He now regrets attacking the Trump voters. Because it wasn't effective?
Telling voters they are moral ignoramuses is a bad way of getting them to change their minds.What were they seeing that I wasn’t?... What Trump’s supporters saw was a candidate whose entire being was a proudly raised middle finger at a self-satisfied elite that had produced a failing status quo. I was blind to this....
He was part of that "self-satisfied elite." Does he genuinely take responsibility for his failure to see from the viewpoint of the non-elite? Or is this a repositioning in the hope of regaining power over the deplorables?
I belonged to a social class that my friend Peggy Noonan called “the protected.” My family lived in a safe and pleasant neighborhood. Our kids went to an excellent public school. I was well paid, fully insured, insulated against life’s harsh edges.
Trump’s appeal, according to Noonan, was largely to people she called “the unprotected.”... Their experience of America was often one of cultural and economic decline, sometimes felt in the most personal of ways. It was an experience compounded by the insult of being treated as losers and racists —clinging, in Obama’s notorious 2008 phrase, to “guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.”
[T]hey had borne much of the brunt of the wars... the financial crisis... and then came the great American cultural revolution of the 2010s... It’s one thing for social mores to evolve over time.... It’s another for them to be abruptly imposed by one side on another, with little democratic input but a great deal of moral bullying....
I could have thought a little harder about the fact that, in my dripping condescension toward his supporters, I was also confirming their suspicions about people like me....
I'm not getting much more than regret for adopting a strategy that didn't work and isn't working. Will the "self-satisfied elite" ever get over its satisfaction with itself? How much losing will it take? And if they struggle to turn around only because they are losing, how can the turnaround work? The deplorables will still detect the bead of condescension dripping.
Posts
121 comments:
What a piece of shit.
(I want to link to the "bead of sweat" sequence in "Total Recall," but it's too violent.)
And a "bead of sweat" sequence from " 9 1/2 Weeks" would be too sexy.
I am Laslo.
A day late and a dollar short. Go join the rest of the Biden losers.
And you can kiss my wrinkled , old deplorable ass.
I am as "protected" as Mr. Stephens, if not more so, and I voted for DJT twice. Once reluctantly, the second time, enthusiastically.
Why?
Because I care about my country as much as I care about myself.
He still doesn't get it. "Proudly raised middle finger"? That's a lefty elite gesture. Trump did not seek to epater le bourgeoisie by casually throwing around obscenities.
'Twas the mainstream attitude in 2016, per Obama:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD3BOloZI_M
It might work on some of us deplorables. It won't work on me. The reason: he's at least ostensibly apologizing for being so dismissive of those voters, but he still apparently believes that the only reason Trump appealed to anyone was that proud middle finger.
Not gonna lie (as my kids say), I considered it a feature, even though I'm also part of the "protected." But it wasn't what made me vote for Trump twice. The first time, I didn't vote for him in the primary but voted for him in the general because he was the Republican candidate and, well, Clinton was going to win anyway. (What an astonishing night that was!) But the second time, I was Team Trump all the way because he - in contrast to all and any of the Democrats and indeed some of the Republicans - seemed to be willing to hew close to the Constitution, even though he took to Twitter to rail against stuff.
But Stephens still appears to believe that Trump, despite all his many actions to the contrary, was what his side, based on their actions, actually seems to want to be. And so not only do I not "forgive" him, but I will continue to vote against his preferred candidate, whoever that is. Even if he's turned over a new leaf and has learned to dab at the bead of condescension before it falls, he's still a self-deceiving poobah on the "ought" side of is/ought and not a journalist.
Maybe Bret Stephens and Gail Collins should discuss this topic in an exchange of e-mails, and then The New York Times should print that entire exchange on its editorial page.
That would be interesting to read.
Trump's appeal was that he was a straight-talking outsider who promised to put America first in his actions and who was the alternative to Hillary Clinton, one of the worst retail politicians in a generation who was/is as insider as you get and whose words and actions throughout her ~12 year government career indicated she'd put herself first.
Trump made promises during his campaign that he actually worked to deliver on. He didn't pivot, he didn't change. And he credibly did deliver on many of those promises. That is farrrr more than most presidents can claim.
He failed at many things and I don't want to see him President again personally, but those people who proclaimed his supporters the scum of the earth are themselves the scum of the earth. I want Bret Stephens to acknowledge not that he didn't understand it, but that he was actually the worst-of-the-worst type of person for the ideas he decided to commit to writing forever.
I lost friends over their proclamations that they can't be friends with a Trump supporter. Not because I'm some unabashed Trump supporter, but because I have no desire to be friends with someone who would espouse that idea as if it's some rational and normal way of rating and discarding friendships.
"Trump’s appeal, according to Noonan, was largely to people she called “the unprotected.”
Trump's main "appeal" in 2016 was that he wasn't Hillary. Lots of people who voted against him in the GOP primaries voted for him in the general. He promised to be better than the Dems, and he was. Then they started persecuting him. Trump's appeal became raising not just one both two middle fingers.
"in my dripping condescension toward his supporters, I was also confirming their suspicions about people like me"
It's who you are. A phony mea culpa only makes it worse.
"Will the "self-satisfied elite" ever get over its satisfaction with itself?"
Of course not. They are the anointed. They mean to rule.
Do you get a sense that BS has never talked to, say, an Althouse regular? That he and people like him are entirely ensconced in their bubble?
He's replacing his condescension for the "deplorables" with pity. It's not going to play any better. He and his fellow "protected class" people must at some point figure out that they are not, in fact, any better than anybody else, and did not get where they are due to any great moral superiority they have over others. He and his "class" do not have a monopoly on truth, and their world-view is not the only permissible, moral world-view.
And there are STILL Progressives blind to that. They are the establishment now. So much for Rage against the Machine....even THOSE guys joined with the Machine. Anybody who can't see it is blinded by the lies of the Propaganda media.
Donald Trump did some foreseeable appalling things during his stay in the oval office, but it's always going to be a mistake for someone like Bret to assume that the average voter sees everything he does, or sees it in the same light.
" It’s one thing for social mores to evolve over time.... It’s another for them to be abruptly imposed by one side on another, with little democratic input but a great deal of moral bullying....".
Seems like that slope has become steeper an slipperier lately.
Didn't read b/c of the paywall, but did he recognize his failing of 2015 is more pronounced than ever? Let's hope it is even more ineffective for the next few election cycles.
If a propagandist spews his bile and there's nobody there to see it does anyone give a fuck? Bret's whinge suggests the answer is 'no'...
Stephens is just smart enough to sense the Karma operating in the left's crack-up.
Your question, "How much losing will it take?" leaps off my screen.
The hubris of our institutions, at the height of our prosperity and apparent power, was huge. So the price we will have to pay could be equally substantial. The left has left the republic in the worst hands in history and they did it by cheating the majority. Their success could easily be devastating if it somehow remains in place too long.
I think it was effective, though, especially with suburban or college educated women and even some of the men in that same demographic. It was effective in encouraging those voters to see Trump and Trump supporters as the despicable "other" and to want to avoid being associated with them. The great unwashed, fine to have as a UPS driver or a warehouse employee keeping things moving during the great shutdown of 2020 but we certainly don't want those people in charge or having their preferred candidate in charge.
a repositioning in the hope of regaining power over the deplorables?
a little TOO Late... You're Dead to Me, Steve; or what ever your name was? I don't even care.
The text does seem less of "I was wrong about the deplorables" and more of "I was wrong to display my condescension about the deplorables."
What doesn’t get through his thick-headed elite skull, is that the Deplorables were right. And they don’t possess the unqualified fake credentialed arrogance of our current liberal totalitarian class; even the wealthy ones, evidence by embracing of the term DEPLORABLE. We’re not perpetually offended. We don’t sell our souls. We're just are good at recognizing and calling out obvious bullshit.
Even Althouse knows she can use the term “the Deplorables”, and her commenters won’t take offense. Damn right I’m a Deplorable
I’m also “unvaccinated”! Which should give you a little more insight about this crowd. We didn’t follow Trump down that rabbit hole. He’s not our god.
But now the Deplorables must be punished. And we are watching it happen in real time.
“Will the self-satisfied elite ever get over…?” Nah. By definition. That group forms and persists because —like the cool kids’ table in middle school— it is deeply insecure. It knows its achievements are as dust, and the harder it tries to gain status the more precarious its perch. Thus the ever-growing need to crap on the Deplorable Clingers. Who, unsurprisingly, notice. They notice not only that they are being crapped upon; but that the crapping is even less justified than usual, since their behavior is no worse (and usually better) than usual, while that of their tormentors is no better (and usually worse).
So here we are, with smug virtue-signaling “thought leaders” like Bret Stephens still cluttering the cultural highways and byways.
Any advanced society has and needs elites. If the elites become too incompetent, corrupt or are way out touch with the rest of society, then a day of reckoning will come. Trump was that reckoning.
About time that simple fact has permeated into the elite's bubble. Don't think it will do much good - the current crop of elites don't have the will or the smarts to right their course.
Typical Mugwump.
He was part of that "self-satisfied elite." Does he genuinely take responsibility for his failure to see from the viewpoint of the non-elite? Or is this a repositioning in the hope of regaining power over the deplorables?
It's a repositioning to try and get out in front of the "self-satisfied elite" and ride the next edgy wave. This will consist of telling the "self-satisfied elite" what pieces of shit they are because too many wannabes have jumped on board and it's no longer exclusive enough.
@TreeJoe "He failed at many things and I don't want to see him President again personally, but those people who proclaimed his supporters the scum of the earth are themselves the scum of the earth." That is exactly how I feel.
Omg, I just read the article. While regretting his initial remark, he declares that those who are not appalled by DJT *now* are appalling.
"in my dripping condescension toward his supporters" I think that actually shows some recognition of his own failings.
LOL! No one gives a fuck about Bedbug other than that his pronouncements are a likely contrarian indicator.
It must be eternally frustrating to people like Bret Stephens, after all this time, that he still doesn't get it, and even worse, that nearly everyone else does and at his expense, too.
He won't stop writing about it. And to paraphrase, "You keep writing about that. I do not think it means what you think it means"
Althouse writes, "The deplorables will still detect the bead of condescension dripping."
Wow. That's an interesting sentence. The condescension/condensation play is particularly effective -- more power in nine words than the hundreds of Bret Stephens' chucks of self-affirmation.
I'm protected now but wasn't when a new rush of immigrants swept over socal in the 60s and turned us into a low-trust society.
It was just too many, too fast.
it is to Trump's credit that his presidency caused the discovery of phony conservatives, RINOs and Republican Deep Staters. (see the Bush family, Bill Kristol and Bret Stephens)
Note that Trump was never politically extreme. He was practical and direct. That is why he left the Democrat party. He reluctantly joined the Republicans because third party candidates (see Ross Perot and Ralph Nader) do not fare well.
Trump is a threat to the elected fools who use their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their friends.
It wasn't "the worst line I ever wrote" because it's an unclever, labored piece of writing?
Peggy Noonan, who's about as elite as they come, made an effort to understand Trump voters. (I think that's why she followed me on twitter.) She mostly failed, but I give her credit for believing people were good and wise, even when they made choices that baffled her.
Bret Stephens has exposed himself as a loud and proud democratical supporter and is now embarrassed at being revealed as a typical pro-dem policy "republican failure theatre" idiot.
Worse still for Stephens and his ilk (Jonah Goldberg, Steve Schmidt, "confederate cooler" Rick Wilson, David "drag queen story hour is a blessing of liberty" French, Stephen Hayes and all the rest of the Bulwark/Lincoln Pedophile Project/75% of The National Review fakers) they now fully own the imposition of the entirety of the Biden/obama far left 3rd term which is clearly destroying America and delivered a Full Stasi-fication of our federal govt.
Now that it appears the republicans will likely return to power in Nov, these ForeverFakeCons must realize there are only so many lefty billionaire-funded "House 'Conservative'" (wink wink) FakeCon sinecures available and so some of these FakeCons are now desperately trying to claw their way back to the conservative side for monetary purposes.
Unfortunately for them, the jig is well and truly up and no one is fooled by them any longer.
Tucker Carlson's speech in Iowa this week explicitly called this group out for their intellectual and moral cowardice in always, ALWAYS, surrendering to the radical dems at the first sign of even mildly "intense" political confrontation.
The republican base will never again be fooled by the dem/uniparty types.
Sorry Stephens. Its time for you to fully embrace the reality of your exposed operational alliance with todays woke stalinists of the democratical party.
I hope all those articles Stephens penned over YEARS advancing the dems hoaxes and narrative lies along with the smug satisfaction of throwing 95% of the republican base under the bus at democratical "right think" cocktail parties was worth it!
Althouse said: "How much losing will it take?"
How is this elite class of liberals currently losing? They have high energy prices to promote their fake climate crisis to control more people. They have the J6 committee. Deplorables are being held as political prisoners. They were able to rig the 2020 election and get us all here. They’ve got their perpetual war running in Ukraine. Trannies are dancing for little kids in the name of equality and diversity. America’s cites are under their full control. Borrowed cash keeps flowing into Universities. You can STILL get an abortion. And if you’re a rich liberal pedophile who used Jeffrey Epstein’s services, the Justice Department isn't going to touch you. You can threaten violence upon anyone you want on Twitter and not get banned. Even threatening Supreme Court Justices is ok. Elite libs control public schools, colleges, MSM, Big Tech, Hollywood, music, TV...streaming content.
Sounds like a party. Can’t these people even enjoy winning??
Under which set of standards is Bret Stephens considered elite?
PatHMV writes, "He's replacing his condescension for the "deplorables" with pity. It's not going to play any better. He and his fellow "protected class" people must at some point figure out that they are not, in fact, any better than anybody else..."
On the mark, as far as it goes... however, authentic redemption will only come for Bret Stephens et al. by confessing their moral inferiority compared to the typical Trump voter.
Gusty Winds said:
But now the Deplorables must be punished. And we are watching it happen in real time.
7/21/22, 8:05 AM
Exactly. Look at how they are treating the American citizens who were ushered into the Capitol by the Capitol police on 1/6/21, vs the Colbert 9 who were kicked OUT of the Capitol numerous times by the Capitol police before they were finally arrested. Their charges were dropped. Not to mention the swat team arrests at 4 am with CNN in tow to record it all.
He's replacing his condescension for the "deplorables" with pity.
Pity and rage are the two ends of that side's spectrum, it appears. Either you can't help who or what you are and therefore deserve their pity, or what or who you are is self-evidently odious and you deserve their hate. Oh, I guess there's a part of the spectrum where you can't help who or what you are and therefore deserve their fawning accolades for your "bravery," but I think that's an offshoot of pity.
This is what happens when you decide that group identity, which I guess arose from their penchant for group action, is more important than the individual. Or consideration of others (not necessarily deferral to them, just a prosocial attitude that causes you consider the consequences to your community of being inconsiderate), or the rule of law, or unalienable rights, or any of that stuff that conservatives like because it's been demonstrated to work.
Excellent analysis. I think he's waiting for politics to go back to "normal" or "usual." We'd still be bitterly arguing about things, but the "protected" wouldn't feel threatened by the idea that they would be dethroned.
I think Stephens finally realizes the country is on the precipice. Bret, you and your band of merry elitists brought us here. That would be Noonan, Kristol, Jonah Goldberg.
It's a bit late for a mea culpa.
Elitist expresses regret at lessening his self-satisfaction.
A lot of comments indicate a sense that Stephens is insincere or condescending, maybe he is just being as bad as always, or maybe he's finally seen the light. If he keeps writing things like this:
"It’s one thing for social mores to evolve over time.... It’s another for them to be abruptly imposed by one side on another, with little democratic input but a great deal of moral bullying.... I could have thought a little harder about the fact that, in my dripping condescension toward his supporters, I was also confirming their suspicions about people like me."
I will be inclined to give him another chance.
Maynard: "Trump is a threat to the elected fools who use their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their friends."
And to the unelected suckups, like Li'l Bret, who are the mere lap poodles of the very same lefty funders and elected officials and serve them unabashedly.
Witness at 0753-
"Donald Trump did some foreseeable appalling things..."
Query what the foreseeable appalling thing are?
Trump surprised me on the downside- I thought as an experienced executive he would be better at picking subordinates and lieutenants than he was. He picked some real losers, to my dismay.
He surprised me to the upside with just about everything else. He didn't grab anyone by the kitten. He did say some things that were questionable but were blown all out of proportion by the Deep Press.
His foreign policy successes were unexpected (by me) and considerable.
Same for the economy and social issues.
Operation Warp Speed was for the time an unqualified and unexpected (by all the right people) success.
Oh, because Trump was racist, bigot, phobic, and deplorable? Because they say so?
I have pondered this mightily in the last couple of years. If one steps out of line with the latest doctrine, what is the penalty in terms of one's past? Must any academic, business or athletic awards be surrendered? To whom would they be surrendered? Required donning of a dunce cap? Surrender of all degrees above an associate level?
I was elected Phi Beta Kappa in 1973, and if I'm to be stripped of this membership, I demand an exciting public spectacle along the lines of the Dreyfus court martial!
If the Trump phenomenon was that Shaolin monastery in the TV show Kung Fu, Bret might at this point be brought in off the street, given a broom and told he could begin sweeping the outer courtyard. There he would remain for many years.
This guy Stephens has his thumb up his ass. Voting for Trump is not about Trump even more now than in 2016. Support for Trump as a middle finger to the self-satisfied non-elite elites like Stephens has coalesced into a positive political vision for America. It is inclusive participatory democracy that puts American interests first in all things. It seeks to lift up the citizens of America to greater economic status and to be their better selves. It protects the family as the foundation of society. It seeks to fulfill the vision of America of our Founders. Trump is necessary at this stage of development of that movement because of his strength and courage to push the agenda against the reactionary forces of the Progressive Marxist left and the uni-party right. New leaders like DeSantis are emerging to carry the movement forward after Trump. Supporters of the movement are trying to save America in the face of those who want to fundamentally transform America in a vain attempt to find the glorious socialist society or a nation-free globalism, or both.
I am protected but I despise people like Stephens because they are traitors to America. They are only focused on how good their ass feels with their thumb up it. It’s time to move forward and lift up the American people. This is why immigrants who come to America for the American dream like Hispanics are and will increasingly become a vital element of the movement. Make no mistake, people vote for Trump not for Trump but for the movement he embodies.
"I will be inclined to give him another chance."
dpb,
Stephens explicitly supported Biden's election. He now sees the shitshow it caused and is now attempting to retcon himself out of how we got here. A second chance for Bedbug? Well, if he resigns his position at the NYTimes, I might be persuaded to give him a hearing, though he will have to make a far more persuasive case than this essay managed.
Trump's crime is that he pulled back the drapes on those so called "Elites". He lived among them for so long that he learned their sickness and proudly shared it with America and the world. To believe that America savors this democrap dysfunction is the tell. Let the fentanyl roll in, your children will crave it.
Like sheep to the slaughter.
I'm listening to NYT's The Daily, an interview of the lead prosecutor for J6 committee Andrew Goldstein. They're going through the elements of the actual crimes they might charge Trump with.
It's not looking good! The facts just aren't there. "it's important to realize that there are difficulties here..." Plus, Trump's First Amendment rights, etc.
Still, it's all been a good exercise, better luck next time, etc.
NYT readers not happy! Tooooo funny.
Brett Stephens and Peggy Noonan were just two reasons I cancelled my long time subscription to the WSJ. When asked why I cancelled, I told them so. I will never go back. News and opinions can be had from so many other sources less biased and condescending.One alternative trusted source for me is ALTHOUSE.
dpb: "I will be inclined to give him (Stephens) another chance."
Yeah, he's changed. Besides, you pushed him to do it. You made him angry. It was your fault. Also, he has, sort of, promised to be better. You know deep down that he really loves you, so give him another chance. He would never hurt you. Really, its just "Johnson and this damn war"!
Anyone foolish enough to ever allow any of these court jesters back in after their years long public betrayal of everything conservative, deserves precisely what they get.
I didn't vote Trump in 2016 (honoring a personal pledge though I knew not getting my vote in KY likely wouldn't matter and if it did he didn't have enough support to be effective) but I did in 2020. I'll co-sign with West TX and others. I'm largely in the protected class but I think I get very well why Trump gets the support he does.
Thinking about it now, I'm not sure I still agree with Noonan's 'protected' vs 'unprotected' since there are many of us who are closer to her 'protected' category that are strong Trump supporters. I think it has far more to do with 'protectors' vs 'protected', i.e. Trump angers those people who think they are designing the perfect society for everyone and don't feel the people objecting have valid concerns about the direction things are going.
the middle finger is elongated for the pro-democrat hack press first..
I'll apologize here for the length. Read it or not, I don't care. I just had to get it out of me.
These people, none of them, get it yet.
"...was largely to people she called “the unprotected.” I am what they might refer to as the 'protected'. I'm not the wealthy, but I'm among the comfortable. And I voted for Trump- both times. So did my formerly Democratic voting wife. What's up with that? When you guys figure that out, you'll be at least on a path to understanding why the ground under you doesn't feel so solid any longer.
Our connection to Trump is that he saw and pointed out the swamp dwellers in both our government and the media. The corrupt, those who's vested interest was not this country, but their own status and power. We knew they were there but he kept fighting back against them. He was crass, crude, and many times, off-topic in his haste to hand out insults. But he was right in what he said and pointed out.
One need only to look at the carnage that is what is left of our country. Shall I list some of it here? Read the stories any day. We're sending billions to Ukraine- FROM BOTH PARTIES- and no one knows where it's ending up. In the meantime, Russia is wealthier than they have been in years, selling their gas all over the world. China is buying up our Strategic Reserves, while we let it dwindle down to dangerous levels. And yet we are not allowed to pursue our own energy, sitting under our own lands. Those same lands are being invaded from the Southern border- unchecked and dismissed BY BOTH PARTIES in an unrelenting assault on our culture and our very foundations. Not to worry, our military is 50% below recruitment levels this year and expected to be lower next year. Most of the young have no idea what this country is about, so why would they join a military to fight for it? And those who might consider doing so, are disgusted by the preening of Admiral Rachel Levine, the Woke Director Lloyd Austin, and the military's new direction for something called Social Justice. It's something I'm sure the Chinese are focused on as they build up their military to take us on.
Covid lockdowns have destroyed a generation. Covid vaccines have hundreds of thousands of serious adverse effect incidents that get zero attention. These will continue to play out on the populations of the world. In the meantime, the vaccines do not work. Covid- which was created by the Chinese with the help of US dollars, was sent out to change the world. They were successful.
The global economic downturn is working toward a collapse, as next comes another housing/real estate bubble bursting- both in the US and in China. This all started with Biden shutting down the US energy programs.
But Brett Stephens wants to apologize? F*** Brett and his entire group of constantly wrong experts. I'm tired of these people and I'm not alone. Trump was the one who pulled back the curtain so that we could all see what we already knew was happening. We cannot unsee what we've seen over the last 15 or so years.
This story is not over. It's just beginning.
Shorter Stephens:
Dear Battered Spouse, I can see my violence against you isn’t leading to obedience.
So Bret has evolved to the point where he cuts-and-pastes the “proudly raised middle finger” analysis Michael Moore gave us in October 2016. And he’s proud of how he’s grown.
Can we stop talking about Burt Stephens? He's a clown. Another neo-con mediocrity who keeps getting columns and jobs in the MSM because he's a warhawk and somesort of non-leftist.
Whether its Frum, Erickson, Kristol, French, Jonah Goldberg, or Jen Rubin, these characters keep popping up in the elite press and getting quoted even though they aren't really Rightwing or say anything interesting except "Lets bomb somebody".
Burt stephens supported Biden and Hillary. he's not rightwing or moderate or conservative. That he's now flip-flopping back to being quasi-conservative, is irrelevant. Once a neo-conman always a neo-conman
If voters are black or brown and vote for a democrat, they're exalted.
If they are blue collar whites and vote for a republican, they are mocked and scorned.
the "we will fundamentally change the United States", the "we will necessarily make fossil fuels more expensive". the "defund the police", the "white man bad" philosophy, the "we must teach kids about sex asap", the "we must nudge kids towards changing their sex" philosophy
I can go on
but those were the subtle clues I was paying attention to.
Inga, not so much. Trump lies. Thats her philosophy.
(Inga lies too)
Trump did some appalling things. Like what? Name them.
Tump is appalling. LIke what? Name them.
Just absurd insults that all the Power-elite constantly chant, lest they be thought of as *gasp* one of THOSE people. Trump supporters. How, icky.
It was interesting that bob wright in his latest DV, was amazed that Ross doughnut had taken the time to understand Trump supporters. "Wow Ross", said Bob, "aren't you afraid people will take that the wrong way and cast you out"? (paraphrased)
Spare me the condescending drivel! The difference between Trump and Biden is Trump was very successful running the country. Biden is an abysmal failure. That translates into the great unwashed people are just smarter than the overeducated elite.
"What Trump’s supporters saw was a candidate whose entire being was a proudly raised middle finger at a self-satisfied elite.."
Hey, Bret, that middle finger is still proudly raised to you and yours.
It is indeed a rare event when a target survives the journolistic scalpel, which must be celebrated in a publisher's parade full of em-pathetic appeal and braying in day after regrets.
There is some truth to the middle finger analysis. I remember vividly a televised press conference during the 2016 campaign when Trump hawked Trump steaks to the reporters. I laughed so hard I cried. And I think that was when I decided to vote for him.
In 2020 I voted for him based on his record and I went masked into the nearly deserted precinct station to make certain my vote was counted.
"Real estate developer" that grates on some sensibilities the way "community organizer" works on others....I voted for Trump twice, and with far more enthusiasm the second time. The success of his Presidency is far more glaring when put in stark contrast with the Biden flops and flounders.....When talking of "self satisfied elites", I don't think you can completely remove Trump from that classification. He's definitely self satisfied. I think, however, his self satisfaction comes more from being such an awesome guy than from membership in any protected class but he's definitely a member of the elite.....I only occasionally read columns by George Will, Peggy Noonan or Bret Stephens, but, in the past, they have hit upon insights that I agree with. They're certainly closer to my world view than, say, Krugman or Dowd. I wish Trump had more appeal to such conservatives.
I hate all the labeling of others; I say that as I just scrubbed the following of my own labeling.
Times were tough at the time of Trump's election, but what the powers in D.C. never realized was how many people with resources, no matter how scanty, were helping out family and community. The pain inflicted by Obama's policies reached up into the secure middle class beyond the obvious.
Middle finger, whatever. The country just worked under Trump. It's falling apart under Biden. No more analysis than that needed. But that's too low brow for Stephens, I guess.
I wouldn't give a damn about the "elites" if they would just leave the rest of us alone. But they're so effing smart they're going to remake the world. If they're not stopped, there won't be a world left to remake. Ask the Dutch. Or the Sri Lankans..
Bret Stephens is not in any way Elite
But he will perform menial tasks for the Dem/Blob Elite.
William: ".I only occasionally read columns by George Will, Peggy Noonan or Bret Stephens, but, in the past, they have hit upon insights that I agree with. They're certainly closer to my world view than, say, Krugman or Dowd. I wish Trump had more appeal to such conservatives."
The ENTIRE point is that any republican that stands up for and fights agressively for the republican/conservative base and puts America first WILL NEVER be appealing to the Noonan/Will/Stephens.
Ever.
And so we, on this side, say good riddance to bad "elite" rubbish.
Temujin @
7/21/22, 9:18 AM
Well said!! Hear!! Hear!!!
Temujin speaks loud and clear, for me and others. At election time we need a clean sweep, as best we can do with the candidates we are offered. We need extensive REFORM of our elections (one day to vote, absentee ballots for our overseas military and embassies only), dismantling of many of our bureaucracies(like Homeland Security) and all that are not controlled by our elected officials in Congress as a start.
So much has to be done.
What I propose would be a start to return to the Founding Fathers intent for a vibrant republic they envisioned.
But, what do I know?
Often these attacks come with an appeal to knowledge base. "I know better because I have a degree in ______ ". And "their knowledge base" is always assumed to be superior. The most conservative member in my family had a 40 career as a cardiac intensive care RN in major hospitals in a state capital, but constantly gets told she doesn't "understand health care in this country" by high school teachers with Masters Degrees - in majors not related to health care.
I'm appalled by the blatant cheating that went on during election night that the propaganda media covered up....https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/organized-fraud-election-workers-allowed-drag-backpacks-suitcases-rollers-bags-counting-centers-without-checked-philly-detroit-video/
Mr. Stephens could read Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Wolf, etc. and get even more insight into the state of affairs that drive voters to Trump. Those left-leaning writers are researching, digesting and sharing their mature and honest insights regarding the dishonest and fascist tendencies on the left.
I'm not getting much more than regret for adopting a strategy that didn't work and isn't working. Will the "self-satisfied elite" ever get over its satisfaction with itself? How much losing will it take?
I dont' know. Let's find out, by making them lose at everything until they finally get it, and change their behavior appropriately
Which means "vote Trumpist"
I am as "protected" as Mr. Stephens, if not more so, and I voted for DJT twice. Once reluctantly, the second time, enthusiastically.
Why?
Because I care about my country as much as I care about myself.
I'm reminded of Anne Applebaum, who wrote that she couldn't understand why some of her fellow "protected" elitists were for Trump. They weren't factory workers worried about unemployment and opiates, she wrote, so why vote for Trump? She didn't understand that they might have concerns larger than their own immediate personal or class interest. There's a lot that's "Marie Antoinette" about our elites.
Does Bret show a glimmer of self-knowledge, or is it just cunning, a retreat from one indefensible position to one he thinks more secure?
Bret Stephens could write. But his inner doofus took (and continues to take) control. I don't miss his columns once he fled to the NYT.
He would not give a shit if it was only working class whites, but the “Latinx,” now that hurts.
Witness said...
Donald Trump did some foreseeable appalling things during his stay in the oval office, but it's always going to be a mistake for someone like Bret to assume that the average voter sees everything he does, or sees it in the same light.
I congratulate you for so cleverly trying to reinforce your left wing bubble
1: EVERY President does some "foreseeable appalling things", so far as the other side is concerned. But I'm curious, what's more "appalling", the easily foreseeable inflation that Biden has inflicted on the US, or Trump's mean tweets?
2: Where Bret screwed up is in NOT seeing the things those voters saw. It is not the voters who screwed up by seeing the things Bret saw, and not giving a shit about them. It is Bret who screwed up.
Trump brought peace and prosperity to "the unprotected". They were entirely right to vote for him. Until Bret sees and understands that, he is still entirely deserving of the middle finger
Lurker21 said...
I'm reminded of Anne Applebaum, who wrote that she couldn't understand why some of her fellow "protected" elitists were for Trump. They weren't factory workers worried about unemployment and opiates, she wrote, so why vote for Trump? She didn't understand that they might have concerns larger than their own immediate personal or class interest. There's a lot that's "Marie Antoinette" about our elites.
When, like Anne, you're utterly lacking in empathy yourself, it's hard to understand its effects in others
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Kevin at 9:20 wins the thread!
I honestly don't care if Bret Stephens knows, can understand, or could ever comprehend voter support for Trump. The fact is, if Bret Stephens and his ilk were influential; then Trump never would have been President. They thought they regained their influence by helping get Biden over Trump, but now don't understand Biden's dismal approval ratings. Their interest in Trump now is to figure out how to rebrand Biden; but Biden is doing exactly what he promised to do.
Trump is a threat to the elected fools who use their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their friends.
That was part of why I voted for him in 2016. I considered it a brick through the window of Hillary and the corrupt "elites." Yes, I am "comfortable" and have multiple degrees but I am the first of my immediate family to graduate from college. I did not expect Trump to win in 2016 and woke up astonished. I was also pleasantly surprised by his conduct of the office. Yes, he picked losers for his cabinet but they were all that was on offer and he followed bad advice. The GOPe ran his administration and thwarted him at every turn. Still, he got a lot of good done.
I voted for him in 2020 and agree that the election was stolen. Some of it, the mail-in ballots, was beyond his power to stop but some of it should have been better anticipated. I read Kellyanne's book and it seems he got suckered by the "consultants" this time. Billions were spent early and they ran out of money before the end.
Scott Atlas' book explains how the campaign staff prevented a house cleaning of FDA and NIH. They were afraid to fire Brix and Fauci. Trump's instincts were right, like DeSantis' but he was surrounded by fools.
"It’s one thing for social mores to evolve over time... "
And it's another for perverted communist dirtbags to claim the right to castrate other people's children. Go fuck yourself, Bret. With the non-heterosexual implement of your choice.
And while I'm in the neighborhood, c'mon, Bret, tell us all the wonderful things the Clinton Foundation has done with the hundreds of millions in grift the Evil Whore collected from foreign oligarchs while she was selling us out as Secretary of State.
If you don't find Hillary Clinton utterly appalling, you're appalling.
So if Peggy Noonan says it (more or less correctly) that is wisdom.
But no credit to Donald Trump, the billionaire who understood it better than any of them, and actually did something--more than anybody else--to fix the problems.
Such statements are the bread and butter of his ilk. And they are effective on the college-credentialed who were driven by the empty ambition of acceptance into "polite society". After all, if the NY Times does not approve, well, you'd best not either if you want inclusion in the non-diverse, inequitable 'elite'. And it worked in 2020, assuming we trust the results, or at least enough to get around the vote to the electoral college.
I think this what happened with another Bret, Bret Baier, when Fox rushed out with their Arizona prediction. It was reported with such condescension. It was clear that it was the outcome the Fox election prediction team wanted. So people doubted it was sincere and not an attempt at manipulation.
But how many of the college-credentialed whites in suburbia have had the experience of the young woman and her car registration from lastnight's Tik Tok videos. Elections have consequences.
Couple of comments:
The protected think sufficient accumulated classroom seat time to qualify for a Bachelors Degree is the equivalent of education and wisdom and knowledge and without which you lack all.
Happened to read not so long ago that there are 85,000 farms in Iowa, averaging $2,500,000 in value. Somebody running that tough, dangerous business, dependent in part on foreign and thus uncontrollable issues....doesn't know anything because he doesn't have a degree in....
To give Noonan one break: Shortly after 9-11, she wrote "Welcome Back, Duke".
https://www.elitefitness.com/forum/chat-amp-conversation/welcome-back-duke-67711.html
And so we have, recently, a Good Samaritan with a pistol who saved innumerable lives and a random pizza delivery guy who raced into a burning building to rescue a family.
And Riley Howell and Kendrick Castillo-- sharing the pronoun "who?" and Xander Vento. Aka "who?"
The unprotected know their brethren. Which is a problem for Stephens and a good many like him.
A short essay by Walter Kirn on the 'self-satisfied elite' (Overclass Elegy) that BS is a member of, from my inbox this morning.
It’s a milieu so pitilessly, exhaustively, and unendingly fictionalized and dramatized (even to this day; see Jonathan Franzen) that one is amazed it can still bear to exist, let alone take its own existence seriously, let alone demand that the rest of America and, indeed, the world take it as seriously as it takes itself.
"Trump is a threat to the elected fools who use their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their friends."
Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
I voted for him in 2020 and agree that the election was stolen.
Trump lost for a simple reason. We the people voted him out of office.
A lot of dead people and illegals voted him out of office. Be real. The Democrats cheated. They plan to cheat again. It is in their nature.
Heywood Rice said...
"I voted for him in 2020 and agree that the election was stolen.
Trump lost for a simple reason. We the people voted him out of office."
You and 81 million other morons.
You owe the country an explanation. And oh, yeah. Fill my tank.
I hadn't looked the NYT before reading here and commenting, earlier, but now that I have done so my irritation is aroused by the format in which the eight essays are presented, with their fake woke work-and-self-care self-righteous 'cover page'. "Public self-reproach", my foot.
But here at Times Opinion, we still hold on to the idea that good-faith intellectual debate is possible, that we should all be able to rethink our positions on issues, from the most serious to the most trivial. It’s not necessarily easy for Times Opinion columnists to engage in public self-reproach, but we hope that in doing so, they can be models of how valuable it can be to admit when you get things wrong.
The Times seems to be doing everything it can to dissuade me from looking beyond the puzzles and the occasional culture/arts articles.
We the people voted him out of office.
No. You didn't.
You shut down five swing states at the exact, same time. Then you kicked out all the poll watchers. Then, you started counting again and miraculously had Biden in the lead when you updated the vote totals three hours later.
You didn't vote him out of office. You fucking cheated.
Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
Really? Is that because of all the cancelled bookings and boycotts of his resort properties?
Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
I see this a lot from lefties. Any evidence or is this another empty assertion?
My evidence is that being president cost Trump billions.
Blogger Heywood Rice said...
I voted for him in 2020 and agree that the election was stolen.
Trump lost for a simple reason. We the people voted him out of office.
"We the people" who printed up those mail-in ballots.
"Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office."
OK, I'll bite. Can you provide anything to back up that assertion?
The Dims misunderestimate Trump's ability to Garner ratings by saying emotional catchphrases the red state people want to hear. They focus on the show not the slice of the vast audience they need to peel off.
we's powerful happy y'all feel that way, Massah Bret.
As long as y'all feel better about it now, thass the important part. Don't mind us.
It reminds me of the story of the man who treated everyone around him horribly, and yet he still didn't get what he wanted out of life.
Then one day he had an epiphany: "From now on...no more Mr. Nice Guy...!"
(Eaglebeak)
Just as Beasts of England said--by what standard is Bret Stephens elite? I'll put my "elite" against his "elite" any day--except I'm too well-bred to discuss it.
Robert Cook said...
"Trump is a threat to the elected fools who use their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their friends."
Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
What proof do you have of this?
Just like the Biden supporters you know you are just a liar and full of shit.
You throw this assertion out there as if it makes it true, but you are just an empty hack.
Cookie: "Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office."
By.......?
To the tune of......?
Cookie will forever be the Althouse commie Underpants Gnome:
1) Steal underpants
2) ????????????????
3) Profits!
Howard said...
The Dims misunderestimate Trump's ability to Garner ratings by saying emotional catchphrases the red state people want to hear. They focus on the show not the slice of the vast audience they need to peel off.
We know how stupid you Biden supporters are. We know you expect to get screwed by the people you vote for.
It goes with being a stupid democrat voter.
When Trump was president our wages went up and our food was getting cheaper and gas was half the current price.
Our lives were noticeably better in every way.
But you Howard are just an idiot who projects his own stupidity on to others.
Can he smell me at Walmart?
Or is that superpower reserved for agents of the American Stasi?
This column is yet one more in the countless list of facts showing that this entire so-called elite class needs to be thrown into the street.
There is no profanity strong enough to accurately describe them.
"Moral ignoramuses?" Really? That's the real Stephens, isn't it? Part of the most immoral journalistic, elite, and political classes in my lifetime. Evil, baby-killing, pedophile-embracing, grifter-electing putzes who care nothing for their countrymen.
Podhoretz said of Trump that he is "an unworthy vessel chosen by God to save us from the evil on the left." Exactly right!
The left and anti-Trump right has yet to really understand that the reason people went for Trump is that these people had given up on *them*.
Robert Cook said... Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
And are you outraged about the Biden family corruption? The most recent Pelosi family insider trading? If not, its just politics to you.
According to the NY Post, 8 MY Times columnists admitted they were wrong today.
The “I Was Wrong” series covers inflation, Al Franken, capitalism, the power of protest, Trump voters, Chinese censorship, Facebook and Mitt Romney.
The Times says:
Our columnists did their research. They read, watched, talked to the experts. They formed an opinion and wrote about it.
They were wrong — and they’re telling you why.
Does anyone really believe that they did all that work? The pleasure of being a columnist is that you can just shoot off your stupid opinion without doing any of that hard stuff.
I'm with Temujin the the others. Trump was more than an upraised finger though he was often that and God bless him for it. Trump had a program which he kept explaining - better treaties, use fossil fuels, appoint pro-life judges. In power he carried it out and his difficulties exposed the deep state while his successes showed that America's problems were coming from the programs of the elite. (Finger up.) But the point is the man had a program and it worked. Biden repealed that program and it hasn't worked. And all a bead-of-condescension (great phrase) can think of is that 45's supporters wanted to give the cool kids like Brett Stephens the finger.
What do I want? I want to see Biden spend the same amount on energy and food this year as he did last year. If that means Biden can only go to Rehoboth once a month, if that means that the White House and the J6 committee sets its air-conditioning at 80, well, welcome to the world you made. Not so cool, is it?
But really what I want is to see people elected with better ideas than the Dems. I know of someone who has better ideas and I know they work. Plus merely by existing he makes the air-conditioned elite feel as if he's giving them the finger 24/7 which is very energy-saving.
I really didn't pay much attention to politics in the80's and 90's, too busy trying to make a life for myself and those around me. The Magic Negro's election opened my eyes. I realized they hated me and people like me. It has only gotten worse. I will never forgive them. My fervent hope is that a reckoning is coming. I want to see fear in their eyes and hear in their words.
I really never paid much attention to politics in the 80's and 90's. I was too busy trying to make a life for myself and those around me. The election of the Magic Negro opened my eyes. I saw how much they hated me and those like me. I'll never cross the aisle, never be civil to those assholes again. I want a reckoning, one that puts fear in their eyes and their words.
Trump reported that he lost $2 billion in net worth while he was president. I have not heard or read of anyone proving him wrong.
"I really didn't pay much attention to politics in the80's and 90's, too busy trying to make a life for myself and those around me."
This is the difference between conservatives and progressives. Conservatives are busy looking out for their family/friends while progressives are busy trying to rule over conservatives.
Robert Cook said...
Ha! Trump and family greatly enriched themselves by means of his office.
I note multiple people have asked for any evidence to back this up, a dn none has been provided
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