Dreams of the Left - for the Left and the Right

“Every socialist needs to read this book. Every abolitionist, every Marxist, every anarchist, every revolutionary needs to read this book. Every person who has ever wondered how the world will function after the final retirement of the market, the commodity form, money, wages, rent, coercive gender roles, prisons, police, class, nation states, borders, profit, and in general the dominating power of any humans over any others.”—Spectre Journal

More information on the book, its authors, supporters, price and advanced praise here. Take a peek. Trust me.

Does not include the enthusiastic commentary by Walter Kirn (or commentary by others who follow him) for some reason:

This is going to be so awesome that I wish it could happen right away.

I'm amazed no one ever thought of it before!

Make sure to keep in the guillotines part! That's my favorite.

Yes, indeed! It promises to be great!

Don’t miss the follow up book. pic.twitter.com/ZqeSfMcPCS

— Dear Bongo, No (@Bongo31044000) November 7, 2025

Heather MacDonald wrote an intelligent piece for The Spectator about how running NYC requires adult supervision, which is likely to be lacking in the Mamdani administration. At the end is a video which helps one to appreciate what it took to build the city, and what it takes to maintain it.

One thing you have to give the Left, though, is that they are good at rhetoric. Van Jones noted that Mamdani sounded like a different person in his acceptance speech than he did in his campaign.

And what do you think of this observation?

Scott Adams reveals the persuasion wizardry used by Mamdani@ScottAdamsSays "If he comes up with his own catchphrases, Affordability and Relentless Improvement, I don't know what could stop him.

You better hope he didn't do it.

So find out if he has an advisor" pic.twitter.com/6THgAqsZQL

— jay plemons (@jayplemons) November 6, 2025

Incidentally, Scott Adams has a reputation for hating Black People. I like the way Zuby formats this record of their discussion, which includes Adams' feelings about Charlie Kirk's assassination (43:03. This is pertinent to the rest of the post, sort of.

My latest interview with @ScottAdamsSays is now on X. Enjoy!

Real Talk with Zuby Podcast Ep. 384

Timestamps:
(00:00) Trailer
(00:57) Intro
(01:30) Health Update
(02:28) Hormone Therapy & Positive Changes
(04:09) Discussing Prostate Cancer
(06:28) Diagnosis & Public Announcement… pic.twitter.com/NsCLZn3tbX

— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) October 21, 2025

The Left's Dreams for Nick Fuentes

All Nazis and Racists are not created equal, I guess. During this week, Ace pointed out (concerning fighting on the Right) that,

Nick Fuentes is not a conservative, nor is he somebody who could (at least reliably) be included in the Republican coalition even if we wanted him to be. He is a racist, authoritarian, antisemitic bottom feeder who says he is on "Team Hitler," admires Josef Stalin, attacks JD Vance for marrying his wife, and who literally campaigned against Donald Trump in the last election.

He's not only a scumbag, but he spends a lot of time trying to kick people OUT OF the Republican coalition because they don't fit his model for what America should look like.

Exactly on target. There has been a lot of fighting over Fuentes recently on the Right. Seems strange to me.

But I also received as a subscription-free "gift NYT article" from a lefty the following.

Opinion

Michelle Goldberg
Nick Fuentes Was Charlie Kirk's Bitter Enemy. Now He's Becoming His Successor.
Nov. 3, 2025

I think the Left is chomping at the bit to help Nick Fuentes take the place of Charlie Kirk in the minds of Republicans:

Months ago, Douglas Murray called flirting with Fuentes by parts of the Right a dark game.

Which brings up a piece written by Chris Rufo, which makes an important point:

What Everyone Misses About Nick Fuentes
The racialist influencer represents a spectacle that demands cool analysis rather than emotional reaction.

About the fights on factions of the right over Fuentes:

Both sides fail to understand the Nick Fuentes phenomenon. They take his statements seriously and engage with them in good faith. But Fuentes’s stated beliefs, while abhorrent, are not best parried by taking them at face value. Instead, the Right should consider him an actor in what postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard called “hyperreality”: a system in which the simulation of reality comes to replace reality itself.

Under conditions of hyperreality, symbols of past phenomena lose their original meaning. Emptied out, they then circulate through digital media, where they drive the discourse and, while purely derivative, still spark real emotional involvement. In this way, the hyperreal becomes “more real than real,” masking the true nature of reality.

We should understand Fuentes through this framework. He embraces taboos not because he has an authentic faith in Hitler or a deep-seated opposition to interracial marriage. He may well believe these things, of course, but that isn’t why he pushes them. Rather, he embraces taboos because doing so drives attention and creates a spectacle in digital media that benefits him.

The tone of his discourse is not authentic, serious, or reflective. It is ironic, cynical, and provocative. . .

I can't argue with what Rufo says about Fuentes' presentation. Not sure the explanation of "hyperreality" will click with a lot of people.

. . . When Fuentes lauds Hitler and, in another interview, praises Stalin—irreconcilable ideological enemies—he is not expressing a comprehensible ideology that can be scrutinized in debate. He is engaging in a performance, which only becomes coherent when read as a demand for attention.

Unfortunately, both liberals and conservatives have played into the act. The Left, which for a decade has tried to push the narrative that conservatives are Nazis and that Donald Trump is the new Hitler, has finally found in Fuentes an avatar of right-wing fascism. They play along with Fuentes’s irony-laden, hyperreal Nazism because it is useful to them. They give him attention, print his name in prestige publications, and enter into a symbiotic relationship. The Left finally gets its Nazi—and Fuentes gets more attention.

In the recent controversy, the Right has also unwittingly reinforced Fuentes’s Nazi performance. . . .

In the real world, Germany was denazified after 1945 and, apart from small pockets of skinheads and neo-Nazis, Nazism is a dead ideology. Fuentes is not a Nazi in a real historical sense, but a live-streamer who wields the still-charged symbol of Nazism to hijack the discourse and bait his opponents into a reaction. He may genuinely believe what he says—I doubt it—but, in either case, that is orthogonal to the point that he is using people’s horror at Nazism to serve his ends. Every time conservatives operate on his terms, they reinforce his taboo-breaking, making him stronger.

How, then, should conservatives approach a figure like Fuentes, reject right-wing racialism, and move forward constructively?

Read Rufo's suggestions at the link above.

Remember, from a recent Morning Report, The radicals Democrats label 'right-wing' are on podcasts. The left-wing radicals are in office.

Music

Some lovely Beethoven for a Sunday morning! 🥳

School is back tmrw! 🥰 pic.twitter.com/m9E1NBEhrS

— Katharine Birbalsingh (@Miss_Snuffy) November 2, 2025

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, November 1, Teddy Roosevelt, Heroes, Villains and Demons

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:14 AM

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