UNDER THE COVER OF CHAOS : trump and the battle for the american right;trump and the battle for the american right

A cultural analysis of anxiety, alienation and narcissism in America. Are Donald Trump's irrationality, cruelty, and bombast symptoms of his personality? Is the chaos surrounding him a sign of his incompetence? Are his populism, illiberalism and nationalism just cynical appeals to existing feelings of abandonment, resentment and rage? Lawrence Grossberg shows that the truth is bigger and more frightening. Locating Trumpism in the long struggle among traditional conservatism, the new right and the reactionary right, he suggests that the chaos is far more significant and strategic ... and dangerous. Taking the intellectual arguments of the reactionary right seriously, he projects a possible, nightmarish future: a cultural nationalism governed by a popular corporatocracy. He lays bare how contemporary political struggles are being shaped by a changing national landscape of moods and feelings, marked by a growing absolutism of judgement and belief, and new forms of anxiety, alienation and narcissism. Lawrence Grossberg has been writing about popular culture, youth culture and political culture in post-WW2 United States, for over four decades. He is the Morris Davis Distinguished Professor in Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of North Carolina. He is internationally recognised as a leading figure in Cultural Studies, and his work has been translated into eighteen languages. He is the author of Under the Cover of Chaos (Pluto, 2017), We All Want to Change the World (2015), Cultural Studies in the Future Tense (Duke, 2010) and Caught in the Crossfire (Routledge, 2005) amongst many other works. Endorsements: 'A profound and insightful analysis of the diverse forces that have led to Trump's election. Everyone should read this book if they want to understand the rise of authoritarianism in the United States' - Henry Giroux, McMaster University Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest, author of On Critical Pedagogy 'This is a timely book, to say the least. Beyond the moment, however, Grossberg's vision is thought-provoking, stirring, even exciting as well as frightening because it shows that there are new things to say about the morass of American and other democratic politics today and new ways to understand our situation. It's also a rattling good read' - Meaghan Morris, University of Sydney One of the ways that peoplevoters, other politicians, and members of the mediahave dealt with the rise of Donald Trump has been to dismiss him as an outlier, treating his irrationality, cruelty, and bombast as marks of his own character rather than signs of anything larger. Lawrence Grossbergs Under the Cover of Chaos makes that argument impossible. In damning detail, Grossberg here lays bare the deep roots of Trumpism in the broader history of postwar US conservatism. Rather than a break with some imagined pure, nuanced conservatism, Grossberg shows, Trumps manic nonsense is actually a continuation, the result of a long struggle between the new right and the reactionary right. What is new, he shows, is that the reactionary right has been legitimatedand has brought its political strategy of sowing chaos into the heart of mainstream politics. From there, Grossberg goes on to analyze the national moodand to explain how that plays out in the actions of both Trump supporters and opponentsand lays out a possible nightmare a vision of a political system controlled by corporate interests, built on a deliberate dismantling of modern politics.

Are Donald Trump's irrationality, cruelty, and bombast symptoms of his personality? Is the chaos surrounding him a sign of his incompetence? Are his populism, illiberalism and nationalism just cynical appeals to existing feelings of abandonment, resentment and rage?

Lawrence Grossberg shows that the truth is bigger and more frightening. Locating Trumpism in the long struggle among traditional conservatism, the new right and the reactionary right, he suggests that the chaos is far more significant and strategic ... and dangerous. Taking the arguments of the reactionary right seriously, he projects a possible, nightmarish future: a cultural nationalism governed by a popular corporatocracy.

He lays bare how contemporary political struggles are being shaped by a changing national landscape of moods and feelings, marked by a growing absolutism of judgement and belief, and new forms of anxiety, alienation and narcissism.

One of the ways that people have dealt with the rise of Donald Trump has been to dismiss him as an outlier, treating his irrationality, cruelty, and bombast as marks of his own character rather than signs of anything larger. This book shows why this is wrong. The author shows the deep roots of Trumpism in the broader history of postwar US conservatism. He shows that Trump's manic nonsense is actually a continuation, the result of a long struggle between the new right and the reactionary right. What is new, he adds, is that the reactionary right has been legitimated--and has brought its political strategy of sowing chaos into the heart of mainstream politics. The author also analyzes the national mood--explaining how that plays out in the actions of both Trump supporters and opponents--and lays out a possible nightmare future: a vision of a political system controlled by corporate interests, built on a deliberate dismantling of modern politics Cover 1 Contents 8 Preface 9 Part I: From Trump to the Conjuncture 18 1. The Terror and the Beast 20 2. Telling Stories and Stories Told 33 3. Other Stories are Possible, and Possibly Even Better 48 Part II: In Search of the Conjuncture 68 4. The New Right 70 5. The Reactionary Right 85 6. Affective Landscapes 108 Part III: A Conjunctural Politics 128 7. Back to the Present: A Reactionary Counter-modernity 130 8. Conclusions? 160 Appendix: Cultural Studies and Conjunctural Analysis 172 Bibliography 176 Thanks 182 Lawrence Grossberg. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 159-164).