Couldn’t agree more. For decades, Washington has been constructing an entrenched bureaucracy rooted in left-wing idealism—one that runs counter to the sensibilities of everyday voters. Trump 1.0 was the inevitable backlash. But instead of respecting the democratic process, the left including the bureaucracy retaliated with unprecedented force. Treasonous collusion? Maybe. Maybe not.
But the underlying message from voters was clear: rein in the government.
Rather than heed that call, Biden doubled down—unleashing a wave of progressive overreach that borders on democratic despotism. The Democrats’ refusal to bend, especially in their selection of candidates, left voters with one option: Trump 2.0.
Is he a bull in a China shop? Absolutely. But for many, watching him dismantle the Washington establishment is emotionally satisfying, if not cathartic.
If Democrats want to remain relevant, they need to stop behaving like ideological zealots and start reaching for the center. That means working across the aisle and being willing to dismantle parts of the bloated federal apparatus. A sensible starting point? Biden’s reckless immigration stance. It’s time to adopt policies that swiftly return illegal entrants to their home countries—without sacrificing the humane aspects of our system.
Please, enlighten us as to what exactly you think Biden's "reckless immigration stance" was? Are you one of the many people repeating the utter nonsense that Joe Biden had an "open border" policy?
Joe Biden's immigration stance was to follow the law in doing whatever necessary to process all of the waves of people coming in to seek asylum, which law required—and still requires—us to respect. Many of the policies he pursued were similar to the ones Trump tried in his first term, yet were often stymied by lawsuits or reversed by the courts.
In fact, Trump himself was braying about needing new laws from Congress while border crossings were surging in the first half of 2019, then declining late in the year and cratering in April, after COVID lockdowns. They then began increasing again and were surging by the end of the year.
In 2024, crossings began to rapidly decline at the beginning of the year, and by the time the election came around were at some of the lowest rates we'd seen in a while, and have continued to decline since.
The truth about border crossings is that, generally speaking they have a poor correlation to specific US policies, and have far more to do with external events in Central and South America. This is one of the areas where the Biden administration at least tried to engage foreign governments to stem the tide at the source, while Trump threw tantrums and withdrew support from Central American countries to combat crime, worsening the problem.
This is not something like inflation or job loss, which the American people would naturally be attuned to. This was a coordinated PR campaign complete with coordinated stunts by unscrupulous southern governors, including ones from states which don't even border Mexico (what the hell was Ron DeSantis doing bussing migrants out of *Texas* to New England)? It was a story sold to the American people by Republicans attempting to gain power.
I'm tired of listening to so called centrists blame the left for Trump. The left has its problems, but they aren't endemic to the Democratic Party the way the pathologies of the right are to Republicans. You call Democrats "zealots" simply because Joe Biden attempted to treat migrants with dignity, while deporting people at the same rate Trump is.
Studies have shown that the most fanatic ideas of the left are shared by a relatively small proportion of the Democratic Party. The same cannot be said of the right, who have been nurtured in bubbles of unreality for years thanks to Christian nationalists and monied interests opposing the science of climate change.
At one point over the last four years, two thirds of Republicans thought the 2020 election had been stolen. One third of them believed there was some truth to the QAnon conspiracy theory. The Democrats get accused of having a very "loud" contingent of extremists, but a big part of the reason they seem so loud is because Republicans intentionally magnify their voices.
The "heterodox" movement had been making plenty of progress counteracting toxic "wokeness" which crested in 2021/2022 before deciding that maybe putting Trump back in office was a necessary not-so-evil compared to obnoxious college students and a miniscule portion of the population undergoing gender affirming treatment as teenagers. And now look where we are.
Don't be surprised when another round of exploitative panic over racism and xenophobia overtakes us, because Democrats are the "zealots", but Trump is a mere "bull in a China shop".
Trump is a thug and a criminal being given cover by some of society's most powerful individuals. The Democrats are a big tent party doing their best to manage a diverse coalition with some empathy and compassion while intolerant forces on the right amplify their problematic elements yet hide their own under a cloud of phony patriotism and criminal protection. It's time the "heterodox" community start acknowledging it.
Couldn’t agree more. For decades, Washington has been constructing an entrenched bureaucracy rooted in left-wing idealism—one that runs counter to the sensibilities of everyday voters. Trump 1.0 was the inevitable backlash. But instead of respecting the democratic process, the left including the bureaucracy retaliated with unprecedented force. Treasonous collusion? Maybe. Maybe not.
But the underlying message from voters was clear: rein in the government.
Rather than heed that call, Biden doubled down—unleashing a wave of progressive overreach that borders on democratic despotism. The Democrats’ refusal to bend, especially in their selection of candidates, left voters with one option: Trump 2.0.
Is he a bull in a China shop? Absolutely. But for many, watching him dismantle the Washington establishment is emotionally satisfying, if not cathartic.
If Democrats want to remain relevant, they need to stop behaving like ideological zealots and start reaching for the center. That means working across the aisle and being willing to dismantle parts of the bloated federal apparatus. A sensible starting point? Biden’s reckless immigration stance. It’s time to adopt policies that swiftly return illegal entrants to their home countries—without sacrificing the humane aspects of our system.
Please, enlighten us as to what exactly you think Biden's "reckless immigration stance" was? Are you one of the many people repeating the utter nonsense that Joe Biden had an "open border" policy?
Joe Biden's immigration stance was to follow the law in doing whatever necessary to process all of the waves of people coming in to seek asylum, which law required—and still requires—us to respect. Many of the policies he pursued were similar to the ones Trump tried in his first term, yet were often stymied by lawsuits or reversed by the courts.
In fact, Trump himself was braying about needing new laws from Congress while border crossings were surging in the first half of 2019, then declining late in the year and cratering in April, after COVID lockdowns. They then began increasing again and were surging by the end of the year.
In 2024, crossings began to rapidly decline at the beginning of the year, and by the time the election came around were at some of the lowest rates we'd seen in a while, and have continued to decline since.
The truth about border crossings is that, generally speaking they have a poor correlation to specific US policies, and have far more to do with external events in Central and South America. This is one of the areas where the Biden administration at least tried to engage foreign governments to stem the tide at the source, while Trump threw tantrums and withdrew support from Central American countries to combat crime, worsening the problem.
This is not something like inflation or job loss, which the American people would naturally be attuned to. This was a coordinated PR campaign complete with coordinated stunts by unscrupulous southern governors, including ones from states which don't even border Mexico (what the hell was Ron DeSantis doing bussing migrants out of *Texas* to New England)? It was a story sold to the American people by Republicans attempting to gain power.
I'm tired of listening to so called centrists blame the left for Trump. The left has its problems, but they aren't endemic to the Democratic Party the way the pathologies of the right are to Republicans. You call Democrats "zealots" simply because Joe Biden attempted to treat migrants with dignity, while deporting people at the same rate Trump is.
Studies have shown that the most fanatic ideas of the left are shared by a relatively small proportion of the Democratic Party. The same cannot be said of the right, who have been nurtured in bubbles of unreality for years thanks to Christian nationalists and monied interests opposing the science of climate change.
At one point over the last four years, two thirds of Republicans thought the 2020 election had been stolen. One third of them believed there was some truth to the QAnon conspiracy theory. The Democrats get accused of having a very "loud" contingent of extremists, but a big part of the reason they seem so loud is because Republicans intentionally magnify their voices.
The "heterodox" movement had been making plenty of progress counteracting toxic "wokeness" which crested in 2021/2022 before deciding that maybe putting Trump back in office was a necessary not-so-evil compared to obnoxious college students and a miniscule portion of the population undergoing gender affirming treatment as teenagers. And now look where we are.
Don't be surprised when another round of exploitative panic over racism and xenophobia overtakes us, because Democrats are the "zealots", but Trump is a mere "bull in a China shop".
Trump is a thug and a criminal being given cover by some of society's most powerful individuals. The Democrats are a big tent party doing their best to manage a diverse coalition with some empathy and compassion while intolerant forces on the right amplify their problematic elements yet hide their own under a cloud of phony patriotism and criminal protection. It's time the "heterodox" community start acknowledging it.