He is obviously bad at comprehension, and lazy about reading. He'd struggle to achieve GCSE standard (which is what is currently required).
I read the 'reactionary centrism' article today from a link at Balloon Juice
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Emphasis mine: it’s a form of Murc’s Law, i.e., only Democrats have agency, in action. The article’s author, Toby Buckle, borrows the U.S. term “reactionary centrist” to describe what’s happened to Labour in the UK under PM Kier Starmer:
The only thing I know about Labour is what I read about it here from Tony Jay and Rose, but we see the same impulse described above in U.S. politics. The phrase “meeting voters where they are” isn’t inherently bad, IMO — you have to show up were voters can hear your message.
But tacitly validating existing prejudices is fatal; it inexorably moves the framing to the right and throws vulnerable people under the bus. It also doesn’t work to take issues off the table for voters.
Ten years ago, there wasn’t widespread hysteria about trans people in the U.S. Remember in 2016 when Trump said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom she chose? The right deliberately manufactured anti-trans hysteria, which implies that it can be dismantled too. The same goes for immigration and reproductive rights and other issues Dems are urged to “moderate” on to win elections.
And the Prospect author, Toby Buckle, links to an interesting piece he wrote earlier this year:
The Politics of Humiliation
The politics of humiliation has moved to the center of the reactionary project under Trump II.
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It's often opined that Trump would be more effective if he were capable of some restraint. That a truly dangerous autocrat would mask his designs better. This not only misses a huge part of his appeal, but what one of the central aims of this movement is.
Many millions of Americans love Trump because he routinely humiliates people. It validates their own actions. They live vicariously though him, imagining the humiliation they could inflict if they were given greater power. He also normalizes the behaviour. The symbolic power of having someone of his open sadism in the Oval Office is massive. It is changing our society, making humiliation much more acceptable, and corroding the norms that partially restrain humiliators.
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And this cultural shift is coming from the top down. Again, humiliation is an act that moves down social hierarchies. When we talk about the normalization of racism, I think many liberals still imagine working class white supremacist thugs with shaved heads and tattoos. Those people are real enough, but shouldn't be our mental image of MAGA. This is a movement of businessmen, bankers, landlords, car dealership owners, tech bros, cops, those who live in idleness of an inheritance, doctors, pilots, plastic surgeons, religious leaders, farm owners, tradesmen, and news media personalities. Those who, in their interactions with employees, service workers, and staff, could, and did, humiliate, but wanted to go further. And who self-consciously joined a project to change the norms of the American elite so they could.
And they have been remarkably successful. The torture at Abu Ghraib was, in large part, about humiliation. That coming to light was a leak, and people were shocked. Now similar degradation in 'deportations' is being intentionally broadcast for the entertainment of half the country.
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
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