The "Banality of Crazy" has warped American politics, as few voters recognize just how deranged, delusional, and dangerous Donald Trump is...because the press rarely reports on his routine insanity.
I put his Paul Pelosi comments on Facebook, even though I knew some people wouldn’t like it, because I thought it was too important to worry about what they thought. There can be no excuse for such relish over violence.
Oct 1, 2023·edited Oct 1, 2023Liked by Brian Klaas
I’m afraid that our views align, Brian. There are tremendous parallels with 1920s/30s Europe amongst voters too, in my view. So the phrase “The Banality of Crazy” is well chosen. I say all this as someone who’s not American but am fascinated by it. Thank you. All the best.
I am puzzled! Virtually nobody mentions Trumps psychiatric condition which drives everything he does. He's not quirky, he is an extreme Narcissist, a Sadist, a Sociopath. He is psychiatrically very unstable. Until he left Twitter the psychiatrist penning as Duty2Warn frequently raised the topic. His replacement group, OurShallowState has picked up the psychiatric condition banner. So whet one wants to call Malignant Narcissism mental illness, the question, "would you vote for someone who is mentally ill to be POTUS, would give most a huge cause for pause not to mention an Audible gasp.
Brian, this is very important. Thanks. The lesson I get from this piece revolves around your phrase "...I can't believe I have to say this...". I think we all have to include some form of the parade of horribles that spew out Trump's gub every time we speak to someone on the topic. We can't assume that we're all speaking and reasoning from the same accepted facts. I f we continue with that easy way of discussing him, we'll likely be speaking past each other. Thanks again.
People who cheer and support Trump and those who blindly vote partisan need to be educated as to how an authoritarian and fascist state would affect them personally. They believe they are in some favored or unaffected special group. Likewise, they believe immoral acts are funny because they don't think it applies to them. Media needs to report Crazy but it needs to also report the damage Crazy can do to everyone.
Brilliantly and accurately said. Yes we are all sick of it- but read and write and study we must, sucking black hole or not. Can you imagine Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beaches, fight them in the air, fight them on the seas, except if we’re sick and tired of it?
Excellent writing about such an important topic. I too am sick about hearing Trumps zealotry but people need to hear it! He is what my Grandparents would have called the “Anti-Christ” spreading lies and the sheep lay down and listen. The wolf has easy hunting. I’m ready to get out.
Ron Desantis made the curious choice of appearing on Bill Mahr’s first post writer’s strike show last Friday and Mahr let equally crazy rhetoric pass. Specifically, DeSantis praised Floridas education ratings that Mahr could have pointed out were going to tank due to book banning and Desantis insisting that prosecuting the 41 of 14,000,000 Florida voters accused of voter fraud was essential where Mahr could have pointed out that a quasi-problem (likely more confusion than fraud) that has a decimal point and 5 zeros before the number shouldn’t be a priority.
It could be that Mahr is just off his game but arguably, the banality of crazy is spreading.
The media will destroy democracy in their desperate quest for clicks. The last capitalist will sell the rope etc. Thanks for speaking out; I hope someone listens.
Thank you, Brian, for the clarity and sanity you bring to this topic. I have a quick question and a quick observation:
Q) Would it be helpful if Biden were to point out that he's only running for four more years - one more term, while Trump (regardless of whether he's willing to admit this) is running for forever? It seems to me it could be a salient point for folks who are genuinely weighing their decision. We now know he never had any intention of leaving office the first time. Are we so obtuse that we believe he - or his party - will respect (or even hold) a free and fair election that he loses in the future?
O) At the risk of fatalism, this all feels like what I've been observing for most of my adult life (I'm 66): To a rather absurd and increasing degree, Democrats are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Yet, regardless of their severity, Republican transgressions are consistently subject to only minor and fleeting consequences. I worry that this is a dynamic that is becoming insurmountable.
With love and gratitude from a fellow Minnesotan for your courage and your voice.
this completely sums it up. We can look to the Stockholm syndrome or PTSD or Domestic Violence survivors, etc., etc., etc. for precedents. Statistically, how much of the dependency on advertising rhetoric enable this behavior and where does de-programming factor in as a possible solution. Draconian, and yet how else can we excise this cancer without succumbing to it ourselves?
Terrific article, Brian. Chilling. If folks want to read a book on the banality of crazy, with terrifying parallels to today, I suggest Timothy Egan’s “A Fever in the Heartland,” which is about the rise (and fall) of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. (Hint: It failed because its disgusting premises were challenged and outed.) I also suggest Brian Klaas’s book, “Corruptible,” which is another terrific and essential read.
thanks again. and sure, I don't want there to be a binary. Everything matters. Much of the media is a detriment, so improvement is always welcomed. I get concerned when some press critics -- not you - think that if only the media would do a better job, there wouldn't be a problem. And of course the same media could try to portray "listening" as some kind of gimmick. So the campaign would have to be serious about it, with numerous visits to battleground states and conversations with voters, not just speeches. ( I also think Biden needs to have a public event with Gen Zers. It might not be easy for him. but everyone needs to think they are being listened to ) I look forward to your future writing.
I live in the UK, but I have subs to NYT and WaPo. I knew about the General, and quite a lot of the rest of it. I find it terrifying how many US voters haven't a bloody clue about what Trump really is, although he has shown them so clearly time after time.
I put his Paul Pelosi comments on Facebook, even though I knew some people wouldn’t like it, because I thought it was too important to worry about what they thought. There can be no excuse for such relish over violence.
I’m afraid that our views align, Brian. There are tremendous parallels with 1920s/30s Europe amongst voters too, in my view. So the phrase “The Banality of Crazy” is well chosen. I say all this as someone who’s not American but am fascinated by it. Thank you. All the best.
I am puzzled! Virtually nobody mentions Trumps psychiatric condition which drives everything he does. He's not quirky, he is an extreme Narcissist, a Sadist, a Sociopath. He is psychiatrically very unstable. Until he left Twitter the psychiatrist penning as Duty2Warn frequently raised the topic. His replacement group, OurShallowState has picked up the psychiatric condition banner. So whet one wants to call Malignant Narcissism mental illness, the question, "would you vote for someone who is mentally ill to be POTUS, would give most a huge cause for pause not to mention an Audible gasp.
Brian, this is very important. Thanks. The lesson I get from this piece revolves around your phrase "...I can't believe I have to say this...". I think we all have to include some form of the parade of horribles that spew out Trump's gub every time we speak to someone on the topic. We can't assume that we're all speaking and reasoning from the same accepted facts. I f we continue with that easy way of discussing him, we'll likely be speaking past each other. Thanks again.
People who cheer and support Trump and those who blindly vote partisan need to be educated as to how an authoritarian and fascist state would affect them personally. They believe they are in some favored or unaffected special group. Likewise, they believe immoral acts are funny because they don't think it applies to them. Media needs to report Crazy but it needs to also report the damage Crazy can do to everyone.
Brilliantly and accurately said. Yes we are all sick of it- but read and write and study we must, sucking black hole or not. Can you imagine Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beaches, fight them in the air, fight them on the seas, except if we’re sick and tired of it?
Excellent writing about such an important topic. I too am sick about hearing Trumps zealotry but people need to hear it! He is what my Grandparents would have called the “Anti-Christ” spreading lies and the sheep lay down and listen. The wolf has easy hunting. I’m ready to get out.
Ron Desantis made the curious choice of appearing on Bill Mahr’s first post writer’s strike show last Friday and Mahr let equally crazy rhetoric pass. Specifically, DeSantis praised Floridas education ratings that Mahr could have pointed out were going to tank due to book banning and Desantis insisting that prosecuting the 41 of 14,000,000 Florida voters accused of voter fraud was essential where Mahr could have pointed out that a quasi-problem (likely more confusion than fraud) that has a decimal point and 5 zeros before the number shouldn’t be a priority.
It could be that Mahr is just off his game but arguably, the banality of crazy is spreading.
The media will destroy democracy in their desperate quest for clicks. The last capitalist will sell the rope etc. Thanks for speaking out; I hope someone listens.
Thank you, Brian, for the clarity and sanity you bring to this topic. I have a quick question and a quick observation:
Q) Would it be helpful if Biden were to point out that he's only running for four more years - one more term, while Trump (regardless of whether he's willing to admit this) is running for forever? It seems to me it could be a salient point for folks who are genuinely weighing their decision. We now know he never had any intention of leaving office the first time. Are we so obtuse that we believe he - or his party - will respect (or even hold) a free and fair election that he loses in the future?
O) At the risk of fatalism, this all feels like what I've been observing for most of my adult life (I'm 66): To a rather absurd and increasing degree, Democrats are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Yet, regardless of their severity, Republican transgressions are consistently subject to only minor and fleeting consequences. I worry that this is a dynamic that is becoming insurmountable.
With love and gratitude from a fellow Minnesotan for your courage and your voice.
So well-stated and, unfortunately, so very much needed!
this completely sums it up. We can look to the Stockholm syndrome or PTSD or Domestic Violence survivors, etc., etc., etc. for precedents. Statistically, how much of the dependency on advertising rhetoric enable this behavior and where does de-programming factor in as a possible solution. Draconian, and yet how else can we excise this cancer without succumbing to it ourselves?
Terrific article, Brian. Chilling. If folks want to read a book on the banality of crazy, with terrifying parallels to today, I suggest Timothy Egan’s “A Fever in the Heartland,” which is about the rise (and fall) of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. (Hint: It failed because its disgusting premises were challenged and outed.) I also suggest Brian Klaas’s book, “Corruptible,” which is another terrific and essential read.
thanks again. and sure, I don't want there to be a binary. Everything matters. Much of the media is a detriment, so improvement is always welcomed. I get concerned when some press critics -- not you - think that if only the media would do a better job, there wouldn't be a problem. And of course the same media could try to portray "listening" as some kind of gimmick. So the campaign would have to be serious about it, with numerous visits to battleground states and conversations with voters, not just speeches. ( I also think Biden needs to have a public event with Gen Zers. It might not be easy for him. but everyone needs to think they are being listened to ) I look forward to your future writing.
Wow, what a great, insightful piece. I will quickly also read the Atlantic article which I am sure is equally good.
I live in the UK, but I have subs to NYT and WaPo. I knew about the General, and quite a lot of the rest of it. I find it terrifying how many US voters haven't a bloody clue about what Trump really is, although he has shown them so clearly time after time.