Reactionary centrism: The toxic force that could elect Trump -- and kill off democracy

[marmar]

Reactionary centrism: The toxic force that could elect Trump — and kill off democracy
Supposedly fair-minded moderates who demonize the left are poisoning our politics — and only helping the Orange Man

By PAUL ROSENBERG
PUBLISHED JANUARY 14, 2024 9:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump is crushing his opponents in polls of Republican voters, and will likely do the same as the caucuses and primaries begin this week. He’s running a backward-looking, grievance-driven, base-strategy campaign and the rest of the GOP is following him — full on in the House, with bogus investigations in fealty to MAGA, and more mutedly in the Senate and the ever-shrinking primary campaign for second place.

But that only gets Trump’s approval ratings into the low 40s, at best, and House Republicans’ budget-slashing campaign is even less popular. Trump will need to reach the high 40s to win the general election against Joe Biden. For that, he needs the help of reactionary centrist elites in the political establishment — meaning funders, establishment media and organizations like No Labels — to make him competitive. If Biden’s ill-conceived support for Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza should prove fatal, that, too, is partially due to reactionary centrist politics.

Aaron Huertas introduced the term "reactionary centrist" in 2018, defining the species as “Someone who says they’re politically neutral, but who usually punches left while sympathizing with the right.” This is related to the media’s false equivalence problem, but not exactly the same thing. False equivalence is more about the institutional results of passively adhering to dysfunctional norms, while reactionary centrism is more about the active production of a distorted picture.

....(snip)....

On the one hand, Huertas wrote, “Reactionary centrists need an intolerant left to match the intolerant right,” while on the other, they tend “to prop up the moderate right.” Another point he makes is that “Reactionary centrists think politics is about positions, not actions,” which leads them to think “that if only the left and right could meet in the middle, wherever that middle is, we could settle contentious debates.” This not only assumes an imaginary symmetry between left and right, but also ignores the asymmetrical nature of political activism, which on the right has reached the level of insurrection and ongoing threats of violence. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/01/14/reactionary-centrism-the-force-that-could-elect--and-off-democracy/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Biden's re-election depends on Boomers and Progressives

And I sure hope there are no debates. Recall 1980.

[mountain grammy]

2. Agree

No debates. Absolutely no point to them.

[MichMan]

4. Why not? Joe would decimate Trump in a debate

Last edited Sun Jan 14, 2024, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

That would take away the age issue

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. I urge everyone to read the entire article.

It breaks down the insidious sabotage of democracy perpetrated by reactionary centrism, from No Labels to the NYT.

The only path to victory for Trump is if the reactionary centrists, in the form of third party candidates as well as the “balanced” bothsiderism media, peel off a few thousand Biden votes in swing states. (Reminder: Biden won 2020 by 44,000 votes in three states)

That is why I support any and every effort to utilize dark money, Roger Stone-style ratfucking dirty tricks to smear all third party candidates to the point where their spouses divorce them, their families disown them, they lose their sources of income and are banished from public life forever.

Scorched earth.

[SpankMe]

5. Kick & Rec - Excellent article. Must read. EVERYBODY

If this doesn't get more recs by tomorrow, I may re-post with a clickbait title to get more attention.