Recently, I had a short conversation with someone on the Left.\u00a0 In New England, that\u2019s hardly an unexpected situation.\u00a0 But for me to discuss the political situation with people on the other side of the political divide is quite rare.\u00a0 Basically, I don\u2019t bother to debate the political issues with those on the Left.\u00a0 It serves no useful purpose for me.\u00a0 We would not be able to even agree on the definitions of the things about which we disagree.\u00a0 There\u2019s no point of contact between our world views.<\/p>\n
But a funny thing happened.\u00a0 Someone I met in town while waiting in a line asked me what I thought would happen after the November election.\u00a0 We had been standing in line and we were talking about Christmas get togethers and then we mentioned the New Year and he reminded me it was an election year.\u00a0 I said in a neutral way that it was going to be an ugly campaign.\u00a0 He agreed but said he thought that it would provide closure.\u00a0 Specifically, he asked whether I thought that things would go back to normal if Trump lost.<\/p>\n
I answered his question with a question.\u00a0 I asked, \u201cWould things go back to normal if Trump won?\u201d\u00a0 He flinched and said, \u201cNo, of course not!\u201d\u00a0 I asked why and he said, \u201cBecause that would be intolerable.\u201d\u00a0 I replied, \u201cYou\u2019ve just given the answer to your question.\u201d\u00a0 He seemed very surprised and then thoughtful.\u00a0 He stopped talking to me and we stood in silence until his turn in the line was called.\u00a0 I can\u2019t be sure but I think I witnessed an epiphany.<\/p>\n
The people on the Left, a lot of them anyway, think Trump is some kind of a hypnotist that has mesmerized otherwise normal people into saying and doing things that they would otherwise not do.\u00a0 They think that Trump voters are acting against their own best interests and even against their own beliefs.\u00a0 They figure if Trump is eliminated then Republicans will go back to voting for Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Liz Cheney.\u00a0 We\u2019ll cheer for illegal aliens sucking up all the federal government\u2019s resources.\u00a0 We\u2019ll come around to accepting doctors castrating boys and neutering girls and allowing perverts to groom young children in grade school.<\/p>\n
They blame Trump for the revolt that he spearheaded.\u00a0 They either believe or pretend to believe that all the stuff like Russia-gate and the suppression of Hunter\u2019s laptop and COVID lab leak are just rightwing conspiracy theories.\u00a0 So, they either believe or just hope that once Trump leaves the scene more reasonable Republicans will take control of the party and steer us back into the calmer days of George W Bush, or better still, Mitt Romney.\u00a0 Mitt is every Democrat\u2019s favorite Republican; technically competent, ethically spineless and willing to take any amount of abuse without uttering a single word in his own defense.<\/p>\n
But I think I impinged on this one Democrat\u2019s reassuring bubble.\u00a0 I think I revealed to him that there is a mirror image to his world view.\u00a0 And that it rules out the old status quo.\u00a0 The old world where Democrats and Republicans were two ends of a single spectrum of American voters is completely gone.\u00a0 It\u2019s been replaced by a landscape where close to half the population feels like they\u2019re living through an occupation complete with gestapo and fake elections.\u00a0 They may be afraid to revolt against the army of occupation but that doesn\u2019t mean they feel any kinship with their occupiers.<\/p>\n
I think I convinced him that November isn\u2019t going to end anything.\u00a0 It\u2019s just the beginning of the next phase, one way or the other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently, I had a short conversation with someone on the Left.\u00a0 In New England, that\u2019s hardly an unexpected situation.\u00a0 But for me to discuss the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[3344,2071,16],"class_list":["post-26947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-trump","tag-2024-elections","tag-great-awakening","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n