We thought the problem was Bill O'Reilly, but Tucker Carlson is even worse, with even a higher profile.
As for Trump himself...it was never about the man, he tapped into a vein of anger that had been stoked for decades. That has now flourished to the point that many believe the new president is illegitimate, but even worse they believe that government itself is at fault for all of their and America's problems, then again, the red states are the first to clamor for relief in the wake of a natural disaster, never mind that Trump played favorites.
It's about income inequality. Plain and simple. Oh sure, there's more than a dash of white nationalism involved, but truthfully it all comes down to money. Too many people don't have enough of it. Doubt me? Then read this:
"A majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble": wapo.st/3s6gGam
Maybe some people overextended, maybe some people never had it, but when you've got economic instability in a nation where no one cares about their brother you can get damn frustrated. As James Carville claimed thirty years ago, IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID!
What you don't understand is the right is a club, it's not broad and multifarious. They circle the wagons and take care of each other, to a degree anyway. At churches. Via favors. There's an infrastructure that's been built over decades, and the left is mostly unaware of it, if for no other reason than the left is made up of, or at least led by, elites on the coast. THOSE PEOPLE live in the south, the midwest, in rural areas. Some talk differently. And they know that the northerners and coastal dwellers have contempt for them. And that's when you dig in your heels, seeing as you have no easy alternatives yourself. It's not like you are educated, it's not like you can get on the gravy train of good jobs, and the truth is the blue state denizens don't want you to get them. Everybody in America who has got something refuses to sacrifice, refuses to go to the back of the line. There is a very thin layer of people who control not only the government, but the economy. And you can't touch them, they're protected, they're essentially judgment-proof. Can you say WALL STREET?
I still haven't gotten over Timothy Geithner and what he did for the banks in 2008. Wall Street blew up the economy, and it not only got rescued, it was given additional monies, when those it preyed upon lost their houses, their jobs... Actions are supposed to have consequences, but not in America, where you can rig the system in your favor, where you can skate until judgment day. Which is occurring right now.
Of course we can criticize the right for voting against its own interests. People with nothing supporting corporations and other rich people who are actually working against them. But the truth is a lot of those people lost control of the Republican party anyway, that's how Trump got elected. As for Trump supporting his cronies, that's what happens in bankrupt oligarchies. That's who we have to compare Trump to, Eastern European dictators, not what has come before in America.
Inflation reigned during the Carter years and Reagan got elected and it's never been the same since. The gap between rich and poor has gotten bigger as the middle class has evaporated and you can work forty hours a week and still not be able to put a roof over your head, never mind food on the table. Furthermore, the work is akin to being a slave. Not only are you dashing through the Amazon warehouse, you're monitored by computers, and if you don't execute perfectly, you're history. And then what?
The first person I knew who adored Rush Limbaugh, who spouted his hated and fantasies, was a highly educated man who declared bankruptcy two times. He felt that he was entitled to a certain lifestyle, a certain level of opportunity. And he lived off the household names who gave him money to further his cause until they shut off the tap, and then he went under. And then he repeated the process. And then the government tightened the bankruptcy rules, but that didn't change his beliefs, because he needed something to believe in, it had to be somebody's fault that he wasn't where he wanted to be in life, and Rush gave him scapegoats. Oh, and when he was really down and out, it was very simple, he clung to his religion. And all this started after he lost his job with a corporation, he couldn't find a replacement. All the good jobs went away. As corporations demanded quarterly profits to line the pockets of investors, which most of America are not. As for pensions, those have been eviscerated too, never mind state governments robbing the accounts to balance their budgets and then failing to refill the coffers. And it's beyond mismanagement. You see taxes are bad, and every elected official and the bureaucracy itself are no match for private industry, never mind the for-profit prison system and...
America's problems cannot be fixed with a snap of the fingers. They've gone deep, they're embedded. And then there's the insane Supreme Court that allowed 3,000 worshippers in California last weekend to gather in a raging pandemic. If they're hoping God will save them, they've got another think coming. But, they've got to believe in something. As for expertise, when you're dumb you have contempt for those who know. Come on, if you had a brain in public school you were a pariah, you were bullied and beaten up, you couldn't wait to graduate and go to college, to escape. But your tormentors never did escape. They worked with their hands, and then those jobs were shipped overseas and now drunk and high they're disillusioned and it's got to be somebody's fault.
But gradual change is all we can have. When sometimes you need to take giant steps, like Biden with Covid relief. Yes, most of America, by a large margin, supports a big relief plan, but Republican congresspeople paint it as financially imprudent, talking about a wasteful hole, hewing to a philosophy that's been proven wrong over and over over the last half century. But that doesn't make any difference. Truth is now irrelevant.
Credit Rush for opening the door on this. Telling lies and being divisive. But he's not the only one. Ben Shapiro's podcast is always in the top ten, and once again, those on the left don't even know who he is, never mind Mark Levin. No, rust never sleeps.
So, it's incumbent upon you not to sleep either. The election of Biden is only a step in the right direction. As for the states? Many are ruled by Republicans. Just like with abortion, when they couldn't win on a national level they went grass roots, and they've made giant inroads. Hell, there are many states where it's essentially impossible for women to get an abortion. And if you're waiting for constituents of these states to wake up...it's you who are asleep.
We are not only fighting for the soul of America, but America itself! We came very close to losing our democracy. Trump said he won when he didn't and then his minions attacked the Capitol. And you just say those people will be penalized and it won't happen again. But did you notice that 74 million Americans voted for Trump? Support is deep. And it's not only white people, but minorities too.
This is a fight to the finish. This is the story of our age. This is no different from McCarthyism and Nazism, yes Nazism. Germany lost the war and couldn't get over it. Just like the losing right. And the country was economically challenged. So someone had to pay, they had to seize the economies of other countries, and they needed a scapegoat, the Jews.
Now if you're a Jew, like me, you're confronted with two choices, consistently. You can either shut up and try to fly under the radar, or you can stand up and own your religion, call out anti-Semitism when you see it, ruffling feathers and possibly losing your station in the process. The so-called "Greatest Generation" told us we must draw the line, and stand up. But too many Jews have become assimilated and complacent. They believe, unlike the Blacks, that people can't see who they are. But this is patently untrue, and anti-Semitism is raging, not only in America, but all over the world.
It's the left that must take up arms. As for guns... Those on the left know that odds are you'll kill a family member as opposed to an intruder, and that wars are fought via computers, but...we are in a war.
This war is being fought every damn day. Every hour and every minute. By provocateurs like Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. And anybody can be sacrificed for the cause, can you say "Lou Dobbs"? Because the cause is paramount. The left thinks it's cult of personality, but it's wrong. The right is much bigger and much stronger than Rush Limbaugh. Just you wait and see.
The king has died. But if you know your history, constituents mourn for a bit and then a new king is installed, with the same power. Until the public ultimately rebels and gets rid of the monarchy all together. Right now the rebellion is on the right, never forget it.
--
Visit the archive: lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, Unsubscribe
To change your email address this link
No comments:
Post a Comment