Returning to Suzy Hansen's essay ($$) in the New York Review of Books on several scratchings from "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth, some parallels are seen that are worth noting once again:
Reading World War II-era authors such as Arendt and Russell today, it’s difficult to avoid being struck by how many top Nazis and Trumpists share the same basic social profile, which is to say they were and are lifelong catastrophic failures, who failed upwards under conditions that turned out to be ripe for such people to ascend to positions for which they were farcically unqualified. This description fits people like Eichmann, Himmler, and many other Nazis to a tee, with the very best example being, of course, Adolf Hitler himself.
On the Trumpist side the examples are equally plentiful, from Hegseth, to Robert F. Kennedy the Lesser to, most crucially, Trump himself: a man who spent decades managing to be a human disaster of astonishing proportions, despite inheriting hundreds of millions of dollars, and all the immense privilege that goes with such good fortune in our society.
This is what national suicide looks like. It was true in Germany in the 1930's/40's, and it is true today, thanks to the triumph of the will stupidity.
This explains the appeal of these "leaders" to their followers too, they are mostly self loathing and miserable. Easier to blame minorities and liberals than to look inwards or at least acknowledge that your lot in life depends a lot on luck and circumstances
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