Newsom’s attempt at whole hog politics involves experimenting with the politics of lolz. Enilsa Brown 42

President Trump claims America is living in a “Golden Age,” but critics argue that it’s actually a Gilded Age, similar to the late-19th century. The 21st century is richer, freer, and safer than any large nation or empire at any time in human history, with innovation and growth. However, much is falling apart, with frayed culture, weak institutions, and civic virtue being hard to find. Cynicism and irony have become indispensable tools of the cruel, replacing decency with cruelty.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is winning both cheers and jeers for his embrace of Trumpian trolling as his state prepares its counterstrike against Texas Republicans’ audacious mid-decade gerrymandering. This political theory of the Pumpkin Spice Latte highlights the challenges of memefied public discourse, particularly in relation to accountability. If cynicism has become essential, how are we supposed to know when to roll our eyes and when to actually become concerned?

The perils of online discourse can be blamed for some of this dumber, meaner version of politics. In the 1990s, American politics were consumed by a profound seriousness, which was a reaction to the wild era of hippies and yippies. James Dobson, a Colorado-based evangelist, died this week at age 89, but his political moment died long before him.

The radicalism on the right and left has prospered in the world that irony made, both as a reaction to the nihilism inherent in a cynical worldview and because in a world where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s a joke, truly outlandish ideas can bump around without drawing the kind of heat they would have in a more sincere time.

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