Not Jesus for sure. So it’s Trump obviously. His significant following, aka the “Trumpers”, come quite close to literal worship.
But what is it about Trump that they idolize? The drive for power and glory? The willfulness and self-assertion? The lack of compassion? It’s quite puzzling to non-believers why Trumpers worship him so fervently.
Most likely, Trumpers worship Trump for having (or seeming to have) the things they don’t have. Power. Glory. A strong will. Unremitting self-assertion. An utter lack of conscience or doubt.
I mean it would be pretty odd to worship something for having the things you do have. It’s hard to look up to something that’s exactly on your level. In other words, it’s partly Trump’s maniacal drive for worship that draws it to him.
So it’s hard for me to blame Trumpers for looking longingly and enviously at his power. Or the glory, the strong will, and the assertiveness.
And I can kinda sorta see where throwing off the shackles off conscience, compassion, or empathy might seem liberating to those crippled by self-doubt.
But what’s hard for me to stomach – really hard for me to stomach – is the disdain for courage.
People like Lindsey Graham roll around promiscuously in their cowardice. Lolling and luxuriating in their utter lack of responsibility. And many of Trump’s MAGAites in the general public embrace cowardice and submission with a hypocritical enthusiasm that makes we wonder if there are a functioning set of balls in the entire Trumpian universe.
I’m inclined to think there isn’t. That one of Trump’s overriding drives is to emasculate other men.
He’s good at it!
“When I look at Trump acolytes, I see a swarm of Neville Chamberlains who think they’re Winston Churchill” – David Brooks
What do Muskovites worship? Musk obviously. What do they worship about Musk? The same things that Trumpers worship?
Do Muskovites worship his ability to enact a whole series of unpleasant things in a very short period of time?
Maybe. If you idolize unpleasantness (and some people do, cough, Laura Ingraham), then Musk seems like a pretty good horse to ride.
If you idealize speedy unpleasantness, then Musk is a very good horse to ride.
Or is it the disruption? Probably that’s it. There’s been a fetish around disruption in tech circles, which is not especially surprising, although it is rather juvenile. Like a bunch of young men standing around in a circle shouting at each other ‘Look, I can jerk off!’
Everybody can jerk off dudes. And everyone can disrupt too. It’s not hard. Just ask the dog next door who’s been barking for 7 hours, disrupting everyone else’s peace and quiet. Nothing admirable about the dog just because he’s making it impossible for people to sleep.
Yup, with just a slight swerve from the norm pretty much anyone and anything can disrupt something that once functioned. Wanna disrupt traffic? Break down on the 405 during rush hour. That’ll do it. But that accidental traffic disrupter’s no hero.
The question with disruption is whether or not the disruption is worth it.
Is road construction worth the disrupted traffic while the roads are being constructed? Is that new development in your city or town worth the extra congestion and disruption it will cause?
Is anything Musk does worth the unpleasantness? The lies? The cruelty? The vindictiveness? The theft? The, uh, well, the desire to be worshipped?
I don’t know. Maybe the Tesla or the SpaceX rockets. Maybe the Neuralink implant or something else he’s been associated with promoting is indeed worth it.
I’m just saying that cowardice, speedy unpleasantness, and the ability to fuck up something that was functioning before are very uninspiring things to worship.
But I’m biased. Idols fall and false heroes disappoint. But getting pretty fed up with things that just aren’t right – it’s doubtful you’ll never regret that.
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