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The Elites Had It Coming
The New York Times ^ | Nov. 9, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET | Thomas Frank

Posted on 11/09/2024 11:26:49 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Everyone has a moment when they first realized that Donald Trump might well return, and here is mine. It was back in March, during a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, when I happened to read the explanatory text beside an old painting. This note described the westward advance of the United States in the 19th century as “settler colonialism.” I read it and I knew instantly where this nation was going.

My problem with this bit of academic jargon was not that it was wrong, per se, or that President Biden was somehow responsible for putting it there, but rather that it offered a glimpse of our poisoned class relations. Some curator at one of our most exalted institutions of public instruction had decided to use a currently fashionable, morally loaded academic keyword to address a visitor to the museum — say, a family from the Midwest, doing the round of national shrines — and teach them a lesson about American wickedness.

Twenty years ago I published a book about politics in my home state of Kansas where white, working-class voters seemed to be drifting into the arms of right-wing movements. I attributed this, in large part, to the culture wars, which the right framed in terms of working-class agony. Look at how these powerful people insult our values!, went the plaint, whether they were talking about the theory of evolution or the war on Christmas.

This was worth pointing out because working people were once the heart and soul of left-wing parties all over the world. It may seem like a distant memory, but not long ago, the left was not a movement of college professors, bankers or high-ranking officers at Uber or Amazon. Working people: That’s what parties of the left were very largely about. The...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: culture; culturewars; thomasfrank
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To: BenLurkin

So wouldn’t unfettered in-migration through a nonexistent border also be “settler colonialism”?


21 posted on 11/09/2024 12:13:30 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The writer thinks the people who voted for Trump somehow admire the Cheney family.


22 posted on 11/09/2024 12:27:19 PM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI..)
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To: DesertRhino

“The writer thinks the people who voted for Trump somehow admire the Cheney family.”

That’s the real story about Trump and MAGA. Not what they did to the Dims (the Dims did it all to themselves anyway), but how they have wrested control of the GOP away from Bush, Cheney, et al. That group has been given the gate entirely. Now that is a political re-alignment!


23 posted on 11/09/2024 12:49:11 PM PST by jocon307
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To: SaxxonWoods

Commiela paying Beyonce $10M for a 2-minute speech should have sealed the deal for the racist communist.


24 posted on 11/09/2024 12:52:18 PM PST by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I disagree! I don’t think Populists believe in limited government at all. If popular vote overrides some constitutional restraint toss it out! That’s the populist viewpoint. Vox Populi Vox Dei. At least that’s the old definition maybe in the Trump era the definition is different or we need a new descriptive term.


25 posted on 11/09/2024 1:11:44 PM PST by Reily
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
Correct.

How did they refer to themselves in the days of Communistic uprisings?

Ah yes, The Vanguard of the working class

They just reached around, patted themselves on the back, and took charge.

Then, just like Napoleon the Pig in Animal Farm, needed all the cows' milk because they were thinking so hard for the rest of the animals...

26 posted on 11/09/2024 1:22:04 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: SaxxonWoods

“I appreciate liberals proving they are out of touch with America.”

Out of touch?? They hate America and people like you and me!


27 posted on 11/09/2024 2:02:03 PM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they. control you. )
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To: BenLurkin
“settler colonialism”

Who comes up with this crpp?

Our self proclaimed "Betters"

28 posted on 11/09/2024 2:14:06 PM PST by null and void (Vox Populi, Vox Dei!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Shove it NYT. You did everything to make it happen with your lies.

NYT is the elite.


29 posted on 11/09/2024 2:26:24 PM PST by Fledermaus (I hate yo say I told you so, but I told you so! Trump 2024!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; null and void; Harmless Teddy Bear; Da Coyote; BenLurkin; SaxxonWoods; Jim W N
Beyond math, and occasionally the hard sciences, the universities do not have much to offer when all they can do is create letters to follow names, so that those lacking understanding can pretend to occupy a place in society.

As Adam Smith said, "The average university is a sanctuary in which exploded systems and obsolete prejudices find shelter and protection, after they have been hunted out of every other corner of the world."

30 posted on 11/09/2024 3:15:20 PM PST by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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