The thin blue whine: Trump, Leitch and 'Crybaby Conservatism'
iPolitics Insights
Self-pity is the new self-reliance
Amidst the populism, the nativism, the rise of fake news and the ritual denigration of truth, what stands out as the truly dominant characteristic of today’s right wing is all the bitching and moaning.
Ours is an era of Crybaby Conservatism — and the stone cold fact of the matter is that it seems to be working.
As a calculated political practice, Crybaby Conservatism holds that support can be had, funds can be raised and votes can be won by ceaselessly stirring people’s insecurities and endlessly playing the martyr. This new breed of right-wingers loves to list the many gross injustices to which they are subject. They issue ominous warnings that to be a conservative is to be put-upon and looked down on. Increasingly, they self-identify as victims.
This is definitely a departure. Conservatives used to campaign on rugged individualism and the projection of strength. Those of the modern breed are a whimpering litter of easily wounded weaklings. And they just can’t shut up about it.
Almost daily, Donald Trump takes to Twitter to complain about the slights and insults inflicted upon him and, by extension, his millions of supporters. He is a 70-year old white male billionaire set to assume the full authority of the presidency of the United States. Outside of comic books, it’s impossible to imagine someone with greater access to personal power. And yet, he persistently rallies his followers with claims that he, and they, are subject to humiliating treatment by powerful, threatening forces. Like comedians and Broadway musicals.
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