Rival protesters in Kentucky over the summer. Photo by JEFF DEAN/AFP via Getty Images
Is America splitting apart? Just a few years ago it would have seemed an absurd idea. Today the signs from the outside do not look good.
Take the events of recent months. In almost all of the world’s democracies, the immediate reaction to the Covid pandemic was an uptick in public trust in, and support for, their governments. Countries like Britain — said to be hugely divided over recent years — suddenly turned out to have significant secret wells of public trust in the authorities. A consensus grew around what was the best way to deal with the outbreak, based on the advice of the country’s leading scientists.
The Government (and a Conservative one at that) ordered everyone to stay in their homes and the public followed its orders. The Government told all young people not in a committed relationship or living with their partner to engage in months of chastity. And they did. If you had suggested this time last year that a Conservative Prime Minister — and Boris Johnson of all prime ministers — could have successfully ordered the youth of Britain to take up celibacy for the summer you would have been adjudged mad. And yet they did it; as did the public in democracies all around the world. Except for one.
The consensus and unanimity we saw in the spring may be splitting apart now, but it is worth recalling how impressive it was while it lasted.
Only America was exceptional, a land where even the arrival of a deadly global pandemic could not unify the nation even for a moment. Indeed, from the outset of the crisis American society polarised along the same political grooves that it has been stuck in over recent years, and it got worse.
People who supported the President broadly went along with his strategy, if he had one. Those who opposed him — not least a near totality of the American media — continued to find new arguments and justifications for saying that he did not deserve to govern, or to blame him for every aspect of the disaster.
Of course, this is an election year in the US, so perhaps it was inevitable that the pandemic and politicians’ reactions to it would be judged in this light. It is conceivable that if Britain were on the cusp of a General Election, or another vote on our membership of the EU, the spirit of co-operation between front benches might have lasted less time than it did. Perhaps Ms Sturgeon would have been even more on manoeuvres than she was, had she spied another independence referendum in under two months’ time.
But while it’s certainly arguable that Trump has aggravated America’s problems and divisions, he certainly didn’t create them. The divide long pre-dates him and has grown and grown in recent years, to the point where the different parties look increasingly irreconcilable. That is because these divisions go right to the core of what it means to be American.
When Eric Kaufmann recently carried out opinion polls on self-described “liberals” in the US, the results were startling but not surprising. For instance, around 80% of respondents said that they would approve of the writing of a new American constitution “that better reflects our diversity as a people”. A similar number said that they would approve of a new national anthem and flag, for the same reason.
And over the last few months, some of the more activist section of the American “liberal” tribe have taken matters into their own hands, with statues pulled down across the country, not just of Confederate generals or people associated with the divisive elements of American history, but men who once united the American public. Who once represented and defined their shared history as a great nation.
When statues of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are pulled down, this no longer looks like a critique of certain aspects of American culture: it looks like an attack on the American Founding story. When senior Democrats like Tammy Duckworth — who has served in her country’s military — refuse to condemn attacks on statues of the Founding Fathers it becomes clear that this attitude is not confined to some street-protest fringes.
Nor is it limited to the fringes of the American media. Last year’s 1619 Project aimed to move the founding of the America nation back from the moment when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, or when the Pilgrim Fathers left England in 1620: instead, the true founding date of America would be when slaves from Africa were first brought into the continent.
The goal is obvious and stated: to make slavery the defining, foundational issue of the republic. It would force America to be forever mired in the subject, a wound picked open on a daily basis. The 1619 Project is a deeply radical — and not very rigorous — historical project whose founders have encouraged the pulling down of statues and other direct action against the founding images of the republic.
Yet 1619 is not some fringe obsession on some obscure anti-American blog, but a prestigious rolling project started by the New York Times. Although the Times spends a great deal of time obsessively attacking Britain — the latest piece bemoaning the state of bridges in the London area — its real target is closer to home, its aim being to unweave the fabric of America.
There was a time when American anti-Americanism of this kind (analysed by Jean-François Revel, among others) was the preserve of a relatively small group of people, largely products of a few liberal universities.
But the events of recent months have revealed to even the most complacent observer that once-fringe ideas have spread out across the nation. And unrest like that which occurs nightly in Portland, Oregon, is concerning not because it is pointless but because it has a point. It has an aim. The protestors who have managed to get away with criminal acts night after night justify their violence not just by claiming that they are hunting down the apparently vast number of Nazis who inhabit their ultra-liberal state. They justify it by claiming that the republic itself is irredeemable: irredeemable because it is racist and irredeemable because it is founded in slavery and oppression.
Time and again in recent months it has become clear that the aim of many of the protestors is not to upgrade America — but to completely change it. Such people appear to labour under the misapprehension that if only they could get rid of everything to do with the country that they inhabit then they would live in a state of equality, liberty and bliss.
It is tempting to compare this error of thought with the misapprehension enjoyed by Kant’s dove, but if the protestors in Portland were offered the comparison, they would doubtless shoot it down by identifying it as yet another example of white supremacy.
It is becoming harder to communicate across the gulf, as, increasingly, the two Americas cannot consort or discuss with each other. And if there is one reason above all why that should be the case it is because they no longer have a shared story.
A portion of the American people still revere their history, the Founding Fathers, the constitution, flag, anthem and much more. They see it as symbols of a glorious past, a country which has fought for its own and others’ liberty, and the once-admired idea of American exceptionalism.
Another portion believe that America is exceptional only in being exceptionally bad. Rather than thinking well of their country or their forebears they see the whole American experiment as unusually unfair and uncommonly unequal. When a poll came out earlier this week suggesting that a majority of Americans had very little idea of what the Holocaust was, many people highlighted it as an example of American ignorance. In reality, most populations are ignorant of what has occurred in other countries (and indeed the poll was largely misreported).
Nor is it unusual for a population to be ignorant about large chunks of its own history. What is unusual, and odd and unhealthy, is for a large portion of a country to only have one set of ideas about their country’s past, and for all of those ideas to be negative.
Between these two positions, it is exceptionally hard to see how any consensus can be achieved. People like to pretend that if their candidate wins the election in November, the divisions in American society will stop. But they will not, because the divide now lies at the most fundamental, tectonic levels of the republic, about who the country is.
Historically speaking, such a divide will inevitably escalate into increasing violence and even civil war, unless stopped by some great unifying force that goes beyond party politics or identity. But there is no sign of such a thing on the horizon.
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SubscribeThanks Mr Murray for a timely article reflecting on the current state of affairs in the US. It’s sad to see a great country apparently tearing itself apart. As you have pointed out here and elsewhere, there is no sign of a great unifying force which could bring all parties together. And if the election is won by a small margin – by whichever party – the losing party is unlikely to accept the result, and will carry on the civil war, declaring that it was won by illegal means.
We’ve had a small example of that here, over Brexit, and there are still many people who can’t or won’t accept the result.
Whilst it’s heartening to see the moderate, reasoned, views of US black cultural commentators such as Coleman Hughes and John McWhorter, who dislike BLM and are critical of the support various Democrats have given to the chaos inflicted by the movement in many US towns and cities, I get the impression they are in the minority. The BLM juggernaut has thoroughly infected the institutions and the press, and continues to promote anarchy and mob rule. They appear to hate their country, seeing fascists and racists everywhere. It’s madness.
thanks for the tips – I’ve only seen John McWhorter on YouTube conversations, never read his books.
BTW Coleman Hughes is very good on facts and statistics re police shootings in the US.
Yes, Coleman Hughes is excellent. Of course, i always want to call him Coleman Hawkins.
but my guess is that you will never see Hughes et al on UK mainstream TV.,
What they say ‘doesn’t fit the narrative’.
Hughes and McWhorter are not struggling with their identity.
They are Christians, and part of a small c conservative movement that brought in civil rights. Thus they can see themselves as fully black, and fully republican, and fully American.
Remember that identity is about answering the question “Why am I, as part of Us, good, potent, and necessary?”.
The origins of the Black American identity crisis come from the creed that through hard work and talent, Americans can, like their forefathers who came to these shores to seek a better life, attain the American dream, and the self respect that comes with it. But Blacks and native Americans aren’t part of that narrative.
This identity crisis was probably fuelled accidentally by Obama. He was a statesman, and effective, but, crucially, didn’t tell Black Americans who they were, and how they fitted into the American dream. I think that, subconciously many Black Americans felt that they would be able to square that circle by the end of Obama’s tenure.
Trump, with his MAGA slogan, fuelled the crisis. I think he truly doesn’t know why half of America hates him. I believe it is because of the “again” in the slogan. It didn’t offer a solution to the identity crisis.
Once you have everything you materially need, the American dream cannot help you. The identity question “I/We/Americans are good because…?” is getting harder and harder to answer.
White, middle class, anti-Trump Americans are trying to profit from this crisis, hoping the Blacks will rise up on their behalf in the same way that Citizen Smith hoped that the proles would rise up, and rescue him from his middle class nightmare.
Luckily for them, Coleman and Hughes, rooted in their identity as the ideological descendants of Dr. King already know why they are good, potent, and necessary. They can stand to the side and observe this mess clearly.
thanks for the interesting comment
“there is no sign of a great unifying force which could bring all parties together.”
So a “unifying force” will need to be manufactured.
I fear that in time, it will be the Jews who are used and blamed by both sides for all America’s ills.
Good leaders must offer the possibility for consensus -as you infer, in desperate times, consensus can also be manufactured in thoroughly nefarious ways too. I think this is what currently makes us most vulnerable. I’m not sure it will be the Jews -scapegoating ‘them’ seems non viable as recent history is pretty well embedded in the culture. I think it’s more likely to be white men with no distinct cultural identity ( that is, no ideologically accepted ‘excuse’ or modifier for their whiteness), and there’s plenty around at the moment to show this is already happening.
Yes, in my own work environment I sometimes hear quite blithely that someone or other is problematic because they are a ‘white male’, everyone nodding in agreement. Then they look at me and say, ‘oh, we don’t mean you’.
The Jews are already blamed in part by BLM which has certainly elements of antisemitism at its core. Also, all Jews in the US are now categorised as white and therefore as ‘oppressors’ . However, whilst they they are in the ‘mix’ as it were, I think its rather a stretch to say they will be blamed by both sides for everything.
Really? Its always worked before.
Off course, who else to blame?
Over the last 10 or 20 years, journalists as a group have revealed themselves to be the most gullible, stupid people on the planet. Time and again, en masse, they celebrate this or that person, or herald a new dawn in this or that region or country, or predict this or that disaster. And they are always, always wrong. They are such useless people.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
H. L. Mencken
The same can be said for the media – if it bleeds, it leads.
You are correct to use the word “perhaps” when talking about ISIS. Despite some spectacular, not to say bestial killings, they have proved to be worthless cretins, reduced to using bread knives and white vans in the last London attacks, for example. Truly Pathetic!
As for Manchester, slightly more high-tech, but again a despicable slaughter of the innocent, that has only served to vilify the name of Islam for evermore.
Do none of them (ISIS) know their own history? If they were to emulate the “Assassins ” of the 13th the century, they might just even get somewhere. However that would be far, far too difficult wouldn’t it?
However let’s be pragmatic. After the victory in the ‘Cold War’ against an ossified USSR, ‘we’ desperately needed a “new” enemy to justify massive defence spending. Fortunately, ‘Islam’ was bovine enough to offer itself as a “lamb to the slaughter”. Bravo!
Now, however ‘we’ must turn our attention to serious stuff, the ever present danger that China represents. Failure here could be serious indeed.
,
A lot of people have said that the worst thing would be to have the election won by only a small margin. I think the worst thing would be to have the election won by a clearly demented old fool who, when he was more in possession of his faculties, helped to break up Ukraine so he could make his son a Ukrainian oligarch. I would settle for Trump winning a narrow victory in the electoral college with three or four million fewer popular votes to prevent that from happening. It is hard to see any future for the US if someone as obviously incompetent to be president as Crazy Joe Biden is elected.
I think there will come a point when Americans have to choose between the ideas that Western civilisation produced like rationalism, liberal democracy, property rights, the rule of law and freedom of conscience, thought, expression and religion; ideas that give people freedom and choice and offer the best way for anyone to reach their full potential and also give dignity and equal worth to every individual OR the new postmodern Neo-Marxist ideas like Critical Theory where everyone is either an oppressor or a victim trapped in an endless struggle. I’m fairly confident that when this time comes and people have to pick a side they’ll pick the ideas their Founding Fathers believed in because the alternative is chaos and destruction and many Americans fled to the USA to escape that sort of life. I don’t think the radical left and the bored young people pretending to be revolutionaries make up the majority of Americans even though they’re getting all the attention at the moment.
Sadly, we are also having to make that choice here in western Europe.
Please God, let them/us make the right decision.
Your description of critical race studies there, an accurate one, puts me in mind of Nazi ideology. At least the endless struggle between the races, part.
It’s not just attention. The ideas underpinning everything, Critical Race Theory, oppressor / oppressed narratives, identity politics, etc. has and is rapidly running through all institutions. Some of it recently out of knee-jerk fear, but the bulwark of theory and justifications have been embedded for years or decades, which provides fuel and confidence to the activists today. It’s not America, but where I work in one of the ‘colonies’ has been undergoing a thorough process of ‘indigenization’ which applies Critical Race Theory at all levels. As far as I can see, everyone just goes along with it as though it’s a benign form of ‘progress’. The degree of questioning is close to zero, or if it is higher, no one dares challenge it.
Douglas Murray it seems to me has neglected to mention the elephant in the room: the recent relative breakdown of law and order in America. Covid and lockdowns have added fuel to the flames.
Great differences of opinion can be accommodated and normal life and most importantly normal economic life continue provided that law and order is maintained. Covid has in itself been a great disrupter. Add a forthcoming divisive election to the mix and we have trouble. That America continues to function as well as it does despite almost giving its citizens license to riot could be seen as an indicator of its underlying strength. There is a large silent majority puzzling over what to do next and where and even how to cast their ballot.
The culture wars have been weaponised by politicians for although not exclusively for electoral gain. It is often euphemistically referred to as shoring up your base. Unfortunately in unscrupulously shoring up their base such politicians destroy a more important base, the basis for democratic politics itself.
The very ideas that legitimise the enlightenment and underpin liberal democracy have been and are being called into question. Truth is no longer something to which we are beholden. On the contrary it is beholden to us, who ever “us” happens to be. The recent efforts to delegitimise the electoral process are more of the same.
Without law and order the way back cannot even begin. The “broken window” theory applies to the current unrest in America. The absence of law and order both encourages and legitimises polarisation and ensures that more reasonable voices are drowned out. Mobs have little interest in truth although you might say that truth is interested in them.
The current divisions in America can I believe be contained. But a necessary condition for that is the reestablishment of law and order. The other task is to take on the ideas that are driving the counter-enlightenment madness. Douglas Murray is to be congratulated for his contributions to the latter.
As I see it here in America there is no way back to law and order before November’s election. The violence spawned by ANTIFA, BLM and etc is paid for by very wealthy globalists and is used by the Democrat left as a weapon and a threat in an attempt to bully the population to vote for them.
Trust me on this, every Democrat candidate is fervently wishing for Trump to try to impose Law and Order which will advertised as proof that he has been a jackboot authoritarian and Fascist all along.
As for the election, it could in itself be seen as a coup attempt without exaggerating much. Many of the Democratic controlled states are ramping up the Covid fear, and then offering up dangerous schemes that put the concept of fair and transparent elections to shame. Claiming it is too dangerous to get out and vote (though apparently not to protest and riot), a common scheme is to simply mail out ballots to every address listed on the voter rolls. What could go wrong with that? No chain of possession, no ID, no eligibility check? The bottom line is that if Trump appears to win, they will be finding “lost” ballots in these heavily Leftist places until he doesn’t.
As an American, it seems to me that we are already fighting a civil war…it just hasn’t gone full blown yet. If Trump somehow wins, maybe we can get back to law and order.
If Biden wins, the Marxist left will cast him aside and go full steam ahead into anarchy within a few months.
There is something about all the guns in the US that I think is often misunderstood.
There is of course some criminal gun violence. But it is not the criminals that own the vast majority of guns. It is the conservative and patriotic “silent majority”. The Founding Fathers insisted that we keep them for just such an eventuality as this.
I’ve seen it argued, very plausibly, that there is a whole raft of far left politicians behind Biden, waiting to exert their influence, if not take over, if/when he wins. The fact that there are women such as ‘The Squad’ (all Israel haters and anti-Semites, for one thing) waiting in the wings is alarming. But of course they are media darlings, glamourous women, featured admiringly in fashion magazines.
I’ve also seen plenty of videos of the BLM/Antifa violence, posted on YouTube, together with plenty of evidence that the Democrat Mayors in these towns and cities have been actively encouraging the violence and denigrating the police.
But hey, Trump’s a fascist, everyone knows. In any case, these are peaceful protests, aren’t they.
Yes Frances. The only explanation for Biden as a candidate is as a placating device, a Trojan horse. Non threatening Uncle Joe Biden is cover for some seriously deranged socialists, end of times climate nutters, anti white racists and, perversely, corporate globalists.
If Trump wants to win the election he would be foolish if he were to take the law and order bait before the election. See Douglas Murray in interview with Joe Rogan on just how difficult it is to combat the scourge of this new orthodoxy https://youtu.be/t7uqHosIj4s about half way through indeed throughout. Only a small minority of Americans think it OK to loot and burn businesses, and the vast majority want it to stop. As an outsider who has spent some years in America I would say many Americans I know are trying to decide who will make the chaos go away. Some voters might hope that a vote for Biden will placate the Jacobins and that part of the problem is Donald Trump’s divisiveness and unfortunate personality. I say unfortunate, but only somebody like Trump could withstand the deluge that has come his way. I hope that voters will look to what the candidates stand for and vote accordingly.
IMO, proving Trump is a ‘fascist’ imposing Law and Order will not succeed as a strategy because, well, that position is already firmly entrenched on the Dem side, and I think when push really comes to shove, ie. the war is at your door, the vast majority will support the so-called fascist, including all the moderates on the Left. They will be crying for the police to come protect them.
Here in the UK the metropolitans ignored the rest of us and they are now hopefully learning that was an error.
Mis
The situation in America becomes more concerning daily. The R|D divide now infects every aspect of life be it politics, media, arts, literature, sports, food … and the BLM could be the tinder; it’s insane. Based on other historic situations where events have gone horribly wrong the US looks disturbingly close to civil war. The number of people actively involved in an anti-government grouping really does not have to be that large – 1000-6000 are adequate – BLM are probably around that at the core. Pre-existing and irreconcilable tensions between other opposing groups who then coalese into pro/anti government sides (Reb/Dem) provide a necessary catalyst, and access to the means of violence is also a factor, high in this case as the US has the highest gun ownership per head in world. So a lot of the elements are there. What is missing is severe economic hardship/poverty amoungst key groups and wider commodity price spikes or collapses, both of which are usually key drivers in civil unrest. But it feels much closer than it should it really does.
‘Countries like Britain ” said to be hugely divided over recent years ” suddenly turned out to have significant secret wells of public trust in the authorities.’
Initially, perhaps, but no longer. And I, for one, have had not trust in them for years, on Covid or any other issue.
Indeed. And with more confusion and contradiction with every diktat they issue any lingering trust has all but disappeared.
There seems to be an unholy alliance between the Left and the libertarian Right. Of course this wouldn’t materialise as an actual alliance but it is strange that both occupy similar perspectives. Interestingly both are ideologically driven and both are rooted in the Perfectionist Fallacy. In this respect, dissatisfaction seems to provide a common cause.
Evidence?
I’m of the “libertarian right”. I’d never consider an alliance with the Left (especially not today’s intolerant “woke” left), and I don’t know anyone who would.
BLM have had it all their own way thus far and think they are invincible. Sooner or later, they will make a mis-calculation and when they do, the hitherto silent majority will turn on them.
THIS!
My biggest fear is that the left and its constant picking at racial scabs, and fomenting division, is going to incite a backlash. If that backlash is anywhere near as violent as their provocations have been, then many innocent people are going to be caught up in it and come to harm.
I’ll warn you right now that if middle America snaps, they will not be playing games. Those gun nuts, rednecks, blue collar workers, cowboys, and hunters are a lot more competent and dangerous than most people know. What many people, especially those from foreign countries and left leaning enclaves, do not understand is how they see things in regards to self defense and violence. They have a line. Almost always it coincides with the standard for lethal force under the law. They will warn someone when they get close to crossing it and if crossed they will immediately react with force. The problem is that many of the agitators on the left believe that the right is too cowardly to do anything because they have not crossed that line yet. When you have a campaign of ever increasing escalation, provocation, and the line getting closer and closer. Things might turn out very ugly.
Brits generally have a distaste for the amount of gun ownership in the US. I used to.
Confession: if I was the owner of a small shop in one of the towns and cities under constant threat by BLM/Antifa, I’d be very tempted to get a gun. I’ve read that many of the protesters argue that property doesn’t matter. But it does, especially if it’s your business, which you have spent years setting up, and which provides you with your modest livelihood.
It has become so disgusting that you have people arguing that burning and looting are victimless crimes because no one got killed and there is a slight possibility they might get what they had back after a decade of hard work. People’s livelihoods are being destroyed and economies are being ruined.
Don’t worry though! It’s fine because we are angry and we have not killed anyone. Even though we just tried to murder someone who was just driving his car.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
I believe a Black shop owner will shoot an ANTIFA arsonist at some point. That’ll sharpen people’s minds as to who is acting in who’s interest
NEither side look all that dangerous to me. Maybe the black panthers. Owning guns and shooting a deer isn’t a match for the properly trained. The US won’t have a civil war unless the armies or national guard split.
It might have some kind of low level
Violence. Something like the troubles.
Yep.
The USA is becoming ungovernable. Total mess. Unlikely to improve, alas.
One potential alternative to a civil war: a negotiated, peaceful partition. This would be a huge lift in terms of politics, but would be a lot less bloody.
The result would be several smaller sovereign states that would cooperate to the extent that infrastructure requires (i.e., for an electrical grid), but otherwise remain independent from each other, with proper borders and separate currencies. (One currency may wind up replacing the USD as the de-facto reserve currency of the world, too.) The post-USA states would probably consist of blocks of previous US states, but some border shifting, especially in the west, can be expected.
Of course, the geopolitical fallout on a global scale would be quite profound. China, especially, would benefit – which is, in and of itself, kind of a scary thought.
I’m not sure about that. The truth is that what is seen from afar as “widespread” and “uncontrollable” violence in the US is in fact more of a civil war within the Democratic party so far.
There really is none of that mess in the country as a whole. Of course the media would like you to believe that the whole country is on fire, but really it is only the very Left of the leftist cities and almost exclusively those in the states where Democrats have ruled from entrenched positions for decades.In the vast majority of the country the worst we have seen is a few BLM yard signs and a lot of news footage from the few hot spots.
Many of us see it as a Marxist takeover of the traditional Democratic party by a minority. Loud, committed and violent, but small. I know many Democrats personally, and I know none that are active in this movement and none that condone the violence, and most are pretty sure that they are not behind it. The Democrats that I have talked to about this are feeling a bit like refugees at this point. Most of we Americans are just watching the show.
In the real America we are busy going to work, raising our kids, going fishing, eating lunch, and showing each other friendship and respect without regards to color, race or religion. Of course there is nothing about that that will make the news reels.
Rather than a partitioning of the country, which is of course possible, I think the formation of another party is far more likely. One that represents the traditional Democrats who are feeling increasingly alienated by the policies of their new Marxist Democratic party. Until then I expect a good many of them to jump ship and vote for Trump while holding their noses.
In case anyone here is persuaded that Steve Eaton’s comments represent the majority of Americans, there is the other side of the narrow view he espouses. Believing that the entire Democratic party is Marxist is a mistake. Not seeing the involvement of the far right in the violence and the role of the police who have taken sides in it all is also a mistake. The current president has openly supported the views of the far right and the white supremacists, further adding to the violence. Many people want to make the issues a simple division of one side against the other, but it is not that simple. The situation is complex and there are many actors and factors involved. As another writer has written here, nothing short of an alien invasion is likely to have any effect on bringing the two sides together, and even that might not do it.
No Grace, at this point it pretty much is that simple.
Yeah, you’re a liar.
The current president has never supported white supremacists. That’s a lie you & your fellow progressives have been spreading for ages.
The ‘involvement’ of the ‘far’ ‘right’ in the violence has been purely defensive – it isn’t the ‘far’ ‘right’ setting fires, assaulting people in the streets, looting stores.
Grace I don’t know what stories you’ve been reading and/or video footage you been watching but are you sure we are both on the same planet? Cause if we are then I want some of what you’ve been smoking babe. And then let it rip: I’ll sit out naked in my front yard waiting for the Aliens in an inflatable toddlers paddling pool filled with ice cubes, alcohol and my rubber ducky.
On second thoughts are you not a poorly designed bot perhaps? Cause as sure as God made little apples you wrote
“Believing that the entire Democratic party is Marxist is a mistake.” with regard to Steven Eaton whose post was only an inch or two above yours in which he wrote
“Many of us see it as a Marxist takeover of the traditional Democratic party by a minority. Loud, committed and violent, but small.”
There is no way on earth you can reconcile the words “entire” and “minority … small”: I dare you to even try.
You are a bare faced liar and quite likely a Troll. So you can keep your drugs: I’ve decided if they made me as gormless as you appear to be, then I’d rather go meet my maker sober thank you very much!
Try to make more of an effort with your deceit or go and get a real job: start paying tax like the rest of us.
There’s no evidence that the far right has infiltrated antifa. Also trump didn’t praise the white supremacists but condemned them, the fine people were the rest. I’m no fan of trump btw.
Eugene Norman, what you wrote is entirely true. That the President is a flawed human: true, perhaps a little more than most but to my mind he seems to be a product of the “times”.
Sort of like Hunter S Thompson wrote of the weirdness of the early 70s … we are reaping the storm sown back then.
Countries like Britain ” said to be hugely divided over recent years ”
suddenly turned out to have significant secret wells of public trust in
the authorities.
Secret really! I think you need to get out more, much more.
Most of us are outside the US, using our ears and eyes and nervous systems to assess the dangers. For what it’s worth, my friends in Texas aren’t quite as worried as I am. They are inside the belly of the whale and get to use their noses as well. I think you can smell danger better than sense it any other way.
At any rate, it’s pretty clear that the long march through the institutions has arrived at the Rubicon. This is the moment the hard left have dreamed of for years and not only inside America. Whatever the result of the election they are not about to take a backward step.
The irony is that most of the groundwork has actually been done by the kindly but ill-advised actions of the do-gooding soft left.
Well I will leave further analysis to others – there are plenty of interested by-standers. Just a couple of starker observations to make to finish – If it ends in an almighty wrestling match does the incumbent have first dibs on the military?
And how brave or desperate for a really decisive blow against the champion of the Western Hemisphere is Xi? Might China make bold moves?
No sign of a unifying force? Well, China is making a case for it.i
Great article Mr Murray, Behind the headlines there is this disturbing fact there were 594,000 Violent interracial crimes in 2018 of that 94 % were black on white. The press is so cowed it will never discuss this although some Black conservatives will. I fully expect an all out assault on polls etc by BLM in November. Guns sale have been astronomical in the last few few months. The patriots will not go gentile into that good night. I do not doubt the left will try to engineer some kind of cultural Coup via elections or physical intimidation by the mob using SA tactics. I think the balkanization of the United states may be the only peaceful answer.
“gentle”
Wow, a mass conversion to Judaism. Was this prophesied?
Will Trumps indictment of critical race theory and bias training backed by defunding them plus the promotion of patriotic teaching objectives help repair the fractures in US society? Or will the political and social divisions deepen…given the contested narratives of national identity ?
(If he wins.)
What traditions do the left like?
Chopping heads, gulags, economic catastrophe, that kind of thing.
“In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows.” They follow that tradition. Exult in it, actually.
As Peter Hitchens has pointed out the American constitution is like a Classical building whereas the British one is like an ancient forest,well tended. Both are under threat from fire.
Sayeh Kelly a few seconds ago
Short of an alien invasion that might bring the two polarised sides of America together, unfortunately, one doesn’t have to possess prophetic abilities to see more violence and unrest, dare one say, even another civil war in the not too distant future.In November, whatever the outcome, the other side will not see it as fair or legitimate, even if won with a good majority, protests will ensue, egged on by the media narrative. I for one, am very pessimistic about the future of theUSA!
As in Britain, many Americans hate their country – in toto, not just aspects of it.
Among some well-educated minority groups, this is sadly predictable, but it’s a widespread hatred among all who are Left of Centre – spoilt, affluent, educated people too stupid to see that if their country goes down, they will too.
Classic example
Article in the NYT I noticed entitled “It could happen here”
Intro mentions Putin, China, makes passing reference to several other regimes(dubiously in Hungary’s case) as authoritarian
Then 1 sentence
“In the United States, President Donald Trump may not be sufficiently
committed to constitutional principles of democratic government”
Then without any linkage whatsoever it goes off on an extended splurge about Nazi Germany apropos of nothing much contemporaneously.
Pretty bizarre really, pretty poor propaganda. Are the people who churn out this stuff capable of no other historical parallels?
Short of an alien invasion that might bring the two polarised sides of America together, unfortunately, one doesn’t have to process prophetic abilities to see more violence and unrest, dare one say, even another civil war in the not too distant future.In November, whatever the outcome, the other side will not see it as fair or legitimate, even if won with a good majority, protests will ensue, egged on by the media narrative. I for one, am very pessimistic about the future of the USA!
What is happening in the U.S. today, is the result of what Yuri Bezmenov, an ex-KGB agent explained of WHAT would be done, and HOW, to destabilize the country by using our own education system. We didn’t listen. The damage done may be irreversible.
https://youtu.be/pzeHpf3OYQ…
As an American, my observations of the situation tends to lean towards our president prior to Trump invigorating the division starting with one of his first acts as president – the apology tour, speaking on reparations. He labeled millions of people as victims with the US as their oppressor. Thus began the shaming of being American and of our history.
This comment, “There was a time when American anti-Americanism of this kind (analysed by Jean-François Revel, among others) was the preserve of a relatively small group of people, largely products of a few liberal universities. But the events of recent months have revealed to even the most complacent observer that once-fringe ideas have spread out across the nation.” I would say this speaks to the liberal ideology that was brought to our children through our schools via teacher’s unions in the K-12 and then through first a few liberal universities and now at a large proportion of universities. This is classic Marxism; to start with the education system – think NAZI Germany. It was very effective there and is here as well. We even have citizens encouraged to turn non-mask wearers and suspected Covid cases in and they do!
Every country I can think of throughout history has a checkered past that they have struggled through and many have learned from and progressed forward to better themselves. America is no different. Tearing down statues and removing history from books does not change history. In my opinion it only makes people more likely to not know their history and thus more likely to repeat it.
Our American history haters want to judge everyone based on their worst moment and say everything else they ever did is discardable because of it. Who can hold up to that standard?
The usually sure-footed Mr Murray stumbles in paragraphs 2-4 where he describes UK citizens having trust and confidence in their government at the outbreak of Covid19. And even the youth adopt celibacy!
Perhaps in his circles but not that I have witnessed anywhere. Early adherence to the regulations was based on fear and the hysteria whipped up by Govt and the media, but significant minorities recognised that the Emperor had few, if any, clothes. As time has progressed, we have seen the country divide into the fear-driven believers who won’t go anywhere without a mask and believe that everyone else is carrying an ebola-type virus that will almost certainly kill them, and those who have become completely cynical about the Govt’s (& NHS) understanding, capability and motives. The latter group do not give a fig for the draconian regulatiuons and only comply in so far as they might get caught and fined.
And as for celibacy – I think Mr Murray has forgotten that the sexual drive is so strong that it overrides almost all considerations. it certainly isn’t contained by a belief in Government
This is NZ. I was thinking about the US if Donald Trump didn’t come on the scene the Democrats and Republicans would have been just like our Labour and National (two sides of the same coin and business as usual).
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Once people are talking past each other (even if they do so by shouting in each other’s faces) no intelligent – let alone unifying – conversation can occur.
How about 30 yrs of continuous slaughter of defenseless nations? How about torture on a massive and merciless scale? How about trashing the Bill of Rights, free speech, habeus corpus, privacy, due process, …? How about the general belief that 9/11 was a “ReichStag fire”? How about “The Noble Lie” become the Ministry of Truth? How about 40 yrs of an immense transfer of wealth to the 1%? ….
How can anybody be surprised at American pop nihilism?
how about you being consistent, or at least making some sense?
Corrupt government and courts at all levels, staffed with corrupt politicians, corrupt Central Bank, corrupt corporate management, corrupt military, corrupt press, corrupt universities collaborating with corrupt corporate management and military, corrupt regulatory agencies, …and corrupt parents with corrupt children.
OK?
No corruption and selfishness on the left though? What you’re talking about there is a plague on both houses, and is a clear and present part of whatever this Antifa, Woke, SJW crap is too. Glass houses.
The ‘general belief’ that 9/11 was a Reichstag fire? You imply that this mad conspiracy theory is almost proven fact. Then go on to label almost everything as ‘corrupt’. So broad and vague as to be virtually meaningless. So no, not OK. Closer to the incoherent ranting of a lunatic than a definitive argument.
Read the 28 pages in the Commission Report that were suppressed until 2016.
So you also believe Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself?
Bob, I note contrary to yours and Henry’s reasonable, skeptical points that Robert has more “upvotes” than down. Is this valid evidence of the gutless/toxic aggression/ignorance peddled on the interweb I’ve read about for so long? Twitter and Instagram and suchlike.
During my vacation from my day job I’ve enjoyed the range of (to my mind) of well written articles on this website (not all conforming to my politics) but I’m starting to think I should never have gotten involved (since yesterday) in these 140-character “flare wars” whereby a quick click validates me and my eminently important, well founded feelings … based on nothing deeper than the reading, thinking and self-reflection which can be achieved on a 6 by 3 inch screen. I’m no medic, but is there a diagnostic category for a metal life circumscribed by such transitory, oft-repeated gratifications?
I suspect (as a couple of persons in this forum have kindly advised me) I should just crawl back under my rock and let the 2020s be handled by civil, sane persons.
so i guess you’re a glass-half-empty kinda guy.
Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “if everything is racist, nothing is racist.” The same applies to corruption.
Completely empty except for a very toxic precipitate at the bottom.
The point was to attempt an understanding of what Antifa is trying to say. I’m not familiar with their formal writings (do any exist?); nor do I do social media; but, I can observe from outside that the major institutional structures of the US are so comprehensively rotten it’s (1)beyond reform and (2) dying slowly on its own; however, with still the capacity (and it seems , likelihood) to do enormous harm. Thence, the conclusion: a small push will bring it down on itself and be a mercy to the rest of humanity.
Would seem that Douglas is once again providing a very one-sided and partial view of the debate. Please stop giving Trump and his disgrace of an administration such a free ride. They have been just as responsible for trashing the rule of law.
Douglas is the master of the one sided view. Talks about a highly polarised country and then focuses all his effort on the one side that he is opposite to. No mention of the far right and the significant evangelical Christian movement who are seen as nutjobs by most reasonable people in Europe. Douglas is a snake. Always has been. Writes so elegantly and sets up his work as being balanced before predictably humming the same tune over and over. I agree with many of his sentiments about the radical left but he would be taken more seriously if he actually presented a balanced view.
Alistair how would you characterise the “Rule of Law” that has been a liberal speaking point for the past 4 years? Might not arson, intimidation, murder and looting not fall under that rubrik? Or are they not against the law in your state?
Well how about the shenanigans the FBI et fils got up to in launching the Russia wire taps during the last election campaign. Much as I hate consipracy theories propounded by the likes of Trump I hope he wins and the Mueller investigation is exposed to have been the the charade it was and they start throwing the responsible “Deep State” actors into prison.
It’s been a long time since I did any reading about Misprision of Treason but what states do they still have hanging, drawing and quartering on the books? As you’re interested in the Law you might enjoy looking that up perhaps?
Perhaps a very old state like Virginia perhaps? It wouldn’t be too far then, to transport the quartered body parts to be impaled on stakes to be displayed at scenic points around DC. Don’t you think that would serve the salutory purpose of focusing the minds of Jane Fonda and her vile ilk.
Trump sometimes says crazy stuff that pretty much reveals he himself doesn’t know much about the law or even care about it, but that is different from his administration not respecting the rule of law. No, the ones riding roughshod over the rule of law are mainly on the left. Witness the jettisoning of due process in the metoo movement, the prevalence of cancel culture, everything BLM does, all is absent any sober sense of the rule of law. And just a recent example, the investigation into ‘racism’ at Princeton is a clear application of the rule of law in a situation where the institution itself was getting ready to cast it out altogether in its hunt for racists under the banner of Critical Race Theory, in which everyone is guilty and can never be proven innocent.