For me the “defending it” is the line. So long as the person is honest in doing it just to pay their bills, that’s good enough. And it’s obviously better if they’re an actual comrade and do praxis some other way in their life.

I’ve also ended a friendship over a friend trying their damnedest to portray the landlord and hedge fund corporation she worked at as “progressive actually”. I think there’s this tendency to force oneself to believe one’s work is always a net positive for the world somehow.

It’s a good wake up routine for me, prevents me from falling back asleep after the alarm rings.

There’s probably a cool thesis that could be written about a contradiction within the “America First” movement by being both anti-war and USA exceptionalist in times of decaying imperialism that can only maintained through war. Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard are the best examples of this.