American #nihilism isn't the outright rejection of values. It's the hollowing out of them until they're decorative husks, suitable for parades & press conferences, but useless in practice. The recent political oscillations between technocratic inertia & performative populism have deepened this void.
#Kleptokakistocracy & #kakokleptocracy aren't aberrations. They're natural outgrowths of a system where cynicism has metastasized into common sense.
In this context, the kleptokakistocract thrives in chaos, promising liberation while pocketing the spoils, draped in the tattered flag of populism. The kakokleptocrat OTOH fumbles with grand gestures & hollow reforms, unintentionally corrupt but just as ruinous.
The American brand of nihilism doesn't scream. It just shrugs. It scrolls. Tweets. It memefies the absurdity of governance, packaging existential despair into shareable content.
Politics, once the art of compromise & governance, is now just content. Another entry in the algorithm churn.
And the populace oscillates between weary detachment & performative outrage. Nothing shocks because everything is permitted. Elections feel less like civic duty & more like a season finale of a show no one enjoys but everyone watches.
This isn't the nihilism of grand philosophical despair. It's the banal, consumer-grade version. Apathy with premium subscription benefits.
The void doesn't even stare back anymore. It just sends a push notification.