So, did this mostly middle class, virtually all white mob attack the United States Capitol with the intent to disrupt a valid election because they felt affinity for a psychotic, inept megalomaniac or because they felt that Trump's continual flouting of the basic rules of commerce and society made them kindred spirits?
I see Trumpism, in large part, as a cult of losers who see the rules and norms of a civil society as the cause of their failures. Trump's entire career as a business and political failure was only possible because he and his father before him cheated, lied and stole their way to the point where they we accepted as something other than they really were and are. Trump's mob appears to be made of failures who didn't have the financial cushion and snake oils salesman skill of their leader.
Nearly 60 percent of the people facing charges related to the Capitol riot showed signs of prior money troubles, including bankruptcies, notices of eviction or foreclosure, bad debts, or unpaid taxes over the past two decades, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records for 125 defendants with sufficient information to detail their financial histories.
The group’s bankruptcy rate — 18 percent — was nearly twice as high as that of the American public, The Post found. A quarter of them had been sued for money owed to a creditor. And 1 in 5 of them faced losing their home at one point, according to court filings.
The financial problems are revealing because they offer potential clues for understanding why so many Trump supporters — many with professional careers and few with violent criminal histories — were willing to participate in an attack egged on by the president’s rhetoric painting him and his supporters as undeserving victims.
The rest of the mob appear to be just garden variety racists and proto-fascists.
No comments:
Post a Comment