Contrary to appearances, I argue that the center-left did not win in 2020.
As of 2021, both the Democratic and Republican establishments are reeling from what Martin Gurri calls The Revolt of the Public. Both the left and the right must reckon with an illiberal, religiously fanatical constituency. On the right, Mr. Trump bullies and insults anyone who is less than worshipful toward him. The large body of his supporters that is willing to comply with his demands for personal loyalty represents the illiberalism of the right.
On the other side, there are the young progressive activists who are so certain of their moral rectitude that they see those who do not share their positions as heretics. They are unwilling to allow heretics even to enjoy gainful employment while holding dissenting beliefs. These activists represent the illiberalism of the left.
The rise and rapid end to the European Super League of soccer is also a Martin Gurri moment.
Arnold, I like reading the Substack essays but I don’t want to “subscribe” and be tracked and all… just so you know.
Anyway, to your point: the center-left, and their more extreme children, command the means of persuasion and coercion. I can’t count that as a “loss of influence.”
If the “center left” = “moderate Democrats”, or even Free Speech Dems, then one can’t say such Dems won.
To me it looks like the Woke are a lot like the beautiful voiced singers in Caberet singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”.
And the capitalists supporting those Woke youth thinking they would be in control of them, since they’re the only ones able to stop OrangeManBad.
He’s such a terrible bogeyman the critics can’t even agree on which of his policies was worse: Building a Wall, reducing illegal immigrants; Tax Cuts for all, including the rich; tariffs on Chinese imports; supporting US mfg; failing to start any new wars, opposing CRT training.
Wait, I remember now – bullying people with insulting tweets, sometimes many of them!
Arnold is dismayed and claims that President Trump “bullies and insults anyone who is less than worshipful toward him.” Trump is the first Republican President who given back what he receives; he is a fighter. Note that Arnold does not complain that the Left calls Trump outrageous names like Hitler, or racist, or anti-Semite, etc., none of which are justified. In order to maintain a spurious neutrality, Arnold tries to establish moral equivalence, overstating the failings he sees in the man and mischaracterizing his supporters as “religiously fanatical.” He has obviously never been to a Trump rally.
Many Democrats have, and some of them have changed their views as a result of the courteous receptions they have received.
Speaking of “religion…”
Thomas Edsall in the New York Times: “One in 10 Latinos who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 switched to Donald Trump in 2020.”
Isn’t that what frightens the Democrats? Not that he was a fighter but that he had too much black and Latino support?
Insults like “dog-faced pony soldier” and “fat” aren’t the secret to Biden’s success.
Likewise Obama’s classic line (“If Latinos sit out the election, instead of saying we’re going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us”) did not, in fact, prevent the mid-term “shellacking” of 2010.
After 2012 the GOP establishment got the idea that they weren’t winning Latinos because Romney wasn’t polite and deferential enough…
In reality, Trumps inroads with Latinos, especially Latino men, are in many ways a result of the personality traits everyone abhors about him. De Santis has been popular with Latinos in Florida for much the same reason.
The fact of the matter is that the mannerisms and mood affiliation necessary for minority outreach (generally male minority outreach) are kryptonite to elite sensibilities.
A male Latino wants to know why he has to wear a mask all day working on a hot roof and his neighborhood has double the crime it used to. Elite whites would be aghast and the anti-science and racist sentiments of such a person. He would probably even express his opinions in a Trumpian way.
Let’s also remember what a complete flop immigration reform was for Latino outreach. Dems got obliterated on the Mexican border. The signature thing that everyone said was driving Latinos away from the GOP turned out to be nothing at all.
Trump was the excuse the #NeverWoke movement gave as to why they were failures at combating Woke. Now that Trump is gone who will they blame. His ghost? Anybody but themselves I guess.
Are any #NeverTrumpers supporting De Santis in the open? Are they willing to back him on the stuff that drives their mood affiliation wild (MASKS!)?
Ross Douthat sort of comes close, but he links to Steve Sailer and already kind of hated the GOP establishment.
You could ask something similar about various events. My Archdioscence jumped on the hate the Covington kid bandwagon. Now today it says the Chavin verdict was justice. Can I trust these people with my soul?
What I see in #NeverTrump and #NeverWoke is people that love “principled” losing more than winning. So they lose…a lot. The reason they lose isn’t their own lack of ability embrace a “time to build”, but those evil people.
If you don’t like Woke, vote Republican. Even if that Republican is Trump. If you don’t you don’t really dislike Woke and you don’t really want to fight it. Trump was an excuse for not wanting to fight Woke, and the excuse is gone.
No, it’s entirely possible to hate more than one thing, and the failure to embrace that fact is how this ‘no enemies to the left/right’ mentality becomes so widespread.
I have criticisms of Trump, but I’ve never hated him. I can’t understand people that hate Trump. If they say Trump is worse than Woke, and I don’t think Trump is that bad, the only thing I can assume is they don’t really care about Woke.
The fact that removing Trump from the equation hasn’t changed much reinforces the idea that Trump was an excuse and not a driver of unwillingness to successfully challenge Woke.