The most important thing to take from this election isn’t that Trump won. It’s that the regime lost. Government agencies, the media, foreign governments, NGO’s, all of the representatives of the regime wanted a different outcome, and were doing and saying anything to ensure it.
They failed.
We grabbed the steering wheel, flipped them the bird, and told them to sit in the back seat. A Trump administration could be a dumpster fire. It wouldn’t shock me, but the important thing is the regime threw every single thing that had at this election
It’s possible they did not have the ability to cheat that many republicans believed they had. Hey maybe it’s possible this is some kind of 4d chess, and they wanted this. I don’t really think so though. I think their primary tool is propaganda pushed through the information gateways they control. I also think they may have been less able to censor social media this cycle, and as a result they lost their choke points to shut down unapproved ideas.
Yes, as you say, maybe 4d chess, or maybe the internet is helping us, or their fraud machine wasn’t as strong. But either way, in a conventional sense, it is definitely worth celebrating!
Of course, it's a clown show, and Trump is an authoritarian, but there are a few things about the election that give me hope. One is the number of independents who voted for him. I think that means that more people are seeing through the lies of the legacy media and no longer believing everything they are told by "experts" and "authorities." I expected the narrative of "Trump is literally Hitler, and Kamala is our savior" to win the day.
Another is that Trump seems to have changed. The worst thing about him last time was that he had no principles to guide his decisions but thought he had all the answers and could impose his "common sense" on everyone. He seems to have learned a little humility, perhaps from the near assassination. Although he is as bombastic as ever, I sense a willingness to learn that wasn't there before.
Finally, he is surrounding himself with better people this time. JD Vance, RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy are all politicians, but they don't seem as bad as most. At least, none of them are war hawks or promising freebies for votes. And Elon is very interesting. He has accomplished some amazing things. I don't think even he can "cut government waste," but it will be fun to see him try.
I don’t really see Trump as an authoritarian, though he has a bit of a bully personality that certainly feels that way at times. I don’t think that would extend to a desire for full blown political authoritarianism, though. But whatevs. As you say, there is quite a bit of positive news here!
In what specific way is Trump authoritarian compared to the backdrop of recent presidents? Did he send the FBI after parents concerned about their kids' schools? Did he send the IRS after his opposition? Did he have the government spy on journalists? Did he have the opposition imprisoned or removed from the ballot? Did he start new wars? Did he send any federal authority against the people that attacked him personally?
Are any of them willing to cut off the ongoing flow of money and arms to Israel? Everybody says they're for peace, but how many are willing to act to stop the slaughter?
We have no way to know because none of them have been in power since the massacre of October 7. All we know at this point is that the Biden/Harris administration hasn't done anything meaningful to end the war. The new administration might also be all talk and no action, but Trump is the only president for decades who ended rather than started (or supported) wars.
I am grateful for the outcome. We have ALOT of work to do. The biggest mistake is to trust politicians to change anything. I am a hopeful and optimistic person of faith, but the bloated goliath we call Government is out of control. No one person can change that.
My biggest concern is the usual general apathy and memory loss that accompanies a WIN for “our guy”.
You know the enemy has a backup plan, they always do. Expect shenanigans up to January 20, and be ready for anything.
Christopher you noted the conflictions many of us are dealing with. I think you hit it here: "Or perhaps a second Trump term is a part of, or at least not an impediment to, the plans of our globalist would-be overlords. I don’t know." Trump's victory seems to have been the Plan by the overlords. Harris/Tampon Tim were an awful choice and did nothing intelligent to win. The good news is the Far Left insanity and policies will be overturned and at least partially corrected.
The bad news in my opinion is Trump will become, as he has clearly noted numerous times: Zio Fascist Totalitarian One World Order. I believe Harris and Tampon Tim (as was Biden) would have taken us fully Communist Totalitarian One World Order which is a bit more grotesque.
Either way it is Horrible One World Order and the Loss of virtually all Rights and ability to speak up.
I am not worried about Trump being a fascist, though I am worried about what will be done beyond Trump’s control, the way Covid was. (Though he handled it terribly.)
There is also the theory, put forward by Michael O’Bernicia, that he was in debt to the Rothschild Cartel and now he owes them, and that that is why he did Warp Speed and all the rest.
Who knows. The focus here does not change. We are looking towards the next hundred years, not the next election cycle!
I don't agree with you on this. Clearly to me Trump is ZIO owned, he says it, admits it, says America should be and they have controlled him for decades. I have friends and relations that did business with Trump and he is not what he purports to be outwardly. Does he try to break out of this control? Doubtfully as they have way too much on him but Hopefully.
I agree our focus does not change here but speed is key as The One World Order is very close to implementation. Once the Trap snaps it seems Freedom is gone. In America it was just which flavor it would be and I believe now we know.
I would love to be wrong about everything I noted here but I don't believe I am.
Well, ultimately the goal is not to be right or wrong, but to build a world in which the very question is irrelevant. So that shall be my continued focus!
I'm not trying to be right, I'm trying to do right, as I know you are Christopher. I believe the Key to your Wonderful Plan is: Can it be implemented and somehow secure before the One World Order is fully implemented.
I'm surprised as well. We need to keep in mind the Cabal has endless options. Starting wars, assassinations, pandemics another 9/11 are easily triggerable events.
People need to be really aware, because they're going to do something. The question is just what and when. If the media is pushing it, its fake.
Zappa was right, "Politics is the Entertainment Division of the Military Industrial Complex".
If Elon carries the kitchen sink to the executive office to clean ship, I would hope they would not go Orwellian by creating a new Office of Government Efficiency. Under Ron Paul’s guidance, that should not happen bc it’s unnecessary to complete a full audit for all departments. If they do create it, we’ll know they are full of BS. Will the Fed finally be audited? We’ll see. Still, I am more hopeful than I’ve felt in a long time.
I agree we do not need a new department, and yes, audit the damn Fed! (Though I could see them not wanting to all be Epsteined on their first day, so that agenda item may not happen.)
I feel good enough, though it would be fun to feel more of that joy and hope, the way I would have in the past!
Yeah, that’s what happens we get older…we get wiser and know the rhetoric is mostly BS. We’ll see, but there are a few differences now, like Trump has a great team behind him now that he didn’t have before and he knows a little more about those dang anti-American, globalist neocons! We’ll see what happens!!
I think Elon's suggestion to create a Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was just a joke based on the dogecoin. Even if he can't conquer the bureaucracy, he is smart enough to know that adding another department won't cut waste.
As always, your commentary is spot-on. I am cautiously optimistic that Trump's team can do some good, but, as you know, I am in full agreement with you that any involuntary governance is impermissible.
That being said, I think that we can all agree that the alternative -- a Harris "victory" -- would have been abhorrent. I don't know what would have happened had that horrific outcome occurred, but I for one am grateful that we don't have to find out. Life under Trump may be "business as usual," but I do believe that's likely better than ... Than whatever that was going to be.
I was trying to figure out how to prepare for it but couldn’t quite wrap my brain around it. Thank God I don’t have to … Though I am well aware that the Borg is not about to go quietly into that good night (assuming, as you say, that Trump is not just another part of them, which is a possibility I do still recognize). I wonder what dirty little tricks they may yet have up their sleeve, and sincerely hope that, whatever it is, it doesn’t involve bombing people.
Ya know what amazes me is how these blue coastal states have so much influence over the rest of us. We gotta find a way to make these states no longer relevant. Pax
What would be helpful would be to get these big agencies out of the DC echo chamber. For example, there is no reason for the Dept of Agriculture should be in DC. Pax
Even better....I think more like the Dept of Education... a MUCH SMALLER EPA...bring back the FDA to where it was before bought by Big Pharma...there is a lot to do.
Agree. Trump is pretty awful, economically illiterate and subject to being flattered into appointing serious bozos to join his administration, if the past is any predictor. But Harris is much MUCH worse: she's empty and phony and just a shill for the worse of the worst in America. As an added bonus for Trump, he sends left-wing idiots into a screaming frenzy, which is entertaining to watch.
Trump understands the economy very well. You do not seem to understand your society. The people that need to be convinced one way or another are the uneducated and disinterested. They decide elections. That's why my guy got 2% of the primary vote in 2016 and Trump won easily.
Trump speaks in a way I find annoying, but he's successfully getting a message to the uninformed people that decide elections.
Donald Trump is the best campaigner in American History. He has won 2 of 3 presidential elections without any previous political experience and with every aspect of the System working against him.
He is a big picture guy. That only works with good staff. It seems like he has done better on that front this time. I hope so, at least.
It was a great victory...for somebody. You are right, nothing has really changed. Until it does in a meaningful manner, government is still not the answer. Perhaps Marxism has been dealt a temporary blow but these clowns never go away.
And I am not especially doing cartwheels if the retardicans control the whole shebang either. As I recall, they wanted a RINO instead of Trump way back in 2016 and I don't think that has changed. Excuse me if I still believe no politician is ever for the people.
Yeah, temporary blows are not good enough. We cannot be satisfied with those—comforting ourselves that all we need to do is win the next election to stave off the beast for a little while longer. That is the old way.
"... earth can be locked down and infected with a lab-created virus." Sorry, there was no virus in the first place. No virus has ever been shown to exist, i.e., isolated, purified and characterized. The lab leak story is another cover up by the medical and pharmaceutical cartel. Trump is another puppet of the medical and pharmaceutical industrial complex. The father of the vaccine and operation warp-speed that has killed millions of people.
An election perspective that doesn't use the phrase "[saving our] democracy"?! Shocked! ;D
I'm still somewhat agnostic to the whole affair; one thing I'd note is that the assassination of Soleimani, air strike on Syria, and US involvement in Yemen transpired under Trump's presidency. I think it's often tempting to tout him as being a panacea to the establishment, but if he *was* Ron Paul, he wouldn't have gotten the "threat to democracy, to politics as we know it™" treatment—he would've been sidelined like Ron Paul. I think Ukraine/Russia would have seen less US intervention (and in my opinion, escalation) had the conflict emerged under his presidency, though.
On the other hand, I do feel a degree of schadenfraude because of Harris losing; this is probably a petty gripe of mine, but given that the party hasn't even been running with populist economic policies that can be argued about (not that I agree with Bernie Sanders on everything, but I respect that he has moments where he's not a complete party puppet ... even if he endorses them anyways), instead choosing to LARP as bleeding-heart liberals™ when the *Cheneys* are endorsing them ($20 billion to Israel this year!), it's vindicating to see that many voters have become disillusioned at this facade. "Vote for me or else you're a sexist, Trump will take away your gay / reproductive rights and build Gilead" can only work for so long...
Edit: Just saw this was published two days ago, wow I'm late.
And yes, the Handmaid's Tale thing really seems overwrought to me.
In fact, I have a thought…
If we cast about for an example of anything even close to that, what do we have to look to? Puritanism in the 17th century? I mean, Comstockism and the Hays Codes were absurd, but it seems like Puritanism was closer to the mark. (And I think Atwood thought so too, given the dress of the Handmaids.)
So if you were to take the people of 17th C Massachusetts and bring them, personalities intact, to the modern era, what roles and allegiances would they step into? Would holier-than-thou Puritan shriekers be the tricorne-hat wearing tea party types today, or would they be woke Karens? I am not so sure other way. But I think there is a good chance, at least, of the latter. Which would there is little threat of anything like the Handmaid's tale coming from today's "right."
As I say, I do not know—but it's an open line of inquiry for me.
I actually haven't read Handmaid's Tale, partly because I've only heard of the book in reference to any discussion about abortion (if there was a drinking game, I'd be dead--but then again, I'm not old enough to drink haha). I might read it sometime in the future, but I've always been more of a Brave New World / Fahrenheit 451 fan anyways...
There's a lot of truth to the idea that the holier-than-thou folks are more likely to be PC Karens--the '10s culture wars would heavily support that assertion. While I don't think 17th Century folks would completely fit into modern society as the PCs, I do think much of the blind reverence towards both the state and authoritarian inclinations is being precipitated by those who'd title themselves as the modern progressives. Of course there are individuals who might be religious zealots or inclined towards theocracy, but they seem to be few and far between the US at least.
It is an interesting thought experiment. And yeah, I personally think the fear of theocracy in this country is overwrought. The super religious types are also operating from a classical-liberal substrate, and I don't think many of them could overcome that substrate in order to start imposing religion on others by force. Of course that is speculative, but that is my best guess.
Yeah, it's common for people on Substack to be surprised when they know my age. I tend to narcissistically assume it means that I'm wise beyond my years, but what's more likely is that my written syntax is just stuffy, haha. Can't tell, but if I'm egregiously inaccurate about the political climate / society, there's a reason for that!
I would not claim either puppet of the psychopaths in control is "better" than another. The owners of the corporation appointed who They wanted, and will use that appointee as They choose.
The most important thing to take from this election isn’t that Trump won. It’s that the regime lost. Government agencies, the media, foreign governments, NGO’s, all of the representatives of the regime wanted a different outcome, and were doing and saying anything to ensure it.
They failed.
We grabbed the steering wheel, flipped them the bird, and told them to sit in the back seat. A Trump administration could be a dumpster fire. It wouldn’t shock me, but the important thing is the regime threw every single thing that had at this election
and lost
It’s hard to overstate how significant that is.
Did they not cheat enough? Did they choose not to? Were they unable to?
It’s possible they did not have the ability to cheat that many republicans believed they had. Hey maybe it’s possible this is some kind of 4d chess, and they wanted this. I don’t really think so though. I think their primary tool is propaganda pushed through the information gateways they control. I also think they may have been less able to censor social media this cycle, and as a result they lost their choke points to shut down unapproved ideas.
Whatever it is it’s worth celebrating.
Yes, as you say, maybe 4d chess, or maybe the internet is helping us, or their fraud machine wasn’t as strong. But either way, in a conventional sense, it is definitely worth celebrating!
Agreed.
Of course, it's a clown show, and Trump is an authoritarian, but there are a few things about the election that give me hope. One is the number of independents who voted for him. I think that means that more people are seeing through the lies of the legacy media and no longer believing everything they are told by "experts" and "authorities." I expected the narrative of "Trump is literally Hitler, and Kamala is our savior" to win the day.
Another is that Trump seems to have changed. The worst thing about him last time was that he had no principles to guide his decisions but thought he had all the answers and could impose his "common sense" on everyone. He seems to have learned a little humility, perhaps from the near assassination. Although he is as bombastic as ever, I sense a willingness to learn that wasn't there before.
Finally, he is surrounding himself with better people this time. JD Vance, RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy are all politicians, but they don't seem as bad as most. At least, none of them are war hawks or promising freebies for votes. And Elon is very interesting. He has accomplished some amazing things. I don't think even he can "cut government waste," but it will be fun to see him try.
Right there with you on all of that!
I don’t really see Trump as an authoritarian, though he has a bit of a bully personality that certainly feels that way at times. I don’t think that would extend to a desire for full blown political authoritarianism, though. But whatevs. As you say, there is quite a bit of positive news here!
He definitely isn't Hitler, and he is less likely now to try to impose his will on the country.
LOL yep. The whole Hitler thing is so freaking ridiculous. A bully, a cad, a blowhard, a loudmouth, sure. But “Hitler” is just so overwrought.
In what specific way is Trump authoritarian compared to the backdrop of recent presidents? Did he send the FBI after parents concerned about their kids' schools? Did he send the IRS after his opposition? Did he have the government spy on journalists? Did he have the opposition imprisoned or removed from the ballot? Did he start new wars? Did he send any federal authority against the people that attacked him personally?
"At least, none of them are war hawks"
Except when it comes to fanatical support for Israel's ongoing slaughter in Gaza.
Which ones support that? I thought all of them wanted a peaceful end to war in the Middle East, but I could be mistaken.
Are any of them willing to cut off the ongoing flow of money and arms to Israel? Everybody says they're for peace, but how many are willing to act to stop the slaughter?
We have no way to know because none of them have been in power since the massacre of October 7. All we know at this point is that the Biden/Harris administration hasn't done anything meaningful to end the war. The new administration might also be all talk and no action, but Trump is the only president for decades who ended rather than started (or supported) wars.
I am grateful for the outcome. We have ALOT of work to do. The biggest mistake is to trust politicians to change anything. I am a hopeful and optimistic person of faith, but the bloated goliath we call Government is out of control. No one person can change that.
My biggest concern is the usual general apathy and memory loss that accompanies a WIN for “our guy”.
You know the enemy has a backup plan, they always do. Expect shenanigans up to January 20, and be ready for anything.
Right there with you!!
yep, in bed by 9, it's terrible theatre
I used to enjoy it so much! Not anymore, though.
Blimey. That's late. 8:30 for me.
Christopher you noted the conflictions many of us are dealing with. I think you hit it here: "Or perhaps a second Trump term is a part of, or at least not an impediment to, the plans of our globalist would-be overlords. I don’t know." Trump's victory seems to have been the Plan by the overlords. Harris/Tampon Tim were an awful choice and did nothing intelligent to win. The good news is the Far Left insanity and policies will be overturned and at least partially corrected.
The bad news in my opinion is Trump will become, as he has clearly noted numerous times: Zio Fascist Totalitarian One World Order. I believe Harris and Tampon Tim (as was Biden) would have taken us fully Communist Totalitarian One World Order which is a bit more grotesque.
Either way it is Horrible One World Order and the Loss of virtually all Rights and ability to speak up.
I am not worried about Trump being a fascist, though I am worried about what will be done beyond Trump’s control, the way Covid was. (Though he handled it terribly.)
There is also the theory, put forward by Michael O’Bernicia, that he was in debt to the Rothschild Cartel and now he owes them, and that that is why he did Warp Speed and all the rest.
Who knows. The focus here does not change. We are looking towards the next hundred years, not the next election cycle!
I don't agree with you on this. Clearly to me Trump is ZIO owned, he says it, admits it, says America should be and they have controlled him for decades. I have friends and relations that did business with Trump and he is not what he purports to be outwardly. Does he try to break out of this control? Doubtfully as they have way too much on him but Hopefully.
I agree our focus does not change here but speed is key as The One World Order is very close to implementation. Once the Trap snaps it seems Freedom is gone. In America it was just which flavor it would be and I believe now we know.
I would love to be wrong about everything I noted here but I don't believe I am.
Well, ultimately the goal is not to be right or wrong, but to build a world in which the very question is irrelevant. So that shall be my continued focus!
I'm not trying to be right, I'm trying to do right, as I know you are Christopher. I believe the Key to your Wonderful Plan is: Can it be implemented and somehow secure before the One World Order is fully implemented.
Amen. Let’s do our best!
I'm surprised as well. We need to keep in mind the Cabal has endless options. Starting wars, assassinations, pandemics another 9/11 are easily triggerable events.
People need to be really aware, because they're going to do something. The question is just what and when. If the media is pushing it, its fake.
Zappa was right, "Politics is the Entertainment Division of the Military Industrial Complex".
Yeah. I wish all that weren’t true. But it clearly is.
That obviously tempers the kind of joy I would have felt in the past. But it has the virtue of being far more realistic.
If Elon carries the kitchen sink to the executive office to clean ship, I would hope they would not go Orwellian by creating a new Office of Government Efficiency. Under Ron Paul’s guidance, that should not happen bc it’s unnecessary to complete a full audit for all departments. If they do create it, we’ll know they are full of BS. Will the Fed finally be audited? We’ll see. Still, I am more hopeful than I’ve felt in a long time.
I agree we do not need a new department, and yes, audit the damn Fed! (Though I could see them not wanting to all be Epsteined on their first day, so that agenda item may not happen.)
I feel good enough, though it would be fun to feel more of that joy and hope, the way I would have in the past!
Yeah, that’s what happens we get older…we get wiser and know the rhetoric is mostly BS. We’ll see, but there are a few differences now, like Trump has a great team behind him now that he didn’t have before and he knows a little more about those dang anti-American, globalist neocons! We’ll see what happens!!
Right, good point. Maybe he is wiser this time!
Another new government department when nearly all the other 300 seldom work as intended?
The cost will only add to the deficit.
I think Elon's suggestion to create a Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was just a joke based on the dogecoin. Even if he can't conquer the bureaucracy, he is smart enough to know that adding another department won't cut waste.
As always, your commentary is spot-on. I am cautiously optimistic that Trump's team can do some good, but, as you know, I am in full agreement with you that any involuntary governance is impermissible.
That being said, I think that we can all agree that the alternative -- a Harris "victory" -- would have been abhorrent. I don't know what would have happened had that horrific outcome occurred, but I for one am grateful that we don't have to find out. Life under Trump may be "business as usual," but I do believe that's likely better than ... Than whatever that was going to be.
Right with you on every part of that. Tho’ I was certainly mentally ready for a Harris “win.”
I was trying to figure out how to prepare for it but couldn’t quite wrap my brain around it. Thank God I don’t have to … Though I am well aware that the Borg is not about to go quietly into that good night (assuming, as you say, that Trump is not just another part of them, which is a possibility I do still recognize). I wonder what dirty little tricks they may yet have up their sleeve, and sincerely hope that, whatever it is, it doesn’t involve bombing people.
Or destroying our food supply or tanking the dollar (at least before we’re ready) or any number of other dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
Ya know what amazes me is how these blue coastal states have so much influence over the rest of us. We gotta find a way to make these states no longer relevant. Pax
National divorce?
Yeah...we tried that in the 1860.... not a good idea. We have to work with the hand we were dealt. Pax
Maybe it could be done peacefully this time.
(As an ancap, of course, I am all for decentralization.)
What would be helpful would be to get these big agencies out of the DC echo chamber. For example, there is no reason for the Dept of Agriculture should be in DC. Pax
“There is no reason for the Dept of Agriculture.”
There, I fixed it 😁
Even better....I think more like the Dept of Education... a MUCH SMALLER EPA...bring back the FDA to where it was before bought by Big Pharma...there is a lot to do.
That way is to restrict the Federal Government to its constitutional roles.
Agree. Trump is pretty awful, economically illiterate and subject to being flattered into appointing serious bozos to join his administration, if the past is any predictor. But Harris is much MUCH worse: she's empty and phony and just a shill for the worse of the worst in America. As an added bonus for Trump, he sends left-wing idiots into a screaming frenzy, which is entertaining to watch.
I don't watch left-wingers or their screaming frenzies anymore, but if I did, I am sure I would not be able to help but enjoy them!
Trump understands the economy very well. You do not seem to understand your society. The people that need to be convinced one way or another are the uneducated and disinterested. They decide elections. That's why my guy got 2% of the primary vote in 2016 and Trump won easily.
Trump speaks in a way I find annoying, but he's successfully getting a message to the uninformed people that decide elections.
Donald Trump is the best campaigner in American History. He has won 2 of 3 presidential elections without any previous political experience and with every aspect of the System working against him.
He is a big picture guy. That only works with good staff. It seems like he has done better on that front this time. I hope so, at least.
It was a great victory...for somebody. You are right, nothing has really changed. Until it does in a meaningful manner, government is still not the answer. Perhaps Marxism has been dealt a temporary blow but these clowns never go away.
And I am not especially doing cartwheels if the retardicans control the whole shebang either. As I recall, they wanted a RINO instead of Trump way back in 2016 and I don't think that has changed. Excuse me if I still believe no politician is ever for the people.
Yeah, temporary blows are not good enough. We cannot be satisfied with those—comforting ourselves that all we need to do is win the next election to stave off the beast for a little while longer. That is the old way.
We are finding the new way!
"... earth can be locked down and infected with a lab-created virus." Sorry, there was no virus in the first place. No virus has ever been shown to exist, i.e., isolated, purified and characterized. The lab leak story is another cover up by the medical and pharmaceutical cartel. Trump is another puppet of the medical and pharmaceutical industrial complex. The father of the vaccine and operation warp-speed that has killed millions of people.
I respect this belief. I personally have no proof of anything one way or the other.
The burden of proof is for those who claim there is virus. If a proof does not exist then this "entity" does not exist. It is simple logic.
I understand completely.
An election perspective that doesn't use the phrase "[saving our] democracy"?! Shocked! ;D
I'm still somewhat agnostic to the whole affair; one thing I'd note is that the assassination of Soleimani, air strike on Syria, and US involvement in Yemen transpired under Trump's presidency. I think it's often tempting to tout him as being a panacea to the establishment, but if he *was* Ron Paul, he wouldn't have gotten the "threat to democracy, to politics as we know it™" treatment—he would've been sidelined like Ron Paul. I think Ukraine/Russia would have seen less US intervention (and in my opinion, escalation) had the conflict emerged under his presidency, though.
On the other hand, I do feel a degree of schadenfraude because of Harris losing; this is probably a petty gripe of mine, but given that the party hasn't even been running with populist economic policies that can be argued about (not that I agree with Bernie Sanders on everything, but I respect that he has moments where he's not a complete party puppet ... even if he endorses them anyways), instead choosing to LARP as bleeding-heart liberals™ when the *Cheneys* are endorsing them ($20 billion to Israel this year!), it's vindicating to see that many voters have become disillusioned at this facade. "Vote for me or else you're a sexist, Trump will take away your gay / reproductive rights and build Gilead" can only work for so long...
Edit: Just saw this was published two days ago, wow I'm late.
Those are all good observations.
And yes, the Handmaid's Tale thing really seems overwrought to me.
In fact, I have a thought…
If we cast about for an example of anything even close to that, what do we have to look to? Puritanism in the 17th century? I mean, Comstockism and the Hays Codes were absurd, but it seems like Puritanism was closer to the mark. (And I think Atwood thought so too, given the dress of the Handmaids.)
So if you were to take the people of 17th C Massachusetts and bring them, personalities intact, to the modern era, what roles and allegiances would they step into? Would holier-than-thou Puritan shriekers be the tricorne-hat wearing tea party types today, or would they be woke Karens? I am not so sure other way. But I think there is a good chance, at least, of the latter. Which would there is little threat of anything like the Handmaid's tale coming from today's "right."
As I say, I do not know—but it's an open line of inquiry for me.
Thanks for the thought-provoking response!
I actually haven't read Handmaid's Tale, partly because I've only heard of the book in reference to any discussion about abortion (if there was a drinking game, I'd be dead--but then again, I'm not old enough to drink haha). I might read it sometime in the future, but I've always been more of a Brave New World / Fahrenheit 451 fan anyways...
There's a lot of truth to the idea that the holier-than-thou folks are more likely to be PC Karens--the '10s culture wars would heavily support that assertion. While I don't think 17th Century folks would completely fit into modern society as the PCs, I do think much of the blind reverence towards both the state and authoritarian inclinations is being precipitated by those who'd title themselves as the modern progressives. Of course there are individuals who might be religious zealots or inclined towards theocracy, but they seem to be few and far between the US at least.
I had no idea you were so young. Right on!
It is an interesting thought experiment. And yeah, I personally think the fear of theocracy in this country is overwrought. The super religious types are also operating from a classical-liberal substrate, and I don't think many of them could overcome that substrate in order to start imposing religion on others by force. Of course that is speculative, but that is my best guess.
Yeah, it's common for people on Substack to be surprised when they know my age. I tend to narcissistically assume it means that I'm wise beyond my years, but what's more likely is that my written syntax is just stuffy, haha. Can't tell, but if I'm egregiously inaccurate about the political climate / society, there's a reason for that!
I think it IS because you seem wise beyond your years. You're way ahead of the idiot I was at your age 🤣
I would not claim either puppet of the psychopaths in control is "better" than another. The owners of the corporation appointed who They wanted, and will use that appointee as They choose.
You might get a kick out of this:
I Have Authority Over You (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/i-have-authority-over-you
https://substack.com/@stevenberger/note/c-75852882?r=1nm0v2
Wow
No I was at Swedish class at night school
Waited until morning
Was pleasantly surprised
Did you stay up watching?