pathway to power that makes fascism distinctive.

It’s a shame that it has taken this long for someone to figure it out. Stanley’s definition explains why Trumpers act the way they do, how Trump got to power and how the media and other democratic institutions were blindsided. It all makes sense.

This was the most important podcast of the decade. We’ve all been sensing the elephant without seeing the whole animal. Stanley has revealed it all.