"If I had my way, I’d stomp people like you into the earth"
November 28, 2018 1:07 PM Subscribe
The Year the Clock Broke—How the world we live in already happened in 1992 [John Ganz, The Baffler]
Hitting the shows the day after his announcement, Buchanan...told NBC’s Today, “David Duke, I think, has been reading a lot of my past columns and if he keeps it up and keeps stealing my themes I think we’re going to go down to Louisiana and sue him for intellectual property theft.” [...] And if Duke was pretty good at TV, Buchanan was an absolute master. He knew how to dominate panels, to deal with interviewers, he gave reporters total access, and he went to every campaign stop mic’ed up so they’d get everything. [...] At a mall in Manchester, Buchanan sat down next to a man in fatigues who was unemployed and apparently homeless. Buchanan said if the cameras intimidated him, he could send them away. He said they did; Buchanan didn’t send them away. He asked if the man was on welfare, which the man claimed not to be. Buchanan wished him good luck and a merry Christmas and moved on, cameras in tow. A few weeks later he called for the chronically homeless to be jailed.
The goal has always been to, quote “repeal the 20th century”
posted by The Whelk at 1:38 PM on November 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:38 PM on November 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Also the year 1865.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:40 PM on November 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:40 PM on November 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
I used to pitch the ultimate Presidential team as Pat Buchanan/Alan Keyes -- Piss Everyone Off.
But of course, G-d busts my balls to keep me humble, and here we are. In an even worse timeline.
posted by mikelieman at 1:53 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
But of course, G-d busts my balls to keep me humble, and here we are. In an even worse timeline.
posted by mikelieman at 1:53 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Nah. I don't think we have an Abe Lincoln waiting in the wings.
posted by Apocryphon at 1:54 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by Apocryphon at 1:54 PM on November 28, 2018
Buchanan's GOP convention speech in 1992 drove me to write a song titled "Did America Die?" meant to be sung in horror.
posted by kmartino at 2:10 PM on November 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by kmartino at 2:10 PM on November 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
In a two-part series called “The Buchanan Revolution,” he showed no sign of disappointment at Buchanan’s failure at the polls, but gave an upbeat optimistic analysis of the events of the preceding months: “The authentic populist revolt of 1992 that has surfaced in the campaigns of Mr. Duke, Mr. Perot, and Mr. Buchanan is the most powerful current in American politics today, but it will not succeed by virtue of its own momentum but only by finding leadership that is able and willing to carry it to enduring and meaningful power.” He set his Middle American revolutionaries the task of seizing cultural power to delegitimize the elite: “It must construct its cultural base not on the metropolitan elites of the dominant culture but on emerging forces rooted in Middle American culture itself.” But Francis doesn’t specify what this counter counter-culture would look like.
Well, we know now.
I have distinct memories of watching that heinous motherfucker Pat Buchanan speak at the 1992 RNC on TV. I recall thinking "Well, you're a fascist dictatorship now..." (I was watching from Canada, and I was in high school at the time and very much a politics geek, and going through a heavy Noam Chomsky phase).
Here's part of that speech.
Here's the whole thing.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:14 PM on November 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Well, we know now.
I have distinct memories of watching that heinous motherfucker Pat Buchanan speak at the 1992 RNC on TV. I recall thinking "Well, you're a fascist dictatorship now..." (I was watching from Canada, and I was in high school at the time and very much a politics geek, and going through a heavy Noam Chomsky phase).
Here's part of that speech.
Here's the whole thing.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:14 PM on November 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Buchanan's GOP convention speech in 1992 drove me to write a song titled "Did America Die?" meant to be sung in horror.
Awesome.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:15 PM on November 28, 2018
Awesome.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:15 PM on November 28, 2018
It's weird to hear someone talk about democracy defeating communism. I've never associated communism as somehow against democracy, it's against capitalism. Did people in the past just consider democracy and capitalism to be the same thing somehow or was it just stupid rhetoric against communism? Of course they also talked of dismantling democracy as the next step after defeating communism so maybe I'm just dealing with some fascist dipshits anyway.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:16 PM on November 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:16 PM on November 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Where is Newt Gingrich in all this? His ""Contract For America"" (which I refer to as either "ConJob On America" or "Contract Killing Of America" was pivotal in the decline of the Republican Party into Popu-fascism...
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:30 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:30 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's weird to hear someone talk about democracy defeating communism.
Communism was, from the late 50s through the fall of the Soviet Empire, equated strongly with authoritarian, decidedly non-democratic governments. See also: China, Vietnam, Cuba.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:35 PM on November 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Communism was, from the late 50s through the fall of the Soviet Empire, equated strongly with authoritarian, decidedly non-democratic governments. See also: China, Vietnam, Cuba.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:35 PM on November 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Did people in the past just consider democracy and capitalism to be the same thing somehow...
In the past?
A lot of the country believe it today. Not in so many words, mind you. The word “captalism” would be replaced with the concept of “our way of life” or somesuch. But, yes, a not-insubstantial portion of the country functionally tie the two together as a single entity.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:43 PM on November 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
In the past?
A lot of the country believe it today. Not in so many words, mind you. The word “captalism” would be replaced with the concept of “our way of life” or somesuch. But, yes, a not-insubstantial portion of the country functionally tie the two together as a single entity.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:43 PM on November 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
As a Cold War kid, yes, democracy was absolutely portrayed as an natural side-effect of capitalism, with the clear corollary that Soviet-style authoritarianism was an inevitable result of any form of socialism. Most Americans still accept this framing today.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:54 PM on November 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:54 PM on November 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
Where is Newt Gingrich in all this?
Much like the Joker couldn't exist without Batman, the apotheosis of Newt could only occur once the Clinton Era was in full swing.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:54 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Much like the Joker couldn't exist without Batman, the apotheosis of Newt could only occur once the Clinton Era was in full swing.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:54 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
In the cold war era, everything was portrayed as Democracy&Capitalism vs Totalitarianism&Communism. The mainstream narratives didn't present any real nuance or view of any other options. (And 1992 was still effectively Cold War thinking, despite being nominally after it).
Some people never really got over this framing, despite countries like modern China that clearly don't fit either "option".
posted by thefoxgod at 3:07 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Some people never really got over this framing, despite countries like modern China that clearly don't fit either "option".
posted by thefoxgod at 3:07 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I keep coming back to Bob Roberts as apt augury of our time. It's a good thing Trump and his cronies lack the personal charisma, tact, folksy eloquence and guitar skills of a Roberts, or we would truly be lost. Sans lipstick, it's easy to see them for the pigs they are.
posted by killdevil at 3:11 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by killdevil at 3:11 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Gingrich really didn't have much time at the top; although the so-called Contract with America was a big defeat for Bill Clinton, Gingrich spent less than four years as Speaker of the House before resigning, following the revelations of his own extramarital affair and ethics reprimand (and the GOP actually lost House seats in the midterm). That anyone even bothered to pay attention to him after that is mostly a testament to his tireless self-promotion; his 2012 presidential run was generally considered to be donor-funded promotion for his video company.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:16 PM on November 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:16 PM on November 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
I listened to a lot of Jello Biafra after Trump was elected, and I was a little caught off guard at how many lyrics were relevant to current events, despite being written in the 80's and 90's (and not just references to Jerry Brown.) "They're tryin' ta take our guns" and all that. The more things change...
posted by davejay at 4:15 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by davejay at 4:15 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've said it before, but I could die happy without ever hearing a single peep from or about Newton Leroy Gingrich ever again.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:20 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:20 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, to actually discuss the article-
It's a great historical chronicle and really places recent developments in the frame of history. It's interesting to wonder what would have happened had Perot not been there to be a mainstream-friendly, non-bigoted/kooky trade protectionist figure to sap Buchanan's following. And as this was before Gingrich, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Bush culture/Iraq wars, the Obama administration, and all of the other things that have polarized American politics even further, perhaps America was less ready to embrace such a rabble-rouser. (One also wonders if an equivalent figure existed in the last election- Bloomberg seemed like he was interested in running, but as an emergency establishment candidate should Sanders be nominated by the Dems).
It would be interesting to see a companion piece about the current president's third party flirtations and political development. Reminder that he once called Pat Buchanan "Attila the Hun", a racist, an anti-Semite, and a homophobe.
The article mostly explains Buchanan flailing out because of Perot and establishment Republican pushback. But it also mentions United Autoworkers Local 1776 in Michigan refusing to be used by his campaign. American organized labor was definitely stronger back in 1992, but one wonders how their power could be leveraged again today.
Finally, if the neocons and the paleocons were the factions struggling to control the GOP/American conservatism back in the '90s, who else was there? Where are all the normal people who aren't conniving journal-scribbling circuit-speaking power-seekers, in the Republican Party? Who else is there today?
posted by Apocryphon at 5:35 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's a great historical chronicle and really places recent developments in the frame of history. It's interesting to wonder what would have happened had Perot not been there to be a mainstream-friendly, non-bigoted/kooky trade protectionist figure to sap Buchanan's following. And as this was before Gingrich, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Bush culture/Iraq wars, the Obama administration, and all of the other things that have polarized American politics even further, perhaps America was less ready to embrace such a rabble-rouser. (One also wonders if an equivalent figure existed in the last election- Bloomberg seemed like he was interested in running, but as an emergency establishment candidate should Sanders be nominated by the Dems).
It would be interesting to see a companion piece about the current president's third party flirtations and political development. Reminder that he once called Pat Buchanan "Attila the Hun", a racist, an anti-Semite, and a homophobe.
The article mostly explains Buchanan flailing out because of Perot and establishment Republican pushback. But it also mentions United Autoworkers Local 1776 in Michigan refusing to be used by his campaign. American organized labor was definitely stronger back in 1992, but one wonders how their power could be leveraged again today.
Finally, if the neocons and the paleocons were the factions struggling to control the GOP/American conservatism back in the '90s, who else was there? Where are all the normal people who aren't conniving journal-scribbling circuit-speaking power-seekers, in the Republican Party? Who else is there today?
posted by Apocryphon at 5:35 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Wait. Who was Roger stone working for in 1992?
posted by eustatic at 9:23 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by eustatic at 9:23 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Finally, if the neocons and the paleocons were the factions struggling to control the GOP/American conservatism back in the '90s, who else was there?
As voices for conservatism in the public sphere? I mean, mainly libertarian cranks like Ron Paul who've always been fairly marginal because although their opposition to any sort of social contract funded by taxation is welcome in the mainstream Republican party, their occasional selective opposition to things like the drug war and overseas military interventions tend not to go over as well.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:19 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
As voices for conservatism in the public sphere? I mean, mainly libertarian cranks like Ron Paul who've always been fairly marginal because although their opposition to any sort of social contract funded by taxation is welcome in the mainstream Republican party, their occasional selective opposition to things like the drug war and overseas military interventions tend not to go over as well.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:19 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
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To compare Trump to Goodfellas is an insult to a great film. Accents and goofy prosthetics aside, this (SLAlPacino) is how I imagine current White House meetings going down.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:19 PM on November 28, 2018 [6 favorites]