Even though Fox News gave him the boot, George Will’s signature
trait — pretentiousness — is alive and well. In a recent column in
the Washington Posttitled
“Vote against the GOP this November,” Will outdid himself with a whole new
level of pretentiousness. One gets the distinct impression that his
greatest thrill in life is coming up with words that most people have never
heard of.
True, his
pretentiousness is phony and obnoxious. True, he has become a caricature
of the infantile whiners who failed to get their way in the last
election. True, his irrelevance has reduced him to a pathetic
figure. But before dismissing Will’s childish behavior out of hand, I
think it’s worth examining what his downfall and subsequent bitterness means in
the grand scheme of things.
Will is an icon
of the establishment that ruled Washington for decades, prior to the Trump
Revolution — perhaps, one might argue, since the very inception of the
nation. Those in the establishment have had their way for so long they
cannot bring themselves to believe they are no longer in control of things.
To them, the
Trump-inspired political earthquake is nothing more than a sociological hiccup
— an accident of history that occurs every 50 years or so. Just bide
one’s time, keep calm, hold the fort, and it will all melt away when people
finally come to their senses.
The late, great
Charles Krauthammer, one of George Will’s closest friends, was somewhat caught
up in the same normalcy-bias trap, though he had a much better grasp of reality
than Will. When I interviewed Krauthammer back in 2009, I found him to be
reasonable and thoughtful with his words, and, in an uneffusive and odd sort of
way, rather pleasant.
However, when
Krauthammer and I appeared on a panel discussion together for the second time
the following year, he was rather unhappy with my grouping Barack Obama in with
some of the more infamous dictators of our time. Obama is, after all, a
nice guy. Just ask Gentleman Mitt.
I mention my
brief interactions with Charles Krauthammer only to make the point that even
though he was unquestionably a brilliant, insightful, fair-minded man — not to
mention an incredibly brave one — he could not seem to comprehend the fact that
the political landscape was being paved over by a sea of fed-up, truth-telling
populists.
I thought about
all this in 2016 when Krauthammer said, “This is the strongest field of
Republican candidates in 35 years. You could pick a dozen of them at
random and you have the strongest cabinet America’s had in our lifetime.”
I wholeheartedly disagreed with his assessment but respected his opinion.
He then went on
to say, “Instead, all of our time is spent discussing this rodeo clown (Donald
Trump).” Still, no big deal, just his opinion. But when he went one
step further and complained that “No previous president has ever talked like
that,” it was a telltale moment for me because it showed that Charles
Krauthammer, a man who made it a habit to carefully measure his words, simply
was not able to grasp what was happening in America.
Clearly, it had
not sunk in with him that it was because Donald
Trump “talks like that” that he was elected president — even though Horrible
Hillary and the Dirty Dems, the FBI, the DOJ, and Never-Trump Republicans
illegally conspired against him.
More broadly, I
don’t believe Charles Krauthammer, notwithstanding his brilliance, could fathom
that because no one has had the courage to reign in the hateful rhetoric and
threats coming from the Radical Left, the door has been opened for them to take
the next step and resort to the kind of violence that could lead to a second
civil war.
The violence of
the Radical Left was on vivid display last week when Sarah Sanders, Kirstjen
Nielson, and Stephen Miller were confronted and harassed in restaurants and Pam
Bondi got the same treatment when trying to enter a movie theater. The
message was clear: Whatever it takes, “Nazis” must be forcibly prevented
from infecting the public landscape.
All this
reminds me of why I strayed from hard-line libertarian doctrine some years
ago. It was a result of my finally accepting the reality that there are
both evil and ignorant people in the world who delight in causing pain and
suffering to those with whom they disagree. When I use the word evil, it’s not
necessarily in a biblical context but, rather, a figurative way of referring to
people who enjoy seeing others suffer.
As to
ignorance, it can often lead to the same results as evil. The empirical
evidence makes it clear that a person who is ignorant but well-intentioned can
do as much harm to others as the person who is knowledgeable but
ill-intentioned.
Low-information
(i.e., ignorant) people provide the manpower for evil leaders whose objective
is to silence their perceived enemies. They are the useful idiots that
Vladimir Lenin spoke about so contemptuously in the early part of the 20thcentury, those lost souls
who provide crusaders with the true believers they need to carry out their
crusades.
They are
generally the kind of self-loathing zombies who became Hitler’s brown shirts
and Mao’s Red Guard. Today they fill the ranks of hate groups like Occupy
Wall Street, Antifa, and, yes, the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In other words,
history has taught us not to dismiss rank-and-file true believers as harmless
fools. No matter how ignorant they may seem, they are extremely dangerous
if for no other reason than they are guided by emotion rather than intellect.
Which brings me
to the Boy Scout Republicans — unprincipled toadys like Paul Ryan, Jeff Flake,
and Marco Rubio. These are the mental dwarfs who bray on endlessly about
“reaching across the aisle,” as though they believe their good-faith efforts
will make the Dirty Dems respond in kind. What they do not understand is
that reaching across the aisle does not work when those on the other side of
the aisle want to destroy you and everything you believe in.
As the Radical
Left ramps up its moral-superiority crusade to take out Trump and his
supporters, it will become ever more clear that their antics can end only in
one of two ways: capitulation by those on the right who disagree with
them (as has usually been the case in the past) or all-out civil war.
Which one is worse is subject to debate.
The only thing
we know for certain is that the Radical Left will never, ever back down.
Their hatred is too deep, their anger too raw, their ignorance too great.
And, make no mistake about it, the Radical Left now includes most of the
Democratic Party.
Also, never
forget that lurking in the background is the only president in history who
vowed to fundamentally change America, the only president in history to hang
around Washington after his presidency ended and actively try to undermine and
destroy his successor; the only president in history to offer such
violence-dripped gems as:
“We’re gonna
punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends,”
“I want you to
argue with them and get in their face.”
“If they bring
a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” (Maybe this is the best reason of
all to cherish the Second Amendment.)
I guess this is
what the oh-so-sweet and charming Mrs. Obama means when she says, with a
straight face, “When they go low, we go high.” Wink, wink.
It’s time to
face up to it: The Radical Left is at war with the rule of law, at war
with the Constitution, at war with civility, at war with normal, everyday
Americans. The only question that remains is: What will take the
Radical Left’s hatred and insanity to a new level and cause them to fire that
first shot at Fort Sumter?
Could it be
Donald Trump’s upcoming, ultra-conservative Supreme Court pick? We shall
soon find out.