Why Slavoj Žižek Says He Is Ashamed to Be a Citizen of Slovenia: Trump, Vance, and Israel Compared
In this essay, Slavoj Žižek argues that recent political statements and imagery from the United States and Israel reveal how far public life has moved from liberal-democratic norms. He points to Donald Trump’s proposal of a $5,000 “Trump dividend,” J.D. Vance’s language about doing God’s work “even if” it contributes to the end times, and a withdrawn video posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir that Žižek says evokes Nazi concentration camp imagery. Taken together, he presents these examples as signs of political madness, cynicism, and a willingness to embrace destructive politics while condemning others for similar comparisons.
Trump’s “dividend” and the limits of democratic politics
Žižek opens with Trump’s proposal to give American adults $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress. He treats the idea as evidence of how detached current U.S. politics are from serious democratic priorities, contrasting it with what such spending could do if directed toward social needs.
J.D. Vance and apocalyptic political language
He then turns to J.D. Vance’s remarks about living near the end times and still trying to do God’s work. Žižek reads the phrase “even if” as especially alarming, since it suggests a readiness to help bring about destruction in the name of religious purpose.
Ben-Gvir, propaganda, and Holocaust imagery
Žižek’s third example comes from Israel, where he discusses a withdrawn video posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir. He says the clip unmistakably echoes Nazi concentration camp imagery and argues that this creates a striking contradiction: Israeli leaders reject comparisons to the Holocaust while their own propaganda visually invokes them.
Key takeaways
- Žižek presents Trump’s cash promise as a symptom of anti-democratic political spectacle.
- He sees Vance’s religiously charged language as openly apocalyptic.
- He argues that Ben-Gvir’s withdrawn video echoes concentration camp imagery.
- The essay links these examples as signs of political normalization of extremity and destruction.
Summary based on Slavoj Žižek’s article “WHY I AM NOW ASHAMED OF BEING A CITIZEN OF SLOVENIA” published on Substack: https://slavoj.substack.com/p/why-i-am-now-ashamed-of-being-a-citizen Read the original post on Substack.