Another nightmarish scene from the hellworld of the 2020s
I have no wish to dignify anything Donald Trump says, does, or tweets by treating it as anything more than the rancid outpourings of an opulent insanity, but I was involuntarily reminded by the disturbing switch in US "foreign policy" since the election of the old paleoconservative concept of anarchotyranny.
For those who don't remember, the concept was devised by Samuel T. Francis back in the 1990s, which was essentially the best decade in human history, when people had to think hard and dig deep to find real problems.
Just a normal day in the fun-packed 1990s
In Francis's idea, Anarchotyranny referred to a government that simultaneously exhibited anarchic and tyrannical behaviour towards different subjects. Typically this meant policing or oppressing the easy-to-police (White) elements of society; while allowing the more difficult-to-police (Black) elements of society to run rampant. As you can see, it derived very much from the American experience, but had some wider applicability.
We could also apply this concept much more accurately to frame the geopolitical situation—at least while the present "Trump Aberration" continues—with the lunatic-led US state playing the role of the "anarchotyrannical policeman" who allows the criminal states to run rampant, while directing most of his oppressive ire against the law-abiding ones.
In this sad analogy, law-abiding Europe is the easy-to-police (or oppress) element of geopolitical society; while Russia, Iran, North Korea, and others, are the bad boys in the ghetto, who are allowed to get away with murder, because going in to police them would be too risky and inconvenient.
Even if the "nice guys" of Europe stand up for themselves, America's "bully cop" is unlikely to suffer any direct negative consequences (indirect, however, may be another matter).
By contrast, if the American "global policeman" were to take on the Russian or Iranian gangsters, there would inevitably be immediate negative blowback, even if the long-term or indirect benefits would be commensurably greater. The Biden administration made some attempt to square this circle, with limited success.
In this sad analogy, law-abiding Europe is the easy-to-police (or oppress) element of geopolitical society; while Russia, Iran, North Korea, and others, are the bad boys in the ghetto, who are allowed to get away with murder, because going in to police them would be too risky and inconvenient.
Even if the "nice guys" of Europe stand up for themselves, America's "bully cop" is unlikely to suffer any direct negative consequences (indirect, however, may be another matter).
By contrast, if the American "global policeman" were to take on the Russian or Iranian gangsters, there would inevitably be immediate negative blowback, even if the long-term or indirect benefits would be commensurably greater. The Biden administration made some attempt to square this circle, with limited success.
Francis described anarchotyranny as a kind of bastardised "Hegelian" synthesis, with seemingly opposite forces actually reinforcing each other. I doubt, however, that this is in any way a stable construct at the geopolitical level.
For this reason, it is far more accurate to frame Trump's actions as those of a lunatic. The only question that remains is how much of the American population is similarly afflicted or infected. Afterall, if you can't recognize that someone is a lunatic, it is perhaps because you too are a lunatic. If the number of lunatics in American society is too high, then the anarchotyranny of Trump is not an aberration but a new reality.
For this reason, it is far more accurate to frame Trump's actions as those of a lunatic. The only question that remains is how much of the American population is similarly afflicted or infected. Afterall, if you can't recognize that someone is a lunatic, it is perhaps because you too are a lunatic. If the number of lunatics in American society is too high, then the anarchotyranny of Trump is not an aberration but a new reality.
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying his book here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia), or by taking out a paid subscription on his Substack.
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