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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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Different kind of hate. Hillary was deeply unpopular and hated because of her personality, her disengagement and distance from the base, and her disastrous record on foreign policy (to be fair, America has a pretty poor record on foreign policy generally and it's uncertain how much of her record was her fault vs Obama's). Her failings come from her thinking that she was better than everyone else and that she knew better than everyone else ("basket of deplorables" etc.) which are also the shared failings of the Dem party elite (The Squad etc.).

Kamala is hated because she's a female politician with no clear principles who is also a naked opportunist willing to do anything to further her personal stake. The same applies to Trump to some degree, but what codes as Trump being a savvy businessman or alpha in a male context, when female-coded, comes across as Kamala looking for the next back to knife or connected boyfriend to trade up on. What ironically helps Kamala is that the Dems didn't prep for her at all so she looks a bit more of a longshot outsider, which is an advantage in an exhausted voting base sick of Business as Usual. She's also more connected to younger, idealistic voters who have yet to encounter a situation they think can't be solved by the destruction or humiliation of their political opponents.

Speaking as someone who is entirely selfish and outside America, Trump, to my great sadness, has the best record on foreign policy out of every American president since Clinton. Kamala is an unknown risk, nothing she's done personally or professionally makes me think she knows how the world of international realpolitik works beyond the reach of her own grasp. At best she's considered a harmless, ineffectual joke by other heads of state, at worst she... accidentally blunders into WW3, either egged on by the MIC, bipartisan hawks, or a complete misunderstanding of how Putin and Xi view the world.