In the post election haze I see a lot of theories being floated that have been driven by the feedback loop of media and social media. It is necessary, I think, to step out of that and understand one of the biggest problems for both the left and the right was in their constant need to reject what Trump ACTUALLY stood for, what he was chal…
In the post election haze I see a lot of theories being floated that have been driven by the feedback loop of media and social media. It is necessary, I think, to step out of that and understand one of the biggest problems for both the left and the right was in their constant need to reject what Trump ACTUALLY stood for, what he was challenging and what he was breaking down.
Trump would have likely won the election without the mail-in ballots and loosened standards on accepting those ballots because he had the momentum going in. He was willing to stand up, push back and not pander to what is happening on the left. Most of the Never Trump republicans -- all, in fact -- never understood that though Trump may have been bad the Democrats were the far more terrifying alternative. What I see now are the center right folks still needing to obliterate Trump and in so doing bolster what is happening on the left with "cancel culture." And I see people on the left like Yascha Mounk and Jesse Singal doing the same thing - Trump is evil but so is the left but Trump is worse. In order to really bring this country together there has to be some forgiveness for, understanding of Trump supporters and those who secretly appreciated what he was doing to disrupt an oppressive, censorious country. Any republican who does not understand that will not triumph in 2024. This is a war of ideology and there is no middle ground.
The only candidates who will rise and do well are those who follow in Trump's footsteps - not to troll and wreck government but to not just represent what the left appears to be trying to dismantle right now: freedom of speech, patriotism and law and order, but also to rise up and hold back that soft totalitarianism on the left. To you and many others that means "Trumpism." To many Americans it's the only guy who could take whatever attacks thrown his way. We can't live in a country that lives in fear. Any fearless politician will do well. The "center right" party can be built, and so will the Democrats try to find a moderate pocket to strengthen. But in the end, whatever it was that Trump had will win the majority.
Thank you for sharing, in regard to your reference to the soft totalitarianism on the left. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before but see that is just what it is or what it is in many case. Any belief other than what is mainstream left thinking is shamed down.
It was greatly depressing to me to read 1984 and realize that we did not need government to become Big Brother - we have become Big Brother. I started out as a prominent blue check Democrat on Twitter who fought hard for Hillary and then for Biden early on. But I noticed that the democrats were in a dangerous bubble that, to me, was not tenable - I began drifting to the Never Trump conservatives and spent much time reading them. Once the left really began to spiral, however, as we closed in on the election they would say nothing. And that finally drove me towards Trump world - because they were the only ones fighting against the insanity on the left that no one else would touch. I know I'm not the only one who felt that way it's just that people were too afraid to say so. I can promise you this is only moving in one direction, away from the left. Americans can't live this way and no one is going to be able to talk about policy until this nightmare is dealt with. We need leaders with the courage to do that - I am sad that Biden has become that leader and that Trump was. I still voted for Biden but I left the Democratic Party...if people keep saying 74 million who voted for Trump are racists we will simply hit a dead end. And that is what I see, even with Mona Charen here who tries to ride the middle. There is no middle on this. There is for or against. By the way, this is similar to the dynamic that led to Hitler. Trump was never Hitler but we could get one after the way our culture has sharply divided, where each side is dehumanizing the other. I do not see any major journalists addressing it on the center right or the left because they are simply too afraid.
Great comment. I agree that Trump’s willingness to push back against cancel culture was the defining fact of his electoral success. Similarly, the refusal of most Never Trumpers to acknowledge this has more or less doomed them to irrelevance. Anyone who dares to raise that issue with them is accused of whataboutism. Mona Charen, who I greatly respect, gingerly steps in that direction in this piece, but is presumably concerned about the whataboutist label, and is way too tentative.
At the same time, I think in the short run Trump is far more dangerous than the authoritarian left- perhaps you too think that, which is why you voted for Biden, as I did.
I also think you are too hard on Mounk. Interestingly, the liberal left seems far more willing to take on the woke left than the Never Trumpers are. The latter are too traumatized by their failure to notice the real warning signs of actual racism on the right, which have been apparent for quite some time. Consequently they are now afraid to note, as you do, that not all 74 million Trump voters are racist, and we’ll never win them back to the cause of a free society if we insist on lumping them in with the Proud Boys.
Thanks. I personally don't see any good outcome of where we are now. For instance, with four more years of Trump that would have destroyed a lot of what is now destroying the left (in my opinion) and paving the way for a newer left, one that has yet to be redefined. But we have not taken that opportunity. Rather, we painted Trump as the more dangerous option, which will simply intensify where we are now to the breaking point. I found Mounk after searching out videos on the rise of fascism in Europe. My first fear about Trump was climate change. Then it became about fascism vis a vis immigrants and migrants (which is quietly taking place in Europe, the "America First" policy was meant to be part of that movement.) But now I see the situation very differently. I see a much more dangerous movement on the horizon because we could not and did not allow for the modern left to collapse and be rebuilt. As such, we are not a good bulwark against what is coming next. This feels like World War I to me which set the stage for WWII. Germany was post-influenza, post war, post depression and desperate economically. There was also a good deal of delusional thinking by those in charge. The split between the democratic socialists, the communists and what Hitler was -- socialist/fascist is what allowed Hitler to rise. I fear THAT is actually where we are headed and that Trump was merely the beginning. We are insulating ourselves from a good majority in this country and I can promise you the Never Trump folks will not be able to do a single thing about it. So I worry about what might headed our way. I don't think fascism as such can ever take hold in America but I do think many are not seeing the serious threat posed by looking the other way when totalitarianism knocks on our door, as it is now with the left, not the right. Just some thoughts that run through my head of late.
First, I'm not sure why we're supposed to discount mail in ballots. They count just as much as those cast at a polling place on election day. What "momentum"? The polls were consistent for months. Trump NEVER had a majority. He got very lucky in 2016 in terms of the distribution of his vote, threading the electoral college needle. Trump was hardly a supporter of "Freedom of speech" threatening the press and to sue his critics at every turn. Patriotism? He dodged the draft and called those who didn't "suckers." Law and Order? I've never lived through a period of more violence that the four years he was President. I understand the resentments many feel against those who have tried to run people's lives, but Trump was a poor response.
In the post election haze I see a lot of theories being floated that have been driven by the feedback loop of media and social media. It is necessary, I think, to step out of that and understand one of the biggest problems for both the left and the right was in their constant need to reject what Trump ACTUALLY stood for, what he was challenging and what he was breaking down.
Trump would have likely won the election without the mail-in ballots and loosened standards on accepting those ballots because he had the momentum going in. He was willing to stand up, push back and not pander to what is happening on the left. Most of the Never Trump republicans -- all, in fact -- never understood that though Trump may have been bad the Democrats were the far more terrifying alternative. What I see now are the center right folks still needing to obliterate Trump and in so doing bolster what is happening on the left with "cancel culture." And I see people on the left like Yascha Mounk and Jesse Singal doing the same thing - Trump is evil but so is the left but Trump is worse. In order to really bring this country together there has to be some forgiveness for, understanding of Trump supporters and those who secretly appreciated what he was doing to disrupt an oppressive, censorious country. Any republican who does not understand that will not triumph in 2024. This is a war of ideology and there is no middle ground.
The only candidates who will rise and do well are those who follow in Trump's footsteps - not to troll and wreck government but to not just represent what the left appears to be trying to dismantle right now: freedom of speech, patriotism and law and order, but also to rise up and hold back that soft totalitarianism on the left. To you and many others that means "Trumpism." To many Americans it's the only guy who could take whatever attacks thrown his way. We can't live in a country that lives in fear. Any fearless politician will do well. The "center right" party can be built, and so will the Democrats try to find a moderate pocket to strengthen. But in the end, whatever it was that Trump had will win the majority.
Thank you for sharing, in regard to your reference to the soft totalitarianism on the left. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before but see that is just what it is or what it is in many case. Any belief other than what is mainstream left thinking is shamed down.
It was greatly depressing to me to read 1984 and realize that we did not need government to become Big Brother - we have become Big Brother. I started out as a prominent blue check Democrat on Twitter who fought hard for Hillary and then for Biden early on. But I noticed that the democrats were in a dangerous bubble that, to me, was not tenable - I began drifting to the Never Trump conservatives and spent much time reading them. Once the left really began to spiral, however, as we closed in on the election they would say nothing. And that finally drove me towards Trump world - because they were the only ones fighting against the insanity on the left that no one else would touch. I know I'm not the only one who felt that way it's just that people were too afraid to say so. I can promise you this is only moving in one direction, away from the left. Americans can't live this way and no one is going to be able to talk about policy until this nightmare is dealt with. We need leaders with the courage to do that - I am sad that Biden has become that leader and that Trump was. I still voted for Biden but I left the Democratic Party...if people keep saying 74 million who voted for Trump are racists we will simply hit a dead end. And that is what I see, even with Mona Charen here who tries to ride the middle. There is no middle on this. There is for or against. By the way, this is similar to the dynamic that led to Hitler. Trump was never Hitler but we could get one after the way our culture has sharply divided, where each side is dehumanizing the other. I do not see any major journalists addressing it on the center right or the left because they are simply too afraid.
Sorry, *sad Biden has NOT become that leader (and he will never be, neither will Harris, neither will any centrist republicans)
Great comment. I agree that Trump’s willingness to push back against cancel culture was the defining fact of his electoral success. Similarly, the refusal of most Never Trumpers to acknowledge this has more or less doomed them to irrelevance. Anyone who dares to raise that issue with them is accused of whataboutism. Mona Charen, who I greatly respect, gingerly steps in that direction in this piece, but is presumably concerned about the whataboutist label, and is way too tentative.
At the same time, I think in the short run Trump is far more dangerous than the authoritarian left- perhaps you too think that, which is why you voted for Biden, as I did.
I also think you are too hard on Mounk. Interestingly, the liberal left seems far more willing to take on the woke left than the Never Trumpers are. The latter are too traumatized by their failure to notice the real warning signs of actual racism on the right, which have been apparent for quite some time. Consequently they are now afraid to note, as you do, that not all 74 million Trump voters are racist, and we’ll never win them back to the cause of a free society if we insist on lumping them in with the Proud Boys.
Thanks. I personally don't see any good outcome of where we are now. For instance, with four more years of Trump that would have destroyed a lot of what is now destroying the left (in my opinion) and paving the way for a newer left, one that has yet to be redefined. But we have not taken that opportunity. Rather, we painted Trump as the more dangerous option, which will simply intensify where we are now to the breaking point. I found Mounk after searching out videos on the rise of fascism in Europe. My first fear about Trump was climate change. Then it became about fascism vis a vis immigrants and migrants (which is quietly taking place in Europe, the "America First" policy was meant to be part of that movement.) But now I see the situation very differently. I see a much more dangerous movement on the horizon because we could not and did not allow for the modern left to collapse and be rebuilt. As such, we are not a good bulwark against what is coming next. This feels like World War I to me which set the stage for WWII. Germany was post-influenza, post war, post depression and desperate economically. There was also a good deal of delusional thinking by those in charge. The split between the democratic socialists, the communists and what Hitler was -- socialist/fascist is what allowed Hitler to rise. I fear THAT is actually where we are headed and that Trump was merely the beginning. We are insulating ourselves from a good majority in this country and I can promise you the Never Trump folks will not be able to do a single thing about it. So I worry about what might headed our way. I don't think fascism as such can ever take hold in America but I do think many are not seeing the serious threat posed by looking the other way when totalitarianism knocks on our door, as it is now with the left, not the right. Just some thoughts that run through my head of late.
First, I'm not sure why we're supposed to discount mail in ballots. They count just as much as those cast at a polling place on election day. What "momentum"? The polls were consistent for months. Trump NEVER had a majority. He got very lucky in 2016 in terms of the distribution of his vote, threading the electoral college needle. Trump was hardly a supporter of "Freedom of speech" threatening the press and to sue his critics at every turn. Patriotism? He dodged the draft and called those who didn't "suckers." Law and Order? I've never lived through a period of more violence that the four years he was President. I understand the resentments many feel against those who have tried to run people's lives, but Trump was a poor response.