So today was my scheduled zoom call with the guys. It’s a group of eight former employees of the old firm who formerly used to take the (very) long walk every morning (and sometimes afternoon) down to the cafeteria and back to talk about “work.” None of us was truly Left and most of was were decidedly Right but we tolerated a certain amount of centrism on some topics. During the early years of the millennium, we were mostly hawkish and after Obama got in, we became increasingly angry over social issues like race and sexuality.
But one thing always seemed true. We were disgruntled. Now back in 2016 I famously championed Donald Trump and took a lot of grief because of this. I made a small bet with one of my fellow coffee-walkers and when he had to pay up, he magnanimously framed the bill and hanged it on my wall for all to see. Out of fear of the cleaning staff stealing the cash I replaced it with a Donald Trump million-dollar bill. But the victory was very sweet.
Over the four years of Trump’s first presidency the tenor of our discussions varied but until 2020 they were generally on the optimistic side. But once George Floyd and then COVID laid waste to the country we slid into disgust and the November fake election was the last straw. Now whenever we got together (and after COVID it had to be remote) we uniformly despaired for the future of the country. I guess you could say the Biden presidency was the term of our “resistance.” Personally, we had our good and bad days. And also, we one by one left the old firm. But we valued the Wednesday zoom call and the solidarity it provided. Interestingly the most left-winged of our number had a quasi-conversion and in 2024 voted for Trump! Which we all considered a minor miracle.
But over the course of 2024 it was easy to see that our optimism for the political future was increasing drastically. After the debate it was almost comical how excited everyone had become. And after the election it was something like the scene in the “Wizard of Oz” when all the munchkins are dancing around singing about how “the wicked old witch at last is dead.” And so as with everyone else on the Right we’re almost ecstatic with the activity and results we’re seeing in Washington as Trump and his merry band rip up all the floor boards in the deep state’s hideout and dig up the pots of gold they’ve stolen from the American people.
And now it’s gotten to the point where we’re so jaded that even revolutionary change is not enough and instead, we’re talking about ludicrous phantasmagorical things like eliminating the IRS and making the income tax a middle school math calculation like everyone pays 8% of their income or making it just a sales tax. Next, we’ll be expecting Trump to announce that dunk tank with Democrats like Pelosi, Schumer and AOC in it that we can all get a chance at dunking.
So, yeah, it’s getting out of hand and that means we’re about to hit a wall and will have to come back down to Earth. And that’s fine. Life is mostly a serious matter and we shouldn’t be walking around laughing like idiots for more than a few weeks anyway.
But even if we calm down, let’s look at what we’ve gotten. We’ve gotten back our hopes. We’re looking at actual good news. There is a way to course-correct and shrink down the federal bureaucracy and eliminate the deficit and defang the security state. These are all wonderful things and way beyond what we expected from Trump just a scant few weeks ago. Trump has gotten the upper hand on the establishment uni-party. McConnell is a ghost of his former self and the Democrats have become a laughing stock without a path forward or a strategy for dealing with Trump other than hoping for some disaster to strike. They’re probably praying to Gaia for COVID25 or something equally injurious.
So, at the call today we all acknowledged that the morale boost from all this winning is an enormous positive result above and beyond any and all of the actual policy changes that we enjoy. Joy has a value. Emotionally, psychologically and maybe even spiritually it enhances our lives and makes every part of our lives better. I go to sleep easier. I wake up more rested and I look at the world as a much better place. Even the bad things are better because I feel more in control of the world and more confident that I can repair whatever needs fixing.
The Trump bump is real.
So, every single conservative in the entire State of Massachusetts worked at the same company? Odd but possible, I assume.
Quite possible. After all, how many conservatives actually live in Massachusetts ?
Well guys, the Democrat/Republican vote split in Massachusetts in 2024 was 61% vs 38%. Now given a Massachusetts Republican is way to the Left of a Texas Democrat but still, 61/38 is not a monolith. There are plenty of conservative people living in New England. We’re just outnumbered by the crazies.
If not universal, the Dims in Massachusetts are dominant to the point that conservatives have no apparent seat at the table at all. Maybe occasionally as a tie breaker in favor of a slightly less liberal Dim. The perception of Massachusetts from afar is that of a monolithic hard leftist state. Obviously conservatives exist there but you have to be out on the pointy end of the political bell curve. But, apparently, you’ve found a enclave of like minded people. That would make it tolerable at a minimum. I’ve a friend that I went to school with and with whom… Read more »
Any real conservative living in the Northeast knows he’s in occupied territory at all times. My town is an enclave that elects Republicans to state assembly and senate seats. And our local officials are conservatives. That’s as much as we can control. But yeah it’s like living behind enemy lines. Forget about taxes. They’re absurd.
“Forget about taxes. They’re absurd.”
It would be extraordinarily hard for me to forget about sending $10 of thousands of dollars per year to some corrupt organization that is antithetical to virtually everything I believe in.
The context you have to take for me is that I came from an even more expensive tax environment; New York City. There you got a “lawn” that was three feet square and paid even higher taxes on property that was five times more expensive. And you had to fight your way to work just to get to the subway. So there is that. Plus Camera Girl is weakening because of her hatred of winter so I have hope of someday escaping.
I try to understand your context but please understand that it is almost totally alien to me. It’s interesting to me that, despite our radically different origins, we find ourselves so attuned culturally. I guess that the set “American Conservative’ is widely inclusive.
That’s right. The previous dominant culture was attractive, logically consistent and could be applied to the wide majority of Americans to their common advantage. Destroying it was the biggest mistake ever made by this country. Maybe it can be restored.