Good morning and Happy New Year, Christopher! Add to President Trump’s techno/working class/multi-racial coalition: us ‘normal’ Gays (as VP Vance said to Joe Rogan) pulled the lever for Trump. One morning before the election I was bored and added up all the followers of the MAGA Gay men I follow on X: 2,225,000. I double and triple checked. Yup. 2.25 million!!! We’re all just fed up with the 64 gender woo woo bullshit and the trans Taliban/Davidians who are hijacking our 50+ year movement, twisting and warping our rich history and struggles (there were NO transgenders at Stonewall in June 1969; there were transvestites, a huge difference) just to show America that we are indeed, normal. Only to see these freaks and this thank God only 12 more days Biden administration enable these freaks and no more transing away the Gays starting January 20th. The untold story of the 2024 election which the Human Rights Commission (they blocked me on X after I suggested they change their moniker to the TRC, Trans Rights Commission) dare not mention? Perhaps it was us normal Gays who put Donald Trump/JD Vance over the top! How many more votes than Harris did Trump receive in November? 2.25 million? Hmmm 🤔 Someone tell the HRC (TRC), please just to piss them off.
I had no idea the numbers were so huge! There hasn’t been much discussion of gay people against trans nonsense (except to shut down gay voices, as you mentioned) and I would be very interested to see how many voted for Trump.
Would you say the trans movement is the main issue that convinced gay people to go MAGA?
Yes, Catherine, the tactics of the trans and their ‘queer’ agenda is a big reason why… also, puberty blockers and the mutilation of little boys who most likely will be gay men. Read up on the Tavistock scandal in the UK. Shut down thankfully. There was a sick joke had this ‘clinic’ been allowed to continue: “Soon there will be no gays left!”
Many of that 2.25M is double-counted in your stat, but I don't doubt that the numbers are significant. I know several gay men who are extremely angry with the trans lunatics and the insane pride stuff. I don't know if they voted for Trump, but I'm pretty sure they didn't vote for Harris.
Gay men who used to be closeted lest they be evaluated by their bedmate choices... often don't like the out-and-proud LGBT activists who want to evaluated by their bedmate choices. Gay or straight, most people don't actually like being defined as a 1-dimensional caricature. People are weird like that. :-)
It's refreshing to hear from a gay person who denies affiliation with the bogus political movement that has grown like a tumor on the backs of independent, liberty-loving citizens. This political bloc exploited the original righteous demand for fair and humane treatment represented by the Stonewall riots, folding sexual orientation into the poison stew of "diversity," the thin gruel of "liberation" politics.
Robust debate is how policy is *supposed* to be formulated. It’s a tragedy that blind conformity to the party line and vitriolic ad hominem denigration of political opponents has replaced it. Having policy differences with someone doesn’t automatically make them your mortal enemy.
Trump exemplifies this: he will praise and compliment those across the deal-making table; he knows it’s unhelpful to insult and belittle them and that better deals are reached via good will and warm respect. Sure he sometimes trolls them, but when it comes time to begin negotiations, he stops that and adopts an attitude of courtesy and respect. This confuses many observers, but it is actually very smart.
Absolutely. With the H1-B debate, I saw way too many people wanting to jettison Musk and Ramaswamy from the MAGA movement entirely, just because they disagreed on one particular issue. Thanks to that debate, the public is probably the most informed it’s ever been on H1-B visas and can give an informed opinion. I call that a net positive.
Spot on. This is why many confuse his matter of fact re-statement of Putin's positions on Ukraine as some sort of support or endorsement of those positions.
In negotiations, it is important to establish good will and ensure your opponent knows that you understand their positions and rationale.
This idea that engaging with one's enemies is somehow "platforming" or validating them needs to be brushed away along with the rest of the leftist cultural chaff of the last couple of decades.
It remains important for the new Trump alliance to not underestimate the continuing destructive power of legacy media. This Tech-Populist Alliance will comprise people who have long left it behind (and are rightly contemptuous of its clapped out hyper-Leftist narrative). But it is important to not forget that a significant proportion of the electorate (especially older people) still get their (distorted) take on reality mostly from that quarter. Just now that legacy media establishment has been caught like a rabbit in the November 5 headlights....and is in shock. But they will be back with a vengeance as soon as they get the chance.
I think legacy media has been crippled, but the Trump administration needs to capitalize on that, as do Republicans more broadly. Lawmakers should stop giving scoops to the NYT, for example, and start giving them to the Daily Signal or the Daily Wire. Invite these smaller conservative outlets to press briefings. Those changes would go a long way in ensuring legacy media doesn’t bounce back, as you warned.
I’d disagree with your statement that a large portion of the electorate still get their news from “legacy media”. If you look at subscription rates and tv viewership ratings numbers, legacy media’s audience constitutes a relatively small and shrinking percentage of the population. And many of those that read and watch those sources are older generations that are dying off.
Social media and certain podcasts have become sources for news to millions of the population. That’s why, in my opinion, Musk buying twitter (now X) was a watershed moment for legacy media’s credibility.
My hope is that events like the daily WH briefing, where legacy media acts as the gatekeeper for ‘official news’ gets replaced. In my opinion, those types of events are the last bastion where legacy media has power. Time to remove that power and spread it around.
In my observations, many Democrat Boomers are cleaved to mainstream media, and utterly resistant to any evidence that the D-Party isn't what it was when they signed on back in the 70s. Case in point: "Woke" just means that you sympathize with black people's struggles. I have done cartwheels trying to explain that no, it does not mean that at this juncture; one woman claimed that Wal-Mart's jettison of DEI means that they are only going to hire white people.
How do people get so willfully uninformed?
A guy tried to argue with me that because his nephew's school does not impose the trans stuff, then it's "not happening." I could feel the pressure against explaining that it IS happening. Then he went on and on about Trump's speech blunder when he claimed that schools were 'transing' kids, i.e. surgically; I still don't think I got through to him that 'transing' kids at school refers to teaching gender and subsequently changing their names and pronouns behind parents' backs. He could only go on and on about how ludicrous it was to suggest that kids are getting surgeries at school.
He then asked me whether I don't believe that gender dysphoria is a real condition. As if to say that it's being a real condition mandates overhauling our language and how we introduce ourselves. He was utterly oblivious to the botched surgeries and toxic effects of the hormones.
I said that gender dysphoria is not "real" in the sense that you cannot change your sex. Period. Anything else is enabling a delusion, and I refuse to do so.
And NOW we have so-called "liberals" rending their garments over Zuck's announcement that FB will henceforth be liberal.
Fox comes close to telling the truth than any of the leftist MSM .
There are some others now better than Fox IE NewsMax, ONA and a lot of Pod casters , if that is what they are called . Like Joe Rogan, Tim Pool , Tabbie (spelling)? and of course our own Rufo. I do believe common sense Conservative believe and ways will win out.
Yes, listening carefully to FOX news, you will hear and see evidence for their claims, even if the language used is hyperbolic, e.g. YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF XXX...
Whereas on the other side, it's 90 percent appeals to emotion; almost all of it is fallacious trash.
This is the challenge of getting elites to go along with populism. There IS an upside to having to pay more for workers. You get a large base of people who can afford a doctor or a lawyer. You get fewer people qualifying for welfare. You get appreciation for capitalism.
While I appreciate having tech guys on our side, I don’t think they should be cheating Americans out of jobs. I’ll be interested to see how the issue plays out.
No, for the same reason that there are rich people who are communists. It is possible to be rich and want to live in a society where ordinary people are well off, even if it means being less rich in either relative or absolute terms. Less need for bodyguards. Less need to play the truly hardcore games of true aristocrats/warlords.
I may be misusing the word populist a bit, but there really isn't a better word available.
Christopher, You begin the piece with "The source of the president-elect’s power—his voting base—is populist in nature." I voted for Trump, and now that he is about to take office, would hope that his early emphases would be on those that he campaigned on—out-of-control spending, DEI, terrible foreign policy, etc. Instead, in an early major speech, he chooses to focus on making Greenland and Canada U.S. states, rebranding the Gulf of Mexico, praising Judge Cannon for blocking the special counsel's report, and talking about how offshore windmills are killing the whales.
I would venture to say that none of these issues are concerns of the average Trump voter. My hope is that once he is in office he will spend the first 100 days focusing on the real ills that trouble this country, and not expend all of his political capital tilting at windmills.
My guess, based on the clips I saw, is that that speech was mostly to rile people up. The first 100 days will tell, of course, but he seems to have enough serious-minded people around him to make sure campaign promises are fulfilled. If that’s not the case, there’s going to be serious blowback.
Well I'm glad he's aware of offshore windmills killing whales. But he should keep his crazy talk in check. The notion of annexing Greenland is pure hubris. Maybe he's taking some of Musk's ketamine. "hope that his early emphases would be on those that he campaigned on—out-of-control spending, DEI, terrible foreign policy, etc." Very much agree!
I would chock up the Greenland thing to distraction. Trump is actually really good at saying inane things that stupid media hacks spend hours trying to debunk and report on when Trump himself has already moved on.
His first term, this didn't amount to much, because there were no significant policy proposals to distract from. I suspect this time will be a little different.
Yep, I agree (distraction). I just wish he (and Musk, who thinks the day is wasted if he doesn't release 100 tweets before breakfast) would learn that the world doesn't have to hear every stray thought that enters your head. Solzhenitsyn had the right idea: Speak sparingly, and only on matters of utmost importance. "Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silence." Prov. 17:28
I can live with Trump spending his time tweeting. Let's be honest, the man isn't that great at pushing legislation. So let him be "Distractor in Chief" while the competent underlings drive the agenda forward. (I can say that because we have competent underlings this time.)
We just spent 4 years being governed by the technocratic rejects from the Ivy faculty lounges while our supposed president spent 12 hours a day sleeping. (And that doesn't even count the naps at major summits and cabinet meetings.) Based on that, I think even liberals should give Trump's team the benefit of the doubt.
I was just listening to Greenwald going over Zuck's video regarding censorship and getting rid of fact checkers. It's good that he's doing that but man, how naive he is. He claims they used fact checkers and took down political content because people were upset by it. No, Mark, they were just pretending to be upset in order to suppress speech they don't like. They just can't say that. If you tell people they can suppress their political opponents if they're offended, they'll learn to be offended.
Exactly. I’d like to think Zuck is truly changing the way Facebook and Instagram work, but I’m suspicious until I see proof. Zuck’s closer to the truth but not quite there.
Is there any concern with President Trump’s Tech-populist alliance? I’m not fond of Elon’s trans humanism leanings and what and where that may take us as a people. I think we’re heading towards something that could be troubling and unsettling. We are between stories now. Between what was and what’s coming, something new. Of course I don’t know what’s coming but there’s a vibe and time will tell and the hope is we don’t lose our humanity in the process.
This piece posted today. See link posted. This describes well what I find unsettling about Trump’s Tech Populists Alliance. Nothing new under the Sun, right? Man will be man.
Thanks for sharing! There are definitely popular ideas in the tech world that I find concerning, trans humanism being one of them. Musk currently doesn’t seem interested in making it part of the standard conservative platform, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
My hope for the Trump administration is that the US will be saved from the WIND DROUGHT TRAP.
The US is only one Democrat administration away from following the catastrophic example of Germany and Britain. They are in the jaws of the wind drought trap and it is up to the Trump administration to get them out.
The power crisis in Texas in February 2021 was a taste of things to come when a bitter cold spell and low winds overnight caused a partial blackout of the state. The inadequately winterised gas supply underperformed and a complete blackout was only narrowly averted, due to some coal and nuclear capacity. Hundreds died and a complete blackout could have killed many thousands.
That is the way things are going in all the grids in the US and in every other system where net zero policies are in place.
The trap is set slowly over many years as subsidies and mandates for unreliable energy displace conventional power without being able to replace it. There is no way to firm unreliable energy by installing more unreliable energy.
There is a “frog in the saucepan” effect because conventional power retires in small steps and that does not cause problems in the early years while there is spare capacity. That was the case in SE Australia before Hazelwood and Liddell closed. The trap only causes public alarm when it is too late, as we see in Britain and Germany.
The US is moving rapidly in the same direction and grid managers are becoming increasingly agitated. Apparently they have not effectively shared their concerns with the general public and there is no electoral pressure on the lawmakers to change course. The incoming administration will have to provide a crash course in wind literacy to change the public perception of wind power and explain the value of coal power, especially in extremely cold conditions.
The trap closes when the conventional power capacity (traditionally dominated by coal) declines to a critical point, a “tipping point” where there is not enough to meet the base load overnight. Then the grid is in a “red zone” where windless nights are potentially lethal because there is no wind or solar generation, regardless of the amount of installed capacity.
The incompetence or negligence of the Government meteorologists around the world allowed this situation to develop because they didn’t issue wind drought warnings even though they know that high pressure systems cause low winds.
Consequently, the Dunkelflautes came as a surprise in Europe although mariners and millers must have experienced them for centuries.
The plot thickens when we discover that the World Meteorological Organization knew about wind droughts because the first Assessment report of the IPCC recommended a survey of the wind resources of the world to assess the prospects for large-scale wind power. That would have been led by the WMO, working with the official meteorologists around the world.
Moreover The WMO was a first mover in the climate alarm campaign in the UN and all the met offices have been hyperactive in supporting the scare by tampering with temperature records and attributing extreme weather events to climate change.
The climate alarmists in the UN set out to wreck the capitalist economies of the west (to save the planet) and they have practically achieved that objective in Britain and Germany where the lights are kept on precariously with imported power while they deindustrialize to reduce demand.
Australia is on the cusp and it remains to be seen how the old coal burners can keep running for a decade or three until nuclear power may be available at scale.
Turning to the United States, there is no time to waste to avoid the trap by saving coal and gas generators from the impending EPA regulations that were designed to close them down.
Community support for the net zero program must be undermined by explaining the wind drought problem, which makes the energy transition impossible, and the cost of the program, which makes the effort prohibitively expensive. The public need to know that trillions of dollars have been spent to make power more expensive and less reliable, with catastrophic damage to the planet.
At the same time the meteorologists should be put on the rack and forced to confess that they have been playing a devious game on instructions from the WMO and the United Nations.
That will justify the termination of financial support to the offending agencies.
With leadership from the Federal administration and support from red states, a sustained and effective communication campaign could give climate and energy realism a moral ascendancy over the ideological, financial and political interests that support the climate industrial complex.
free all J6 prisoners, pardon all the politically persecuted, sue, arrest and indict every political operative and criminal, fully disclose all the lies, unsolved mysteries (pipe bomb? Epstein files, etc), and completely defund, ALL NGOs, colleges, PBS, and political organizations promoting DEI. Cancel government contracts with ALL DEI promoting orgs. We need a DEEP CLEAN before we can even begin to hope for any kind of conservative agenda to be implemented. There are way too many enemies within that need to be obliterated before anything of value and permanence can be achieved.
The tech leaders are opportunists first and foremost. They want proximity to power the left wing democrats would never give them. The people (men, Latins, working class all colours and old fashioned gays) are angry at being ignored by the latter so this is a logical alliance. A fuller analysis of the situation will emerge but this energy is undeniable now and Trump has a massive opportunity to restore vigor to an ailing world if he can roll back the Leninist infiltration of government and media. He can make real money from that so expect it to happen.
"They want proximity to power the left wing democrats would never give them." What about the Twitter Files? What about censorship? Which Musk is now doing.
The logic of Buckley's 3 legged stool rides again.
The GOP used to be made of was 3 groups: anti-government libertarians, serious Christians, and big money (chamber of commerce / blue bloods). In practice, this meant the big money ran the show, allied with the libertarians on taxes (that they should be low) and on govt (that it should be small), and spent 6 months every 4 years pretending to care about the Christians only to throw them under the bus the moment they won election.
This went on for 50 years. It was mildly effective for the Republican Party and completely ineffective at actually conserving anything. A man by Newt Gingrich was the one who first attempted to kill this beast. Donald Trump put a stake through it's heart last year.
A repeat was almost inevitable -- as Chris says, populists can't govern. This time there are only 2 legs though: populist believers and high tech businessmen. The Wall Street bankers are wanna-be groupies, but Trump hates them with a passion. Vance might be different, but for now, Wall Street will be treated the way Buckley's party treated Christians: "sure, absolutely, you're totally right about that... thanks for the check. See you in 3.5 years." (Karma's a bitch guys, but it's sure cathartic.) There are lots of issues where rich tech bros and populists can agree (immigration probably not being one of them), so the coalition may work better. Call me tentatively optimistic.
The biggest losers in this are the Christians, who likely had their last glimpse of power in the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett and overturning of Roe. The Court may be conservative for a while, but it will be Burke's conservatism not Pascal's. Trump's decision to punt abortion back to the states instead of pursue a national ban is the clearest evidence of this. Whether I like it or not, we are a post-Christian (read Nietzschean) country now. Since Christians are no longer a cultural majority though, perhaps federalism is our best hope as well.
I think there is more promise than peril in a tech-populist coalition. However, for Trump to remain in the driver seat, he will need to balance carefully, the needs of both groups. I think Trump‘s value will be more in the realm of informing his base about the need for change and laying out steps that need to be taken.
Keeping his base in the loop will be very important. Then the base can rally the troops for good policy and against his opponents and those who would like to solidify the status quo.
In some ways the technology field were victims of the power hungry democrats. In some ways they were not victims at all. The world is changing with the evolution of the return of commonsensical power. We, conservatives, have the power now as a result of the mandate of the electorates, and the powerful force of nature of Trump and his leadership. Why wouldn’t they jump on board this train?
The woke mafias have had their day. They are becoming marginalized. Thank God for Trump, the USA constitution and the people of this great country.
Good point. While I’m glad to see this shift, conservatives shouldn’t be so eager to congratulate the tech field (broadly speaking) just for returning to common sense. They ran the numbers, and Trump made the most sense.
Good morning and Happy New Year, Christopher! Add to President Trump’s techno/working class/multi-racial coalition: us ‘normal’ Gays (as VP Vance said to Joe Rogan) pulled the lever for Trump. One morning before the election I was bored and added up all the followers of the MAGA Gay men I follow on X: 2,225,000. I double and triple checked. Yup. 2.25 million!!! We’re all just fed up with the 64 gender woo woo bullshit and the trans Taliban/Davidians who are hijacking our 50+ year movement, twisting and warping our rich history and struggles (there were NO transgenders at Stonewall in June 1969; there were transvestites, a huge difference) just to show America that we are indeed, normal. Only to see these freaks and this thank God only 12 more days Biden administration enable these freaks and no more transing away the Gays starting January 20th. The untold story of the 2024 election which the Human Rights Commission (they blocked me on X after I suggested they change their moniker to the TRC, Trans Rights Commission) dare not mention? Perhaps it was us normal Gays who put Donald Trump/JD Vance over the top! How many more votes than Harris did Trump receive in November? 2.25 million? Hmmm 🤔 Someone tell the HRC (TRC), please just to piss them off.
I had no idea the numbers were so huge! There hasn’t been much discussion of gay people against trans nonsense (except to shut down gay voices, as you mentioned) and I would be very interested to see how many voted for Trump.
Would you say the trans movement is the main issue that convinced gay people to go MAGA?
Yes, Catherine, the tactics of the trans and their ‘queer’ agenda is a big reason why… also, puberty blockers and the mutilation of little boys who most likely will be gay men. Read up on the Tavistock scandal in the UK. Shut down thankfully. There was a sick joke had this ‘clinic’ been allowed to continue: “Soon there will be no gays left!”
Many of that 2.25M is double-counted in your stat, but I don't doubt that the numbers are significant. I know several gay men who are extremely angry with the trans lunatics and the insane pride stuff. I don't know if they voted for Trump, but I'm pretty sure they didn't vote for Harris.
Gay men who used to be closeted lest they be evaluated by their bedmate choices... often don't like the out-and-proud LGBT activists who want to evaluated by their bedmate choices. Gay or straight, most people don't actually like being defined as a 1-dimensional caricature. People are weird like that. :-)
It's refreshing to hear from a gay person who denies affiliation with the bogus political movement that has grown like a tumor on the backs of independent, liberty-loving citizens. This political bloc exploited the original righteous demand for fair and humane treatment represented by the Stonewall riots, folding sexual orientation into the poison stew of "diversity," the thin gruel of "liberation" politics.
"there were NO transgenders at Stonewall in June 1969"
One reason (NOT The Only RReason)Stonewall was always raided
How the Mob Helped Establish NYC's Gay Bar Scene
The Stonewall Inn was controlled by the Genovese crime family.
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-mob-helped-establish-nycs-gay-bar-scene
______________________________________
This was something I was not aware of until 20 years ago. Makes sense, money laundering, and of course Blackmail.
“These conflicts will be resolved in time. “
Robust debate is how policy is *supposed* to be formulated. It’s a tragedy that blind conformity to the party line and vitriolic ad hominem denigration of political opponents has replaced it. Having policy differences with someone doesn’t automatically make them your mortal enemy.
Trump exemplifies this: he will praise and compliment those across the deal-making table; he knows it’s unhelpful to insult and belittle them and that better deals are reached via good will and warm respect. Sure he sometimes trolls them, but when it comes time to begin negotiations, he stops that and adopts an attitude of courtesy and respect. This confuses many observers, but it is actually very smart.
Absolutely. With the H1-B debate, I saw way too many people wanting to jettison Musk and Ramaswamy from the MAGA movement entirely, just because they disagreed on one particular issue. Thanks to that debate, the public is probably the most informed it’s ever been on H1-B visas and can give an informed opinion. I call that a net positive.
Spot on. This is why many confuse his matter of fact re-statement of Putin's positions on Ukraine as some sort of support or endorsement of those positions.
In negotiations, it is important to establish good will and ensure your opponent knows that you understand their positions and rationale.
This idea that engaging with one's enemies is somehow "platforming" or validating them needs to be brushed away along with the rest of the leftist cultural chaff of the last couple of decades.
It remains important for the new Trump alliance to not underestimate the continuing destructive power of legacy media. This Tech-Populist Alliance will comprise people who have long left it behind (and are rightly contemptuous of its clapped out hyper-Leftist narrative). But it is important to not forget that a significant proportion of the electorate (especially older people) still get their (distorted) take on reality mostly from that quarter. Just now that legacy media establishment has been caught like a rabbit in the November 5 headlights....and is in shock. But they will be back with a vengeance as soon as they get the chance.
I think legacy media has been crippled, but the Trump administration needs to capitalize on that, as do Republicans more broadly. Lawmakers should stop giving scoops to the NYT, for example, and start giving them to the Daily Signal or the Daily Wire. Invite these smaller conservative outlets to press briefings. Those changes would go a long way in ensuring legacy media doesn’t bounce back, as you warned.
Yes that's exactly the kind of thing I mean't. The "legacy media is toast" triumphalism that you sometimes see on the 'new right' is a bit premature.
I’d disagree with your statement that a large portion of the electorate still get their news from “legacy media”. If you look at subscription rates and tv viewership ratings numbers, legacy media’s audience constitutes a relatively small and shrinking percentage of the population. And many of those that read and watch those sources are older generations that are dying off.
Social media and certain podcasts have become sources for news to millions of the population. That’s why, in my opinion, Musk buying twitter (now X) was a watershed moment for legacy media’s credibility.
My hope is that events like the daily WH briefing, where legacy media acts as the gatekeeper for ‘official news’ gets replaced. In my opinion, those types of events are the last bastion where legacy media has power. Time to remove that power and spread it around.
In my observations, many Democrat Boomers are cleaved to mainstream media, and utterly resistant to any evidence that the D-Party isn't what it was when they signed on back in the 70s. Case in point: "Woke" just means that you sympathize with black people's struggles. I have done cartwheels trying to explain that no, it does not mean that at this juncture; one woman claimed that Wal-Mart's jettison of DEI means that they are only going to hire white people.
How do people get so willfully uninformed?
A guy tried to argue with me that because his nephew's school does not impose the trans stuff, then it's "not happening." I could feel the pressure against explaining that it IS happening. Then he went on and on about Trump's speech blunder when he claimed that schools were 'transing' kids, i.e. surgically; I still don't think I got through to him that 'transing' kids at school refers to teaching gender and subsequently changing their names and pronouns behind parents' backs. He could only go on and on about how ludicrous it was to suggest that kids are getting surgeries at school.
He then asked me whether I don't believe that gender dysphoria is a real condition. As if to say that it's being a real condition mandates overhauling our language and how we introduce ourselves. He was utterly oblivious to the botched surgeries and toxic effects of the hormones.
I said that gender dysphoria is not "real" in the sense that you cannot change your sex. Period. Anything else is enabling a delusion, and I refuse to do so.
And NOW we have so-called "liberals" rending their garments over Zuck's announcement that FB will henceforth be liberal.
I suppose we're lucky in that Fox News has retained its audience while the major antique networks, CNN, and MSNBC are spiraling down the drain.
I mean, they're as full of shit as the others, but at least their propaganda represents the interests of the working class majority.
Fox comes close to telling the truth than any of the leftist MSM .
There are some others now better than Fox IE NewsMax, ONA and a lot of Pod casters , if that is what they are called . Like Joe Rogan, Tim Pool , Tabbie (spelling)? and of course our own Rufo. I do believe common sense Conservative believe and ways will win out.
Yes, listening carefully to FOX news, you will hear and see evidence for their claims, even if the language used is hyperbolic, e.g. YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF XXX...
Whereas on the other side, it's 90 percent appeals to emotion; almost all of it is fallacious trash.
So true
True prosperity makes a sound, and that sound is the wailing and lamentations of tycoons whining about labor shortages. https://rulesforreactionaries.substack.com/p/the-h-1b-question
This is the challenge of getting elites to go along with populism. There IS an upside to having to pay more for workers. You get a large base of people who can afford a doctor or a lawyer. You get fewer people qualifying for welfare. You get appreciation for capitalism.
Thanks for sharing!
While I appreciate having tech guys on our side, I don’t think they should be cheating Americans out of jobs. I’ll be interested to see how the issue plays out.
I'm so stealing the quote for my econ class in a few weeks. I love it!
"elite" and "populist" are contradiction in terms.
No, for the same reason that there are rich people who are communists. It is possible to be rich and want to live in a society where ordinary people are well off, even if it means being less rich in either relative or absolute terms. Less need for bodyguards. Less need to play the truly hardcore games of true aristocrats/warlords.
I may be misusing the word populist a bit, but there really isn't a better word available.
the rich people who are communists rule over the ordinary people who are communists. populism means ordinary people.
This is what I'm trying to get at. Please let me know if there is a better word.
https://rulesforreactionaries.substack.com/p/populism-is-the-way
Christopher, You begin the piece with "The source of the president-elect’s power—his voting base—is populist in nature." I voted for Trump, and now that he is about to take office, would hope that his early emphases would be on those that he campaigned on—out-of-control spending, DEI, terrible foreign policy, etc. Instead, in an early major speech, he chooses to focus on making Greenland and Canada U.S. states, rebranding the Gulf of Mexico, praising Judge Cannon for blocking the special counsel's report, and talking about how offshore windmills are killing the whales.
I would venture to say that none of these issues are concerns of the average Trump voter. My hope is that once he is in office he will spend the first 100 days focusing on the real ills that trouble this country, and not expend all of his political capital tilting at windmills.
My guess, based on the clips I saw, is that that speech was mostly to rile people up. The first 100 days will tell, of course, but he seems to have enough serious-minded people around him to make sure campaign promises are fulfilled. If that’s not the case, there’s going to be serious blowback.
Well I'm glad he's aware of offshore windmills killing whales. But he should keep his crazy talk in check. The notion of annexing Greenland is pure hubris. Maybe he's taking some of Musk's ketamine. "hope that his early emphases would be on those that he campaigned on—out-of-control spending, DEI, terrible foreign policy, etc." Very much agree!
I would chock up the Greenland thing to distraction. Trump is actually really good at saying inane things that stupid media hacks spend hours trying to debunk and report on when Trump himself has already moved on.
His first term, this didn't amount to much, because there were no significant policy proposals to distract from. I suspect this time will be a little different.
Yep, I agree (distraction). I just wish he (and Musk, who thinks the day is wasted if he doesn't release 100 tweets before breakfast) would learn that the world doesn't have to hear every stray thought that enters your head. Solzhenitsyn had the right idea: Speak sparingly, and only on matters of utmost importance. "Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silence." Prov. 17:28
I can live with Trump spending his time tweeting. Let's be honest, the man isn't that great at pushing legislation. So let him be "Distractor in Chief" while the competent underlings drive the agenda forward. (I can say that because we have competent underlings this time.)
We just spent 4 years being governed by the technocratic rejects from the Ivy faculty lounges while our supposed president spent 12 hours a day sleeping. (And that doesn't even count the naps at major summits and cabinet meetings.) Based on that, I think even liberals should give Trump's team the benefit of the doubt.
The rapid evolution of AI technology increases threats to human freedom. This coalition will have to sort that out.
Very true. AI is here, and it’s time to figure how and when to use it versus protect against.
I was just listening to Greenwald going over Zuck's video regarding censorship and getting rid of fact checkers. It's good that he's doing that but man, how naive he is. He claims they used fact checkers and took down political content because people were upset by it. No, Mark, they were just pretending to be upset in order to suppress speech they don't like. They just can't say that. If you tell people they can suppress their political opponents if they're offended, they'll learn to be offended.
Exactly. I’d like to think Zuck is truly changing the way Facebook and Instagram work, but I’m suspicious until I see proof. Zuck’s closer to the truth but not quite there.
Well I still don't trust any of them and that also includes some of the , so called, Conservative ones!
Is there any concern with President Trump’s Tech-populist alliance? I’m not fond of Elon’s trans humanism leanings and what and where that may take us as a people. I think we’re heading towards something that could be troubling and unsettling. We are between stories now. Between what was and what’s coming, something new. Of course I don’t know what’s coming but there’s a vibe and time will tell and the hope is we don’t lose our humanity in the process.
This piece posted today. See link posted. This describes well what I find unsettling about Trump’s Tech Populists Alliance. Nothing new under the Sun, right? Man will be man.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thecounterrevolution/p/the-rise-of-the-megamachine-lewis?r=fcfps&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for sharing! There are definitely popular ideas in the tech world that I find concerning, trans humanism being one of them. Musk currently doesn’t seem interested in making it part of the standard conservative platform, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
My greatest hope: sweet revenge served cold! Get’em Donnie!
My hope for the Trump administration is that the US will be saved from the WIND DROUGHT TRAP.
The US is only one Democrat administration away from following the catastrophic example of Germany and Britain. They are in the jaws of the wind drought trap and it is up to the Trump administration to get them out.
The power crisis in Texas in February 2021 was a taste of things to come when a bitter cold spell and low winds overnight caused a partial blackout of the state. The inadequately winterised gas supply underperformed and a complete blackout was only narrowly averted, due to some coal and nuclear capacity. Hundreds died and a complete blackout could have killed many thousands.
That is the way things are going in all the grids in the US and in every other system where net zero policies are in place.
The trap is set slowly over many years as subsidies and mandates for unreliable energy displace conventional power without being able to replace it. There is no way to firm unreliable energy by installing more unreliable energy.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/renewables/21-7-intermittent-solar-and-wind-power-can-displace-coal-but-cannot-replace-it
There is a “frog in the saucepan” effect because conventional power retires in small steps and that does not cause problems in the early years while there is spare capacity. That was the case in SE Australia before Hazelwood and Liddell closed. The trap only causes public alarm when it is too late, as we see in Britain and Germany.
The US is moving rapidly in the same direction and grid managers are becoming increasingly agitated. Apparently they have not effectively shared their concerns with the general public and there is no electoral pressure on the lawmakers to change course. The incoming administration will have to provide a crash course in wind literacy to change the public perception of wind power and explain the value of coal power, especially in extremely cold conditions.
The trap closes when the conventional power capacity (traditionally dominated by coal) declines to a critical point, a “tipping point” where there is not enough to meet the base load overnight. Then the grid is in a “red zone” where windless nights are potentially lethal because there is no wind or solar generation, regardless of the amount of installed capacity.
The incompetence or negligence of the Government meteorologists around the world allowed this situation to develop because they didn’t issue wind drought warnings even though they know that high pressure systems cause low winds.
Consequently, the Dunkelflautes came as a surprise in Europe although mariners and millers must have experienced them for centuries.
https://www.flickerpower.com/images/The_endless_wind_drought_crippling_renewables___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf
The plot thickens when we discover that the World Meteorological Organization knew about wind droughts because the first Assessment report of the IPCC recommended a survey of the wind resources of the world to assess the prospects for large-scale wind power. That would have been led by the WMO, working with the official meteorologists around the world.
Moreover The WMO was a first mover in the climate alarm campaign in the UN and all the met offices have been hyperactive in supporting the scare by tampering with temperature records and attributing extreme weather events to climate change.
The climate alarmists in the UN set out to wreck the capitalist economies of the west (to save the planet) and they have practically achieved that objective in Britain and Germany where the lights are kept on precariously with imported power while they deindustrialize to reduce demand.
Australia is on the cusp and it remains to be seen how the old coal burners can keep running for a decade or three until nuclear power may be available at scale.
Turning to the United States, there is no time to waste to avoid the trap by saving coal and gas generators from the impending EPA regulations that were designed to close them down.
Community support for the net zero program must be undermined by explaining the wind drought problem, which makes the energy transition impossible, and the cost of the program, which makes the effort prohibitively expensive. The public need to know that trillions of dollars have been spent to make power more expensive and less reliable, with catastrophic damage to the planet.
At the same time the meteorologists should be put on the rack and forced to confess that they have been playing a devious game on instructions from the WMO and the United Nations.
That will justify the termination of financial support to the offending agencies.
With leadership from the Federal administration and support from red states, a sustained and effective communication campaign could give climate and energy realism a moral ascendancy over the ideological, financial and political interests that support the climate industrial complex.
Day ONE:
Every wrong has to be “righted”
free all J6 prisoners, pardon all the politically persecuted, sue, arrest and indict every political operative and criminal, fully disclose all the lies, unsolved mysteries (pipe bomb? Epstein files, etc), and completely defund, ALL NGOs, colleges, PBS, and political organizations promoting DEI. Cancel government contracts with ALL DEI promoting orgs. We need a DEEP CLEAN before we can even begin to hope for any kind of conservative agenda to be implemented. There are way too many enemies within that need to be obliterated before anything of value and permanence can be achieved.
The tech leaders are opportunists first and foremost. They want proximity to power the left wing democrats would never give them. The people (men, Latins, working class all colours and old fashioned gays) are angry at being ignored by the latter so this is a logical alliance. A fuller analysis of the situation will emerge but this energy is undeniable now and Trump has a massive opportunity to restore vigor to an ailing world if he can roll back the Leninist infiltration of government and media. He can make real money from that so expect it to happen.
This is an important point—they’ll follow the power and the money.
"They want proximity to power the left wing democrats would never give them." What about the Twitter Files? What about censorship? Which Musk is now doing.
The logic of Buckley's 3 legged stool rides again.
The GOP used to be made of was 3 groups: anti-government libertarians, serious Christians, and big money (chamber of commerce / blue bloods). In practice, this meant the big money ran the show, allied with the libertarians on taxes (that they should be low) and on govt (that it should be small), and spent 6 months every 4 years pretending to care about the Christians only to throw them under the bus the moment they won election.
This went on for 50 years. It was mildly effective for the Republican Party and completely ineffective at actually conserving anything. A man by Newt Gingrich was the one who first attempted to kill this beast. Donald Trump put a stake through it's heart last year.
A repeat was almost inevitable -- as Chris says, populists can't govern. This time there are only 2 legs though: populist believers and high tech businessmen. The Wall Street bankers are wanna-be groupies, but Trump hates them with a passion. Vance might be different, but for now, Wall Street will be treated the way Buckley's party treated Christians: "sure, absolutely, you're totally right about that... thanks for the check. See you in 3.5 years." (Karma's a bitch guys, but it's sure cathartic.) There are lots of issues where rich tech bros and populists can agree (immigration probably not being one of them), so the coalition may work better. Call me tentatively optimistic.
The biggest losers in this are the Christians, who likely had their last glimpse of power in the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett and overturning of Roe. The Court may be conservative for a while, but it will be Burke's conservatism not Pascal's. Trump's decision to punt abortion back to the states instead of pursue a national ban is the clearest evidence of this. Whether I like it or not, we are a post-Christian (read Nietzschean) country now. Since Christians are no longer a cultural majority though, perhaps federalism is our best hope as well.
Interesting analysis. I agree we’re living in a post-Christian world—now we Christians need to figure out how to best live.
The techies want power. Trump has power. I do not trust them. They have no allegiance to free speech. None. All about power.
I’m cautiously optimistic with emphasis on the caution. I like what Musk is doing, but you’re right, tech guys chase power and money.
I think there is more promise than peril in a tech-populist coalition. However, for Trump to remain in the driver seat, he will need to balance carefully, the needs of both groups. I think Trump‘s value will be more in the realm of informing his base about the need for change and laying out steps that need to be taken.
Keeping his base in the loop will be very important. Then the base can rally the troops for good policy and against his opponents and those who would like to solidify the status quo.
If anyone’s able to balance these two groups, it’s Trump. I agree, though, keeping people in the loop will be important.
In some ways the technology field were victims of the power hungry democrats. In some ways they were not victims at all. The world is changing with the evolution of the return of commonsensical power. We, conservatives, have the power now as a result of the mandate of the electorates, and the powerful force of nature of Trump and his leadership. Why wouldn’t they jump on board this train?
The woke mafias have had their day. They are becoming marginalized. Thank God for Trump, the USA constitution and the people of this great country.
Good point. While I’m glad to see this shift, conservatives shouldn’t be so eager to congratulate the tech field (broadly speaking) just for returning to common sense. They ran the numbers, and Trump made the most sense.