In the runup to the election I said how worried I was about rising conflict between the two warring American social and political factions once the winner had been determined. I thought it likely, barring massive fraud, that Trump would win, and I thought that if that happened the seething Left would stage massive chimpouts in every Blue city.
That hasn’t happened. Instead, it actually seems that there is some sort of sea change underway, and that we may actually in fact have passed peak Wokeness. Instead of taking a knee during the National Anthem, sports figures are now doing the “Trump Dance” on the field. Public figures, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are now dropping pronouns from their social-media profiles. The prominent anti-Trump media personality Joe Scarborough has even gone to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring.
To be sure, there’s a long way to go yet. There is still the inauguration to get through, and there may still be some sort of surprise in store (World War III, for example.) It’s awfully hard to believe that such people as Chuck Schumer and Jamie Raskin are just going to take their defeat lying down, and I’d be surprised if they aren’t plotting some kind of riposte.
Nevertheless: was I wrong? Is there suddenly some sort of seismic shift toward sanity and normality under way in America? Does the spasm of madness that was so dominant just a year or two ago now begin to seem, to millions now awakening, like a crazy fever dream? Can this really be happening? Or is this just the eye of the storm?
It’s too soon to tell, but I’ll dare to hope.
5 Comments
Yes, the ‘eye of the storm’, I’m afraid. While we ponder, the left is surely scheming their next moves to blunt Trump.
And, reportedly Biden, the monster, has approved Ukraine’s launch of US made missiles into Russia. This won’t end well.
I don’t think you, Malcolm, were being too pessimistic at all. :-(
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Of course this is the ‘eye of the storm’. Our enemies are not just going to go away. Insurgencies and counterinsurgencies will be the order of the day for at least a decade. What is evident is many segments of American society are ready willing and able to stand up and ‘reset’. We will gain allies we never dreamed of, not because they want to be Republicans, but because they want to be free to live normal lives like Americans have always done.
Martywd,
Okaying US missiles has been too long coming. Hoping to avoid escalation is foolish against a totalitarian like Putin who is nothing more after you wash him off, than rump USSR. Russian Federation is as phony as the DPRK when referring to North Korea. This war will end with some kind of misbegotten ‘diplomatic solution’ which both sides will eventually break.
One thing this teaches us is that Antifa is on a leash. The Trump-is-a-fascist propaganda was pumped hard in the weeks before the election, and then there was no spontaneous demonstrations of outrage by self-described Anti-Facists? I don’t know how the Black Bloc is controlled, but I now know it is controlled by people who though it best if the mutants stayed at home.
Here are three hypotheses that may explain the strange new respect with which Trump is being treated. (1) Trump is perceived to be much more powerful than he was eight years ago, and politicians of every stripe are toadies to power. They will still stab him in the back if they are given a chance, but they are too scared or prudent to spit in his face.
(2) The establishment Left knows they tried to “boil the frog” too quickly. So they are giving us a “Thermidorian reaction.” This was evident before the election, when I was inclined to adapt the old Pete Seeger song thusly: Where have all the trannies gone? / Long time passing / Where have all the trannies gone / Long time ago?
(3) The pro-Israel people are happy and they have a sizable influence over the editorial policy of the American media.
(1) and (3) can change very quickly. Antifa can be called from the Antifa cave by whatever serves them as their Bat Signal. I suspect that (2) will not change but the frog will still be boiled in the end.
@whitewall – Putin is an authoritarian not a totalitarian and it makes no difference to the US which group of Slavic oligarchs rules Ukraine.