Past And Present

This week we have seen two more contenders join the Republican primary field, promising to be happy warriors to save America. Tim Scott from South Carolina and Ron DeSantis of Florida bring the field to eight, as far as the candidates with any chance of getting on the debate stage. With the exception of Trump and Ramaswamy, the field is all doing some version of conservative nostalgia. That is a mix of the crucible, the covenant, and the creed.

That last bit comes from a short little book titled After Nationalism which describes the three main ways the American ruling class has unified the country. The crucible is the melting pot story of America. The covenant is the claim that America has a special purpose in the world. The creed is the old familiar civic nationalist argument that America is just a collection of ideas. Conservatism has relied on all three to market candidates and programs over the years.

The theme of the book is that those three unifying narratives are no longer working as the country devolves into warring tribes. You can see that in the presentation from the Republican candidates as they announce their campaigns. The Tim Scott show was like a 1990’s Conservative Inc. fantasy about the black vote. The DeSantis campaign teased his announcement with this ad on Twitter, which is Bush era patriotism without the promise of a crusade against Islam.

What the Republican primary is going to give us is another unhealthy dose of the old conservative formula. On the one hand, you are supposed to ignore the fact that you live around people who look nothing like you. On the other hand, you are supposed to focus on those nebulous ideals that allegedly define America. As long as everyone forgets about the long list of harms that have been inflicted on them over the last several decades, we can unite to save the country!

The one exception to all of this is Trump, who is a weird product of the two main forces colliding in the present moment. The one force is the old civic nationalism that held the white middle-class together and tightly bound it to both the Republican party and the political system itself. The other force is the radical changes unleashed by the ruling elites who no longer believe in the old civic nationalism. Trump and his fans exist in that incoherent vortex created by these colliding forces.

In fairness to Ron DeSantis, he seems to share the moral outrage of the average white person over the things we are seeing. His opposition to the sexualization of children is genuine, as well as his opposition to the tribal politics of the Left. Unlike the rest of the field opposing Trump, DeSantis is a normal person who is properly offended by the lunacy that has been unleashed on normal people. Like most normal people, he does not understand why this is happening.

The terms Left and Right have lost their meaning, but we still use them because we have nothing else at the moment. We can, however, see the vague outlines of a new scale developing when we look at the Republican field. Instead of the old 20th century poles of Hitler at one end and Stalin at the other, the new poles are the post-Marx culture warriors at one end and the biological realists at the other. The former is more fully developed, while the latter is still evolving.

Most of the Republican field is left of center. They largely agree with the moral claims of the culture warriors. They disagree, mildly, with their tactics. Tim Scott has no real objection to the antiwhite pogroms run by the military, for example, he just worries that they make it more difficult to wage pointless wars of choice. Nikki Haley is fine with the woke capital media campaigns, but her consultants tell her that she has to pretend to be upset about these things when she is interviewed.

DeSantis is one guy right of center on this stuff. He does not agree with the culture warriors, but he thinks the old system remains intact and that these weirdos are just random lunatics that have slipped their leash. He thinks the system can deal with these people without making any changes to the system. All we have to do is go back to our American principles. In other words, he is a guy who sees the iceberg, but he does not appreciate the part under the water.

On this scale, Trump lies just to the right of DeSantis. In fact, the main difference is style, owing to the difference in temperament. DeSantis responds to the current madness by pulling out the rule book. Trump responds to the current madness by throwing a chair out the window. It is not that either man is more or less offended by what is happening. They have different personalities and different worldviews, based on vastly different lives, so they react differently.

Even so, Trump is still in the camp that thinks the system can solve this crisis, if the right people are running the system. Viscerally he senses that this may not be true which helps explain his vacillation. Since Trump came on the scene, he has been hearing the distant calls of right-wing nationalism, but he lacks the understanding to make out what is being said. He is a man being pulled in multiple directions because he senses that something is terribly wrong with the system.

This conflict between the past and the present is why the Republicans are about to replay their 2016 primary. They have a more diverse field than in 2016 and Trump is not viewed as a novelty act. DeSantis is a better version of Ted Cruz, but he is occupying the same place as Cruz occupied in the 2016 race. Trump, of course, is an improved version of himself, having suffered the full force of the regime. He is not just a rambunctious rebuke, but a legitimate victim of the regime.

Even so, this replay of the 2016 election is due to the fact that the party and the country are stuck in the past. Everything about our present politics is backward looking, as if no one really wants to face up to the present. The 2016 election should have broken both parties free of the past, but instead it made them cling tighter. This election will be a reboot of the old franchise, not because the original was so good, but because no one can think of anything new that better fits the times.


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Hokkoda
Member
1 year ago

DeSantis is Cruz because the same neocon globalists who controlled Cruz are now running his campaign. DeSantis is Bush 3.0. Hence his backtracking on Ukraine. The repeal of “resign to run”, and hiding his travel schedule. You will hear nothing from him about destroying the FBI or taking the heads of the traitors who carried out the coup d’etat against Trump in the FBI, DOJ, IC, and the various Courts that allowed it. DeSantis’ problem is that while there are still a lot of people who think they can vote their way out…a majority of them can now EASILY spot… Read more »

Yman
Yman
1 year ago

Reading comment sectors, I lost all hope
White men do not have ally in DC, but you guys still going with “voting harder”
Mao and his pals have different plans, no voting and sabotage everything within the system
Of course, first they were crushed by system and retreated to the mountain, but they continue to sabotage

We are seeing Red China, not a pseudo republic cooperating with West
Mao Tactics work, voting doesn’t work
You can’t have comfort life and resistance both, comfortable life is for conformists

miforest
miforest
Reply to  Yman
1 year ago

correct! with antifa reprising the roll of the red guard in our cultural revolution.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Yman
1 year ago

In our more technological age, there is no hiding in the mountains. Or anywhere, really. Resistance is either subtle or crushed.

trackback
1 year ago

[…] ZMan peers behind the curtain. […]

Whiskey
Whiskey
1 year ago

Things seem to be moving rapidly, Target has joined the Trans crusade with various ads and clothes aimed directly at pre-teens. So has Patagonia. Target’s CEO called those who object bigots and yatzees while Gov. Newsom criticized Target for pulling the trans kids clothes out of stores in the South. So it looks all in on Trans for Kids, and the associated p3d0. Both MN and CT have essentially defined (both cases due to trans legislators) p3d0 as a protected class of sexual orientation, and thus defacto legal. Everyone knows the Presidential Election is as fixed and phony as Professional… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

Re: EVs Here is a teardown of the GM Hummer EV battery pack, which weighs in at 2800 pounds: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jB_vDkaO3hU There is nothing lean or green about the pack and its 3500 MIG, projection, and laser welds. I figure all that armor is there to protect the Ultium battery cells, which have their own website that has a 50 bullet point, “don’t do this ever!” list that can be summarized as, “never, ever remove these battery cells from a laboratory environment.” Despite this, the lunatics in charge have managed to keep up their green facade that is backed by hideous… Read more »

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

Oh no! Air force one gee that would be against the rules..
Wouldn’t it?

miforest
miforest
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

There will be no nuclear exchange , EVER. it would have too much possibility of killing the people who own everthing. so it will never happen . conventional war never threatens them . I am sure they are for show only. the chain of command to actually fire them is probably way to long to ever be sucessfully navagated. besides we haven’t benn keepin up with maintenance on them. too expensive . few if any would actually work.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

Two years ago I would have agreed but no longer. The raging lunatics easily could provoke a nuclear war by doing something breathtakingly stupid and it being misinterpreted. Whiskey is right there. We are not the only people who see how batshit crazy the GAE is now, and some of those others have rather large nuclear stockpiles and likely have a good, healthy fear of the madness unfolding here.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

It’s funny how I no longer hear about the danger of “terrorists” acquiring nukes. As if that’s no longer a concern. But then I’m not exactly tuned into the msm, so it could merely be that.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
1 year ago

DHS funds program that classifies the GOP as “far right extremist” organization with links to Nazis. ‘Among the groups identified by the University of Dayton involved in “far-right radicalization” are the Heritage Foundation, Fox News, and the Republican Party. Quillette and Dennis Prager’s “Prager U” are even more extreme, just shy of the Nazi Party according to their classification of an “extremism” pyramid. Breitbart, Turning Point USA, and of course, MAGA are similarly identified.’ This reminds me of how some in the old Alt Right used to taunt the Alt Lite, who avoided topics like race, “they’re going to call… Read more »

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

I’ve gotta up my game, only third tier.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

A vision of the USSA’s future appears in South Africa as organized criminal gangs shut down the rail lines emanating from South Africa’s largest container port:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/disruption-hits-top-south-african-container-port-economic-crisis-worsens

usNthem
usNthem
1 year ago

As much of a disappointment as Trump was, and most assuredly not totally his fault, I want to see him throwing more chairs THROUGH multiple windows – particularly the system’s windows. Even though gibberin Joe will probably get a 100mm votes in defense of democracy, the entertainment value would be well worth it.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

The regime doesn’t fear a civil war from a frustrated and disgruntled “Right.” They already know that’s not going to happen. What the regime fears is the “Left,” which genuinely will revolt/secede if Trump is elected again. So Trump will not be elected again. And DeSantis, as far as the “Left” is concerned, might as well be Trump, so he won’t be elected either. Thus, what happens in the GOP clown show over the next year is relevant only for entertainment value.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

This. One hundred percent this. All of what happened in 2020 was with this in mind.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

I promise I didn’t steal this idea from you (re: your post reply somewhere below).

The hiding in plain sight reality that was exposed by 2016 and 2020 is that the “Left” can no longer accept being out of power. Trump just happened to be the person who came to be the focus of this, but it could have been anyone who came along at the same time who openly disparaged their core gospel. It’s not really about him.

Jay Fink
Jay Fink
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

Disagree to some extent. The neolibs were outraged that Trump wanted peaceful relations with Putin and Russia. There wouldn’t have been as upset if a neocon like Jeb Bush was elected. This cycle they would be OK with Nikki Haley, not that she has a chance.

Davidcito
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

The craziest conspiracy theory ill believe is that covid was released by the american intelligence agencies (ron unz theory) but for the purpose of unseating trump via mail in ballots. Maybe they didnt know how well mail in ballots would work but its obvious, theyre in power of “democracy.”

Ploppy
Ploppy
Reply to  Davidcito
1 year ago

More likely that covid was just exaggerated in order to do the mail-in ballot rigging. Remember they didn’t do anything about the swine flu, yet with covid they went absolutely batshit with the lockdowns.

Fakeemail
Fakeemail
1 year ago

“On the one hand, you are supposed to ignore the fact that you live around people who look nothing like you.” Zman, do a slice o’ life article about this. Most of us have gotten used to it by now, but it is damn weird when you think about it. Was america really a white country once? Did the Beach Boys exist and sing about all the blonde california girls? Hard to remember anymore. There’s still a few blondies wandering around that I spot walking quickly by. Like seeing a godess in the wild, not sure if its a mirage.… Read more »

miforest
miforest
1 year ago

this is going to be a long campaign , but I think the dominion voting machines have already made up their mind and will not be swayed. Desantis is Bush/CIA endorsed. what’s not to like

Fakeemail
Fakeemail
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

It was the mail-ins that did it. Dominion was a wild goose chase followed by that dunce Sidney Powell.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Fakeemail
1 year ago

The mail-ins didn’t do it in Germany, France, Scandinavia, Australia, India, or South Africa.

Dominion owns 60% of the global voting machine market, and their co-competitor owns another 20%, remember? This is a Covid-scale revolution.

Davidcito
Reply to  Alzaebo
1 year ago

The voters in those countries are genuine liberal idiots. Even their conservative parties are left wing liberals to us.

miforest
miforest
Reply to  Fakeemail
1 year ago

like it really matters how they did it ??? really? like that matters? this sounds kind of spergy

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

Allegation is (from an Unz essay, I think) that as far back as the 1930s the secret powers (the Jews? The communists?) already had perfected the Tweedledee, Tweedledum routine. A common “conspiracy theory” is that They wanted a hesistant USA to enter WW II. In support of that, just take a peek at the Wiki for one Wendall Willkie. Not a household name, but he was the Republican candidate in 1940. He switched from D to R in 1939. He was the only Republican favoring entering the war. Granted, this isn’t a deep dive into the history, but it supports… Read more »

Din C. Nuttin
Din C. Nuttin
1 year ago

I suppose you could feel compassion for the ticks and fleas that occupy the dog. They are God’s creatures too. Of course, the host will weaken and eventually die. Nations, too, attract parasites, first the politicians, then the welfare seekers, and criminals. They, too, are God’s creatures. But compassion for them is killing the nation.

Xman
Xman
1 year ago

Trump is finished. Merrick Garfinkle will probably indict him on federal charges in addition to the 34 felonies the Negro DA in Manhattan indicted him on. He’ll be running for president while facing 200 years in prison. In addition the woman who accused him of rape and won $5 million has filed an amendment to the case alleging him of more defamation and asking for more money. The telescreen will remind us every day that nobody would vote for a rapist under felony indictment for treason except for white supremacists and NRA members with assault weapons. Disney, the FBI, and… Read more »

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Xman
1 year ago

I actually could care less about the election, but if after all his groveling the ADL attacks DeSantis as an anti-Semite, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

Now, DeSantis could respond and do a Sister Souljah on the ADL and even the Establishment GOP, and that might win it for him (I would consider voting at that point and it would be for him). But he can’t do that because the ADL/GOP paid for the microphone and they are huge snowflakes with lots of venom and bitchiness.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Xman
1 year ago

Is it parody, or is it Memorex?

Intelligent Dasein
Intelligent Dasein
Member
1 year ago

There never has been, and never will be, any politics, anywhere, that isn’t heavily colored by the past. The past is what we know, and the habits acquired in the past are the heuristics that allow us to do 99% of everything we do everyday. This is just simple reality, and it does no good to complain about the human condition. The decisive breaks in history are caused by “the circulation of elites,” i.e. the rapid replacement of the current ruling claque by those who, not lacking merit, were nonetheless excluded from power due to the inherent tendency of those… Read more »

Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Reply to  Intelligent Dasein
1 year ago

“…a Trump/DeSantis ticket…”

Uh, wasn’t marrying his self to various deep staters … Trump’s downfall during his administration?

Joining himself at the hip with the CIA’s pet rodent Desantis sounds like more of the same.

Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Reply to  Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
1 year ago

Downvoot, upvoot all you want. The CIA’s pet rodent ate his cheese, gonna eat your cheese. How about this, if the rodent (c’mon, a military lawyer – isn’t that 2 strikes?) tells you to come to Washington to march, you gunna drive, fly or bus? I mean “legal advisor to Seal Team …” Hung out and was part of the Iraq fiasco? Getting pushed by all the ‘right’ wing parts of the MSM? Pet. Rodent. Bought and sold. Like slutty Candy Owens, says/does a few things you like and you extrapolate all kinds of heroic goodness. We can all grow… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Intelligent Dasein
1 year ago

In other words, Refrigerator Trump pulled a Leon Lett. That is a sentence I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d write.

Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

Did Trump pardon Assange?

No.

Did Trump pardon the J6 people he invited to express their muh con-sti-tooshinal rights?

No.

Did Trump pardon the finance criminal, Kushner?

Yes.

The spy Pollard?

Yes.

So, c’mon you frog, stop toting the scorpion across the stream. It’s pathetic.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Getthemoneyfromtheseskels
1 year ago

You obviously don’t know what I’m talking about, and I doubt you know what you’re talking about.

Gt
Gt
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

Maybe it was parody.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Intelligent Dasein
1 year ago

That’s the conundrum. Assuming Trump is not put out of action by a corrupt legal system, DeSantis has to be particularly careful how he attacks/approaches Trump. If Trump loyalists detect a tarnishing of their icon, they’ll sit this one out. DeSantis has to show he’s the “better man” for the job without showing Trump is the worse form of human life.

In short, DeSantis has to run basically a positive campaign in a time where this type of campaigning is unheard of—and perhaps now ineffective upon the average voter who votes out of fear and emotion.

Getreal
Getreal
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

“…DeSantis has to run basically a positive campaign…”

Hehe. A “campaign.”

Pozymandias
Reply to  Intelligent Dasein
1 year ago

A legacy of the Cold War is that both superpowers had a superficial official government and a shadow state made up of the intelligence agencies. This was more obvious in the Soviet Union because the explicit rulers even as far back as Lenin, were using the intelligence services to enact policy. An example would be the one Solzhenitsyn gives of how the Cheka (which becomes the KGB) arrested about a quarter of the population of Leningrad in something like a few days. Here in the US, the rise of the shadow state began with the dictator Lincoln but later Presidents… Read more »

Severian
1 year ago

A guy I know described himself as a “fascist hippie,” and I’ve stolen that for myself. Looking around, I see that all my goofy hippie college professors from 1992 were right about everything. Right for all the wrong reasons, it goes without saying, but nonetheless correct. Back then, the Left was anti-immigration, and the farther Left, the more anti-immigration. They were even right on the reason: Immigration unacceptably depresses wages for the natives. They went off the rails just after that — “something something the Socialist Revolution, comrade!” — but they were right. You could reprint lots of articles from… Read more »

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

Spot on.

If you want to see something that will make your jaw drop, buy the trade paperback version of CAMP OF THE SAINTS and read the review blurbs from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and so forth on the cover. They are very, very effusive. None of those publications today even would review COTS, and all would demand anyone who praised it to be deplatformed and investigated.

Seriously, check it out.

Larval
Larval
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

Plenty of praise for Erwin Rommel, from U.S. Army generals and persons — now the same ‘brilliant’ general is a knotzee, and cannot be mentioned in public.

How do Germans tie their shoes? Asking for a friend.

In little knotzees.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Larval
1 year ago

When the home rule of the American south was threatened in the mid 20th century, southerners went to putting up new Confederate monuments and such. That’s when a lot of them were erected, along about the 1950s. Because they (rightly) felt threatened. Turned out to be a sign that the end was near.

Perhaps there’s a parallel here lately in the regime resurrecting and doubling down on its GAE WW2 mythology. It feels threatened too. Does this mean it’s on the way out, like the southern apartheid system was on its way out back then? One can hope

Mike
Mike
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

I have MSN as my homepage and I’ve noticed along with news about celebrities I’ve never heard of and cat videos, there are now several military stories on the page. Sometimes there are lots of them. It’s almost like the sheep are being prepared to go to war. I may not be supposed to notice but it’s there and it’s real.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

There are so many bleeding hearts when it comes to the immivasion I don’t hold out much hope.

I just had an argument with a guy on another site who thinks illegals are A-OK if they pay taxes.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

The nanosecond the Regime decides illegal immigration is not working to its benefit, it will flip the propaganda script and the NPC’s will bleat in unison how wrong it is and demand the aliens be deported. The Regime will gun down men, women and children crossing the border and the propaganda outlets breathlessly will report, with great admiration, the casualties and broadcast interviews with the stunning and brave Border Patrol agents. I can see this happening if the elites feel personally threatened by disease or terrorism attributable to the open border. Again, this was the Regime position until at least… Read more »

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

Wild Geese: They ‘pay taxes’ on the minute portion of income that is documented and recorded (the majority of their money is cash under the table) only so as to get all the fedgov’s gibs under the scam ‘earned income credit.’ It’s all one ginormous grift.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

The EITC is the biggest criminal scam there is and its abuse once flagged the most IRS audits until investigating those particular crimes became “racist.” More than even illegal aliens, blacks routinely abuse EITC. Baby mamas in big cities sell the SSN’s of their children to the highest bidder to claim on 1040’s, particularly when Shaneeka is too pinched to pay someone who is numerate to fill out her 1040.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

I’ll not go into detail, but study after study shows that new “immigrants”—at least the ones who scurry across the border like rats—never pay enough in taxes over their lifetimes to make up for their “welfare” benefits. Welfare of course including all sorts of benefits like their health care, Head of Household income tax rebates, and free schooling for their spawn. But what was more shocking are studies that show this dependency extends onto the second generation of the “immigrant” family, their children—most born on American soil. This make some sense as the folks scurrying across the border are not… Read more »

Horace
Horace
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

Where I live is infested with foreigners working in the local labor-heavy corporations. They used to all go the emergency room for free medical care. This clogged everything up, of course. The local corporate administrative class relies upon these same facilities, so that state of affairs was not allowed to continue. The local health care providers now have branches where payment is means-scaled. (which means if you are an illegal working for X corporation you are paying nothing or next to nothing) Who pays for all this? Everyone who is going to the other regular branches and paying out of… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

3g4me (and all frens who responded below),

Yeah, this guy was seriously trying to argue that illegals work above board and pay taxes on their full salaries, and that’s why $60 billion in remittances shouldn’t be taxed.

Yeah, no, guy.

Meanwhile, I’m well over the $600 eBay limit, so I get to pay tax on those sales or argue with the IRS about depreciation and red-flag myself for an audit.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

I pity the citizen ? legal alien ? who has to explain to the IRS why he appears to have fifty different W-2s from a dozen different States.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

He was trying to make you have a “spreadsheet argument”, which usually isn’t worth it. Ask instead if it’s then okay for the government to move 10,000 Haitians into a town of 2,000 white people so long as they pay taxes? (And be sure to mention “white” this is how you’ll be able to tell if arguing with someone who is…dishonest in their presentation).

Or how about the nation of Zimbabwe decides to pay U.S. taxes on their dirt wages, do they all get to vote now, or is physically being here part of the magic equation.

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

I converted many years ago to, to put it in 4chan terms, TOTAL CONSERVATIVE DEATH because of their belief in the myth of the hardworking immigrant. No group of non-white immigrants, not even the Indians who out-earn Jews, is a net taxpayer. Maybe the Japanese are, but there are so few of them they’re not measurable, no Republican small businessman/contractor has ever proudly told me he fired all his white loser employees and replaced them with samurai-talking guys who understand the dignity of working for 20% less than not even shit, and when I go to the doctor’s office the… Read more »

ray
ray
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

‘Back then, they were sure that the CIA was out there starting wars for fun and profit, while their domestic Mini-Me, the FBI, was spying on everyone and conspiring to deny us our Constitutional rights.’

Well that was when the Left thought the CIA and FBI were elements of the Mean Oppressor Patriarchy and thus, the Left’s enemies.

Now the Left IS the CIA and FBI. Not much reform talk now, hmm.

Andy Texan
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

I think RFK, Jr is a throw-back you refer to. His party affiliation does not matter since they disavow him nearly as thoroughly as Trump (by his party).

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
1 year ago

I have no illusions that my vote or even my opinion means much. Among republicans, I’d be torn between DeSantis and Trump. I’ve voted for both of them in prior elections. As a FL resident, I appreciate some things DeSantis is doing but I have misgivings. From a practical standpoint, we lose a good Governor if he’s successful. In the normal course of events, a State governor has no business flying to Israel to sign a law against “anti-semitism.” That alone says a lot of where his loyalties lie. And, need I point out, that the best interests of White… Read more »

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
1 year ago

Ron DeSantis’ trip to Israel to sign away Floridian’s free speech is an indicator of what he is likely to do at the federal level. It is something he is specifically forbidden to have done at least according to the Constitution and the incorporation doctrine. OTOH, we know how Trump will govern.

There really aren’t any good options for 2024. I suppose it’s just as well because voting will solve nothing.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Ron pulled his forelock in Isreal, in all likelihood, because he needs the Finkels’ shekels. Whether he’s a true neocon is difficult to say inasmuch as Florida doesn’t have much of a foreign policy. That said, I’ll grant that it is a bad look.

miforest
miforest
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
1 year ago

Ben! watch RFK jr’ s kickoff speech. it’s all rigged and he is likely to get a heart attack from the ……stress of running . I thought is was the most refreshing thing I have heard from any politician in 30 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVLd3g82ZNw

Hoagie
Hoagie
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

The man is now and always has been a total commie.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
1 year ago

Ben – after countless letters and phone calls demanding and begging to be removed from mailing lists (generated by donations by myself or my hubby long ago), we are finally free. We gave the post office a friend’s Texas business address as our forwarding address and mass mailing and such is only forwarded for a month. We changed our address to our new residence for bills, the bank, etc. directly online. And when we got our new drivers licenses we politely declined the federally compliant one that will be needed in 2025 to fly and got the standard state one… Read more »

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
1 year ago

Few era’s compare to this one. The men in powdered wigs in 1788 not knowing what was going to hit them. The same ones, no longer in powdered wigs, but dressed like tin soldiers in 1913. What’s coming is going to be just as bad. The only difference will be after a hundred years of “democracy” our country won’t have any dignity to lose, and the leaders being replaced won’t be replaced by moral inferiors as you can’t go below rock bottom. What little dignity that was preserved after the 1970’s was tossed into the garbage with the election of… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

The dusty old wax museum is uninsured, too, and that will focus the mind when someone needs to buy a loaf. The smart money is on appeals to patriotism falling quite flat when it becomes apparent there is no bread to be had at any price. I think Lenin said something along those lines about bread with a side of peace.

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Yes, so many will lose it all. All these people paying into annuities, etc. It reminds me of Argentina in 2000, where people who were solidly middle class just a couple years prior were dumpster diving. But I think in this case you’re going to have violent turmoil overriding that. Add to that millions of ferrel wandering negroes….just wow.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

Go long on death squad suppliers. Those will be a thing soon enough, serving a purpose that dovetails with interests of the State, not unlike what Antifa does now.

ray
ray
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

‘Go long on death squad suppliers.’

Also go long on funeral industry, short on marriage industry.

OldBeer
OldBeer
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. If there is death squads in America, I think they will come in the form of uniformed law enforcement and their actions will be openly sanctioned by the regime. It won’t be civilian ex-military guys in balaclavas ambushing people on a deserted road and then disappearing into the night or kidnapping them and executing them in the desert. Instead the death squads will be comprised of ATF, FBI and the like. They will go into a home and shoot the occupants. They will then put up yellow caution tape and the whole… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

Ray-

The lunatics in my exurb that just opened a strip-mall sized bridal store didn’t get your memo.

OldBeer-

I think your take about the spicy times ahead is spot on. The police tape was a nice touch.

Mike
Mike
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

I especially liked “phony cowboy imbicile”. the best yet description of him.

Andy Texan
Reply to  Mike
1 year ago

Faux Texan, faux cowboy, faux southerner, faux conservative, faux nationalist, faux patriot, faux warrior, faux Christian, faux constitutional American . . . from Connecticut and Maine. So it goes. There I go agreeing with the old Left again.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
1 year ago

The observation that “we can’t vote our way out of this” is powerful because it is true, but it is relatively unknown to normie conservatives. I predict that at some point in the next 2-3 years, possibly after the next presidential election, this phrase will burst into the consciousness of normie conservatives, again, because its truth is undeniable. When that happens, some conservatives will radicalize, because there is nothing else that can be done. Does anyone have any thoughts or stories about the effects of “we can’t vote our way out of this” on normie conservatives? (It will be funny… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

People are voting with their feet and with their unwillingness to degrade and debase themselves with military service among other things. Those are pretty clear signs we are in post-electoral times regardless of whether the people disengaging are conscious of it. We bash Normie a lot, but he is acting rather rationally.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

My family is overwhelmingly on our side, but it took time and patience to get them to understand and accept the situation.

The most effective question to ask is,”what policies are implemented that you voted for?”

The reality is that if every politician from the top to the local level disappeared overnight, (Think alien abductions) most people wouldn’t even notice.

They add nothing of value to the dirt folks lives.

mr dithers
mr dithers
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

Add school boards, city councils, library board of directors, zoning and permitting departments, tax assessors, hospital administrators, and the guy who comes around to tell you to clean up the grass in your front yard..

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

I believe any major celebrity who dares to discourage “Americans” from voting will be immediately deplatformed and probably persecuted. The Power Structure realizes that pointless voting, which signifies belief in Our Democracy, is the critical pressure relief-valve. If a large swathe of whites conclude that the so-called “democracy” is simply a sham and a mug’s game, social pressure will increase dangerously, and thoughts will turn, ineleuctably, toward extra-political measures to accomplish what voting cannot. In other words, condemning participation in the political process will be rightly seen as incitement to insurrection and even counter-revolution.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

The Power Structure has two big projects: Our Democracy and Forever Wars; Anti-White Racism simply is a component of both, simultaneously assuring electoral success while killing off as many young white alphas as possible. Our Democracy provides the moral raison d’etre for Forever Wars: “see, the people want us to bring Our Democracy to NoOneGivesAFuckastan! They voted for this crusade!” This is the reason a celebrity can oppose military conflicts as long as it doesn’t threaten Our Democracy, which paves the way for Forever Wars by giving them the imprimatur of widespread support. I strongly agree any public figure who… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

I am quite convinced that the forever wars are simply a salient to globalize the GAE’s deranged ideology, the key component of which is anti-white racism. The GAE is the world’s first empire based upon perversity and diversity. And it will slaughter as many people as necessary to make the world safe for nipple-clamped fruitcakes wagging their tallywackers in the faces of little boys, and neolithic negroes bedizened with gold hawzers grunting across a stage with mics in their hands. This irrational ideology killed America and, left unchecked, it will obliterate every hint of civilization on the planet.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

I’ll give that some thought because it is quite plausible. Much of the violence and mayhem is unnecessary simply for raw grift. I already agree that cultural imperialism is a real thing with the GAE; the Forever War against the South is a naked cultural genocide to erase all remaining vestiges of its regional distinctiveness. It is progressing remarkably with the iconoclasm, but outside most of the big cities it is simultaneously hardening Southern hatred of the GAE. It makes perfect sense that war would be required to go one step further, particularly abroad, where I suspect the same “successes”… Read more »

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

“some conservatives will radicalize”

I doubt it. “Conservative” is a personality trait, not a political platform. If there is going to be a political backlash, it won’t come from conservatives.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Yes. If the election indeed were stolen in 2020, and I have come to think it really was stolen, it was because the Regime calculated that the Left it set into motion would explode and might secede if Trump were re-elected. The Regime correctly knew conservatives would at best do something along the lines of January 6. When the UMC in the private sector and the managerial elite in the public no longer have heat and food, there will be an outright revolt. They are what we call “the Left” for the most part. We do have ongoing dissolution and… Read more »

Fakeemail
Fakeemail
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

GLR’s early black pill was that conservatives were scared little masochists who liked to larp as patriots at little meetings, congratulate each other, then go home and lock all their doors and draw their blinds.

Arshad Ali
Arshad Ali
1 year ago

“Since Trump came on the scene, he has been hearing the distant calls of right-wing nationalism, but he lacks the understanding to make out what is being said. He is a man being pulled in multiple directions because he senses that something is terribly wrong with the system.” Ethno-nationalism is the only way forward. Not only because of the problem of changing demographics but because of the orchestrated campaign against white people being waged. There is no alternative. The old civic nationalism rested on the tacit assumption of a white majority whose members had a fair bit in common with… Read more »

B125
B125
Reply to  Arshad Ali
1 year ago

For better or worse, that is the only option available to us.

I’ve gamed out pretty much every other ideology and that is the only one that works for white people going forward.

Hence, the regime’s entire purpose is pretty much preventing white people from becoming racially aware and playing by the same rules as every other group.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  B125
1 year ago

“the regime’s entire purpose is pretty much preventing white people from becoming racially aware and playing by the same rules as every other group”

That’s been American national policy since1861.

Mike
Mike
Reply to  Arshad Ali
1 year ago

Trump, whatever he is, is probably the best possible outcome for the elites at this point. What comes in his place or after him will probably be much worse for the so-called elite in the GAE. No more Mr. Nice Guy will come to pass at some point. The insanity and hubris is off the charts now and there will be blowback.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Mike
1 year ago

You have to wonder why the Regime did not co-opt Trump. All it would have taken is flattery. Maybe even the upper echelons are too insane at this point to act in their own interest.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Jack Dodson
1 year ago

That is the real mystery isn’t it. It’s not as if he isn’t politically malleable. Quite the opposite really. I can’t speak for every snake in the swamp, but taking one example that I’m sure about, James Comey, he honestly believed he was saving America from this nazi who was so evil that he couldn’t be negotiated with.

How such a stupid and silly NPC could end up as director of the FBI, is the still bigger mystery

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

I don’t think any other type could be FBI director at this point, but, yeah, Comey likely is a deranged lunatic who thinks anything he does is warranted.

Hun
Hun
1 year ago

2016 was a great time full of hope and excitement. The God-Emperor was going to save us all. Anybody here remembers this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9NhVeWYxuw

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

Is our memory that short? Obama supporters did that in spades. Hell, in the school systems in Black neighborhoods, they had the class pledging allegiance to Obama instead of the flag. I’m certain similar stuff occurred in White school systems as well.

Obama was hailed as the great racial savior. The epitome of our development as a racially mix country. A rejection of White hegemony. Our proof to the world the diversity works.

Trump supporters are pikers compared to Obama’s.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

Reminds me of this video. I wonder what became of these kids. Probably out in the streets burning things in 2020 would be my guess

https://youtu.be/TW9b0xr06qA

Hun
Hun
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

That is terrible. Where is the energy? So lame.

The Murdoch Murdoch video was truly powerful and inspiring.

Vajynabush
Vajynabush
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

That is so over the top it is like a freaking parody.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
1 year ago

“Everything about our present politics is backward looking, as if no one really wants to face up to the present. The 2016 election should have broken both parties free of the past, but instead it made them cling tighter. This election will be a reboot of the old franchise, not because the original was so good, but because no one can think of anything new that better fits the times.” Those are some of the most insightful lines you have written and they need to be in your long-overdue book. I really do not know what would better fit the… Read more »

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

It is weird, in that the 2016 election was just past its sell-by date even when it was new so now that they’re looking for a replay it seems insulting that they want us to consume a bowl of mold. It’s not just the GOP either, keep in mind the Dems had to fortify their past two primaries to keep Sanders off the ballot

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
1 year ago

In 2016 Bernie and Trump were used by voters to send their parties the same message: “We want normal stuff.” In contrast to the rest of the candidates, who are all weird psychos, both were “relatable” old men promising mildly populist-inflected versions of what their parties’ platforms say. As is tradition, the GOP told its voters, “OK, we’ll kinda pretend to let you have that, but not *really* pretend. That would be embarrassing.” And their voters disapprove, but what are they gonna do? In a moment of inspiration, the DNC said to its voters, and to everyone, “Eat shit. No… Read more »

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
1 year ago

The “Left” is bought for the time being. We have ongoing dissolution and fragmentation from “conservatives” as they leave Blue shitholes and disengage from the central government. The “Left” will put up with election rigging until it economically suffers, and then a Deep Fake like Bernie will have no other choice than to pay lip service to revolution and hope the call goes unheeded.

joey jünger
joey jünger
1 year ago

DeSantis should (and probably does) know about diversity itself being an inherently destructive force. There’s no way for him not to know, as Miami, like Baltimore (but moreso) is a place where the future arrived early. You’ve had low level civil war between poor whites and poor everyone else there since the “Florida Crackers” settled there in the 18th century. You also got an early look at how the diversity will devour each other when no whiteys are around, during the Civil Rights era. You had fat matronly black women telling Cubans flush with federal cash (some of it FBI… Read more »

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  joey jünger
1 year ago

“DeSantis should (and probably does) know about diversity itself being an inherently destructive force. There’s no way for him not to know . . .” Au contraire! Are you unfamiliar with the phenomenon of willful ignorance? “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Sinclair Lewis If DeSantis was the type who understood the problems inherent to diversity, his ass would have been drummed out of the system long before he made it to governor. Same with Trump. We’re all supposed to believe that The Donald is some… Read more »

ray
ray
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Donald is an Eighties-era liberal with a fem-prog daughter who influences him greatly. What lasted from his administration? Almost nothing. The Woke-Fem Junta just used it and him to springboard further totalitarianism, while he tipped on out to Mar-a-Lago. If the Politburo had imprisoned him, like they do in latin america to real opponents — instead of just bringing him in to talk — then I might be moved a little. If Donald had grown up working or middle class, had to forge his own way, felt the full weight of New Amerika being shoved down his throat, I might… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  ray
1 year ago

Refrigerator Trump is no threat to the Power Structure, but the Power Structure sure thinks he is. And I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he spends the last several years of his life in the hoosegow, and it won’t be Club Martha either.

ray
ray
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

Being as Donald essentially is a liberal, Ostei, the only reason the Left can have for their burning, fierce hatred is what he represents, not who he actually is.

To them he represents the Evil Past that was On the Wrong Side of History and Angels. He is large, loud, imposing, unapologetically masculine, maddeningly white, heterosexual, and even pretends to be a Christian (tho he ain’t).

That is a checklist of what it is, and has been, incorrect and detestable in the U.S. since the Eighties. Thus, Donnie the Happy Lib = Moustache Man.

Mike
Mike
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Kind of have to disagree about Trump. Sure he’s a protoype civnat but he has learned hard lessons over the last couple years. He should know now exactly where he stands in the GAE scheme of things now and hopefully if elected (I don’t think he will be) he will use his power and the support of millions to clean house.

A lot of revolutionairies come from the elites, Che for example. Maybe that will happen here.

pixilated
pixilated
Reply to  Mike
1 year ago

As I recall, part of the Donald’s problem was he had no decent Cabinet people ready to go on day one-the grizzly bear stands alone, growling and waving his paws.

joey jünger
joey jünger
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

I remember seeing the same sort of arch, affected world-weary certitude in the runup to the 2016 election, especially from older people. “The system knows how to deal with people like Trump. He won’t make it through the primaries.” As Tucker pointed out, then, the world we’re in is a very different one than the world of only a few years ago. Mainstream politicians are openly talking about antiwhite hatred, as are normie whites. No one really quite understands the battlespace in which we’re all currently fighting. All I know is that the system has put more energy into destroying… Read more »

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  joey jünger
1 year ago

Does it ever occur to you pro-Trumpers that the ruling class might just be using the man as a decoy to misdirect dissident hope and energy into someone who is ultimately ineffectual and poses no genuine threat to the system?

joey jünger
joey jünger
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Does it ever occur to you that I’m only interested in Trump as a phenomenon which stirs something inchoate, whose explicit expression is becoming an inevitability? I’m not interested in the outcome of this election, as I consider it probably a foregone conclusion. I’m more interested in the effect of the election’s foregone outcome on those who still hold out hope of reforming the system. And no, I don’t believe the 5-D chess model that might posit the powers that be are using Trump as a decoy while also using the power of the state and the FBI to also… Read more »

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

@joey:

Well put. Even if the Regime is using Trump as a decoy, they are cutting off their nose to spite their face because of the passions stirred. Not that acting irrationally is foreign to the American state these days, mind you.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  joey jünger
1 year ago

The only mainstream pol I’ve heard mention anti-white hatred is Putin. If you know of others, I’d like to see their names.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Dam’, Kathman! Did a passing condor drop a load in your Grapenutz this morning? (-:

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

I can see how you might have that impression. Nevertheless, I get the sneaking suspicion that some of the commenters here are not nearly cynical enough about the situation in this country. Some of them still seem to think that an election can somehow serve our purposes. Even among dissidents, the ability to face the darkness that confronts us, with absolutely no sugarcoating or false hope whatsoever, remains rare. Many still appear to believe that some man on a white horse will come riding in to save us from all the madness. We’ll have to lose that illusion in order… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

I didn’t get the impression that JJ was extolling elections. Rather, I gathered he was vaunting Trump as a perturbation whose effects, while unpredictable, do contain the possibility of destabilizing the Power Structure. Now even that may be a bit sanguine, but it is a far cry from bawling, “Vote harder!”

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  joey jünger
1 year ago

Text to satisfy filter: I was very young when this happened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Overtown_riot

btp
Member
1 year ago

Well, I think the whole election tradition is simply charming. It’s wonderfully noisy and bombastic and traditional – the part where they re-enact the Roman consul oaths is wildly anachronistic, of course. But by now it’s become this great un-self-conscious throwback – I mean, it’s just its own thing now with the pretend Roman forum and all that. Just a great show. I wish they could do it every year.

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
1 year ago

The thin GOP candidate field speaks volumes about the current state of affairs. The Regime has intimidated its opposition and is in full control. Only DeSantis is willing to screw up his life. And this assumes he isn’t “controlled opposition”. Trump’s life is already screwed.

The others are non-entities that have no lives to screw up and won’t be taken seriously in any case. Hailey and Scott are running for Board seats at defense contractors and/or grifter gigs at think tanks.

So we have a senile incompetent who is nearly politically impregnable and attracts minimal opposition. Really?

RealityRules
RealityRules
1 year ago

All of our focus should be on the proper coordination of the seemingly contradictory objectives of positioning within the system to take over and building the parallel of what comes next. The most logical combination is continuing The Great Resorting (geographical separation), and takeover of local politics and create strongholds throughout the American Asturias.

Any eyes on politics should only be done to take time and temperature in order to time cow tipping and/or reactive actions.

p
p
Reply to  RealityRules
1 year ago

How was the “re-sorting” done in South American countries that have/had obvious outlier immigration (germans, italians) and yet seem to be getting along fine?

Wkathman
Wkathman
1 year ago

If there was any truth in advertising, the DeSantis ad would have taken place at the Wailing Wall.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

90% sure the trip to Israel, and the anti-speech legislation, was DeSantis signaling to his true owners he will play ball. Trump did a lot of the same stuff.

Leads one to think that whatever you think of the psychos who own our politicians, they’re probably even worse.

george 1
george 1
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Who among the Republicans is the Israel first candidate?

All of them.

RealityRules
RealityRules
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

Putting aside national political aspirations, DiSantis’ aspirations to run his home state are dependent upon the demographics, money and power that requires him to make explicit acts of fealty. Isn’t it interesting that one of America’s last bastions is that way? It is likely that the activities of ingenious heckling and pamphleteering by THT made a lot of people nervous. It shows what one guy can do. The symbolism of making a guy fly over for a sit down and do a humiliation ritual and rights sign-off is a double edged sword. Okay. You wield tremendous power. But, a lot… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

Well done piece.

The problems I see with DeSantis are;

Harvard Graduate
Military lawyer (dear lord)

And therefore, a product of the deep state.

And as my old FTO told me the first day on the job, “never trust a Fed”.

Barnard
Barnard
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

Even if DeSantis didn’t have those issues, his retail political skills are historically bad. It is a visible struggle for him to have conversations with normal voters. Part of the reason for his huge reelection margin in Florida was people fed up with Covid restrictions other places moving into the state. What is the argument he can win the Rust Belt even if it wasn’t fortified for democracy?

Marko
Marko
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

If he is a product of the deep state and a Fed, then there may be a silver lining. DeSantis is by no means /ourguy/ but his right-of-center signalling suggests that there is a faction of the managerial state that is sick of the woke stuff. And maybe even skeptical of the neocon stuff. If the regime is not going to fall any time soon – and it may last for generations longer – then I’m glad there’s at least some green shoots of sanity lurking about Washington, even if they are Muskian centrists.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Marko
1 year ago

Hadn’t thought of it in that light Marko. Then again, it suggests a return to the old days.
Alas, the bridges back have been burned long ago.

Forever Templar
Forever Templar
Reply to  Marko
1 year ago

The regime could last for a few generations? Dunno man, this last ten years brought changes I never expected to see. Another 20 years I doubt whatever that is will resemble anything today. Slow boil will make it seem familiar, maybe; Americans sure put up with enough nonsense already.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Forever Templar
1 year ago

As long as the Great American ATM keeps working the regime can hold it together and the people will tolerate more or less anything. Proven.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Marko
1 year ago

Yes, always an argument for the lesser of two evils. I’m not hoping for a repeat, but hypothetically, let’s speculate a future world where the Inner Party is rent by disputes that require no-shit “Traditional” methods to settle. Even if he was a founding member, history tells us that at times, a Trotsky is literally airbrushed out of history. That’s a good thing if you were not the Trotsky faction.

RasQball
RasQball
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

FTO?
Qu’est-ce-que-c’est, s’il-vous plait?

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  RasQball
1 year ago

RasQBall

Good thing my wife is French!

Field
Training
Officer

TomA
TomA
1 year ago

Nuts & bolts. Trump’s base is around 40% of primary voters, and it’s rock solid. The other 7 pretenders will have to split the remaining 60%, so it’s going to take some extraordinary shenanigans to keep Trump from winning the nomination. Can the Rs play as dirty as the Ds. Methinks not because there’s not a swinging pair to be found among the RINOs. And even if they succeed in shit-canning Trump (which is probable), many of his voters will then boycott the presidential election. These upcoming campaigns will keep normie occupied with distraction and false hope, but the most… Read more »

ArthurinCali
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

Amazing still is how many normies cling to the belief that this financial house of cards will continue in perpetuity. One has to purposely keep blinders on not to see that this story does not have a happy ending…

Forever Templar
Forever Templar
Reply to  ArthurinCali
1 year ago

True, but TBF, predicting collapse has been somewhat of an industry for as long as I’ve been cognizant of politics. People get used to hearing it. I’ve always kinda wondered if Greek and Roman citizens had the same feeling in the moments before stuff unquestionably hit the fan.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Forever Templar
1 year ago

Greek and Romans had the same problem we do today, a time period wrt decline and collapse that spanned generations.

As the Boomers do now, no one thought the collapse would happen in their lifetime, they had time to adjust. And for that matter historians still to this day argue not just to cause, but to when and how. So to will Chinese historians do the same for us.

TomA
TomA
Reply to  Forever Templar
1 year ago

Willful blindness is a necessity when, deep down, you know that you’re not robust enough to survive the interregnum of an economic collapse. If you’re fat, lazy, and have nothing useful or productive to offer others, then collapse presents as a death sentence. These are the wages of prolonged affluence and the effects of an endless welfare state. It’s also how tyrannies gain popular support. They promise evermore gravy in exchange for allegiance to elites, and then reward that trust with genocide when the going gets tough.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  ArthurinCali
1 year ago

Well, this financial “house of cards” has proved pretty damned durable over the decades, constantly confuting the perpetual predictions of collapse and cataclysm. I’ll believe all this depression talk when I see Lloyd Blankfein sailing out of a 50th-floor window in lower Manhattan.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
1 year ago

to me, Trump shows zero evidence of having learned a thing since 2016/2020. his attacks on DeSantis are ham handed and make him look like a cheap thug. none of the GOP candidates are agents of change because the GOP is a vested interest in the current turmoil (as is the Dem party). the only candidate that is remotely interesting is Kennedy.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

That is awesome. Who produced that?

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree about that little response video by the Trump team. It was basically nothing more than a juvenile cheap shot — which is about all that Trump is really good for. And throwing the Mustache Man into the mix just makes the whole thing look ridiculously pozzed. Then at the end, when they have Trump threatening to put Soros and Schwab in jail, it brings back memories of Trump claiming Hillary Clinton would be in prison if he ever became president — how did that turn out? That entire video only reminded me that… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Wkathman
1 year ago

“ We need to get beyond him.”

How? Seems you want another encore of same old, same old. Do you still believe there is a Superman out there who, when empowered to the Presidency, will right the ship of state.

I’ll settle for the best disrupter I can get.

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

I do not “want another encore of the same old, same old.” I am fully aware that NOBODY will “right the ship of state” — especially not a real estate-hustling, reality-TV star. If I had my druthers, dissidents would disengage from electoral politics altogether. We would stop giving air to the deceitful theater of yet another meaningless presidential race. The system wants us to stay engaged with it. Too many of us still willing to play the suckers.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

do you think that response by Trump shows growth? is it something a competent leader would do? to me it is jr hs level nonsense.

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

kvh: Thank you for injecting some much-needed rationality into this comment section. That Trump video mocking DeSantis is less sophisticated than the trash talk that goes on in professional wrestling. It’s strange how all the talk about “grifters” and “clowns” sidetracking right-wing politics never comes around to Trump himself. Again and again, he has proven himself the ultimate grifting clown.

Member
1 year ago

Maniac may be right. There almost certainly will be strenuous efforts to re-install the Biden Team, if only to keep prosecutors away from their many crimes against the nation.

An openly fixed election, however, may trigger a strong reaction. An armed uprising by righteously angry people, a Second Civil War if you will, could be the result. In the unstable conditions of a Fourth Turning there are many possibilities.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  FNC1A1
1 year ago

It would be a silent succession, with red states simply ignoring Washington D.C. and refusing to help federal agencies.

The Fed’s only trump card is the monetary system, and that is strained to the limit as it is.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

This is happening even now with increased frequency.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Red states need to be making plans to reserve fossil fuel and food resources for themselves.

They should also be trying to gauge if any of the many mini-reactor projects are worth a darn.

Jack Dodson
Jack Dodson
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

Yes. Individual states that prioritize their own energy and food production will survive because whether intentional or not the United States has embraced policies that will leave people cold and hungry. It takes a certain will to power to start devolving into an independent polity, and one of the green shoots of recent years has been the beginning of that process, whether conscious or not.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

I have no opinion about fission power sources, but I have it on good authority that hydroelectric is worth a dam. 😏

theRussians
theRussians
Member
1 year ago

The whole thing is like an episode of the twilight zone. The destruction is so bad that larping is the only option, reality is just too much. They know the product is defective but their job in the process is to pull that lever, pulling the lever is virtuous and who doesn’t want to think they’re one of the good guys.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Outside of the usual shills, the main feeling I get it simple apathy. The average person knows something is horribly wrong, which would usually translate to political interest, but very little is seen. It’s like people are implicitly understanding everything is coming off, but no national election can stop what’s coming. Also, a lot of it has to do with the reality of ballot harvesting, which makes convincing people a fool’s errand and becomes a contest of who can shove ballots in front of stupid, low information voters and get them to check the right box. The urge to convince… Read more »

Gideon
Gideon
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Back in the day, most people had to get themselves to the polls to vote. This tended to benefit Republicans; although even Democrats who participated were more likely to have a little more on the ball than the average prole. Only a relatively small percentage of voters from a similar demographic voted absentee. These days, with only a signature for verification in many states, your pet could vote absentee. And as a legal matter, the only distinction between a naturalized citizen and an illegal alien (per the Supreme Court) is they’ve ticked a box on their voter registration card saying… Read more »

Mr. Generic
Mr. Generic
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Voting has always been easy. Just register one time when you turn 18 or move to a new area. There will be a polling location near where you live that is open all day on Election Day. Elections are at fixed intervals so you have literally months between elections to make arrangements for work, travel, etc. What has been made much easier is *cheating*. We’ve always had ballot stuffing, but it was much harder when you didn’t know who had voted until the day of, and you only had a precious few hours on election night (instead of literal weeks… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Mr. Generic
1 year ago

And I’ll add for an historical ironic note that in AZ it was a complete Rep Legislature and Gov that passed the mail in ballot law 20 years or so ago. Now the State is blue and the Rep’s on the verge of collapse.

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

“War with China or Russia or a true monetary system crash will mean no election.”

Dang it, Chet: now you have me rooting for nuclear war and economic collapse.

At least my family and I will slowly starve/ die from radiation poisoning while surrounded by lots and lots of ammo…

Maniac
Maniac
1 year ago

I hope I’m wrong, but I predict a(nother) stolen election for Biden.

Marko
Marko
Reply to  Maniac
1 year ago

There would have to be something close to a palace coup for the presidential election to swing right. That, or an economic calamity which creates a power vacuum, has managerial-state goons running for the exits, and is filled by a Red Caesar who promises to make things right.