half are OK with the politics of joy

It might seem amazing that after all the years of these two parties (it’s 150 years) a kind of consensus has not developed about the superiority of one or the other. But in a dyadic situation like this they just play off each other such that whatever new issue arises will get embraced by one and critiqued by the other and then vice versa and then again vice versa so each will make up for any trend toward unpopularity.

So we keep getting back to 50–50 support. Amazingly, about half of the electorate will vote Republican and/or for Trump. I don’t think it’s a question of any particularly appealing Republican policies or specific unappealing Democratic Party policies. The Democrats can raise point after point about Trump’s personality and his policies, but it’s almost completely irrelevant. With the current state of things half of the electorate is establishment-OK and half are establishment-not-OK.

The establishment is the deep state, the media, academia, and Wall Street. They are Democratic Party-inclined. The Trump vote represents a vague kind of anti-establishment expression motivated by an amorphous underlying dissatisfaction. Life is not satisfying. Things are not going so well. The direction is not very hopeful. The American Dream is not being realized. The notion of progress is played out. It’s generally disappointing. We can’t seem to agree about what’s ailing us. Fifty years ago Jimmy Carter wondered: “Why the malaise?” It’s not clear. It continues. A small layer (the Democratic Party-inclined liberal cosmopolitan elites) are doing fine. They have the influence. They are in charge.

The Republicans and Trump are vaguely the alternative.

Those who vote for Trump are expressing dissatisfaction with the state of things. And they wonder: Why does Kamala Harris keep smiling so joyfully??????