Fundamental Concepts - Gimmie Trumpin' To Believe In [Weirddave]

Posted by ace as I try to get my thoughts together on Fall of the House of Usher.

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So I got into a discussion with Jay Caruso on Twitter this morning after his article on Pocket Full of Liberty was published (5 Myths Being Espoused About Donald Trump. It wasn't a long conversation, I got the impression that he was being bombarded by lots of people unhappy with his article and Twitter doesn't lend itself to in depth discussions in any event, but I did get to tell him that he doesn't get it. I haven't seen much posted about what Trump really is online.

The usually brilliant Kevin D. Williamson doesn't get it when he writes at NRO about “WHINOS”.

Glen Reyonlds gets in the neighborhood at USA Today mThe Donald and Bernie show.

Nobody seems to see what to me is a as plain as the nose on Jimmy Durante's face: Donald Trump was inevitable. Bernie Sanders was inevitable. If not them specifically, then someone like them.

Why?

Because we are living out the endgame of the Left's long march through the institutions.

I turn here to one of America's preeminent philosophers and poets Bret Michaels who pointed out that people are really just looking for something to believe in.

Congratulations America, we're living in a Poison lyric.

Kidding aside, that's the nub of it. When a culture loses confidence in itself and it's values it becomes very vulnerable to any smooth tongued hustler who wanders down the pike. For conservatives who remember what America was and can be again, right now that's Donald Trump. For Progs who have no clue as to why they have inherited a life of relative ease (historically speaking), it's Bernie Sanders and his promise of Big Rock Candy Mountain.

See, this is the problem with the cultural nihilism it's been eating away at this country for the last century. People need something to believe in. The Left has done a great job of tearing down the existing structure, but they haven't replaced it with anything. They claim their end game is to replace it with a perfect communal Utopia, but we all know that's garbage. In their quest for power they hollowed out the foundations very society they seek to rule. They have created a vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum.

Say what you will about Trump, but his persona, the image that he projects, is of someone that people can believe in. He's bash, he's cocky, he doesn't take no shit from nobody. This is what people see, it doesn't matter if it's true, but this is what they're responding to. The strong horse. It doesn't have to be Trump, and the issue doesn't have to be illegal immigrants (although that's a good issue). It's the exact same reason that people are joining ISIS. Yes, they are evil bastards, but they are evil bastards that believe strongly in something.

The political class in America is so amoral, so narcissistic, so selfish and greedy that one would have to be a fool to believe in them. The cultural myths of America that have sustained this country for generations are nothing but fading memories. The prosperity that has been the hallmark of American life for generations is likewise fading. Many Americans feel completely adrift. They can't believe in America, they can't believe in God, they can't believe in the government, apple pie or Superman. There is precious little of western culture that they are allowed to believe in anymore, so they believe in someone like Trump.

It's a poor choice, of course. Trump isn't going to be the nominee, but I wonder if any of the more serious candidates are able to learn the lesson he's teaching. Time will tell. Time will also tell if what we are witnessing is the equivalent of the Whig Party in 1854, or of Britain's North American colonies in 1776.

posted by Open Blogger at 06:58 PM

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