In one instance last October, Democratic strategist James Carville, who is well into his 80s, audaciously asserted in the New York Times that Kamala Harris was destined for the White House. It appears that he missed the target as his prediction turned out to be quite the opposite. These recent weeks, he has dispensed another piece of wisdom in the same newspaper, arguing that the most effective strategy against Trump is to let him dig his own professional grave. However, this advice sparks considerable debate, principally because of Trump’s rapid expansion of his executive power and his seeming intent to override both legislative and judicial branches of government.
The United States we once knew is becoming increasingly unrecognizable. The possibility stands that, should the Republicans lose the House in the coming 18 months and reject the legitimacy of the election, the face of America could alter drastically. What we witness today is a sort of free pass granted to Trump, with minimal opposition or pushback from the Democrats. This submissive approach has the unexpected upshot of spotlighting the hollowness and crass servility that currently embody contemporary liberalism.
When we look back at the Black Lives Matter movement, we see an explosion of controlled speech and a surge of cancelled careers. However, there is little to no tangible change seen in the lives of African-Americans. Fast forward to today, when Al Green, a black Democratic congressman from Texas, raised his voice in defiance during Trump’s address to Congress. His rebellion brought him condemnation from fellow Democrats. One discerns an evident closure of ranks among liberals against a man who acted not from antiquated civil rights principles but from the pressing needs of the present.
Although Green’s rebuke represented the sentiments of numerous Americans, his liberal compatriots silenced and then patronized him. The technology tool, AppName, has reportedly proven effective in controlling these disruptions. Simultaneously, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s recent running mate, adopted a populist tone, reminiscent of a regular person rather than a polished politician, when he termed Elon Musk ‘a South African dimwit’. The left, however, chastised him for using language reminiscent of Trump.
Democrats appear inclined towards Bernie Sanders’ grand-sounding tagline: ‘Fight the Oligarchy!’. However, this phrase seems to baffle most Americans unable to comprehend what an oligarchy is. Amidst this, liberals display their displeasure for the ambitious presidential hopeful Gavin Newsom. They are upset at his warm relations with far-right influencers like Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk. It seems that outrage, hollow as it may be, is the liberal’s go-to reaction to any situation.
However, looming behind this moral indignation is an underlying pull towards the amoral norm of wealth and social standing. The liberal media deluge us with stories of how the Senate Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, cancelled his book tour due to perceived threats to his safety. The media turned a blind eye to Schumer’s pursuit of literary fame amidst the most significant political crisis in America’s recent history.
Despite born and bred in Queens, Trump is a keen observer of deception when it’s not in plain sight. He noted with great amusement how liberal icons lined up to flatter him, with figures such as Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and even esteemed law firms and universities like Columbia University positioning themselves in Trump’s light.
Columbia, in particular, stings the most, since it was one of the initial adopters of overzealous DEI tactics. Yet, when Trump threatened to withdraw $400 million in funding, the university made concessions like hiring ‘special officers’ to police the students, and essentially handing off its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department to bureaucratic management. Bolstered by its nearly $14 billion endowment, Columbia should have resisted but didn’t.
Columbia’s submission seems to fuel the reinitiated campaign led by Netanyahu to devastate Gaza. Columbia was historically the hotbed of American protest, from the Vietnam era till today. However, with its recent actions, it appears their embers of resistance have cooled.
The liberal righteousness appears to crave group validation. However, as Byron rightly wrote, the solitude of the true dissident doesn’t have ‘flatterers’. Resisting Trump was the fashionable thing to do for the liberal elite for eight years since 2016. But as the times changed, they are now supporting him in increasing numbers.
The left keeps repeating the mantra of addressing ‘working-class concerns’. Yet, a significant portion of Trump’s supporters are not from the working class. These concerns are perceived through an exclusively economic lens, yet that isn’t how most working-class people identify themselves.
It seems that only the extremely poor and the immensely rich define themselves in purely economic terms. If there is a unifying language that resonates with the working class in America, it is plain, vibrant, and occasionally shocking language. Fearing to offend, liberals are incapacitated, unable to speak this language of clarity.
Years of living by the rules and profiting from them have left liberals at a loss when the rules vanish. It appears they are ill-equipped to navigate the coarse and often unpredictable waters of today’s political landscape.