The arc of historical capitalism is bending down, way down from its dizzying heights of its golden age, between 1945 and the early 1970s. By the early 1990s, when liberal capitalism stood triumphant, there was a general sense among people who shared ideological solidarities and affiliations, that the war was over and the good people had won. With those pesky Soviet communists out of the way, the world would now, be a better place. Except, it has not been a better place – not by any stretch of the imagination. Nobody told Armstrong Williams, the far-right, MAGA supporter and part-owner of the once-great Baltimore Sun newspaper. Maybe he simply represents the last kick of a dying horse.
To be clear, a new model smart phone does not amount to a summer sparkle of capitalist utopia. Yes, technological innovation has changed the world significantly over the three decades since the collapse of Soviet Communism, but one has to be wilfully ignorant to imagine that scientific and technological innovation and invention are unique to the era of liberal capitalism. This is not the place for that discussion….
What is discussed, here, is the fatuousness and intellectual weaknesses of Williams, and how he is allowed to get away with things – just because he is owner of a newspaper. Given where Williams is sat, at the top (MAGA) table, and his apparently wilful ignorance, driven, it is clear, by ideological certainty, he has probably not noticed that the liberal triumphalism that was born in about 1990, has not resulted in a better world.
Between the Mexican Peso Crisis and Rwanda Genocide of 1994, and the (very recent) fall of Bashar al-Assad, the world went through successive and recurrent crises. The financial, banking, political economic, currency crises, the first climate change wars, and violent conflicts of the past three decades of, let’s abuse the term, “liberal peace,” makes a nonsense of the notion that all things were now hunky dory since US-led liberal capitalism won the war against the Soviet threat.
Armstrong doth protesteth too much
It’s a strange thing, but probably not surprising, that there is the need to flex muscles, make a country great again, or make the case for capitalism, at the precise time, when liberal capitalism and the US are in decline – and all that still works is that country’s military might. Indeed, liberalism capitalism is in crisis, and it is tied to the fate of the West. We don’t quite know what will happen next, although there are some indications that a different global order is starting to take shape. In the interregnum, liberal capitalists and the West seem to be in a greater panic, and like a school-yard bully boasting and flexing of muscles (“we would kick China’s ass”, Donald Trump has said.
Whether it is calls for remilitarisation of Europe, boasts that China will be beaten in a war, or, as Armstrong Williams has battled to remind us, capitalism rocks on, and nothing else mattered, and anything else (he pointed to socialism) was just wrong or bad. There is nothing to be gained, not here, now, from entering a debate about which is better, socialism or capitalism. It may suffice, only, to say that he protesteth too much.
What is useful is a type of immanent critique, to reveal the internal contradictions and instability of his claims, of Armstrong’s comments (which neatly fits into that soft power of US exceptionalism, driven by intellectuals), and situating him properly within his ideological and historical contexts, which shows just how facile and dangerous his arguments are.
What is comical, is the incoherence and fatuousness of his statements, and their bumper-sticker philosophical moorings. Consider his statement that, “Wealth is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” That does not make sense, but what is frighteningly narrow-minded is the “99 percent perspiration”. This is part of that argument that hard work will generate wealth. If that’s the case, then the millions of women who do backbreaking work, for several hours a day across Africa, Asia and the Americas (south of the border), should be supremely wealthy. They’re not.
Now take his statement: “The evidence has been conclusive from time immemorial.” Liberal capitalism has dominated for less than a century, and there never have been markets that have been completely free. So the idea that there is evidence from time immemorial (so long ago that nobody can recall), is just rhetorical nonsense.
He also said that “Americans have become lazy and effete,” which suggests men (the accusation of being “effete” is typically directed at men) have become too feminine. As for laziness, well, millions of people in that country have to work at two, sometimes three jobs to make ends meet because of inequality in the USA. Which takes us to his other point that, “capitalism does more to diminish… inescapable inequalities”.
Pew research confirms that inequality in the US has continued to grow (under their capitalist system) after the housing crisis and collapse of Lehman Brothers (in the USA), which led to the “great recession of 2009). Racial inequality in the USA continues to be a disproportionate burden on black and brown people in that country. Inequality rose dramatically in the USA after the Reagan-Thatcher revolution of neo-liberalism. Recall that Margaret Thatcher has said that the British “job” was “to glory in inequality”…
Armstrong explained that under socialism, eradicating “inescapable inequalities” … “entrusts destiny to the government”. Let’s forget the socialism reference. For what it’s worth, a cornerstone of socialism is, in fact, to make society more equal. Never mind. What makes his claim terribly risible the suggestion that inequality is “destiny” and that social safety nets are, therefore, unnecessary – until there is personal pecuniary gain to be had by connected elites.
A MAGA Mouthpiece and Much More
We should, probably consider who Armstrong is, and whose company he keeps. He has worked with the most senior republicans in the USA, and closely with the Right-wing Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, with whom he still remains close. Thomas has been implicated in egregious ethical lapses, and was identified as recipient of largesse from billionaires … lapses that were described as “unlawful and ethically reprehensible”.
In 1991, three decades before the #metoo movement, and during his Senate Hearings for the Supreme Court, Clarence, Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. A committee of 14 white men, chaired by one Joe Biden, grilled Hill in a televised live hearing. The white men won and the black woman “went home to a new life, condemned by many and facing death threats.” Armstrong Williams was Clarence Thomas’ spokesperson during the time of his hearings.
As part-owner of the Baltimore Sun, Williams has shifted that newspaper’s policies to the right, much to the dismay of readers. Williams’ column now frequently graces the opinion pages of the newspaper. He has his praise singers. A lengthy guest editorial by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump hailed Williams as a leading black entrepreneur, and featured a big picture of Williams above Williams’s own column. He has held meeting with newspaper staff in small groups. When he was asked what role he plays in The Sun‘s newsroom, Williams replied: “Any role that I want as an owner, that’s the role it will be,” he said. “We’re the owners.”
This is an echo of newspaper-owners interfering in editorial policy. The most telling of such interference was Jeff Bezos’ decree last February, that his newspaper, the Washington Post, would no longer publish commentary and opinion that did not support free markets and individual liberty.
The response from readers of the Baltimore Sun were aghast, by Williams’ gloating of Donald Trump’s second term, suggesting that the newspaper owner was seriously lacking in an understanding of society, and that he needed a reality check, one commentator in the Baltimore Sun suggested.
Williams has a history of associations with alleged unethical conduct. He has served “as a mouthpiece” for the most serious right-wing politics in the USA; from supporting and promoting policies of George W Bush, to the tobacco industry, he has a long record of being involved in political scandals. He describes himself as a pugnacious, provocative and principled voice for conservative and Christian values in America’s public debate. Those values are seeping into South African politics on the back of Trumps victory and election as president of the USA.
All things considered, Armstrong Williams has been given a platform, and is bleeding far-right American ideas into the South African polity. It is at once dangerous, but consistent with the rise and celebration of Trump, the MAGA movement in South Africa – and the fear of criticising any of the powers that pay the pipers in the country’s politics.