Adam Serwer: The Cruelty is the Point
Vložit
- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- The Atlantic's Adam Serwer's unique approach to writing-combining political analysis of current events with a strong grasp of the historical antecedents that made those events possible-made him an indispensable writer during the Trump years, particularly for those who disagreed with the politics and approach to governance taken by the 45th president of the United States. Serwer coined the phase "the cruelty is the point" to describe how the Trump administration had made cruelty not merely an unfortunate byproduct of its efforts but the central theme of the MAGA approach toward governance and American civic life.
Serwer's new book-a collection of new and old essays-explores the the Trump presidency, the volatile powers it harnessed, and the continuing impact it has on the country's politics and the Republican Party. With his unique approach, Serwer chronicles the Trump administration not as an aberration but as an outgrowth of the inequalities the United States was founded on. He charts he ideological and structural currents behind Trump’s rise and why he remains so potent today.
The new essays and previously published works in this book explore white nationalism, myths about migration, the political power of police unions, and the many faces of anti-Semitism. For all the issues he examines, cruelty is the glue, the binding agent of a movement fueled by fear and exclusion. Serwer argues that rather than pretending these four years didn’t happen or dismissing them as a brief moment of madness, we must face what made them possible.
Please join us for an important conversation on the legacy of the Trump administration and why Serwer believes we must continue to understand its role in American political life.
NOTES
Our thanks to Marcus Books in Oakland for fulfilling book orders.
Photo by Shorenstein Center, Harvard University.
SPEAKERS
Adam Serwer
Staff Writer, The Atlantic; Author, The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present and Future of Trump's America
Errin Haines
Editor at Large, Founding Mother, The 19th; Contributor, MSNBC
💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: / commonwealthclub
📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: www.commonwealthclub.org/events
🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: www.commonwealthclub.org/memb...
💰 DONATE NOW: support.commonwealthclub.org/...
📺➕📻 Watch & Listen www.commonwealthclub.org/watc...
CWC Facebook: / thecommonwealthclub
CWC Instagram / cwclub
CWC Twitter / cwclub
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy.
Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.
“When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou
There are exceptions to that rule, e g., a Fascist telling us that he's "a true Patriot".
We've all seen how flawed that is,
@@davegreene8588 That’s a good point, except I think Ms. Angelou was thinking more broadly in that actions speak louder than words. The fascist may say he is a true patriot, but his actions belie his words. ✌️
This is the most compelling and completely on point interview I have heard. This young man has a way of understanding and communicating what has and is happening in our country. I believe everyone should listen and take to heart this information. Believing as a young woman I thought that we would have been past all the hateful ignorance that has surfaced. Sadly I was wrong.
Can I recommend 3 books for you to read. I've just finished 2 and still reading the Julie K Brown one.
You wrote well. I agree with what you say. I have a young daughter.
J K Brown - Perversion of Justice - The Secrets Jeffrey Epstein took to the grave
Chasing Hillary - Amy Chozick
The Destruction of Hillary Clinton - Susan Bordo
There are some amazing women in the USA standing up to powerful, connected, privileged and debased men.
They hide behind co called Christian values.
I hope you consider a career in journalism or as a writer
Good luck
@@grimmertwin2148 christian values! 😳
@@katherinejones850
Yeah what are they again.
Value-free judgement or objective observations?
She's speaking in tongues?
She's what lol?
The Lord he's speaking through her!
Really?
Yup!
What language?
Don't know
What's she saying?
Don't know
Don't know?
Hang on - it's coming through
Ok
There's an 11th commandment
What?
Don't know don't speak the language
What's the language
French
French? That's the language of love
Oh really?
Yup
So God's French?
Apparently
Oh
But we can't all speak the language of love
Why not?
We're not all French
Oh god what a catastrophe
I know
Is she still speaking in tongues
Nope she's speaking in noses?
Moses?
Oh god stop me now
What?
I said I'm all ears
All ears?
Please stop me now.
PS God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
That will always compromise ' values' - Christian or not.
Whatever you do don't become a lawyer
Good luck 😃
Amen, it was always there just waiting for a leader to condone it . The only way to hit these org. Extremist, is what they did to the K.K.K. hit them in the wallet . because all of this bullshit, we aren't born with its taught down through the generations . and it has no morals, honor or merit, period.,
I love Adams demeanor and wisdom. He's measured and thoughtful.
Adnan is very clear and easy to understand his very important points....
One of the best content providers on CZcams if not the whole of the English speaking web.
Couldn’t agree more. I really appreciate it.
This title really got me. I have been searching for what the predominate characteristic is of this movement of the right and cruelty is key along with greed and selfishness and fear. It is the reason I cannot talk to them or achieve any commonality with friends and family who now embrace this movement. Our values are at odds. It was probably true all along but they now have the courage to express what they hid before.
I can sure relate to your exact sentiments.
Ms your comment is accurate and to the point. An unfortunate truth is that there are some among us who would prefer total destruction of our society rather than the elevation of their fellow man (humanity). Truly a human tragedy 💔
What a quote from David Korn: "The 'News' is what people have forgotten"!!
It will take 40 years to recover from Trump? We as a species may not have 40 years.
We certainly do not have 40 years. This is an excellent analysis but it's pissing in a strong wind.
Server is such a great mind. He can see things exactly as they are. I hope to hear much more from him.
I learned so much! When I can afford to support you financially I will. This was a great interview! I must subscribe to Atlantic too! Adam is brilliant!!!
Thank you!!!
Great interview and insightful discussion. Bottom line: History repeats, institutions always serve themselves, and nothing will ever change until we, the individual, find the courage/resolve to unearth our own assumptions, prejudices, and conditioning. (When I say we, I mean ALL....no matter how “woke” we think we are.) Until we truly come to Know Ourselves, we’ll continue believing we’re separate and act accordingly. Unity is a matter of recognition achieved through insight. Without the insight, true unity will continue being a pipe dream.
There’s more wisdom in the adage to Know Thyself than one suspects. It might just be the key to all understanding.
Well put and spot on!
Excellent comment
Well said. Unity is a matter of perspective. We *are* one. Even as we fight in denial of it. One family, one community, one area, one nation, one people, one ecosystem, one planet.
Great insight in your comments.
@@a_diamond yes,very are....a union, struggling to breathe free!
Wishing you would have explored more about "cruelty is the point." The nature of cruelty, and how it drives intention, motive, outcome.
I was waiting for more discussion on cruelty, as well. However, the interview made the point very well. Adam Serwer is an excellent and articulate writer. I would suggest reading "True Believer" by Eric Hofer. This book further describes the group mentality leading to the trumpers and the cover they provide for cruelty to reveal itself. These people have certainly lost their way.
@Impish artist Trump's niece Mary Trump wrote a book about her growing up with Trump and his rise to President (Too Much and Never Enough) where she has a part of the book called "The Cruelty Is The Point."
@@mistletoe4961 Democracy is government through agency, a tyrant governs through edict. Agency in others requires trust and faith; expressions of love. Trump is undeveloped in abstract thought; his thinking, the thinking of the sociopath, is concrete. Faith, trust and love are abstract nouns; Trump distrusts and has no faith. 'He who believes his own lies brings disrespect upon himself and others' (Dostoyevsky); As such Trump is incapable of love. Thus he is also incapable of exercising governance through agency in others, and understands only edict; 'it stops here and it stops now,' (Trump's inaugural speech). As such he ended his term as a 'Napoleon in name only', issuing edicts that went ignored, just like those 19th century madmen who claimed they were Napoleon. Trump made a 'padded cell' out of the oval office.
If trust and faith are expressions of love, then distrust and doubt are expressions of hate; this hate is the driver of Trump's cruelty. A full 30% of Americans align themselves with Trump and identifies with his mindset; because they do not understand the nature of democracy and are distrustful of their common man they entertain the authority figure as the only solution. They cannot conceive of the alternative more nuanced path, lusting instead after a narrowly focused authoritarian certainty.
Inflicting cruelty upon others is pure vindictiveness, and from the exercise of which Trump gains pleasure; that he chooses to inflict cruelty unnecessarily is evidence of his sadistic nature. When he sees his followers suffer at his hand he, as their master, feels a sense of power and control; the big lie of the steal is his whip. In their suffering his followers associate all the more with him, with his self defined sense of injustice. Thus cruelty is the point. Thanks!
@@selliott7043
Very well described!
Thank you.
The corporate influence in both parties is negatively underlying all of politics - as well as climate change legislation - and the ethical matters being discussed have, sad to say, become almost secondary. We are clearly headed toward oligarchy if we aren’t already there. Certainly the loss of jobs relating to an industrialized part of America has led to some of Trump’s followers but they pale in comparison to the corporate power basis in lockstep with the GOP.
Thank you, both. An excellent discussion, Alex
Very important interview. Will America stay a democracy? Will Republicans accept the truth about Jan 6?
Maybe, and Not a chance.
Of course the Republicans have accepted the truth about January 6. That's why they were too afraid to keep challenging the fraudulent certifications.
@@quabot They know IQ45 lost the election especially the likes of Mo Brooks, Rudy G who never once claimed fraud in over 60 court cases, Lindsay Graham who came close to losing, Cruz who also came close to losing his last election, Hawley, all of them know.
Q45 has his cult believing he won because he started claiming he before any of us cast a vote.
But as Q45 admitted, “Republicans will believe anything.” One thing we all know but don’t all admit is that he and his cult didn’t want the presidency. They wanted a racist fascist lawless dictatorship.
@@rendajones7368
You should compete for the next Steele dossier.
@@quabot None of it ever proven wrong and most was validated in the dossier.
So thanks.
Obama - 1 step forward
Trump - 60 steps back
Obama -1 step in place ( “leading from behind”, “make me do it” )
Obama's neoliberal corporatist policies failed to deliver the "change we could believe in" and paved the way for Trump.
@@VonL Obama begged THE PEOPLE to rise make plain what they want that way the ones stopping the growth could've pointed out so we would know who we want in office. He would be able to say this is what the majority wants. Without the ones who wouldn't do anything he wanted he would be able to prove what we want. And you could know who is holding it up. Mitch McConnell said before Obama put forth anything we won't work with Obama and he has said the same thing about Joe Biden we won't vote and work with him. That how the republicans can make it appear democrats won't get the job done. But it's always better when dem. get in for the people and rep. only support corporations so the people when they vote rep. they vote against their needs being filled.🌷
America has been in Decline since the 80s, with President Ronald Reagan.
She is just really good at putting on lipstick and dancing like everything is fine! Donald Trump is the final nail in her coffin.
@@lastjob2011 Actually, according to my Search; "The U.S. Economy has been in decline,* since the '60s and '70s, possibly, even the 1950s".
Vs. "floating" the idea of only* 45+ *Years of increasing Austerity* (+OVER 50 YEARS, in the *"Rust Belt!!"*).
All that's "Trickled-down" is incompetence,* and, you wonder why the populace is so stupid, Angry, divided and M.H. is imploding even more, during COVID!?!
I was never so proud to be an American as the day Obama was elected. But as time went on and I began to question things--like Michelle pairing up with Walmart and Barack's Wall Street cabinet, early, there were cracks. I kept up the hope for as long as I could, but I kept wondering how the black community was feeling. I still haven't heard any commentary about feelings of disappointment and betrayal, or did I read it all wrong? I have dumped my life-long Dem membership. I don't think they have fought nearly hard enough. they have tacitly gone along instead of fighting for American working families. We have a corrupt duopoly. I'm sick of the circular argument about the Green Party: "The Greens never win because they can't get the votes." No, not until we decide we want what they offer badly enough.
One question...did the Republicans fight hard enough...for democracy?
So Donald Trump, who has never held any civic responsibility all his life, “fought “so hard for American democracy to win your vote .By the way , some of my friends are black.
I totally agree with you.
And Both sides, Never do a damn thing about the evermore creative, "Gambling Addicts," on Wall Street!
GUARANTEED, "Cyclical" Recessions! Complements of the G.Q.P. - Like, the Village Idiot's MESS; The RUST BELT Never Recovered from - AND "The Great Depression"!
With, OVER 60 YEARS of increasing, "Belt-tightening," (R) AUSTERITY and on-going (R) TR/A/U/M/A/$ ... and, Only GRIDLOCK, the last 40!
As, a 42+ Year (Ind.), the Dems, $crewed themselve's, by, Not Fighting for Unions and 🇺🇲 JOBS! - Or, for *Small Biz*.
Bernie is 💯 Correct.
The Bra$$y, ULTRA Blue party Needs a whole Lot of REFORM!!! Waaaay too Many DINOS. CORP. CENTRISTS, in Charge - and, still, $crewing The People!! Just Not as much. Now, they're keeping , (R-Pugly) Nose's Above Water, w/ COVID Relief Fund $$s!!
Aaaah, but, the "Communal" Narcs. Vs. The Psychopaths. ... Now, the American People are sooo $tupid, they Can't even Vote in, their own* BEST Interest!
Or, know who the Enemies are, or figure it out! Too $tupid, &/ or Traumatized to Learn, and to know EnØugh - to ever be able to figure out HOW To Think!!!
So shallow, petty, and Oblivious they think that Critical Thinking is Gossip and Mis•INFO + pathological LIES to make themselves Look good; ("Project" to Blame-Shift,) to cover their own Crime's.
Great conversation! 🌱🌊🏄♂️
35:33 Wow. Knock-my-socks-off-greatness. Why do people still watch MSNBC when there are conversations to be had like this that can point to what's useful to spend brain cells on and what isn't?
Excellent discussion - and comments!
Really good interview and terrific interviewer! This is not always the case with the Commonwealth Club but Errin Haines has conducted a great interview; she asks intelligent questions and lets the guest talk without interrupting.
Accepting/Believing in all the lies they have heard for decades are the points too. THAT to me is the foundation of all their cruelty.
Very insightful. Nothing to really ask 45th that is not in the realm of the public. His vulgarism, vanities, frailty and shallowness.
The author knows his subject thoroughly.
Great interview. This is my first time hearing Adam Serwer; very intelligent young man. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for listening
If you’re not rich, then you are shackled.
"It's not who we are",Obama used to say about the ugly behavior of some Americans. Sadly, Trump has given the lie to Obama by showing us who we really and sadly are. This conversation really emphasizes that point. Thanks for saying it so clearly.
We have always been both! We were committed to racism. However from Native American Efforts for Justice, and African 400 fight for freedom we also strive to make our inspiration a reality...we are created equal....
Gore didn’t lose.
So true!
That election WAS stolen.
Gore surrendered.
@@carpediem44 , yes, he did. I was highly displeased.
Excellent conversation about our present national predicament. Where we go from here depends almost entirely on the American people and their willingness to understand and alter their current perceptions enough to take appropriate actions in time to prevent further damage to our democracy. Like every incident throughout our history from the Whiskey Rebellion to the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement to the similar popular movements today, including BLM, MeToo and Occupy, it is We the People, as a whole who will determine the future by either our actions or our inaction. This author’s book sounds like it should have a prominent place in our political libraries because it reflects on a pattern that will likely continue for the next century in forms which will bear a resemblance to this one we are experiencing. Perhaps we can increase our sensitivity and awareness of this dynamic so that each of us can better participate in avoiding and deflecting future manifestations.
Much appreciated ! Great insights, questions, and answers. Thank you
Great talk, great book, great participants.
He is brilliant
You did NOT know who he was. He was NOT a successful businessman, he was NOT a strong man, the only thing we all might have known was that he could draw attention and use it to his benefit. He was NOT the character he portrayed on television.
Trump was, is, and always shall be: a grifter & a con man.
Excellent interview thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Mary Trump has a chapter in her (last year's) book with that title (The Cruelty is the Point)
Donald Trump had the unique ability of being tone deaf and mercurial at the same time...
History repeats because we never learn from it.
I hope there are people like me that want to make damn sure trump republicans do not gain control again.
Vote out trumpists, QAnon ers and most republicans in 2022!!!
Thank goodness for those good people.
Bravo. Excellent
Adam is a thoughtful and brilliant journalist who I greatly respect and admire. I agree that Trump is not that interesting. I think he is a simpleton racist and sadistic con. Too bad the film ‘Black Klansman’ wasn’t shown all over this country. It was chilling and shows the direct line between the KKK and DJT. When so many of his supporters still think he is Lord and Savior, it speaks volumes about our plight and it is a nightmare not likely to end soon.
God told us two thousand years ago that in the end times before Jesus returns, there will be a great falling away. Those who used to follow Christ will leave Him and follow another. That is the white Evangelical folks! And Trump is the total opposite of Christ in every way. Antichrist, if you will.
Great discussion! Great interview.
Vote in 2022 & 2024! These may be your last opportunity to vote in America.
Seems to me “news” can be likened to tending a garden. Different plants (metaphor: subjects) populate the garden.
They’ve been growing in their spots awhile. They have roots (metaphor: reference points/existing context of said “subject”).
When we stroll through the garden (metaphor: endeavor to seek out “news”), we see “what’s new” with those same plants that we visit and check in on regularly.
When we check in regularly on our gardens, we’re disappointed when plants become diseased or infested, of course. But we’re not afflicted with unhealthy surprise/shock; we usually, at that point, apply a proactive pragmatism. Solutions.
Likewise, we can feel joy when plants sprout/bloom/flourish.
Either way, whether feast or famine, we are invested bc of our efforts.
Jus my opinion, but it seems pretty straight up and not all that nebulous to me 🤷♀️
One love ✊
Conservative intellectual and racism don't coordinate. The idea and the definition of conservative itself is to save or preserve. To see there's value in just not wasting. A real conservative will utilize all America's strength.
Defend democracy robustly and be kinder.
Adam is hitting the nail on the head.
Thank You For this discussion. 👍
What the Democrats can do is win more seats by having their wedge issue about child tax credits, or none; raising taxes of the super rich, or not; implementing lower drug prices or not; Taking substantial climate change action, or rolling back regulations.
Errin Haines 💜👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I wouldn’t say people have forgotten as much as they didn’t know it in the first place. I have been a history buff throughout my life. It’s been my experience that most people are not. We like to blame education institutions for this, but the public decides what is important and behaves accordingly. Americans are very present oriented which is okay up to a point. Denial is the biggest issue. Many people don’t think the past matters, too boring. As for the future? That’s somebody else’s problem. Sorry if I sound defeatist, I am not, however I try to see things as objectively as I can.
This is GOLD. TRUTH!
BSC/PHDS/8&3
America has become two countries who will never accept each other.. hopeless finger pointing . The question is : how painful will the final Divorce be?
I can almost believe we're ready to part ways, except that if we don't get the climate change reversed, it won't matter. 9/11 brought us together as a nation. The climate change and Covid is the 9/11 for the entire planet.
@@samsmom1491 9/ 11 led to War ?
Read American history again...start with 1492!
Trends of culture can essentially mask more profound matters lurking underneath the surface in politics because citizens will focus on the cultural trends - negative or positive - in superficial ways and react accordingly. The election of Trump reflects a kind of media personality cult but which plays up violence, prejudice and greed.
One problem is that we always get on the back foot by allowing politicians on the right to frame issues. Take critical race theory supposedly in primary schools. Thought not taught there there would be nothing wrong with teaching it. Instead, we allow the right to dominate and simply argue that it’s not being taught.
We allow the right to make something like CRT be the bogey man. Interesting who is most often the bogey man in the US.
We should call out CRT in elementary school what it is...a wedge issue with the goal of turning public schools into Trump University
Excellent 👍
Nice discussion.
Departing Ideal..DEcentralized ECONOMIC, municipality structures. "GOD BLESS THE CHILD"
Adam is exactly correct; many Trump supporters I know support an imaginary Trump. Most are typical enablers who project their goodness onto him while overlooking his obvious lack of character. Some, however, are just like him and love him for the vicarious thrills they get from his cruelty and for the cruelty they can inflict on others because he’s normalized it. On the other hand, I am not sure that Adam is correct in the uninteresting aspect of Trump’s behavior. His (shallow and poorly planned) cruelty and his followers’ broad spectrum of cruelty is what makes them more “interesting” (read:dangerous) than an average vain narcissists and put him (and many of them) more on the psychopathic or sociopathic end of the narcissists spectrum. Like most with this character disorder, he has no real convictions or loyalties. He could have just as easily been a Democratic and identified and demonized traits of Republicans while magnifying the faults and prejudices of the Democrats had he thought that more advantageous at the time. I am looking forward to reading Adam’s book to see if he further addresses the Machiavellian hypothesis.
29:00 IN we are in a dangerous place when Americans don't know even the first 2 Articles of the Constitution or how electors are chosen. Start there and turn off CNN and look for the numbers, facts and real events of November 3. Thank you for your video and I hold out hope for everyone who says they seek truth when they decide to actually seek out the underlying truth. And yes, Bernie and Trump are very similar in their belief in populism.
The US will never be fair until she takes away the electoral college. One person = one vote.
A modernised version of The Prince, Machiavelli updated?
Alter System by implementing USPS Mail in BlockChain Voting Patent Application
What's his name settled into the swamp completely because, think about it, they are both kind of shallow, and only appear to be deep. Though, I'm not sure if I want to relly on the objective definition of his words.
Why is Trump the subject? We have big problems right now.
Because as we speak Trump is probably the cause of a good 50% of it! I don't think there is a single president who is in their particularly only one term, who has wreaked the kind of havoc on this country
as Trump has .
Trump & his supporters are a big part of those problems & oppose solutions.
Exactly. Trump is just not that interesting. He's a bore.
Lawrence odonald
The first question is key. The Rio Grande Valley is ground zero for understanding the Trump Republican Party. Spend a day or two down there and talk to some folks, ask them and they will tell you. CNN won't be reporting on events down there.
@35:35 🤣😂👏👏👏 he’s just not that interesting!
Nor are you....
Please Adam, drop the “umhs”. It takes away from your message. Speech class?
You might want to improve your listening skills...his humms may become less important as you understand ideas more.
OMG…..now she is doing it! Umh, umh, umh, … cannot listen both of you need speech classes!
Lot of cruelty in Chicago.
WTF are YOU going to do about it??
It's everywhere, Nick. What are you doing about it? Perhaps each of us must insist on kindness in our spheres of influence?
Cruelty is everywhere, Nick--not just Chicago. Why do you single out one city?
This awful . Lunatics.
Is english your second language?
Since Trump's racism is so evident and uncontestable, what accounts for his increased vote count among Blacks and Hispanics?
Another Trust Funder explaining things
You cant be serious. He did Not win. He stole it!
Who? Biden won so I don't know to whom you're referring?
Trump tried to steal 2020 but did not succeed. We may not be so lucky next time.
Boring why not talk about inner city horrors?
What's his name settled into the swamp completely because, think about it, they are both kind of shallow, and only appear to be deep. Though, I'm not sure if I want to relly on the objective definition of his words.