That’s why they call him IIIIKES
He’s back
He’s back
…and he’s on the attack.
Don’t we all?
No we don’t.
It’s a rare breed that prefers a weakman.
I thought we all agreed to a Rawlsian constitutional democracy that promotes the welfare of the least fortunate
No one would describe Attlee or Roosevelt as “strong men”.
The appeal of “strong men” is for people who feel threatened ie “weak men”.
They certainly were at the time. Hell the major fracture point between Republicans and Democrats at the time was “is FDR leading us to tyranny?”
They don’t fit the trad image of a “strong man” the way NMW was using the term and the way people imagine “strong leaders” to look and behave in public.
I want a strongman like the volk perceived Churchill in the 40s.
When people were fearful.
Holy shit you fucking know nothing about fdr huh?
FDR greatly expanded executive power, put minorities in camps, threw away 150 years of tradition regarding staying for two terms, tried to pack the supreme court and more.
I think he did a lot of good overall but ffs using him as an example of an anti strongman is fucking dumb
But he was in a wheelchair bro.
I guess the distinction here is between actual authoritarian strength, and that Trumpian BS machismo where he just liked to talk as if he takes no shit, fuck with people when shaking their hand, etc.
But was he macho? He had polio and couldn’t really walk. The lack of portable cameras and social media meant that he was able to keep that fact from the masses at the time.
I think there might be two parallel definitions of strongmen, one primarily about the macho aesthetic and the other about policy and affect (i.e.) being authoritarian and/or imperialistic.
FDR was definitely the latter but not former.
Atlee was neither.
Your typical garden variety dictator is often both - think Castro, Saddam, Gaddafi etc.
I can’t think of a macho affect leader who was all about the consensus and the democratic norms however. So I admit that there is at least a one way correlation.
That said Xi isnt macho … Do you also think of him as a strongman? He is probably the strongmanest by the latter definition.
Trump actually did do a lot of authoritarian strong man stuff, tho.
Like attempting a coup
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When I say “no one” or “everyone” it’s short hand for “most people but not you”. I’ll try to be more precise in future.