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Jon Saxton's avatar

Welcome to substack. I’ve read much of your work in other places. Lots of potential threads to pull on here and in your work overall. One I’m having trouble with is this assertion: “In short, Trump’s conception of government is not Hobbes’ Leviathan but rather the State of Nature to which a Leviathan supposedly was the answer.” I don’t think this is what Trump is about at all. He’s too weak of a person to ever want to live in or preside over a state of nature. I think, in the longish term, he and his coalition are about simplifying governance not doing away with it. His model is pretty clearly that of the mob boss: it’s all about a stacked marketplace (political, economic, etc.) of transactions and tributes designed to enrich and empower himself, and then, as needed, whoever else he wants. The chaos he is unleashing (and always has) is about defying and undermining norms, and bringing cathartic WWE-type experiences to his populist “suckers” such that he can then impose his personal preferences about order on the country (largely based on patronage). He wants anything but the sort of conflict that could ruin his day. He wants to be able to watch his suckers on TV ruin their own lives wrecking things. He wants to turn our governance into something that’s comfortable and safe/fun for him — not like the White House or even his New York penthouse — but more like a modern-day palace: like Mara-Logo.

I believe what you are attributing to Trump is far more likely to be on the agenda of someone more like Musk, who really does want to rule the country, the world — and then the solar system. Of great interest is going to be how those two sort out their very different and incompatible visions for our future. The Trumpian vision will be far easier and less bloody to deal with than Musk’s.

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The Pedicab Pundit's avatar

For the first time in my longtime use of this favored phrase, I use it without sarcasm: Bless your heart.

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