@patblanchfield
US culture, violence, politics, psychoanalysis | associate faculty @brooklyninstitute.bsky.social | fellow @rooseveltinstitute.org | co-host @unhappinesspod.bsky.social podcast | columnist @nplusonemag.com ~ 2 niche 2 live 2 on brand 2 die ~
a tertiary syphillis history channel dialectics whereby we simultaneously are the ones who do pearl harbor and the ones who drop the bomb (our signature move already). checks out tbh
If you have a structured settlement (in the liminal space between the imperial core and the colonial periphery) and you need cash now!
Text Reading: With Trump as the messenger—rather than some generic general or RAND Corporation bureaucrat—we can clearly see that this apocalyptic solipsism feels like a familiar American story. It’s James Cagney at the end of White Heat, immolating himself by firing a gun into a gas tank: “Made it, Ma! I’m on top of the world!” Or Michael Douglas in Falling Down, that archetypal Angry White Man Who’s Finally Had Enough, whose rampage audiences cheer even as, or precisely because, they know it will end in a bloodbath. This last filmic icon gets at another type—the Family Annihilator, that all-too-real culture-specific disorder of the failed patriarch who, facing financial ruin or other humiliation, decides on suicide while taking his wife and children with him like so many ritual objects he can throw on his own funeral pyre out of spite. “There will never be a time that I am not the best father, with the happiest family, and the finest lawn,” sobs the annihilator as he loads his rifle in the den. For such selfishness, a world unworlded is self-evidently preferable to a world in which you are not the best, the most special, the most praised. America (and I) Will Be The Greatest Forever, Or We’ll Burn The World To Ashes.
The deaths of other people may truly be a matter of utter indifference to Donald Trump. But how does he think of his own death, if he does at all? Certainly his body will fail him, eventually, as it must. And, contra the protestations of his muppet of a doctor, Trump must already feel its growing limits, the indignities of age. But I am hard pressed to think of an occasion where he has spoken of what he hopes his posthumous legacy will be, of how he hopes to be remembered. Trump’s care for the regard of others appears to be confined to the timeline of the news cycle, not history. Even his proud boasts of personal impact seem wholly concrete, woefully short-term: “I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve done, I’ve had tremendous success.” Trump must know that these “great structures” are no pyramids or triumphal arches, just casinos and condos, shoddy and ephemeral, some sinking into rising seas even now. And he certainly knows, as his leaked diplomatic calls reveal, that even his signature “great wall” will likely never happen—if not thanks to the laws of physics, but because he can’t face the political consequences of being unable to make the Mexican government pay for it.
reupping this I wrote for @nplusonemag.com six years ago now
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
they may be individually volatile on their own but im bundling greater israel and greater north american into a tranche, distributing all risk across diffusely franctionalized financial instruments, and then creating a market for default swap options among those
a "reverse mortgage" ... , for , empire
when you described the world as having a "Global North" and a"Global South" you were doing woke DEI indentity politics, and when you used the phrase "settler colonialism" it was bigotry of the worst kind. anyway welcome to the new greater north american destiny power dome
will the president be the first boomer to eventually check out in a pit of pique and annihilatory rage, with no heed for the world he leaves behind or the fate of those still in it? no - but he also may have the singular narcissistic satisfaction of being the last
[slaps the roof of this fund] the bad boy can fit so much 2008
I think it was on Why Theory that they discussed that Right worldview is "i get all the benefits of living in society and bear none of the responsibilities and if you make me responsible for anything i will destroy you"
tired: the victims of 9/11 II are complicit infidels, say terrorists
wired: 9/11 II victims were little eichmanns, say provocateurs
hired: they were trash sucker writeoffs to begin with, says President, who prefers Americans who don’t get killed in 9/11 II
it’s fucking awesome to live in a democracy where civilians have no power over the wars waged in our name but are also expected to die in them because of logics of collective responsibility imposed on us by both our own leaders and their foreign adversaries alike
turns out blowback has been disproven in the sense that nobody in power gives a shit and if comes for you that’s your fucking problem loser
Kalshi employees "kind of understand that without the tweets and the streamers and all of the social-media stuff that the traders do for them, usually just for free, their marketing would be a lot harder," said Jack Campion, 20, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Kalshi affiliate. In September, Kalshi briefly signed up a 15-year-old videogame streamer who goes by vertid online to promote its brand on X as an affiliate. A week later, Kalshi ended the partnership. "Yo brother, legal team confirmed that we can't work with minors rn," a Kalshi employee wrote to the user in messages reviewed by the Journal. "Kinda sad tbh."
what the fuck are we doing
www.wsj.com/business/med...
Iran: look, it's simple. We literally just paint the silhouette of a plane on the ground. We literally just nail together some boxes in the shape of a tank. We literally just pull looney tunes shit. Their AI will make them spend $100 million to destroy $5 of arts and crafts.
the US: grok is this
Quite an opening paragraph.
I feel this too
I mean look given the track record of American police when it comes to just killing people with no consequences maybe we are the worlds “policemen” after all all
Mike Johnson says Iranians have "misguided religion"
ok yeah its the plan bsky.app/profile/mcca...
One woman who called the State Department helpline looking for help said they told her to "stop ranting and raving" and hung up on her.
Another woman said they asked her how to spell Oman.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/t...
that's what might be the key difference in the end: the idea that they could actually protect "us" - let alone care to try - is laughable
oh yeah no question or disagreement - all this nonsense about calling it war/uncalling it war is exactly what to expect two decades plus after the AUMF for example
it's not like this isn't an approach and appeal that has served various figures in the history of Israeli politics dependably in the past and present
I suspect there are Americans in power for whom making the world less safe for Americans synergizes nicely with claims that the US - authoritarian and unsafe - is the only place for Americans to be safe, the only thing providing ANY safety for Americans anywhere, etc.
I wonder about that, though
and to be even clearer I have a strong suspicion that counting on that inevitability may even be part of the plan, for some! but doubtless even some in the most cynical and self-interested military circles must be leery of what this exposes them and theirs to
I also have no doubt that when the pushback and blowback happen we'll have zero compunctions about calling those who do it terrorists, threats to international law, etc. and hypocrisy is a meaningless analytic. I am just trying to clock pace of change and degree of blatancy
please don't misunderstand: I have zero illusions about US history both recent and deep with all these things and worse (IE Iran Air 655). but I am trying to recall a prior time when all these ostensible norms were transgressed simultaneously and with such proud glee
am I correct in thinking the US no longer has any pretense about even pretending RE: norms RE: how heads of state can be assassinated, diplomatic negotiations can be ruses for preemptive attacks (or targets outright), ships flying foreign flags can be ambushed and sunk in international waters, etc?
🙏
