I mentioned the far right’s newfound appreciation for the Taliban the other day, noting that there was a time when the media had a full-blown hissy fit if anyone dared to make the comparison. Here’s a snippet of one random review of Markos Moulitsas’ 2010 book called “American Taliban” which had all of DC furiously clutching their pearls in dismay:
The title of his book pretty much says it all. Moulitsas isn’t simply using an overheated metaphor when he refers to the “American Taliban.” He means it literally. “In their tactics and on the issues, our homegrown American Taliban are almost indistinguishable from the Afghan Taliban,” he writes in the introduction. And yet his evidence never amounts to much more than putting something an American conservative said beside something similar an Islamic radical said, and declaring that they are “clearly” or “obviously” connected: “That fear clearly binds the American Taliban to their Islamic cousins,” or “That sentiment is obviously no different than O’Reilly’s view” (emphasis mine). Moulitsas frequently uses adverbs in place of argumentation, and sometimes you wonder, if everything is so clear and obvious, why Moulitsas felt the need to write the book in the first place.
I hope he had some smelling salts handy.
Anyway, it’s true that the right has an affinity with the repressive, autocratic Taliban. It was true then and it’s even more true now. Michelle Goldberg wrote about it for The New York Times today, as did Tom Sullivan right here on Hullabaloo.
Goldberg quotes Spencer Ackerman in his new book “Reign of Terror,” in which he explains the through line between our forever war quagmires and Donald Trump:
“Trump was able to safely voice the reality of the war by articulating what about it most offended right-wing exceptionalists: humiliation.”
This is a very astute observation. Grievance politics are the foundation of the American right and they cling to their perceived humiliation as both a tribal bond and an organizing principle. And this is the same emotional impulse that propels “lost cause” mythology and, yes, Jihadism.
There’s more at both links that are well worth reading.
*post edited to reflect Tom’s earlier post which I did not see… doh.