1 Comment

Thank you. You've done lots of hard work to arrive at this complicated understanding of a very complicated political and cultural situation. I agree that the attack on the capitol was not a coup as we have seen them overseas -- an organized attack with a goal to forming a new government. But I don't think those rioters would have minded if that had happened somehow, if they could have had some permanent impact, stayed in the building for a week, gotten Trump to visit, forced the legislators out of their own building. That sounds ridiculous, but all that happened yesterday was also ridiculous. The only thing lacking for it to be a coup attempt was more planning. Violence was not lacking.

And while I agree that that group was not, by definition, a white supremacist group with a membership role of white men, I cannot get past the fact that it was a sea of white male faces. That it wasn't anything close to 16% black. I know you've interviewed black Trump supporters, and they're out there. But it's pretty tricky to put any significant black participation together with Confederate flags.

I appreciate so much your dogged effort to get to the bottom of what makes all this tick. I still cannot understand the WHY behind Trump's appeal, in spite of that man's answer to your question on the video: "Love." That made me shake my head. Every gut instinct I've ever had about Donald Trump says slimy fellow. But we are living in many different bubbles in the US, and although they may seem bizarrely magical or comic book, they are so deadly. We've blamed the loss of neighborhood on so many things like TV or internet or whatever. But perhaps the bubbles are to blame. I hope you don't mind me replying so much to your work.

Expand full comment