Monday, April 21, 2025

I Used to Hate Trump. Now I'm a MAGA Lefty

From Batya Ungar-Saargon, at The Free Press, "The president is giving the working class its best shot at the American Dream in 60 years. That’s why I support him":

My name is Batya, and I am a MAGA Lefty.

The journey has been a long one. Initially, I had Trump Derangement Syndrome—and I had it bad. In 2016, I stopped going to my favorite local bar in Sheepshead Bay because everyone there had voted for Trump. How could they do that to me?!

Like so many other Democrats, I took Trump’s victory personally. If you had told me that just eight years later, I would happily, proudly endorse Donald Trump to become the 47th president of the United States of America, I never would have believed you.

People often ask me how I deprogrammed my TDS. The journey has been a long one. The cracks came one at a time. My rabbi, the best person I know, told me offhand early in 2016 that he loved Trump, and after that I could no longer sustain the fiction that every Trump voter was a racist. Later that year and the next, I did a lot of reporting in the South for a series of essays on polarization, which further dispelled the myth. Instead of the divisiveness of the elites, I saw Americans across the political aisle and from all races and ethnicities finding unity in their communities and churches.

In 2018, I encountered a Yale study that uncovered a surprising phenomenon: White liberals dumb down their vocabulary when they talk to blacks and Hispanics—but white conservatives don’t. It was a shattering indictment of my entire worldview, which suddenly seemed based in the insulting and frankly racist view that minorities needed the largesse of white elites to thrive or even to feel human.

When a fundamental belief of ours is challenged, we start to question other orthodoxies we hold dear. It took a little while—I voted for Joe Biden in 2020, albeit reluctantly—but I finally came to the realization that I hadn’t just been wrong about Trump supporters; I’d been wrong about Trump himself.

If you get your news from the liberal mainstream media—The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and The Washington Post—you may think, as I once did, that Trump is a far-right extremist. These outlets cast Trump as a racist, a hater, a George Wallace for the 21st century. But, in fact, when viewed dispassionately, Trump is more like a 21st-century FDR: socially moderate, anti-interventionist, and committed to America’s blue-collar workers as the backbone of this country and the locus of our power and democracy.

Think of Trump’s major convictions: He’s anti-war. He promised to veto a national abortion ban. He is respectful of religion but also pro-gay. And most importantly, he represents the working class’s best shot at achieving the American Dream that we’ve seen in 60 years.

These are the views of the hundred or so working-class Americans I interviewed when I traveled the country for my book Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women. Regardless of which party they voted for, they were intensely moderate, with a set of views that didn’t map neatly onto either party. They were pro-gay but opposed the trans agenda. They were pro-life but against abortion bans. They wanted much less immigration, and thought tariffs would put money in their pockets. They were deeply tolerant of ideological differences. In fact, they weren’t ideological at all. Many, like me, had been Democrats until they voted for Donald Trump.

Ironically, if you look beyond the bluster, if you simply look at the policies Trump represents, it’s the kind of agenda that was viewed as solidly Democratic for 100 years, because it’s all about protecting labor—and Democrats were always the party of labor. Though it’s hard to remember now, in the 1990s, it was the Democrats who supported strict immigration, on the grounds that a tight labor market protects workers’ wages. Civil rights icon Barbara Jordan in 1996 insisted that there’s “no national interest in continuing to import lesser skilled and unskilled workers to compete in the most vulnerable parts of our labor force.” Mass migration was seen as especially punitive to black Americans, who have borne the lion’s share of the negative impact of importing millions of low-wage laborers. As recently as 2015, Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders called open borders a “Koch Brothers proposal.”

The Democrats also opposed free trade on the grounds that it’s a race to the bottom in terms of wages. They were anti-war, and defended free speech, women’s rights, and gay rights. They believed abortions should be safe, legal, and rare. Meanwhile, the Republicans believed in American exceptionalism and nation building. They were pro-life and anti–gay marriage. They were the party of the country club, of free trade and corporations and big business and Wall Street and trickle-down economics.

By now, it’s no secret that we’ve just witnessed a massive political realignment along class lines, as the Democrats abandoned labor to cater to the over-credentialed college elites and Donald Trump became the candidate for the multiracial working class...

Pope Francis Dies at 88

The Pope is Dead.

Full Obituary, at the New York Times, "Francis, the First Latin American Pope, Dies at 88: After decades of conservative leadership, Francis tried to reset the course of the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing inclusion and care for the marginalized over doctrinal purity."

Border Crossings Grind to Halt as Trump Policies Take Hold

Good.

At WSJ, "Illegal crossings at southern border are at lowest levels in decades, as a trend that began before the election has continued under new administration."

Dow Tumbles, Dollar Slides as Trump Renews Attack on Fed

Continued market chaos, with apologies in advance to your investment portfolio.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Stock Market Today: Dow and Dollar Drop on Jitters Over Fed and Trade."

The "Sell America" trade picked back up on Monday.

Stocks fell, with the Dow industrials dropping 1,200 points and on pace for their worst April since 1932, and the dollar hit fresh multiyear lows against the euro and other major currencies. Yields on longer-term Treasurys rose and gold surged to a fresh record high.

Markets are on edge about President Trump's tariff war as well as his threats to fire Fed chief Jerome Powell. Trump on Monday demanded lower rates in a post on social media...

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Tom Holland, How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

An awesome tome, perfect for Easter.

At Amazon, Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. #AmazonSales #CommissionEarned/p>

Monday, January 6, 2025

The 'Progressive Moment' is Over

I don't know if we're talking about just a "moment." We should be burying a movement. And they're not "progressives." They're leftists, communists. Let's see them decimated over the next four years --- and beyond.

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Progressive Moment in Global Politics Is Over":

Weak economic growth and record immigration are driving gains by the right, especially populists.

The progressive moment is over—at least for now.

This past year showed that the progressive politics that dominated most industrialized countries over the past two decades or more is shifting to the right, fueled by working-class anxieties over the economy and immigration, and growing fatigue with issues from climate change to identity politics.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House is the most dramatic and important example—but it is far from the only one.

Across Europe, where economic growth has largely stalled, conservatives and populist right-wing parties are making unprecedented gains. Three-quarters of governments in the European Union are either led by a right-of-center party or are ruled by a coalition that includes at least one.

The shift is set to continue. Canada appears poised to kick out a deeply unpopular progressive prime minister and Germany is expected to dump its center-left government. Polls show the top two parties in Germany represent the center-right and the far-right.

Part of the shift is the normal pendulum of politics swinging back and forth between established parties on the left and right. The difference this time is a strong strain of populism and a growing rejection of traditional parties.

In country after country, many working-class voters—especially those outside the biggest cities—are signaling the same thing: They mistrust the establishment—from academics to bankers to traditional politicians—and feel these elites are out of touch and don’t care about people like them.

Years of increased migration and trade, coupled with low economic growth, have led to a backlash and a rise in nationalism, where people want more of a sense of control, political analysts say. The rise of social media has exacerbated divisions and led to an upsurge in antiestablishment parties.

“It’s a broad shift that goes across countries,” said Ruy Teixeira, a lifelong Democrat who now works for the center-right American Enterprise Institute think tank. “Working-class people are just pissed off—about immigration, about all the culture war stuff, and the relatively poor economic performance that has shaped the working-class experience in the 21st century.”

While one of the two establishment parties won in the U.S., the Republicans have largely been taken over by the insurgent figure of Trump, who clearly has a mandate from voters to shake things up, said Teixeira. He said he doesn’t see either the left or conventional right easily recapturing Trump’s populist, multiracial working-class majority.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s center-left Liberal Party looks to be careening toward a decisive election loss, trailing the Conservative Party by roughly 20 points in opinion polls. Trudeau must hold a vote by October 2025...

More.

And for Canada, see, "Trudeau to Resign as Voters Sour on His Vision for Canada."

Plus, at Instapundit, "WELL, BYE." 

And BCF, "Justin Trudeau Has Quit. Will The Legacy He Built Survive? … Well It Will Take Time To Rebuild The Ruined Nation He Leaves Behind So There’s That."

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Trump's America: Victory Changes Nation's Sense of Itself

I've been in a haze of bliss all day. I'm just really happy. Donald Trump's truly a savior. Who would have thought this on J6 2020?

A bunch at the New York Times, for example, "Populist Revolt Against Elite’s Vision of the U.S," and "Voters Were Fed Up Over Immigration: They Voted for Trump." 

More at the Wall Street Journal, "How Trump Won the Economy-Is-Everything Election," and "How Trump Gained Ground Across the Country."

And here are my comments, for now. I'm sure I'll have lots more. It's going to be a great four years:

Politics by nature divides people. This time around I don't care what people think. I don't post out rhere that much anyway. I have no skin in the game.

I wasn't even planning on voting for DJT. He lost me, ultimately, on January 6th, or shortly thereafter. It was an insurrection and I'm not going to debate the point (watch "Four Hours at the Capitol," please. 🙄) But Democrats (the actual extremist party) wanted the man dead the moment he defeated Hillary in 2016. They've been aggressively attacking, destroying, undermining the president-elect for 8 fucking years --- and the man's not only still standing, but obliterating! Damn!

So, yes, I'm gloating. NGL, I hate leftists. In most cases, it's absolutely not personal. But there are demonic Democrats who will live forever in Darkness, hiding from His light, lest the generations learn of the enormity of their crimes.

Sorry not sorry. It needs to be said.

Now, why'd the degenerate left lose? They're degenerate, obviously, QED. It's more, though. Identity politics destroys everything. It has and will continue to destroy what heretofore might have been identified as the "decent" left. Whatever decency existed to the left is now long gone, of course. It is what it is. Leftists will believe what they want, damn the facts (to the point of lunacy). The radical revolutionary leftist agenda has been crushed.

Well, at least for four years. I have no faith in J.D. Vance. He performed phenomenally as Trump's running-mate, and helped him win. But four years is a long time in politics and you'll die holding your breath hoping for change or continuity. America's been undergoing a rolling realignment since the end of O's second term. Trump won when no one thought he would in 2016, and he's only been outperforming himself in every election since. Too bad he can't run for three terms.

So, today is glorious. I'll have more in coming days, weeks, and months, but, NGL, for now, I'm elated.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Saturday, October 12, 2024

M.G. Sheftall, Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses

Very timely publication, considering. See, "Nobel Updates: Peace Prize Is Awarded to Japanese Group of Atomic Bomb Survivors."

And just out, at Amazon, M.G. Sheftall, Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses. #CommissionEarned #AmazonAssociates

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Renee DiResta, The People Who Turn Lies into Reality

At Amazon, Renee DiResta, Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality. #AmazonAsssdociates #CommissionEarned

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Sunday, August 4, 2024

Sloane Crosley, Grief is for People

A wonderful book. She writes so effortlessly, but with tremendous power.

At Amazon, Sloane Crosley, Grief is for People. #CommissionEarned