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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   15210 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 6, 2025

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Trump's not a palingenetic ultranationalist, but he's a somewhat palingenetic nationalist ("somewhat" mostly meaning that there's less need for palingenesis in America, which is arguably still in the height of its national power).

I agree with you overall, but I think it’s pretty central to the American right’s worldview that the nation is currently deeply decadent and that a palingenetic movement is sorely needed.

I’m not a fan of palingenetic nationalism as a definition of fascism because the American right are nearly all palingenetic nationalists and I don’t think that they’re all fascists.

Maybe the difference is that they’d need to be palingenetic extremists who value the rebirth over the tradition of democracy. That’s a good definition perhaps.

American right are nearly all palingenetic nationalists and I don’t think that they’re all fascists.

Fascism is palingenetic ultranationalism plus totalitarianism. One of the things that has a lot of Trump critics sweating is that Trumpism is exactly that sort of reactionary populist movement and Trump personally makes lots of authoritarian noises. Combine that with Trump's lack of inhibition or scruples and the uncritical devotion of many of his followers and it's easy to see why someone might start throwing around the f-word. Is it fascist? No. Is it fascish? Yeah, kinda.

Should be noted that the Trump movement is currently at a new situation with the strong influx of Musk and other tech right types, who are really not palingenetic at all in their thought, and are strongly future-oriented.

“We have to destroy the woke mind virus so we can save western civilization and eventually get to the stars”

The American right is not consistently palingenetic- lots of American right wingers want to go back to the fifties, sure, but the libertarian right definitely doesn’t and there are plenty of hardcore isolationists and secessionists on the actually far right, and there’s always been an ‘America is awesome right now’ current.

That’s fair, but similar to socialists, I honestly rarely see actual libertarians outside of Internet forums. They just don’t seem to have much voice in American politics.

Maybe America will have a Milei figure to come along to shake things up at some point.

Edit: like the right often wants to reduce government spending, sure. But for example, it gets done in a DOGE fashion where figures such as Elon and Vivek are both very rhetorically palingenetic. The mind virus is destroying western civilization and we need to save it so we can go to the stars! In fact the more I think about it, an expansionist United States with Elon style techno-saviorism at the helm is a pretty credible model for the emergence of a 21st century American fascism. We’re gonna be great, we just need to destroy the woke mind virus, secure Greenland and the canal, master AGI, make a few cryptos go to the moon so that the peons are happy, and then get to the stars ourselves. The woke will try to interfere, but at a certain point might makes right and it’s our destiny and mission to shut them out of the political process.

Honestly this wouldn’t surprise me to see, lol.

Yes, actual libertarians are underrepresented among the republican base. Your median conservative hardliner is some kind of fifties revivalist, at least for a generous definition of fifties revivalist.

But there's plenty of far right wingers who are not that. The secessionists and hardcore isolationists aren't. The 'Murica, fuck yeah' ultra-patriots aren't- they think America is already awesome, democrats just need to stop harshing the vibe.

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