Trump: The King of the Outlaws

If you outlaw common sense and conventional values then only outlaws will express common sense and conventional values. --Not really a bumper sticker but should be.

I have been listening to Democratic post-mortems and find comfort in their inability to learn anything, thus posing no threat of regaining the majority anytime soon. It was not some mythical giant right-wing media machine (e.g., Joe Rogan, Elon Musk) that made people believe the booming economy was not OK. It was not so much the monolithic extreme left values as it was the fact that expressing a contrary opinion or observation of any kind made the speaker a Nazi/racist/xenophobic/[insert-whatever]-phobic, misogynistic, science-denying trash. It was the sheer arrogance and lack of respect and the attempt to crush dissent, even more than the substance of the lame ideology, that drove many to Trump. For example, it was not about whether the system lets a guy wear a dress and lipstick but about the demand that we all say we believe he really is a woman.

The 'elite' loved the two years of COVID mandates. Not because they were effective (they were not) nor remotely based on the data or the science, but because all those tiresome democratic institutions and tacky market-based activities were made entirely subject to Expert Rule. It was the ideal world--fully empowered, credentialed people making all decisions consonant with the sensibilities and self-image of the self-appointed elite. Sciencey but not necessarily scientific. Content was filtered. Those who disagreed or did not comply were declared anti-science death lovers who deserved to be ostracized, fired or jailed.

In the present climate, no one in polite society is permitted to object to open borders (Xenophobic Racism!); object to the absence of law enforcement (Racism!); boys dominating girls athletics (Transphobia!); object to merit being tossed in favor of DEI (Racism! Sexism!); trashing America with bogus history (MAGA Racist!); failed, hideously costly green energy policies based on manufactured threat scenarios (Denialist! Anti-Science! Flat Earth Rube!).

The people who have gone to great lengths to shut down the normal give and take of politics and rational discourse, who have demanded sole ownership of the public square, wound up declaring the great majority of Americans outlaws and socially unfit. And now, after the election of the Orange Hitler, they are terrifying themselves with the prospect of being ruled by the ugly caricatures they invented to enforce their bogus monopoly on discourse, hoist on their own canard.

Here's a pro tip to what is left of the MSM to take the audience back from the dreaded Joe Rogan: Hire people who actually do research, ones who are willing to challenge the elite consensus on issues. Provide a diversity of opinions and views. Encourage articulate, witty, fun, respectful debate by people who are not lefty clones and/or cliche-spewing windbags. Produce quality data. Make fact-checking about facts and not partisan oppo research. Challenge leaders of both parties to be creative and honest. Be worth watching and reading. Have the salutary effect on politics and governance that the Founders expected you to have and that Americans crave.