The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Emjay on December 04, 2018, 09:10:16 pm
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Camille Paglia is one of the most interesting and explosive thinkers of our time. She transgresses academic boundaries and blows up media forms. She’s brilliant on politics, art, literature, philosophy, and the culture wars. She’s also very keen on the email Q and A format for interviews. So, after reading her new collection of essays, Provocations, Spectator USA sent her some questions.
You’ve been a sharp political prognosticator over the years. So can I start by asking for a prediction. What will happen in 2020 in America? Will Hillary Clinton run again?
If the economy continues strong, Trump will be reelected. The Democrats (my party) have been in chaos since the 2016 election and have no coherent message except Trump hatred. Despite the vast pack of potential candidates, no one yet seems to have the edge. I had high hopes for Kamala Harris, but she missed a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role and has already imprinted an image of herself as a ruthless inquisitor that will make it hard for her to pull voters across party lines.
Screechy Elizabeth Warren has never had a snowball’s chance in hell to appeal beyond upper-middle-class professionals of her glossy stripe. Kirsten Gillibrand is a wobbly mediocrity. Cory Booker has all the gravitas of a cork. Andrew Cuomo is a yapping puppy with a long, muddy bullyboy tail. Both Bernie Sanders (for whom I voted in the 2016 primaries) and Joe Biden (who would have won the election had Obama not cut him off at the knees) are way too old and creaky.
To win in the nation’s broad midsection, the Democratic nominee will need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth. I’ve been looking at Congresswoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois and Governor Steve Bullock of Montana. As for Hillary, she’s pretty much damaged goods, but her perpetual, sniping, pity-me tour shows no signs of abating. She still has a rabidly loyal following, but it’s hard to imagine her winning the nomination again, with her iron grip on the Democratic National Committee now gone.
https://spectator.us/camille-paglia-hillary-trump/
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Although Camille is a leftist, I think the party, as they say, has left her without anyone to root for.
Here is her interesting answer to a question about how Trump has governed.
"Has Trump governed erratically?
Yes, that’s a fair description. It’s partly because as a non-politician he arrived in Washington without the battalion of allies, advisors, and party flacks that a senator or governor would normally accumulate on the long road to the White House. Trump’s administration is basically a one-man operation, with him relying on gut instinct and sometimes madcap improvisation. There’s often a gonzo humor to it — not that the US president should be slinging barbs at bottom-feeding celebrities or jackass journalists, much as they may deserve it. It’s like a picaresque novel starring a jaunty rogue who takes to Twitter like Tristram Shandy’s asterisk-strewn diary. Trump’s unpredictability might be giving the nation jitters, but it may have put North Korea, at least, on the back foot.
Most Democrats have wildly underestimated Trump from the get-go. I was certainly surprised at how easily he mowed down 17 other candidates in the GOP primaries. He represents widespread popular dissatisfaction with politics as usual. Both major US parties are in turmoil and metamorphosis, as their various factions war and realign.
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Never heard of Camille Paglia. I thought it was an STD or a type of yeast infection when I read the name.
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Although Camille is a leftist, I think the party, as they say, has left her without anyone to root for.
Here is her interesting answer to a question about how Trump has governed.
"Has Trump governed erratically?
Yes, that’s a fair description. It’s partly because as a non-politician he arrived in Washington without the battalion of allies, advisors, and party flacks that a senator or governor would normally accumulate on the long road to the White House. Trump’s administration is basically a one-man operation, with him relying on gut instinct and sometimes madcap improvisation. There’s often a gonzo humor to it — not that the US president should be slinging barbs at bottom-feeding celebrities or jackass journalists, much as they may deserve it. It’s like a picaresque novel starring a jaunty rogue who takes to Twitter like Tristram Shandy’s asterisk-strewn diary. Trump’s unpredictability might be giving the nation jitters, but it may have put North Korea, at least, on the back foot.
Most Democrats have wildly underestimated Trump from the get-go. I was certainly surprised at how easily he mowed down 17 other candidates in the GOP primaries. He represents widespread popular dissatisfaction with politics as usual. Both major US parties are in turmoil and metamorphosis, as their various factions war and realign.
She's an interesting thinker. She's mentioned in a number of posts in the Intellectual Dark Web.
She's not your normal lefty, though she is a lesbian and a professor. She thinks for herself (even if she is frequently wrong) and she has made many enemies on the left for, among other things, insisting that men and women are different and the differences are inherent. She's also very much against 3rd wave feminism and identity politics.
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She's an interesting thinker. She's mentioned in a number of posts in the Intellectual Dark Web.
She's not your normal lefty, though she is a lesbian and a professor. She thinks for herself (even if she is frequently wrong) and she has made many enemies on the left for, among other things, insisting that men and women are different and the differences are inherent. She's also very much against 3rd wave feminism and identity politics.
Yeah, I know. She has infuriated me over the years but she's one of the few lefties who can actually look at situations without stifling bias. I thought her take on Trump was interesting and I agree with her about men and women and feminism.
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Never heard of Camille Paglia. I thought it was an STD or a type of yeast infection when I read the name.
I usually pretend I've heard of people just so I won't seem as uninformed as I am.
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Win what? Another Senate seat from NY, because that’s the last thing she’s won and let’s face it, that was purchased.
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Win what? Another Senate seat from NY, because that’s the last thing she’s won and let’s face it, that was purchased.
I couldn't find anything much in the piece relative to the headline which is way too often the case.
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Never heard of Camille Paglia. I thought it was an STD or a type of yeast infection when I read the name.
@The Ghost
Seriously? How old are you,18?
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@The Ghost
Seriously? How old are you,18?
Camille used to be in the news more than she's been lately, but it's hard to imagine that anyone remotely interested in politics would not have heard of her.