The fact that Trump has somehow "normalized" the Cheneys...

[jfz9580m]

19. Perhaps

But that’s also what gives a lot of people across the political spectrum a sense that there is way too much collegiality at the top.

Of course, Trump is a chaos agent with heavily dictatorial tendencies. But this sense that corporations now have way too much sway as opposed to any average person (and that’s true now in every part of the globe) is widespread.

And it does feel like a permacrisis with no alleviation and radically lowered expectations is to be the norm.

It’s part of the reason for the enthusiasm over Mamdani and others like him.

Cynics would say “Yeah just let this or that new progressive only get in office and they will also be called a sellout or just be ineffective”. Sure.

It’s already so dire that things will take a while to work. But as the OP says, people like Cheney made life on this planet this hellish.

That’s why expectations now need to be tempered with reality for any progress. It is a given that just about anyone (especially any politician) will be disappointing in this environment -it’s the degree that makes the difference.

BTW I would be delighted to not be constantly disappointed. It’s just that I recognize that the cycle of a backlash following enthusiasm seems to lead to hopelessness.

The average direction would still be better and is in need of correction like never before.

One of the few people I have seen accomplish necessary radical change elegantly and fast was the brilliant Lina Khan. But she was a bureaucrat not a politician, the very class that Vought etc have correctly identified as a very real if completely legitimate threat to authoritarianism, corruption and human exploitation.

It is so right shifted right now that it is communist* to be to the left of “No regulations on any for profit ever! Austerity or at least psychological poverty and solutionism for the worst off will make up the slack!”. That’s the real race to the bottom.

* I happen to live in one of the few actually communist states in the world and find it darkly amusing that they large embrace environmental destruction, deregulation and exploitative business interests as much as most libertarians.