263 Comments

I love the choice of JD Vance with Trump!

It's interesting that Vance is already known to the public because of his best selling autobiography, hillbilly elegy, that was also made into a Netflix film.

I live near Dayton Ohio, where I grew up also. Much of hillbilly elegy is social commentary that rings very true from my experience.

I used to make deliveries in Middletown, where much of JD's childhood took place. JD briefly lived in Miamisburg, Ohio, where I used to have a full-time job in Miamisburg.

I can confirm that all of what JD talks about socially and culturally has been accurate in my life experience as well.

Trump and Vance are working for the common man! A strong and conservative USA means a safer planet politically, the USA leads the way or else nobody does!

Meanwhile, all the Democrats and world elites seek to enslave or cull the common man, in the USA and the western world; because they know a strong USA stands in their way of dominating and oppressing the entire planet and human population.

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author

Great comment!

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Especially the final paragraph. It's the message the everyday, non-elite Democrat voter needs to hear.

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Our Democrat family members seem like they soak up as much visceral hatred and then call us to say we are crazy.

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How long do you think before Vance gets replaced on the ticket?

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Ridiculous question…

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Vance showed great courage railing against Bush/Cheney is his acceptance speech…I’m pretty sure now that Biden has dropped out Vance will vote for Kamala because Trump surrounded himself with neocons like Bolton and Pompeo and Tillerson.

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Baloney

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Rufo for Secretary of Education?

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author

Rumors are circulating…

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

The Former Secretary of the...

Former Education Department has a ring to it.

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this.

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Yes! End the Dept of Education

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Yes! I don't for the life of me see the need for the D. of Education when every single state has its own Board of Education.

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lol, like

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School's out forEVER!

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👏🏻

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Please, let it be so!

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Best person for the job!

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Jul 27·edited Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

And working tirelessly to put himself out of one job and into another in four years' time...

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Abolish the position!!!

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In a sane world there would be no Dept of Education and thus no Sec. of Education. That would be a Day 2 XO.

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Chris, As a long time follower, I think your analysis is spot on. I think that JD does balance the ticket and brings a degree and type of credibility to Trump's candidacy that it was lacking and that some diversity selection would not have. Even cynics of both men realize that they now have to dig deeper to understand what is happening in the Republican party. When I voted for Trump in 2016, I had to hold my nose so-to-speak to make that choice, but Hillary was an absolute no and I did want to waste my vote on some hopeless write-in protest vote. Having observed how Trump governed I was surprised at how many reasonable, sensible, and moderate positions he took despite fighing a continuous pitched battle against both a visible and invisible unhinged resistance. I voted for him in 2020 and remain unconvinced that it was the most secure election ever. Millions of educated, center right voters like me feel the same. If not for covid, Trump would have won handily. This time, I will cast my vote and pray for the safety of both men and their administration. God help us if the Democrats pull off a miracle and Kamala wins.

Rick Bosshardt MD, FACS ( richardtbosshardtmd.substack.com )

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Your comments sound like the 60% of voters in the middle who are ignored by the mainstream media. If Trump and Vance speak calmly and rationally to the middle, they will win in a landslide.

If they take any of the shouting divisive (anti-civilization) bait laid for them by the mainstream media, then they will lose.

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Agree 100%! There are millions of people who are looking for someone to vote FOR, rather than simply being forced to vote AGAINST people, as we so often are!

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author

Thanks

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Yes, I especially liked how Trump relinquished the office of the presidency in March 2020 and made Fauci emperor for life!! No other president would have prioritized playing golf and fucking porn stars over protecting the American people!

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I enjoy 😉the style you progressives use to win friends and influence people!

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You misspelled "Communists."

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You weren’t the brightest in your class, were you?

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

With Vance we have a chance for a realignment around a multiethnic, working-class conservatism. Not a blind ideological adherence to free market capitalism that ignores communities and families, or the role of a (limited) government. Quoting from Oren Cass in a 2021 article in Foreign Affairs: "Markets reduce people to their material interests and reduce relationships to transactions. They prioritize efficiency to the exclusion of resilience, sentiment, and tradition. Shorn of constraints, they often reward the most socially corrosive behaviors and can quickly undermine the foundations of a stable community—for instance, pushing families to commit both parents to full-time market labor or strip-mining talent from across the nation and consolidating it in a narrow set of cosmopolitan hubs. For conservatism, then, markets are a valuable mechanism for sustaining and advancing a flourishing society. But they should never be an end unto themselves. And their quality is contingent on the norms and rules by which they function and the vitality of the other institutions operating alongside them."

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Jul 27·edited Jul 27

Ah yes, the Wesley Mouch solution. Mouch's "norms and rules" always have our best interests at heart, even as we find ourselves out of work, out of our homes, and out of any chance raising a family and living a decent life. Go Wesley!

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Who needs free markets? Apparently no one according to the Republicans. Vance has been called a conservative mystic. That much is true. If you have read Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s “DIM Hypothesis”, Vance and his ilk fit the “Misintegrate Mode” to “T”. Mixtures can be dangerous, mixtures of church and state are deadly. Can the right ever get that?

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Jul 27·edited Jul 27

It's a tough argument to make to those incapable of reading let alone understanding Peikoff and other Randians/Objectivists. You know, the same salt-of-the-earth folks who want the government out of their lives but LOVE their Social Security and Medicare. Kinda tough for Trump and Vance to argue "Give us power so we can sit around and do NOTHING!" Well, not quite nothing—more along the lines of "fixin' to but waitin' on" (as they say in Dixie) thus providing the time needed to heal the nation's thoroughly corrupted "markets." BTW, just how long does the good doctor along with his confederates believe that recovery process will take, especially unaided by an even more muscular and thus potentially (assuredly) ruinous federal government?

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The Ayn Rand Institute is accomplishing quite a lot to spread Objectivism, particularly to the young people. And people like Alex Epstein, in particular, have made some tremendous gains in the field of energy. It is promising to see people unafraid to speak out for reason, individual rights and capitalism.

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Jul 28·edited Jul 28

When challenged, people like you ALWAYS revert to the theoretical—the alternate universe where O-ism is converting the multitudes and will soon reign supreme. I rub your nose in the real world for a good reason: Trump and Vance, in order to make ANY progress on advancing your dreams, require practical answers to the hard political questions they face. As usual, nothing is forthcoming from the pointy headed folks except admiration and hopes pinned on other pointy headed folks. And the world goes round and down.

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Oh, I am now a “you people”. Adios.

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Foreign Affairs is a leftist propaganda publication; you know that, right? Government is good; Free Markets are bad is the Foreign Affairs contention. I used to subscribe to FA until I realized the leftist ideology underlying their arguments.

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Yes, I still can’t believe we supported Bush in 2000 who stole the election and failed to prevent 9/11 and lied us into an asinine war all the while selling us out to China!?! Uh, maybe we should stop voting?? 😉

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Yes, you should stop voting.

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"Trump has a magnetic attachment to the masses—think of his archetypal Rust Belt voter—while Vance holds appeal to a sector of the elite." A great observation on the complexity of political psychology.

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

Yale almost ruined Vance. He failed to understand the genius of DJT. How interesting that he is a recovering Ivy League zombie. I say recovering because that indoctrination runs deep. The unique nature of this is that Trump sees the “rust belt” people as the genius behind his successes. The trades built his empire.

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author

👍

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JD's experience at Yale reinforces my admiration for and appreciation of Amy Chua. Though I have to wonder how is she not miserable at Yale.

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And Bush saw you as dupes to assrape (figuratively)…but at least torturing and slaughtering innocent Muslims brought a little joy to your otherwise dreary existence. 😘

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Nope, I know exactly who sacrificed 7000 Americans so he could win a second term.

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The only true words uttered by radical leftist Jesse Jackson: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjLUS0Lt-8

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Trump owes money to many of those who worked in the trades—to many contractors and vendors. You are very comical and delusional. 🤡

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You obviously have no meaningful business background, do you?

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I used to evaluate white-collar criminals for prison, including narcissistic sociopaths like Donald Trump. Now, I'm successfully retired.😂🤣😅

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So, when did you evaluate Donald Trump? I’m retired but I am Boarded with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Spent many hours on psychiatric wards evaluating sociopathic/psychopathic personality disorders, among many others. You’re preoccupied (OCD?) with Trump’s idiosyncrasies wrongly relying on your prior work. Yet you are likely ignorant of economics, political philosophy, military intelligence. I’ll bet you think Kamala’s “price controls” ideas are super, right? Can you intelligently challenge Trump’s prior successes or his policy proposals?

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I once evaluated a tricky psychiatrist for possible imprisonment under California Penal Code 1203.03 for overprescribing psychotropics. After our initial interview, he boasted to other inmates on

the prison yard about how he had deceived me and the clinical psychologist. Inmates on the yard later shared this information with me and the clinical psychologist. During the second interview, he cried like a little bitch on his knees in my office. I explained yo him he couldn't behave that way during his interactions with other inmates on the yard with certainty of having a sexual predator's large d%$k violently inserted into his butt followed by sutures and indefinite bed rest. 😂🤣😅

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I used to evaluate white-collar criminals for prison, including narcissistic sociopaths like Donald Trump.😂🤣😅

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How much does he owe, to whom, and why?

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Additionally, 45 will likely face prison time after the next election. He's not done with the criminal justice system.

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author

Thanks

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

Something a lot of people don't get. Vance was not Just A Maine, He got out as a Corporal (E-4), Not an Officer. People who have not served don't grasp the difference, between Em's & Officers. 2 different worlds.

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

It’s interesting that Vance and Rob Henderson had similar trajectories, and both rejected the political and social elitism that has disenfranchised middle and working class people for generations.

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Could it be they think middle and working class people are stupid. I spent my working life on the factory floor, making Stuff. They are NOT Stupid, just different interests. One of the complaints we read about Donald Trump is The Way He Talks. He talks just like so many people I worked with (the name calling Lying Ted, Small Hands Marco, Sleepy Joe) Chops WILL be busted, and if you can't deal with that, you won't last long.

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I think also because they are grounded on common sense, “experiential” if you wish, that comes from reflecting on reality… that brings a look at mankind that has realism and compassion…. Both men seem to operate on a different anthropological realm than the “elites” hungry for power.

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I've always said what people forget is that Trump is a New Yorkah. They are Brash, Opinionated and Filterless. This is what resonates with the working class, the ability to tell someone to "GFY" one minute but yet have their back the next. I grew up in a blue collar city north of Boston, we talk to each other just like that all the time.

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I'm retired now, and I Do Miss That.

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I’ve made this comparison a number of times! Vance & Henderson, as well as Rufo, are very important voices for our future. And, I’m a Baby Boomer saying that!

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Yeah. Never trust anyone above the rank of about colonel. That's when the professional ass-kissing starts, from what I can tell.

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🎯

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But still Marines.

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I was in the Air Force. It Was Really Tough! How many times were the salad forks not properly chilled, and serving White Wine with Beef Stroganoff! The Horror, The Horror!

/Perpetuating The Myth

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Great analysis, but even better was your take on Kamala. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and has been wearing that stupid, cackling wool suit for 4 years, just waiting for her moment to disrobe it and reveal her true self. No one should underestimate her or those who buttress her ambitions and motives. Whoever wrote her acceptance speech you referred to, did so with her full input. It was a master class in diabolical tease of what is yet to come. Vance is a smart, savvy guy who hopefully can see what you see, Christopher, and help Trump steer the ship away from what they have planned. And, btw, your work definitely deserves a seat at the table.

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Yes: Do not underestimate Kamala!

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agree, she's a shark in a silly dolphin costume

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Remember when Trump told Stormy how much he hated sharks right before he fucked her without a condom while Melania was preggers??

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Kamala prosecuted individuals like Donald Trump for sex-related offenses and fraud in California. During my 34-year career in corrections in California, I had narcissistic sociopaths like Donald Trump on my prison caseload.

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You obviously didn’t learn much in your job about “narcissistic psychopaths.” Your diagnostic skills suck. You don’t like Trump, but don’t sound stupid and prejudice as a former corrections officer. your profession doesn’t necessarily have a stellar reputation.

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

Thanks for your positive commentary on JD Vance. The opposition has already started their smears and untruths. I think he’s a great American success story. Whips smart and well spoken.

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

Can I get an Amen for Rufo in this new Counter-Elite!?

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author

I’m working hard on building this.

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It is really ironic that Trump comes from money and Vance does not yet it is Trump who appeals to the rust belt and Vance to the elite. It is a strong ticket. The problem they both seem to have is watching what they say with regard to women. Calling then dumb as rocks and childless cat people is not helpful and as we know, that's all the press will focus on. They must focus on policy, policy, policy. The border, border, border. sabrinalabow.substack.com

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Agreed!

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The Cat Lady thing was an email to a friend, years ago. One whom he took bake goods to, in the hospital. That "Friend" has since Transgendered... and unfriended Vance.

Context is 🔑

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I know it's unfair. The MSM doesn't care about context as we know. They would find fault with anyone who was on the ticket. I just think going forward, stick to the policies. However I may be wrong with that suggestion as it looks like Trump is going to lean in and hammer her. These next few months are going to be a bumpy ride!

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Bravo!

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deletedJul 27
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Correct

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Bingo! Trump lacked think tank support last go around, and he doesn't speak Bureaucrat.

Two and a half years ago I wrote:

"The Republican Party needs to up its ideological game and craft an agenda that can appeal to the younger generations. This starts with weeding out long festering internal contradictions. You cannot expect the unskilled to get off welfare when it takes two jobs to make up the lost revenue. You cannot fight radical feminism when it takes two incomes to support a middle class lifestyle. You cannot expect young adults to abide by traditional notions of family values when they cannot afford to start a family.

"If you want capitalism and democracy at the same time, you need to mix in a healthy dose of populism. The sweet spot for smaller government is somewhere between Ron Paul and Ross Perot, with a bit of Teddy Roosevelt thrown in for good measure (Sorry Glenn!). If we want to keep America capitalist, we need to increase the number of capitalists, and that means taking positions which will Trigger both die hard Reagan fans and my younger Libertarian self. Saving America is not a job for Snowflakes, including right wing Snowflakes like P.J. and John Kaisich.

"Donald Trump got it. He used his fame and fortune to drag the Republican Party kicking and screaming towards the political niche it needs to be in. Unfortunately, the bravery and belligerence which enabled Trump to face down the Man Behind the Curtain made him frightening to the wine-and-cheese set. Many longtime Republican intellectuals couldn't handle the excess testosterone and defected to Team Biden. And Trump's Man of the People rambling rhetoric came off as incoherent to the college educated.

"Trump's biggest weakness was with the college educated demographic—including the top bureaucrats who run the Deep State. His biggest failures as President stem from his lack of think tank support. Trump was doing battle against not just Democrats and Big Media; he was battling against basic textbooks, and he was hopelessly outgunned."

https://rulesforreactionaries.substack.com/p/a-call-for-counter-revolution

I was hoping Trump would pick Vance for these reasons. There may be hope for America yet.

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Trump and Bush spent like crazy and blew up the debt!! But at least we got to slaughter a few Muslims!! Totes worth it!!!

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Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

And all areas of government, the left have infiltrated. We must do the same.

The country needs conservative voices in all institutions, especially government and universities. If I must pose as a lefty to get the job, so be it.

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Agreed.

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First is to cull the numbers. Trim out everything at the regional level and up destroy the incestuous situation in our government administration

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Jul 27·edited Jul 27Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

What this new counter elite lacks going forward, at least in my opinion, is a programatic vision of the future, something tangible that appeals to the imagination as well as to the social and economic needs of ordinary working- and middle-class Americans: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW

The war on wokeness is just the first step.

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Perhaps project 2025 will be the answer

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Your words back up what I have been trying to say for awhile! JD is a perfect choice for all the reasons you state. Excellent analysis. And another substack writer owes me a bag of popcorn.

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Good comments.

By the way, how embarrassed does the USA mass media have to get before moving toward some common sense, logical manner of presenting their "news & commentary"? Is it a political bias or IQ deficiency, as if they can belief it - and they must think vacuous viewers might buy it?

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The likes of CNN, MSNBC , NYT etc are both IQ deficient and bias.

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I don’t know exact timing, but there is an incredible synchronicity between Trump’s selection of JDV and the a16z founder’s podcast episode in support of Trump…arguably the most important tech-focused startup VC firm in USA. Four years ago this would have been unthinkable

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It’s not by accident.

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But what we have been through in the past four years would also have been unthinkable a mere ten years prior. Who we are now is due to the crucible the Elites foisted onto the world. Many of us saw it for what it was and stood firm, raised our voices, and a lot of red pilling has occurred. I agree with A, “it had to be this way.” People would not have awakened to see the Matrix. There are some who never will. My own brother. It is sad but he doesn’t want to know. His identity depends on the lies he has assumed, like a mantle, his entire life. It takes courage to resist that, or walk away from that, and not everyone has the courage to do that.

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Q

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Nothing can stop what is coming…

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Yeah, Theil and Palantir aren’t the Deep State or anything. No red flag there. 😝

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