Begun, the Statue Wars have

 

Forgive the truncated tweet. You get the gist of the pith of his marrow.

Got it? Trump is waging a Statue Culture War. The people who topple anything that looks,  y’know, old, and hence racist – that’s just, like, an expression of Real Feelings, and hence sanctified. If they tear down a symbol of Wisconsin Progress or an Elk or an actual Abolitionist, well, omelettes, broken eggs and all that. 

That’s not war; that’s a way of starting a discussion.

If you don’t accept the premises and the direct action and the verdict of the topplers? You, not them ,  have decided to declare WAR. Prosecuting the people who tear down monuments is not a reaction to a culture war, it is starting a culture war. Proposing the creation of a national statuary center that celebrates the accomplishments of remarkable American individuals is waging a culture war. 

The author of this tweet, according to Wikipedia: “Kenneth Paul Vogel is an American journalist and author who currently reports for The New York Times. From 2007 to 2017, he was the founding chief investigative reporter at Politico.”

Published in General
Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 111 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    What has the left ever built but gulags?

    Piles of bodies. Roads over the bodies where the imprisoned workers had to build the roads. I’m sure there were a few other things.

    • #61
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Trump builds things. The left destroys things.

    What has the left ever built but gulags?

    Didn’t they actually make the proles (or whoever) build their own gulags?

    • #62
  3. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    What has the left ever built but gulags?

    Piles of bodies. Roads over the bodies where the imprisoned workers had to build the roads. I’m sure there were a few other things.

    Useless Light rail systems. 

    • #63
  4. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Kozak (View Comment):

     

    This is the United States, not Europe.  I would love to hammer Antifa defendants and give them some significant incarceration time.

    • #64
  5. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is the United States, not Europe. I would love to hammer Antifa defendants and give them some significant incarceration time.

    From your lips to God’s ears.

    • #65
  6. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Jules PA (View Comment):

    On first glance, these statues seem an insensitive throw back that minimizes groomsmen who were owned as slaves. 

    I am looking for a balanced and factual account from their origin, up to and including their modern interpretation as racial kitsch. 

    The Wikipedia entry is a good starting point, to state the obvious. ;) And thanks for the kind words! I’m no authority on this aspect of American culture, aside from noting the innumerable examples of dehumanization of Black Americans in commercial art. 

    • #66
  7. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Buckpasser (View Comment):

    How soon before his speech did the memo go out from the DNC to their press minions to use “dark” as the operative adjective?

    You can’t use “dark” as a pejorative because …. Racist.

    • #67
  8. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    This is the United States, not Europe. I would love to hammer Antifa defendants and give them some significant incarceration time.

    Then vote for Trump and Republicans in November.

    Because if you vote for Biden and Democrats you will be putting them in power.

    • #68
  9. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):

    On first glance, these statues seem an insensitive throw back that minimizes groomsmen who were owned as slaves.

    I am looking for a balanced and factual account from their origin, up to and including their modern interpretation as racial kitsch.

    The Wikipedia entry is a good starting point, to state the obvious. ;) And thanks for the kind words! I’m no authority on this aspect of American culture, aside from noting the innumerable examples of dehumanization of Black Americans in commercial art.

    Thanks James. 

    • #69
  10. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    cdor (View Comment):

    ToryWarWriter (View Comment):

    I remember years ago Jonah Goldberg being interviewed by a reporter who complained to him about how conservatives were aggressors in the culture war, and he pushed back. “Really name me 3 things we initiated.”

    The reporter had to concede that in fact Progressives were the aggressors.

    I assume that is a bad thing, yes?

    You don’t win wars through defense. We are in a great struggle with the left for the future of our country. 

    • #70
  11. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    You don’t win wars through defense.

    Who made that rule?  That happens all the time. 

    • #71
  12. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    You don’t win wars through defense.

    Who made that rule? That happens all the time.

    You don’t win until you gain and maintain the offensive and put the opponent on the defensive.

    • #72
  13. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    You don’t win wars through defense.

    Who made that rule? That happens all the time.

    You don’t win until you gain and maintain the offensive and put the opponent on the defensive.

    Again, says who?  There are countless examples of attackers leaving because they can’t attack anymore.  There are countless examples of attacks cancelled because a defense is too strong.  

    • #73
  14. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    Skyler (View Comment):

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    You don’t win wars through defense.

    Who made that rule? That happens all the time.

    You don’t win until you gain and maintain the offensive and put the opponent on the defensive.

    Again, says who? There are countless examples of attackers leaving because they can’t attack anymore. There are countless examples of attacks cancelled because a defense is too strong.

    Basic military doctrine.

    • #74
  15. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    This is the United States, not Europe. I would love to hammer Antifa defendants and give them some significant incarceration time.

    Then vote for Trump and Republicans in November.

    Because if you vote for Biden and Democrats you will be putting them in power.

    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    • #75
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    • #76
  17. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    I missed that.   When did Biden commend mobs tearing down statutes?  

    • #77
  18. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    I missed that. When did Biden commend mobs tearing down statutes?

    Incorrigible. 

    • #78
  19. David Coolidge
    David
    @dwlewis

    Western Chauvinist

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Can we talk “dog whistles?” The new one this morning is “dark and divisive,” the neo-Marxist term for “the mother frappers won’t surrender!”

    While the NeverTrumpers scramble to either throw their vote away this November or justify their vote for Dementia Joe, they will lie to themselves and say, “If I genuflect in public the crocodile will eat me last!”

    Folks, that crocodile is very hungry. He will get to you sooner than you think.

    At this point, if you don’t oppose the Left with every fiber of your being, I don’t consider you a conservative or a patriot, and I want nothing to do with you. 

    This whole polarizing left/right dynamic is what dismays me about politics in general. Settling for the us vs them mindset would indicate a once open mind has closed. Labels are a sign that the mental process has opted for the path of least resistance, which is basic human nature. Our political system is a lamentable puppet show. In Europe and Japan, the concept of campaign funding is unthinkable. Imagine how all that money spent to push our bottoms so we will be compelled to contribute, could be better spent.

    Original thought, by definition, defies labels. I oppose evil leftist puppetmasters, and feel sorrow for the looming trainwreck of their misguided, manipulated mignons

    • #79
  20. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Trump builds things. The left destroys things.

    Trump’s a gift to the left who keeps on giving, but he’s right in this case.

    • #80
  21. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    EHerring (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    You don’t win wars through defense.

    Who made that rule? That happens all the time.

    You don’t win until you gain and maintain the offensive and put the opponent on the defensive.

    Again, says who? There are countless examples of attackers leaving because they can’t attack anymore. There are countless examples of attacks cancelled because a defense is too strong.

    Basic military doctrine.

    You’re just making things up, aren’t you?  I guess we wasted all that effort making forts for so many millenia.  

    • #81
  22. Eridemus Coolidge
    Eridemus
    @Eridemus

    What has the left ever built but gulags?

    Ugly statues.

    • #82
  23. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    This is the United States, not Europe. I would love to hammer Antifa defendants and give them some significant incarceration time.

    Then vote for Trump and Republicans in November.

    Because if you vote for Biden and Democrats you will be putting them in power.

    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    Can’t answer can you?

    • #83
  24. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    I missed that. When did Biden commend mobs tearing down statutes?

     

     

    • #84
  25. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    I missed that. When did Biden commend mobs tearing down statutes?

    Biden Commits To Debating Trump, Defends Removing Statues Over ‘Systemic Racism’

    Speaking of the movement to remove statues and monuments around the country, Biden stated there was “systemic racism” in America and praised the movement, even appearing to defend those who are toppling statues.

    “Put them in museums, get them down,” said the former vice president. “But don’t expect if you have sitting in front of you after all these years and we finally, finally are going through another phase of maybe responding to the systemic racism in America, and what we’ve seen happen, is don’t be surprised if someone pulls down the statue of Jefferson Davis.”

     

    • #85
  26. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    When Biden is linked to the side that tears down the statues, it is.

    I missed that. When did Biden commend mobs tearing down statutes?

    @garyrobbins

    The post is about “the Statue Wars“.

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    This is not a post on the relative merits of Trump and Biden.

    Trump has come out firmly against the mob tearing down statues.

    Biden has in the past stated he was “understanding” of those who want to tear them down.

    But mainly silence.

    Meanwhile ANTIFA, and BLM both acting as militarized arms of the Democratic Party, with donations to BLM in many cases going to ACT BLUE, the massive Democrat fundraising Superpac that you have donated a nice chunk of money to, are busy destroying statues and defacing monuments all over the United States.

    Admit it.

    Come to grips with it.  Your comment about wanting to prosecute them is rank hypocrisy .

    • #86
  27. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Trump has come out firmly against the mob tearing down statues.

    Biden has in the past stated he was “understanding” of those who want to tear them down.

    But mainly silence.

    Meanwhile ANTIFA, and BLM both acting as militarized arms of the Democratic Party, with donations to BLM in many cases going to ACT BLUE, the massive Democrat fundraising Superpac that you have donated a nice chunk of money to, are busy destroying statues and defacing monuments all over the United States.

    Admit it.

    Come to grips with it. Your comment about wanting to prosecute them is rank hypocrisy .

    For #NeverTrump people, they have to hold fast to the belief that not just Joe Biden is going to run the Democratic Party, as opposed to the Democratic Party running Joe Biden, but that the Joe Biden from 15, 25 or 35 years ago is going to run the Democratic Party, and not the Biden who has continuously moved to the left to accommodate the angry party activists dragging the Democrats in that direction (it’s the same mindset that powered Bill Kristol’s inane tweet on Sunday — they have to believe that Biden’s going to tell #BLM, Antifa and all the other woke Dems to commit an impossible sexual act once he gets elected, and that Joe will in the end pander to the #NeverTrump crowd and not to the angry SJWs).

    • #87
  28. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Trump has come out firmly against the mob tearing down statues.

    Biden has in the past stated he was “understanding” of those who want to tear them down.

    But mainly silence.

    Meanwhile ANTIFA, and BLM both acting as militarized arms of the Democratic Party, with donations to BLM in many cases going to ACT BLUE, the massive Democrat fundraising Superpac that you have donated a nice chunk of money to, are busy destroying statues and defacing monuments all over the United States.

    Admit it.

    Come to grips with it. Your comment about wanting to prosecute them is rank hypocrisy .

    For #NeverTrump people, they have to hold fast to the belief that not just Joe Biden is going to run the Democratic Party, as opposed to the Democratic Party running Joe Biden, but that the Joe Biden from 15, 25 or 35 years ago is going to run the Democratic Party, and not the Biden who has continuously moved to the left to accommodate the angry party activists dragging the Democrats in that direction (it’s the same mindset that powered Bill Kristol’s inane tweet on Sunday — they have to believe that Biden’s going to tell #BLM, Antifa and all the other woke Dems to commit an impossible sexual act once he gets elected, and that Joe will in the end pander to the #NeverTrump crowd and not to the angry SJWs).

    Don’t kid yourself.  Biden has never done anything in his long political career except to say what others have told him to say. This is why he has come down on so many sides of every issue over the years. He has no personal philosophical center and is a completely empty shell. That’s why he has never done well in a presidential primary before.  And that’s why he supported by the machine now:  He is expected to be pliable when in office. 

    • #88
  29. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Skyler (View Comment):
    Don’t kid yourself. Biden has never done anything in his long political career except to say what others have told him to say. This is why he has come down on so many sides of every issue over the years. He has no personal philosophical center and is a completely empty shell. That’s why he has never done well in a presidential primary before. And that’s why he supported by the machine now: He is expected to be pliable when in office. 

    And anytime Joe has spoken with conviction on an issue, he’s almost always on the wrong side of it. And yet, Donald Trump, who supposedly has no core, has come down on our side — America’s side — in everything he does. 

    KLAVAN: The Unbearable Rightness of Trump

    • #89
  30. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Trump has come out firmly against the mob tearing down statues.

    Biden has in the past stated he was “understanding” of those who want to tear them down.

    But mainly silence.

    Meanwhile ANTIFA, and BLM both acting as militarized arms of the Democratic Party, with donations to BLM in many cases going to ACT BLUE, the massive Democrat fundraising Superpac that you have donated a nice chunk of money to, are busy destroying statues and defacing monuments all over the United States.

    Admit it.

    Come to grips with it. Your comment about wanting to prosecute them is rank hypocrisy .

    For #NeverTrump people, they have to hold fast to the belief that not just Joe Biden is going to run the Democratic Party, as opposed to the Democratic Party running Joe Biden, but that the Joe Biden from 15, 25 or 35 years ago is going to run the Democratic Party, and not the Biden who has continuously moved to the left to accommodate the angry party activists dragging the Democrats in that direction (it’s the same mindset that powered Bill Kristol’s inane tweet on Sunday — they have to believe that Biden’s going to tell #BLM, Antifa and all the other woke Dems to commit an impossible sexual act once he gets elected, and that Joe will in the end pander to the #NeverTrump crowd and not to the angry SJWs).

    Don’t kid yourself. Biden has never done anything in his long political career except to say what others have told him to say. This is why he has come down on so many sides of every issue over the years. He has no personal philosophical center and is a completely empty shell. That’s why he has never done well in a presidential primary before. And that’s why he supported by the machine now: He is expected to be pliable when in office.

    I agree. But it’s in #NeverTrump’s interest to either believe —  or pretend that they believe — Joe’s past political positions.

    • #90
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.