An Honest Charismatic Figure

We had one and lost him. Now we wait for the next one.

It’s very similar to Weimar Germany, Chomsky said when I spoke with him­. The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum that the Nazi very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over.

The United States is extremely lucky that no honest charismatic figure has arisen, Chomsky went on:

Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself, like McCarthy or Nixon or evangelist preachers [or Trump]. If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest, this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger, and the absence of any coherent response. What are people supposed to think if someone says, “I have got an answer, we have an enemy”? There it was the Jews. Here it will be the illegal immigrants and the blacks. We will be told that white males are a persecuted minority. We will be told we have to defend ourselves and the honor of the nation. Military force will be exalted. People will be beaten up. This could become an overwhelming force. And if it happens it will be more dangerous than Germany. The United States is the world power. Germany was powerful but had more powerful antagonists. I don’t think all this is very far away. If the polls are accurate, it is not the Republicans but the right-wing Republicans, the crazed Republicans, who will sweep the election. 

I have never seen anything like this in my life, Chomsky added. 

I am old enough to remember the 1930s. My whole family was unemployed. There were far more desperate conditions than today. But it was hopeful. People had hope. The CIO was organizing. No one wants to say it anymore, but the Communist Party was the spearhead for labor and civil-rights organizing. Even things like giving my unemployed seamstress aunt a week in the country. It was a life. There is nothing like that now. The mood of the country is frightening. The level of anger, frustration, and hatred of institutions is not organized in a constructive way. It is going off into self-destructive fantasies.

-excerpted from “Death of the Liberal Class” by Chris Hedges (2010)

7 thoughts on “An Honest Charismatic Figure

  1. Great excerpt, sums up the situation well, except for the fact we do have a real enemy it’s the jews and then all the non whites who are trying to kill off the entire White race forever. I want to get actively involved in the movement and struggle. Contact me if your interested in talking further.

  2. I’m a young person so I haven’t been around the block many times yet so I need to ask are things really this bad as the article make things out to be? While I certainly hope so I’m worried that we’ve been through worst in this country.

    1. The new god/religion has been declared: The Science. The new narrative has been made: “Cov ID”. Notice how they always roll out the narrative first, then bringing the action. (e.g. Christianity, Bolshevism, Holocaust, , Atheism etc.) (Notice how the same narrative has been used, precisely in the Middle Ages where who didn’t left the old gods got burned.) We have reached the world’s edge; after these it will be either us or them. If you’re young, then my advise would be: find loyal brothers and organize, train hard, learn survival skills and bushcraft, go off grid if you have the chance. There’s dark times ahead very soon, and I don’t think it’ll be good for a quite some time.

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