Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right

If shame sullied Donald’s own memories of his military service, then what was his “compulsive, repetitive and nostalgic desire” to return to a moment of origin signified in the acquisition of these souvenirs?

For more than twenty years, ever since those jetliners flew into the glass and steel of the World Trade Center, I have been preoccupied with the ways that large-scale shocks scramble our collective synapses, lead to mass regression, and make humans easy prey for demagogues.

Thanks to the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy, there was a brief moment where the left took stock and realized just how vitriolic and explicit their contempt for “white trash” America had become. It’s unfortunate that it took an electoral loss to force a bit of—but not too much—soul-searching.