Liberalism is a mental disorder. Nowhere is this more apparent than on our college campuses. Check out what’s happening at the University of Chicago:
On Friday, the University of Chicago let students know about a brand-new course they’d been considering since the end of November: Trump 101.
Here’s the course description, courtesy of a student at the University of Chicago:
ANTH 24710. Trump 101. This class is an attempt to make sense of Trumpism as a symptom of our political present. Where are we? How did we get here? Where do we go from here? What critical theories from previous times or other places might help us make sense of this current national and global conjuncture, and in what ways might they need to be retooled? What specific issues, especially concerning media and the public sphere on the one hand, and the politics of race, class and gender on the other, might be particularly at stake? Using a mix of classic texts and contemporary commentaries, we will explore that made a Trump victory possible and what they can tell us about possible democratic futures. William Mazzarella/Kaushik Sunder Rajan Tues 10:30-11:50 + one discussion section per week.
This course description is markedly watered down from the earlier version circulated in November, which suggested that Mazzarella would discuss whether “existing theories of fascism or the mass psychology of authoritarianism explain our situation.” That has been replaced with the sentence about “critical theories from previous times or other places.”
Liberals have been calling people they disagree with fascists since forever. It’s not entirely clear that they understand the meaning of the word.
Trump is a moderate Republican who’s not making war on social conservatives. He’s the first president to support LGBTQ rights from the day he was elected. His positions on trade are standard Democratic fair. His positions on taxes and spending are entirely conservative. What separates him is that he comprehends the culture war in a way many in Washington and New York don’t. This isn’t about conservative vs. liberal, but about a credentialed class waging war on middle class values and priorities. That is, Trump is a reaction to creeping class of social mandarins enforcing the law as they see fit. From forcing small communities to accept a radical transgender agenda to failing to properly enforce our immigration laws.
There’s a wave coming. If liberals keep yelling “fascist!” at everyone they dislike, they’re not going to hear it.
