Source: CounterPunch
by David Altheide
“U.S. immigration policy and NATO commitments have a lot in common. “Gonzo governance” describes a style of political rule that delegitimizes social institutions in favor of leadership promoting the politics of fear that is chaotic, personality-driven, spectacle-oriented, and often indifferent to conventional standards of objectivity or institutional restraint. The term draws loosely from Hunter S. Thompson’s immersive, boundary-blurring reporting style that mixed fact, interpretation, and theatricality. In governance, however, this aesthetic becomes consequential when fueled by social media. It can create a climate in which disruption itself is the governing method. When paired with gaslighting—a psychological tactic in which people are made to doubt their own perceptions of reality—the result is a powerful and destabilizing political dynamic.” (02/27/26)