The first Republican debates for the 2024 election will be in about six months, which means the field will be shaping up in the next few months. Trump has already declared, along with zombies like Nikki Haley and John Bolton. Tim Scott is supposed to join the zombies shortly, along with Mike Pompeo. There is rumor that former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson is contemplating a run. Team zombie will be well represented on the debate stage next fall.
The big name everyone is waiting on is Ron DeSantis. He is doing all of the things that a presidential candidate does when he is seriously thinking about a run. He has gone on tour to important states to give speeches. He has a book out about himself and what he claims to believe. This being the social media age, he has a team for that and a collection of paid influencers. That last bit is unspoken but it is becoming common for so-called influencers to sell their services.
Of course, the unpaid influencers and clout chasers are jumping into the act, siding with Trump against DeSantis or DeSantis against Trump. It speaks to the ridiculousness of the zombie wing of the party that their influencers are all retirees down at the Villages who still have National Review subscriptions. Putting that aside, you have the usual on-line suspects doing their thing to get attention for themselves while ostensibly getting attention for their preferred candidate.
It has been an article of faith that winning the social media war is the same as winning the fight in the real world. There is no evidence to support this, other than post hoc claims about the role of influencers. Douglas Mackey is facing ten years in prison based on the claim that his mocking of Hillary Clinton caused her voters to think they could vote for her by text message. There is no evidence to support this, but people now think social media is a form of magic.
Putting that aside, the evidence suggests that the virtual world of Twitter is disconnected from the world of reality. How often has someone mentioned to you in real life something they saw trending on Twitter? The fact is, unless you are really into Twitter, Twitter does not matter. Facebook groups and local on-line groups matter somewhat, but people join these groups because they already agree with the general theme of the group, so it is about confirmation bias.
We are already getting a taste of this with Trump-DeSantis. There is a large on-line vote that is still angry about Trump not being their God-Emperor. Ann Coulter is their queen and various influencers are vying to become the king of this group. Then you have the tribe that always goes for the latest thing, so they have their claims in favor of new and hip DeSantis over the old and tired Trump. Of course, the finks of conservatism are pretending to like DeSantis.
So far none of this matters. All of the polling shows Trump has a huge lead over the field in the key demographics. He comes with the built in advantage of answering the two essential questions every candidate must first answer. “This is who I am and this is why you should vote for me.” The rest of the field has to answer both of those questions, which is not easy in a crowded media world. DeSantis has the shortest road, but he is still an unknown to most of the voters.
This is where another question will be answered. The Republican leadership has been sure that Trump is done for a while now. They threw the midterms as proof that Trump no longer has influence over voters. It is a good example of how they get high off their own narratives. They are playing nice with DeSantis thinking he can be the final nail in the Trump coffin. Trump voters will be tempted to accept the compromise of DeSantis in order to get support from the party elite.
This probably would have worked in 2016. If the party had rallied to Ted Cruz early in the process, he most likely would have won. This time it may be the opposite where any support from party leaders is toxic. We are already seeing populist paranoia about DeSantis on key issues like foreign policy. DeSantis and the field may be faced with an additional hurdle. That is, they will have to prove to voters that they are not going to fink on them like every other Republican has done for generations.
Put another way, this may be the crackup of the Republican Party. A sizable chunk of their vote no longer trusts the party. The party leaders and donors no longer trust the voters, especially the Trump wing. If the gap is large enough, it means no candidate can stand across it and get the trust of both sides. Any effort to do so creates doubts on both sides of the divide. A couple generations of finking on their voters may finally have cracked this coalition of the desperate.
Of course, the shadow over all of this is the sense of futility. As more people come to terms with the electoral map, the less enthusiasm there is for the process of finding an electoral solution to our problems. With key states having been fortified for democracy, it is just about impossible for a Republican to win now. This is why the political class is not vexed with the Democrats running a vegetable. They put John Fetterman in the Senate, so they can re-elect Joe Biden.
As America transitions into a one-party authoritarian state, this election will have the feel of a final chapter. The old folks will get to reminisce about how these things used to matter and lament the passing of an age. The rest will find a way to fight the inevitable frustration over the lack of anyway to do something about it. Many, of course, will pretend that it is all on the level. They will blame the voters for electing a political class that is corrupt and feckless.
This will be an election at the end of time. Not the end of all time, but the end of this phase of the American experience. The current political and cultural arrangements are not working and that is becoming increasingly clear to people. This election promises to be ridiculous enough to drive home that point. It will also become increasingly clear that the older generation is just hoping to run out the clock. The rest will soon be left to contemplate what comes next.
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None of it matters with mail in ballots in play, but im praying to GOD almighty that SCOTUS overturns affirmative action this summer! That might give our grandkids a fighting chance at saving one state
I used to push back against it, but leftists are right. On the macro level, this is just low tier Republicans.
Your values shouldn’t be reflected in society if you are totally owned by people who despise you publicly and work to destroy you. And that’s the case here. Black people aren’t treated that way by Democrats, who is on the “plantation”?
Can’t wrap my head around what the country club party did to make “red’ resonate so much. It isn’t subtle.
T.I.A indeed. The blog says my comment is too short so I guess I’ll point to the “A” and chuckle.
Not sure what happened there. That was supposed to be a reply to Ostei’s comment about Africa.
whenever a too short comment is rejected, the comment “box” is reset to outermost level. so if you don’t reposition it back to where you want it, the next comment goes in the wrong place.
The expert explanation
I don’t get sucked into the Trump and DeSantis feud, because like you said, it is now impossible for anyone on the Right to win any real meaningful electoral victory. The country keeps getting more blue with each passing day, so arguing over who will win the GOP primary is an exercise in futility. Also, in addition to an increase in non-White voters, you also have an increasing democrat-voting demographic in unmarried White women. In summary, all the debate about policy means zilch.
I don’t agree that it’s a “blue” country problem…Arizona is not in fact blue, but the massive vote fraud in Maricopa County, mostly sanctioned by the GOP, means that Democrats can win any important race…And that’s true all over the country…Biden is very unpopular, even with Dems, but the vote fraud machine will elect him regardless..
And if you don’t believe Pyrrhus, note that it was a GOP legislature and Governor that ushered in mail-in voting two decade ago in AZ!
I wonder if Russia is waiting for the U.S. election to get closer before they start a huge military offense in Ukraine?
Who knows. Depends on Russia’s objective (to which I am not privy). If it is to grind Uke army to nothing like it was a chopped down tree stump, then the current actions seem to work pretty well so why do something different unless things change and warrant adjustment.
Your last three paragraphs really nailed it — great finishing kick. Thanks.
“It will also become increasingly clear that the older generation is just hoping to run out the clock. The rest will soon be left to contemplate what comes next.”
Guilty as charged—but what would you have me do? Climb a tower and start shooting my neighbors? There comes a time where one comes to terms with oneself, reflects, and prepares for the end. That time is nigh. If you want more than that, then you have to come knocking, I’ll accommodate you. 😉
The boomers deserve at least half of the criticism that they get, but once they’re gone it could very well be one of those careful what you wish for things.
I imagine what’s left of the USA with millenials and zoomers in charge and it aint pretty
As a young Xer, I feel like there is a large drop off between us and the Millennials.
That said, I’m consistently shocked how many 40-something Wokesters came out of my small town high school class of 55 people.
X’s lot in life is for the boomers to ruin the first half and the millennials the last
Ha! Ha! Jeffrey Zoar. That is a bucket of ice cold truth that I splash myself with every once in a while.
Maybe our latch-key, fuck it I’ll figure it out myself approach will come in handy. I know the college kids who gleefully voted in Fetterman. They may be begging us someday to drag them out by the scruff of their necks. But, no. We’ll probably be too old. That said, if we do our de-facto separation there are enough of us to do alright until we need our diapers changed. Maybe the Trudeau Opt Out will be better than having a Ghanaian Venezuelan mix change us in the final months.
Great gallows humor.
Stereotypical “woke” personal vanities—purple-haired crossdresser w/ four facial piercings and forty tattoos, etc.—are so far GenX’s only lasting contribution to the culture. This year is probably the thirtieth anniversary of us looking like that. woohoo
We may also have been the ones who made censorship *feral*, but there are so many fingerprints on that body, I’m not sure.
Purple hair and face shrapnel? Isn’t that more of a millennial and zoomer thing? I’m thinking of course about my cohort as we were in like ’92. I can’t recall a single person with tats or obvious affectations, either guy or girl. That includes some obnoxiously leftist people I knew too and of course the Evangelicals I knew still thought all that shit was the Mark of the Beast. Now if you mean did Xers tag along later and get all tatted up? Well, most of them did. So you could trash them for aping lame, stupid, degenerate fads that younger people started and now that I think about it maybe that’s worse than originating those trends in a sense.
As for Gen X, the Jim Rose Circus types were a fringe group and even the Coyote Ugly tramp stampers kept it tame.
That tat and face tackle crowd took off with the millenials.
They made a movie about that. It’s called Idiocracy.
As disturbing as that documentary is, I found the production values a bit low.
the “elections” will take place amidst foreign crisis. Unlike 2016, there will be direct impact by Russia and China on the actions (of the regime power centers though not the people who have no voice or choice).
The FBI is full on a KulturKampf against the Catholic Church. Garland admitted (by not officially under oath denying it) he has spies (and likely bugs) inside Churches and probably the Confessional and pews, altar. They were egged on by the SPLC who seems to run the FBI now, ostensibly its over abortion but it might be the woke Mormon White guy rear-guard action against Hispanic Catholics using diversity as a weapon for promotion. A general purge nevertheless of Catholics from both FedGov and the Fortune 500 is underway. A fight stupid and pointless (what do they win if successful) ??? But there you have it.
Meanwhile there was another major terrorist action inside Russia by the CIA and Ukraine, following the blowing up of Nordstream, the CIA assassination of Dugin’s daughter, the blowing up of part of the Kerch bridge, and attacks deep inside Russia on airbases and the like. The CIA seems to think Putin cannot and will not retaliate. I think that a poor bet and figure we will see major regions of the North East without power for years, including NYC. [We used carbon fibers against the big step transformers to kill power in Iraq against Saddam — then we could not put the power back on for years — those transformers are massive and take years to manufacture.] All sorts of sabotage and fifth gen warfare are possible with a wide open border and friendly cartels [There are US sponsored color revolutions ongoing in Mexico and Israel if you read carefully btw.] China has explicitly backed Russia as they are also on the Regime change and dismemberment list by Soros and the WEF.
Meanwhile, people like Musk, Bezos, and a few others are realizing that nuclear war will ruin their ambition, and so will the US as South Africa writ larger as that nation is rapidly collapsing beyond the point of no return. Bezos won’t have all those billions if Amazon is just a tiny adjunct to Weibo and other Chinese firms and the US population does nothing but live in a pod eating bugs. Musk wants “glory” to get to Mars and the Asteroids, and there are cautious media articles saying retaking Crimea like Nuland wants is insane. The planned Spring/Summer offensive into Belarus by War show-runner Nuland may not go ahead, but if it does expect it to end in epic disaster with thousands of US POWS on TikTok begging to come home.
California’s Newsom is positioning himself as the Reparations candidate vs. Biden, who has brushed him back with leaks on Newsom’s corrupt charity he runs with his wife raking in payouts for running in schools various gay/tranny promoting sex films [clown world, epic version, you can’t make this stuff up.]
Summary: it is not up to the people, but rather the fight between FedGov true believers, mostly ((())) though not exclusively, in the DOJ/FBI/CIA/State, and oligarchs, some military people, and a few others not willing to go full Wrath of Khan for hate’s sake. I do see the true believers in hate hate hate taking on too many battles: the Church (there is only one no matter how fallen), Putin, Xi, vested commercial interests, elements of the military.
Sanctions against China which are coming will result in various actions against Apple, Nike, etc. Apple cannot replace China as its main supplier for years (if ever) and if China just sells its own stuff as Apple, not much Apple can do about it. Write that large and you see the issues the True Believers have as the war escalates to China as it has.
But at no point will the average America White person have any say whatsoever in what happens. At best the non freaks install Newsom and we have crushing White taxes to pay for reparations. At worst we have it with Brandon and nuclear war on top like a cherry.
“There are US sponsored color revolutions ongoing in Mexico and Israel if you read carefully btw.”
What is the US color revolution in Israel? I would like to understand that.
We’ve already done one in Israel, Bennett bear Netanyahu with the USG doing everthing but passing out pamphlets for him. Even though Bibi is on board with the GAE on pretty much everything for some reason they hate him almost as much as BOM. Personally, I’d like to see him behind bars because he is a crook and has been in power way too long.
spot on. what we’re witnessing is one edge of the deep state vs the other. neither are representative for anything other than their own power and fame.
The Regime says a lot of things. There will be 5M in reparations for each black person. China will be added to the hit list along with Russia, Israel and the Catholic Church? sure why not. To me this all sounds like Tammy the trailer trash girl writing up her shopping list for Saks 5th Ave. Honey, the truck won’t start and the credit card is maxed, we’ll just walk you down to Walmart and pay cash for one of those pinwheel things like they got in Dumb and Dumber.
None of these issues will matter. Most democrats will vote democratic. Most Republicans will vote Republican. There is a small group in between that is irrelevant because they have their power in swing states that will have plenty of voter fraud.
Issues no longer matter in a multicultural society. As Lee Kwan Yew noted, in a multicultural society people don’t vote based politics or the economy. They vote based on race and religion. And our dominant religions among non whites and white single women are social justice and/or let’s get Whitey’s stuff.
For decades, if not more than a century now, the FBI or its predecessor constituents/fellow travelers have been at it. They must feel pretty confident about their success now that they are quite open and obvious about it. Have to admit, I would feel pretty confident too given the level of infiltration they have achieved.
As for purge of Catholics, I assume you are referring to ones who take Catholic dogma seriously. Plenty crappy Catholics in places of power. Most, but not all, on the Demo/liberal side.
It is difficult for me to resist getting sucked into these elections. I feel as if I am setting a bad example for my kids by being too cynical.
They’re never too young to learn the truth about what’s going on. I wouldn’t give my 8 year old an in-depth explanation about the true state of things, but I certainly behave in a way that provides clues as to my feelings.
If nothing else, you absolutely must give them “the talk”.
John Derbyshire approves of this post!
(So do I.)
So does Scott Adams.
(So do I)
“Of course, the shadow over all of this is the sense of futility. As more people come to terms with the electoral map, the less enthusiasm there is for the process of finding an electoral solution to our problems.”
Finally here you get to the heart of the matter. It’s all a show; we’re whistling past the graveyard. We have (and have had) deep civilizational crises that cannot be addressed by narrow economic “solutions.” Dumb ass voters voting for dumb ass politicians in rigged elections to uphold our values in a rules based liberal order. . .it just aint gonna cut it any more.
I look at Trump and DeSantis and sigh. Trump would’ve been more useful 30 years ago; he was totally Trumped in office and became a vax salesman who conferred with kardashian on the platinum plan. DeSantis may be doing a good job in Florida, but like Reagan’s CA it will soon go deep blue.
The only hopeful and meaningful political news is stuff like Buckhead, GA and rural Oregon trying to secede.
“The only hopeful and meaningful political news is stuff like Buckhead, GA and rural Oregon trying to secede.”
Yep. Much more widespread albeit less dramatic is the states and localities refusing to follow federal law on a spectrum from sanctuary cities to Covid restrictions. Covid changed many things, but the most significance is how is laid the groundwork for widespread dissolution.
Florida’s election results do not suggest a blue turn. They seem to indicate that most of the new arrivals are red voters fleeing blue places. 2020 and 2022 were the reddest it has been in decades. Perhaps it is all rigged and faked, but those are the numbers.
Once upon a time it was CA. A decade ago it was TX. Now it’s FL. Probably TN next. Pump and dump is the Republican way.
“Pump and dump is the Republican way.”]
Holy schmidt. I don’t think anybody’s noticed that before.
Instead of building moats, they see it as
Penning the sheep so they can be sheared.
Death to the GOP!
Just look at the Midwest, where the party started.
It’s also why I don’t celebrate rising property values in my neck of the woods. We’re merely being fattened for slaughter.
If my wife and I can pull it off we will probably soon be added to those red hordes fleeing the Blue states for FL. It’s certainly far from perfect but has the strongest economy and (short term) political prospects of the places we’ve looked at. Add to that me being an ex-FloridaMan myself and we’ll probably go there. If they go nutso Blue it’s a short drive to the rest of the deep South and if that goes, there’s no where left to run.
I also think it’s a big enough state with enough people to be able to pull off, what can you call it? A third way? Soft secession? Maybe leading to the hard variety eventually. If there’s a way for any geographical regions to seceded their way out of this mess I think Florida and Texas can be the anchor points.
Let me assure you, the “red” voters coming here to FL are still insanely liberal. They’ll also accept any and anything because it wasn’t as bad as where they came from (NY or CA, often). Half the liberal policies increase their real estate values, so they’ll vote for it all over again.
Also, DeSantis is a fake ass bullshitter. He’s an establishment neocon Covidian who locked down the state and was cool with the sheriff policing the beaches and park trails for anyone breaking the rules. He says one thing for the cameras and then does the opposite behind closed doors. He’s all political stunts.
“The only hopeful and meaningful political news is stuff like Buckhead, GA..”
And, naturally, the GA RINO cuck governor is trying to stop it.
The only problem is the Second Great Migration – Cloud wannabees going to the next cheaper red outpost, (Portland to Bend; Denver to Boise; …), and bringing their nonsense with them. Perhaps the future is a bunch of hot intra-white civil wars in those areas. The Dirts won’t out vote or out organize them. At some point, something has to give.
At any rate, this new white flight isn’t to a new burb, but to a Red outpost. Pick your de-facto separation location with care and have a cadre of friends who will join you. Adams is only half right. It is also the shitlibs looking for lower cost of living. Someday we’ll have to stop fleeing.
Twitter may not be reality to you and me, but to the regime it kind of is. To the media class it definitely is. These groups see it as a real time poll of public opinion. Policy decisions have been made on this basis. We don’t call it clown world for nothing. The regime’s power can hardly be overestimated, but its silliness gets underestimated all the time. And as more millenial victims of microagression enter the managerial class, it is only going to get worse.
From 2020 on, I’ve never had real high confidence that there will be an election in 2024. I’m starting to see how it could happen, but I still wouldn’t put a whole lot of money on it.
Much ado about nada. Even if the Regime’s backers allowed a GOP victory, nothing would change, any more than four years of Trump changed America. D.T. is an Eighties-era liberal with a daughter that rules him, who talks big . . . but initiated the eternal poison-vax program, after which he tipped out quietly to Mar-a-Lago and allowed the Regime to steal the election.
Bone-US question: Who said, ‘Fifteen days to flatten the curve’?
Donald is nowhere near strong enough medicine to save Lost Amerika. Assuming the populace wished to be saved, which it does not. Only thing the ‘conservatives’ want to conserve is the past fifty years of liberalism, feminism, and glut-materialism.
I recall telling the ‘conservatives’ in 2016 that they didn’t have enough actual men to Make Great Again one state, much less the whole shebang. Things have deteriorated significantly since.
DeSantis would be a fool to run. If he wins the nomination Trump can sabotage his bid for the Presidency. At the very least, he can credibly threaten to do it, so why would DeSantis run the risk?
He’s young enough and Trump’s general election chances low enough that he can afford to be patient. I think the betting markets are really off on this.
The basic message that the electorate is sending to the Beltway morons by electing Trump is, “You’re fired!”.
There’s clearly a “strike while the iron is hot” feel around him. If he doesn’t run now, he runs the risk of some other hotshot governor usurping his position between now & 2028. Also he’ll be out of office early in 2027, meaning he risks dropping off the radar completely.
Scott Walker might serve as the cautionary tale. He seemed like an up-and-comer, passed on 2012, kicked the tires on 2016 but failed miserably, then lost office in 2018 and poof. Gone.
But it’s all moot anyway since Democrats have the WH locked.
I would much prefer to have DeSantis stay in FL partly for selfish reasons as I think that’s my most likely new home. I’d hate to watch him being “Trumped” if he won the Presidency. At this point the President of the US is just the captain of a sinking ship. Even the best possible man making all the right decisions can only hope to run the bilge pumps a little faster and slow the inevitable.
We have entered the Praetorian Phase wherein the people actually in charge are not on the ballot. That’s the whole point now.
The problem, of course, is that this phase can last the rest of our lives.
“The problem, of course, is that this phase can last the rest of our lives.”
This. Look, if God has decided to chastise this nation of ours, we richly deserve it. However, that means even your mom, aka the Madonna, sin-free, has to go along for the ride and it can, according to one source, take a good 1,000 years.
maybe longer since the rulers want to to be immortal cyborgs.
It definitely will outlast my life; I have spent the last decade getting my progeny prepared for the “Praetorian Phase” ( historically accurate and definitely in our future- thanks). Civil War II looms in the very near future as those hinterland secessions increase and our rulers decide to crack down on all the ebil White supremacists out there in red country (ironic, perhaps we should call ourselves redskins). Perhaps this is all moot; the Russkis may decide they need to strike before we do. The Deagle forecast of America’s population at 100 million in 2025 is looking somehow … scary.
Deagle is total bullshit. A 70% decline in the next couple of years? Nothing short of a calamitous war or spectacular disease spread with massive death and starvation could even approach such swift depopulation—and that can’t be predicted from any measurable current trends.
I assume the above, because a depopulation via mass migration (because things just suck here) would seem totally impossible, where would folk go? No country could or would take them.
“Nothing short of a calamitous war or spectacular disease spread with massive death and starvation could even approach such swift depopulation.”
Or the clot shot for the clods aka #DiedSuddenly works as designed.
The inflamed reaction from establishment to Woody Harrelson’s skit on Saturday Night Live kind of confirms it.
“The biggest drug cartels in the world get together, and buy up all the media and all the politicians… and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes… and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drug… and keep taking them over and over. I threw the script away.
I mean, who’s gonna believe that crazy idea being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day long.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2023/03/thomas-woods/actor-tells-truth-media-goes-berserk/
I never once in my life heard of Deagel until that forecast, and suddenly I was hearing the name everywhere
The older ones among us might reasonably wish that this phase lasts the rest of our lives. The next phase, also of indeterminate length, is guaranteed to be worse.
“The current political and cultural arrangements are not working and that is becoming increasingly clear to people.”
I certainly hope so. It’s glaringly clear to me, and I can only hope it becomes so to enough people, and sooner rather than later. The current political and cultural arrangements need to be cleared entirely away, in toto, like yesterday. Even though I’m still actually pessimistic, at least the prospect of a society-wide waking up moment being right on the horizon provides a little light in the darkness.
Please spare us at least until the end of the summer. I just can’t bear to look at this clown-show nearly 2 years from the election. 1/2 the people running could die of old-age related diseases in the nearly 2 years till the election.
Still, I have a prediction for the 2024 election. Clown world will win and we will lose no matter who is elected.
Sadly, your prediction is the high probability bet, being by far the most likely outcome. Viva la’ Clown World!!
Much like Africa, Clown World always wins (CWAW). Come to think of it, Clown World increasingly resembles Africa, and that is hardly a coincidence.
Ha! Ostei, you are such a fright! Ostei is beautiful when he’s angry.
Then I’m a stone-cold 10 every moment of the ruddy day.
“Please spare us at least until the end of the summer. I just can’t bear to look at this clown-show nearly 2 years from the election.”
And just like that, the first grifter, ‘politician’ has arrived, unsolicited, in the In Box. You should see this one – a guy calling himself “SIG”, not as in Sauer. A small town mayor from Joisy – they call him “Joe Signorello” and if you look him up, see if you agree that he looks like a disheveled drunk, stumbling home from the bars in Hoboken, with the grin he’d wear just before he realizes the hand-job he got in the alley was from a cross dresser.
Oh, and he is running against that fat sybarite Menendez. “Running against” hehe. Riiight.
“Laugh about it, shout about it, when you’ve got to choose. Anyway you look this you lose.”
Simon really nails the loss of public decency. The line about DiMaggio refers to the lack of public individuals conducting themselves with quiet dignity. My lord – if it was bad then, how much worse now?!
Richie Havens was right when he said we don’t have free elections unless there is a line on the ballot for “No, none of these candidates are acceptable.”
I like the “None of the above” ballot choice for its specificity, but until we do, I’ll do the next best thing—abstain from voting.
No, don’t abstain. Instead, write in Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho for every office.
It’s the best way to register discontent via the ballot. Voting for the choices their democracy presents has begun to feel a lot like being complicit. This way they at least have to count you.
I’m glad Douglas Mackey was mentioned. Anyone concerned about “muh rights” needs to check that out and if honest with themselves (they’re usually not) understand that the ship sailed on that issue years ago. What we really need is not a new President, but a deep understanding that the system isn’t worth saving, and certainly isn’t worth risking your life over as only the dumbest of the dumb and the most desperate of the desperate now join the military. We need to understand that the country we knew was ephemeral and no longer with us. And we also have to understand that those about 70+ will go to their graves not understanding this and shouldn’t even be given the time of day.
Yep. As I pointed out below, compare and contrast the disparate treatments of Andrei Sakarov and Julian Assange and claim with a straight face this is anything other than a totalitarian shithole.
Don’t forget Chris Cantwell. He got sent to federal prison basically for being a racist. I never particularly liked him, but it is clear they railroaded him on trumped up BS charges and sent him away to rot in federal prison. He appears to have finally used what little sense he had and has been very quiet since being let out of prison a couple of months ago.
Along the same lines, the grifter Dinesh D’Souza was railroaded and did prison time on what was normally a civil campaign finance infraction. He came to the commissars’ attention after he made a documentary critical of Hillary Clinton. Hard to be sad for the miserable son of a bitch, but it was an abomination.
Something similar was done to some Egyptian who made an anti-Muslim film. He was scapegoated for Benghazi, and sent to the slammer for violating a condition of parole that prevented him from using the internet, which is how his film was disseminated.
Mackey probably is the worst case since he is being persecuted for making fun of the Ruling Class, but he’s hardly alone.
I doubt the CIA’s favorite pet rodent DeSanta-clause has any fears about doing time. Nope, he just writes one best seller after another and will save us all from the evil Mouse.
Rat Vs. Mouse.
This is what happens when there is no rule of law. We have all kinds of de facto laws now. It’s not just the race and other dissident stuff.
I just saw a story today about a guy in Michigan who was traveling with about $250k. By the actual law, this is perfectly legal. By “de facto law,” this is illegal. They took all his money, all $250k and then after hiring a lawyer and invoking a new law in Michigan (this would not happen in most states. Most would keep ALL of the money), they were kind enough to give him $187k back. Not charged with any crime. Not convicted of any crime. This is happening both in air travel within the US, international flights and on the highways.
ALL of the layers of the criminal justice system are hopelessly corrupt. You are never going to rule-nazi these people into behaving like a respectable institution. Any institution who thinks it’s OK to just make up laws and rob people on the side of the highway cannot be reformed.
JR — ‘And we also have to understand that those about 70+ will go to their graves not understanding this and shouldn’t even be given the time of day.’
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Anyway I know what time it always is in New Amerika: midnight.
I’m a Boomer and I knew America died about 1975. GenX, Millennials and GenZ seem a little slow on the uptake.
1975 is a fucking paradise on Earth compared to the soon to be 2025. “Died” is a bit hyperbolic for what was still largely the ‘Gilded Age’ although certainly headed towards its twilight years.
Sept 11, 2001 was the definitive moment it went tits up because the creeping police state became 100x worse instantly, DC seized all power, and the diversity shit went into high gear with the whole “Islam is a religion of peace” in spite of all evidence saying otherwise. I won’t even get into the WTC7 (((collapse))) (read: controlled demolition) but suffice to say, that was the major pivot point.
If someone offered me a time machine to 1975 tomorrow I’d step in it w/o hesitation.
I turned eight in 1975, and when I think of that year I’m almost overcome with wistfulness and nostalgia. America was already in decline, but it was still a beautiful place to be.
Ah, 1975. I am not going to semi-dox, so I will say that year I was between 9-16 yrs old.
Politics? Some creepy old fucks a million miles away. The girl with freckles up the street everyone had a crush on. Taking that winter’s most beat up jeans, holes in knees — and making them your summer cutoff shorts.
Choosing a tee shirt to start the day. Pro Keds, one pair for the summer. Your color choice was big.
Play pickup ball. All kinds of ball. All day outside.
Apex: I’d only step in such a time machine if I could also be a highly trained assassin/sniper and with a guarantee I could off at least a few dozen select people before I was caught. Or conversely if I could take my current knowledge and buy stocks and metals and make myself fantastically wealthy and thus help other dissidents in the present time.
Otherwise, I feel no need to relive the decline again in slow-mo.
I remember 1975. In a lot of ways, it really sucked.
Two years after the fall of Saigon, four years before the hostages. A year after Nixon resigned, a year before Carter. Two years after Roe. Inflation. Busing. Gloria Steinem. NOW. The ERA. Catalytic converters. Vegas, Pintos, and Mustang IIs. Hippies. Nelson Rockefeller. Ted Kennedy.
Joe Biden.
If we remember 1975 fondly, it is a dire indication of the depths to which we have sunk today…
And yet, compared to 2023 and for those of us who have no recollection of 1955…
I watched the Fall of Saigon on the news as a teenager in 75. It might have sucked but it meant little for the average American. Nixon resigned in 74 but once again, little impact to most Americans. Busing sucked, no doubt. American cars sucked but so what? It was a much whiter America and therefore a much better America.
I beg to differ. I am 70, and I understand this perfectly well. There are lots and lots of people younger than me, some of them way younger, and they have not a clue about what time it now is. I have lived through much history, and I noticed the slide years ago, perhaps because the contrast from then to now is so stark. But this presumes that one was paying some attention as events unspooled, and gave thought to those – almost always invidious -comparisons between the culture then, and that which is now on offer. I had this mindfulness modelled for me by my parents, this reflecting on the fundamental difference between wishful thinking and realism, reinforced by some formative travel in South America when I was about 12.
Barefooted, pregnant Indian women carrying their previous issue in a shawl on their back staring in abject fear at a painting of the tortures of Hell in a church. Tall masonry walls with broken glass embedded in mortar at the top. Stuff like that pierced the bubble of suburban complacency. These things were shockingly bad.
But there was the good stuff. Growing up a largely free range kid, tramping through the woods with the neighborhood kids. Picking apples from an abandoned orchard, and hawking them to the motorists on what was still ar t that time a country road. Backpacking and mountain climbing in the Adirondack high peaks, and then later with my dad in the White Mountains, and for some little distance along the Appalachian Trail. Taking up the oboe and English horn in HS, and thanks to my teachers and my own focused work, becoming one of the best young players in New Jersey, and being ever grateful for the chance to share this inspiration with my fellows, and that for more than 50 years.
Things that shocked me out of complacency, along with things that showed me the possibilities for fulfillment through effort and self-discipline in what was once a very different society. I know what has been lost.
So I won’t have to ask you what time it is, and maybe, just maybe, I could enlighten quite a few of those your age as to that information, but I won’t presume to do so. But I will still be looking to learn from those along the way; it’s served me well up to now.
Give a listen.
John Prine, Hello in There
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RfwGkplB_sY
Jersey, thanks for sharing that poignant song. Touching.
I’m glad you had a good childhood in the old America. I did too.
Not everyone over 70 will go to their graves not understanding this.
The perfect micro-cosm of ConInc is the, “Hispanic” Congressfem from Miami Dade. This is the one who recently spoke at the WEF and said we need to give amnesty to 15 million illegals and then close the border.
Last year she married Lerner Woerner. How convenient for them. Who is Lerner Woerner? Well, he happens to operate a holding company of agricultural companies, real estate developers, sod and grass growers and distributers. He needs wetbacks to keep wages low, and also to build and then maybe get federal money to occupy all that real estate housing he is buying up.
The final kicker on the great Republican Congressfem from Woerner Holdings is that she introduced a bill last year, with another, “Lahteennah”, (spoken in the classic SoAmerIndian peasant’s nasal accent), to grant statehood to Puerto Rico.
The Republican party is already conquered. The Tired Citizen’s post today nailed it. Our task is to stop whining and pointing to every bonfire and organize on our own behalf. If the Left had only gone after the white working class they would be invincible, but having gone after the white white collar class and letting their black supremacist gollum get ahead of itself, there is an opportunity to recruit people into our fold and begin the slog of building our own things and separating. There is a huge amount of work to do. National, particularly presidential, electoral politics is just another time sync we can’t afford to engage in. Time to build fortifications in monolithic jurisdictions at a more local level. These fortifications must be political, educational (for our people only), and commercial.
It should be said that this does mean forfeiting the federal judiciary. The term fortification is used purposely knowing that we will be nullifying them at the state and municipal level. Another part of the fortification will be finding some way to fortify the enforcement arm local to us.
In the end, it is the barrel of the gun and who owns the locks and holds the keys that rules. We have a lot to do to take ownership of that at a local level.
It’s Lester Woerner and the Congresswoman in question is Maria Salazar.
OT: I’m modifying backpacks and repairing tents this week, and I’m learning to sew on the fly, so it’s slow going. I’ve been rewatching Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary as I work.
Observations: it’s discussed how the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t actually free any slaves. Missed that the first time around, and I was surprised to hear it. The documentary ran on PBS originally! The beautiful people back then were just as out of touch. Talk of racial ideology or emancipation is mostly quoted from politicians, intellectuals, and media figures. The soldiers quoted mostly talk about self-defense, states’ rights, or union, if they get into ideals at all. Finally, the black perspective is injected clumsily. Diversity apparently wasn’t so natural in 1990 lol. And of course, from that perspective, the war was always about the slave’s plight, and the whites were too dense to recognize it.
Idk, it’s giving me the sense of ancient grudges. From my biased perspective, as a ‘heritage’ American, I thought this country was about leaving that behind and starting over. Forgetting history, becoming indifferent to it. Not overthrowing it and building a utopia, or becoming like the rest of the world. I think we lost the thread pretty quickly, but again, my biased perspective.
I listen to EMJ, and he’ll talk about historical Jews and ahistorical Greeks, how Christianity is the syncretism of the two. That’s the thread we’ve lost, I suspect. Same gay old dialectic, forever. Plato’s forms vs. the Seed of Abraham. Ugh.
People on the DR like to hate on Don.
All the haters should remember this though. Trump was the ONLY western leader in my entire lifetime to cut immigration in any sense. Every month, immigration, both legal and illegal, was falling. Stephen Miller was doing a great job for him.
Trump/Pence wasn’t the Peinovich/Taylor ticket. But I think we should still be grateful for Trump’s efforts. Especially on immigration, which is really the top priority, above everything else. He also prevented a war with Russia
B125: Trump didn’t really do anything substantive about immigration or military entanglements. He merely slowed things down a bit. And everything was via Executive Order and thus only designed to be temporary. I think you give him way too much credit – perhaps because I’m so much older than you, I can no longer look at anyone who has been president in my lifetime and say that any of them did anything to improve my country in any way.
3ge4me:
Absolutely. Trump may have helped bring important issues (immigration) to the forefront, but he ultimately was a huge disappointment.
The powers that be are reversing Brexit in the UK.
Voting is a sham and they are not on our side.
What I guess is that what Trump really wants is the approval of Ivanka and her friends. If he can’t have that, then his huge need for approval drives him to more unsavory audiences, like the traditional whites.
His need for praise and approval motivated him to speak up for the traditional whites, but once he rode us into the white house, it was back to trying to win the favor of Ivanka and her friends.
That’s why what was attempted on immigration and trade was half-hearted and abandoned.
Trump’s value wasn’t in what he was/is, it was in what the regime believed he was. Which compelled them to show their true selves in ways previously invisible to normie. In this way they exposed not only themselves, but also the unreachability of all the people who are still oblivious. Be that as it may, it probably at least doubled the size of the dissident ranks. I think that’s a conservative estimate. Possibly more like quadrupled.
They didn’t have to react to him the way they did. He wasn’t THAT big of a threat. They could have tolerated him for 4 years, hamstringing him at every opportunity, and then sending him packing as they did with their democracy fortifications, and not so many would be the wiser. But they just couldn’t help themselves. A great many of them believed their own Trump=Hitler nonsense. It was simultaneously a demonstration of how big and powerful the regime is and how silly it has become.
Much of what motivated the elite’s disdain of Trump is simply class prejudice. After eight years of Obama (a Cloud People’s president, par excellence) the mere thought of someone as declasse as Trump was revolting to the Cloud People. In spite of his personal fortune, the Cloud People still regarded Trump as an interloper, a member of the Dirt People who rose well above his station.
They dropped in FY17 right after the inauguration. Then they rebounded to Obama-era levels in FY18. In FY19 they skyrocketed to (then) historic levels: https://tinyurl.com/mt8eembz
Just wait till the massive vote fraud in Arizona goes unchecked by the courts. They’re going to throw Kari Lake under the bus and laugh in her supporters’ faces. That’s going to deal a blow to voter morale that will echo for years. Voting will have been shown to be the sham it always was. Watching GOP hucksters attempt to coax their voters back to the polls will become a cringeworthy spectacle. This will hasten the changes that are coming in public perception.
I don’t think that the voter fraud vis a vie Kari Lake will have the effect you hope for, Epaminondas. The media is not/will not cover the story. The voters in AZ will be blamed and they will be told to try harder next time.
I wonder if Kari Lake has the potential to say Eff It and be one of the first open Normie-America Politics to Post-America DR politics and social organization converts.
She has a fire and, it seems, integrity. I remember that campaign stop where she let loose on this HivePropagandistAsian calling her to her face a stooge and a propagandist. I get the feeling she is legitimately pissed and legitimately American.
I think part of what ZMan is getting at is going to involve middle aged people who succeeded in the American establishment realizing it is Game Over for America but who understand what their kids will have to live in. Thus they will convert and bring their high functioning ability and the same ambition and drive to succeed to our side of the GD.
That is going to start happening. I think Adams is too cynical and Gen X oriented to do so. Lake may be one of the first open converts.
The U.S. has been a feminist nation for decades. Another empowered woman is not going to save you, no matter how Based she pretends to be.
There was a reason that the GOP pushed endless ‘conservative’ women mightily during the last midterms. That reason was not their love for God or nation.
That’s right. US has been a de facto and de jure matriarchy for at least 60 years; legally and culturally. We are fighting the matriarchy, among other things.
I agree on the whole that feminization is a huge net negative on our civilization. My point was that I don’t think she is pretending to be Based. I think she is extremely confrontational with the news media because, having once been a teleprompter reader, she knows exactly who and what they are.
I don’t think it is an act. If that is the case, why would you not have that on your side? In the meantime, we wait for a man to stand up and show as much balls as Kari Lake has shown.
Agreed. However, Scott Adams has also stepped up to the plate. He’s the only man to do it thus far.
Agreed Ostei. I said that in partial ignorance. I saw the video today where he calmly calls out Greenblatt and the ADL. He asks the logical question. Where have you been standing up against vicious murders of whites and the vicious anti-white vitriol. I think Adams has been thinking about this for a long time. He has done far more at this point then I have.
I think he has a large cache of facts and information and has been planning how to roll this out for a while. He is doing great work. I humbly sheath my purity spear.
But don’t you see? No man in the modern U.S. ever would be allowed to ‘stand up and be Kari Lake’. That is why Kari Lake is put forward as the truther-firebrand, just as the GOP put forth ‘conservative’ women in the midterms. You are double-bound. This has been the case in modern America for many decades.
You live in a covert matriarchy, and reflect the collective assumptions of that matriarchy, here, that Kari Lake has more balls than any man.
Women were created by God as helpmeets of men, not as men’s leaders and supervisors, and women were set under the authority of the male, even as the male is under the authority of the Son. To describe women or a woman as more ballsy than any man is the Luciferian Reversal in a, well, nutshell. :O) It is the heart of the original rebellion against God, and remains at the (rotten) heart of that rebellion.
America is not the solution to the rebellion against God, America is the final and ultimate manifestation of that rebellion, a nation and global-influencer born in goddess-idolatry, right down to Goddess Columbia’s ruling Lockdown District.
It saddens me greatly what they have done to Lake. Blatantly stealing an election is one thing, but then to follow that up with the public scorn and mocking seems to me justifiably punishable by hellfire.
It doesn’t really make a difference in the point of the essay but Ann Coulter is not a Trump supporter. She’s all in on the DeSantis train.
Nor do Trump supporters online (that I have seen) seem to care for her so much since she turned on him somewhere around 2018. They still grudgingly respect her for the most part. I think. But she is definitely not “their queen.” These days that’s probably Mrs. Lake.
I don’t think Coulter has nearly as much iinfluence as she thinks she does. At this point she’s so erratic and such a spectacle in her personal life and writing that very few people pay attention to her at all. She’s the old barfly dressed too young hitting on every guy still in the bar at closing time. Kind of pathetic and you just have to look away because you’re embarassed for her.
I stopped paying attention to Coulter after 911. She had a few quip’s about the (greedy) widows that turned me off. Then a few months ago it was pointed out that she was a “coal-burner”. I researched this (true) and then I knew I was right not to give her the time of day.
If you don’t have the racial issue straight, you can’t help the DR cause in the long run.
Tumescent: “Ann Coulter is… all in on the DeSantis train.”
Roasties gonna roast.
I think Coulter is funny and a good writer, but. . .she backed Romney and W. Bush with all her heart too, back in the day.
“It has been an article of faith that winning the social media war is the same as winning the fight in the real world.”
Interesting point. Much was made of Trump’s mean tweets and influencers in ‘16, probably because of his lean, victorious campaign. Hence the online censorship and suppression. And maybe borne out, because the rallies didn’t get it done the second time around.
Plus, the younger you go, the more online and virtual. I saw one of Z’s comments on Tuesday iirc, to the effect that the last 30 years are an outlier. I agree, and I imagine that’s true for the world online, too. For the time being, anyhow. My guess is meat world makes a comeback by necessity, but whether that’s happening or yet to happen I’m not sure.
“It has been an article of faith that winning the social media war is the same as winning the fight in the real world. There is no evidence to support this…”
I would say that the overwhelming acceptance of three years of Covid tyranny, Floyd riots, Biden installation,
mandatory compliance jabs and unlimited Ukraine war are supporting evidence.
I don’t do Twitter, Snapfish or Instapot, but more than enough of our rulers do to make the point academic.
If you really want to spice up the next election, we need an Azimov “Mule” candidate. Someone who will come in and state boldly that nothing matters except “vote rigging” and that he/she intends to entice young airheads into harvesting votes from nursing homes and obituary pages in all the key swing states. This will be accomplished by promising them “free” student loan forgiveness and they will believe it because they’re airheads. Then go on to prove this technique works by pointing to all the DAs that Soros’ money has gotten elected and all the violent criminals that were then released back onto the streets as a result As for the social media part, set up a website showing all the victims and carnage wrought by releasing these criminals. At every campaign stop and speech, bring lots of local victims up to the stage and have them recount what happened to them when the Soros DAs stabbed everyone in the back. I predict a bandwagon like never seen before.
At this point I could not care less about any of it. Like Z has stated in the past, you could replace every member of both houses with integrity-filled republicans and the system would produce the same results.
In addition, I feel such little connection to my surrounding “countrymen” that it really doesn’t matter. I look at the negro worship, the intense violence and hate, the blue haired girl bosses who change their gender every time they fart and I feel like I’m trapped in an endless Wes Craven/Rod Serling nightmare.
Some days I wish really hard for the mad max style collapse, because then I wouldn’t be held accountable for my actions…
Tired Citizen: It’s just more sound and fury signifying nothing. I’m not really angry about it anymore – I feel very far removed from most people’s concerns. Sure, I have my days when my disgust at the degeneracy is enough to choke me, but I’m trying hard to just let it all go.
We’re sorting through all our junk (to move, to store, to give away) and I’m pleased to be able to place dozens of books in the trash pile. Almost all the security/foreign policy books. All the books by journalists about what the Soviet Union was really like – because I lived there for a year, and I’m now experiencing more surveillance and repression here, and it’s just old news. A lot of the American history books – because they’re all lies. All the economic books.
I’m keeping all the classic literature, and my husband much of his favorite military books (history, biographies, etc.) but we both feel we’ve outgrown a lot of what we used to read. It would be like attending CPAC . . . or voting. It’s something other people do, those who still save up for Suzy to go to college and get piercings and tats, so she can be all she can be without a husband or children.
Meanwhile, those who still care – the magatards, the conservatards, the pitiful small (w)hites who don’t see skin color, can choose between their God Emperor, or Vivek Ramaswamy. Because, after all, it all matters so very much at this point . . .
You’ve summed up my apathy quite well. Unfortunately, my wife and I have to last another 15 years and hope we’ve done the right things to be able to separate.
I suppose all one can do is try to find some sort of joy out of this life. It’s very difficult.
You bring up an interesting point about the history books being lies. That seems to be such a big barrier for normies – understanding that all you were taught is a lie. I’m so tired of it all.
I’m probably looking at the same time frame as you, but I don’t despair. You and I are going to learn things during that stretch that will be valuable to those who follow. And as much as things look horrible right now, things are going to happen that will be pleasant surprises.
“All the books by journalists about what the Soviet Union was really like – because I lived there for a year, and I’m now experiencing more surveillance and repression here, and it’s just old news.”
I still marvel at how repressive the United States has become. As you have pointed out, in the Soviet Union and the East Bloc private conversations and communications among proles were not a big deal as long as criticism and gripes were not a public affair. In the contemporary United States, Bad Thought is much more of a thing; the old school secret police might on a rare occasion investigate sarcastic flyers, for example, but it was nothing approaching the attention paid to plastering IT’S OK TO BE WHITE leaflets on a university campus.
The primary difference between Andrei Sakarov and Julian Assange is the former was exiled, the latter put into leg irons and disappeared into a London dungeon. And on and on.
It boggles the mind.
Depends upon what you mean by “public affair” and to what period of the USSR you refer. For instance, Stalin sentenced the poet Osip Mandelshtam to death in a Siberian labor camp for reciting a poem which mocked Stalin at a party. This was ca. 1930. That never would have happened under Gorbachev, however, and perhaps not under Brezhnev either.
Furthermore, while there are many ominous signs in the GAE, we are not yet being starved or worked to death en masse. Those things may well come, but they have not arrived yet.
Even under Stalin the entire Soviet citizenry never was placed under house arrest, as happened here, nor were Russians forced to make way for replacement populations. I will grant that under Stalin public intellectuals could be executed for private conversations, and we do not have mass privation and an extensive gulag system–yet. Stalin would have executed Julian Assange. Still, Assange is in leg irons and a London dungeon while the likes of Andrei Sakarov normally were just put into domestic exile under most other party chairmen.
When I visited the East Bloc in the Eighties, people were far less concerned about voicing political and cultural opinions in small groups than is the present-day case here. That’s anecdotal but corresponds with what friends witnessed as well, and some of the older ones also experienced that in the Sixties and Seventies.
Stalin in most ways was an outlier although the original Great Terror under Lenin and Trotsky had similar features. Still, I even will go so far as to say the surveillance state is much more pervasive here, and grant that is largely due to technology but it remains the case.
Which is precisely why Saint Joseph Djugashvili is Saint Joseph Djugashvili.
The only way to defeat the House on the Embankment is to EMPTY the House on the Embankment.
PS: Is it obvious to everyone chez Z that this particular Early Life need not be examined?
Ostei: I agree with you that Stalin was different. Obviously none of us were there at that time, but I would imagine people were extremely careful of expressing the wrong opinion even to purported friends, because they didn’t know who they could trust and the regime actively encouraged and rewarded those who turned in others. Pavel Morozov was made a martyr, after all.
On the other hand, that is the case in the US today (Jackson Refitt testifying against his 6 Jan father). No, you probably won’t be executed, but you will lose your job, your kids will be relentlessly harassed at school, your wife will leave you, and you may well be sentenced to jail. So it’s a slow execution of the life you’ve known, rather than a bullet to the head.
As far as Jack’s comment about replacement populations – yes and no. Stalin was infamous for moving entire ethnic groups around within the Soviet Union for some imagined wrong or another. I don’t know that they necessarily replaced others in whatever far away corner of the USSR they were moved to, but they definitely were replaced in their old area and lost those roots.
I was there in the waning days of Brezhnev. Obviously I had a certain amount of insulation due to my US passport, and I didn’t spend most of my time with local Russians, but I did speak Russian and took the subway and had a great deal of free time during the day. I don’t recall anyone afraid to speak with me in line or on the street, and Russians my age would regularly come up to the car in excitement when I was driving and blasting Boston, already five years out of date.
Yes, I was definitely relatively young and stupid, and the Russians were deliberately ham-handed about when they were in our apartment (leaving an unflushed toilet) and routinely and obviously listened in on phone calls. Still, I didn’t have the pervasive sense of being under a microscope all the time. YMMV.
3g: “As far as Jack’s comment about replacement populations – yes and no. Stalin was infamous for moving entire ethnic groups around within the Soviet Union for some imagined wrong or another.”
Yes, I meant to expand on that part when I mentioned “Russians” and failed to do so. While the main ethnic group didn’t get the treatment, minorities did, particularly in the Crimea and Far East. That’s the difference with the replacement of the ethnic majority here.
3g4me: “I’m pleased to be able to place dozens of books in the trash pile.”
Two thoughts: Do NOT throw out old dictionaries, old encyclopedias, old children’s edumakashunal material, etc; certainly nothing from prior to about 1975.
Many of those books will have priceless kernels of information about the history of Our Race.
For that very reason, I have hesitated to clear out many of the bookshelves here chez Woodward Reserve.
My dilemma is that [with an handful of exceptions] most books are simply GARBAGE; especially now with wikipedia and search engines allowing one to discover historical/sociological patterns 100 or 1000 or 10,000 times more quickly than would have been the case if one were to read 100 or 1000 or 10,000 books.
The speed with which we can now recognize historical/sociological patterns is truly approaching the miraculous.
There is a wealth of knowledge on sites such as /pol/ which is simply stunning.
And yet, some of those old books may well contain precious factoids which haven’t yet made it to wikipedia or the greater knowledge base of the dissidents.
So, I hesitate, wondering what kernel of knowledge might be lost forever were I to throw away any particular book.
PS: I have on the order of a thousand 19th/20th century books printed on acidic paper which is now crumbling before my very eyes.
I wish I had the time to digitize all of those books, but I don’t foresee it happening any time soon.
And I sure could use the shelf space which would come from discarding those books.
For instance, DO NOT THROW AWAY “MILLIONS OF CATS”!!!
Bourbon: Totally agree. I am keeping all the classic children’s books (don’t really trust my daughter-in-law with them) and literature. But Reagan-era political thought and foreign policy books are not worth the paper they’re printed on.
One of my biggest regrets is not buying more books each year at my college library sale 45 years ago or even our local Texas library sales 25 years ago – I could have picked up a good set of Encyclopedia Britannica and I still kick myself for that.
Our new-to-us cottage does have one nice wall of built-in shelves, but there will still be many, many books in boxes, and until we get one of our outbuildings insulated and climate-controlled they’ll have to stay in a rented unit so the summer humidity doesn’t rot them.
3g4me: “But Reagan-era political thought and foreign policy books are not worth the paper they’re printed on.”
What can be fascinating is to skim quickly through the books and see whether you can notice where the goyische pseudo-author was falling under the spell of the Mind Virus.
Historical examples of Mind-Virus-Infection are worth their weight in shekels.
It can even be something as simple as which particular Sanhedrin wrote the jacket cover blurb [for whichever particular RINO was formally credited as having been the author].
Murray Rothbard?
Donald Kagan?
Irving Kristol?
Murray Weidenbaum?
Martin Feldstein?
That’ll help you create the pattern in your head; and if you could formally archive the pattern somewhere on the internet, then it would be well worth the effort.
“…especially now with wikipedia and search engines allowing one to discover historical/sociological patterns 100 or 1000 or 10,000 times more quickly than would have been the case if one were to read 100 or 1000 or 10,000 books.”
I’m not certain how to interpret this. You may be correct and I read too much into it, but wrt Wikipedia, my experience with—and once promotion of—has changed greatly. Wiki, is basically edited by volunteers who work themselves up in rank and authority and therefore are able to “correct” any entries the deemed “deficient”.
I found this out when entries of mine wrt a shooting facility history was taken off line, regardless of supporting content. I’m used to this wrt firearms and their use. I have been subject to the subjective biases of not just Wiki, but Google as well. It was documented with mail exchanges, which also were published through other channels to those interested at the time.
Also, in case one forgets, it was exposed some time ago of the Wiki editors suppressing any and all alternative viewpoints and information regarding Global Warming discussion. No sooner would a Wiki entry have an alternative, non-agreeing, reference placed in it than that reference was removed and the overall Wiki entry “frozen” so that it could no longer be removed or added to.
Wrt a specific response to the Bourbon’s comment: ‘How does one discover historical patterns searching through data that may have been “adjusted” to conform the Leftist ideology?’ With Wiki, one can never tell what the editors have done to the Wiki data base of posting.
“you could replace every member of both houses with integrity-filled republicans and the system would produce the same results.”
This is true because of course the system is ruled outside of the politicians AND because all those integrity republicans would probably by operating under serious false premises. All of “our values” (TM) are based on false premises and lies that empower the ruling classes.
“In addition, I feel such little connection to my surrounding
‘countrymen’ that it really doesn’t matter.”
I think this would be true even in a sane mass society. Human beings aren’t really happy in mass societies; they are inherently dehumanizing and alienating.
“Put another way, this may be the crackup of the Republican Party.”
This happened in 2016. It is why there is no cost to people like McConnell essentially flaking for the “other” side. This has been the case most of our lives. If a confidence/no confidence vote were put on the ballot and honored, it would cause the USG to fall, which is why it wouldn’t be allowed or respected. We are watching the final innings of the United States as a functional polity, and the fragmentation of the states and regions away from the central government. No one knows how long this will last. It could be many decades, it could be next week, but Zombie America is shuffling into the sunset or a nuclear plume, whichever comes first.
Yeah the last legitimate election was in 2016. Not that there weren’t illegitimate elections before, but 2016 was the last believable one, where I could totally see Hillary winning the pop-vote but the hard-assed Republican challenger winning by constitutional loophole. In fact I don’t think anyone is ever going to pay attention to the electoral college again. It will be a relic that gets consulted like there are some people that still consult MapQuest for directions.
We’ll have elections until the end of the US. They will just become rubber-stamped by the Federal Duma. Our best hope is we get devolved power centers while Washington becomes a nuisance and chore (for rich influencers and power-brokers) and a clown show (for the rest of us). Think of Washington as Brussels, and Florida as Hungary and California as Germany.
Washington will be sure to put a clown world version of “SPQR” on everything. They have already started with their “ESG”, “DIE” and “LGBMNOP123T”.
It speaks volumes about the depth of our predicament that Zio-shill DeSantis is actually the best candidate we’ve got, while guys like Steve King have been unpersonned.
Maybe the accelerationists are right, in order to bring the entire rotten edifice crashing down perhaps we should be hoping for President Harris to order a national gun confiscation, wipe out people’s 401(k)s through massive inflation, pack the Supreme Court with obese sheboons, and appoint the first Jewish drag queen as secretary of state to lecture Putin and Xi about “democracy.”
The problem of course is that if the Vegetable, Judge Ketangi from Uganda, St. Karine of Lesbos and “Rachael” Levine haven’t awakened the grillers yet, the scenario described above probably won’t, either.
Normies don’t even believe we’re in a recession.
Heck, they think people need to stop talking about a recession before they turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Xman: This. More words for comment control.
I’m around the same age as “Z” and people my age are furious at what is going on and we’re constantly asking ourselves – as well as others in our cohort – “Forget DC, what should we be doing where we are?” A girl I went to school with has now become a virtual Valkyrie; gym five times a week, BJJ and Silat (Filipino knife fighting for the uninitiated.) got herself her grandfathers long gun and is “updating it” and she’s not the only one. Most of the crew I grew up with are behaving like the partisans in the original “Red Dawn”. Five people I know have now insisted that their kids go to trade school, as opposed to an indoctrination center.
Several others have had their kids drop out and go the route of working, citing not learning anything of practical value.
I don’t know what it is, but we all came to the conclusion shortly after the start of ’17 that it was all for show and that the clock was now really ticking.
Most of us – myself not included – have tried to explain this to our parents and they are the ones who chime on about “We just have to get the right people elected.” and they refuse to accept what has been going on. For them I understand why it is so hard, as they were the last generation to believe in everything the govt told them. Realizing your whole life has been a lie cannot be easy.
I felt the same when Clinton disbanded my old unit and sent 90% of us home. My first thought was, “This is what I’ve worked so hard for, only to be handed a pink slip and told that you’re not needed any more?” so I get it.
“I felt the same when Clinton disbanded my old unit and sent 90% of us home. My first thought was, “This is what I’ve worked so hard for, only to be handed a pink slip and told that you’re not needed any more?””
My old base is now literally a frigging taxi stand.
The base wasn’t even on the BRAC list, but Clinton and the local politicians saw more money in expanding the airport…
Thank you for the kind words, but we’re going to need a shit-ton more in order to be effective once things go kinetic.
“The base wasn’t even on the BRAC list, but Clinton and the local politicians saw more money in expanding the airport…”
And yet they saw fit to turn Rome AFB into the “Area 51” of the north east.
Steve-
Thanks for the update.
Sounds like you’re in a great area with great people.
I certainly envy you.
Don’t forget award our fine black citizens $20 million each based on a very science-y calculation I’m sure.
Xman: Nail on the head. This is why I throw my hands in the air now. I can’t talk politics with my conservative friends because they constantly use phrases like – “When we win the white house back, when we get the senate back…”.. We… They use the fucking word WE.
All I my mind goes to is “wow – what a retard”. This is exactly why TPTB are no longer hiding their agendas. They realized that normie is so stupid that you can just beat him to a pulp and he won’t do a thing about it. Why go through the trouble of pretending you aren’t destroying his life. Just do it right in front of him.
My comment is that I just realized I don’t care enough about the ‘lections to make a comment
What is the best way for us to proceed in order to infuriate both parties? It sounds like it might be to vote for Trump. Or is it still better to just not play their game?
Absolutely the most important question to ask ourselves when considering our fortified democracy. Not voting is ultimately the best answer but it’s not as fulfilling as actively throwing sand in the gears. There has to be other ways to draw attention to the appalling truth about our elections.
Find a ballot box stuffer and deal with it. Permanently. Post guards outside polling stations. Open fire on the black panthers and other hate groups that indulge in these tactics.
This is what comes next. Our countries need a civil war, or they need a divorce. This is what comes next.
Click your heels 3 times and say, “I’m done with the system! I’m done with the system! I’m done with the system!”
After that it’s much easier to notice the pieces of The System in your daily life. Disengage as best you can. No going home again.
From there, the next step is “Time for Separation.”
Were it was so, but we’d surpass the national debt with the amount of legal fees generated from an “episode” such as this.
Voting for Trump is pointless if Trump will not be seated in the White House. And he won’t be. The Power Structure simply will not allow it. Far better to be a conscientious abstainer.
IF Trump (a) could win and (b) then would not be seated, that would be an awesome reason TO vote for him. I doubt the first prong is possible or the second would happen even if it was. Personally, the only circumstances I ever would vote would be for Trump if Trump were arrested or indicted, and that would act as a “no confidence” vote in the United States (a write-in likely would be required). Otherwise, it is pointless to vote for him or anyone else and that has been the case for decades.
I don’t believe the Power Structure would be so foolish as to put Trump in stocks in the town square in broad daylight, although with that pack of loons you never can tell! Rather, what I had in mind was something of a repeat of 2016. Trump wins the election but the PS rejigs the results, which is effectively refusing to seat the winner. Doing such would provide plausible deniability, which would prevent the Grillers from damping their pits and taking up firebrands.
The only reason to hope for a Trump win (which won’t be allowed so it won’t matter) is to accelerate the implosion. If Trump managed to “win” somehow, the reaction would be unlike anything we’ve ever seen in this country.
If I’m being honest, my hope for that would be because I know it would open some doors leading to the “removal” of the worst of our society – and like others have stated here, that is the only thing that comes next.
Sitting out the election just makes it easier for them to rig it. If you don’t want to participate, then go write-in or vote for the biggest clown. Make them have to conjure up 100 million votes or some other ridiculous amount just to get Joe over the finish line. Make them spend months to “count all the votes”.
Every candidate is a “protest” candidate, and an election with >100% registration and >100% turnout would be oh so entertaining.
You make good points. However, one’s mere presence at the polling place lends the system credibility and legitimacy. How much better would it be if those polling places were eerily vacant on Selection Day? The desolation would be impossible for the Grillers to ignore, and difficult even for the media to sweep under the rug.
I’m truly torn on this one. On the one hand I want to make them have to work to steal it, but on the other hand……
One of the themes of that Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcast was that once one side withdrew their support of the system, the system took that as a sign to…get even worse. The debate to be had then was would the system in question have gotten worse anyway? The answer is: probably.
Duncan’s right, of course. Along the same lines, I suspect that if the GAE is humiliated in the Ukraine war, it will vent its fury on the domestic wreckers who denied it victory. This is November 1917 right now.
So accelerationism vs let it slow burn. In our case what does getting worse look like, and is there a tipping point? I’m mainly of the opinon now that no amount of debasement will rouse normie from his slumber. Perhaps only a certain percent of the populace is needed then. But as time goes on and the empire becomes more and more diverse, does this percentage of men of action not become harder to build?
This is where TomA is on the money – the only way to wake normie up is when he has no idea where his next meal is coming from. Take away a man’s niceties, he may not do much, take away his food and water, and you will see a desperate man do desperate things to survive and feed his children. The true brutality of the human race will come out at that point, and unfortunately, that is the brutality that is needed. When the retribution comes one day, it is important to remember that no mercy should be shown, no quarter given.
That will absolutely come at some point, but we may not live to see it.
Waiting on what comes next is the general attitude for a lot of us. Whether the 2024 winner is Biden, DeSantis, or Trump, the fact remains that not a whole lot will probably change in the D.C. power apparatus.
There is no Caesar coming to save the Empire.
What I would hope for is not a Caesar coming to save Washington. I am hoping for a left-authoritarian to inevitably win a crooked national election, and impose shimself on so-called Red States. Our Caesar would be a brave governor who will nullify a federal diktat.
Of course the populace of the given state would have to support the brave governor. The governor would not be brave otherwise. Because that state would lose (((federal funding))) and be in the middle of a (((media firestorm))). Can this happen? Only with a “zio-shill” like DeSantis. Sad but true, but I’ll take what I can get, so we get our blessed national divorce.
Yes, local control at the state and community level will be the important factor. The federal DC machine is too polluted with lobbyists, NeoCons, and special interests to be reined in by whomever is president.
(OT but how did you get the graphic next to your comment account?)
In the past, and mostly the present, local party apparatchiks didn’t mind playing the role of the local Regime enforcer since that was the way that the path opened for their career. This is where, I guess, a future DeSantis will mark new ground when he realizes that local/state is it, that a callup to the “majors” will not be forthcoming because the empire hates them and the people they represent. Even an absolute tool like the governor of Ohio (pick one) cannot get traction with the elites no matter how much they grovel.
Arthur: I think it has to with a WordPress “gravatar”. If you ever set up a WordPress site then the email you used has an icon or “gravatar” associated with it. So whenever I post a comment with that email added, then the gravatar comes up.
I’m going to put another email after this post and see if my hat goes away…
Thank you for the information. I will try and see if that makes a difference.
Re national divorce. Seems like the time for this would be when the regime is busy getting body shots in the global war it’s trying to start right now. Waiting for a governor to stand up you’re going to be waiting a long time.
Why does Trump still have support? He had four years in office, two with a Republican Congress, and delivered squat. All he did was legitimize progressive hysteria. I guess it boils down to the fact that the rest of the GOP candidates/grifters running for grand poobah, including DeSantis, will suck massive gorilla balls. Trump ends up looking good by comparison.
All of politics is a gigantic cynical ruse. Whenever I think of the moronic masses who still vote, I have visions of Lucy, Charlie Brown, and that football.
Regarding what you point out, I am amazed that Trump has still not had to answer for “Op Warp Speed.” His supporters are so loyal they just seem to overlook that.
He brings up the vaccine at rallies and the crowd boos. Then they go right back to cheering when he talks about something else. Even if most of them could not articulate it, I think the core of his support is the understanding that the elite hate him as much as they hate us. There is no way he could overcome his negative poll numbers in the general election, a lot of people are sick of him and ready for him to go away.
There’s a reason people call them MAGAtards.
Trump may be the public face of Operation Warp Speed, but he had essentially nothing to do with it. Like all other policies, it was handed down from on high. The presidency was long ago reduced to a mere ceremonial position. No matter who wins any elections, the same bankers, military industrialists, technocrats, and other assorted oligarchs control the system. They’ve had more than two hundred years to rig the game in their favor. They have amassed far too much power to allow some double-talking actor who managed to win a popularity contest (“president”) to interfere with their designs. It shocks me that so many people my age and older have not figured that out yet. Human beings truly are sheep and Pavlovian dogs.
Trump provided a very public, concrete example of why populism is a myth. It was a true wake up.
DeSantis is Harvard. As establishment as they come.
Spengler was correct: “Optimism is cowardice”.
But despair is a sin. I find not caring about national politics liberating. Get on with what you can change in your own life, which is plenty
“Optimism is cowardice.”
I like that. So pessimism is bravery? But pessimism is just a small step away from despair, which “is a sin.”
So don’t despair bros. Go forth bravely and sin no more.
Where does abject cynicism fall in this particular schema?
On matters of politics and the state, I reliably get closest to the truth by looking at it with maximum cynicism.
> Why does Trump still have support?
Because the people that hate me tell me I’m not allowed to support him.
I agree with that sentiment. I am convinced that even if he is the nominee, the puppet masters will find a way to ensure his defeat. An indictment would be wonderful because it might jolt enough grillers into understanding everything is a sham.
When I am asked why I support him I tell people, “Because the right people hate him and they hate me. I want to see him piss in your cheerios and burn it all to the ground.”
These people asked for it, so “scorched earth” is now the order of the day!
If you watched him work the McDonalds in East Palestine, you understand. For a guy with his pedigree, he legitimately connects with the hoi polloi. I think for some people it’s the fact that he’s the only guy running who actually doesn’t despise normies
Mencken had it right a century ago–jackasses voting for jackals. And what that means is that even then, the portion of humanity worthy of respect, was quite small. Confronting reality squarely leads toward misanthropy.
“Confronting reality leads toward misanthropy.”
Ain’t that the sad truth? I personally do my best to avoid misanthropy because I believe it’s not healthy for me psychologically, yet it’s hard to deny the mountain of evidence in favor of it.
Sociopathy isn’t totally unwarranted.
Much as with anti-black racism, I was dragged there kicking and screaming and against my will. Ultimately, alas, facts and logic did me in.
“….including DeSantis…”
Please sir if you would refer to him as “the CIA’s pet rodent.”
I do not discount a challenge from Fetterman.
too cynical?
Word from Fetterman’s Chief of Staff is: “RRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH! Brain Hurt! Fetterman sad. 😔”
Or as the meme has been going around: “Biden/Fetterman 2024: It’s a no-brainer”
Stroke me, Strokey!
Stroke! Stroke!
Thoooper Doooper! A line from Fetterman when he played Young Frankenstein.
Fapperman secks tape
imagine a biden vs fetterman debate! you could actually charge real $$ for that.
It would require subtitles.
In Insane Clown World, there is absolutely no such animal as too cynical. Mark my words, we will live to see the day when a hairy, bird-legged Finkel in a pastel sundress occupies the Awful Orifice.
The mumbling, shuffling walking dead:
Zombiecons.
Going through the motions as if they were still alive.
Both parties will continue to pretend that everything is the same as it has been for the past 150 years, i.e., that either side can win. (Not that it matters, but the public cares.) But the truth is that GOP has almost no path to winning due to demographics and ballot shenanigans. In another election or two, the Dems won’t even need to rig the vote, the demographics will take care that.
That will be when the Boomers finally age out and a new crop of vibrant Dems take over.
This election (and maybe the next) is the equivalent of the last tour of an aging rock band. They’ll play all of the old songs, people will sing along and it’ll feel like the concerts of old, even if everyone on stage is old and can’t move around very well. It’s wonderful nostalgia, but when it’s over, it’s over. The band isn’t coming back.
The problem for both sides is that no one knows what comes next. The current crop of politicians is the last set of rulers from the original stock that created the empire. The next crop will be made up of people from the various tribes that we incorporated. This is what happens to every empire. It eventually becomes ruled by those it conquered and then it implodes.
In truth, that already happened 20 or 30 years ago with the tribe, but now it will be on full display. For now, the empire is ruled by one foreign elite who are generally behind the scenes, but that will change. And those people from the various tribes who will take over will have no connection nor love for the people, culture and institutions who built the empire.
Z-Man is right. We are near the last chapter of our empire.
“This is what happens to every empire. It eventually becomes ruled by those it conquered and then it implodes.”
I just have to say that is a masterpiece, goshdam bloody genius. It’s like Glubb, Spengler, and Tainter all wrapped up in one sentence.
Can’t remember who, but I definitely stole that line. Wish it was my own.
I have to admit that if we could watch it from afar, the implosion of The Coalition of the Fringes (H/T Sailer) on the Democratic side will be glorious as all the Vibrant and Exotic “citizens” The Left has imported begin to flex their electoral muscles and decide “Hey, there’s more of us than YOU, why should WE listen to YOU?”. Additionally, what happens when those Vibrant and Exotic “citizens” decide “Oh no, I’m voting for someone who looks like ME, thankyouvettymuch”?
In addition, the wailing and teeth gnashing and moaning of their historic plight from The Usual Suspects on The Left will be met with “Yeah, And?” by the new Vibrant and Exotic “citizens”.
They will get their gibs while the gibs can be got. And when no more gibs can be got, they’ll leave the empty carcass.
Alas, we will be stuck with them when the implosion occurs and be hit by the shrapnel and falling debris.
That’s the big question going forward. Can the tribe control the mercenaries that they imported to defeat whites?
I’d suspect that they can control blacks and Hispanics (mostly) but will have a tougher time with Indians and, to a lessor degree, Asians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtjyqgZAUk
America is well advanced into the bust-out phase.
Why do people think the GOP can’t win? Election fortification is targeted at specific candidates, not the whole party. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is minimal and the ethnic Neocons can work just fine with both parties.
GOP can win and prove that “the system still works”. It won’t make any difference.
The regime could designate a GOP winner to keep up appearances, but, now that they have trained and organized the left in democracy fortification, it’s hard to just turn that off.
The tribe controls a lot, but they can’t make non-whites vote for the GOP. Even with media control, non-whites will overwhelming for the Dems.
“Both parties will continue to pretend that everything is the same…”
I cannot wait for the stirring Mike Pants speech, “uh, my fellow amuricans…”
DeSantis, if he is allowed to win, will be an echo of GWB, just fatter and more sweaty.
Upvote for the laugh!
I don’t think, though, he’ll allow another Tribal attack on America like 911, our national version of the USS Liberty.
Now as to the spooks, well, Covid was and is a DARPA project…
(I hope he stays in his Florida fiefdom- we’ll need rogue barons, and his behind-the-scenes maneuvers at judo-flipping tribal and Tribal concentrations of power are masterful.
Don’t let appearances fool ya…unless he pops up with a bruised left eye.)
He is a milquetoast governor with a good PR targeted towards mainstream conservatives.
And more rodential.
I think the next shoe to drop will be in 2028 when Biden will be term limited and there will be an open democratic primary with a large field. (Or whatever the next future election without an incubate or obvious candidate.
One or more factions on the left will realize too late, that in a fortified democracy, their vote no longer matters either. It will be party bosses choosing the nominee who will solely represent the elite interests.
We saw shades of this with the Bernie Bros who felt that he had been cheated out of the nomination.
Bernie will be too old in 2028, but someone’s favorite candidate is going to get screwed by the party bosses in the primary. It is unlikely they will be sympathetic to our side of the divide, but it will destabilize the system further and perhaps present opportunities.
Stealing elections is all fun and games for the left when the dirt people are getting screwed, but in a one party state, factions of the left will start getting shut out and ignored as well.
“It will be party bosses choosing the nominee who will solely represent the elite interests.”
Sadly we can’t go back to smoke filled rooms and whiskey by the gallon to select the Presidential nominee because “HEALTH!”, but it’s nice to know that in slightly over 100 years we’ve gone full circle on selecting candidates. 👍
Sure Not: Amusing that you and others are so certain there will still be elections and things will just continue as they are in five years’ time . . .
“ Amusing that you and others are so certain there will still be elections”
There are always show elections. Saddam got 99.96% of the vote in Iraq.
“This will be an election at the end of time. Not the end of all time, but the end of this phase of the American experience.”
The sturm und drang of election watching may be fun for its own sake. I like watching football and hockey but I have no input into the NFL or the NHL. And Charlie Brown (Republican voters) has only himself to blame if he makes another swipe at Lucy’s football.
Another pastime I slightly enjoy is playing pundit to see how close I come, sort of like trading stocks on one of the online sock market apps but not putting any money on it, just to see how my risk-free timing predictions work out. So I predict that the media will make a big deal of the election and those of us in the stands will either cheer for our guy or girl or will take the opportunity to go get a beer and a hot dog although have you seen what it costs to get a lousy pint of beer at the concession window lately? I’ll smuggle my own pint into the stadium if I can get the can past the metal detector.
The stunner for me was when Jeb Bush came out and endorsed DeSantis. At first I thought maybe Jeb hated DeSantis for something and was try to kill his chances, but I think the Jeb/Paul Ryan crowd has come to view him as their Trump Slayer and he is going to sweep them back into power. They are totally tone deaf to how hated they by the average voter.
DeSantis will have no choice but to bash the Bushes if he runs to have any hope of winning. I don’t think there is any way for him to thread that needle and keep access to donor money while convincing primary voters he hates the donor class as much as they do. Might be why he is releasing the book now, get donors to buy it by the box and then not run. That’s a good way to make some money off them.
Jeb! came out? About time.
I ‘member in high school my poli-sci teacher had a voting machine in his classroom. After I joined the service I got to use one like it once where I was stationed. It was a steel beast with a bunch of little switches in it and a big red handle. You moved the handle and KA-CHUINK, there was a curtain that would close behind you. You flicked all the switched for who you wanted to vote for (it was a cardboard runner that they slid in so you know who’s switch was who’s). Once you were done, moved the handle and KA-CHUNK, you vote was tallied and the curtain opened. Because of Wayne county, I’m not voting anymore.
I wanted to note that his name is Ron DeSantis when you put Rob, but then I remembered it doesn’t matter.
Ha. I did not notice it. That says a lot, doesn’t it?
Rodent DeSantis.
This could well be a case where the best case scenario for Dissidents also ends up being a best-case scenario for the Apparat.
Consider the election of 1852. That was the end of the Whigs, electorally. They managed to field a candidate in 1856 (Millard Fillmore, who lost his own party’s primary in 1852 despite being the incumbent president), but he got fewer votes than the “third party” upstart, Republican John C. Fremont. Think about that: The incumbent president, who got in on a fluke (Zachary Taylor died in office), couldn’t even secure the nomination of his own party. He lost to Winfield Scott, who had been the “compromise” candidate — aka the loser — in pretty much every Whig convention going back to 1840.
The only issue that mattered in 1852 was slavery, but neither candidate would’ve said a word about it if you put them on the rack, so the campaign centered around who looked prettier in a uniform. Scott had of course been the victor in the Mexican War, and Franklin Pierce (the eventual winner) had been a political general of the New Hampshire volunteers, so the wags joked that the election’s real winner was “General Apathy.”
That, I think we can all agree, would be the best case for Dissidence — the Republicans nominate Vindaloo Vicky or some other milquetoast by rigging their own primaries; Trump’s Enormous Ego goes third party; they both lose to Tapioca Joe, and we all love Dear Leader.
But that would also be the best case for the Apparat. A Trump third party run would energize the base like no other, which would energize The Media like no other. Voter turnout (of the non-Fortified for Democracy kind) would be huge. And it would be an absolute Media feeding frenzy, watching whatever party emerges to replace the GOP as the Washington Generals emerge from the ashes. “How can you wingnutz say elections no longer matter, when turnout has never been higher and there’s this huge public debate about the face and platform of the new party?!?”
Not a bad comparison. Trump will never go third party, however. The two parties have made that nearly impossible now. That and Trump spends his money on himself, not the the cause, so he would never go for it. Frankly, I think official Washington is fine with Biden, so they may not rig the primary to keep Trump out. They may prefer it that he loses again. DeSantis could catch fire and possible overwhelm the election fortifications.
He may not have to officially go third party. All he’d really have to do is make an enormous nuisance of himself. If I’m an Apparatchik, I’ll encourage him to ostentatiously NOT campaign for whatever milquetoast. Indeed I’d encourage him to hold big rallies while Haley (or whoever) is holding hers, the way he held a big rally on the night of one of the Republican “debates” instead of participating in the dog and pony show.
If I were a smooth operator, though, I’d encourage the formation of an actual third party, for the reasons I outlined. What better way to keep the kabuki going? (Of course, that assumes the idiots in the Apparat are smart enough to see it, and have the ability to plan long-term, and… yeah, guess not).
I also think that Official Washington really, truly, madly, deeply hates Trump, so they’ll Fortify their primaries regardless. It would absolutely be best for the Apparat, long term, if Trump gets the nomination and “loses,” again. If they were smart they would engineer that.
But they’re not smart. And even their low animal cunning won’t serve them well here, because their white-hot hate for Trump overwhelms everything else. I really would not be surprised to see a repeat of what happened to the Democrats in Iowa last time around. Remember that? Bernie Sanders was cruising to victory… and then suddenly, the big newspaper there refused to publish its final poll, ostensibly because their professional pollsters couldn’t pronounce “Buttigieg” and thus might’ve skewed the results.
The real reason, of course, was that Sanders was crushing the field and Joe Biden barely managed 4th place, behind Bernie, Ass Bandit Pete, and Fake Indian. I’d put decent money on something similar happening with the GOP this time around — it sure looks like Trump is rolling, but alas, our pollsters couldn’t pronounce “Nimrata Randhawa” and so we’re just going to give it to her.
I wonder if the people in charge care all that much about democratic appearance. I suspect the whole “election denier” business was the final round of pretending to care about public opinion. In 2020 they tried hard to tamp done criticism of the system, but in 2022 they mostly ignored it. This time we may see them go full banana republic with Biden winning 70% of the vote.
That would be awesome if they do, but I don’t think so. The people at the top — the people who are going to win regardless of who’s officially Head of Government — obviously do not care. The Victoria Nulands of the world don’t care, obviously.
But there’s a whole lot of cars in the gravy train, and lots of them depend on the people chowing down retaining faith in appearances. Think of all the Republican County Headquarters offices that will go un-rented; all the consultancy gigs and get out the vote operations and the push polling and all the rest that would go kaput if we just admitted that Dear Leader is going to win with 100% of the vote, again, because we all love him so.
Nobody loves the Two Party System more than the guys with the iron rice bowls; therefore, the Two Party System will continue.
They want to maintain the appearance of democracy for foreign consumption. Watch the grandees at the G7 strut and preach the wonders of their systems. Domestically? They don’t give a damn. I have done too many Soviet parallels of late, but this was the case with the USSR, preaching the virtues of international socialism to the world, shrugging at its dismal performance at home.
I get the knocks on liberal democracy, but it gives our oppressors cover to pretend this is one. To the extent it ever was, that has not been the case in recent memory.
I wonder if they noticed that their blatant rigging of the Democratic primary *increased* D voter enthusiasm.
I wonder why our guys didn’t. Seems important.
70%, or even 90% is for 3rd world crapholes with limited technology to manipulate the election. We’ve got a pretty good technological grasp of things and can “win” elections with measure faux margins.
Why make it obvious?
DeSantis could catch fire and possible overwhelm the election fortifications.
—
Is that even possible now? Even I had my doubts that they would go to the same well again but that’s pretty much exactly what they did in 2022 with the same zero-protest from all quarters. And even if there is any noise they will trot out their same army of clowns like Disoussa (sp) to make a total hash of legitimate claims.
That’s probably what gets me with the whole thing, “The Cheat” hangs over the whole process but no one dares to mention it because they feel that the last threads of legitimacy for the regime would snap. All it would take to destroy Trump in the primaries is to ask why he let his supporters get locked up in a gulag, and/or why he did nothing about The Cheat, but they won’t as that would reveal themselves to be patsies to the process as well.
I’ll dissent and say IF Trump and DeSantis run close and IF the Republicans rig/throw/give DeSantis the nod as their nominee, Trump goes “Bull Moose” and runs third party.
I like DJT but as Alice Roosevelt said of her father Theodore “He wants to be the bride at every wedding, the baby at every christening, and the corpse at every funeral”. NOT being the center of attention, and NOT having a chance to strike back at his enemies has got to be chafing at him.
We shall see.
Meh.
Trump is a clown world combination of Teddy Roosevelt and PT Barnum.
Teddy ran as an independent, even built his own party, and came in second to a socialist.
Didn’t lead to a new party replacing the republicans. It all fizzled out because it was about Teddy personally.
It did, however lead to the US entering WWI for no good reason, and a flurry of constitutional amendments that killed the 2nd republic. (The 1st ended with the civil war and reconstruction, the second ended with Wilson’s war socialism, we’re living in the end stage of the 3rd).
I remember in ‘92 when the dems had their field of clowns that was finally whittled down to slick Willy. Now the rep party is running a nimratta, pompeo, bolton, sununu among the clowns that are at least known currently – now there’s a group to really get excited about. I have to admit, a Trump/ DeSantis ticket would be intriguing, but since the re-fortification of democracy, it wouldn’t matter anyhow. This place is so screwed, but the failure needs to happen for something new and hopefully better to arise.
It’s interesting to see how they play it — do they still keep up the pretense that elections matter?
It’s taken as read that it’s extremely hard to beat an incumbent, even a lousy one, so opposition parties generally let their second-tier guys take a shot in those years. That’s how they clear out the dead wood. They don’t want a real up-and-comer tagged as a loser too early in his career (or at all), so they generally won’t run what they consider a stud unless they think they have a real chance at winning. That’s how Clinton got in, in 1992 — might as well let him roll the dice — and the GOP got their turn in 1996; they knew they weren’t gonna win, so they let Bob Dole get his name a few footnotes higher in the history books.
But if ever an incumbent were beatable, it’s Brandon. A serious opposition party would run the best candidate they have. Which, as Z Man points out, is Trump — not only is he crushing the field head-to-head, he’s had all legwork done already. Everyone knows who he is and what he’s about. There’s even a pre-scripted storyline: “Heroic underdog / washed up loser takes one last shot at the title.”
A real, serious party would do that. The GOP appears to be not doing that — desperately not doing that. Which means they either know it’s all Fortified for Democracy, or they’re not a serious opposition (or, as the kids say, we can embrace the awesome power of “and”).
But that assumes voting (at the national level) still matters.
it’s mind boggling to me that anyone still votes for the gop. personally, i don’t associate with anyone that does, in the same way i avoid vegans.
that was a funny crack about The Villages and NR subscriptions!
“…this may be the crackup of the Republican Party.”
I surely hope so, since it has been worse than useless from around 1992.
What happened the last time a major American political party self-destructed?
Well…. (and I know you know this, but for the benefit of those who might not be up on Antebellum US history), there was an upstart third party, which came close to winning in 1856 and actually did win in 1860, since the other party pricked that year to self-destruct as well.
I forget what happened after that, but I bet it all worked out peacefully. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?
As the folks in Charleston, SC. They really haven’t gotten over 1860. 😏
Severian: “there was an upstart third party, which came close to winning in 1856 and actually did win in 1860”
ACKSHUALLY, they did not “win” in 1860.
Their popular vote was only 1,865,908.
The opposition had 848,019 + 590,901 + 1,380,202 = 2,819,122 votes.
The people did not want war, and they most assuredly did not want the winning candidate to be their president.
But somehow the oligarchs & moguls were able to split the Electoral College in such a manner as to deny the people their desire.
And yes, the great question of our history remains: Which precisely were the oligarchs & moguls that engineered the 1860 election theft, and what exactly were they trying to accomplish by engineering the election theft?
That’s trying very hard to see a conspiracy where none existed. Lincoln would have won the Electoral College had the opposition merely been two candidates, rather than three. The Democrats handed it to him on a silver platter when they split and held two conventions, nominating two candidates. That’s not a “theft;” that’s how the Electoral College works. If you’re dumb enough to split your own vote, the other guy wins (see also: The Republicans in 1912).
And yeah, a great many people DID want war. The “breakaway” Democrats who nominated Breckinridge sure did. They knew they’d be throwing the election to Lincoln by splitting the party, and they didn’t care. The “fire eaters” were quite open about it.
A civil war. Why do you ask?