No Lessons Learned
The Left chooses rejectionism and internal exile
These days, Substack Notes is difficult to distinguish from Twitter/X and Bluesky: a Bedlam of Democrat/progressive denial, delusion, and hysteria. The strings on which the comrades harp with mad obsession range from She ran a flawless campaign to Trump the convicted felon/rapist. We’re told how enraged progressives have cancelled their Trump-voting families and friends. We’re denounced as a people unworthy of Kamala the Magnificent. We’re informed that V. Putin stole the election for Trump and the GOP. We’re confronted with demands for a national vote recount. We’re regaled with gloating predictions of the horrors soon to be visited on America the Deplorable.
It’s all so hilarious!
There is in this a near-total refusal to take responsibility for the brutal reality check that the Left called down upon itself. Tell them that in 2020 they nominated and managed to push over the finish line a senile old fool with delusions of grandeur who once in office engineered a colossal debacle and they scream with rage. Tell them that the old fool’s vice president, whom they embraced when it became clear that Biden had to go, was a clueless doofus and they scream all the louder. Tell them that their various obsessions—CRT, DEI, gender ideology, fake history, open borders, land acknowledgements, windmills and EVs, etc., etc.—alienated regular people and they denounce you for spreading fascist propaganda. The comrades simply cannot see what the Democratic Party and progressivism have become: the party of nosebleed elitism and bogus expertise. They cannot grasp how thoroughly obnoxious they are in the eyes of the public.
They’re also stuck in the past. Over the past few days, I’ve seen perhaps half a dozen Notes claiming that V. Putin ran a social media disinformation blitz that stole the election for his pal, D. Trump. Yes, it’s Russian Collusion: The Sequel! And coming soon, no doubt: a bombshell story in the NYT exposing the Ogre Trump as a tool of the International Zionist Conspiracy.
It not being my intention to mock anybody by name, I shall not attribute the following, which is proffered as an example of the insane blather currently being barfed out on Notes and other social media:
Dark Brandon, no less. Crap Facebook filler like this used to be a rarity on Notes. Now it’s spreading like a rash.
Of course, the comrades’ collective nervous breakdown could prove to be a transient phenomenon. Surely not all Democrats, not all progressives, are emotionally arrested ideologues. Here and there on the broad Left, there must be sober-minded people who are asking themselves what just happened, and how a progressive comeback might be engineered. But as the case of Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton illustrates, such people face a steep uphill climb.
In the aftermath of November 5, Moulton, who represents the Bay State’s 6th Congressional District, opined that as a father with daughters, he understands why so many parents objected to trans ideology—specifically, to trans females, i.e. biological males, participating in girls’ and women’s sports. He added that his party had made a mistake by dismissing these concerns. For this thought crime Moulton was roundly denounced by his fellow Democrats, backed by progressivism’s online mob. Out came the pitchforks and torches: A move is now afoot to primary him in 2026. To his credit, though, Moulton is unrepentant: In a Washington Post op-ed he castigated his party for its addiction to ideological purity tests and its failure to meet voters where they are on the issues.
It seems unlikely, therefore, that the Democratic Party and the larger progressive movement will learn its lesson any time soon. On the contrary, they appear to be doubling down. The incoming Trump Administration’s pledge to conduct large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants—a policy with broad public support—has been met by the comrades with violent denunciations and calls for Resistance. Given the fact that illegal immigration and border security were prominent among the issues that did most to put Donald Trump back in the Oval Office, this is remarkably stupid. It shows, indeed, that that the Left’s claim to champion “our democracy” was always a sham. If democracy goes against them, they’re prepared to do all they can to thwart the will of the people.
There‘s a good deal of comedy in this. As noted above, much of the Left’s post-election invective is of a kind to be expected from people whose IQ is lower than their height in inches. Now I don’t believe that to be literally true—but postmodern progressivism, like all ideologies, is intellectually risible. It attracts stupid people, yes, but it also requires intelligent people to behave as if they are stupid. They must dumb themselves down to embrace absurdities like critical race theory and DEI. It’s hard not to laugh at this voluntary degradation of the intellect.
But politically, it’s no laughing matter. A functioning democracy requires a loyal opposition. But Democrats and progressives prefer extremist Resistance. They’ve put themselves in the position of denouncing millions of their fellow Americans as fascists, racists, bigots, deplorables, the scum of the earth. This extends even to friends and family: On social media, progressive after progressive boasts of having cut ties with those closest to them who voted for Trump. They won’t talk to the other side; they simply cannot abide opposing points of view. The broad Left appears to have chosen rejectionism and internal exile over responsible opposition—which is to say that they’ve lost faith in American democracy.
What a sad and sorry spectacle.
What you said.