These are not the actions of mature adults. They are examples of crude people displaying their incompetence as they flail about in jobs—including the presidency—for which they are not qualified.
The republic will not fall because Vice President J. D. Vance has decided that swearing is edgy, and the juvenility of American public life did not begin with the Trump administration. But the larger danger under all of this nastiness is that President Donald Trump and his courtiers are using crass deflection and gleeful immaturity as means of numbing society and wearing down its resistance to all kinds of depredations, including corruption and violence. When the U.S. military kills people at sea and [Vance](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/06/vance-drug-strike-venezuela-00548816), responding to a charge that such actions might be war crimes, responds, “I don’t give a shit what you call it,” the goal is not just to boost Vance’s hairy-chest cred; it’s also to grind others down into accepting the idea of extrajudicial executions.
Sounds more like teenagers. Toddlers don’t usually answer questions in the first place.
The 3 year old that resides in my house just yells: stop copying me.
Pole2019 on
Tbf the first US confederacy were also like toddlers
YaGetSkeeted0n on
Good article. For a long time I’ve always thought that authoritarianism and a breakdown of the rule of law could happen here, but I kind of always imagined it with a veneer of, for lack of a better term, *aesthetics* and of course some kind of maturity. You think of dystopian art and it’s always had some degree of respectability. Even the public figures in *Starship Troopers* or *Helldivers* talk like adults; the juvenile propaganda is in service of the satire. Instead it’s more like *Idiocracy* except even President Camacho had the brains to know when to lean on an expert! That’s perhaps what’s most astonishing to me. I could see half of Congress or the courts going along with authoritarianism, but *this*? It’s just doubly depressing.
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I mean some on the Trump admin are doing their goals and some are not. Some are the flashy headline types some are not. It’s a mixed bag
The United States is now a nation run by public servants who behave no better than internet trolls, deflecting criticism with crassness and obscenity. The White House press secretary answers a question from a member of the free press—a serious question about who planned a meeting between the American and Russian presidents—by saying, “[Your mom did](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-wild-response-to-huffpost-question_n_68f26217e4b0ee732e24eb66).” The [secretary of defense](https://www.war.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/4318689/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseth-addresses-general-and-flag-officers-at-quantico-v/) cancels DEI and other policies by saying, “We are done with that shit.” The [vice president](https://x.com/JDVance/status/1970897642361135146) calls an interlocutor on social media a “dipshit.” The president of the United States, during mass protests against his policies, responds by posting an AI-generated [video](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/trump-ai-video-no-kings) of himself flying a jet fighter over his fellow citizens and dumping feces on their heads.
These are not the actions of mature adults. They are examples of crude people displaying their incompetence as they flail about in jobs—including the presidency—for which they are not qualified.
The republic will not fall because Vice President J. D. Vance has decided that swearing is edgy, and the juvenility of American public life did not begin with the Trump administration. But the larger danger under all of this nastiness is that President Donald Trump and his courtiers are using crass deflection and gleeful immaturity as means of numbing society and wearing down its resistance to all kinds of depredations, including corruption and violence. When the U.S. military kills people at sea and [Vance](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/06/vance-drug-strike-venezuela-00548816), responding to a charge that such actions might be war crimes, responds, “I don’t give a shit what you call it,” the goal is not just to boost Vance’s hairy-chest cred; it’s also to grind others down into accepting the idea of extrajudicial executions.
The collapse of a superpower into a regime of bullies and mean girls and [comic-book guys ](https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Comic_Book_Guy)explains much about why American democracy is on the ropes, reeling from the attacks of [people](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/11/the-senate-exists-for-a-reason/680702/) who in a better time would never have been allowed near the government of the United States.
Sounds more like teenagers. Toddlers don’t usually answer questions in the first place.
The 3 year old that resides in my house just yells: stop copying me.
Tbf the first US confederacy were also like toddlers
Good article. For a long time I’ve always thought that authoritarianism and a breakdown of the rule of law could happen here, but I kind of always imagined it with a veneer of, for lack of a better term, *aesthetics* and of course some kind of maturity. You think of dystopian art and it’s always had some degree of respectability. Even the public figures in *Starship Troopers* or *Helldivers* talk like adults; the juvenile propaganda is in service of the satire. Instead it’s more like *Idiocracy* except even President Camacho had the brains to know when to lean on an expert! That’s perhaps what’s most astonishing to me. I could see half of Congress or the courts going along with authoritarianism, but *this*? It’s just doubly depressing.