In 2016, the year of Brexit and Donald Trump elections, Americans and Britons were fascinated-and terrifying-reports of "creepy clowns" appeared in American and British towns. The sighting turned out to be a hoax, but we now know that the most creepy clowns are too real.
Moscow-Like many people, I am disturbed by the clown. But more terrifying than the painted clown in horror movies is a real-life clown wielding social or political power. Moreover, from QAnon in the United States to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there are many things to fear.
The later the Fed responds appropriately to the development of inflation, the more likely it will have to slam policy brakes, which will lead to market turmoil and unnecessary economic pain. The Fed must do two things quickly now.
Earlier this month, while writing the biography of my great-grandfather Nikita Khrushchev, I reached one of the many key moments in his life’s tightrope walk-his dealings with US President John F. Kennedy- —When I open the news. To my surprise, hundreds of QAnon supporters gathered in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, overlooking the site where Kennedy was assassinated 58 years ago.
By the standards of the usually fanatical followers of QAnon—many of whom attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th—the party was rather restrained. If the landscape is not adorned with the "Trump Kennedy 2024" flag and T-shirt, it might even look ordinary. In fact, those gathered on the grass hills are waiting for the second arrival of Kennedy’s son John F. Kennedy Jr., who was killed in a plane crash in 1999. QAnon’s message board predicted that, as everyone knows, John John will reach the place where his father was murdered to become Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 election.
Even if there is no painted "QAnon Shaman" wearing a fur hat, the crowd supporting this fanatical prophecy is enough to make any timid person have a nightmare.
Like all true believers, when John John did not show up, Q-Joker was not deterred. Some people went to the concert, hoping that he would show up there. Others attended a dance where many women were dressed to kill, hoping to become the bride of the resurrected Kennedy. (His wife died with him in the plane crash. Q did not propose to revitalize him.)
It is easy to dismiss this behavior as pure madness. Even for QAnon, this particular conspiracy theory is considered marginal, and it revolves around the belief that the US government is controlled by Satan-worshipped pedophiles. However, the fact that hundreds of people will appear in such a weird event and that they are closely related to a larger movement is disturbing.
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For such rallies, it is clear that the characteristics of QAnon fanatics cease to be suspicious for the political success of populism. Of course, denial and shirk responsibility are standard political practices. Ronald Reagan is called the "President of Teflon" because criticisms of him rarely stay. He can always "boo" a mistake and point the finger at his subordinates, or better yet, the Democrats.
But the populists are more like a mirror of an amusement park. Although a figure like Trump may shift responsibility for certain failures to opponents, he is more likely to distort reality and deny that there was no failure at all. His followers believed his words and performed various psychological gymnastics to defend his distortion.
There is nothing ridiculous about this false distortion of reality. In Russia today, the oldest and most respected human rights organization led by its "chief clown" Vladimir Putin, the memorial established by Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, is Waiting on the cutting board, waiting for it, to become a "threat to society." In this glass world, the guardian of Russian memory is a person who poses a "threat" by recalling the crimes of Stalin or the rights of the victims under Putin. . I think the pathological joke is that they are a threat: they are a few brave people who threaten Putin’s ability to manipulate Russian reality more and more absolutely.
Then there is a clown, currently occupying No. 10 Downing Street. Boris Johnson's career is attributed to his lifelong honed ability to deny, deflect, and deny history—especially his own history. Use "watermelon smiles" to describe blacks as "barbarians" and homosexuals as "dumbs"? It is said that this is just an exaggeration of the reporter, or it may be a satire.
This shameless behavior can be seen in Johnson's slander of the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama. When the bust of Winston Churchill was removed from the Oval Office, Johnson suggested that "Kenya Obama" harbored "an aversion to the ancestors of the British Empire-Churchill has always been a fanatical defender of the British Empire." (To put it more simply, the statue will be returned to the British Embassy in Washington.)
Johnson's disturbing news and parliamentary behavior are only the prelude to his tenure as prime minister. In 2019, he was reprimanded by the British Supreme Court for trying to adjourn (suspend) Parliament in a transparent manner to avoid review of his Brexit plan. A parliamentary investigation concluded that his government made serious mistakes in its early handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Like Trump, Johnson initially downplayed COVID-19. The only aspect of this crisis that interests him is that it provides opportunities to channel large amounts of public funds to cronies and supporters. According to Transparency International, a government contract worth 3.7 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) related to the pandemic sent one or more red flags to possible corruption.
Johnson's shamelessness reached new heights this month. He tried to protect Conservative Party member Owen Patterson. He was found to have repeatedly violated lobbying rules. In addition to trying to prevent Patterson from being suspended, Johnson also began to subvert the existing independent system to combat corruption in parliament.
Here, Johnson went too far. Within 24 hours, he was forced to change his position, causing Patterson to resign in shame. In a recent speech he talked incoherently about his love for the amusement park "Peppa Pig World", and his response to this showed that his antics—and perhaps the corruption and cynicism lurking underneath— His patience is fading. Although strange speeches are nothing new to Johnson, they are usually not met with such strong opposition, even by colleagues in the Conservative Party.
In 2016, the year of Brexit and Trump's election, Americans and Britons were captivated – and terrified – by reports of “creepy clowns” appearing in towns across the US and the UK. These sightings proved to be a scam. But now we know that the most creepy clowns are too real.
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December 2, 2021 Jonathan Ledergard and Eric Mejad
142 comments written for PS since 1997
Nina L. Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs at the New School, is (co-authored with Jeffrey Tayler) "Putin's Footprints: A Search for Empire across Eleven Time Zones in Russia Co-author of the book "Soul", Saint Martin Press, 2019.
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