Hegseth and the man-babies of maga [View all]

https://www.editorialboard.com/hegseth-and-the-man-babies-of-maga/

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Hegseth’s dishonorable conduct is shared by the whole regime, including the president. There’s an attitude that respect is owed but not in return. This is borne of the belief that they have the right to rule by race and blood – not by law, not by merit, not by anything other than the accident of their birth. Indeed, anyone who has earned his authority, as Admiral Grady has, is a natural target of their contempt.

This attitude may seem invulnerable, but it’s not. It is weakness personified. When respect is not forthcoming in the way they expect, they fall to pieces. They get emotional, perhaps hysterical. They might even start accusing everyone around them of being against them. As it happens, that describes Hegseth to a T. NBC News reported Friday that he’s growing paranoid, “erratic” and “insecure.” Well, when you act like you’re infallible, you can’t stand it when anyone anywhere disagrees.

If this sounds childish, it is, and there’s a reason for it. It is rooted in the political tradition of venerating above all others the common folk of the American heartland, which is to say, the common white folk. Unlike multiracial populations in cities or on the coasts, people who get educations, acquire skill and know-how, strive and improve, these are God’s chosen. They are the most authentic, the most real Americans.

And one way or another, they are always at the center of our time and our attention, as they are the main characters in tales of morality told about America, in which some kind of Great Sinner is forever trying to take advantage of them, cheat them out of their money and their hope, and these crimes against the blood and bone of the nation demand a champion to come forth and save God’s chosen from this villainy.

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