by John Ellis
It was only a week ago or so that I thought that someone should check in on Rand Paul and make sure he’s okay. I mean, while I’m no fan of libertarianism[1], Rand Paul is still made in God’s image, and I don’t want him to suffer. And I was guessing that Trump’s hyper-driven mercantilism must be agonizing for him. Turns out, I was correct. Last night, before finally setting my phone down, I noticed the headline that Rand Paul’s vote had helped pass Tim Kaine’s Senate bill blocking Trump’s tariffs on Canada.[2] NBC News quotes Rand as proclaiming over Trump’s tariffs, “I mean, it’s a terrible, terrible idea.”
He ain’t wrong.
Granted, there’s nuance to all this, important and interesting nuance, which I’ll return to shortly.[3] For now, though, the main point I want to draw out is, as the title trumpets, the ideological sluttiness of MAGA. Not all of MAGA, of course. Many (most?) of MAGA are walking Dunning-Kruger effects, blithely unaware of how susceptible they are to demagoguery and the whims of autocrats. Those MAGA I have in my site are the individuals who just a couple short years ago were quoting Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell at me while singing the praises of Ron and Rand Paul. Now, though, they’re espousing protectionism with a dedicated fury and pitch that would make Jean-Baptiste Colbert blush. They spread wide their ideological legs quicker than the top-earner at Nevada’s famed Bunny Ranch.[4]
It makes sense, I guess. It’s hard these days to find a Republican that hasn’t betrayed the memories of the likes of Ronald Reagan (speaking of nuance) and Ken Starr (no nuance needed here). The best historical framework I can think of is that MAGA’s ideological sluttiness is akin to the Roman Senate backing Odoacer. The big difference is that by 476, Pax Romana was already a dead dream. The same can’t be said for Pax Americana, though, which makes all this weirder and more like the Bunny Ranch and less like the real politics of the 5th century Roman elite.
For the record, I am neither a fan of the so-called Pax Americana nor do I align myself with those on the progressive side of the scale who view it as a self-serving/deluded myth. While it may not have been as monolithic nor as set in stone as some like to believe, the collapse of the Soviet Union did bring forth the triumph of Reaganomics wrapped in the sentimental, jingoistic stylings of Lee Greenwood and his ilk. I mean, look at NAFTA, to mention one obvious triumph of Reaganomics. American hegemony over global economics was a very real thing; not anymore, though.
An irony, I think, possibly just unveiling a level of stupidity in all this that even I’m afraid to acknowledge, is Trump’s casting of the entire rest of the world as some dastardly cat burglar who snuck into America behind our backs and plundered us before we realized it. That’s some Stephen Cowell and his (un)intellectual heir David Barton level myth-making propaganda right there. Because the thing is, the new world order – American hegemony over global economics – that has suddenly been cast as the villain in the Republican story was a creation of … wait for it … Republican Party triumphs. For decades now, Marxists, those who are presumed Marxists, and run-of-the-mill progressives have been condemning the economic inequities created by global free trade – another name for it is Reaganomics. I’m old enough to remember calls for boycotts of companies like Nike who exploited (still do) workers in other countries who don’t enjoy the (limited) protections workers have in this country. Nike didn’t open sweat shops overseas because they colluded with foreign governments to destroy America. They did so because Republicans wanted it that way (that and it was good for their shareholders’ dividends), lusted for it, in fact. I mean, read Thomas Sowell for you-know-what’s sake! Some of the same people aggressively trumpeting Trump’s tariffs are those who once demanded that I read Sowell in the belief that doing so would cause me to see the economic light and shut me up about the exploitation of foreign workers by greedy American CEOs.[5]
Look, here’s the thing: I am in 100% agreement that the United States of America’s almost total vice grip on much of global economics is a bad thing. I think Pax Americana, regardless of the level of its reality, is oppressive. Most of us living in this country enjoy good things at the expense of others around the globe.[6] Things should change, I concur. Problems demand solutions. But to blame the victims while painting ourselves as the offended party is beyond laughable because it doesn’t address any of the real problems. Not to mention that it seems, at best, foolhardy for the party who caused the problem to now pretend like it can fix it. Especially since they’re lying about the problem and seemingly don’t understand Economics 101 – tariffs ARE a tax on consumers not foreign governments, something even Henry Clay knew.
Donald Trump is selling the American people a completely fictitious myth with potentially (likely) grave consequences. The scary thing about all this is that I don’t think that anyone can say with any certainty what our lives are going to look like after Donald Trump finishes his scorched earth campaign against global economics. I’m afraid that like sexual sluttiness, the ideological sluttiness of MAGA is going to leave us with a diseased, hollowed out world, including America. To push my metaphor into even more disgusting levels, it’s only the billionaire class that have access to the luxury of economic condoms, which may reveal Trump’s entire game. I guess we’re going to find out.
[1] I’m being generous. I LOATHE libertarianism, believing that in the place of every libertarian’s heart sits a miniature Ayn Rand. … Although, to be fair, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a libertarian who’s even heard of Murray Rothbard much less read him – my point? Most libertarians aren’t true libertarians. I guess in those cases, what sits in the place of their heart is a desire to smoke weed, not pay taxes, and not get arrested when they employ the services of a sex worker. So, a miniature Ayn Rand.
[2] Don’t worry, MAGAites, it’ll die in the House.
[3] To a point. I’m only going to wade into the nuance. Hopefully far enough in to get my point across. And by wade, I mean barely dip my toes in.
[4] I debated leaving this sentence in because the imagery may be a tad bit to vulgar for my target audience of conservative Christians. I left it in because it’s true.
[5] Reading Sowell did not cause me to see the light nor shut me up. Although I will now find some self-serving amusement in asking MAGAites, “Have you read Thomas Sowell?”
[6] Not to mention the exploitation, theft, enslavement, etc. that is the through-line-of-action of this country’s history.
Practically Known Theology 