Appeasement is a diplomatic strategy. It means making concessions to an aggressive foreign power in order to avoid war. The best known example of appeasement is British foreign policy towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s. In popular memory, appeasement is primarily associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (in office, 1937–1940). However, appeasement of Nazi Germany was also the policy of his predecessors, James Ramsay MacDonald (1929–1935) and Stanley Baldwin (1935–1937). Sir, this seems to be the path you are following. You are no longer a nation of rules. In 2015, Obama destroyed the ‘rules’ by wholesale spying on innocent American citizens, a presidential candidate and then the elected President of the United States. This was, in fact, the continuation of his wholesale destruction of the US law and security agencies starting in 2008 and Halder. Even today, the idea that Obama is not the de facto president is laughable since all his goons have circled the wagons around the puppet now being cared for (literally) in the White House. I often make the point that in 2020, the grandchildren of the people who voted for Castro were the ones being crushed in the streets marching for “Freedom”. The only people who were told, by obama that they couldn’t enter the USA as refugees. Why did you use the sentence “I can’t avoid talking about Donald Trump”? I was under the impression that once a man reaches the station of President, he is entitled to that title for the rest of his life. However, you may have the same distain for President Trump that I have for Obama and Biden. “A guy with a loud mouth and desperate for attention”? How about the first President in decades not to start a war (because of his unpredicability) as opposed to Obama who purposely toured the world discrediting the United States and thus projecting the weakness that leads to conflict. How about President Trump being one of the very few President’s in history to increase his popularity in his second election? (President Trump gained 12-13 million more votes and many of them from minorites who didn’t vote for him in 2016) Remember, Obama lost popularity as he divided the country. The President’s popularity then, and his increasing popularity with minorities now closes down forever that he is a racist.
So, who is the “You” your post is all about? Is it the ‘you’ who has joined the President because of the lawfare being perpetrated by the MSM and the FBI/DOJ led ‘third world harassment of political opponents and political prisoners…OR, is it the “you” absolutely prepared to throw away the freedom of your grandchildren for American Marxism? You talk about ‘gaps’ between the two of us and gaps in the family. There will always be gaps…the point of confrontation comes when the gaps are existential, (and I do mean existential not the fake use of the word by Pelosi, Schumer and the seditous uni-party members of the House and Senate) 2016, and 2020, proved that the civil war was at the midpoint of it’s beginning…the civil war has already begun it is just that the first shot hasn’t been fired yet. And, as with America’s two civil wars it is time to choose a side. It is time to end the appeasement, time to realise that wars start way before the first cannon roars. That time is now, because as we move towards November one side of the conflict, the uni-party, knows that if it fails then President Trump will begin a two-pronged attack on the enemies of freedom. The first will be ‘pay back for the eight years of pain the traitors have put the country through and the second will be the reconstitution of the America First policies so despised by the establishment who saw their perks and future pensions challenged. The only hope for not just America but also the free world is that the increasing number of minority families, who see the invasion of mercenaries, form together into the militia that saved the country on two other occasions in the countries short history. I hope, but have little trust, that you will check out all the posts on the appeasement of Hitler in the years before the Second World War because the tone of your writing puts you firmly in the came of appeasement or more wickedly the camp of couldn’t give a damn.
Comments on this would suggest that people agree, and yet every other article on the site is flooded with comments talking about how the democrats are basically satan himself. People do well with this kind of sentiment when it's being said in the context of taking it easy on a candidate they support. Say the same thing about someone they oppose, make this article about taking it easy on Biden, ask them to ACTUALLY examine their own behavior, and the sentiment will run the exact opposite way.
During Trump's presidency republicans were constantly crowing about how much they loved Trump "trolling the libs". At the same time, they acted like you insulted their religion any time even the smallest criticism of Trump was offered. So, the expectation was clearly that people who didn't like Trump should get super mad and super crazy about all the BS he constantly spewed, but not mad enough to actually want him to not be president or criticize him in any way.
Just saying. These democrat and republican presidents are ALL traitorous human garbage to me. They are the absolute worst of us, and we pick them to lead. I like to say that I can talk about politics with someone from either party and agree on almost everything...as long as we are only criticizing politicians and not trying to highlight something they are doing right.
I agree with the article, doing this is going to be a requirement if we don't want the country to continue to fall apart, but I doubt people's ability to actually do this. It's not entirely their fault, though, the parties have cultivated this situation very deliberately.
I appreciate the sentiment, but there really is a question of whether the democratic process can be rightly used by those who seek to destroy it.
A significant fraction (maybe 50%+) of the Democratic Party believes that Donald Trump will make himself dictator and that his voters are racist, sexist bigots who want to put women back in the kitchen and blacks back in chains.
A significant fraction of Republicans believe that the Democratic Party is actively working to destroy the Judeo-Christian moral order on which America is based and is using their power centers in media, education, NGOs and corporations to create a permanent white underclass. (And they might be having sex with kids in a DC pizza parlor.)
Platitudes about "treating the other side with respect" and "being boring" apply to politics, but are these debates really political? These aren't disagreements over tax policy or welfare or America role in the world. They are disagreements over the nature and definition of man (and especially woman), whether natural law exists, whether any limits on personal autonomy are legitimate. This isn't politics; it's theology. Each side is effectively using the political system to wage a holy war.
I'm not sure this is true anymore. I want it to be...I really do. But there are times when it becomes clear that all the things you talk about being special in this country, all the things many of us hold sacred--free speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom from government oppression--are being systematically destroyed and when that happens there are no more "elections". To use an unpleasant analogy, the South saw clearly with the election of Abraham Lincoln that everything they held sacred was going to be destroyed. So they went to war. You reccomend we compromise with the destroyers of what WE hold sacred and special and that somehow it will all work out. Many of us can't even trust the election process that picks the winners anymore. What then?
Fascinating. I have recently been on a campaign promoting the virtue of boredom, but from a totally different perspective; I think children are being (quite literally) damaged, mentally, from being denied the natural state of boredom, whence comes imagination and focus. As a teacher I see this as our greatest challenge with Gen Alpha. But I actually see a strong connection between my thesis and Mr. Gurri's. Our current political atmosphere is almost unbreathable because almost no one is filtering what they say through a lens of critical thinking. Today's children (who have been holding an iPad every waking minute since they were in the crib) can't focus for even 30 seconds on a teacher's directions, and many of today's adults can't focus enough to draw any greater distinction than which tribe the other person belongs to. Speaking of which, I really, really want us to drop the Blue-Red metaphor, in the less than a quarter century that color dichotomy has existed, I honestly believe it has contributed to increased polarization.
It makes me laugh that every journalist or opinion writer always feels obligated to begin all their political pieces explaining that they don’t support Donald Trump, regardless of the topic of their piece. While half the citizens of the country do support him as a presidential candidate, no professional writer has the balls or the conviction or an opinion that represents half the country - never ever!
Martin, thank you for expressing thoughts that many people on both sides feel but especially people who voted for Orange Man because of his courage, despite his narcissism, and love of his country despite his self-centeredness. Your point about disrespecting the views of others as evil is going to destroy us. Thanks for trying to turn the temperature down.
I overheard a conversation among moms today about how they’ll all leave the country if trump wins, then lamented how bad the homeless situation has gotten in denver (a lovely city ruled and ruined by dem mayors for over 40 years now). They can’t connect the dots. Baffling.
But a man like Biden can be elected under "normal" circumstances?
Dear Bari Weiss... STOP trying to rehabilitate the Democratic Party. Why not read about the history of the organization you so desperately want to revive?
Wonderful article and I can sense the passion with Martin's plea. I agree that boring is a good way to be. However: Boring doesn't generate clicks. Boring doesn't get views. Boring doesn't generate ad revenue. Boring doesn't get followers. Boring doesn't get much attention.
So long as the Media (social, traditional, new) continues to derive their existence on the basis of clicks, views, revenue and followers by fomenting dissent and outrage, this Skinner's Box we call progressive America will continue until it flames out; either through reckless self-immolation or an unlikely lack of fuel.
Excellent article - perceptive, insightful. More like this, please.
I hear you,
Appeasement is a diplomatic strategy. It means making concessions to an aggressive foreign power in order to avoid war. The best known example of appeasement is British foreign policy towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s. In popular memory, appeasement is primarily associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (in office, 1937–1940). However, appeasement of Nazi Germany was also the policy of his predecessors, James Ramsay MacDonald (1929–1935) and Stanley Baldwin (1935–1937). Sir, this seems to be the path you are following. You are no longer a nation of rules. In 2015, Obama destroyed the ‘rules’ by wholesale spying on innocent American citizens, a presidential candidate and then the elected President of the United States. This was, in fact, the continuation of his wholesale destruction of the US law and security agencies starting in 2008 and Halder. Even today, the idea that Obama is not the de facto president is laughable since all his goons have circled the wagons around the puppet now being cared for (literally) in the White House. I often make the point that in 2020, the grandchildren of the people who voted for Castro were the ones being crushed in the streets marching for “Freedom”. The only people who were told, by obama that they couldn’t enter the USA as refugees. Why did you use the sentence “I can’t avoid talking about Donald Trump”? I was under the impression that once a man reaches the station of President, he is entitled to that title for the rest of his life. However, you may have the same distain for President Trump that I have for Obama and Biden. “A guy with a loud mouth and desperate for attention”? How about the first President in decades not to start a war (because of his unpredicability) as opposed to Obama who purposely toured the world discrediting the United States and thus projecting the weakness that leads to conflict. How about President Trump being one of the very few President’s in history to increase his popularity in his second election? (President Trump gained 12-13 million more votes and many of them from minorites who didn’t vote for him in 2016) Remember, Obama lost popularity as he divided the country. The President’s popularity then, and his increasing popularity with minorities now closes down forever that he is a racist.
So, who is the “You” your post is all about? Is it the ‘you’ who has joined the President because of the lawfare being perpetrated by the MSM and the FBI/DOJ led ‘third world harassment of political opponents and political prisoners…OR, is it the “you” absolutely prepared to throw away the freedom of your grandchildren for American Marxism? You talk about ‘gaps’ between the two of us and gaps in the family. There will always be gaps…the point of confrontation comes when the gaps are existential, (and I do mean existential not the fake use of the word by Pelosi, Schumer and the seditous uni-party members of the House and Senate) 2016, and 2020, proved that the civil war was at the midpoint of it’s beginning…the civil war has already begun it is just that the first shot hasn’t been fired yet. And, as with America’s two civil wars it is time to choose a side. It is time to end the appeasement, time to realise that wars start way before the first cannon roars. That time is now, because as we move towards November one side of the conflict, the uni-party, knows that if it fails then President Trump will begin a two-pronged attack on the enemies of freedom. The first will be ‘pay back for the eight years of pain the traitors have put the country through and the second will be the reconstitution of the America First policies so despised by the establishment who saw their perks and future pensions challenged. The only hope for not just America but also the free world is that the increasing number of minority families, who see the invasion of mercenaries, form together into the militia that saved the country on two other occasions in the countries short history. I hope, but have little trust, that you will check out all the posts on the appeasement of Hitler in the years before the Second World War because the tone of your writing puts you firmly in the came of appeasement or more wickedly the camp of couldn’t give a damn.
It's much easier to understand this if you've read Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt's notion that the political is the distinction between friend and enemy.
And you've read Curtis Yarvin's chaser that "there is no politics without an enemy."
And you've managed to dial down politics to the level of professional sports.
Thanks for letting me join the very helpful conversation with yourself:)
Comments on this would suggest that people agree, and yet every other article on the site is flooded with comments talking about how the democrats are basically satan himself. People do well with this kind of sentiment when it's being said in the context of taking it easy on a candidate they support. Say the same thing about someone they oppose, make this article about taking it easy on Biden, ask them to ACTUALLY examine their own behavior, and the sentiment will run the exact opposite way.
During Trump's presidency republicans were constantly crowing about how much they loved Trump "trolling the libs". At the same time, they acted like you insulted their religion any time even the smallest criticism of Trump was offered. So, the expectation was clearly that people who didn't like Trump should get super mad and super crazy about all the BS he constantly spewed, but not mad enough to actually want him to not be president or criticize him in any way.
Just saying. These democrat and republican presidents are ALL traitorous human garbage to me. They are the absolute worst of us, and we pick them to lead. I like to say that I can talk about politics with someone from either party and agree on almost everything...as long as we are only criticizing politicians and not trying to highlight something they are doing right.
I agree with the article, doing this is going to be a requirement if we don't want the country to continue to fall apart, but I doubt people's ability to actually do this. It's not entirely their fault, though, the parties have cultivated this situation very deliberately.
I appreciate the sentiment, but there really is a question of whether the democratic process can be rightly used by those who seek to destroy it.
A significant fraction (maybe 50%+) of the Democratic Party believes that Donald Trump will make himself dictator and that his voters are racist, sexist bigots who want to put women back in the kitchen and blacks back in chains.
A significant fraction of Republicans believe that the Democratic Party is actively working to destroy the Judeo-Christian moral order on which America is based and is using their power centers in media, education, NGOs and corporations to create a permanent white underclass. (And they might be having sex with kids in a DC pizza parlor.)
Platitudes about "treating the other side with respect" and "being boring" apply to politics, but are these debates really political? These aren't disagreements over tax policy or welfare or America role in the world. They are disagreements over the nature and definition of man (and especially woman), whether natural law exists, whether any limits on personal autonomy are legitimate. This isn't politics; it's theology. Each side is effectively using the political system to wage a holy war.
I'm not sure this is true anymore. I want it to be...I really do. But there are times when it becomes clear that all the things you talk about being special in this country, all the things many of us hold sacred--free speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom from government oppression--are being systematically destroyed and when that happens there are no more "elections". To use an unpleasant analogy, the South saw clearly with the election of Abraham Lincoln that everything they held sacred was going to be destroyed. So they went to war. You reccomend we compromise with the destroyers of what WE hold sacred and special and that somehow it will all work out. Many of us can't even trust the election process that picks the winners anymore. What then?
Fascinating. I have recently been on a campaign promoting the virtue of boredom, but from a totally different perspective; I think children are being (quite literally) damaged, mentally, from being denied the natural state of boredom, whence comes imagination and focus. As a teacher I see this as our greatest challenge with Gen Alpha. But I actually see a strong connection between my thesis and Mr. Gurri's. Our current political atmosphere is almost unbreathable because almost no one is filtering what they say through a lens of critical thinking. Today's children (who have been holding an iPad every waking minute since they were in the crib) can't focus for even 30 seconds on a teacher's directions, and many of today's adults can't focus enough to draw any greater distinction than which tribe the other person belongs to. Speaking of which, I really, really want us to drop the Blue-Red metaphor, in the less than a quarter century that color dichotomy has existed, I honestly believe it has contributed to increased polarization.
It makes me laugh that every journalist or opinion writer always feels obligated to begin all their political pieces explaining that they don’t support Donald Trump, regardless of the topic of their piece. While half the citizens of the country do support him as a presidential candidate, no professional writer has the balls or the conviction or an opinion that represents half the country - never ever!
Martin, thank you for expressing thoughts that many people on both sides feel but especially people who voted for Orange Man because of his courage, despite his narcissism, and love of his country despite his self-centeredness. Your point about disrespecting the views of others as evil is going to destroy us. Thanks for trying to turn the temperature down.
Well written. I highly recommend Andy Stanley's book Not In It To Win It. It convicted me on the way I think about politics.
I overheard a conversation among moms today about how they’ll all leave the country if trump wins, then lamented how bad the homeless situation has gotten in denver (a lovely city ruled and ruined by dem mayors for over 40 years now). They can’t connect the dots. Baffling.
"A man like Trump can only get elected if..."
But a man like Biden can be elected under "normal" circumstances?
Dear Bari Weiss... STOP trying to rehabilitate the Democratic Party. Why not read about the history of the organization you so desperately want to revive?
Wonderful article and I can sense the passion with Martin's plea. I agree that boring is a good way to be. However: Boring doesn't generate clicks. Boring doesn't get views. Boring doesn't generate ad revenue. Boring doesn't get followers. Boring doesn't get much attention.
So long as the Media (social, traditional, new) continues to derive their existence on the basis of clicks, views, revenue and followers by fomenting dissent and outrage, this Skinner's Box we call progressive America will continue until it flames out; either through reckless self-immolation or an unlikely lack of fuel.
Bravo!!