Last week in The Atlantic, Caitlin Flanagan condemned the people who attacked the Capitol as a rabble, the detritus of society with few prospects and even fewer resources: |
Here they were, a coalition of the willing: deadbeat dads, YouPorn enthusiasts, slow students, and MMA fans. They had heard the rebel yell, packed up their Confederate flags and Trump banners, and GPS-ed their way to Washington. After a few wrong turns, they had pulled into the swamp with bellies full of beer and Sausage McMuffins, maybe a little high on Adderall, ready to get it done. |
In response to this and other similar arguments, Adam Serwer, also of The Atlantic, noted how throughout American history, the mob and the supposedly respectable have often been one and the same: |
The notion that political violence simply emerges out of economic desperation, rather than ideology, is comforting. But it’s false. Throughout American history, political violence has often been guided, initiated, and perpetrated by respectable people from educated middle- and upper-class backgrounds. The belief that only impoverished people engage in political violence — particularly right-wing political violence — is a misconception often cultivated by the very elites who benefit from that violence. |
I am pretty obviously on Serwer’s side of the dispute. Reconstruction is the most straightforward example of how the middle classes are just as open to reactionary violence as any other group in society, but you can also look to the early 20th century, when the Ku Klux Klan re-emerged as a mass movement against immigration, religious pluralism, gender equality and the urbanization of American life. As a kind of fraternal organization, the second Klan drew its social base from the leading men of small-town white America: the mayors, the shopkeepers, the landlords, successful farmers and all of those who aspired to that status. Here’s the historian Nancy MacLean in “Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan”: |
The typical member, in Athens [Georgia] as elsewhere, was not the uprooted angry young man one might expect; he was middle-aged, married, and probably a father as well. Ninety-two percent of Athens Klan members were married men; more than two-thirds were fathers, with an average of between three and four children. While most local Klansmen were family men, not a few were civic leaders. Klansman G.M. Harris, the county tax receiver, had served two terms as mayor in the 1880s. The wealthy Wiley Doolittle was described by the Athens press as among the “most influential citizens.” The roster of offices he had held included mayor (three terms), president of the Chamber of Commerce, president of the Booster Club, president of the Kiwanis Club, and chairman of the Clarke County Democratic Executive Committee, which four other Klansmen also served on. |
Still, the Klan’s contemporary opponents who labeled it a populist group, representing people who were losing out, or unsophisticated and ill-educated, were mistaken. Some Klaverns included a community’s most influential people; in California’s six largest cities, for example, Klansmen constituted “a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of local and county officials.” Whether their status was new or old, many Klansmen belonged to a distinctly upper middle class, often managers, businessmen, or professionals. Membership lists included engineers, chemists, physicians, pharmacists, dentists, accountants, schoolteachers, artists, and veterinarians. |
This isn’t just an American phenomenon. At the heart of reactionary movements around the world are what Marxists call the petite bourgeoisie, an in-between class of small property holders, pressured by the proletariat from below and the owners of capital from above. And speaking of Marxists, I want to share a passage from Karl Marx, writing in “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon,” an account of the rise of Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (nephew to the Napoléon Bonaparte) and the fall of the France’s First Republic. Crude and buffoonish, Charles-Louis nonetheless beat his rivals to become the first president of France’s Second Republic in 1848. Prohibited by its Constitution from running for re-election, he seized power in 1851 (in what we would call an autogolpe, or self-coup) and crowned himself emperor of the French the following year. Here’s Marx: |
Insofar as millions of families live under conditions of existence that separate their mode of life, their interests, and their culture from those of the other classes, and put them in hostile opposition to the latter, they form a class. Insofar as there is merely a local interconnection among these small-holding peasants, and the identity of their interests forms no community, no national bond, and no political organization among them, they do not constitute a class. They are therefore incapable of asserting their class interest in their own name, whether through a parliament or a convention. They cannot represent themselves, they must be represented. Their representative must at the same time appear as their master, as an authority over them, an unlimited governmental power which protects them from the other classes and sends them rain and sunshine from above. The political influence of the small-holding peasants, therefore, finds its final expression in an executive power that subjugates the commonweal to its own autocratic will. |
As an aside, here’s how Marx describes the lead-up to the coup: |
The “coup” was ever the fixed idea of Bonaparte. With this idea he had stepped again upon French soil. It had such full possession of him that he was constantly betraying and blabbing it out. He was so weak that he was as constantly giving it up again. The shadow of the “coup” had become so familiar a spectre to the Parisians, that they refused to believe it when it finally did appear in flesh and blood. |
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? |
In short, the mob that stormed the Capitol last week was not primarily, as Flanagan would have it, the dregs of society. They were police officers, business owners and retired service members. They were a cross-section of the Trump movement itself, which is as heavy on contractors and managers — fast-food franchisees and car dealership owners — as it is blue-collar wage earners. It is a class that sees itself as the producers of the world, the “job creators,” as it were, and thus its rightful rulers. And in Trump they see someone who shares their prejudices as well as their aspirations. |
My Monday column was on the hypocrisy of Republican calls for unity and on the need for accountability. |
There is no way past this crisis — and yes, we are living through a crisis — except through it. The best way to push forward is as aggressively as possible. Anything less sends the signal that this moment isn’t as urgent as it actually is. And as we move closer to consequences for those responsible, we should continue to ignore the cries that accountability is “divisive.” Not because they’re false, but because they’re true. |
And my Friday column was on the long history of Republican voter fraud complaints. |
To explain the attack on the Capitol, you can’t just turn your focus to Donald Trump and his enablers. You must also look at the individuals and institutions that fanned fears of “voter fraud” to the point of hysteria among conservative voters, long before Trump. Put another way, the difference between a riot seeking to overturn an election and an effort to suppress opposing votes is one of legality, not intent. And it doesn’t take many steps to get from one to the other. |
Hua Hsu on the life and rhymes of MF DOOM in The New Yorker. |
Yuval Levin on the failure of Republican Party leadership in National Review. |
John Ganz on the political power of play in The Guardian. |
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A young man was recently killed on my block in one of the many shootings that have suddenly flared up in Charlottesville, Va., and this is the memorial that friends and family left to mark his passing. |
Here’s a little Golden Age hip-hop to enjoy while you head off into the weekend. The genre developed pretty quickly after coming on the scene in the early 1980s, and most people tend to date the “golden age” from around 1987 to 1993. Most of the music in this playlist was produced between 1988 and 1991, which for me is the sweet spot for this era of hip-hop. You can find the playlist here to transfer to Spotify, or if you use Apple Music, you can just go straight ahead and listen. The track list is as follows: |
“Fakin’ the Funk” by Main Source |
“Know the Ledge” by Eric B. & Rakim |
“Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” by Big Daddy Kane |
“The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)” by Black Sheep |
“Rebel Without a Pause” by Public Enemy |
“Jack of Spades” by Boogie Down Productions |
“Streets of New York” by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo |
“Anger in the Nation” by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth |
Now Eating: Swiss Chard Tacos With Caramelized Onion and Fresh Cheese |
This recipe comes from “Mexican Everyday” by Rick Bayless. It’s very straightforward. The only recommendation I would make is to either buy fresh tortillas from a local Mexican market or restaurant, or make them at home. I really like this King Arthur Flour recipe for hybrid corn/flour tortillas. You can also add shredded leftover grilled or roasted chicken during the final few minutes of cooking, for a heartier meal. Makes three to four servings. |
- 12-ounce bunch Swiss chard (or collard greens for something a little heartier), thick lower stems cut off
- 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, olive oil or fresh lard
- 1 large white or red onion, sliced ¼-inch thick
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- about 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup chicken or vegetable stock
- salt
- warm corn or flour tortillas
- 4 ounces crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other fresh cheese such as feta
- about a cup of your favorite salsa, store-bought or homemade
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Cut the chard or collards crosswise into ½-inch slices. In a very large skillet, heat the oil or lard over medium-high. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown but still crunchy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and stir for a few seconds, until aromatic, then add the stock, ½ teaspoon salt and the greens. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and cook until the greens are almost tender, anywhere from 5 to 6 minutes for chard to 7 or 8 minutes for collards. |
Uncover the pan, raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is nearly dry. Taste and season with additional salt if you think it’s necessary. Serve with the tortillas, crumbled cheese and salsa. |
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