A Confederacy of Toddlers
5 comments
·November 4, 2025mrkeen
happytoexplain
It doesn't seem to be calling the majority an outlier or bizarre. You don't even need to apply this label to the majority - they needn't all have this mental state. Further, it's not an obscure concept - it's pretty straightforward concept.
Yes, the people aren't listened to. But a chunky part of that is not solvable because it's based on simple hatred of other people (not an insignificant part of every election - but the core of this one). That grievance doesn't somehow legitimize the vote for him. It only explains it.
RickJWagner
You’re on to something there.
In 2016, Trump first had to defeat the Republican establishment. Then he won the election.
In 2020, he nearly won again. In 2024, he won the election again.
He is like no politician before him. He is boorish, childish, uncouth, and boastful.
But it’s the fact that he opposes the sneering, snotty media/political establishment that gets him votes. People are tired of lies being constantly pushed upon them by condescending pretty people. Another snarky article from The Atlantic only feeds the monster.
rbanffy
> People are tired of lies being constantly pushed upon them by condescending pretty people
And it seems all they always wanted were lies being constantly pushed upon them by despicable petty authoritarians.
ZeroGravitas
One of the people running for mayor of NYC is making the argument that if you vote for him, he'll cave to Trump and avoid having soldiers sent to the streets of New York by the President.
Just the latest in a series of moments that make me think "people even just a year ago would not believe you if you told them that was going to happen" as things accelerate.
Regarding one of the threads in the article, the physics and books YouTuber Angela Collier recently proposed the name Mephistos for these failures that boost themselves via connections to fascism, based on the book "Mephisto: a novel of a career" and the real life story it draws on.
It's one of several Faust books she covers in "Faust and the Furious":
Remember in 2015 when there was no chance of Trump winning, then he did, and everyone collectively realised no-one had actually talked (listened) to any of the voters that put him in power?
Well, after win #2 (this time with the popular vote) here we are again:
> Friedrich Nietzsche created a concept that can help us understand this political moment. He imported a word from French to describe a kind of deep-seated anger that goes beyond transitory gripes: ressentiment, a feeling that comes from a combination of insecurity, an amorphous envy, and a generalized sense of resentment.
The majority is such a bizarre outlier that you need 19th century German philosophy to really understand what's going on.