Trump turns the tables on identity politics
The moronic Left failed to see that by favouring minorities they insulted the majority. Creating division instead of unity is their pernicious legacy
Identity politics is something usually associated with the left. Vice President Kamala Harris is often mocked by the right-wing commentariat as an identity pick.
Donald Trump’s choice of running mate – a working-class white man from a heartland state – was meant to underline the point, until Harris herself countered by selecting another working-class white man from the heartland. Senator Vance and Governor Walz spent last week in an amusing “hillbillier-than-thou” spat. “The hillbillies I grew up with didn’t go to Yale,” said Walz of Vance.
The American scholar Francis Fukuyama, in his 2018 essay Identity, traces the origins of identity politics to the mid-20th century evolution of Marxism from a theory in which social relationships are dictated by economic power in a society stratified by class, to a broader theory of inequality in which considerations other than purely economic ones determine relative power. Left-wing politics was no longer just about empowering the working class. Other disempowered groups – women, ethnic minorities, gays and other minorities – came increasingly to be its focus.
What started as an attempt – originating in particular with intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Herbert Marcuse and, later, Michel Foucault – to renovate Marxism, quickly moved into the political mainstream, as the aspirations of groups such as women’s liberation, the civil rights movement, Stonewall and others were embraced by liberal opinion. Identity politics became a liberal cause.
The social change that, in less than half a century, saw greater equality and better life chances for women and minority group members came, though, at an unexpected cost. As the claims of the previously disempowered were increasingly satisfied, working-class people – who were not thought of as members of a minority group – began to feel forgotten, as their traditional champions pursued equality for identity-based groups. As Fukuyama writes: “[t]he problem with the contemporary left is the particular forms of identity that it has increasingly chosen to celebrate. Rather than building solidarity around large collectivities such as the working class or the economically exploited, it has focused on ever smaller groups being marginalised in specific ways.”
As the empowerment of minorities enjoyed ever-greater success, so people from low socio-economic groups, with poorer educations and fewer life chances, came to feel abandoned. Not defined by a discrete identity, who spoke up for them in the Babel of minority voices? Meanwhile, they saw their traditional values ridiculed, their lifestyles scorned, their religious faith insulted. As the left celebrated inclusiveness, poorly educated working-class whites were mocked as rubes and rednecks. The Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel once described this as “the last acceptable prejudice”.
And so the narrative of victimhood – one of the main tropes of identity politics – came to be adopted by the right. To quote Fukuyama again, “Trump has played a critical role in moving the focus of identity politics from the left, where it was born, to the right, where it is now taking root ... What is notable ... is how the right has adopted the language and framing of identity from the left: the idea that my particular group is being victimised, that its situation and sufferings are invisible to the rest of society, and that the whole of the social and political structure responsible for this situation [read: the media and political elites] needs to be smashed.”
In his recent memoir Chasing Hope, the celebrated New York Times columnist Nick Kristof – a paladin of the liberal establishment – recounts visiting the poor rural community in Oregon where he grew up, and reflects on the conceit of the liberal elite: “[J]ust as it’s reprehensible for conservative Christians to stereotype gay people, it’s wrong of liberals to stereotype or mock people of faith ... Even before Trump, many rural people felt neglected and condescended to. They were poor, but what they wanted most of all wasn’t a redistribution of wealth but a redistribution of respect. They didn’t see why elite lawyers, investment bankers, professors and senators – or New York Times columnists, for that matter – should be looked up to, while farmers, truck drivers and factory workers who actually did tangible and important work should occupy a lower social tier.”
These are Trump’s people. As the Democrats abandoned the working class, the MAGA Republicans embraced it. The language of the Trump campaign is the selfsame voice of protest as that of the old left – a cry not just for equality, but for respect.
It shows how far the Republican Party has moved from being the party of Wall Street that at its convention last month, for the first time it gave a keynote speaking slot to the president of the Teamsters Union.
Disrespected and scorned by coastal elites now dominated by members of yesterday’s marginalised minorities, who have in many cases overtaken them in wealth and influence, the new Republican coalition is based on people who feel that they are the new disempowered. As they defend a shrinking political and cultural space, they have adopted the attitudes of identity politics: grievance, defensive self-consciousness, victimhood.
Trump is their champion because he poses as the victim-in-chief. The more his enemies throw at him, the better that pose works. Mithridates-like, every hostile occasion makes him stronger. Vance, introducing Trump at a rally a fortnight ago, said: “They couldn’t beat him politically so they tried to bankrupt him, they failed at that so they tried to impeach him, they failed at that so they tried to put him in prison; they even tried to kill him.”
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‘He Did It To Himself’: Retired Command Sergeant Major Slams Tim Walz For Misleading On Military Service
Retired Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate on the 2024 ticket, Saturday on “Fox and Friends Weekend” for misleading voters about his military service.
Walz’s claims about his military service and the timing of his 2005 retirement have come under fire since Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate Tuesday. The Harris-Walz campaign website has since corrected its original language calling Walz a “retired command sergeant major” to saying he “served as a commend sergeant major.”
Behrends ripped into Walz for being an “unforgivable coward” and quitting before his unit was deployed to Iraq.
“I would liken this to a coach coaching a team for 25 years, and then you’re finally in the Super Bowl. And then the Super Bowl is coming, and the coach says, ‘No, I’m out. I’m done.’ What does it say, what message does it send to a unit when a command sergeant major — I mean, command sergeant majors are a big deal. They block the sun. They’re the most important enlisted member of that unit. When a command sergeant major bails on a deployment beforehand, what kind of message does that send?” Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth asked.
“The message that it sends to me is, you know, turn around and run and just keep running. I mean, go crawl under a rock. Get the Hell out of here. Nobody even wants to mention your name again. You’re soiled, basically a traitor. You’re a deserter at that point,” Behrends said.
“The knowledge that you have at that point is very good because, I mentioned that with my family, this is like training for the Super Bowl. And then you’re one game away, and Tom Brady says, ‘Uh, sorry. I don’t wanna get hurt in this game, so you go play for me.’ It’s just absolutely ridiculous,” Behrends told Hegseth.
Walz retired in May 2005, two months before the unit received mobilization orders, according to the Minnesota Public Radio.
Behrends told Hegseth approximately 98-99% of those who were deployed after Walz departed echoed his feelings.
“A couple out there that have spoken out, saying ‘How could you do this to the guy’ and whatever. But he did it to himself,” Behrends said.
“All I am is the messenger. He made the message,” he continued. “And I just happened to be the one that God said, you know, you’re too dumb to keep your mouth shut, so go spread the word.”
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the GOP nominee for vice president, accused Walz of “stolen valor” at a Wednesday campaign event. Vance cited comments Walz made about carrying weapons of war in a war from a video posted Tuesday by Harris’ campaign headquarters on X.
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Israel Confirms Airstrike On Gaza School That Reportedly Killed Dozens, Says It Was Hamas Command Center
Israel confirmed an airstrike Saturday morning on what it claims was a Hamas command center “embedded” inside a mosque in a school compound.
Palestinian authorities, who were using the school as a shelter, said the airstrike killed 40 people, according to Bloomberg. Israel Defense Forces said an intelligence investigation confirmed the strike eliminated “at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists” and emphasized “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” before the attack.
“These terrorists operated in order to advance and carry out attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel from inside the compound,” IDF said in a statement on X. “The strike was carried out using three precise munitions, which, according to professional analysis, can not cause the amount of damage that is being reported by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza. Furthermore, no severe damage was caused to the compound where the terrorists were situated.”
The White House is “deeply concerned about reports of civilian casualties” from the strike, National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement Saturday. (RELATED: Kamala Harris’ Team Rushes To Downplay Claims That She’s Open To Discussing Israel Arms Embargo)
“We are in touch with our Israeli counterparts, who have said they targeted senior Hamas officials, and we are asking for further details,” Savett said. “We know Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of, but we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimize civilian harm.”
The strike “underscores the urgency of a ceasefire and hostage deal,” Savett said.
Local residents said Palestinians displaced by the war were using the school as housing, as the neighborhood was one of few remaining in Gaza City that was not destroyed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“The mosque and the first floor were targeted,” said 22-year-old Amro Selim, who lives next to the school, according to the WSJ. “I saw dead bodies over each other, body parts everywhere. A lot of them were children and women.”
Fadel Naeem, director of Gaza City’s al-Ahli hospital, told the Associated Press that the hospital “received some of the most serious injuries we encountered during the war.” Another witness, Abu Anas, told the AP the attack happened while people were praying before sunrise.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/08/10/israel-confirms-airstrike-gaza-school-hamas-command-center/
********************************************************US Women’s Soccer Team Silences Politically Incorrect Player
It's not mentioned below but I suspect that there is a strong lesbian element in women's soccer
For years, the U.S. women’s soccer team has been seen as a bastion of wokeness, perhaps most famously when Megan Rapinoe feuded with then-President Donald Trump.
But one new player suggests the team finally might be getting some ideological diversity.
Korbin Albert, a 20-year-old picked to be a midfielder for the women’s team for the Paris Olympics, is no Rapinoe, who was infamous for publicizing her woke views.
On her Instagram account, Albert’s bio proclaims “Jesus is [king],” using the crown emoji. Her main photo shows her with an American flag, and one of her pinned posts shows her and another young woman dressed in patriotic colors, holding up cowboy boots, and has the caption, “Dreamin’ in red, white, and blue”
She’s already proved herself in the Olympics, successfully scoring a goal during the Olympics match between the U.S. and Australian women’s soccer teams July 31. The final score was 2-1, the winning goal scored by Albert, who previously played for the University of Notre Dame and now plays for a Paris-based soccer team.
But Albert’s admission to the Olympics seemingly came at quite a high cost.
To use the language of the woke, she wasn’t allowed to speak her truth.
When Albert scored her winning goal, NBC commentator Jon Champion highlighted the “controversy” surrounding her. “For the all the pre-tournament controversy that surrounded her, team mates rush to her to share a memorable moment,” Champion intoned.
He’s not the only media figure to slap the “controversial” label on Albert.
The Associated Press reported in April about “a controversy over midfielder Korbin Albert’s social media posts,” while the New York Post headlined a June article, “Controversial USWNT star Korbin Albert named to Olympic team.” USA Today dutifully noted, “Albert became the center of controversy in March …”
So, what exactly did this young woman do? Well, the word “controversy” became glued to her when it emerged that Albert … held Christian beliefs.
The athlete reportedly liked a politically incorrect social media post and shared another one.
Albert also posted a video during the 2023 Fourth of July weekend on TikTok “showing her family taking turns stating that ‘their pronouns are U.S.A.’” according to The Athletic, a sports news site owned by The New York Times.
The soccer star reportedly also shared a video on social media of a person, seemingly in a church and wearing a “Jesus wins” shirt, discussing with regret how he had pursued same-sex attractions and a transgender life.
An X user claimed that Albert had liked a meme taking aim at Rapinoe, who had been injured early in her final game before retirement. “I’m not a religious person or anything, and if there was a God, like, this is proof that there isn’t,” a disappointed Rapinoe said about her injury at a press conference last year, according to Fox News. “This is f—ed up.”
The meme Albert allegedly liked said, “God taking time off performing miracles to make sure Megan Rapinoe sprains her ankle in her final ever game.” (If you’re keeping score, note it was Rapinoe who first decided to make her injury a chance to share her religious views.)
Albert’s social media activity drew notice, and a social media post from Rapinoe ranting about “the people who want to hide behind ‘my beliefs.’” Subsequently, Albert deleted some content and posted an apology that read in part, “Liking and sharing posts that are offensive, insensitive, and hurtful was immature and disrespectful, which was never my intent.”
But the apology didn’t appear to satisfy her critics.
Which says a lot about where we’re at in 2024.
For years, players in the U.S. women’s soccer team have been openly political.
Just to recap: Rapinoe refused to stand for the playing of the national anthem, citing solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick; said she would never go to the White House and feuded with Trump; and argued for the inclusion of trans players in women’s sports—a curious stance, given that the U.S. women’s soccer team lost to high school boys in a 2017 scrimmage.
She is gay and open about it, and when she was required to stand in later years for the national anthem, she refused to sing along or put her hand on her heart.
Nor was Rapinoe alone in her advocacy. In a 2022 game in Texas, about the time Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was taking action to protect kids from experimental medical treatment, “several USWNT players wore athletic tape around their wrists with the message ‘Protect Trans Kids,’” The Athletic reported.
Later in Florida, another state that has worked to protect kids, The Athletic reported that “[t]he players wore tape on their wrists again, this time with the words ‘Defend Trans Joy.’” In 2023, Becky Sauerbrunn, another player on the team, wrote a passionate opinion column for the Springfield News-Leader in Missouri advocating against a state bill that aimed to ensure only girls and women were playing in women’s sports.
Yet it is Albert whose apology tour has never really ended.
Fresh off her winning goal, Albert dutifully praised coach Emma Hayes’ “tough love” in remarks. Hayes in turn told the media, “We all know that she’s been through a lot with her actions, and she’s someone who is truly sorry for what she’s done … She’s had to do a fair bit of growing up.”
The message is clear: There’s no room on the U.S. women’s national soccer team for anyone who espouses different views on LGBTQ+ matters.
So, just to be clear, aside from the alleged liking of a social media post making fun of Rapinoe (whose comments about God also had arguably been offensive), Albert has never been accused of targeting any teammate or saying something to any individual deemed offensive. There’s no suggestion she was ever less than professional and polite to her fellow soccer players.
But she dared to think for herself.
And that can’t be allowed, apparently.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/08/09/korbin-albert-silenced-to-get-chance-to-play-womens-soccer/
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See
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