. . . I’m talking about Trump, the 45th President of the United States.
Many think he was the roaring river that was going to wash away the old order. I’m not unsympathetic to that point of view. In fact, I fully believe that he was put in place to be the raging bull in the china shop.
And yet despite his many successes, he did not complete his mission or so it would seem.
That doesn’t mean that he’s washed-up. Far from it. From what I gather he continues to engender what some would call “pure vitriol” from the Establishment. He’s only getting stronger. I can easily see him pulling a Grover Cleveland in 2024.
Still, the Establishment “won”. Technically, the election was certified. That should tell us that the forces which were arrayed against (and us) are formidable, indeed. The difference is that he caught on early. It took the rest of us a good three years or so to catch on. If we actually had to pin it down to a day it would be this one: Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.
Seeing the desperate strength of the malignant forces arrayed against him, he wisely chose to be a slippery target. Sometimes he chose to be the river; others to be the dam. It took an immense amount of patience (and not a little prudence). Were it not for him to hold back the fury of the people, the Republic would have been in worse shape than it is today. Unfortunately, by stealing the election, which the Establishment has admitted, there is nothing left to hold back the river. The January 6th assault on the Capitol was just a preview. The dam has been removed and the river will eventually wash it away. It’s just a matter of time.
There are many socio-economic reasons why this is so, but I want to concentrate on the bigger picture. Specifically, how could this be? The reason is this: the founding mythos of American is no more. Deliberately so. This happened historically with the destruction of our monuments and the demonization of our history, as taught in our schools. But it also happened insidiously, with the erosion of the foundational belief in the rule of law itself. Our secular credo —“One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”– only works when these words are adhered to.
Likewise, as far as elections go, the Civics 101 view of transparency which results in a peaceful transfer of power, will only work as long as both sides adhere to it as well. In 2016, the Democrats abandoned the playbook and did everything within their power to obstruct and overturn a legal election. Trump may have been a brash, real-estate developer from Queens, but by golly, that’s who the people voted for. I chafed every day that Obama was in office, but he beat McCain and Romney fair and square.
What happened in 2016-2020 was not Civics 101, but sedition, pure and simple. A can of worms has been opened and the worms ain’t going to go back in.
As we see Orwell’s Animal Farm play out before us in real time, we know who is “more equal”. They let the cat of the bag last week in that notorious Time article. Perhaps they did it because they had to get ahead of the story; a story which is coming down the pike and is truly horrendous. Or perhaps they did it because they wanted to rub our noses in it; to make sure that we’ll never be allowed a chance like this again. Or maybe it was a distraction (pedophilia anyone?). In any event, it won’t matter because the Republic cannot continue without societal acceptance of its founding myth and civic liturgy.
Now, to be sure, this is not a problem for the vast majority of nations that are banana republics. Everybody in those countries knows that the system is rigged and that only certain powerful families are allowed to control the levers of power. However, the oligarchs are wise enough to allow the vast majority of the poor to regulate their own lives as best they can. To be sure, laws, rules and regulations exist but they are honored mostly in the breach.
As for the lower orders, they, too, play by the same rules as their elites in that they also look the other way when it comes to laws. In any event, they are are largely unenforced and corners are constantly cut. Bribery and palm-greasing is the order of the day. One cannot forget that in many of these countries the extended family is strong and thus, economic suffering can be alleviated. And, to put not too fine a point on it, even the poor know that they would act the same way if they made it to the top themselves. And finally, there’s the safety-valve of the First World; if things get too intolerable, a son or grandson is sent to a more prosperous country in order to get a menial job and send the surplus from his wages back home.
Trump upended that entire scenario (as well as others). An America-firster, he restricted immigration by a variety of means and renegotiated trade deals with other countries. Wealth, for the first time in decades, had stopped accruing in the top 1 percent. Unemployment had gone down, especially for minorities. And the useless forever wars favored by our elites were put on hold.
All of the social, cultural, and economic phenomena prior to Trump did not bode well for the future stability of the Republic. Bowls of wrath were laying in store to be heaped upon our nation. It’s one thing for Third-Worlders to have a safety-valve in America in order to let off political steam, but where will the growing contingent of impoverished Americans go?
His election in 2016 (unexpected as it was) short-circuited the entire oligarchic Ponzi scheme, thus slowing the rivers of revenge and revolution to a trickle. The dam that was Trump channeled these waters into productive areas. But now, that is all gone and can no longer hold back the river.
And there will be hell to pay.
In the previous two installments of this series, mention was made of the erosion of American culture and nationhood. And because of this, how we are standing at the precipice of a conflict which cannot be resolved because the belligerents cannot find the common ground on which to stand to even begin to have a dialogue. After four years of calling anybody who voted for Trump a “nazi”, the Left thinks that all that is needed now is “unity”.
Take a look at the commercial below to see what I am talking about. Watch it again. It’s so laughable that it can’t grasp its own mock-seriousness. There are so many layers of irony here. The Establishment thinks that now that they have driven the Bad Orange Man from office, we can all clasp hands and sing kum-ba-ya.
After five years of calling Donald J Trump every name in the book and then spending the last two years heaping rhetorical excrement on his voters, they think “normal” is an achievable possibility! It’s as if the Obama years, with their race riots and incessant wars, were “normal” in their minds.
In this commercial, we see a weathered Bruce Springsteen wearing cowboy boots and praying in some little chapel in Lebanon, Kansas, which is smack-dab in the middle of the lower 48. Its preachiness is widely derided by all, not just those of us who voted for Trump. It was the perfect, most crapulent commercial in the worst Super Bowl of all time; one riddled with the most awful, propagandistic pre-game shows, commercials, and color commentary.
[Monographs –books even–can be written about how the BLM narrative has destroyed popular culture. Critics derided the entire night as a eight hour hate-fest of all things American. After it was over, professional grievance-mongers of the BLM variety howled with outrage that Tom Brady did not throw the game and allow Patrick Mahomes to shine. “How dare he” they ask, “win the Super Bowl, right at the start of Black History Month?”]
Our betters, not learning their lesson and oblivious to reality, will actually grind on with their odious nonsense.
That Jeep (the advertiser in question), had to pull the commercial due to the onslaught of negative press coverage and irate phone calls, is not enough. That ESPN has seen its ratings plummet because it is now not devoted to sports but “social justice”, is likewise not enough. Same thing with Sports Illustrated; eventually its swimsuit edition must feature biological men dressed in bikinis. Ditto CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of the Corporate Media.
No, the utopian end of “equity” must be achieved, even if it’s not possible. (Someone should tell these people that utopia literally means “no place”.) The Puritan spirit that helped found this country still exists and, although it has been emptied of the divine, it is not without its own gods and shibboleths. Specifically, social justice or whatever fad of the day constitutes That Which Is Good.TM It is for this reason that the typical Puritan (Whig, Liberal or Progressive) cannot rest as long as there is some straggler (redneck, racist, Christian) who doesn’t believe as they do. They must be put to rights, even if that means constantly humiliating them.
[Even FOX News has proven to be the cuckold in the coal mine. There had been several indications over the past two years which indicated that FOX had serious CNN envy. Among them the hiring of Donna Brazile (a known political hack), the turning over of its management to the sons of Rupert Murdock, and most especially, the hiring of Paul Ryan (former Speaker of the House and RINO extraordinaire). For me however, the icing on the cake happened in late September, when Newt Gingrich mentioned George Soros as the paymaster of 2018 election cycle and was immediately (and clumsily) shut down by the two hostesses who were interviewing him. The look on Newt’s face was very telling.]
Wasn’t it C S Lewis who said that “the Liberal is that man who tortures you endlessly for the sake of his own conscience”? In like manner, our betters will continue to plow ahead with their rabid self-righteousness, even if it means the eradication of their profits and the destruction of our nation. They don’t care. They, like the Puritans during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, are in the grips of a delusional fever from which they cannot extricate themselves. Eventually, this pious fascism will burn itself out. Or external forces will step in and save such people from themselves.
If I had to give one interpretation to best characterizes the self-serving, obtuse spirit of the Jeep commercial it is this: Springsteen is like an abusive, drunken husband who after years of battering his wife now wishes to grab her hand and ask to go forward with their lives, all the while not taking responsibility for any of his actions. It brings to mind that Julia Roberts movie, Sleeping with the Enemy, in which after receiving a torrent of physical abuse (including sexual assault) from her husband, he then “apologizes” to her by saying “I’m sorry we quarreled” in the most oleaginous voice possible.
This is more than we will ever get out of the Establishment. And this is why 75 million (at least) Americans will never go along with the civic religion of America as it has been practiced up to date: Because they started the process of destroying the American liturgy in 2016. And they completed it in 2020.
Barring divine intervention (and massive amounts of repentance from the other side) there is no going back.
Après Trump, le déluge?
Oui, Monsieur.
I don’t think Trump will ever get back in office. After this election I’m not sure we’ll see another republican president. The libs have the power. I think they will keep stealing elections and refuse to give it up. Biden even looks like Palatine.
Seraphim, I myself find myself reaching for the black pill. What you describe is accurate –so far as it goes. If the Left can continue to denigrate America and open up the borders, thereby degrading the working class and also increase adventurism abroad, then all is truly lost.
I personally wouldn’t bet against this scenario.
However, if it’s one thing California has taught us, a one-party leftist state cannot rule. If America becomes a 38-state California (say), in which the false religion of SJW/BLM is preached and practiced 24/7, then it will collapse sooner or later. California, Illinois, New York, can continue to function as crapulent one-party states but that’s only because people can vote with their feet.
But even in these states, there is only so much wickedness and incompetence that can be tolerated. Eventually, the breaking point comes to them as well (as we see with the political demise of Governors Newsom and Cuomo).
One-party states that are ruled by the Left invariably crumble. Think Cuba or Venezuela.
Even well-run, overwhelmingly white states such as Washington and Oregon are in the process of collapsing thanks to their toleration of Antifa/BLM violence.
I hear ya. I don’t deny that a neo-communist rule would inevitably crumble. The Soviet Union did. My concern is what about the 70 years that came before? How many lives will be destroyed before their doom?
Yet, at the end of the day, I don’t put my trust in politicians, regardless of what side they’re on. I don’t deny I would feel less apprehensive with Trump in office than I do with Biden. But ultimately our faith is in God. That’s why, as demoralized as I am with our politicians over the past year, I’m much more so with our Church leadership. I keep thinking “how did we get here?” My wife and I are trying to figure out what to do. Obviously we need to step up our spiritual life here at home. But we still want the Mysteries as well. So keep praying, everyone, that God will open a door for us.
Seraphim, one reason the Soviet Union existed for as long as it did was because (1) terror, (2) demonization of the past, and (3) they controlled the flow of information. After one battle in which the Whites won, Lenin is said to have asked the local Red commander “Who controls the radio station?” When he was told that it was still in commie hands Lenin told him to broadcast that the Reds had won the battle.
The control of information is key. We see this played out today when the tech giants are actively suppressing the flow & quality of the information –especially from the Right. While this worked on election day in that they were able to steal the election, the fact that they’ve been found out explains their actions since then. Both they and the Dem leadership (and all the organs they control) are acting in a desperate manner. It’s obvious to all. Hence my prediction that they can’t stay in power much longer.
I could add that the USSR had another advantage: all the aid they received from the West, both governmental (e.g. Lend-Lease) and from American oligarchs such as W Averill Harriman, Armand Hammer and the like. They also received a lot of moral support from almost the entire Western professoriate.
When push comes to shove, the Dems do not act like winners. Quite the contrary. They have so much hatred for Trump and the Middle Americans who voted for him that they can’t help themselves. And thus they do not paint a pretty picture.
A ribald rule of thumb if you don’t mind: look which side has the prettier girls, that’s the side that will win in the end.
All worldly rule crumbles. Psalm 147/146.
“Put not your trust in princes…”
It is easy these days to fall into the trap of making politics into a religion and religion, politics.
Not healthy.
I agree. That’s, again, why I’ve been more concerned about what I’ve seen in the Church, rather than the world. The world lives by worldly principles. I don’t expect much from our world leaders. But I hoped for better from our bishops and priests. I understand our Church leaders have done what they felt to be their duty in watching out for the health of their flocks. I don’t doubt that the heart of many of them has been in a good place. But intentions are secondary.
I typically doubt the quality of intentions of all our politicians, right or left. So if I’m waiting for a pure-hearted president, I feel I’ll be waiting a long time. All I can do is ask the question: if I vote for this person, what actions will they likely take? When it comes to our bishops, I don’t doubt many of them have good intentions, and I do not envy the position they’re in, even without covid. However, I feel the role of our clergy is to look out for our SPIRITUAL health, first and foremost. Therefore, they should take their cues from the Holy Fathers and the Tradition of the Church. What I see, however, is that most of them are too concerned with keeping us alive physically, while endangering our spiritual health. Having no services, or mask-mandetory services, or zoom services, no agape meals, etc etc etc, is NOT spiritually healthy. The Church is communal and our sense of community is being severely undermined. To say nothing of our access to the Sacraments, or the underlining message that we have every reason to fear this virus as the world does.
I could really go on and on and on. The point is, my problem has been the question: “what to do when, not only have my worldly leaders failed me, but also my spiritual ones?”
Seraphim,
All I can say is Amen. When I read the COVID directives in my jurisdiction only to find that they are literally nothing more than a parroting of the latest CDC guidelines, it is disappointing in the extreme. It leaves a person cold with no sense of the warmth of faith. Lately, I find myself praying the hymn…
Remain with us, O Lord of Hosts
In affliction we have no other helper than Thee
O Lord of Hosts have mercy on us.
…and I remind myself that the Church also has princes and sons of men who, though we are to obey in Christ, are among those in whom we are warned not to put our trust.
As you should be. What is going on in the Church is of infinitely more importance (and concern) than whether this Republic rises or falls.
California sucks, but lots of the right ignore places like Riverside or Kern. Riverside is now the county in California outgrowing the other counties. Its purplish but not red. I listening to the Public policy of Mississippi. Mississippi still has a lot of licensing for doing trades like eye threading and so forth.
‘Eye threading’…? With camels…?
I’m lost here…
I know Fr. Josiah is in Riverside. I admire his willingness to stay in the “belly of the beast” and shine the light of Orthodoxy in such a hostile enviornment.
Biden is doing things not popular since even RINO Romney is going against one of his appointments. Also, Manchin did go with the others on 15 an hour since his state has a lower cost of living. he wanted 11 per hour.
There are too many millions of people who will not tolerate the continual collapse of America by way of the Democrat-Marxists. A revolution would ensue.
Mikhail, I would not count on that
I have to have faith not only in the grace of God but the foolishness of His enemies.
Biden, Harris, Pelosi and Schumer are in charge (with Mitch in the background). None of them are the brightest lights in the firmament. It was the party apparatus and the Deep State that stole the election, not the Democratic leadership, and they left a trail even a slow child could follow. Do not underestimate their ability to screw the pooch.
Moreover, Trump has already begun the Republican Purge. Equally vital, the Republican Party has begun to move forward on election reform to rein in voter fraud. All Republicans of whatever flavor, RINO’s included, realize that if they ever want to win elections again, they have to get a grip on the cheating. If they can’t, they will fade quickly. Even Mitch has a sense of self preservation.
So, despite temporary appearances, I see considerable hope on the far horizon. There is a good side to the exile as well.
* * *
Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them, and Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped. But the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to it. But now you will strike down Aram only three times.” – 2 Kings 13:18-19
* * *
Republicans, even of the MAGA type, are not born again hard. If they had been ruthless as is necessary to deal with the Dems and the Deep State, they would have had the will to refuse certification of corrupt elections in the swing states. They did not. You can’t bring a knife to a gun fight and expect to prevail. Hopefully this experience with the threat of totalitarian subjugation will steel much of the Republican Party into a true authoritarian Right, ruthless as hell and itching to take it to the streets.
Misha, I can actually see this outcome (as you describe it). The cucks are on the way out. The RINOs will be gone. All that will be left is a hardscrabble insurgency.
I have lampooned the country-clubbers many times, and deservedly so. The deal is, if one studies history, that even pacific sects can become violent if pushed to the extreme. Believe it or not, even the Quakers in Pennyslvania organized a milita which terrorized those who had molested them in the past. Same thing with the Mormons: their first militia was a legal one called the Nauvoo Legion. When they were forced to move west, and were harried by the US Army, they formed a terrorist group called the Danites.
Likewise the Jews in Palestine, besides the Hagannah (which was a regular army), there was also the Irgun and the Stern Gang, who were pure terrorists in every sense of the word.
Usual caveat: the Dems are the Evil Party while the GOP is the Stupid Party. When push comes to shove, evil always wins.
Having said that, the Left –though evil but certainly not unintelligent–can not rule in a one-party atmosphere. Look at LBJ for example, or Carter. Both presidents had complete control of the government yet both were so massively unpopular that they were not able to win reelection (1964 was a fluke). The next two Dem presidents (Clinton and Obama) were able to successfully govern and win reelection.
But here’s the rub: neither man had control of his government. In 1994 the House and Senate went overwhelmingly Republican and the same thing happened in 2010. As such, neither Clinton nor Obama could be said to have governed as “leftists”. Clinton “ended Welfare as we know it” and Obama solidified the Bush 43 tax cuts.
I expect President Kommiela to be even more incompetent than even Biden. As such, the GOP could snap back into power in 2022 but it will not be because of their intellectual firepower but because even a corrupt nation can only stand so much ineptitude. (Cf, Caligula, Nero, Elagabalus).
Another caveat: the GOP is presently undergoing a much-needed civil war. If Trump is able to clear out the RINOs and cucks, then the GOP can win again on the national level. That’s a big if.
In any event, I submitted my resignation letter to the county GOP, my Congressman and both Senators two months ago. Because I’m a Christian, it’s impossible for me to be evil (hence I cannot be a Democrat) but it’d be intolerable for me to be stupid (hence I cannot be a Republican).
Elagabalus). would be popular with the Democratic party since he was trans,
Anyone who votes in 2022 or 2024 is only a collaborater of the system. We elected our guy, he won buy a landslide, and almost the entire Republican Party abetted in the steal. Why should anyone vote Republican ever again? Let them burn.
Stay home and give a vote of no confidence.
And even if Papa Trump did run in 2024,
1) He’ll be about as old as Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are now.
2) They’ve already proven they won’t let him be president, and they want you to know it.
3) Biden is going to flood this countries with the dregs of the third world and give them all voting rights.
The rigging narrative becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if the people do not show up to vote. I don’t think this is the way out.
Austin,
Empires eventually fall. And it has crossed my mind as well that, though Trump was a last life preserver thrown to America by the Lord, the Establishment rejected it. They rule and they may not get a second chance. God may be sick of the American empire.
And so, more and more frequently I toy with the idea of emigration. At some point the Jews were on notice in Nazi Germany that it was time to leave and preserve life. And we know what happened to those who remained behind. It is wise to bear that in mind.
Nonetheless, though it may not come, at this point it is certainly foreseeable. They’re talking about re-education and even eradication.
So we have a choice.
The first bill of the new congressional term , HR 1, legislates “the Steal” with paper mail-in ballots and pre-paid postage envelopes. We can howl all we want but that’s where the rubber hits the road, And no one is watching.
There is no difference between Trump and Biden. Biden pretends to be pro-immigrant like Obama before him by giving lots of money, weapons, and tracking technology to Mexico to protect their southern border instead of America getting its hands dirty. If the establishment wanted to stop immigration then they just need to stop supporting dictators. People would rather be home. Dems and Republicans only argued if we should have a physical wall or surveillance wall. Biden, like Obama, is not changing the ‘bad’ Republican’s policies. He will just keep them and say that the Republicans are too ‘strong’ to pass any changes. We already have a one party system with two different flavors. Like Pepsi and Coke both will give you cancer. Democrats like Republicans only like immigrates if they can control them or control us by playing to our fears. (All of these immigrants by the way become completely Americanized by the 2nd generation through the promotion of individualism in schools and the media– identity politics is just individualism on steroids).
On a side note,I just hope they never privatize our greatest ‘socialist’ achievement, our local, state, and national parks system which is truly the envy of the world.
If you want to have a chance to win, make 3rd parties viable in local elections by voting for them. And vote and support any state amendments that get rid of the ‘winner takes all’ system. Get rid of regulations for home based businesses like Maine.
Obama promised change. Trump promised change. Both failed for the bureaucrats have the real power. At least Biden promised that nothing will change. And it hasn’t expect for the talking heads and the media.
And if you need someone to blame for this mess, blame President Wilson. He is the one who put the final nail in the coffin in destroying the Republic and creating the Bureaucracy.
“Dems and Republicans only argued if we should
have a physical wall or surveillance wall.”
The physical wall created a lot of construction jobs, putting bread
on the table for the working classes. A surveillance wall does not.
It is indicative of the fundamental difference between Trump and the rest.
Trump is a builder. The rest are managers of what others have built.
Fewer builders and more managers means a worse economy…
If you are interested in learning how the Chinese system actually works and why it still exists but the Soviets do not, check out this lengthy article analysing whether China is democratic or not.
https://thesaker.is/sitrep-how-democratic-is-china/
It is an attractive picture (and one completely new to me).
It seems China is emerging as a truly modern representative democracy,
at the very moment the United States is becoming a bankrupt banana republic.
There seems, however, to be a fly in the ointment.
As Plato observed, Democracy can turn to Tyranny.
President Xi is now President-for-Life.
Very good point, Brendan.
Ben, I read the Saker regularly. I don’t disagree with his assessment. However here’s the rub: the CCP is very responsive to the wishes of their population –but let’s be honest here: they are responsive to the Han majority. (The Han make up 90% of the total population.) They do not operate under the equalitarian delusions that we do here in America.
Having said that, Mencius’ dictum that the nation should be operated for the benefit of the nation is honored in the breach. I realize that China’s paradigm of “the Mandate of Heaven” is paramount but in looking at the five millennium history of that nation/empire, how often did that paradigm obtain? My cursory reading of Chinese history is that the Mandarin class became obsessed with its power and governed for their own sake.
Of course, this is my point about present-day D.C. The entire, metastasizing bureaucracy exists for itself, not for its stated mission.
Sidetrack Post:
In religious news, Pope Francis will be holding an
inter-religious prayer meeting at an ancient Mesopotamian site…
This is the guy that Pat.Bartholomew wants to unify with by 2025
Even Gozer the Gozerian is included in the new ecumenical pantheon…
SMH, yep. Why some in Orthodoxy are Hell-bent on hitching their ride with Rome is beyond me
We have descended into a bizzaro hell-world in which Shaun King (aka Talcolm X), grifter and race hustler extraordinaire, is making sense:
https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1365323184006975488