Trump & the personal is political
Those who have been around on the left for a while may remember the 1960s and 70s slogan ‘the personal is political’. It meant in one way that politics was about more than what went on at Westminster. It was (and is) about womens rights, and liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, sexuality and beyond.
It also meant, and as a reminder that it was not a new politics, that politics was as much about changing yourself as it was about changing the world. It drove William Morris made- in the 1880s.
As a reminder that time moves on and the slogans of one generation can appear in a later one in a related but different context Freddie Hayward writing in the New Statesman argues that for Trumpians the personal is also political.
For Trump politics is about his grudges, his whims and of course his business interests. All of these can have a political front page but behind that lies personal interest. So for example, the Gaza ‘peace deal’ is of course politics, but behind it lie the personal interests of those centrally involved such as Kushner and Blair.
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