[Breitbart] The feud between President Donald Trump and Senator John McCain is heating up. The protagonists on both sides of this fight are intense and determined, and yet if we dig beneath the personalities, we can see an even deeper conflict--an ultimate conflict of visions. And that clash of worldviews, in turn, is full of implications for the behavior of the Deep State in the months and years to come.
In the meantime, the headlines are startling: The Washington Post headlined its story on Saturday the 17th, "John McCain just systematically dismantled Donald Trump’s entire worldview."
And there’s this from The Chicago Tribune: "McCain criticizes Trump for calling media ’the enemy’: ’That’s how dictators get started.’"
And Axios, a buzzy new Beltway publication founded by the original brains behind Politico, runs this headline, "McCain gets revenge on Trump." (Interestingly, by coincidence, or perhaps not, the next headline in the Axios news feed was, "The 10 biggest leaks of the Trump presidency.")
#6
...deep state delegitimizes itself. Civil Service once was a modest salary with a modest pension in exchange for job security. Now they make far more than the deplorables with even a greater pension system. Sympathy for chucking the CS system and opening up job opportunities every 4 or 8 years is going to grow in Trump country.
h/t Instapundit
...This shift from the ideal of the melting pot to the triumph of salad-bowl separatism occurred, in part, because the Democratic Party found electoral resonance in big government’s generous entitlements and social programs tailored to particular groups. By then, immigration into the United States had radically shifted and become less diverse. Rather than including states in Europe and the former British Commonwealth, most immigrants were poorer and almost exclusively hailed from the nations of Latin America, Asia, and Africa, resulting in poorer immigrants who, upon arrival, needed more government help. Another reason for the shift was the general protest culture of the Vietnam era, which led to radical changes in everything from environmental policy to sexual identity, and thus saw identity politics as another grievance against the status quo.
...What is the future of diversity politics after the 2016 election? Uncertain at best--and for a variety of reasons.
...Identity politics hinges on perceptible racial or ethnic solidarity, but citizens are increasingly a mixture of various races and do not always categorize themselves as "non-white."
...Second, the notion of even an identifiable and politically monolithic group of non-white minorities is also increasingly suspect. Cubans do not have enough in common with Mexicans to advance a united Latino front. African-Americans are suspicious of open borders that undercut entry-level job wages. Asians resent university quotas that often discount superb grades and test scores to ensure racial diversity. It is not clear that Hmong-Americans have much in common with Japanese-Americans, or that Punjabi immigrants see themselves politically akin to Chinese newcomers as fellow Asians.
Third, ethnic solidarity can cut both ways. In the 2016 elections, Trump won an overwhelming and nearly unprecedented number of working class whites in critical swing states. Many either had not voted in prior elections or had voted Democratic. The culture’s obsession with tribalism and special ethnic interests--often couched in terms of opposing "white privilege"--had alienated millions of less well-off white voters. Quietly, many thought that if ethnic activists were right that the white majority was shrinking into irrelevance, and if it was acceptable for everyone to seek solidarity through their tribal affiliations, then poor whites could also rally under the banner of their own identity politics.
...Fourth, it is not certain that immigration, both legal and illegal, will continue at its current near record rate, which has resulted in over 40 million immigrants now residing in America--constituting some 13 percent of the present population. Trump is likely not just to curtail illegal immigration, but also to return legal immigration to a more meritocratic, diverse, and individual basis. Were immigration to slow down and become more diverse, the formidable powers of integration and intermarriage would perhaps do to the La Raza community what it once did to the Italian-American minority after the cessation of mass immigration from Italy. There are currently no Italian-American quotas, no Italian university departments, and no predictable voting blocs.
Fifth, class is finally reemerging as a better barometer of privilege than is race--a point that Republican populists are starting to hammer home. The children of Barack Obama, for example, have far more privilege than do the sons of Appalachian coal miners--and many Asian groups already exceed American per capita income averages. When activist Michael Eric Dyson calls for blanket reparations for slavery, his argument does not resonate with an unemployed working-class youth from Kentucky, who was born more than 30 years after the emergence of affirmative action--and enjoys a fraction of Dyson’s own income, net worth, and cultural opportunities.
Finally, ideology is eroding the diversity industry. Conservative minorities and women are not considered genuine voices of the Other, given their incorrect politics. For all its emphasis on appearance, diversity is really an intolerant ideological movement that subordinates race and gender to progressive politics. It is not biology that gives authenticity to feminism, but leftwing assertions; African-American conservatives are often derided as inauthentic, not because of purported mixed racial pedigrees, but due to their unorthodox beliefs.
The 2016 election marked an earthquake in the diversity industry. It is increasingly difficult to judge who we are merely by our appearances, which means that identity politics may lose its influence. These fissures probably explain some of the ferocity of the protests we’ve seen in recent weeks. A dying lobby is fighting to hold on to its power.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2017 13:27 Comments ||
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#2
diversity industry has increased its power, funding and influence for 20 years in a row despite the facts noted by Hanson (and despite the facts that their 'work' is mostly garbage)
I don't understand why Hanson thinks it is really going to end
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/20/2017 13:37 Comments ||
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#3
Identity politics have worked well for the Democrats until now. For some reason, voters seemed to respond to nationalism and a message of unity.
There's big money in identity politics; it's doubtful IP will go away soon.
h/t Instapundit
Love or hate Donald Trump, one of the reasons he managed to win the election was that he spoke a truth we’ve all known for quite some time now, but which few others were willing to say openly: the press is the enemy of the American people. It’s a sad state of affairs, and indicative of the descent into technocratic government.
Some time ago, one of my readers linked a post of mine on Free Republic. He suggested my blog was worth following, for which I can only express my gratitude. But another individual immediately lambasted the original poster with "oh, you follow blogs? I feel sorry for you." It was the sort of self-absorbed, arrogant snark you usually see in places like the Democratic Underground. When it was pointed out to him that the press is blatantly corrupt, and cannot be trusted, he fired back with an insinuation that at least the press is better than amateur bloggers.
To be fair, I am not a trained journalist, nor am I even a trained author. My readers have probably noticed errors here and there, and in all likelihood I will continue to make those boneheaded mistakes from time-to-time (I count on my readers to let me know when this happens, of course). But regardless of my own errors, at least it can be said that I am not an enemy of America, her culture, and her way of life.
The intrepid anti-blog freeper missed that point. No matter how much training the technocrats in government and media receive, we cannot trust them. They are no longer reporters of facts, they are agents of propaganda as dishonest and skewed as the editors of Pravda. And most of them can't write either
#2
I've had my issues with Donald Trump, and no doubt I will continue to have them. But on this matter he is 100% correct...
Not exactly. In the very first paragraph the author misquoted President Trump's original tweet by transposing the words "press" and "media". Minor perhaps but an indication of another one of DT's intentionally proactive statements dismissed with the predictable 'Oh you know what he meant' arguments. Yes much of the Media dislikes Trump the man, his policies, his supporters, and what he represents. And many of them do indeed dishonestly misconstrue the facts for their own political and financial gain. Has this diminished the integrity of journalism? Yes. Is it a disservice to the "American people"? Absolutely. But "enemy" - not even close that 100% figure.
#4
Has this diminished the integrity of journalism? Yes. Is it a disservice to the "American people"? Absolutely. But "enemy" - not even close that 100% figure.
When guys like Bill Kristol tweet that they would prefer the Deep State to Donald Trump they are declaring war on America. Kristol admitted he would prefer a coup d'etat perpetrated by unnamed, unknown forces to a duly elected POTUS. If you don't consider him to be an enemy of the American people then I don't understand your definition of the word enemy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/20/2017 10:29 Comments ||
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#5
To some of us they've been the enemy since 1987.
#6
Abu, your example of that prick Bill Kistol maybe valid. A bit melodramatic with the "declaration of war" stuff but non the less valid. But he is an individual. Let me cut to the chase. Vague demonization of a collective is a pillar of propaganda. And the bloggers assertion that President Trump's tweet is "100% correct" is demonstrably false.
#8
I don't have a problem demonising the media either.
The problem isn't so much it's agenda peddling, its that they are all peddling the same Left groupthink agenda. At least until the internet came along and the cost of entry for new media dropped dramatically.
What genuinely surprised me is recent surveys showing how little people trust the media.
#11
We had a joke when I was in the army around '92 that I heard.
If you see a guy with an RPG pointed at you, and you see a guy with a video camera, who do you shoot at first?
The media guy. They do more damage.
The media has not been an enemy to the American people, it has been an enemy to American ideals and values. The entire reason it exists is to convince the American public to march down their path and abandon everything that made this country exceptional.
Fortunately we have alternate news now and the MSM is realizing their hold on the public has been broken, most likely forever. They will get more and more unhinged and print more and more stuff to get the ones that follow them to rise up and create havoc, as they know they will disappear if they don't.
#13
(Homey) DepotGuy. I've noticed you are out there in outer space lately, out in the moonbat realm.
Several journalists were arrested during an anti-trump riot recently where rioters were smashing store front windows, you know, retail places where we get our paychecks.
In one major city, the major newspaper journalists called on Muslims to arm up against protesters of Islamic terrorism.
In the same city, the same news paper journalists wrote numerous articles smearing Christian churches throughout the city.
The Press is the Enemy.
Now if you want to keep kissing their asses, post pictures here.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.