The Rock Fight

The on-going investigation into FBI shenanigans trundles on and it is easy to be a bit cynical about the whole thing. It’s clear that the DOJ and FBI are stalling, hoping the Democrats take the House thus relieving them of their duties to Congress. The modern habit of the Washington elite giving themselves a pass for their bad behavior should lead sensible people to assume nothing comes of this. After all, it involves some of the biggest players in the semi-permanent Washington ruling class and they are above the law.

On the other hand, the list of people who tangled with Trump and then came to a bad end is long enough now to think it is not a coincidence. The mass media and NeverTrump loons like to paint the guy as a buffoon, but he is a very savvy political athlete. What makes it work for Trump is that when guys like Eric Schneiderman go up in flames, it looks like Trump was not involved, but curiously prescient. The fact is, Trump plays rough and the people in the FBI scandal have every reason to fear retribution from him.

That is the thing with Trump. He is a genuine politician, who does not have his head in the clouds or frets about getting a little dirty in a street fight. This is something we have not seen on the Right in national politics since forever. Reagan, on occasion, would throw some sharp elbows, but all of his worshipers since then have either confined themselves to the world of forms or found a reason their principles prevented them from getting into the fight. The result has been a once sided drubbing of the Right by the Left.

The great Sam Francis observed this about the America Right a long time ago. The Old Right, as he called what think of as CivNats, lived in the world of ideas. They operated under the assumption that their ideas would take human form and do the practical work of politics without the creators leaving their salons. You hear echoes of this with libertarians and TruCons today. Every discussion ends up with them quoting some theorist and waving around their Cato supplied pocket Constitution like it is a magic talisman.

On the other hand, the New Right, as he labeled the neoconservatives and Buckleyites, were willing to engage in practical politics, but assiduously within the rules, as currently written. This meant they were always captive to those rules. This gave the Left the whip hand, as they could change the rules whenever the Right was getting the upper hand in politics. The Buckleyites and neocons, instead of challenging the managerial state, have been absorbed by it and have become its champions. Sam Francis predicted this.

The fact that neocons and Buckleyites have been assimilated into the Borg that is the managerial class is evidenced by the people participating in the FBI scheme. You have neocons, their former critics and hard thumping Progressives working together in this conspiracy. Further, the extreme Left, which operates the mass media, is endlessly promoting the narrative cooked up by the conspirators. Whatever minor quibbles these people have with one another, defending the managerial state comes first.

It is why, to some degree, the alt-right and its fellow travelers punch so far above their weight and scare the people in charge. Outside of a few basic ideas, the alt-right is non-ideological. Put three of these guys in a room and they have ten different arguments, depending upon how the alcohol is flowing. At the same time, this loose collection of the like-minded is willing to engage in ad hoc guerrilla war against the managerial class, mostly for the laughs. It is, in part, why the managerial class has overreacted to them.

That brings us back to how Trump is managing the seditious plot, currently being exposed by Congress and the Inspector General. The Right side of the managerial class is puzzled and frustrated by Trump’s unwillingness to put on his good government cap and yap about the process. The ridiculous bleating from National Review types about his boorishness or his recklessness reveals a central fact about Trump and the emerging political movement he has set off. Trump is not of the Old Right or New Right, and neither are his supporters.

For its part, the Left is unnerved by his success at undermining the Mueller plot, while exposing the FBI treachery. They are grasping the reality of Trump. He is not a guy committed to winning them over with theory or looking for a way to join the club. Popular lore says he set off on this journey because he was insulted by the snubs from the political elite. The people peddling it hope it means he wants to join their club and will do so on their terms. It turns out that Trump is looking to bust up the club and make his own.

There is a lesson here. A culture war is a zero-sum game. The ground you gain can only come at the expense of the people in charge and there can never be peace. Complex political theories and carefully elucidated principles have no place in a culture war, or even a political war. It is a rock fight and that means you have to use whatever is handy to take out the other guy. After you win and secure his turf, then you take a break and maybe use the off time to think about theory. Principles are for the victory party.

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Dutch
Dutch
6 years ago

Tom Wolfe, who died this week, based his literary career on chronicling how people who are not worried where their next meal is coming from seek status, above all. Status is claimed, these days, by the proper forms of virtue signaling. Wolfe mocked such behavior so well. Trump has gone for the old school form of establishing status, by beating the crap out of everyone else in the room (including, occasionally, his own allies). In a strange way, Trump and Kim Jong il show a mutual respect because they recognize this pattern in each other. Same with Netanyahu, and with… Read more »

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

I wonder how far away we are from a reprise of the great “Bronx Tale” scene where the local capo walks into the bar, locks the door and explains to the biker miscreants, “Now you’se can’t leave” and locals proceed to wipe the floor with the bikers.

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Saml Adams
6 years ago

“I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle”.

Kodos
Kodos
6 years ago

The other day we were talking about Rod Dreher here, and this post makes me think of him and other religiously “pure” conservatives who are anti-Trump from supposed spiritual/ethical objections. Don’t people realize that this is falling for one of the biggest Alinsky tactics: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”? If you want those pure World of Form ideals to manifest in the world, you’re going to have to get dirty. Giving Trump a “non-vote” (via goofy third-party votes or leaving it blank) because you’d be a hypocritical evangelical would have meant one thing, and… Read more »

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Kodos
6 years ago

Flight 93 election.

Kodos
Kodos
Reply to  Teapartydoc
6 years ago

Yes! That essay had a huge influence on me!

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
6 years ago

Trump is a guy from Queens and has never pretended otherwise. And you do not survive decades in the real estate business in NYC without being ruthless and, as Negan put it, being “out there getting shit DONE”. Washington just can’t get its mind around that bias to action. And the guy only sleeps 4 hours a night. So not like Obama, whose laziness at least limited the amount of mischief.

Severian
6 years ago

Political tactics are like chemical weapons: Guaranteed massive retaliation in kind is the only deterrent. Subject the campus SJWs to the same treatment they mete out, and they might actually shut up and go to class for once. Make HR apply its own “harassment” rules to both sides and no Leftist would have a job. Want to have the luxury of “principles” again? Go the Chicago Way: They bring a knife, you bring a gun. They send one of ours to the hospital, we send one of theirs to the morgue! (Note to the friendly neighborhood NSA man monitoring this… Read more »

Tamaqua
Tamaqua
6 years ago

Trump has flipped von Clausewitz’s famous dictum-from “war is politics by other means” to “politics is war by other means.”

For as long as the revolutionary left has existed, only they understood that, while conservative Establishment types refused to believe that the revolutionary left is, in fact, at war with us. The fear the left has of Trump and us is that we have finally decided to play the game by the same rules the left plays by-that is to say, none.

Din C. Nuffin
Din C. Nuffin
Reply to  Tamaqua
6 years ago

The left is indeed at war with us. The ghetto dwellers are also at war with us. The jihadist Muslims are still at war with us. The damned LGBT crowd is at war with us. The feminists are at war with us. Who did i leave out? Raza? Not sure we are outnumbered yet, but the Koch Bros, Ryan, et. al. are working on it.

Glen Filthie
Glen Filthie
Member
6 years ago

You miss a big facet of the halls of power in Washington. Those guys pose as shakers and movers that are above the law, and will grind you into the dirt if you try them. They are closely allied, and if you challenge one of them – you challenge them all. And yeah – it has often worked exactly like that. But the place is also like a den of vipers. There is no loyalty. if it becomes politically expedient to throw an underling or an expendable associate under the bus to save yourself – it will be done in… Read more »

Frip
Member
Reply to  Glen Filthie
6 years ago

Glenn, your first sentence makes me wonder why some people feel it necessary to criticise someone, instead of just making their own point. It’s not always necessary to tell the other guy he’s wrong or that he has a big blind spot. How about instead of “You miss…” You just say, “Well, here’s my take on it…” Did you never watch Mr. Rogers?

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Frip
6 years ago

Frip, your first sentence makes me wonder why some people feel it necessary to criticize someone, instead of just making their own point.

(Sorry about clogging the thread. Too tempting to pass up.)

Frip
Member
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

You’re Dutch, you have no concept of etiquette.

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  Frip
6 years ago

I look forward to the results of your wondering.

Glen Filthie
Glen Filthie
Member
Reply to  Frip
6 years ago

Really Frip – you must learn to pay more attention to your spelling – you’ll notice my handle only has one ‘n’ in Glen.

🙂

I suppose that could have been taken as a pissy admonishment… But I’m sure our host has thicker skin than that and won’t lose any sleep worrying about what I have to say about things. You shouldn’t either and you should follow his example.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Glen Filthie
6 years ago

“Trump needs to take down the Clintons, Obama and half the senior democrat machine”

And half the GOP

Wilson McWilliams
Wilson McWilliams
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

I’m getting pretty sick of these constant attacks on Mr. George Will.

LFMayor
LFMayor
Reply to  Wilson McWilliams
6 years ago

Rofl! Well Let me be the first to state that they’ll all be sorry when The Mighty and Effervescent Wrath of George Will descends upon them.
I hope you find solace in my prediction.

wholy1
wholy1
Reply to  Wilson McWilliams
6 years ago

ROL – George “Swill” is much more applicable. The simple fact that “It” is a regular via the MSM is indictment enough.

active pooter
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

more like 90% of the GOP congress is against trump…oh, they may make sympathetic noises, but what did they DO to help trump’s agenda?

ZERO

Rod1963
Rod1963
Reply to  active pooter
6 years ago

Bingo!!! The GOP and Dems are in on it together. Remember the NeverTrump meeting at Sea Island? The GOP leadership was there plotting how to derail Trump.

There is no opposition party. As Sundance at CTH writes – it’s a Uniparty. Everything else is a facade meant for public consumption. They are all owned by the same monied interests.

Until the American people realize there are no political parties, just a bunch of evil and insane white elites and business tycoons calling the shots, we won’t get anywhere.

my 2 cents
my 2 cents
Reply to  Rod1963
6 years ago

The Freedom Caucus is consistently shown to be working for the people. As for the rest….when the left complains about the GOP, I say, “hey, you don’t have to tell us.”

greyfox
greyfox
Reply to  Rod1963
6 years ago

They can see the end of the gravy train and they don’ like it.

Glenfilthie
Glenfilthie
Member
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

No chit. McCain should have been fired out of a cannon.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Glenfilthie
6 years ago

Pointed down

bcats123
bcats123
Reply to  Glenfilthie
6 years ago

McCain is a seditious traitor who should have been removed from office when he stopped showing up but kept taking a paycheck.

wholy1
wholy1
Reply to  Glen Filthie
6 years ago

The best social/political exploiters get their opponents/adversaries “going at each other” or, giving them enough rope to eventually expose/hang themselves, especially when One is privy to the most sensitive intel which can then be used with “creative political nuance”. The Clintons are adept at maintaining control thru common/shared complicity of nefarious activities. Charles Ortel’s on-going 3+ year investigation of the Clinton’s “Int’l Grifting” Foundation has/is doing a great job of exposing said.

vicky Huss
vicky Huss
Reply to  Glen Filthie
6 years ago

AGREED!

Had E. Nuff
Had E. Nuff
Reply to  Glen Filthie
6 years ago

REVOLUTION will be the final SOLUTION – it always is against TYRANNY, that is why the NWO-FBI is carrying out all of these false flag, gun control mass shootings!

Susan DANI
Susan DANI
Reply to  Had E. Nuff
6 years ago

Sadly, YES!

Member
6 years ago

My favorite thing about Trump is that none of the usual weapons have worked against him. Tax returns? A dud. Charges of racism? A dud. Lacks the right temperament? A Dud. The Russians? A dud. A special prosecutor? A dud. Burying exculpatory evidence behind a wall of security-classifications? A dud. Book tours and promotionals for the opposition? A dud. A “bombshell” set of allegations (the dossier)? A dud. A fricking whore? A dud. None of it seems to work. I just love that. Those are chapter and verse straight out of the Official Government Party playbook. Democrats have been using… Read more »

baltbuc
baltbuc
6 years ago

I am as cynical as the next guy. And I can see how one might believe the IG Report will bloviate about independence while letting the crooks largely off the hook. Here is what is different: these aren’t just accusations of bias or indifference. You have FBI agents changing 302 reports. You have verifiable leaks. You have FISA courts intentionally mislead. You have false statements under oath. You have unauthorized spying. And much, much more. In other words, these are black and white crimes. And besides the Trump setup, what about the Hillary email scandal and Clinton Foundation? Good Lord,… Read more »

my 2 cents
my 2 cents
Reply to  baltbuc
6 years ago

…you have the FBI and DOJ getting to clear it of any unwanted material before it’s released.

Spud Boy
Spud Boy
6 years ago

I agree that the Right has assumed the position of principled losers for too long. I see conservatives on TV called racists right to their faces and they do nothing; if it were me, I’d punch the accuser’s lights out right on the spot. Left-wing racists like Maxine Waters need to be taught a lesson that you can’t slander whole classes of people without serious threat to your personal safety.

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Spud Boy
6 years ago

Maxine Walters cannot be taught lessons. She is functionally retarded, and I am not taking a gratuitous swipe at her. We should be grateful that any of our enemies are comically stupid.

JohnTyler
JohnTyler
Reply to  Spud Boy
6 years ago

Actually, I really, really really …..really hope Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson are the democratic nominees for President.
The turmoil it would cause amongst the marxist democrat party and their propaganda arm, the mainstream media, would be real fun to see.

Lineman
Lineman
Reply to  JohnTyler
6 years ago

Or we could really luck out and have Hillary run again;) Maybe that’s why Trump hasn’t put her in prison because he wants a sure win in 2020…The alt-right should be trolling the left with “talking up a Hillary 2020 run…Something along the line of “We Will Prevail” “If at First You Don’t Succeed Try Try Again”

Felix_Krull
Member
Reply to  Spud Boy
6 years ago

“I see conservatives on TV called racists right to their faces and they do nothing; if it were me, I’d punch the accuser’s lights out right on the spot.” The Alternative Hypothesis made the point that by doing so, you accept the Regressive narrative, accept that ‘racist’ is a real word that makes sense. ‘Racist’ is no more a real word than ‘islamophobe’, and should carry no more sting to you than if a Moslem accuses you of being an infidel or a witch. It is a good point; to answer ‘yes, and so what?’ as I used to do,… Read more »

my 2 cents
my 2 cents
Reply to  Spud Boy
6 years ago

or at least without losing elections

Ursula
Ursula
6 years ago

Trump must be ruthless in applying the law to these corrupt swamp criminals. If our laws are thrown out the window in taking these guys down, we risk the danger of becoming the corrupt, criminal replacement of the corrupt, criminal swamp. Trump needs some courageous, fearless men to prosecute and destroy all the people involved in the mountain of criminal deeds we’re seeing grow before us with every new revelation. Hoping the IG produces such compelling reports that Sessions is forced to do his job, and that once he finally acts, he does so with gusto and applies the law… Read more »

Teapartydoc
Member
6 years ago

It’s a fight, and good fighters visualize fights before they happen. The left maintains focus because they visualize us dead and defeated. In order to win we have to do the same thing.

Look at a lefty. See him dead in your mind. Work to make it happen with all the legal tools at your disposal.

Sidvic
Sidvic
Member
6 years ago

I, for one, am ready to raise the black flag and start slittin throats. Baltimore reference.

Member
Reply to  Sidvic
6 years ago

As am I, now that you Menck-tion it.

Lineman
Lineman
Reply to  roo_ster
6 years ago

You will get your wish soon enough don’t need to rush it…I know the feeling though…

Brewmeistr
Brewmeistr
Member
6 years ago

Damn you Z Man,

I’m sitting here reading you and finding myself nodding my head the whole time.

Now my neck hurts.

Luckily, there’s beer.

Cheers

james wilson
james wilson
6 years ago

IMO Trump had no idea how noxious the swamp of his imagination actually is. Come in, shake rotten apples off the tree, and job well done. So, he didn’t hit the ground running, the swamp was running when he hit the ground. He has both recovered nicely against the odds and at the same time handicapped himself with self-inflicted wounds, a la Sessions and much more. So I don’t know where this goes, only that I saw some light through that tunnel and I would not expect to see it reappear once it is gone. So much potential.

Ursula
Ursula
6 years ago

This remark stuck in my head and highlights what Trump is up against. Dick Morris talked about his book, Rogue Spooks: The Intelligence War on Donald Trump, about the Russia investigation and the Trump campaign. (September 19, 2017. From C-SPAN video library.) At 37:40: “But now, Brennan and Holder turned those agencies from bright red to deep blue. They became apostles not of capitalism and of democracy but of the Left-wing tenets of this global governance and this collectivism of the whole Obama agenda. But they still remembered their playbook. They still remembered the moves. But now they were deploying… Read more »

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Ursula
6 years ago

The CIA was always left wing, from the very beginning. Obama’s “grandfather” was a stringer. CIA and State are interchangeable, always have been. The left is happy to continue the ruse that CIA is of the right. The FBI on the other hand, was turned.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Ursula
6 years ago

Anyone can be fired. It suits the GOPe to pretend their hands are always tied.

BestGuest
BestGuest
6 years ago

I, for one, am sick of waiting for “stealth” Jeff Sessions to indict someone. The time is long since past. The swamp of mediocrities protects its own.

JohnTyler
JohnTyler
Reply to  BestGuest
6 years ago

The inaction of Jeff Sessions is really puzzling.

One can only assume he is a timid moron or hates Trump or is just waiting for the best time to unleash a deathly barrage against Mueller, et. al.

Time will tell.

BestGuest
BestGuest
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

How long should we wait? Because I don’t see signs for anything other than Business as Usual.

el_baboso
Member
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

I have long seen Sessions as the “compliance” guy in Boiler Room.

Kentucky Headhunter
6 years ago

The modern habit of the Washington elite giving themselves a pass for their bad behavior, should lead sensible people to assume nothing comes of this.

I wonder what it would actually take for me to believe that anything meaningful was going to change in how D.C. operates?

What would it take to convince you (anyone who wants to respond) that things were actually turning around?

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  Kentucky Headhunter
6 years ago

Mueller’s investigation getting finally shitcanned and indictments coming out of the IG report. If a bunch of monkeys get killed, the rest of the troop might realize their best shot didn’t work. And that would put a serious scare into the deep state. Still a long shot.

Member
Reply to  Kentucky Headhunter
6 years ago

At minimum, lots of folks with administrative authority and/or serious money & influence getting sent to “pound me in the ass” prison.

But I must admit my ire is such that I would prefer that careers in politics, administration, and influence were ended Il Duce-style.

Joseph Suber
Joseph Suber
Reply to  Kentucky Headhunter
6 years ago

Obama indictment. Even if it came to nothing. Just 3 years of playing offence and watching vermin scatter under the light.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Joseph Suber
6 years ago

Ole jug ears is guilty as the day is long. If Trump goes after him, obama will serve time.

Member
6 years ago

People like Jonah Goldberg have always turned me off when they start quoting Hayek and the like. I want to hear their own thoughts and opinions.

I’m reminded of one of those Black guys in the suit and bow tie I saw being interviewed, probably on Fox, years ago. To every question he would reply, “The Blessed Reverend says…” The interviewer would try to get the interviewee to express a thought of his own, but never could.

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

Alinsky’s Rule 11: “If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside”

I think Trump is a perfect example of this in action.

TomA
TomA
6 years ago

The next IG report will come out soon, and the few remaining hard core Americans are watching carefully at how all this all plays out. If it ends in a few token prosecutions and lot of bleating and balderdash, then the follow-on consequences will be non trivial. At a minimum, there will be a complete loss of trust and faith in core federal institutions. Most everyone will learn to never trust the FBI (and all other law enforcement agencies). Rightly or wrongly, these agency personnel will be treated like a lethal enemy. This is the future that Sessions will wrought… Read more »

De Beers Diamonds
De Beers Diamonds
Reply to  TomA
6 years ago

The entirety of the establishment view any Right-Wing politics as illegitimate. In return, we should refuse to grant the establishment any respectability. National Review and Fox News are Vichy. Even Breitbart is not to be trusted, given that it is first and foremost an Israeli site.

We had senior military officers publicly musing about a coup after Trump didn’t denounce Charlottesville strongly enough.

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  TomA
6 years ago

Still keeping half my chips on the “wolf by the ears” bet. As you allude, the problem is not so much the IG investigation itself–it is complicated, but not complex, but potentially the problem of how to explain the findings. And can’t simply drop that out there…”what next” has to be answered at the same time. Been in the finance business for decades, fractional banking and markets run on confidence. As does government. Lose that and you have the anarchy that will arise from that loss of trust.

Whiskey
6 years ago

Third force I live in California. Every political as is who is more anti White and who is more pro illegal. Mass non White immigration are the wild card

Based Millennial
Based Millennial
6 years ago

This may sound like a bad analogy given that it’s overuse has made it asinine, but Trump is like Hitler when he got control of the government. The prevailing wisdom was that Hitler could have been controlled by members of the government as only three Nazis were in cabinet posts; the rest were right wing businessmen who thought they were more experienced than the boorish outsider. Within a year, Hitler turned the tables on them. He conducted purges, most notably the Night of the Long Knives, while using popular support to outmaneuver the insiders. Minus the killings, this looks exactly… Read more »

Pox Vocally
Pox Vocally
6 years ago

Trump isn’t a senator from New York, isn’t a congressman from New York, isn’t a governor or any other type of politician from New York. He’s a NEW YORKER, first and last, and acts as one. This is why half the country doesn’t get it. He’s Ed Koch on steroids in a bigger pond.

Mark Matis
Mark Matis
6 years ago

President Reagan was hamstrung with Shrub I as his Vice. He had to accept that sewage as the price for getting funding for his campaign. And Shrub I then proceeded to sabotage President Reagan at every opportunity.

President Trump, on the other hand, was able and willing to fund his own campaign. THAT is the only reason he is able to stand against the One World Government crowd that has controlled US politics for at least the last 29 years.

Frip
Member
6 years ago

Buckleyites were mentioned a few times in this post. It reminded me of this quick exchange between Buckley and Peter Robinson. Robinson asks Buckley to assent to the fundamental virtue of the Civil Rights movement. It’s not a big deal, I just like how Bill casually and sort of unexpectedly delivers his 5 word response.

From 18:00 to 18:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIbdbrN9cwo

Ryan
Ryan
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

The civil rights movement destroyed white communities. Without legal means to keep black proles out of white areas, new strategies had to employed to avoid living around them. Rich and middle class whites sought out expensive neighborhood with really high housing prices. Poor whites ended up in trailer parks. Charles Murray wrote a book about this called “Coming Apart.” Though it’s all cloaked PC language, it does describe the awful affect this has had on the left half of the white bell curve.

the captain
the captain
6 years ago

The neocons are not simply working with the left in the Mueller investigation, they seem to be present everywhere-most likely because they know their days are numbers. Trump’s increasingly cozy and disturbing relationship with the neocon war mongers and the Israeli lobby might be less a fact of the deep state making their way into his administration and more a result of Trump aligning himself with people he think can protect him from the FBI’s ‘seditious plot.’

Virginia Bailey
Virginia Bailey
6 years ago

EvERY WELL WRITTEN. My gut told me he was the one who might have the courage to save our Constitution. Guess from this article he is the warrior I though he was.

vicky Huss
vicky Huss
6 years ago

THAT, ‘POST”, was, ‘RIGHT ON!” LOVED IT!

Larry Nelson
Larry Nelson
6 years ago

So. being a lier, adulter, bankrupted businessman, who ruined fellow contractors is admirable?

Bob Redman
Bob Redman
6 years ago

“the fact is, Trump plays rough and the people in the FBI scandal have every reason to fear retribution from him.”

And they should. Two eyes for an eye.

“The ground you gain can only come at the expense of the people in charge and there can never be peace.”

Chimpanzees understand this quite well.

KEITH
KEITH
6 years ago

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Member
6 years ago

” there can never be peace.
Indeed, why would we want peace in the culture war? The Left understands that this war is existential, so must we.

wholy1
wholy1
6 years ago

Exceptional both literary acumen AND political analysis. One of your best, Zman. Thx.

bad guest
bad guest
6 years ago

So Trump’s a tough guy, a streetfighter, and he’s gonna bust em all a good one huh?

Sounds real good, but now that Trump is pretty openly acting as the Neocon-Israeli bulldog I’m not sure it means a whole lot

Whiskey
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

Did you miss the hysterical anti Israel stuff re Pales tinians by Lib Jews? Great stuff since JoeAverage likes Israel as it fights muslims.

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  Whiskey
6 years ago

Except for when Israel takes in wounded ISIS jihadis, heals them and sends them back out to continue fighting to overthrow Syria’s sovereign leader in the Western- and Gulf-backed regime change/destabilization project. Israel quietly works hand in hand with the Saudis, who create cutthroat jihadi extremists with their Sunni Wahhabist extremism. The U.S. gets behind all that. Shameful.

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Ursula
6 years ago

The concept of that which is sovereign does not much apply to Syria. Only Lebanon is more removed from that state. The British Imperialist had sophisticated understandings of how to organized states out of mixed vegetables, but its shelf life seems to have reached expiration. . You may wish to take note that Trump supported, perhaps nudged, a revolution in the Sunni ruling class of Saudi Arabia. Since this has the potential to reverse forty years of double dealing which American governments found acceptable, it is no wonder this event goes almost unexamined. I am not making the argument that… Read more »

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  james wilson
6 years ago

“The concept of that which is sovereign does not much apply to Syria.” What kind of nonsense is that? How can you even say such a thing? Sounds like regurgitated war-industry talking points. Can you not put yourself in Syrians’ shoes and understand how it might feel to have outside countries horrifically assaulting your country? It’s convenient to try to wipe away the huge moral failure of overthrowing other country’s leaders and destroying the lives of its millions of inhabitants, but what we’re doing is WRONG. I can’t think of many other things people could do on this earth that… Read more »

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  Ursula
6 years ago

I say to those on the Dissident Right who find their emotions siding with the Israelis against the Syrians and Palestinians: How hard is it to imagine, in ten years time, the US government treating us like they treat these besieged populations? The white-ish group with the superior military may be coming after you in the future.

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Ursula
6 years ago

All those things may be very true without your understanding of what is sovereignty being true. Syria reflected sovereignty with power, one-half of one of the three qualities of sovereignty. The British invention of ME sovereignty is worn thin. Most of our inventions were thin to begin with.

Luke
Luke
Reply to  james wilson
6 years ago

James Wilson, are you some sort of Turkish supremacist? Only someone wanting to revive the Ottoman empire would deny that there is a native desire for sovereignty and nation states in the Middle East.You might want to read about the struggles the Turks faced trying to prevent the dissolution of their empire before World War One. Then again you could just be an Israeli trying to justify your country’s absolute contempt for other coutries’ sovereignty. If countries shaped by British intervention have an inferior sovereignty then Israelis should be extremely worried! The historical, legal, cultural and genetic justification for the… Read more »

Din C. Nuffin
Din C. Nuffin
Reply to  Luke
6 years ago

Let’s see. I haven’t heard Israelis shouting “Death to America” yet. But that seems to be a theme of most middle eastern countries. “Tribes with flags” they were referred to not too many years ago. Screw ’em.

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  Din C. Nuffin
6 years ago

I can’t believe all the Zionist love coming from you guys. Zionists are involved in all our worst problems in the U.S.: unlimited immigration, open borders, suppressed wages, parasitic banks that enslave us in usurious debt, degenerate violent culture cultivated by scummy music, movies, tv, and the cancers of feminism, multiculturalism, identity politics. All this in addition to endless lawless warfare utilizing jihadi extremists who go on to live in EU and US, the vast majority on welfare, which they enjoy right up to the point when they kill some white western infidels by driving a truck into a crowd… Read more »

Jimbo
Jimbo
Reply to  james wilson
6 years ago

Syria has existed for millenia. The modern iteration is a product of French design.Even so, there is a logic to Syria that cannot be wished away by Israeli imperialsts.

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  james wilson
6 years ago

James, I’m referring to Syria as the sovereign nation it is according to international law as of today here on planet earth. Not sure about the qualities of sovereignty you’re referring to, maybe you can elaborate. Let’s just not get so lost in esoteric ‘principles’ that we can no longer see what plainly exists in reality before us.

Christopher S. Johns
Christopher S. Johns
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

I confess that I found the spectacle of a nation vigorously defending its borders and its people against a horde of barbarian invaders to be splendidly rousing.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  Christopher S. Johns
6 years ago

I understand the feeling but must point out that many of the same people who cheer on Israel for killing Palestinians at their border would call the USA “Nazis” if we even apprehended the Mestizo caravan at our borders. Your feelings of support for Israel are mostly unreciprocated.

Christopher S. Johns
Christopher S. Johns
Reply to  LineInTheSand
6 years ago

It’s the optics I support – a picture is worth a thousand words.

Dave
Dave
Reply to  LineInTheSand
6 years ago

I’ve been to Israel. I can assure you that your feelings towards Israelis are completely unreciprocated.

Sixteen Psyche
Sixteen Psyche
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

I disagree with the idea that Trump has become merely a neocon- Israeli bulldog. Actual neocon nutters like Max Boot and Jenny Rubin are FREAKING OUT because they realize Trump’s America-first policies mean Israelis might have to die for their country instead of Americans. Trump is as pro-Israeli as any American president should be and likely more, but he plainly isn’t interested in the great neocon scheme of recreating the Iraq War in Syria, complete thousands of dead American soldiers and trillions of dollars spent rebuilding the place. Compared to all that, moving the embassy and not minding that the… Read more »

Joseph Suber
Joseph Suber
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

Not to go all Qanon, but why not figure this Jerusalem gambit as a way of confusing the hometown Jews enough to keep them at bay?

Epaminondas
Member
Reply to  Joseph Suber
6 years ago

Nothing will keep them at bay but force. They are either at your throat or at your heels.

active pooter
6 years ago

there is some truth to what you say, but you are giving trump too much credit…he wants to be adored and remember fondly…reagan wanted the same thing…and to get what he wanted, he had to please the corporate media, which is funded by corporate ads…and in order to please the media he had to cuck…the media hated reagan at first…reagan’s fiery populist rhetoric scared the corporate media and their corporate funders…and so they demonized him at first…then in order be portrayed more positively by the media reagan cucked and abandoned his populism… the same thing is happening with trump–he will… Read more »

Cerulean
Cerulean
Reply to  active pooter
6 years ago

How do you know this is true of Trump? Divine revelation? Time travel?

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  active pooter
6 years ago

Trump’s obvious efforts to sidle up with the media illustrate your point. And of course Reagan was famous for his media ass-licking.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “it is not one world” – even among commenters on the good old Z blog.