1 Comment
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Kevin Morrissey's avatar

“...can we expect some sort of “the pride is back” 80s vibe to roll in around 2030?”

I don’t think so. Reagan’s original 1980 “Make America Great Again” was vastly different than Trump’s 2016 revival. The WWII generation still had strong reserves to draw on; the glow of victory in Europe and the Pacific, the resulting post-war economic boom, the productive labor - management settlement, were all in living memory and a deep if latent patriotism was waiting to be stirred.

Reagan’s nostalgia was in service to a hopeful narrative for the future. Trump’s nostalgia only brought “American Carnage” into sharper focus. “MAGA” now is more a cry of despair than a call to glory.

“The pride is back” needs an origin story or collective psychic locus to pull from. Do our meaning making institutions provide one?

Expand full comment