thenation--2020-10-05--Extinction Rebellion’s Long Overdue Reckoning With Race

For the better part of September , thousands of Extinction Rebellion ( XR ) climate activists took to the United Kingdom ’ s streets en masse for the third time with three demands for the British government : Tell the truth , act now , and set up a Citizens ’ Assembly to address the climate crisis .
Now , as UK officials threaten to classify the British-born nonviolent group as a terrorist organization , XR is debriefing and planning future protests , including a “ Money Strike.
” The upcoming action , which will encourage individuals to withhold funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate crisis as well as economic inequality and systemic racism , seems to have been designed partly in response to a question that has been dominating conversations about the group for quite some time : Is Extinction Rebellion doing everything it possibly can to be inclusive ?
Though they acknowledge XR still has a lot of work to do on this front , members say the latest protests have been the most diverse in its short history .
Founded in 2018 by primarily white , middle-class climate activists in a rural English town @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that XR has long been accused of lacking diversity .
At the heart of this criticism is not just the fact that the majority of the movement ’ s participants represent a demographic similar to its founders ’ , but that its main strategy is civil disobedience with a stated goal of mass arrest .
To Black , Asian and Minority Ethnic ( BAME ) activists who had been active in Britain ’ s climate movement prior to XR ’ s debut , the approach callously endangers marginalized groups who are disproportionately targeted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also illustrate a broader problem in the fight against climate change : Although people of color are most impacted by the climate crisis because of socioeconomic disparities that play out on both a local and global scale , BAME activists , climate scientists , and their communities are often slighted in or outright erased from the climate narrative .
XR members say internal discussions about inclusiveness began in 2018 , but these concerns remained unresolved .
As local Extinction Rebellion groups began to sprout around the world from the United States to Kenya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reach a peak following a series of high-profile missteps .
Several incidents of dog-whistling and public displays of affection for the police further alienated BAME climate activists in a country that has a long , often unrecognized history of racism rooted in a brutal imperialist legacy .
“ As an ethnic minority within XR , ” says Daze Aghaji , an XR spokesperson and former European Parliament candidate , “ I never felt excluded , but I felt that , particularly at the beginning , there was a bit of ignorance .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s because people were racist , but they just didn ’ t understand how to address their own privilege .
“ We became a bit too big too early , ” she adds , “ and we didn ’ t really have that time to mature.
” Many of the people who joined the group , Aghaji points out , were being politicized for the first time and had little experience with protest .
Generational differences also factor in as younger participants seem more prepared to discuss intersectionality than their older peers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics ” pledge hampers its ability to meaningfully critique the capitalist institutions that have wreaked environmental devastation and profited from the suffering of marginalized groups .
To Suzanne Dhaliwal , founder and director of the UK Tar Sands Network , the way XR organizers borrowed tactics from the American civil rights movement and Indian anti-colonial leader Mahatma Gandhi is among the most problematic—if not appropriative—aspects of their strategy .
Partly , she argues , there seems to be a profound failure among XR organizers to understand how the movements they invoke grew out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the state—as opposed to groups inviting arrest merely as means to draw attention to their causes .
As Dhaliwal and other BAME activists highlight , much of XR ’ s initial messaging also painted the climate crisis as a future catastrophe , whereas , for much of the Global South , it is already a devastating daily reality .
These failures seem to have been exacerbated by a reluctance to listen to the BAME activists within Extinction Rebellion—who had been pushing for racial diversity to play a central role all along .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ point to a “ core ” of largely white , middle-class organizers who wield disproportionate influence .
Two of the most well known are cofounders Roger Hallam , 54 , a former farmer from Wales whose doctoral thesis focused on civil disobedience tactics , and Gail Bradbrook , 48 , a molecular biologist from West Yorkshire whose ayahuasca experience in Costa Rica altered her perspective on climate activism .
When XR activists climbed atop a light rail train in London ’ s Canning Town station late last year , the direct action encapsulated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s “ tone deaf ” approach to climate activism .
Targeting public transportation in East London during rush hour primarily delayed working-class people of color on their way to often precarious work where they were likely to be penalized for tardiness .
Dhaliwal says that BAME climate activists also directly felt the consequences of the Canning Town action and other XR protests .
During XR ’ s rebellions , “ I was constantly flooded with messages from Black and brown activists who could not do the organizing they needed to do , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been impacted by , for instance , their basic routes to work being disrupted , ” she says .
Dhaliwal , whose research at the University of Brighton focuses on BAME representation in climate activism , points to “ an ecosystem ” of BAME-led groups and organizations that are given far less media attention than Extinction Rebellion .
In response to the media blackout XR partly exacerbated , a new UK initiative called Climate Reframe is shedding a much-needed spotlight on groups that are not just BAME-led but also address the specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ XR , last year ’ s wave of criticism finally brought to the forefront a long-overdue conversation about race , as did two of 2020 ’ s major global events .
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted yet another way that climate change , which is a factor in the rise of infectious diseases , already disproportionately endangers people of color .
George Floyd ’ s killing at the hands of American cops additionally raised awareness about how police mistreat BAME communities in the UK .
It has been known for some time that London @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , are more likely to use force against Black people .
A recent analysis by The Guardian also revealed that during the UK ’ s coronavirus lockdown , BAME people were more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and fined for breaching Covid-19 measures .
When Black Lives Matter protests crossed the Atlantic this summer , XR member Cameron Joshi says , XR discussions about adding a fourth demand regarding the intersection of anti-racism and climate activism gained a renewed urgency .
Although the amendment , which was first added by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by several local XR groups in the UK , the umbrella organization has yet to add it to its list .
“ A lot of people over the last year saw the criticism that was levied at XR , ” says Joshi , “ and they slowly taught themselves about decolonization , anti-racism , the Global South , and climate justice .
Then , over the course of the last six months , they became confident enough to start having these arguments about ‘ the fourth demand.
’ ” When Global Justice Rebellion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ belongs to , carried out an informal poll of over 1,500 XR members , they found that nearly 80 percent were in favor of adding a demand about racial justice .
While acknowledging that the survey has its flaws , Joshi points to the uproar it caused among the group ’ s core as evidence that XR UK still has a long way to go before it can truly build anti-racism “ into the DNA of our movement , ” as Hallam and others recently pledged in a piece for The Ecologist .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried out its poll , XR UK released a long-overdue mea culpa regarding its relationship to the police .
“ We recognise now [ that ] our behaviours and attitudes fed into the system of white supremacy , ” reads the statement .
“ We ’ re sorry this recognition comes so late.
” The climate group ’ s acknowledgement isn ’ t merely an apology ; it contains a detailed list of the various ways XR UK is attempting to “ prioritise anti-racism.
” These include a review of its training materials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions , and efforts to support groups dedicated to racial justice .
Central to these efforts is XR ’ s International Solidarity Network ( XRISN ) , a semi-autonomous offshoot of the broader movement .
XRISN , which now receives 20 percent of XR ’ s crowdfunding , focuses on providing support to XR groups in the Global South and clearly sets out at its center the unique impact the climate crisis has on Black , Indigenous , and other communities of color .
“ People like myself and others who have decided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says XRISN organizer Esther Stanford-Xosei , “ do so because we believe that there is no white-led movement in the Global North that has it all right on matters [ of racial justice ] and we believe in critical engagement and transformation from within , which we have helped catalyze as the XRISN.
” “ We think that it ’ s also problematic to deny the contributions of communities not racialized as white who helped to shape Extinction Rebellion into what it is , ” she adds .
Stanford-Xosei , who is also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Coalition in Europe , asserts that she ’ s seen a significant shift in the way XR has approached inclusiveness over the past year .
She gives as an example XR members ’ increased participation in a summer protest organized by the “ Stop the Maangamizi : We Charge Genocide/Ecocide !
” campaign that , among other demands related to racial justice , calls for reparations .
After joining the group last fall despite concerns regarding inclusiveness , XR press coordinator Ali Brumfitt has also witnessed several major changes .
One of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way XR activists now approach law enforcement : Members are more mindful of supporting and safeguarding people of color during protests , as well as avoiding conversations with police who are collecting information that could jeopardize their BAME peers ’ safety .
Brumfitt also claims that “ arrest has become less of a central focus ” in XR as the “ misconception that being arrested in itself is helpful to the cause ” is slowly being dispelled .
During its latest rebellion , XR UK had a chance to assess whether its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Despite the adjustments in XR ’ s relationship to police , 600 XR activists were arrested in London during the first days of September , including a 92-year-old retired engineer , prompting civil rights experts to decry the government crackdown on peaceful protests .
Hallam , one of the main architects behind XR ’ s arrest tactics , has also notably left Extinction Rebellion to start an “ anti-political party ” called Beyond Politics .
The XR cofounder was preemptively arrested in late August along with four other Beyond Politics members ahead of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conspiracy to cause criminal damage at planned protests.
” “ The biggest change has been in attitude and understanding , ” concludes Brumfitt .
“ The change in terms of actually physically representing more diverse communities is slower , but that ’ s understandable because what [ XR ] has to do is change its understanding of how it ’ s making itself safe and open for marginalized communities to come in and have leadership roles , rather than say , ‘ Come and join us , and you do the work of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group attempts to move beyond its white , middle-class roots , a difficult question looms behind their inclusivity efforts : As participation dwindles from rebellion to rebellion , is XR missing its shot to have the greatest impact on the conversation surrounding anti-racism and the climate crisis ?
Natasha Josette , a member of Labour for a Green New Deal , seems to think so .
An analysis the BAME activist commissioned from Jarrow Insights found that XR ’ s periods of direct action result in “ giant spikes ” in online conversations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jossette explains , not only are the majority of the people who engage in these social media discussions white male Londoners , but the actual content XR publishes during these periods largely leaves out anti-racism and the Global South , as well as support for other climate groups led by BAME organizers .
Josette once again saw missed opportunities during the recent rebellion when XR ’ s mentions of the links between the climate crisis , police brutality , and public health were few and far between .
“ The climate movement has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It has to have race and class interwoven into it .
You can ’ t just look at the climate as the most important thing and say everything else has to wait .
“ XR is doing a huge disservice to the movement , ” she goes on , “ by not using their rebellions and the spikes in discourse these create to get that message across .
”

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For the better part of September, thousands of Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate activists took to the United Kingdom’s streets en masse for the third time with three demands for the British government: Tell the truth, act now, and set up a Citizens’ Assembly to address the climate crisis. Now, as UK officials threaten to classify the British-born nonviolent group as a terrorist organization, XR is debriefing and planning future protests, including a “Money Strike.” The upcoming action, which will encourage individuals to withhold funds from institutions that are contributing to the climate crisis as well as economic inequality and systemic racism, seems to have been designed partly in response to a question that has been dominating conversations about the group for quite some time: Is Extinction Rebellion doing everything it possibly can to be inclusive?
Though they acknowledge XR still has a lot of work to do on this front, members say the latest protests have been the most diverse in its short history. Founded in 2018 by primarily white, middle-class climate activists in a rural English town, it perhaps comes as no surprise that XR has long been accused of lacking diversity. At the heart of this criticism is not just the fact that the majority of the movement’s participants represent a demographic similar to its founders’, but that its main strategy is civil disobedience with a stated goal of mass arrest. To Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) activists who had been active in Britain’s climate movement prior to XR’s debut, the approach callously endangers marginalized groups who are disproportionately targeted by police. XR’s tactics also illustrate a broader problem in the fight against climate change: Although people of color are most impacted by the climate crisis because of socioeconomic disparities that play out on both a local and global scale, BAME activists, climate scientists, and their communities are often slighted in or outright erased from the climate narrative.
XR members say internal discussions about inclusiveness began in 2018, but these concerns remained unresolved. As local Extinction Rebellion groups began to sprout around the world from the United States to Kenya, criticism of XR UK also seemed to reach a peak following a series of high-profile missteps. Several incidents of dog-whistling and public displays of affection for the police further alienated BAME climate activists in a country that has a long, often unrecognized history of racism rooted in a brutal imperialist legacy. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
“As an ethnic minority within XR,” says Daze Aghaji, an XR spokesperson and former European Parliament candidate, “I never felt excluded, but I felt that, particularly at the beginning, there was a bit of ignorance. I don’t think it’s because people were racist, but they just didn’t understand how to address their own privilege.
“We became a bit too big too early,” she adds, “and we didn’t really have that time to mature.”
Many of the people who joined the group, Aghaji points out, were being politicized for the first time and had little experience with protest. Generational differences also factor in as younger participants seem more prepared to discuss intersectionality than their older peers.
Critics suggest XR’s “beyond politics” pledge hampers its ability to meaningfully critique the capitalist institutions that have wreaked environmental devastation and profited from the suffering of marginalized groups. To Suzanne Dhaliwal, founder and director of the UK Tar Sands Network, the way XR organizers borrowed tactics from the American civil rights movement and Indian anti-colonial leader Mahatma Gandhi is among the most problematic—if not appropriative—aspects of their strategy. Partly, she argues, there seems to be a profound failure among XR organizers to understand how the movements they invoke grew out of marginalized communities that were already targeted by the state—as opposed to groups inviting arrest merely as means to draw attention to their causes. As Dhaliwal and other BAME activists highlight, much of XR’s initial messaging also painted the climate crisis as a future catastrophe, whereas, for much of the Global South, it is already a devastating daily reality. Current Issue View our current issue
These failures seem to have been exacerbated by a reluctance to listen to the BAME activists within Extinction Rebellion—who had been pushing for racial diversity to play a central role all along. Although the group is decentralized, members point to a “core” of largely white, middle-class organizers who wield disproportionate influence. Two of the most well known are cofounders Roger Hallam, 54, a former farmer from Wales whose doctoral thesis focused on civil disobedience tactics, and Gail Bradbrook, 48, a molecular biologist from West Yorkshire whose ayahuasca experience in Costa Rica altered her perspective on climate activism.
When XR activists climbed atop a light rail train in London’s Canning Town station late last year, the direct action encapsulated what some see as Extinction Rebellion’s “tone deaf” approach to climate activism. Targeting public transportation in East London during rush hour primarily delayed working-class people of color on their way to often precarious work where they were likely to be penalized for tardiness. Dhaliwal says that BAME climate activists also directly felt the consequences of the Canning Town action and other XR protests.
During XR’s rebellions, “I was constantly flooded with messages from Black and brown activists who could not do the organizing they needed to do, who could not get the resources, who had been impacted by, for instance, their basic routes to work being disrupted,” she says.
Dhaliwal, whose research at the University of Brighton focuses on BAME representation in climate activism, points to “an ecosystem” of BAME-led groups and organizations that are given far less media attention than Extinction Rebellion. In response to the media blackout XR partly exacerbated, a new UK initiative called Climate Reframe is shedding a much-needed spotlight on groups that are not just BAME-led but also address the specific climate concerns of marginalized groups. More From Natasha Hakimi Zapata What the UK’s Arrest of a French Publisher Means for Public Intellectuals the World Over April 24, 2023 Liz Truss or No Liz Truss, Things Are Bleaker in Britain Than Anyone Realizes October 20, 2022 Boris Johnson's (Far From Final) Bill for Damages August 1, 2022
Within XR, last year’s wave of criticism finally brought to the forefront a long-overdue conversation about race, as did two of 2020’s major global events. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted yet another way that climate change, which is a factor in the rise of infectious diseases, already disproportionately endangers people of color. George Floyd’s killing at the hands of American cops additionally raised awareness about how police mistreat BAME communities in the UK. It has been known for some time that London’s Metropolitan Police, for example, are more likely to use force against Black people. A recent analysis by The Guardian also revealed that during the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, BAME people were more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and fined for breaching Covid-19 measures.
When Black Lives Matter protests crossed the Atlantic this summer, XR member Cameron Joshi says, XR discussions about adding a fourth demand regarding the intersection of anti-racism and climate activism gained a renewed urgency. Although the amendment, which was first added by XR US, has already been adopted by several local XR groups in the UK, the umbrella organization has yet to add it to its list.
“A lot of people over the last year saw the criticism that was levied at XR,” says Joshi, “and they slowly taught themselves about decolonization, anti-racism, the Global South, and climate justice. Then, over the course of the last six months, they became confident enough to start having these arguments about ‘the fourth demand.’”
When Global Justice Rebellion, an XR affiliate that Joshi also belongs to, carried out an informal poll of over 1,500 XR members, they found that nearly 80 percent were in favor of adding a demand about racial justice. While acknowledging that the survey has its flaws, Joshi points to the uproar it caused among the group’s core as evidence that XR UK still has a long way to go before it can truly build anti-racism “into the DNA of our movement,” as Hallam and others recently pledged in a piece for The Ecologist.
At the same time Global Justice Rebellion carried out its poll, XR UK released a long-overdue mea culpa regarding its relationship to the police.
“We recognise now [that] our behaviours and attitudes fed into the system of white supremacy,” reads the statement. “We’re sorry this recognition comes so late.”
The climate group’s acknowledgement isn’t merely an apology; it contains a detailed list of the various ways XR UK is attempting to “prioritise anti-racism.” These include a review of its training materials and workshops, development of more inclusive actions, and efforts to support groups dedicated to racial justice. Central to these efforts is XR’s International Solidarity Network (XRISN), a semi-autonomous offshoot of the broader movement. XRISN, which now receives 20 percent of XR’s crowdfunding, focuses on providing support to XR groups in the Global South and clearly sets out at its center the unique impact the climate crisis has on Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
“People like myself and others who have decided to work with Extinction Rebellion,” says XRISN organizer Esther Stanford-Xosei, “do so because we believe that there is no white-led movement in the Global North that has it all right on matters [of racial justice] and we believe in critical engagement and transformation from within, which we have helped catalyze as the XRISN.”
“We think that it’s also problematic to deny the contributions of communities not racialized as white who helped to shape Extinction Rebellion into what it is,” she adds.
Stanford-Xosei, who is also the co–vice chair of the Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe, asserts that she’s seen a significant shift in the way XR has approached inclusiveness over the past year. She gives as an example XR members’ increased participation in a summer protest organized by the “Stop the Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/Ecocide!” campaign that, among other demands related to racial justice, calls for reparations.
After joining the group last fall despite concerns regarding inclusiveness, XR press coordinator Ali Brumfitt has also witnessed several major changes. One of the most significant, says Brumfitt, is the way XR activists now approach law enforcement: Members are more mindful of supporting and safeguarding people of color during protests, as well as avoiding conversations with police who are collecting information that could jeopardize their BAME peers’ safety. Brumfitt also claims that “arrest has become less of a central focus” in XR as the “misconception that being arrested in itself is helpful to the cause” is slowly being dispelled.
During its latest rebellion, XR UK had a chance to assess whether its increased inclusivity efforts had been effective. Despite the adjustments in XR’s relationship to police, 600 XR activists were arrested in London during the first days of September, including a 92-year-old retired engineer, prompting civil rights experts to decry the government crackdown on peaceful protests. Hallam, one of the main architects behind XR’s arrest tactics, has also notably left Extinction Rebellion to start an “anti-political party” called Beyond Politics. The XR cofounder was preemptively arrested in late August along with four other Beyond Politics members ahead of several scheduled demonstrations and charged with “conspiracy to cause criminal damage at planned protests.”
“The biggest change has been in attitude and understanding,” concludes Brumfitt. “The change in terms of actually physically representing more diverse communities is slower, but that’s understandable because what [XR] has to do is change its understanding of how it’s making itself safe and open for marginalized communities to come in and have leadership roles, rather than say, ‘Come and join us, and you do the work of making us diverse.’”
While the group attempts to move beyond its white, middle-class roots, a difficult question looms behind their inclusivity efforts: As participation dwindles from rebellion to rebellion, is XR missing its shot to have the greatest impact on the conversation surrounding anti-racism and the climate crisis? Natasha Josette, a member of Labour for a Green New Deal, seems to think so.
An analysis the BAME activist commissioned from Jarrow Insights found that XR’s periods of direct action result in “giant spikes” in online conversations about the climate crisis. Unfortunately, Jossette explains, not only are the majority of the people who engage in these social media discussions white male Londoners, but the actual content XR publishes during these periods largely leaves out anti-racism and the Global South, as well as support for other climate groups led by BAME organizers. Josette once again saw missed opportunities during the recent rebellion when XR’s mentions of the links between the climate crisis, police brutality, and public health were few and far between.
“The climate movement has to be intersectional,” Josette says. “It has to have race and class interwoven into it. You can’t just look at the climate as the most important thing and say everything else has to wait.
“XR is doing a huge disservice to the movement,” she goes on, “by not using their rebellions and the spikes in discourse these create to get that message across.”


thenation--2020-10-05--Trump May Be Infectious, but He’s Still Ignorant

The Trump campaign had a plan for the last month of the presidential race : It would highlight the contrast between the two candidates on Covid-19 , calling attention to the stark differences between Trump ’ s confidence that the pandemic has been largely conquered and Joe Biden ’ s alleged fearmongering .
This strategy has become considerably more difficult to execute after Trump tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday evening and was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center the following day .
As Axios reports , “ Trump campaign officials privately admit that his diagnosis has blown up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to November .
The Trump campaign was planning to zero in on its ‘ Biden ’ s hiding in the basement ’ rhetoric for the rest of the month and draw a sharp contrast between the energy seen at Trump ’ s massive rallies and the slimmer crowds at Biden ’ s events .
Trump was planning to hold campaign rallies and hobnob with donors in battleground states for the majority of October.
” This underlying premise of this strategy is that Trump , unlike Biden , is a robust road warrior , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GOP donors .
Enthusiasm and energy would close the polling advantage Biden has enjoyed throughout the race .
Now hospitalized and likely to be in quarantine for at least another two weeks , Trump obviously can ’ t headline rallies .
Nor does the message that the pandemic is waning seem credible .
With Help From Chris Wallace , Trump Attacked American Democracy Trump ’ s Tax Evasion Is an Indictment of American Plutocracy In response to the new situation , Trump has recast his message .
On Sunday , he tweeted out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Covid has given him new insights .
“ It ’ s been a very interesting journey , ” Trump said .
“ I learned a lot about Covid .
I learned it by really going to school .
This is the real school .
This isn ’ t the let ’ s-read-the-books school .
And I get it .
And I understand it .
And it ’ s a very interesting thing and I ’ m going to be letting you know about it.
” Bizarrely , Trump ended the video by saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happening.
” The video was surely a testament to Trump ’ s enduring commitment to the power of positive thinking , a credo he inherited from the Presbyterian minister Norman Vincent Peale , who preached in Trump ’ s family church when the president was young .
Turning a Covid infection into a positive learning experience is very much in character for Trump .
It ’ s the type of rhetoric that is likely to appeal to Trump ’ s most ardent supporters .
The cartoonist Scott Adams , creator of the comic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , compared the president to Peter Parker , the alter-ego of Spider-Man .
“ Trump getting COVID-19 might turn out like Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider , ” Adams tweeted .
“ On paper , it sounds bad .
But consider that he is now the candidate with the most empathy for the pandemic risk , whether he wanted it or not.
” Aside from Scott Adams and his ilk , though , few are likely to buy the idea that Trump has had a sudden epiphany about Covid .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a poll it had conducted with Ipsos showed that “ in two separate questions , an identical 72 % said that Trump did not take the ‘ risk of contracting the virus seriously enough , ’ nor ‘ the appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.
’ ” These numbers are unlikely to change , because Trump ’ s handling of his own personal health crisis has been a microcosm of his administration ’ s bungling of the pandemic .
In both the general crisis and the personal infection , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contempt for ordinary health rules , and a willingness to sacrifice sound policy for political theater .
It ’ s characteristic that the Trump White House has consistently obfuscated about Trump ’ s condition .
As The Washington Post reported on Sunday , “ The White House continued to provide limited and contradictory information about President Trump ’ s health on Sunday , saying that he had begun a steroid treatment after twice suffering bouts of low oxygen but also contending that he was doing well and could soon be discharged from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the novel coronavirus.
” The newspaper added , “ The episode continued what has been a days-long torrent of falsehoods , obfuscation , evasion , misdirection and imprecision from those surrounding Trump as he faces the greatest threat to a president ’ s health in decades .
From the chief White House doctor to the president ’ s chief of staff , the inability to provide clear , direct and consistent information about Trump ’ s condition has been widespread since the coronavirus began rapidly circulating in the West Wing.
” Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not just to himself but also to those around him , including medical staff , Secret Service agents , and White House personnel .
On Sunday , Trump went on a joyride in an armored Chevrolet Suburban as a way to greet supporters outside Walter Reed .
The joyride is indefensible on any medical grounds .
As Dr. James P. Phillips , an attending physician at Walter Reed , tweeted , “ Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘ drive-by ’ just now has to be quarantined for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They may die .
For political theater .
Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater .
This is insanity.
” It ’ s evident from Trump ’ s contradictory remarks and actions on Sunday that he is torn between two conflicting imperatives .
On the one hand , he understands the necessity of saying that he has learned a lesson from his ailment and will do better in the future .
But he also retains all the recklessness that contributed to his earlier bad policies and continues the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This brazenness isn ’ t just a matter of personality but a direct product of his political persona .
To his followers , Trump embodies manly toughness .
Real men , by Trump ’ s reactionary ideas of gender identity , don ’ t like wearing masks , nor do they show weakness by obeying health care protocols .
Trump has learned nothing from his bout of Covid-19 .
Nor should we expect him to .
Being sick doesn ’ t make you a doctor .
If there is any education to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a more general level , with voters drawing the proper conclusions about the link between Trump ’ s actions and his testing positive for Covid .

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The Trump campaign had a plan for the last month of the presidential race: It would highlight the contrast between the two candidates on Covid-19, calling attention to the stark differences between Trump’s confidence that the pandemic has been largely conquered and Joe Biden’s alleged fearmongering. This strategy has become considerably more difficult to execute after Trump tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday evening and was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center the following day.
As Axios reports, “Trump campaign officials privately admit that his diagnosis has blown up many of their plans in the sprint to November. The Trump campaign was planning to zero in on its ‘Biden’s hiding in the basement’ rhetoric for the rest of the month and draw a sharp contrast between the energy seen at Trump’s massive rallies and the slimmer crowds at Biden’s events. Trump was planning to hold campaign rallies and hobnob with donors in battleground states for the majority of October.”
This underlying premise of this strategy is that Trump, unlike Biden, is a robust road warrior, eager to rally his base and glad-hand GOP donors. Enthusiasm and energy would close the polling advantage Biden has enjoyed throughout the race.
Now hospitalized and likely to be in quarantine for at least another two weeks, Trump obviously can’t headline rallies. Nor does the message that the pandemic is waning seem credible. More From Jeet Heer The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution August 14, 2023 Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? August 11, 2023 When Phallocrats Go Limp August 4, 2023
In response to the new situation, Trump has recast his message. On Sunday, he tweeted out a video where he claimed that fighting Covid has given him new insights. “It’s been a very interesting journey,” Trump said. “I learned a lot about Covid. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn’t the let’s-read-the-books school. And I get it. And I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing and I’m going to be letting you know about it.” Bizarrely, Trump ended the video by saying, “We love what’s happening.”
The video was surely a testament to Trump’s enduring commitment to the power of positive thinking, a credo he inherited from the Presbyterian minister Norman Vincent Peale, who preached in Trump’s family church when the president was young.
Turning a Covid infection into a positive learning experience is very much in character for Trump. It’s the type of rhetoric that is likely to appeal to Trump’s most ardent supporters. The cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert and an outspoken Trump admirer, compared the president to Peter Parker, the alter-ego of Spider-Man. “Trump getting COVID-19 might turn out like Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider,” Adams tweeted. “On paper, it sounds bad. But consider that he is now the candidate with the most empathy for the pandemic risk, whether he wanted it or not.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Current Issue View our current issue
Aside from Scott Adams and his ilk, though, few are likely to buy the idea that Trump has had a sudden epiphany about Covid. On Sunday, ABC News reported that a poll it had conducted with Ipsos showed that “in two separate questions, an identical 72% said that Trump did not take the ‘risk of contracting the virus seriously enough,’ nor ‘the appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.’”
These numbers are unlikely to change, because Trump’s handling of his own personal health crisis has been a microcosm of his administration’s bungling of the pandemic. In both the general crisis and the personal infection, Trump has displayed science denial, misinformation, contempt for ordinary health rules, and a willingness to sacrifice sound policy for political theater.
It’s characteristic that the Trump White House has consistently obfuscated about Trump’s condition. As The Washington Post reported on Sunday, “The White House continued to provide limited and contradictory information about President Trump’s health on Sunday, saying that he had begun a steroid treatment after twice suffering bouts of low oxygen but also contending that he was doing well and could soon be discharged from the hospital where he is being treated for the novel coronavirus.”
The newspaper added, “The episode continued what has been a days-long torrent of falsehoods, obfuscation, evasion, misdirection and imprecision from those surrounding Trump as he faces the greatest threat to a president’s health in decades. From the chief White House doctor to the president’s chief of staff, the inability to provide clear, direct and consistent information about Trump’s condition has been widespread since the coronavirus began rapidly circulating in the West Wing.”
Trump’s behavior continues to be a danger not just to himself but also to those around him, including medical staff, Secret Service agents, and White House personnel. On Sunday, Trump went on a joyride in an armored Chevrolet Suburban as a way to greet supporters outside Walter Reed.
The joyride is indefensible on any medical grounds. As Dr. James P. Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted, “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
It’s evident from Trump’s contradictory remarks and actions on Sunday that he is torn between two conflicting imperatives. On the one hand, he understands the necessity of saying that he has learned a lesson from his ailment and will do better in the future. But he also retains all the recklessness that contributed to his earlier bad policies and continues the behavior that likely led to his infection. This brazenness isn’t just a matter of personality but a direct product of his political persona. To his followers, Trump embodies manly toughness. Real men, by Trump’s reactionary ideas of gender identity, don’t like wearing masks, nor do they show weakness by obeying health care protocols.
Trump has learned nothing from his bout of Covid-19. Nor should we expect him to. Being sick doesn’t make you a doctor. If there is any education to be had, it might take place on a more general level, with voters drawing the proper conclusions about the link between Trump’s actions and his testing positive for Covid.


thenation--2020-10-06--How America Turned on Itself

How America Turned on Itself

A peculiar thing about the forever wars , different from wars past , is that progressively fewer Americans have served in the military or even know someone who has served .
Currently , less than one half of 1 percent of the US population is on active duty .
Among them , far fewer are ever deployed to a combat zone .
This is mostly a good thing , the result of the end of the draft in 1973 : When service is not compulsory , studies show , those who enlist are generally more committed , and the overall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , do we really want to live in a society where military service is mandatory ?
I ’ m a veteran , and I certainly do not .
With fewer serving , however , fewer Americans ever need to grapple with the devastating realities of war or the often-cataclysmic implications of our country ’ s actions abroad .
If national leaders , say , lose themselves in a global war with no discernible strategy and no clear definitions of success , well , how many Americans really are going to stand up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Americans , though , nevertheless love the symbols and iconography of our wars .
From military flyovers at sporting events , which became ubiquitous in the wake of the September 11 attacks , to military-themed video games , movies , country songs , and any number of other media touchstones , war is ever present in our cultural diets .
And why not ?
When you strip the branding of war from the actual product , it sounds great : Valor .
Bravery .
Honor .
The flag !
Sure , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-intentioned .
But recycled year-in and year-out , always stopping short of a real reckoning , it serves mostly to perpetuate war by making it palatable .
The Pentagon budget , in turn , stays inflated , and the troops—heroes , the cozy symbols that we make them—never come home .
The thing about a war mindset , too , is that it demands an enemy .
If Americans adopt the mindset but skip the actual wars , surely , eventually , they will find their enemies closer afield .
For years , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ southern border .
This summer and fall , as the War on Terrorism enters its 20th year , it seems we ’ ve found our enemies at home .
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These Big City Mayors Want Green Stimulus Spending to Counter Covid-19 The Sitting President Has No Climate Plan .
Why Isn ’ t That Headline News ?
For me , as a veteran , the events of the past months repeatedly triggered jolts of recognition .
But in the aggregate , they depict a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it was the National Guard in Washington .
Then it was the domestic commandos in Portland , wearing the garb of Special Operations forces , who snatched Black Lives Matter protesters off the streets and shot and beat others .
In Kenosha and Louisville , my hometown , it was the militias , clad head-to-toe in military kit , looking much like fellow service members and I did in Afghanistan—save for the occasional Hawaiian shirt and the fact that many in the militias are overweight .
All along , of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose weapons , uniforms , and tactics are dangerously militaristic .
It is as though war—and all the symbols , words , and violence associated with it—has seeped through our pores and settled deep in our bones .
Racism and racial violence against Black Americans , to be sure , have been central to the events of this summer and early fall .
It was , after all , when Donald Trump was asked to disavow white supremacists during the first presidential debate that he told the Proud Boys , a violent hate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( The president later walked back the statement , which was widely viewed , including by white supremacists in general and the Proud Boys in particular , as encouraging the group . )
This moment is also impossible to imagine in the absence of our war-making abroad .
We have become a country in which force is ever-present—in which strength is celebrated for strength ’ s sake and the flag venerated in ways that say little about the values—democracy , multiculturalism—we claim that it represents .
Our wars have addicted us to force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war ” now passing through so many Americans ’ lips , that addiction could well destroy us .
On September 11 , 2001 , I was a freshman in high school outside Louisville , Ky .
I had never been to New York City and I comprehended the attacks only abstractly .
A year and a half later , I watched the invasion of Iraq on Fox News , while on a spring break mission trip to build houses .
I joined the military , plain and simple , because I wanted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even though my belief in God was tentative at best .
I attended college in Tennessee on an ROTC scholarship and afterward served in the Navy for seven years , with deployments to Afghanistan , East Africa , and the South China Sea .
In my more recent life , in New York City and Washington , D.C. , I ’ ve been struck by the number of people , especially in liberal circles , who ask why I chose the military—like they could just never imagine it .
But for me , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was a natural step for a civic-minded young person ; at the time , I couldn ’ t imagine not serving .
Misgivings that I have now about the military-industrial complex or the notion that I could have been equally of service in the State Department or with an NGO ( or , for that matter , as a journalist ) just never came to consciousness .
For some who knew me when I was young as sensitive and artistic , the military was perhaps a confusing fit .
But in truth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just about everyone , all the more so after the 2010 repeal of “ Don ’ t Ask , Don ’ t Tell.
” What confused me as I progressed in my career was seeing guys I had grown up with—civilians—take to posting videos online of their own military-style training .
As I attended annual summer training during college , there they were on Facebook , in the Kentucky woods , with guns .
Later , as I traveled back and forth to Afghanistan and elsewhere , their guns became more numerous and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I was issued .
It was like looking at a film negative of myself .
And it struck me as silly , frankly .
If they were so into this stuff , I wondered , why not just join up ?
I loved being in the military and all , but it ’ s not like it has prohibitively high standards .
If any of those guys belong now to militias , I have no idea ; but suddenly people who look just like them are center frame in news reports from across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve learned , are definitionally opposed to power and authority , and therefore many of their members would presumably be wary of military service .
But the gear we see these guys wearing sort of belies that skepticism , in that it copies military motifs to a T. From the slick rifle modifications , to the flak jackets adorned with so many cool-guy patches , to the shirts featuring Punisher skulls and American flags emblazoned on the sleeves ( stars facing forward , because the flag streams forward into battle and never retreats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is something I saw first in a war zone .
Instead of principled individualism , the result smacks of military fan culture , making the militias ’ presence at protests a kind of ComicCon for a different social set .
Playing War While Dressed to Kill in Portland The graphic novelist Nate Powell has written about how this “ distinctly paramilitarized aesthetic ” has trickled down from America ’ s wars in Afghanistan , Iraq , and elsewhere , from the military to law enforcement and the general public .
“ Within this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s About Face , “ is a surface masculinization of every detail and accessory.… All of this—skulls , trucks , flags , guns—form the edges of a commodified , weaponized identity.
” “ At its core , ” Powell says , “ this is a child ’ s power fantasy finally enacted in adulthood , speaking only the language of power , the intellectual crudeness of reaction , contrarianism , opposition.
” Socially , it has “ normaliz [ ed ] the language of force ” in America .
Enter , for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who , in the wake of Jacob Blake ’ s shooting by Kenosha police in August , crossed state lines to join counter–Black Lives Matter protests .
Rittenhouse is charged with killing two protesters in the Wisconsin city and injuring a third .
It ’ s not clear if Rittenhouse formally belonged to a militia , though video and photographic evidence show him mingling with militiamen in Kenosha .
A lot of what can be said about Rittenhouse has been said already .
Much of the public expressed horror at the teen ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it does with mass shooters , probed his past for social defects , painting caricatures of an oddball for whom violence seemed inevitable ; Rittenhouse was easily angered , Vice News heard from Rittenhouse ’ s former classmates , who without irony also characterized the boy as a “ chubby ” loser .
The political right , meanwhile , swung to Rittenhouse ’ s aid , framing the boy as the hapless victim of so-called Democratic lawlessness .
“ How shocked are we , ” Tucker Carlson said on Fox News , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to maintain order , when no one else would ?
” Since then , Rittenhouse has been elevated on the right to hero status ; Trump officials were even instructed to show sympathy for his actions .
What I find myself sticking on as the debate around Rittenhouse continues is his face .
In the videos and photos that have made the rounds , Rittenhouse looks soft and naive , marked by a certain eyebrows-up optimism .
Setting aside briefly the consequences of his actions , I see a young man who believes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is trying to be of service .
In his own words , Rittenhouse said his job in Kenosha was to “ help people.
” This is no apology for Rittenhouse .
I say it to emphasize what I wish more of the discourse around Rittenhouse would : that he is only 17 .
It takes a village to raise a child , and this young man seems , as much as anyone of his era , a child of America ’ s militaristic culture in which we have all played a part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
For every day of Rittenhouse ’ s life , his country has been at war .
It is within his lifetime that the militarization of our police has accelerated , in large part because of a receipt of wartime military equipment from the federal government .
“ We appreciate you guys , we really do , ” police in an armored troop carrier told the armed civilians , including Rittenhouse , in Kenosha .
It is within his lifetime that people across the country have filled closets and dressers with military-style @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as bankers , pastors , and restaurateurs .
In one photo , Rittenhouse wears a T-shirt by 5.11 , one of many post-9/11 warrior-couture brands marketed to military personnel that in some circles are all the rage .
And it is within Rittenhouse ’ s lifetime that the AR-15 , the rifle Rittenhouse carried in Kenosha , became America ’ s private weapon of choice .
In the United States , estimated annual production of that gun , which mimics the military-issue M-16 , jumped from about 100,000 units in 2004 , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to more than 2 million in 2016 .
None of this makes Kyle Rittenhouse , fan of Donald Trump , aged 17 , pick up an AR-15 and drive to Kenosha .
But in the context of a nation obsessed with war , his actions track .
Indeed , when Rittenhouse arrived in Wisconsin , he was hardly the only one there who was armed ; militiamen in Kenosha carried handguns , rifles , shotguns , drones , and more .
Contrary to how some portrayed him , Rittenhouse was no mass shooter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American society would seem to value most—clumsily , tragically , terrifyingly .
The various social factors at play in this historic and awful moment obviously precede Donald Trump .
Political polarization has been on the rise for decades ; militias have a long and idiosyncratic history in the United States ; and violence—in particular violence against Americans of color—has been a defining feature of our nation ’ s story since inception .
A Russian Bounty Is Bad .
What ’ s Shocking and Outrageous Is the War .
What Trump has done is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are in fact each other ’ s enemies , often leveraging the language of war and militaristic themes to do so .
It is during Trump ’ s tenure as president , for example , that the words most emblematic of America ’ s post-9/11 conflicts abroad— “ terrorist , ” “ extremist ” —have been deployed at home against political adversaries .
Black Lives Matter protesters are “ terrorists , ” the president told supporters in Wisconsin this July .
Following criticism of Homeland Security agents ’ violent tactics in Portland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wolf , a former lobbyist playing the field general , said , “ Our men and women in uniform are patriots .
We will never surrender to violent extremists on my watch.
” ( Never mind that the same Homeland Security department in fact judges white supremacists the greatest terror threat to the United States . )
Rhetoric like this has been repeated by any number of Republican officials , all of whom seem to assume in the wartime verbiage the same dehumanizing authority America wields abroad to do as it pleases without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ observed recently in Slate , Republicans ’ desire to “ own the libs ” is increasingly giving way to a policy of “ kill the libs.
” In Florida , for example , Governor Ron DeSantis has moved to protect drivers who hit protesters with their vehicles , so long as they can claim vaguely that they were “ fleeing for safety from a mob.
” Kelly Loeffler , Republican senator from Georgia , aired an ad in September advocating for “ eliminating the liberal scribes.
” It has long been de rigueur @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shoot guns in their ads .
But it is under Trump that candidates ’ weapons have come to be aimed at Democratic opponents .
“ Defeat the squad , ” read one ad in which a congressional candidate gripped an AR-15 beside images of Representatives Ilhan Omar , Rashida Tlaib , and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
Unsurprisingly , violent hate crime in America reached a 16-year high in 2018 , according to the FBI , following a marked uptick over the previous three years .
“ Terrorism , ” incidentally , came up often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ always in the context of people and groups that America has defended against or killed .
When it comes to the military itself , Trump of course has wrapped himself in the flag and postures as a foremost backer of men and women in uniform—all while routinely attempting to draw them into partisan politics and showing no appreciation whatsoever for the values that supposedly make America ’ s military special , like discipline and restraint .
Recall the case of Eddie Gallagher , the now-retired Navy SEAL , who allegedly made sport of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subject of whistleblower complaints from his teammates .
When the Navy last year convicted Gallagher of posing for a photo with the corpse of an Iraqi fighter , it planned to fire Gallagher and strip him of both his rank and his coveted SEAL pin .
Trump swooped in and overturned the Navy ’ s decision , however , in a startling rebuke of Navy leaders and his own Defense Department .
It was the first time any president had pardoned war crimes , and in the ensuing political battle Trump played to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boys to be killing machines , then prosecute them when they kill !
” he tweeted .
In Trump ’ s America , we were to understand , force for its own sake—moreover , vigilantism , like we now see in the streets from militias—is not cause just for celebration ; it ’ s downright patriotic .
There ’ s a huge difference , though , between militarism and the military , and from the get-go Trump ’ s militarism has been decidedly detached from any earnest conceptions of “ service ” or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dodged service in Vietnam , makes political hay saying he ’ ll bring the troops home .
But at the end of this term American forces will still be in Afghanistan , Syria , and elsewhere .
Perceptibly so he could appear tough on TV , Trump in his term has also dragged the country to the razor ’ s edge of new wars with Iran and North Korea .
And contrast the president ’ s pro-military rhetoric with September ’ s story in The Atlantic , in which Jeffrey Goldberg reported that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s war dead “ losers ” and “ suckers , ” also wondering aloud what was in it for them .
It ’ s worth noting that Trump ’ s approval in the ranks is dwindling .
An August Military Times poll found that the favorable rating for the president among active-duty troops has declined nearly 10 points since the start of his presidency , to 38 percent .
Worse for Trump , more service members said they plan to vote for former vice president Joe Biden than for him , upending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the military as a conservative stronghold .
Some vets and military members I know eat up Trump ’ s military boosting ; and , before Trump , they loved all the militaristic pageantry ushered in by the post-9/11 era .
Most that I know , however , regard this particular brand of paper-thin patriotism as dangerous—as something that both threatens our credibility on the world stage and fails to meaningfully address veterans ’ needs at home .
What those people want is not another “ Thank you for your service ” —much less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military parades—but a thoughtful and challenging reexamination of America ’ s use of force abroad .
What makes them feel like losers is that , despite belonging to the most capable fighting force in the world by far , they never seem to win the big picture .
Indeed , America ’ s wars have served little purpose in the aggregate , except to destabilize swaths of the globe and enrich American companies with military contracts .
A lot of people have died , and for what better world ?
That is , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ itself for America .
“ We ’ re really winning , ” Trump told service members in 2017 .
“ That ’ s because I ’ m letting you do your job.
” He was referring to his scrapping of regulations to limit civilian casualties in war zones , which have seen a significant spike during his presidency .
Americans know implicitly that our wars have changed us .
I ’ ve personally found it telling when friends and family seek my opinion upon seeing our cities in flames .
The assumption seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some unique insight into conflict , that I might somehow be making better sense than others of the American project as it collapses before our eyes .
But in fact nothing beyond the surface of this moment reflects anything like my time in the military .
For me , the Navy was by and large an experience of coming together .
People hailed from all parts of the country , and it worked .
Granted , I was a white male in a military that still struggles to reflect the country it serves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me to say ; some former colleagues of mine who are women or people of color surely have more complex feelings .
I still feel wholeheartedly , however , that the team-oriented nature of the military resulted in a special , even inspiring , iteration of the American experience .
Whether at an outpost in Afghanistan or jammed into tight quarters on a ship , when handed a common purpose , we all knew we were in it together .
America could use some of that right now .
I fear , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be cast for how this period of uncertainty will play out .
If violence is to come from this election—the sort of violence Americans once watched unfold in faraway lands , sure it could never happen here—it might be too late to stop , no matter how tragic that feels to write .
Whatever the results of the election , though , whether violence comes or does not , we will need to rebuild .
When that time comes , our troops will still be deployed across the globe , often in locations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limited at best .
And so it will be , as it has been for a long time , past time to embark on a wholesale revision of how we raise and utilize military force .
Crucially , that ’ s not an anti-military argument .
Worldwide , the military does important , often security-enhancing work—think disaster relief , defense of allies , deterrence of bad actors and adversaries , and , yes , even counterterrorism when it is truly necessary .
Like with the police vis-à-vis civil society , though , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Defense Department ’ s unfathomably bloated budget were reined in and some of the military ’ s jack-of-all-trades humanitarian and diplomatic tasks offloaded to a better-funded Department of State , USAID , and the US Institute of Peace , among other agencies .
This will take reflection on a nationwide scale and deliberate policy reforms at all levels of government .
A big-tent effort is needed , and like with other needed social reforms , there will be no quick fixes .
In endeavoring to try , though , I hope we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : the confidence that , together , we can get the job done .
The rest , because our lives depend on it , we must learn to live without .

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A peculiar thing about the forever wars, different from wars past, is that progressively fewer Americans have served in the military or even know someone who has served. Currently, less than one half of 1 percent of the US population is on active duty. Among them, far fewer are ever deployed to a combat zone. This is mostly a good thing, the result of the end of the draft in 1973: When service is not compulsory, studies show, those who join up are generally more committed, and the overall professionalism of the force rises. Beyond that, do we really want to live in a society where military service is mandatory? I’m a veteran, and I certainly do not.
With fewer serving, however, fewer Americans ever need to grapple with the devastating realities of war or the often-cataclysmic implications of our country’s actions abroad. If national leaders, say, lose themselves in a global war with no discernible strategy and no clear definitions of success, well, how many Americans really are going to stand up and demand better?
An awful lot of Americans, though, nevertheless love the symbols and iconography of our wars. From military flyovers at sporting events, which became ubiquitous in the wake of the September 11 attacks, to military-themed video games, movies, country songs, and any number of other media touchstones, war is ever present in our cultural diets. And why not? When you strip the branding of war from the actual product, it sounds great: Valor. Bravery. Honor. The flag! Sure, the “Support the Troops” ethos begins well-intentioned. But recycled year-in and year-out, always stopping short of a real reckoning, it serves mostly to perpetuate war by making it palatable. The Pentagon budget, in turn, stays inflated, and the troops—heroes, the cozy symbols that we make them—never come home.
The thing about a war mindset, too, is that it demands an enemy. If Americans adopt the mindset but skip the actual wars, surely, eventually, they will find their enemies closer afield. For years, many Americans fixed their ire on the southern border. This summer and fall, as the War on Terrorism enters its 20th year, it seems we’ve found our enemies at home. More From Andrew McCormick Nations Are Nowhere on Their Climate Commitments, and Too Few Journalists Are Holding Them Accountable May 19, 2022 You Can’t Isolate the Food Crisis From the Climate Crisis April 1, 2022 Climate Looms Large Over Biden’s First State of the Union. Will the Coverage Say So? March 1, 2022
For me, as a veteran, the events of the past months repeatedly triggered jolts of recognition. But in the aggregate, they depict a country I no longer recognize. First, it was the National Guard in Washington. Then it was the domestic commandos in Portland, wearing the garb of Special Operations forces, who snatched Black Lives Matter protesters off the streets and shot and beat others. In Kenosha and Louisville, my hometown, it was the militias, clad head-to-toe in military kit, looking much like fellow service members and I did in Afghanistan—save for the occasional Hawaiian shirt and the fact that many in the militias are overweight. All along, of course, there have also been the cops, whose weapons, uniforms, and tactics are dangerously militaristic. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
It is as though war—and all the symbols, words, and violence associated with it—has seeped through our pores and settled deep in our bones.
Racism and racial violence against Black Americans, to be sure, have been central to the events of this summer and early fall. It was, after all, when Donald Trump was asked to disavow white supremacists during the first presidential debate that he told the Proud Boys, a violent hate group, to “stand by.” (The president later walked back the statement, which was widely viewed, including by white supremacists in general and the Proud Boys in particular, as encouraging the group.) Current Issue View our current issue
This moment is also impossible to imagine in the absence of our war-making abroad. We have become a country in which force is ever-present—in which strength is celebrated for strength’s sake and the flag venerated in ways that say little about the values—democracy, multiculturalism—we claim that it represents. Our wars have addicted us to force, and with talk of “civil war” now passing through so many Americans’ lips, that addiction could well destroy us.
On September 11, 2001, I was a freshman in high school outside Louisville, Ky. I had never been to New York City and I comprehended the attacks only abstractly. A year and a half later, I watched the invasion of Iraq on Fox News, while on a spring break mission trip to build houses. I joined the military, plain and simple, because I wanted to be of service—hence the mission trip, even though my belief in God was tentative at best. I attended college in Tennessee on an ROTC scholarship and afterward served in the Navy for seven years, with deployments to Afghanistan, East Africa, and the South China Sea.
In my more recent life, in New York City and Washington, D.C., I’ve been struck by the number of people, especially in liberal circles, who ask why I chose the military—like they could just never imagine it. But for me, growing up in Kentucky and Tennessee, it was a natural step for a civic-minded young person; at the time, I couldn’t imagine not serving. Misgivings that I have now about the military-industrial complex or the notion that I could have been equally of service in the State Department or with an NGO (or, for that matter, as a journalist) wouldn’t have crossed my mind. For some who knew me when I was young as sensitive and artistic, the military was perhaps a confusing fit. But in truth I found there was a place for just about everyone, all the more so after the 2010 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
What confused me as I progressed in my career was seeing guys I had grown up with—civilians—take to posting videos online of their own military-style training. As I attended annual summer training during college, there they were on Facebook, in the Kentucky woods, with guns. Later, as I traveled back and forth to Afghanistan and elsewhere, their guns became more numerous and higher tech—I only ever had the two I was issued. It was like looking at a film negative of myself. And it struck me as silly, frankly. If they were so into this stuff, I wondered, why not just join up? I loved being in the military and all, but it’s not like it has prohibitively high standards.
If any of those guys belong now to militias, I have no idea; but suddenly people who look just like them are center frame in news reports from across the country.
Militias, I’ve learned, are definitionally opposed to power and authority, and therefore many of their members would presumably be wary of military service. But the gear we see these guys wearing sort of belies that skepticism, in that it copies military motifs to a T. From the slick rifle modifications, to the flak jackets adorned with so many cool-guy patches, to the shirts featuring Punisher skulls and American flags emblazoned on the sleeves (stars facing forward, because the flag streams forward into battle and never retreats), everything these guys have on is something I saw first in a war zone. Instead of principled individualism, the result smacks of military fan culture, making the militias’ presence at protests a kind of ComicCon for a different social set. Portland Playing War While Dressed to Kill in Portland Andrew McCormick
The graphic novelist Nate Powell has written about how this “distinctly paramilitarized aesthetic” has trickled down from America’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, from the military to law enforcement and the general public. “Within this,” he writes in 2019’s About Face, “is a surface masculinization of every detail and accessory.… All of this—skulls, trucks, flags, guns—form the edges of a commodified, weaponized identity.”
“At its core,” Powell says, “this is a child’s power fantasy finally enacted in adulthood, speaking only the language of power, the intellectual crudeness of reaction, contrarianism, opposition.” Socially, it has “normaliz[ed] the language of force” in America.
Enter, for a moment, Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who, in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting by Kenosha police in August, crossed state lines to join counter–Black Lives Matter protests. Rittenhouse is charged with killing two protesters in the Wisconsin city and injuring a third.
It’s not clear if Rittenhouse formally belonged to a militia, though video and photographic evidence show him mingling with militiamen in Kenosha. A lot of what can be said about Rittenhouse has been said already. Much of the public expressed horror at the teen’s actions. The media, as it does with mass shooters, probed his past for social defects, painting caricatures of an oddball for whom violence seemed inevitable; Rittenhouse was easily angered, Vice News heard from Rittenhouse’s former classmates, who without irony also characterized the boy as a “chubby” loser. The political right, meanwhile, swung to Rittenhouse’s aid, framing the boy as the hapless victim of so-called Democratic lawlessness. “How shocked are we,” Tucker Carlson said on Fox News, “that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order, when no one else would?” Since then, Rittenhouse has been elevated on the right to hero status; Trump officials were even instructed to show sympathy for his actions.
What I find myself sticking on as the debate around Rittenhouse continues is his face. In the videos and photos that have made the rounds, Rittenhouse looks soft and naive, marked by a certain eyebrows-up optimism. Setting aside briefly the consequences of his actions, I see a young man who believes he is doing right—who, however misguided, is trying to be of service. In his own words, Rittenhouse said his job in Kenosha was to “help people.”
This is no apology for Rittenhouse. I say it to emphasize what I wish more of the discourse around Rittenhouse would: that he is only 17. It takes a village to raise a child, and this young man seems, as much as anyone of his era, a child of America’s militaristic culture in which we have all played a part, whether by embracing war or ignoring it.
For every day of Rittenhouse’s life, his country has been at war. It is within his lifetime that the militarization of our police has accelerated, in large part because of a receipt of wartime military equipment from the federal government. “We appreciate you guys, we really do,” police in an armored troop carrier told the armed civilians, including Rittenhouse, in Kenosha. It is within his lifetime that people across the country have filled closets and dressers with military-style gear, while keeping their day jobs as bankers, pastors, and restaurateurs. In one photo, Rittenhouse wears a T-shirt by 5.11, one of many post-9/11 warrior-couture brands marketed to military personnel that in some circles are all the rage. And it is within Rittenhouse’s lifetime that the AR-15, the rifle Rittenhouse carried in Kenosha, became America’s private weapon of choice. In the United States, estimated annual production of that gun, which mimics the military-issue M-16, jumped from about 100,000 units in 2004, when the federal assault weapons ban expired, to more than 2 million in 2016.
None of this makes Kyle Rittenhouse, fan of Donald Trump, aged 17, pick up an AR-15 and drive to Kenosha. But in the context of a nation obsessed with war, his actions track. Indeed, when Rittenhouse arrived in Wisconsin, he was hardly the only one there who was armed; militiamen in Kenosha carried handguns, rifles, shotguns, drones, and more. Contrary to how some portrayed him, Rittenhouse was no mass shooter. He was a kid emulating what American society would seem to value most—clumsily, tragically, terrifyingly.
The various social factors at play in this historic and awful moment obviously precede Donald Trump. Political polarization has been on the rise for decades; militias have a long and idiosyncratic history in the United States; and violence—in particular violence against Americans of color—has been a defining feature of our nation’s story since inception. Russian Bounties A Russian Bounty Is Bad. What’s Shocking and Outrageous Is the War. Andrew McCormick
What Trump has done is insist to Americans, repeatedly, that they are in fact each other’s enemies, often leveraging the language of war and militaristic themes to do so.
It is during Trump’s tenure as president, for example, that the words most emblematic of America’s post-9/11 conflicts abroad—“terrorist,” “extremist”—have been deployed at home against political adversaries. Black Lives Matter protesters are “terrorists,” the president told supporters in Wisconsin this July. Following criticism of Homeland Security agents’ violent tactics in Portland, acting secretary of the department Chad Wolf, a former lobbyist playing the field general, said, “Our men and women in uniform are patriots. We will never surrender to violent extremists on my watch.” (Never mind that the same Homeland Security department in fact judges white supremacists the greatest terror threat to the United States.) Rhetoric like this has been repeated by any number of Republican officials, all of whom seem to assume in the wartime verbiage the same dehumanizing authority America wields abroad to do as it pleases without fear of consequence.
As Christina Caterucci observed recently in Slate, Republicans’ desire to “own the libs” is increasingly giving way to a policy of “kill the libs.” In Florida, for example, Governor Ron DeSantis has moved to protect drivers who hit protesters with their vehicles, so long as they can claim vaguely that they were “fleeing for safety from a mob.” Kelly Loeffler, Republican senator from Georgia, aired an ad in September advocating for “eliminating the liberal scribes.” It has long been de rigueur for political candidates to pose with and shoot guns in their ads. But it is under Trump that candidates’ weapons have come to be aimed at Democratic opponents. “Defeat the squad,” read one ad in which a congressional candidate gripped an AR-15 beside images of Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Unsurprisingly, violent hate crime in America reached a 16-year high in 2018, according to the FBI, following a marked uptick over the previous three years. “Terrorism,” incidentally, came up often during August’s Republican National Convention—almost always in the context of people and groups that America has defended against or killed.
When it comes to the military itself, Trump of course has wrapped himself in the flag and postures as a foremost backer of men and women in uniform—all while routinely attempting to draw them into partisan politics and showing no appreciation whatsoever for the values that supposedly make America’s military special, like discipline and restraint. Recall the case of Eddie Gallagher, the now-retired Navy SEAL, who allegedly made sport of killing civilians in Iraq and became the subject of whistleblower complaints from his teammates. When the Navy last year convicted Gallagher of posing for a photo with the corpse of an Iraqi fighter, it planned to fire Gallagher and strip him of both his rank and his coveted SEAL pin. Trump swooped in and overturned the Navy’s decision, however, in a startling rebuke of Navy leaders and his own Defense Department. It was the first time any president had pardoned war crimes, and in the ensuing political battle Trump played to his base. “We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!” he tweeted.
In Trump’s America, we were to understand, force for its own sake—moreover, vigilantism, like we now see in the streets from militias—is not cause just for celebration; it’s downright patriotic.
There’s a huge difference, though, between militarism and the military, and from the get-go Trump’s militarism has been decidedly detached from any earnest conceptions of “service” or “sacrifice.”
Trump, who famously dodged service in Vietnam, makes political hay saying he’ll bring the troops home. But at the end of this term American forces will still be in Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere. Perceptibly so he could appear tough on TV, Trump in his term has also dragged the country to the razor’s edge of new wars with Iran and North Korea. And contrast the president’s pro-military rhetoric with September’s story in The Atlantic, in which Jeffrey Goldberg reported that Trump had disparaged veterans and called America’s war dead “losers” and “suckers,” also wondering aloud what was in it for them.
It’s worth noting that Trump’s approval in the ranks is dwindling. An August Military Times poll found that the favorable rating for the president among active-duty troops has declined nearly 10 points since the start of his presidency, to 38 percent. Worse for Trump, more service members said they plan to vote for former vice president Joe Biden than for him, upending traditional (and outmoded) understandings of the military as a conservative stronghold.
Some vets and military members I know eat up Trump’s military boosting; and, before Trump, they loved all the militaristic pageantry ushered in by the post-9/11 era. Most that I know, however, regard this particular brand of paper-thin patriotism as dangerous—as something that both threatens our credibility on the world stage and fails to meaningfully address veterans’ needs at home. What those people want is not another “Thank you for your service”—much less another of the president’s faux-autocratic military parades—but a thoughtful and challenging reexamination of America’s use of force abroad. What makes them feel like losers is that, despite belonging to the most capable fighting force in the world by far, they never seem to win the big picture. Indeed, America’s wars have served little purpose in the aggregate, except to destabilize swaths of the globe and enrich American companies with military contracts. A lot of people have died, and for what better world?
That is, unless violence is an acceptable end unto itself for America. “We’re really winning,” Trump told service members in 2017. “That’s because I’m letting you do your job.” He was referring to his scrapping of regulations to limit civilian casualties in war zones, which have seen a significant spike during his presidency.
Americans know implicitly that our wars have changed us. I’ve personally found it telling when friends and family seek my opinion upon seeing our cities in flames. The assumption seems to be that a veteran might possess some unique insight into conflict, that I might somehow be making better sense than others of the American project as it collapses before our eyes.
But in fact nothing beyond the surface of this moment reflects anything like my time in the military. For me, the Navy was by and large an experience of coming together. People hailed from all parts of the country, and it worked. Granted, I was a white male in a military that still struggles to reflect the country it serves, so that’s easy for me to say; some former colleagues of mine who are women or people of color surely have more complex feelings. I still feel wholeheartedly, however, that the team-oriented nature of the military resulted in a special, even inspiring, iteration of the American experience. Whether at an outpost in Afghanistan or jammed into tight quarters on a ship, when handed a common purpose, we all knew we were in it together.
America could use some of that right now.
I fear, in ways, that the die might already be cast for how this period of uncertainty will play out. If violence is to come from this election—the sort of violence Americans once watched unfold in faraway lands, sure it could never happen here—it might be too late to stop, no matter how tragic that feels to write. Whatever the results of the election, though, whether violence comes or does not, we will need to rebuild.
When that time comes, our troops will still be deployed across the globe, often in locations where America’s strategic interests are limited at best. And so it will be, as it has been for a long time, past time to embark on a wholesale revision of how we raise and utilize military force.
Crucially, that’s not an anti-military argument. Worldwide, the military does important, often security-enhancing work—think disaster relief, defense of allies, deterrence of bad actors and adversaries, and, yes, even counterterrorism when it is truly necessary. Like with the police vis-à-vis civil society, though, the world will likely be better off if the Defense Department’s unfathomably bloated budget were reined in and some of the military’s jack-of-all-trades humanitarian and diplomatic tasks offloaded to a better-funded Department of State, USAID, and the US Institute of Peace, among other agencies.
This will take reflection on a nationwide scale and deliberate policy reforms at all levels of government. A big-tent effort is needed, and like with other needed social reforms, there will be no quick fixes. In endeavoring to try, though, I hope we can take one thing from the military: the confidence that, together, we can get the job done. The rest, because our lives depend on it, we must learn to live without.