Oprah is a billionaire who lives in a compound in 95% white Montecito. Michelle Obama has an Oceanside mansion in 95% white Martha’s Vineyard, which swiftly deported illegals last year. Both have armed security and walls. The more powerful they get, the more absurd it is to call themselves part of the oppresssed “resistance”.
I wish more people would open their eyes to the snake oil "racism" trick. Just the other day, one of the more unconscionably naive morally narcissistic women in my FB feed posted her "joy" in response to Michelle Obama's mention of the paucity of "generational wealth" among a certain demographic. This way, the naive white woman with a big house in Oregon can feel good about herself. She cares about black people. She wants the government to focus on giving black people with no "generational wealth" a leg up. The white people who see that this is extremely dangerous are written off as "racists" despite the fact that they have not benefitted from "generational wealth" and aren't among those who will benefit from whatever the hell Obama was hinting at. And while the student loan scandal was not racialized, what irks me is that some benefitted from not paying off their loans, while many many others did pay off their loans and suffered for it. This is not "equity."
I live in Bed Stuy where much of the black population appears to be doing just fine, financially. They drive the latest, shiniest, most colorful vehicles, equipped with the LOUDEST STEREOS. They are dressed to the nines. They're selling their brownstones for millions to white people while bemoaning gentrification. Oh no -- wait -- it's "genocide" when whites move in. "Racism" if whites don't want blacks to move in.
It ought to be obvious to everyone that crying about the past, a past that no longer exists, and that "we" have to do something to help these people, while the black victim standing there is a multi-millionaire is just too ridiculous to take seriously. So Oprah experienced racism. So have I. Yes, Oprah, I have suffered too. But whatever "racism" Oprah suffered, it certainly didn't hold her back.
Add to this that Oprah did not tip me when I waited on her in Chicago in the early 80s. While Stedman was in the john, she inhaled his dessert and ordered me to replace it before he returned, which I did. Then she stiffed me.
Yes Oprah had us viewers who enjoyed her show & felt like she was a friend to us fooled. She was revealed to be nothing but a hypocritical racist, a phony who fooled us for a long time. She seems like a completely different person than when she had her daily show in the 80’s.
I think some truly buy it. I think a bigger number are simply bullied into silence because they know that even if they're correct they'll still be smeared as a racist and socially ostracized. Most likely, unless you're in an explicitly right wing space.
Your “leg up” to a minority would be a free education which is available, right? If they don’t take advantage “we” lose. I can’t afford to offer any more.
The serious reason that reparations for those whose ancestral experience included slavery is that those who enslaved them are gone. We could research who those slaveowners were, but would need to research the fate of all their progeny, and likewise the fate of the slaveholders progeny. Not all generational wealth remains. It often dissipates through costly illness, bankruptcy, foreclosure, or simply spendthrift progeny. We are simply not the same nation we were after the Civil War, having given ourselves for that just cause, leaving many women widowed and poor, and without sons. Further, Amendments were made to our Constitution so that equality could be a reality for every American. I cannot see a debt to be paid, nor are debtors apparent.
Indeed, all the opportunities are right there in front of them. But it's so much more satisfying, apparently, to continue to obligate other people to fix them, instead of fixing themselves.
It was Johnson’d Great Society that impoverished black families in the late 60’s by making regulations that made the government the source of money for mothers, breaking up intact families. In decades prior, blacks were better off financially, not impoverished, as we saw in later decades.
This should be obvious to everyone; I witnessed this growing up, and its devastation, and yet the people with the right opinions keep looking the other way, as if disenfranchising black men by giving money to black women to have children without them was somehow a good thing?
Well that was well said and sadly true… so where do we go from here? For the ordinary man on the street it seems so overwhelming,to try to fight the massive bureaucracy that is now in place and slowly strangling us all. Add to that a corrupt media that distorts the truth and the judiciary who are no longer dispensing blind justice. I talk with many like minded folks… voting it not enough maybe getting involved in local politics school boards and so on… I feel supporting people like you is a start…
Great assessment. I would add that the real reason the Democrat Party is wearing the mantle of "joy" as their campaign theme is because that emotion is EXACTLY what Kamala felt, and continues to feel, at the notion that she is finally a Presidential contender. She felt joy that they disposed of the old man that she likely despised - I would go out on a limb as an observer of human nature and note that now that the Party dispatched Joe effectively, it is a natural human emotion (guilt protection, perhaps) to feel REAL affection for the victim, sick as that is. She is feeling pure joy at the notion of unfettered power. I do believe that SHE was the person who came up with the Joy theme. Which further demonstrates her narcissistic pathology, IMO.
another snapshot of this is what Warren Buffet did to the money he was giving Melinda Gates foundation, after she went to left and mentioned she had a "circle of trust" with three women making decisions not unlike the "Joy" reprisal's...He has now cut her off, no more Buffett financing.
You are most probably correct about KH because when I think about the malevolent nature of many politicians I’m inclined to agree with you. However, sometimes, when watching and listening to democrats I start to get a creeping feeling that they are delusional and delusions do have a way of making people feel joyous… but I guess I am being too kind with that analysis! And so I’m left with the cynical conclusion that these people are imposters, they know that they are, they delight in it, fooling ordinary people and destroying America.
I hope we here in the UK and you In America can pull back from the brink.
Oprah Winfrey has referred to her career as a “ministry.” In Oprah: Gospel of an Icon, Yale religious scholar Kathryn Lofton notes that “she preaches prosperity gospel, she advocates books as scripture, she offers exegesis, she conducts exculpatory rites, she supplies a bazaar of faithful practices, she propagates missions, both home and foreign.” In fact, Lofton argues, Oprah has become a key figure in the history of American religion by way of her book club, which often highlights spirtuality and self-help authors. Think of her as the Billy Graham of Democrats.
Excellent analysis. Almost makes me want to read her book. I have known a few people who were guests in her show and who stated that as soon as the camera light was off, they felt like they had ceased to exist.
yep, but I was introduced to Theosophy back in early 70s, Wilhelm Reich, Rudolph Steiner. While I found it interesting, fortunately I did not swallow the kool aid completely. Same as when Berkeley schools adopted the DEI policy directive in 2000, I spoke against the destruction of merit. It has been quite an education into tribal brainwashing. Never liked Oprah.
Oh, I know Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf Schools....quite well. It was the next step after Louisa May Alcott led me to the American Transcendentalists.
You wouldn't guess this of a never-WOKE individual.
I visited the Goetheanum in Switzerland as a starving student. They argued about giving me a tour. I had enough left in my meal-funds for a bowl of soup in their cafe. I watched the earnest wealthy Anthroposophists around me chugging down full courses, and decadent desserts. So much for the healthy lifestyle beliefs. No one offered to pick up my meagre tab, for having taught in a Waldorf School for them at zero pay in an internship.
Oprah Winfrey used to be my idol. I adored her. Now I see she lies and focuses solely on identity politics. She used to be good friends with Trump. Now she says he is a danger to democracy. It is in fact Oprah et al. who are the danger to democracy. I highly doubt she has faced racism for decades. Oh except the questionable incident at a Paris boutique. She lives in a bubble. If she really wanted to help Black people, she would help young men, in particular, in the inner cites instead of performing at an over the top, highly produced Democratic convention. Actions speak louder than words. The aesthetics at the conventions reveal the Democratic Party has become the party of the elites. It is about class disparity; not race disparity. Great post! sabrinalabow.substack.com
I'm of the opinion that it's not Oprah who changed. It's just she now sees Trumps true colors. He's a master manipulator and great at drawing people into his orb. He changed to a Republican not because of any deep held beliefs, but only because he saw a path to the presidency as a champion for the Republicans. He hoodwinked Oprah just like he hoodwinked many in his former Cabinet who have publicly come out stating they will not support him.
Trump hasn’t changed. Look back at videos of him in the 90’s (I think) when he first toyed with running for President. He had the same concerns for our country as he does now. Only back then the media & elites couldn’t get enough of him since he was one of them- a democrat. Like many democrats, the party left them.
Disagree. We are watching a major party realignment. Watch the first 2016 Republican debate with 10 people including 3 competent governors. They all caved. Trump's populist message broke the Rep party. The Dems are self destructing faster and faster, we are seeing how connected to administrative security state they are. Oprah has gone woke and is far more partisan than she used to be.
The irony of the lies at the DNC were indeed on full display with Oprah, the camera friendly and off camera brutality calculating woman that many a guests experienced in real time. Remember that behind all that joy, was the tragedy of Joe Biden, the almost president and his lady “doctor”. A potential Shakespearean play, this time as farce.
"Oprah also represents the mythological core of the Democratic coalition: the strong, wise, black woman, who can reveal the ugly truth about America and then promise a path to redemption."
Oprah will become a high Communist priestess, if the Dems manage to take over completely. She is a big part of the problem.... not part of the solution. She feeds the un-awakened their indoctrination scripts, after their minds have been softened and made malleable. Probably learned a few of her tricks from North Korean Reverend Moon, of the 70s cult Moonies.
There is a good podcast just posted at New Discourses by James Lindsay, on WOKE as Evil. About sums it up. Evil sometimes come as well-dressed, smooth talking celebrities who know how to brainwash the masses into their ugly and treacherous perspectives.
Good analysis here. Thanks. So, now I wonder if RFK and JD Vance (younger generation) will make a difference going forward. There does seem to be a move happening where the new "Unity" party is drawing in people from across the political divide. And we still have not heard Harris speak out of her bubble. And who is running the country anyway--Biden seems to be actually out to pasture. Violence does seem to be in the picture now--done by our gov/t to citizens. FBI raiding homes of people the Dems don't like, etc. Chaos is on the horizon. BUT, markets don't like chaos, so will there be pushback from the corporate/investment world???
In terms of brainwashing....because that is what Communists such as the Democrats do....
Here's a tip. Strong and chronic negative emotions -- such as fear or anger or hatred -- set-up your mind for what might be called the Mind-SNAP. Systems shutdown in several ways. Critical thinking all but turns off, and new beliefs can be subconsciously implanted through indoctrination. We saw many folks go down in this way during COVID Mania. And during the many Pro-Hamas hate rallies.
This is also basically what happens in many cults (brainwashing). Although the biggest cults of the 70s used chronic brain-rhythm disturbances of continual chanting, drumming, swaying, wild dancing, flashing lights to disturb the brain patterns (something like epilepsy does). Then they put recruits through hours of indoctrination lectures. Mainly unknown to those recruits.
For a good introduction to this sinister mind-play, you might want to read the recent Laura Dodsworth books:
"A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic"
I did something this year which I have never done before in my long life. I streamed nearly all of the RNC. Hulk Hogan was a few minutes in the hours of coverage. It did not impress me in any way. The most compelling part was the tribute to the parents of 13 soldiers who died that last day in Afghanistan.
The other lasting impression was the humility that Trump showed to his supporters.
It was shortly after the assassination attempt.
Due to his normal embellishing style it is easy to forget the extraordinary measures the federal intelligence, democrats and their army of minions have exacted upon him especially considering he has been out of office for years, and the damage theirs have exacted upon our democracy.
I felt the same way. I'm college-educated and part of the laptop class. (I'm also a class traitor for supporting Trump.) You and i are not the target market for Hulk Hogan.
Our politics are increasingly theological. We disagree not about means ("how do we pursue the common good?") but about ends ("what is good?") Democracy is very good at the former and terrible at the latter. Lberal democracy requires a pre-liberal moral order, which it immediately starts liberating people from. After 250 years, it has now succeeded. (That's Patrick Deneen's thesis in Why Liberalism Failed.)
"Wokeness" is the Left's abandonment of liberalism. Liberal democracy is value-neutral, a set of procedures to adjudicate conflicts between citizens. Wokeness defines not a set of procedures, but a moral order: "oppressors bad; oppressed good" and seeks to use power to enforce that order. That's not liberal; that's a theocracy.
The Right will either give up, be destroyed by the Left, or pull its head out of its butt and start doing the same thing. What does that look like? Orban. Modi. Franco. Duterte. Bukele. Leaders who aren't afraid to use power to defend their vision of "goodness". If that scares you, too bad. We live in a Nietzschean world now. Get used to it.
I would prefer a broadly tolerant liberal democracy built roughly on a Judeo-Christian moral order. Unfortunately that's no longer on the menu. Pick your poison: left-wing theocrats or right-wing authoritarians.
Oprah is a billionaire who lives in a compound in 95% white Montecito. Michelle Obama has an Oceanside mansion in 95% white Martha’s Vineyard, which swiftly deported illegals last year. Both have armed security and walls. The more powerful they get, the more absurd it is to call themselves part of the oppresssed “resistance”.
The irony is lost on the indoctrinated public. And it is the most distressing part.
They are really the opposite of what they are, kinda like an oreo cookie. Cheers!
I wish more people would open their eyes to the snake oil "racism" trick. Just the other day, one of the more unconscionably naive morally narcissistic women in my FB feed posted her "joy" in response to Michelle Obama's mention of the paucity of "generational wealth" among a certain demographic. This way, the naive white woman with a big house in Oregon can feel good about herself. She cares about black people. She wants the government to focus on giving black people with no "generational wealth" a leg up. The white people who see that this is extremely dangerous are written off as "racists" despite the fact that they have not benefitted from "generational wealth" and aren't among those who will benefit from whatever the hell Obama was hinting at. And while the student loan scandal was not racialized, what irks me is that some benefitted from not paying off their loans, while many many others did pay off their loans and suffered for it. This is not "equity."
I live in Bed Stuy where much of the black population appears to be doing just fine, financially. They drive the latest, shiniest, most colorful vehicles, equipped with the LOUDEST STEREOS. They are dressed to the nines. They're selling their brownstones for millions to white people while bemoaning gentrification. Oh no -- wait -- it's "genocide" when whites move in. "Racism" if whites don't want blacks to move in.
It ought to be obvious to everyone that crying about the past, a past that no longer exists, and that "we" have to do something to help these people, while the black victim standing there is a multi-millionaire is just too ridiculous to take seriously. So Oprah experienced racism. So have I. Yes, Oprah, I have suffered too. But whatever "racism" Oprah suffered, it certainly didn't hold her back.
Add to this that Oprah did not tip me when I waited on her in Chicago in the early 80s. While Stedman was in the john, she inhaled his dessert and ordered me to replace it before he returned, which I did. Then she stiffed me.
That says it all about Oprah.
Yeah, speaking of overrated, overpaid phonies--Oprah.
Yes Oprah had us viewers who enjoyed her show & felt like she was a friend to us fooled. She was revealed to be nothing but a hypocritical racist, a phony who fooled us for a long time. She seems like a completely different person than when she had her daily show in the 80’s.
I'm so sick of the "racist victim card" Let us not forget the Jussie smollett ploy.
Well put.
I think some truly buy it. I think a bigger number are simply bullied into silence because they know that even if they're correct they'll still be smeared as a racist and socially ostracized. Most likely, unless you're in an explicitly right wing space.
Your “leg up” to a minority would be a free education which is available, right? If they don’t take advantage “we” lose. I can’t afford to offer any more.
The serious reason that reparations for those whose ancestral experience included slavery is that those who enslaved them are gone. We could research who those slaveowners were, but would need to research the fate of all their progeny, and likewise the fate of the slaveholders progeny. Not all generational wealth remains. It often dissipates through costly illness, bankruptcy, foreclosure, or simply spendthrift progeny. We are simply not the same nation we were after the Civil War, having given ourselves for that just cause, leaving many women widowed and poor, and without sons. Further, Amendments were made to our Constitution so that equality could be a reality for every American. I cannot see a debt to be paid, nor are debtors apparent.
Indeed, all the opportunities are right there in front of them. But it's so much more satisfying, apparently, to continue to obligate other people to fix them, instead of fixing themselves.
It was Johnson’d Great Society that impoverished black families in the late 60’s by making regulations that made the government the source of money for mothers, breaking up intact families. In decades prior, blacks were better off financially, not impoverished, as we saw in later decades.
This should be obvious to everyone; I witnessed this growing up, and its devastation, and yet the people with the right opinions keep looking the other way, as if disenfranchising black men by giving money to black women to have children without them was somehow a good thing?
WOW, that paints quite a different picture! Stiffed by a billionaire no less. Priceless.
Well that was well said and sadly true… so where do we go from here? For the ordinary man on the street it seems so overwhelming,to try to fight the massive bureaucracy that is now in place and slowly strangling us all. Add to that a corrupt media that distorts the truth and the judiciary who are no longer dispensing blind justice. I talk with many like minded folks… voting it not enough maybe getting involved in local politics school boards and so on… I feel supporting people like you is a start…
Thanks Mr Rufo… greetings from the UK
Ann D sorry to see what's going on in the UK & in the neighboring countries.
me too. I love England and it grieves me to see what's happening to her.
Great assessment. I would add that the real reason the Democrat Party is wearing the mantle of "joy" as their campaign theme is because that emotion is EXACTLY what Kamala felt, and continues to feel, at the notion that she is finally a Presidential contender. She felt joy that they disposed of the old man that she likely despised - I would go out on a limb as an observer of human nature and note that now that the Party dispatched Joe effectively, it is a natural human emotion (guilt protection, perhaps) to feel REAL affection for the victim, sick as that is. She is feeling pure joy at the notion of unfettered power. I do believe that SHE was the person who came up with the Joy theme. Which further demonstrates her narcissistic pathology, IMO.
another snapshot of this is what Warren Buffet did to the money he was giving Melinda Gates foundation, after she went to left and mentioned she had a "circle of trust" with three women making decisions not unlike the "Joy" reprisal's...He has now cut her off, no more Buffett financing.
You are most probably correct about KH because when I think about the malevolent nature of many politicians I’m inclined to agree with you. However, sometimes, when watching and listening to democrats I start to get a creeping feeling that they are delusional and delusions do have a way of making people feel joyous… but I guess I am being too kind with that analysis! And so I’m left with the cynical conclusion that these people are imposters, they know that they are, they delight in it, fooling ordinary people and destroying America.
I hope we here in the UK and you In America can pull back from the brink.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" would apply to her and the lemocrat party.
Oprah Winfrey has referred to her career as a “ministry.” In Oprah: Gospel of an Icon, Yale religious scholar Kathryn Lofton notes that “she preaches prosperity gospel, she advocates books as scripture, she offers exegesis, she conducts exculpatory rites, she supplies a bazaar of faithful practices, she propagates missions, both home and foreign.” In fact, Lofton argues, Oprah has become a key figure in the history of American religion by way of her book club, which often highlights spirtuality and self-help authors. Think of her as the Billy Graham of Democrats.
Nicely put.
Oprah certainly knows how to scam. She reminds me of the faux-evangelical tent revivalists.
Excellent analysis. Almost makes me want to read her book. I have known a few people who were guests in her show and who stated that as soon as the camera light was off, they felt like they had ceased to exist.
That's a bingo!
Oprah is a modern theosophist, mixing mysticism and psychobabble.
Were you reading James Lindsay on the globalist Theosophists? Interesting study.
yep, but I was introduced to Theosophy back in early 70s, Wilhelm Reich, Rudolph Steiner. While I found it interesting, fortunately I did not swallow the kool aid completely. Same as when Berkeley schools adopted the DEI policy directive in 2000, I spoke against the destruction of merit. It has been quite an education into tribal brainwashing. Never liked Oprah.
Oh, I know Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf Schools....quite well. It was the next step after Louisa May Alcott led me to the American Transcendentalists.
You wouldn't guess this of a never-WOKE individual.
lol, I love their architecture though.
I visited the Goetheanum in Switzerland as a starving student. They argued about giving me a tour. I had enough left in my meal-funds for a bowl of soup in their cafe. I watched the earnest wealthy Anthroposophists around me chugging down full courses, and decadent desserts. So much for the healthy lifestyle beliefs. No one offered to pick up my meagre tab, for having taught in a Waldorf School for them at zero pay in an internship.
I wasn't quite as enamoured after that.
You Sir, are brilliant! Oprah as the Billy Graham of the democrats a perfect analogy. Well Done.
Oprah Winfrey used to be my idol. I adored her. Now I see she lies and focuses solely on identity politics. She used to be good friends with Trump. Now she says he is a danger to democracy. It is in fact Oprah et al. who are the danger to democracy. I highly doubt she has faced racism for decades. Oh except the questionable incident at a Paris boutique. She lives in a bubble. If she really wanted to help Black people, she would help young men, in particular, in the inner cites instead of performing at an over the top, highly produced Democratic convention. Actions speak louder than words. The aesthetics at the conventions reveal the Democratic Party has become the party of the elites. It is about class disparity; not race disparity. Great post! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Welcome to the Awakened.
I'm of the opinion that it's not Oprah who changed. It's just she now sees Trumps true colors. He's a master manipulator and great at drawing people into his orb. He changed to a Republican not because of any deep held beliefs, but only because he saw a path to the presidency as a champion for the Republicans. He hoodwinked Oprah just like he hoodwinked many in his former Cabinet who have publicly come out stating they will not support him.
Trump hasn’t changed. Look back at videos of him in the 90’s (I think) when he first toyed with running for President. He had the same concerns for our country as he does now. Only back then the media & elites couldn’t get enough of him since he was one of them- a democrat. Like many democrats, the party left them.
you don't need to like the guy, vote Republican because you like they're policy's, there is a difference.
Disagree. We are watching a major party realignment. Watch the first 2016 Republican debate with 10 people including 3 competent governors. They all caved. Trump's populist message broke the Rep party. The Dems are self destructing faster and faster, we are seeing how connected to administrative security state they are. Oprah has gone woke and is far more partisan than she used to be.
The use of disparity to compare outcomes is a problem, Marxist by nature.
The weeds begin to wither when Chris walks through them!
Thank you Chris
Good piece. Love the Hulkster, but focus on Dana White's introduction at the RNC.
Oprah used to consider her and Donald running for office.
https://radaronline.com/p/oprah-winfrey-long-lost-letter-donald-trump-endorse-kamala-harris-dnc/
Thanks for allowing comments, Chris.
Thanks
The irony of the lies at the DNC were indeed on full display with Oprah, the camera friendly and off camera brutality calculating woman that many a guests experienced in real time. Remember that behind all that joy, was the tragedy of Joe Biden, the almost president and his lady “doctor”. A potential Shakespearean play, this time as farce.
"Oprah also represents the mythological core of the Democratic coalition: the strong, wise, black woman, who can reveal the ugly truth about America and then promise a path to redemption."
Oprah will become a high Communist priestess, if the Dems manage to take over completely. She is a big part of the problem.... not part of the solution. She feeds the un-awakened their indoctrination scripts, after their minds have been softened and made malleable. Probably learned a few of her tricks from North Korean Reverend Moon, of the 70s cult Moonies.
She already is a high priestess, communist yes, but satanist high priestess is really what she is.
There is a good podcast just posted at New Discourses by James Lindsay, on WOKE as Evil. About sums it up. Evil sometimes come as well-dressed, smooth talking celebrities who know how to brainwash the masses into their ugly and treacherous perspectives.
HA HA
I laugh at her too, Loraine.
you've captured the current state of affairs in a brilliant nutshell of prose, once again!
Such a thinker, the depths of your thought processes is unparallel. Such an interesting analysis and based on pure research and evidence.
Good analysis here. Thanks. So, now I wonder if RFK and JD Vance (younger generation) will make a difference going forward. There does seem to be a move happening where the new "Unity" party is drawing in people from across the political divide. And we still have not heard Harris speak out of her bubble. And who is running the country anyway--Biden seems to be actually out to pasture. Violence does seem to be in the picture now--done by our gov/t to citizens. FBI raiding homes of people the Dems don't like, etc. Chaos is on the horizon. BUT, markets don't like chaos, so will there be pushback from the corporate/investment world???
In terms of brainwashing....because that is what Communists such as the Democrats do....
Here's a tip. Strong and chronic negative emotions -- such as fear or anger or hatred -- set-up your mind for what might be called the Mind-SNAP. Systems shutdown in several ways. Critical thinking all but turns off, and new beliefs can be subconsciously implanted through indoctrination. We saw many folks go down in this way during COVID Mania. And during the many Pro-Hamas hate rallies.
This is also basically what happens in many cults (brainwashing). Although the biggest cults of the 70s used chronic brain-rhythm disturbances of continual chanting, drumming, swaying, wild dancing, flashing lights to disturb the brain patterns (something like epilepsy does). Then they put recruits through hours of indoctrination lectures. Mainly unknown to those recruits.
For a good introduction to this sinister mind-play, you might want to read the recent Laura Dodsworth books:
"A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic"
"Free Your Mind"
Sounds like a typical mansplain - your the only person that is smart - all others need to be talked down to.
I believe A. is a woman. But regardless, her point stands.
I did something this year which I have never done before in my long life. I streamed nearly all of the RNC. Hulk Hogan was a few minutes in the hours of coverage. It did not impress me in any way. The most compelling part was the tribute to the parents of 13 soldiers who died that last day in Afghanistan.
The other lasting impression was the humility that Trump showed to his supporters.
It was shortly after the assassination attempt.
Due to his normal embellishing style it is easy to forget the extraordinary measures the federal intelligence, democrats and their army of minions have exacted upon him especially considering he has been out of office for years, and the damage theirs have exacted upon our democracy.
I felt the same way. I'm college-educated and part of the laptop class. (I'm also a class traitor for supporting Trump.) You and i are not the target market for Hulk Hogan.
I suppose I am a class traitor as well. In every way. I am a female non-feminist! And if I were American, I would vote for Trump.
If conventions are supposed to rally the base, sometimes they don't work: https://x.com/TestDummy04/status/1827712784576254077
Our politics are increasingly theological. We disagree not about means ("how do we pursue the common good?") but about ends ("what is good?") Democracy is very good at the former and terrible at the latter. Lberal democracy requires a pre-liberal moral order, which it immediately starts liberating people from. After 250 years, it has now succeeded. (That's Patrick Deneen's thesis in Why Liberalism Failed.)
"Wokeness" is the Left's abandonment of liberalism. Liberal democracy is value-neutral, a set of procedures to adjudicate conflicts between citizens. Wokeness defines not a set of procedures, but a moral order: "oppressors bad; oppressed good" and seeks to use power to enforce that order. That's not liberal; that's a theocracy.
The Right will either give up, be destroyed by the Left, or pull its head out of its butt and start doing the same thing. What does that look like? Orban. Modi. Franco. Duterte. Bukele. Leaders who aren't afraid to use power to defend their vision of "goodness". If that scares you, too bad. We live in a Nietzschean world now. Get used to it.
I would prefer a broadly tolerant liberal democracy built roughly on a Judeo-Christian moral order. Unfortunately that's no longer on the menu. Pick your poison: left-wing theocrats or right-wing authoritarians.