I'm going to continue to believe the 2020 election was stolen (or at least was attempted to be stolen) by the left, until someone (with appropriate integrity, information, responsibility, etc) produces evidence/proof that what was going on in all those precincts where they covered the windows, where all the late votes suddenly appeared, etc. was not an attempt by the left to overthrow the election.
The victors get to write history and that is what we are seeing now. The recent hearings where Republicans were not allowed to select their own participants, where information has been withheld and altered has done nothing but to further convince me that it was the left and not Trump who should be investigated. We are likely to see a different history after the mid-terms.
As a young man, I remember saying something or doing something, and an old Crusty Vietnam veteran jumped in my S@#$, "I served my country, you will respect my country and patriotism, blah, blah, blah." Has this happened to anyone here, you had a debate or conversation just ended by someone, because they served and they are pissed and you are wrong?
Now in my mid-fifties (oye!), I have served in the 2nd Iraq boondoggle, I now feel like that old veteran. About Trump and his toadies. And every this comes up, I'm think, I didn't serve my country for 24 years for these A-holes to do to it what they are doing. I'm mad as hell... and, well, I guess I'm just gonna keep taking it.
I recently visited Germany for the first time. I was struck by their unwillingness to forget their past. They spend a lot of time unpacking and examining the mistakes that they made in the last century. One could argue they go overboard a bit, but I would guess the odds of repeating those mistakes is lessened somewhat by the effort. Not eliminated, but lessened.
I compare that to my country. I think we are among the best western nations at forgetting our mistakes. I'm not sure who could even compete. We hate to look at anything about ourselves that isn't flattering. As a result, we seem doomed to repeat our problems over and over again. We can't cop to having a racist history, so we have a racist present. We can't cop to having a gun problem, so we have the most gun violence in the world. We can't cop to any negative aspects of being the most powerful industrial nation on the planet, and we're willing to burn the whole place down before we do. The examination of the January 6 attempted coup is boring and performative, so the instigator of that coup is a frontrunner for a second shot at it.
Contrary to the tone of the comments above, I'm an optimist. I always have been. But only a fool would be unable to see that our thin skin and ADD is a threat to our children.
Matt, an amazing piece. Thank you. I just read another good one on Substack by Rob Richards - Robservations- June 11. I appreciate when writers put my thoughts coherently together for me.
Matt, I finally subscribed after reading this. The political insanity of the Right and the cultural insanity of the Left are taking turns outdoing each other in the destructive game of Let's Deny Reality, with your host, Lucifer!
From QAnon to BlueAnon, it's a tough time to be a conservative Christian who rejects tribalism and wants the temperature to remain cool.
Lots of stuff here in the comments. These are the words of our country. I can honestly say that prior to Trump, I did not know this country. I had some well taught history poured into me that contained alot of the pollyannish view I grew up with. I held these wonderful ideas because the lynching and burnings and killings of black America never made it to my rural American eyes and ears. But Trump changed all that - not Trump personally, but those enamored of him. Confederate flags popped up in my neighborhood along with Trump Pence signs. It was all of a sudden OK to be openly racist and white supremacist. And then to blame all of the ills of the country, all 360,000,000 of us on 11,000,000 illegals, 3%, of the population. This group of people are known to be more law abiding and more employed than all of us legals. Some problem. It is this fantasy knowledge of the country I grew up in that is so crushing to me. I would ask where America has gone but I have come to believe, that as I imagined, it never was.
In some ways I would say we are in something even worse than an unreality show. It’s more like one of those choose your own adventure books.
The author presents options (MAGA, ANTIFA, Birth persons, CRT, FOX, MSNBC, Twitter/FB silos) and we choose the mob we want to follow. Only because we occupy the same country and laws, (the authors mind) we are destined for calamity when the ink hits the page at the publisher and all of the different endings clash, fighting for who will be printed on the last page (for all of those cheaters who skip to the last page, and everyone implicitly knows whoever is standing on top at the end wins).
We have moved from the normal page flow of the novel of history (from page 1 – 500 or constitution-debate-amendment) to turbulent jumps where your opinion/law does not matter if I can gather a group large enough to shout you down. If those shouts evolve into fists that’s OK too, as long as my side wins, we can change the laws later when we assume power.
I guess I’m saying it appears no one knows how to read or write anymore, but I guess that is understandable when kids are on guard to jump under the table at moment’s notice and their teachers are packing heat. ☹
Nailed it, Matt. Though there of course will loud screams of rage from the ultra-progressives that you challenged their preferred narrative in an incredibly [whatever, whatever] way when you showed the temerity to object to some of their more ridiculous demands.
At root, on both sides, are preposterous attempts to shape and control the ruling narrative. Those who control what stories are told, and the methods of their telling, control society.
So, throwing off for a moment some restrictions I usually accept: Fuck ‘em. I’ve had it with the gargantuan streams of bullshit, stupidity, and in-our-faces screaming about their wildly delusional notions which they demand the rest of us adopt.
It’s all at best a number of incoherent, roaring rivers of delusion in which babies are thrown out even before the bathwater, truth is shredded into mattress stuffing and toilet paper, and liberty is squashed into conformity with group desires and convenience.
I’d say, “A pox on ‘em all,” were that really at all a strong enough response. Malignant clowns to the left, murderous jokers to the right, here we are, stuck in a stinking crossfire of evil. Hunker down while I get a firehose and a few mops and brooms.
So glad I’m tossing a few bucks into your tip jar for watching this for me, and giving me the rundown afterwards…
I’m a fellow rightie, now preferring to call myself “classical liberal,” and far more neocon than you, but that’s not a complaint, just a note on the ideological cartography of where you are and where I am for orientation purposes.
The arrival of Trump as a real, serious force in our politics, rather than a fringe figure we could all point and laugh at, cured me of my decades’ long take on politics as another entertainment, another thing to watch that you could participate in rhetorically online or in real life.
I’ve spent the past five or so years trying to figure out some analogy to our weird politics and failing. But my flavor of the moment is the Coen Brothers’ movie “Barton Fink.” Barton is a serious playwright trying to get his ideas out to the Common Man. He’s given a shot of writing for Hollywood instead of boutique off-Broadway audiences. And in the process he gets to know a *real* common man, played by John Goodman, who turns out to be far too much of a harsh reality than Barton ever could have imagined.
We’ve given up control of the daily political entertainment to the lunatic common man, whether the obviously lunatic on the right, or the subtly, slightly less obviously violent lunatic on the left.
I dunno, Matt. That’s all I can come up with for now. It’s exhausting as much as it is tiring once you’ve lost the urge to follow the story on a daily basis.
Me too Rick. Me too.
I'm going to continue to believe the 2020 election was stolen (or at least was attempted to be stolen) by the left, until someone (with appropriate integrity, information, responsibility, etc) produces evidence/proof that what was going on in all those precincts where they covered the windows, where all the late votes suddenly appeared, etc. was not an attempt by the left to overthrow the election.
The victors get to write history and that is what we are seeing now. The recent hearings where Republicans were not allowed to select their own participants, where information has been withheld and altered has done nothing but to further convince me that it was the left and not Trump who should be investigated. We are likely to see a different history after the mid-terms.
As a young man, I remember saying something or doing something, and an old Crusty Vietnam veteran jumped in my S@#$, "I served my country, you will respect my country and patriotism, blah, blah, blah." Has this happened to anyone here, you had a debate or conversation just ended by someone, because they served and they are pissed and you are wrong?
Now in my mid-fifties (oye!), I have served in the 2nd Iraq boondoggle, I now feel like that old veteran. About Trump and his toadies. And every this comes up, I'm think, I didn't serve my country for 24 years for these A-holes to do to it what they are doing. I'm mad as hell... and, well, I guess I'm just gonna keep taking it.
Regarding the January 6 hearings:
I recently visited Germany for the first time. I was struck by their unwillingness to forget their past. They spend a lot of time unpacking and examining the mistakes that they made in the last century. One could argue they go overboard a bit, but I would guess the odds of repeating those mistakes is lessened somewhat by the effort. Not eliminated, but lessened.
I compare that to my country. I think we are among the best western nations at forgetting our mistakes. I'm not sure who could even compete. We hate to look at anything about ourselves that isn't flattering. As a result, we seem doomed to repeat our problems over and over again. We can't cop to having a racist history, so we have a racist present. We can't cop to having a gun problem, so we have the most gun violence in the world. We can't cop to any negative aspects of being the most powerful industrial nation on the planet, and we're willing to burn the whole place down before we do. The examination of the January 6 attempted coup is boring and performative, so the instigator of that coup is a frontrunner for a second shot at it.
Contrary to the tone of the comments above, I'm an optimist. I always have been. But only a fool would be unable to see that our thin skin and ADD is a threat to our children.
Matt, an amazing piece. Thank you. I just read another good one on Substack by Rob Richards - Robservations- June 11. I appreciate when writers put my thoughts coherently together for me.
I think you have hit this quite squarely on its festering little pea brained head. Thanks.
I am tired. Very very tired. Excellent Matt! I have said this before here
We have allowed the vocal minority to take control over the silent majority.
I always enjoy reading you. I am not in full agreement all the time, and this is one of those times, but, enough it was still a good read.
On the J6 hearings: Meh! So, I offer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsUo_v4t_gc
This is gold Matt. Gold
Matt, I finally subscribed after reading this. The political insanity of the Right and the cultural insanity of the Left are taking turns outdoing each other in the destructive game of Let's Deny Reality, with your host, Lucifer!
From QAnon to BlueAnon, it's a tough time to be a conservative Christian who rejects tribalism and wants the temperature to remain cool.
Lots of stuff here in the comments. These are the words of our country. I can honestly say that prior to Trump, I did not know this country. I had some well taught history poured into me that contained alot of the pollyannish view I grew up with. I held these wonderful ideas because the lynching and burnings and killings of black America never made it to my rural American eyes and ears. But Trump changed all that - not Trump personally, but those enamored of him. Confederate flags popped up in my neighborhood along with Trump Pence signs. It was all of a sudden OK to be openly racist and white supremacist. And then to blame all of the ills of the country, all 360,000,000 of us on 11,000,000 illegals, 3%, of the population. This group of people are known to be more law abiding and more employed than all of us legals. Some problem. It is this fantasy knowledge of the country I grew up in that is so crushing to me. I would ask where America has gone but I have come to believe, that as I imagined, it never was.
In some ways I would say we are in something even worse than an unreality show. It’s more like one of those choose your own adventure books.
The author presents options (MAGA, ANTIFA, Birth persons, CRT, FOX, MSNBC, Twitter/FB silos) and we choose the mob we want to follow. Only because we occupy the same country and laws, (the authors mind) we are destined for calamity when the ink hits the page at the publisher and all of the different endings clash, fighting for who will be printed on the last page (for all of those cheaters who skip to the last page, and everyone implicitly knows whoever is standing on top at the end wins).
We have moved from the normal page flow of the novel of history (from page 1 – 500 or constitution-debate-amendment) to turbulent jumps where your opinion/law does not matter if I can gather a group large enough to shout you down. If those shouts evolve into fists that’s OK too, as long as my side wins, we can change the laws later when we assume power.
I guess I’m saying it appears no one knows how to read or write anymore, but I guess that is understandable when kids are on guard to jump under the table at moment’s notice and their teachers are packing heat. ☹
Nailed it, Matt. Though there of course will loud screams of rage from the ultra-progressives that you challenged their preferred narrative in an incredibly [whatever, whatever] way when you showed the temerity to object to some of their more ridiculous demands.
At root, on both sides, are preposterous attempts to shape and control the ruling narrative. Those who control what stories are told, and the methods of their telling, control society.
So, throwing off for a moment some restrictions I usually accept: Fuck ‘em. I’ve had it with the gargantuan streams of bullshit, stupidity, and in-our-faces screaming about their wildly delusional notions which they demand the rest of us adopt.
It’s all at best a number of incoherent, roaring rivers of delusion in which babies are thrown out even before the bathwater, truth is shredded into mattress stuffing and toilet paper, and liberty is squashed into conformity with group desires and convenience.
I’d say, “A pox on ‘em all,” were that really at all a strong enough response. Malignant clowns to the left, murderous jokers to the right, here we are, stuck in a stinking crossfire of evil. Hunker down while I get a firehose and a few mops and brooms.
So glad I’m tossing a few bucks into your tip jar for watching this for me, and giving me the rundown afterwards…
I’m a fellow rightie, now preferring to call myself “classical liberal,” and far more neocon than you, but that’s not a complaint, just a note on the ideological cartography of where you are and where I am for orientation purposes.
The arrival of Trump as a real, serious force in our politics, rather than a fringe figure we could all point and laugh at, cured me of my decades’ long take on politics as another entertainment, another thing to watch that you could participate in rhetorically online or in real life.
I’ve spent the past five or so years trying to figure out some analogy to our weird politics and failing. But my flavor of the moment is the Coen Brothers’ movie “Barton Fink.” Barton is a serious playwright trying to get his ideas out to the Common Man. He’s given a shot of writing for Hollywood instead of boutique off-Broadway audiences. And in the process he gets to know a *real* common man, played by John Goodman, who turns out to be far too much of a harsh reality than Barton ever could have imagined.
We’ve given up control of the daily political entertainment to the lunatic common man, whether the obviously lunatic on the right, or the subtly, slightly less obviously violent lunatic on the left.
I dunno, Matt. That’s all I can come up with for now. It’s exhausting as much as it is tiring once you’ve lost the urge to follow the story on a daily basis.
My sentiments exactly, but expressed more graphically and scathingly.