Michael Kennedy
Democracy without equality has led to ‘Ubermensch Escapism’
Our anxieties about democracy typically focus on the scum floating on the surface. Political polarizations might lead us to note different noxious currents, and the good hearted and most civic among us are likely, then, to say that the problem rests in our distant standpoints, our filter bubbles, our echo chambers. I think that the […]
Loyalty over law: How Trump’s America is like East Germany
“Focused more on mobilization against an enemy than understanding itself and its society, the Communist Party and its state were both constituted through mechanisms they also made. The way in which they were made also prevented authorities from recognizing the real problems they faced.”
Norm Eisen, the indictment of Trump, and the resilience of America
Norm Eisen just delivered one of the best talks I have ever heard in the Watson Institute. By following his work, I knew that he was smart, ethical, and courageous, but I did not expect that he would have done what the best presentations do: fuse apparent contradictions into transcendent vision. Eisen did just that […]
The impending Legitimation Crisis in Trump’s America
Three months ago I marked the looming legitimation crisis in Trump’s America. I subsequently argued that not all contradictions accompanying President Trump’s governance magnified that crisis. In the succeeding months, those conflicts that reinforced cultural authority among Trump’s base have not changed much, if at all. However, his Russian Achilles Heel has grown much more […]
Love, solidarity and the #MuslimBan, revisited with second executive order
Some 2,000 people from Providence, Rhode Island & environs assembled in the same place the #WomensMarch gathered 8 days previous to denounce Donald Trump’s Executive Order on immigration, effectively known in this community, and across the US and the world, as the #MuslimBan. The assembly reflected so many layers of cultural politics, love and solidarity […]
Trump’s articulation of the nation
Nationalism has many bad connotations, but at its root it is commonplace. Its ideology is simple: every nation deserves its own state, which, in turn, enables that nation to fulfill its destiny while building on its history. Before it became punny, Craig Calhoun called nationalism the trump card of identities and ideologies. Trump articulated that […]
The conflicts and contradictions shaping Trump’s Legitimation Crisis
Not all contradictions accompanying President Trump’s governance magnify the legitimation crisis increasingly apparent. Some merely reinforce the cultural conflicts that were apparent during the election itself, but others threaten the bedrock of his legitimacy. In particular, the crisis around Russia may erode the last vestiges of cultural authority buttressing his legal or institutional authority. Nevertheless, […]
The looming Legitimation Crisis in Trump’s America
In this moment, we fix on Mike Flynn’s resignation as National Security Advisor. Speculation flies as to why this happened. Officially, it is because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence, putting the latter into a position of lying to the public about the substance of Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador while Obama was […]
Love, solidarity and the #WomensMarch in PVD, RI
On January 21, 2017 many of us followed the Extraordinary Rendition Band and their spirited version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” onto the Rhode Island State Capitol grounds. Friendships were evident in groups arriving, or in spontaneous meetings. I met Justine Brown and 2 year old Felicity on arrival, and saw later on […]
Recurrent and resurgent whiteness in the time of Trump
Vibha Pinglé, one of my friends, challenged the white men in her FB audience to take the same responsibility for white nationalists as so many Americans demanded “good Muslims” challenge those who killed the innocent in the name of Islam. Other friends asked the white men in their FB communities to explain how it was […]
Transformational Solidarity in the time of Trump
Three sensibilities of solidarity sweep America, but we need a fourth. Solidarity as Electoral Democracy is apparent in the graciousness of Secretary Clinton’s concession speech, President Obama’s report on his conversation with President-Elect Trump, and in the peaceful transfer of power. It’s heard in calls to give Trump a chance, to become presidential. Some, but […]
The failure, and abiding danger, of Trump
Professor Michael D. Kennedy asks, “When Trump loses, do you think his supporters will retreat to their private resentments for the erosion of white privilege in America?”
The politics of progressive identification and the DNC
Tonight’s speech by Hillary Rodham Clinton is historic. As we all know by now, she will be the first woman ever nominated by a major US political party to be a candidate for President of the United States. That video of the shattered glass ceiling simulates that achievement. Every progressive must applaud this moment.[1] Every […]
Ideology in the Time of Trump
We can no longer distinguish Republican and Democratic parties with conservative and liberal labels. Too many Republicans proud of their conservative pedigree have distanced themselves from the party that Donald Trump now leads. Democrats now prefer the term progressive, but it’s not obvious that all those who supported Bernie Sanders will embrace Hillary Clinton despite […]
Bernie Sanders for Rhode Island
From the largest political rally in Rhode Island since JFK to the morning talk shows on the day after, I feel whiplash more than I feel the Bern. But that is because most political pundits don’t get the point of the political revolution Bernie Sanders articulates. I need to get the Bern back. And so […]
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