tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869202163671423196.post1273314978025645284..comments2023-11-27T22:34:24.079-08:00Comments on SHOCK AND AWE: Appearance is reality: A Trump / glam reading listSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869202163671423196.post-64184467293719425692017-07-01T10:17:48.379-07:002017-07-01T10:17:48.379-07:00Personally, I'm struck how politics is becomin...Personally, I'm struck how politics is becoming more and more like sport - a form of entertainment in which you root for "your side". There's a corollary with football managers, with Trump like an arrogant Mourinho, and Corbyn like a reserved, dignified Wenger.<br /><br />Also the investment in "charisma", which both football managers and politicians increasingly need to command. I think the real amplifier of this trend was Obama with his tightly choreographed "effortless cool."<br /><br />There's also a sense now that the liberal-left consensus has become suffocating in its full spectrum dominance and moral censoriousness. That someone like Laurie Penny is the contemporary equivalent of Mary Whitehouse and Owen Jones the Malcolm Muggeridge. c.f. that well known article about Trump being punk:<br /><br />https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/donald-trump-sex-pistol/497528/<br /><br />Ioan Couliano is good on this in his concept of "The Magic State", also The Speng would point out that the cultural shift from policy to persona is emblematic of the rise of Caesarism. Macron is every bit as reflective of this as Trump is. Leaders of all kinds, whether of nations or of football teams, have to be increasingly sensitive to the demands and expectations of the masses - which are increasingly semi-religious - in order to command legitimacy.<br /><br />I picked a bad time to stop blogging really, because what's happened over the last year has been right up my alley.Phil Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16214245608032305452noreply@blogger.com