I would argue that the rise of Christo-fascism contradicts you. As well as the prevailing conservative movement.
But I do agree that the US somehow has less than expected populism due to these movements. With what you describe, any promise in alignment with self interests should do well. Yet currently a majority is grumbling that everything’s been going against that for 50+ years, and yet the big political shifts haven’t been to popular-concession-du-jour, but to expanding/retracting social democratic reforms.
I would argue the US populace is heavily propagandised, to the point of propaganda exhaustion, and apolitical for that reason more than because of any independence from the state.
This in turn is excellent breeding ground for sycophants and cronies in power, which would explain the repeatedly poor results in international dealings where power selection might have more bias towards competency.
Trump administration is repeatedly outmaneuvered by Russia, Canada, Mexico, China and now Iran. Notable examples also cover UAE, Israel, North Korea, EU, India and Japan. And the US has had a massive upper hand going into those situations. The fall of the petro-dollar was unimaginable (before a post-oil world) 5 years ago, and yet it’s now a real possibility (pending logistical issues of the new currency), and with the dismantling of US soft influence, increasingly inevitable.
I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. 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
I would argue that the rise of Christo-fascism contradicts you. As well as the prevailing conservative movement.
But I do agree that the US somehow has less than expected populism due to these movements. With what you describe, any promise in alignment with self interests should do well. Yet currently a majority is grumbling that everything’s been going against that for 50+ years, and yet the big political shifts haven’t been to popular-concession-du-jour, but to expanding/retracting social democratic reforms.
I would argue the US populace is heavily propagandised, to the point of propaganda exhaustion, and apolitical for that reason more than because of any independence from the state.
This in turn is excellent breeding ground for sycophants and cronies in power, which would explain the repeatedly poor results in international dealings where power selection might have more bias towards competency.
Trump administration is repeatedly outmaneuvered by Russia, Canada, Mexico, China and now Iran. Notable examples also cover UAE, Israel, North Korea, EU, India and Japan. And the US has had a massive upper hand going into those situations. The fall of the petro-dollar was unimaginable (before a post-oil world) 5 years ago, and yet it’s now a real possibility (pending logistical issues of the new currency), and with the dismantling of US soft influence, increasingly inevitable.
none of this is new though
Trump’s just adopted that mantra