It is increasingly apparent that the ruling elites' control is fraying at the edges. Not uniformly across the entire spectrum of interactions, but selectively and unevenly. Unfortunately – for them – keeping control is not the same as retaining credibility, although it's never been clear exactly how much store they have set by the latter. My impression is that the current crop have always been more focused on enforcing compliance than in winning hearts and minds, but I don't get the feeling that the Masters of the Universe have always been quite so careless.
However, this lack of concern over appearances is becoming ever more obvious. They are no longer making any real attempt to cover their tracks, either due to their utter disdain for their subjects or to an unbreakable conviction that the future is theirs to shape as they desire and any and all ways of doing so are legitimate; or, more likely, a combination of both, as the other side of the pathological arrogance coin is almost certain to be withering contempt for the weak who are obliged to succumb.
These are people who hold opinions that are completely divorced from our reality. The following are the views of US elites, but I'm confident that they are replicated throughout the West. I shall quote at length here, because – well, you'll see:
“Among the elite, 74% say their finances are getting better, compared with 20% of the rest of voters. (The share is 88% among elites who are Ivy League graduates.) The elite give President Biden an 84% approval rating, compared with 40% from non-elites. And their complete faith in fellow elites extends beyond Mr. Biden. Large majorities of them have a favorable view of university professors (89%), journalists (79%), lawyers and union leaders (78%) and even members of Congress (67%). Two-thirds say they’d prefer a candidate who said teachers and educational professionals, not parents, should decide what children are taught.
More striking is the elite view on bedrock American principles, central to the biggest political fights of today. Nearly 50% of elites believe the U.S. provides “too much individual freedom”—compared with nearly 60% of voters who believe there is too much “government control.” Seventy-seven percent of elites support “strict rationing of gas, meat, and electricity” to fight climate change, vs. 28% of everyone else. More than two-thirds of elite Ivy graduates favor banning things like gasoline-powered cars and stoves and inessential air travel in the name of the environment. More than 70% of average voters say they’d be unwilling to pay more than $100 a year in taxes or costs for climate—compared with 70% of elites who said they’d pay from $250 up to “whatever it takes.””(1)
It would seem that there is one of two mechanisms at play. They may be completely insulated from normal life and comprehensively indoctrinated, or they may be (either as well or separately) conditioned to social homogeneity and are thus unable to think for themselves. I suspect both elements are a factor, with the former the more impactful. Either way, they are simply the latest generation off the elites' production line. The current cadre, the Boomers and Gen Xers, are still in the ascendancy and undoubtedly think likewise – someone taught the next generation, didn't they?
But I suspect that they are not quite as match fit as they think they are. They're not used to fighting – they're used to winning without having to, like the 6'4” 240 pound bully who no-one takes on; until someone does. At which point the giant discovers that the unintimidated aren't going away and things may not go as planned. The elites' instincts will be to double and triple down, because that has always proved to be a winning strategy in the past, but they have never had to explore the limits of their power. Indeed, the possibility that there are limits may not even be a concept that has occurred to them and is sure to take some time to sink in, if it ever does.
While it's late in the game, it's not full time. We are at a stage where they are vigorously trashing those institutions over which they still enjoy unfettered hegemony, institutions which have not yet collapsed under the weight of their increasing illegitimacy. However, any number of klaxons ought to be going off elsewhere, one of which is very close to home and may prove to be a game-changer.
In spheres of influence that are not so easily controlled, but which were previously well harnessed, they are now being decimated. And, in the public spaces – where they may still believe they hold the whip hand – things are coming rapidly unstuck. The best they can do at present is to rely on a media blackout and pretend that what's happening, isn't. This isn't necessarily a bankrupt tactic; they've waited out protest movements successfully in the recent past, although that doesn't mean they'll manage to do so this time. But first, a recap of what they can still manipulate even if, in so doing, they hasten the collapse of entities that they need to continue relying on.
In the past week, former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months prison time for ignoring a congressional subpoena.(2) Ordinarily, this wouldn't exercise me greatly. However, the committee that issued the subpoena didn't have the right to do so (even though it claimed that it did), because it had been formed in breach of House rules. In addition, both Obama AG Eric Holder and, more recently, Hunter Biden, also ignored subpoenas – both of which were lawfully issued – and simply walked away. Moreover, when Navarro immediately appealed, the presiding judge sent him to prison anyway, thus ensuring that he will serve some or all of the sentence, regardless of the outcome of the appeal.(3)
He wasn't the only Republican in the cross-hairs this past week. The Donald himself was in a New York court once again, this time so that he could listen to a judge tell him that he owed E. Jean Carroll $83 million.(4) A nine person jury, in a civil trial, had decided that statements that Trump made in defending himself from Carroll's accusation of rape, which allegedly took place in the mid-nineties, were defamation. This accusation was made 25 years after the alleged incident and Carroll's account was riddled with inconsistencies.
The statute of limitations having expired, New York State passed its Adult Survivor Act, a time-limited law (which she admitted that she “helped” to pass),(5) that allowed Carroll to sue in civil court, where there is no requirement to prove the accusation beyond a reasonable doubt. The case was simply one word against another but, this being a New York jury, Trump lost; the jury somehow concluded that Trump had committed sexual abuse, battery and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million.
Trump continued to protest his innocence, et voilà! Another trial and $83.3 million for eight months of 'emotional distress'. Apparently, the jury was offended because they didn't feel that Trump respected the judge,(6) which has not previously been considered a valid reason for awarding damages to someone other than the judge. It also transpires that the judge himself may have been less than frank about potential conflicts of interest with Carroll's attorneys, once of whom was his former law clerk whose wedding he officiated at.(7)
But, no matter. A person who was never arrested or criminally charged can be dragged through civil court, convicted on the basis of Carroll's testimony - during which she couldn't even remember the year of the alleged assault – and then fined ten of millions of dollars for continuing to protest his innocence? Really?
The judicial system is still home territory for the ruling class; they can game it to ensure approved outcomes and they don't care what it looks like to others. Hence, the five other trials Trump is currently facing, every single one of which is a sham. We have Alvin Bragg, the Soros-funded Manhattan DA,(1) a man who campaigned on a Get Trump ticket,(8) whose valuable contributions to society include supporting cashless bail and downgrading felony charges to misdemeanors. However, in Trump's case, he's going in the opposite direction.
With a swish of his wand, he has welded a 34 count federal indictment together, despite the fact that federal indictments are beyond his remit. The 'novel legal theory' that he is reliant upon (and which he himself has invented) turns the law on its head. Briefly, Trump paid Stormy Daniels hush money. Somehow or other, Bragg has decided that this was a criminal offence:
“The idea that a routine private settlement, unconnected to any campaign activity, is a criminal offense because the settlement should have been paid with official campaign funds is the most preposterous, ludicrous, idiotic, indefensible, fraudulent “legal theory” conceivable. Under this “theory,” candidates must use federal campaign funds for private, personal or corporate matters—an exact inversion of federal law.”(9)
Next up is Letitia James, the New York AG (can you see a theme developing here?), an impartial officer of the state who called Trump an “illegitimate President” and an “embarrassment”.(10) She's trying to get Trump and his sons barred from doing business in New York and fined $370 million over some alleged property over-valuations in lieu of bank loans. There is no victim in the case, the loans were repaid and, in any event, the banks based their loans on their own valuations, as per normal.
However, the judge has already found him guilty; it's now just a question of what punishment is to be meted out.(11) This case is so egregious that even the Associated Press (AP), a Leftist publication that has suggested that Hamas aren't terrorists but that Republicans are,(12) noted that Trump's case is the only one of the past 70 years whereby a business shutdown is threatened, despite their being no victims nor losses.(13)
And let's not forget the much-maligned Fani Willis, the AG of Fulton County, Georgia, who has indicted President Trump and others amongst his lawyers and supporters of RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act) violations; 161 of them, 41 of them against Trump himself. Yes, even lawyers are now targets. Trump had famously challenged the Georgia Secretary of State to do his job properly and sort out the manifest electoral violations that plagued the 2020 contest, such as the 138,221 people who had moved out of state, yet still voted. Biden 'won' the state by 11,779 votes.
Interestingly, in a case currently at trial, an expert witness was able to hack in to the Georgia voting machines in five seconds flat, using a ballpoint pen.(14) One might assume that such evidence might prove terminal to Willis' case, given that it is predicated on the assumption that the election was sound and that Trump was trying to cheat to win. However, the former president enjoys a standard of justice that is unique, so I would imagine that the case will still proceed, unless Willis herself is ousted – which she might be.
Lastly, we have Jack Smith, a Leftist who was formerly involved in targetting conservative non-profits.(15) With the help of a corrupt court, he also obtained a conviction against a conservative Governor on bogus corruption charges. His misconduct was so profound that the Supreme Court reversed the decision by a 9-0 margin, meaning that even the activist Democrats on SCOTUS couldn't bring themselves to support him.(16)
Having been improperly appointed as Special Counsel, he has brought two cases against Trump; firstly, an attempt to assert that the administrative state has plenary power, rather than the President, a position that the courts have routinely denied and,(17)(18)(19) secondly, for exercising both his First Amendment rights and his duty as President to challenge the results of the 2020 election:
“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as President. In doing so, the prosecution does not, and cannot, argue that President Trump’s efforts to ensure election integrity, and to advocate for the same, were outside the scope of his duties.”(20)
This blatant lawfare will continue, almost unimpeded. Trump is subject to two gag orders – plus, effectively, a third in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, because if he protests his innocence again, he'll no doubt end up in court once more – and a litter of court dates that will impede his campaign. The only potential fly in the ruling class's ointment is a seemingly unbiased judge in Florida who is presiding over one of Smith's cases, but it should otherwise be business at usual. The judiciary is still their plaything and the jury pool, in both New York and DC, is hopelessly biased. One recent poll of the latter constituency found that 69% of them held the view that “Donald Trump and his supporters should be stopped at all costs”.(21)
The administration is also still managing to maintain the fiction that the US economy is not in recession, even though GDP 'growth' is only achieved via government deficit spending. Lately, however, some analysts are prepared to admit that they are, in fact, somewhat competent and awake:
“In the past 12 months the federal deficit increased by $1.3 trillion. Yet we only got half that in GDP—about $600 billion. In other words, everything else shrank. It’s even worse for that brave and stunning Q4—there we got just $300 billion in extra GDP for—wait for it—$834 billion of new federal debt.”(22)
And the long-running, ever-evolving 'pandemic' limited hangout is still being rolled out. The fascination with the lab leak theory has been fully exploited (and then some), which indicates that it is yet another psy-op.(23)(24) Now we're at the stage where the UK can hold a pandemic inquiry that bores everyone to tears and the CDC can be shown to have misled the public about the safety of the shots due its capture by Big Pharma (a process that has also corrupted regulatory authorities in the UK and Europe plus the WHO itself), and nobody really cares any more.(25) Mission Normalization has been a resounding success inasmuch as most people still believe there really was a pandemic, even if the parallel 'vaccines are safe and effective' narrative has been far less effective.
That's because the blob has control of all the relevant levers and simply cannot rein in its appetite for duplicity and destruction. So far, so good. However, when the public has been presented with either a choice and/or the opportunity to vote with their wallets, the elites' touch has deserted them. It's a trend that has become increasingly visible as the wokerati have one-upped each other in the race towards oblivion, an inevitable consequence of their dispositions.
Their propaganda organs of choice are on their uppers. The Washington Post is losing $100 million a year; four years ago it had 139 million monthly subscribers, but by the end of 2023 fewer than 60 million were still on board.(26) The LA Times cut 20% of its newsroom last week,(27) and Buzzfeed and Vice Media are in the can, the former having lost 97% of its value since its market flotation in 2021.(28) According to one of the Left's most notorious mouthpieces, Taylor Lorenz, “the entire journalism industry is in freefall”.(29)
She is appalled, naturally. But when 55% of journalists “don't believe all sides of a story should be covered”,(30) a percentage that rises to 63% among the youngest journalists (age 18-29), yet 76% of the general public think the exact opposite,(31) perhaps the demise of the legacy media is not only inevitable, but desirable. The same goes for the TV networks; CNN has become an irrelevance, attracting a quarter of the prime time viewers enjoyed by Fox News (32) (which screens the top four cable news shows)(33) and subsequently shutting down its Asian operation due to losses of $90 million.(34) MSNBC has also managed to soil its nest lately, losing a third of its viewers due to its refusal to call Hamas terrorists.(35)
Fox News, a fair-weather friend of a network, has also inadvertently provided conservatives with more good cheer. The axing of Tucker Carlson has proved cathartic, both for Carlson and us. Instead of having to operate between guardrails, the broadcaster is now unbound and his viewing figures on Twitter/X are staggering. The Trump interview garnered 256 million views, which was recently surpassed by his sit-down with Argentina's Milei with 300 million.(36) Attempts to cancel the Right are not proving effective.
In fact, the Leftist hordes have been taking a comprehensive battering across many fronts in the culture wars. The “go woke, go broke” meme has been getting a good airing. Bud Light had a year to forget, having compounded their original error of recruiting a man (Dylan Mulvaney) who likes dressing up in women's clothes as a spokesperson for a brand of beer mostly favored by red-blooded men. The last sentence of the following quote, from CNN, perhaps goes some way towards an understanding of why they and their fellow travelers are so out of touch:
“Nearly nine months after Bud Light was front and center in one of the biggest misfires in advertising history, sales of the beer are still down 30% weekly compared to the same time a year ago....Core customers abandoned the brand, with some customers on the left also angered by parent company Anheuser-Busch’s wimpy response to the transphobic backlash and its failure to support Mulvaney or the trans community.”(37)
Perhaps Anheuser-Busch should act responsibly and cease production of the brand, as the beer is obviously fueling 'transphobes'. There has been no corporate apology, because the leadership had managed to manoeuvre themselves into an invidious position; offend the DEI community by admitting error, or offend their customers by prostrating themselves before the self-appointed arbiters of social justice. They chose the latter and not even a subsequent partnership with the UFC has boosted sales.
Target also got a well deserved shoeing for its enthusiastic support of what is now Pride month. Apparently, some customers weren't fans of “tuck friendly” swimsuits, which the AP helpfully identifies as “women's swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts”(38) or, put another way, swimming costumes for mentally ill men. Other customers took exception to designs that sell “occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories”(39) in a non sex shop environment.
Sports Illustrated, one of the oldest and best known names in sports journalism, also found a way to commit hari-kari. All was well until the management decided that they would tie their brand to the woke bandwagon. A magazine devoted to athletic excellence (and annual swimsuit editions) decided to go the plus-sized, 'body positivity' route with predictable results. I offer no apology for the following illustration as it was, after all, adorning the shelves of stores across the land.
Figure 1
Not content with that display of virtue signalling, they decided to save the rest of us the trouble and hammered the final nail into their corporate coffin themselves.
Figure 2
The rights-holding company went bust last week, owing nearly $50 million.(40) They are far from alone:
“The carnage falling upon woke companies in the past couple years has been relentless. Numerous Big Tech and entertainment platforms are suffering a string of layoffs and budget cuts and no one in the mainstream wants to acknowledge that the wokification of the corporate world is a primary contributor to their downfall...The bottom line? The vast majority of American consumers do not want woke content and will not pay for it. Furthermore, the people that do want this kind of content are usually activists with no money to spend. Despite this reality, companies continue to embrace far-left ideology and promote it through their products and marketing to their own detriment.”(41)
And while NASCAR, the NFL and others deserve an honorable mention, it is Disney that has (deservedly) fallen the hardest. The company just cannot help itself; it's afflicted by a kind of Tourette's Syndrome wokeness. Their efforts in pushing the blob's agenda offer the perfect distillation of the pathological mindset.
In March 2021, Disney's stock stood at $197.(41) It currently sits at $97.49, despite the overall market rising by more than 17% over the same timeframe.(42) In the 12 months to June 2023, Disney lost $900 million at the box office on eight films released,(43) not helped by the decision to make the lead character in the remake of The Little Mermaid black. They also released an animated film featuring an LGBTQ+ lead character, which lost them $200 million in one hit.(44) In classic woke fashion, the warning signs were ignored.
By August 2023, they had bespoiled the Indiana Jones franchise, too. Not content with making a loss on the latest installment of one of the most profitable series of all time, they then did their best to wreck the Marvel universe (a job already half completed) with The Marvels, which grossed $206 million against a reported break-even of $439.6 million.(45)
Even after taking a toweling on every single outing, Disney still doesn't seem to get it. Two of their next projects are proof positive; first a new Star Wars movie directed by a woman who thinks that:
“It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, ‘I am here and recognize that. And recognize that I am working to bring something that makes you uncomfortable, and it should make you uncomfortable because you need to change your attitude.'”(46)
Of course. The prediction is that this gem might be the biggest turkey yet, although that distinction may still be claimed by the second of the company's upcoming offerings, Snow White, whose Gen Z lead actress hates the original movie and has reportedly gutted the storyline in the midst of shooting.(47) As such, the dwarves are out and hipsters are in. What could possibly go wrong?
Figure 3
The rot has spilled over into Disney World, also. 93% of Disney World enthusiasts recently polled said it was now too expensive to visit for the regular family.(48) That reality is being reflected in diminishing attendance, down 24% in the quarter to June 2023.(49) These outcomes are encouraging, because they serve as a counterbalance to the impression that we, the awake, are in the minority. It would seem that we may not be, after all. There are several other indications that the ruling class is losing its grip, even from some of their own who are cheerleaders when the front lines are distant, but much more equivocal when confronted with the reality of their ideology. Sanctuary city mayors being a case in point.
Sanctuary cities are called thus because they are Leftist nirvanas, where the municipality “limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law”,(50) in defiance of the ordinary meaning of 'sanctuary'; in this invocation, the poor illegal immigrants (who, let's not forget, have committed a federal crime) are given shelter from cruel immigration officials who seek to deport them. Cities far from the borders loudly advertised their recalcitrance, safe in the knowledge that 'undocumented migrants' were unlikely to be much of an issue.
That all changed when a combination of Biden's secret night flights and Governor Abbot's not-so-secret bus convoys deposited illegal aliens from Texas in downtowns across the nation. It wasn't long before the whining started. While still reluctant to acknowledge their hypocrisy directly, the mayors of New York, Chicago and elsewhere are pleading for help. Five of them rocked up at the White House in November with begging bowls outstretched, asking for the princely sum of $5 billion in emergency funds.(51)
They have found that they must cut essential services to citizens and divert the funds to the illegals. This is not proving to be universally popular among their constituents, especially black voters who are seeing their recreation centers shut down and community projects de-funded:
“The problem is the insular ruling class that doles out these goodies, and lets black voters absorb the higher costs in taxes and insurance premiums as a result of it.”(52)
Chicago has spent over $200 million in addressing the needs of illegal aliens in the sixteen months since October 2022,(53)(54) but Biden's feds aren't going to help out. New York's mayor, Eric Adams, has been reduced to closing a school to house 2,000 illegals who had been living in a giant tent.(55) The teachers at the school got one day's notice of the closure; the parents were apoplectic. Blue votes are ebbing away.
Another major inflexion point is slowly unfolding; the current Republican primary season. The legacy media is trying to ignore one particular aspect of the dynamics, an aspect that is reflective (once again) of the utter uselessness of the Republican Party itself. Each political party has the right to decide who can vote in each state's primary. One might think that the GOP might limit the scope of the vote to Republican Party members; or, at the very least, Republicans and genuine independents, as opposed to Democrats-in-disguise. But, no. Only ten of the fifty states have closed primaries – the rest are all variations on an open primary theme.(56)
Investing the enemy with the opportunity to influence the identity of the candidate they would most prefer to face is an epically stupid idea, the consequences of which are readily apparent. In the most recent contest, in New Hampshire, the election was open to Republican and 'undeclared' voters. The day before the vote, Trump was up 27% on his only competitor, Nikki Haley – 62%-35%.(57) However, on the day he only won by 11%.(58)
This wasn't due to some last-minute faux-pas tanking his vote; it was because the vast majority (70%) of Haley's voters weren't Republicans,(59) in stark contrast to Trump's support which was the total opposite – 70% were Republicans. This is no accident. In the opening contest, in Iowa, a good proportion of Haley supporters said that they would vote for Biden in the general election.(60)
“Across the board, just 11 percent of Republican caucus-goes across the board said they would flip and vote for Biden if Trump was the nominee. Looking only at Haley supporters, that number jumped to a whopping 43 percent. Just 23 percent of Haley’s supporters said they would vote for Trump over Biden.”(61)
In fact, her campaign is openly courting the Democrat vote. And the Governor of New Hampshire is stumping for her in the following terms:
"In South Carolina, if you're a Democrat, you can just walk in the door and vote. So there is a lot of opportunity there."(62)
So far, so Never-Trump traitorous. With the exception of one lukewarm RNC endorsement, the Senate leadership and the Republic establishment is going to do and say nothing to prevent a hijacking of their primaries. It would do them a favor. But their preferred outcome still isn't going to happen.
Figure 4
So, there can be no lack of clarity about who is who, or what the plan is. The blob has had no option but to reveal its machinations. It's as obvious as can be and, in the same way that many people rallied to Trump's cause because his political persecution rankled with them, I suspect something similar will happen here. Some will object to the manifest unfairness of it all. And the most encouraging aspect of it all? It doesn't look as though any stunt the opposition pull is going to get her done – the gap is just too big.
Overall, amongst Republicans, Trump is up 81%-18%.(63) In South Carolina, next up and Haley's home state, the primary is completely open and Trump is currently polling at 58% to Haley's 33%,(64) an indication of how much the Democrat vote will dilute Trump's advantage. The Democrats are still going to try and spoil the party in the remaining contests – they even have an organisation called Primary Pivot, whose sole intention is to change Democrat voter affiliation so that they can bolster Haley's numbers.(65)
And, once again, this isn't about being a Trump fanboy; it's about strategy. Who's getting all the heat and who's getting a free ride? Who is backed by the grass roots and who is being funded by the corporate Republican class (and assorted Democrats) and will, inevitably, be expected to cater to their needs, if elected? (Donors such as Ken Giffin, who contributed to Obama's 2008 campaign and also backed DeSantis.)(66)
Who is a disruptor and who is a shape-shifter whose only consistent policy position is advocating for belligerent overseas adventurism? Does the status quo need a massive shake up or a dose of nitrous oxide? That's the choice here. So, those not overly enamored of the thin-skinned Orange One, hold your noses and engage your grey matter. And remember that forbearance in the face of an unceasing, illegitimate bombardment is not necessarily (or even probably) optimal, particularly when the enemy will simply interpret such behavior as weakness. This is basic stuff, in life as in politics.
Things are not going well in Europe, either. The Leftist coalition carve-ups of the past several decades, often presented as 'centrist', are starting to dissolve as the public wakes up. The German Chancellor, the misbegotten Olaf Scholz, is circling the political drain and so, in the time-honored tradition of mini-tyrants everywhere, is resorting to trashing the opposition in an attempt to ban them. According to the government, the reason that 82% of the country has had enough of them is down to German self-hatred and the fascist, Far Right AfD,(67) who are meeting in secret and planning mass deportations of illegal immigrants – not.(68) Apparently,
“...failure to support ruinous government policies is thus by definition contrary to democracy and ought to be illegal. Many leading heads are hard at work spinning arguments about how we need to ban the opposition and limit the political expression of opposition leaders. In short, we must abolish democracy if we are to have any hope of saving it.”(69)
Scholz himself has defaulted to full-on delusional mode:
“I’ll say it clearly and bluntly: Right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy. They want to destroy our cohesion. At a secret conference, these extremists discussed how they could drive millions of people out of our country....If there is one thing that must never again have a place in Germany, it is the racial ideology of the National Socialists.The extremists’ repulsive resettlement plans express nothing else. They are an attack on our democracy, and therefore on us all.”(70)
It's all nonsense, but with a purpose. Tens of thousands of 'pro-democracy' demonstrators have taken to the streets, with Antifa, the communists and pro-Palestinian activists prominent among them.(71)(72) I would imagine that an AfD ban is incoming and that Scholz and co will try to continue down the well-worn path to eventual defeat. Banning a political party which is Right Wing (but not in any way extreme) which is polling at 24% is going to achieve what, exactly? Eradicate the sentiments that made it popular?
Macron is also feeling the heat, but his approach has been more conciliatory, shifting to the right with the appointment of a new cabinet.(73) But both leaders are rearranging the deckchairs on their own personal Titanics. They just haven't realized it yet. They, and other Leftist leaders across Europe, are in the process of discovering that their most important opponents aren't other members of the political class, no matter how unsavory they deem them. And the most powerful strain of opposition isn't going to be a piece of legislation, or or a lost vote in whatever passes for their parliament; it's the people themselves taking direct action.
Not that you'll have heard much about it, unless you're seriously plugged in to alternative media. As per the mainstream play-book, keeping schtum is the order of the day. Nonetheless, German farmers have been on the streets for over a month, extracting concessions from the government as they go. In early January, they brought Berlin to a standstill, protesting about cuts to agricultural subsidies. Scholz thought he could get away with compromising, but still gradually removing the subsidies. But the farmers weren't having it.(74)
Figure 5
Figure 6
Neither were German truckers. Nor other assorted tradesmen. They are still on the streets in Berlin, blocking roads; by mid January there were at least 5,000 farm vehicles in the city (75) and there are also protests throughout the country. The government is, seemingly, trying to wait them out, with the not-so-covert assistance of the German Farmers' Association leadership, who are actively trying to kneecap their own membership. But the nature of the protest is metastasizing:
“...the protest has grown much, much bigger than the tax-hike on agricultural diesel that set it off. It has become a broader anti-tax protest and a statement of profound displeasure with the Government in general.”(76)
The governing coalition in Germany is dependent on the Greens (aka raging socialists), which means that Scholz has also placed himself between a rock and a hard place. Scrapping the tax entirely will result in hyperventilating, pearl-clutching Leftists threatening to take down his 'traffic light coalition'; trying to hold the current line further fuels the protests, which 69% of Germans support.(77) But it's not just a local problem - it's a Europe-wide issue and the German arm of it will take comfort in that.
Polish truckers have given the Germans support,(78) as have some from Hungary and Austria;(79) the Dutch farmers who started the ball rolling last year have founded a political party which enjoyed great success at the provincial elections (80) and eastern Europe governments are also feeling the pain. As I write this, the Belgian farmers are mobilizing, too.(81)
Figure 7
Even the Scots are revolting:
“We’ve tried hard to do what the government has said but they keep asking for more [and] giving us less. Farmers are getting pushed to the limit – we’ve had enough.”(82)
But no continental farmers approach the task with quite as much vigor as the French. Their complaints are wide-ranging;
“...better remuneration for their produce, less red tape, protection against cheap imports and an end to insane, crippling green regulations.”(83)
Macron pulled a double Scholz, dropping plans to reduce agricultural fuel subsidies in their entirety.(84) This concession did not mollify the farming community and they are ensuring that the government fully understands what will happen if it doesn't up its game. On 29th January, they commenced Operation Starve Paris, an indefinite tractor siege of the French capital. At present, they have established eight choke-points on major roads into Paris and the government is flapping.(85) But, as in Germany, any concessions that Macron makes will simply nibble at the edge of the fundamental issue, which is the EU's attempt to intentionally collapse the agricultural sector. The French chapter seems to understand this, in a way that the German one doesn't:
“This is the final battle for farming. It’s a question of survival.” “We will not die in silence.”(86)
It is clear that negotiations will go nowhere without Commission-level concessions. The best they can do is say that they'll try and get their peers to play ball under the aegis of the EU; for the French farmers, that is wholly insufficient and I suspect that, this time, they will not hesitate to continue spraying the cops with liquid manure until they get what they want.
In isolation, farmers protests are a phenomenon that has been seen previously – not, however, on this scale. And, interestingly, rebellion is also in the air in Texas, and its significance is being studiously ignored by the mainstream. Biden's administration has, infamously, left the southern border wide open, colluded with the cartels and various NGOs and encouraged millions of illegal immigrants to invade America. Texas has been Ground Zero. Texas' Governor, Greg Abbott, has had three years to take effective action and has signally failed to do so. Transporting illegals to sanctuary cities is a poor alternative to actually securing the border itself.
The excuse has always been that border security is a federal matter which it is, nominally, but the Border Patrol had been ordered to stand down by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Belatedly, Abbott decided to get proactive and the state started installing a makeshift wall using containers and razor wire. In response, the federal government not only sued Texas in a bid to reopen the border, they also cut the wire and ushered more illegal aliens into the US – which is a course of action that is startlingly rogue. The feds suing a state that is enforcing the law. That's how far down the road we are.
Figure 8
While the case was winding its way through the courts, Texas took control of Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass and blocked the feds' access. Previously, Border Patrol had used the 47 acre park to process huge numbers of illegals. The DHS was displeased with Texas. It demanded access, so that it could continue to not do its job. Texas told them to pound sand.(87) The Governor explained why:
“The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now,” reads the statement. “President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.”(88)
In and of itself, this defiance is almost unprecedented, if long overdue. What makes it even more significant is that Texas is also thumbing its nose at the allegedly conservative Supreme Court, which last week vacated an injunction that prevented the feds from removing the fencing – fencing that was erected on state and private land.(89) Having said that, there is nothing that can prevent Texas from replacing the wire that the feds remove and, as Abbott made clear, Texas' constitutionally valid invocation of an 'invasion' trumps any edict from SCOTUS.
The battle lines seemed to have been drawn. Then, for the federal government at least, things went even further sideways. First, the governors of twenty five red states signed a joint statement in support of Abbott,(90) the only exception being the fake Republican in Vermont. Ten of them have apparently deployed their own National Guard to Texas.(91) Then the Border Patrol Union made it known that they weren't going to be playing ball:
“Rank-and-file BP agents appreciate and respect what TX has been doing to defend their state in the midst of this catastrophe that the Biden Admin has unleashed on America.
We want to be perfectly clear, there is no fight between rank-and-file BP agents and the TX NG, Gov. Abbott, or TX DPS. It may make flashy headlines, but it simply isn't true.”(92)
It seems that the DHS and the Border Patrol leadership have lost operational control of the impasse, although it's conceivable that at least some of the BP top brass is backing the union.(93) One federal deadline has already passed and the wire is still there; Texas hasn't changed its position and Biden hasn't been able to impose his will. Legally, he's in a bind - not that this is usually a concern - because Texas isn't violating any court orders.
The only option that he may attempt to leverage is a takeover of the Texas National Guard, but he is only able to do that if an “insurrection or domestic violence “hinders the execution of the laws of the State, and of the United States.””(94) As it is readily apparent that it is Texas, not the federal government, that is trying to ensure that federal laws regarding illegal immigration are enforced, I imagine that he will be shown the door if he tries.
Texas has spent the week installing more razor wire in Shelby Park. The feds have spent the week licking their wounds and, presumably, trying to find a way to exact revenge. In the meantime, and in stark contrast to the stand taken by Texas, Senate Republicans (in the person of Senator Lankford) have been trying to sell Texas down the river, by 'negotiating' with the Democrats on a border security/Ukraine funding bill that set an 'acceptable' level of illegal immigration; 150,000 a month.(95)
Or, put another way, passing legislation that legalized the illegal. All the DHS has to do is enforce existing law, which they have refused to do; yet now they're going to enforce more law that limits illegal immigration? Of course they are. But the Uniparty is desperate to funnel more billions to Zelensky and, that being the case, no moral imperative is non-negotiable and Republican spinelessness is once again on display.
And so, after all of the above, the following observations seem apposite; firstly, the blob's sphere of absolute control is diminishing fairly rapidly. Secondly, when given a choice, people are not lining up to be woked. Thirdly, bold action has a far better chance of achieving a result than the habitually vanilla approach much favored by our erstwhile 'leaders'. Fourthly, that decorum is a much-overrated quality in hard times. And, lastly, that punching back when attacked is as least as admired as it is derided – a truism that is lost on some of our fellow brethren, including some of the more distinguished.
Victor David Hanson has written two recent articles that list all the various unprincipled attempts to take Trump down, yet conclude with this sentiment:
“Somehow Trump will have to stay calm, give no opening to his legion of hostile prosecutors...He must stay controlled amid the tsunamis, not play into the hands of his accusers...”(96)
Cue prolonged rant. This is the language of the beta male. It's the antithesis of what makes Trump appealing. Plus, it wouldn't make any difference; Trump 'playing nice' isn't going to matter one way or the other and heeding the opposition's rules is always a recipe for disaster. This attitude is the reason the Right is in the place it is. It's the same logic that claims that ISIS & co attack us because of our conduct in the Middle East. No, they don't. They attack us because that's what the Koran tells them to do. Us being there simply means that we are more adjacent targets. That's all. Stating that Hamas would ease off if Israel was nicer to them is an exhibition of the same defective logic.
Nothing that Trump does will make any difference. They are going to demonize him and metaphorically hoist him up the nearest lamppost regardless; further, taking his medicine like a good boy isn't what has made him the front-runner in a party that is congenitally emasculated. It's all about the opposition's character, not one's own – whether the likes of VDH genuinely don't understand this, or whether they are too much a part of the system they criticize, I know not. But, either way, it's a weak analysis that fails to take account of the fact that they have always had to make stuff up to get Trump; ergo, what's the point of being agreeable?
The same goes for articles which claim that a house divided cannot stand. It sure sounds good, but it's more of the same nonsense. Ever since Trump came down that escalator in 2015, the Republican house has been riven. Every voter in the country knows that, but it didn't stop Trump in 2016, nor in 2020. He even got seven million more votes the second time around. The Republican Party will never be united; not unless the fake Republicans are purged. It has always been so and will always be so.
The GOP is a business – its primary function isn't to win, it's to profit from the political process. It doesn't have a political philosophy; there is nothing to unify around. Plus, bruising primary seasons and ill-tempered debates aren't new, on either side of the aisle. Kamala Harris accused Biden of being a racist in 2020 (although, characteristically, she said she wasn't doing so as she did so)(97) and ended up as his VP.
Trump is best understood as a proxy. What VDH and others don't fully grasp is that you have to react to what is in front of you, not pursue some magnanimous strategy regardless of events on the ground. Sometimes, there really is no choice. For example, the RINOs in the House don't want to impeach Majorkas or Biden, because they think that the Democrats weaponized the process against Trump and they will, therefore, face criticism if they do likewise.
This is to completely miss the point – the Democrats wielded impeachment despite the fact that they had no evidence, whereas there is so much evidence against Mayorkas, in particular, that the Republicans can't not impeach. If the oath of office is to mean anything, they have no choice. It cannot be ignored. And being afraid to do the right thing because others will be rude to you is truly pathetic, especially when they are going to be rude to you anyway.
Additionally, the 'moderates' and 'grown-ups' are preaching restraint and issuing the usual lame calls for 'uniting the Republican Party', while that same party is doing its best to disenfranchise both Trump and the MAGA base. How has moderation worked so far? This is why the 'Republicans' is an unhelpful designation. Just as the term 'Democrat' has transmogrified, so has the word 'Republican'.
This grouping is now simply the slightly more digestible arm of the Uniparty; the Lankfords of this world. They possess none of the traditional conservative virtues - they're just there to lose gracefully and line their pockets, while trying to gaslight their base. America First is, in reality, an entirely different entity that has hijacked the modern GOP and is using its infrastructure to defeat both the Democrats and the Republican establishment. There will be no real truce, no matter how much emollience the leadership throws Trump's way and those calling for one either don't understand the dynamics or do, but have to pretend otherwise so that the speaking and writing gigs don't dry up.
To issue calls for unity, when it's painfully apparent that the Uniparty will never back Trump and, instead, will actively attempt to undermine him (see the primaries) is boilerplate, nonsense rhetoric delivered by those who are not up for the fight. Dialing it down, accepting some of the bullshit without calling it out is not a winning strategy, because the notion that 'moderates' and disaffected Democrats who are offended by Trump's bellicosity would flock to him if he toned it down is itself false.
He is in his ninth year on the stage and Biden has intentionally wrecked the country for thirty six months straight. If those categories of voters don't get it yet, they're not going to get it at all, no matter what Trump does. The professionally offended are, in any event, dyed-in-the-wool Leftists; courting their approval is a mug's game.
The reason Trump is where he is, is because he always fights back and the America First movement, which is forever getting dumped on from a great height, gains a degree of comfort from seeing the establishment's nose bloodied. I've said this before, but when the opposition are uncompromising bullies, any quarter that you give is, in reality, a defeat. You must die in every ditch, not find a hill to die on. Anyone on our side of the fence who doesn't understand that basic truth is not helping.
And finally, making Milquetoast arguments such as these is yet another way of ignoring the elephant in the room. Trump doesn't need any more votes; he won in 2016 and he had more than enough to win in 2020, but was cheated out of it. He is even more of a political force now, but he won't win unless all his votes are counted in a clean election. So, instead of offering up the usual bipartisan drivel that hasn't been relevant since Obama's first term, the RNC should devote some attention to election integrity. Without that, all else is moot.
Which brings me full circle. What we are seeing is muscular resistance and it is having an effect. What's more, it's the only kind of fightback that has a chance of succeeding. Traditional liberal Democrats have ceded control of their party to the pathological progressives. One doesn't need a PhD in psychology to understand that psychopaths don't back down; they double down. The only way to defeat them is to directly challenge them, not negotiate with them. It has been the only way for some considerable time and now, perhaps, the penny is finally dropping.
It's a simple enough equation – the ruling class want one thing, we want another. They want us confined in their 'turnkey totalitarian state' (in the words of NSA whistle-blower William Binney), we want to be free. The two end states are mutually exclusive. Polar opposites cannot be reconciled. The political Venn diagram shows no common ground. There is nothing to negotiate about.
Shying away from necessary conflict, whether in word or deed, is evidence of a lack of bottle disguised as faux intellectualism. One last time – a moderate approach to immoderate people has never worked, isn't working and will never work. Advocating for same isn't a prudent, grown-up approach. It's just a reflection of an author's personality.
Hosing the cops with manure, blockading Paris and effectively ignoring the Supreme Court may be a bit rich for most of the traditional Right's palate, but it was always going to come to this. There comes a point when fighting back feels like the only natural course of action, whether that's because of one's self esteem, via through a clear-sighted appraisal of what is required on the battlefield, or because one really has no choice.
But, the elites won't leave it alone; they will continue to impose their will if they are allowed to. And so it can only end one of two ways – either they win or we win. They will use every available tool in their attempt to subdue us and we will resist. As in life, when negotiation cannot work, when common sense has left the building, yet the bully is still poking you in the chest, choices are suddenly distilled – there is clarity.
That's where the farmers are, because they are the prime targets. We didn't perhaps realize that this was going to be the case, and the media wasn't interested in keeping us informed, so farmers were victimized in a vacuum; but it makes sense in retrospect. Control the food supply and you control the people.
Texas is in a similar position; it's the front-line border state and it has reached the end of its tether before any other. It happens to have leadership that, eventually, pushed back. As The Donald likes to say, there's not after him, they're after us – he just happens to be in the way. So are the farmers and so is Texas.
One problem now, for the establishment at least, is that Pandora's Box has been crowbarred open; unless the rebels are crushed, in the manner of Ottawa's Freedom Convoy, the rest of the mewling masses might start to get ideas above their station. The other problem is that, no matter what they do, we've seen that forceful opposition in serious numbers has given them pause. Protesters aren't going to quietly fade away unless they get at least some of what they demand. And giving ground is not something that the progressives and the elites have any experience of, nor taste for.
In addition, the dissatisfaction is far deeper than the narrowly framed, purported reasons for the protests, and the size and ubiquity of the European rebellion is probably going to compromise any official retaliation. Previously, the police have had numbers on their side. I'm not sure that they do now, and I'm even less sure that they will all be onside with battering their fellow citizens if they think that they might lose. Or be spat on at the school gates the next morning. That ball is in the ruling class's court.
A similar dynamic is at play in Texas. The administration there was always at odds with the Biden crew but they had, for the most part, stayed in their lane. And now, the first time that they truly challenge the federal government, they have Mayorkas in check, possibly check-mate. It could be a seismic development; in fact, it probably already is. My guess is that the blob will, in fact, find itself giving ground, a novel experience that may take a little time to process. They may genuinely have no option that won't result in a capitulation, one that they will spin as some kind of voluntary concession while they try and work out how to win next time around.
The resistance will gain something of considerable value, something that will likely prove to be most important; they will know that they can overcome; that the losing streak can be broken; that eventual defeat is not inevitable. This is potent juju. And while it would be a mistake to bask in that knowledge and let the blob regroup, I suspect that this is exactly what will happen. This feels like an early skirmish, not a decisive battle.
The boost to morale will be really something, but don't expect the ruling class to junk their CBDCs and the Pandemic Treaty simply because their defenses were breached on a single occasion. They won't. But we'll know what type of resistance actually works, which is the type that was always going to be necessary. Being reasonable just isn't going to cut it; becoming disagreeable is much the superior approach. Crudely put, even if we don't win, it's better to go down swinging than bent over and lubed up.
Citations
(3) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/lawless-regime-trump-advisor-peter-navarro-will-be/
(5) https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1751013458651369831
(8) https://www.foxnews.com/politics/soros-family-helped-push-manhattan-da-bragg-power
(9)
https://twitter.com/StephenM/status/1637179016799977477
(10) https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/21/james-lawsuit-trump-longstanding-battle-00058128
(11) https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-judge-decide-370-million-penalties-ny-real-estate-trial
(16)
(17) https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/688/671/2134255/
(18) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/367/886/
(19) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/484/518/
(21) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24371689-240108-triton-survey-topline-results
(22)
(23)https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/cdc-covered-vaccines-risks
(25) https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/cdc-covered-vaccines-risks
(26) https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/01/05/the-washington-post-is-in-big-trouble-n2168357
(29) https://twitter.com/Sargon_of_Akkad/status/1750442094672371763
(32) https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/cnn-suffers-massive-loss-behind-fox-msnbc/ar-AA1jmjab
(33) Ditto
(36) https://en.mercopress.com/2023/09/16/milei-s-interview-with-tucker-carlson-reaches-record-audiences
(37) https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/29/food/bud-light-year-in-review-future/index.html?ref=biztoc.com
(38) https://apnews.com/article/target-pride-lgbtq-4bc9de6339f86748bcb8a453d7b9acf0
(39) Ditto
(42) https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/06/disney-is-killing-itself-in-the-name-of-social-justice/
(43) https://www.macrotrends.net/1358/dow-jones-industrial-average-last-10-years
(45) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marvels#Box_office
(46)
(47) https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/09/who_is_the_fairest_girl_boss_of_all.html
(50) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_city
(53) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/chicago-has-spent-least-138m-newly-arrived-illegals/
(54) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/chicago-shifts-95m-federal-covid-19-relief-funds/
(56) https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/states-with-open-primaries/
(59) https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1749980189721784804
(61) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/trump-destroying-haley-27-points-her-own-state/
(62) https://twitter.com/NewHampJournal/status/1750522797124964774
(65) https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1750139464914014208.html (66)https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/21/us-midterms-billionaire-kenneth-griffin-puts-money-behind-anti-trump-republicans_6001218_4.html
(67) https://www.zeit.de/politik/2024-01/bauern-protest-ampel-regierung-wirtschaft-umbau
(68)
(69) Ditto
(71) https://x.com/OERRBlog/status/1748800525594689999
(72) https://twitter.com/AStaroselski/status/1748681595819610593
(74) https://expose-news.com/2024/01/06/german-farmers-wont-stop-protests-til-govt-capitulates/
(75)
(77)
(80) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/germany-france-romania-poland-lithuania-farmers-all-europe/
(82) https://expose-news.com/2024/01/25/scottish-farmers-protest-weve-had-enough/
(83) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/watch-french-farmers-tighten-their-grip-paris-as/
(87) https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/texas-ag-ken-paxton-rejects-biden-admin-demands/
(92) https://twitter.com/BPUnion/status/1750942606274797850
(97)
Figure 2 Ditto
Figure 3 https://www.tmz.com/2023/10/28/rachel-zegler-snow-white-reboot-delayed-cgi-dwarves-first-look/
Figure 6
Figure 7 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/update-25-states-now-stand-texas-governor-greg/
Figure 8 https://firstnewsa.com/1668/