Whether or not Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, Tusli Gabbard, Marco Rubio, and other members of the current regime experience shame or guilt, it is evident thus far that if they do feel either, they do not change their behaviors as a result.
Notes and Sources
We don’t have space here to go down the philosophical rabbit hole that considers “good” and “bad” and the arguments around why a person might be bad, or consistently behave in ways that hurt others.
For a deeper dive into Kegan’s work, you’ll have to do some reading, but Jenny Dorsey, a Harvard grad student and chef(!) does a remarkable job summarizing the 5 stages in this under-3-minute video:
One of the reasons that the right has been able to successfully demonize the word “woke” is that some (not all) the folks on the left weaponized it first (I’m woke, you’re not, I’m superior…). I’ve written about his in some detail:
Bullied, Woke, & Canceled in the U. S. A., Part 1
This is the first of two posts on our bullying, woke, and cancel cultures, continuing the argument that the same unhealthy masculine, us vs. them worldview and Shadow traits that inform the subjugations of women, Indigenous Peoples, and Africans/African-Americans in U. S. history are also catalysts for misunderstandings, arguments, and occasional idiocy…
Jonathan Rauch, “One Word Describes Trump: A century ago, a German sociologist explained precisely how the president thinks about the world,” The Atlantic, February 24, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/corruption-trump-administration/681794/?gift=9RaJP4gXCLSBS5Gbmf4B1bHLyVs3ciykrMDu9ocxI0Q&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Share this post