15 Comments
User's avatar
John Wilson's avatar

Well that was unexpected. Trump to Luther (And Calvin if we must)... I've followed this pod a long time Damir, before Covid was common parlance. From an outside perspective your long arc is bending towards Jesus.

Expand full comment
Thomas Brown's avatar

Unrelated to the post, but since you mentioned Philip Benedict I can't resist recommending another book of his, 'Graphic History: The Wars, Massacres and Troubles of Tortorel and Perrissin' (2007) -- Tortorel and Perrissin were two French printmakers in exile in Geneva who made a series of images of events from the French Wars of Religion.

Their prints portray the conflict in a dispassionate way that allowed them to appeal to both Catholics and Protestants, nothing like this had been done before.

Benedict's book is great on the history of portraying events and history of propaganda, and the illustrations are splendid. Preview online: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Graphic_History/ZO75rkTPt5QC?hl=en

Expand full comment
Kenneth Cooley's avatar

What a long winded rambling word salad with a very hard to follow twist of path.

Go write speeches for Kamala.

Expand full comment
Seth Finkelstein's avatar

It strikes me that you're doing the following cartoon, but unironically:

https://condenaststore.com/featured/these-smug-pilots-have-lost-touch-with-regular-will-mcphail.html

Publication: New Yorker Image Type: Cartoon Date: January 9th, 2017

Caption: "These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I should fly the plane?"

Description: Passenger rallies to fly the plane instead of the pilot; an allegory for this past election.

Expand full comment
Damir Marusic's avatar

It strikes me you imagine that cartoon to be incisive.

Expand full comment
Martha Anne Toll's avatar

Gosh, before I unsubscribe, I wonder if "The real danger, I think, is not that it will have destroyed too much of what came before. All that had to go because it was legitimately hollow," includes decades of scientific research that saves lives, lying about vaccines so that measles is once again killing our children, destroying protections to curb global warming and climate pollution with no thought to our children and grandchildren (gosh, maybe it was a hoax?), our neighbors deported for the color of their skin, Black and brown people fired for same, unleashing hate and bigotry as patriotism. Hmmm

Expand full comment
Damir Marusic's avatar

Hmmm

Expand full comment
John Wilson's avatar

I think you may be mistaking his critique of technocracy and liberalism for liberalism's sake for a critique of all these other things. He certainly isn't endorsing the platform of this 'reformation' at least in my read.

Expand full comment
Martha Anne Toll's avatar

Perhaps. If so, then phrases like "all that had to go" strike this reader as cavalier. If he means to be ironic or humorous, I'm not able to see either in the current stream of sewage emanating from the regime.

Expand full comment
Damir Marusic's avatar

The point was that the status quo ante was not going to make it. If it wasn’t Trump, it’d’ve been Bernie or any number of his Jacobin acolytes who have as little nostalgia for liberalism’s pieties as Trump.

Expand full comment
Martha Anne Toll's avatar

Thanks for replying. It's just not a game to me.

Expand full comment
Damir Marusic's avatar

What makes it seem I’m playing a game? Would I have to wring my hands more to convey I’m serious?

I try to keep my writing as free of exhortation as possible and try to be as honest as possible. I have several times this year confessed that Trump’s destruction has felt necessary (all linked in the piece above). And I’m not walking any of that back — while still pointing to how empty it is.

Hopefully my anecdotal approach and interiority, even if it’s quixotic, will shake someone looking for easy comfort. That’s all I’m trying for.

Expand full comment
Martha Anne Toll's avatar

Thanks for your consideration. This thread has evolved to a place that is beyond my ability to respond. Too many complexities that feel too nuanced, that I can't simplify. I appreciate the discussion and wish you a healthy new year.

Expand full comment
John Hardman's avatar

“All had to go…” while a bit hyperbolic, was plainly accurate during the J6 Insurrection. The example of the Reformation “democratizing” religion is appropriate. The lack of a clear vision of reform or the sheer will to make it happen is damning. Even with a clear vision of purpose, the religious wars surrounding the Reformation were apocalyptic.

An European once noted that for a young country, the U.S. has an awfully old constitution. In contrast, most of Europe had to write new constitutions after WWII. We’re living with a relic from the 18th century and shocked that it is dysfunctional in the 21st. Yes, it all has to go and a Constitutional Convention is long past due. The question is how extensive the crisis must be to focus our attention?

Expand full comment
John Wilson's avatar

I mean, there's two sides to every coin. The sewage of the old regime was endless wars, open borders, open trade, abortion, godlessness, cancel culture, the general superiority complex of coastal elites, the cost of living, gender revolution. That was the old status quo. I'm not saying Trump has the answers, but I did just describe how he won, even without my vote.

Expand full comment