If the right wants to cover "The Resistance" with any degree of honesty, it should stop writing off the people on the streets as underfucked spinsters and underemployed losers
I agree 100% that we (secret) Trump voters need to have compassion for those who are currently suffering from TDS (my whole family suffers from it and only my husband knows that I voted for Trump - he voted for Harris but he loves me anyway).
It doesn't help to demonize or ridicule the "other side" and those of us who did vote for Trump should know that better than anyone.
"And I would like to think that if America faced an external foe—or an internal one, for that matter—conservatives would fight alongside liberals, despite their ranks being full of queers, keffiyeh-wearers, and post-menopausal women."
Let's turn that around: "And I would like to think that if America faced an external foe—or an internal one, for that matter—liberals would fight alongside conservatives, despite their ranks being full of Christians, capitalists, and post-menopausal women."
I'm curious about the perspective that Ben presents, here, considering he claims to be centrist. If we want to speak of tolerance, let's keep it in context. The context is that the democrat cabal has spent a full ten years transforming America into a disreputable banana republic. When the democrat cabal can't win legitimately, it cheats. It engages in lawfare and weaponizes its enforceme4nt agencies. If the 2020 election was truly honest and above-board, it is the ONLY presidential election we've had that was open and above-board. Get real and smell the coffee, folks.
The people who complain about DOGE taking a weedwhacker to the DC bureaucracy are the same people who claim that Trump is trying to build an autocracy. You can't extend an autocracy without extending the bureaucracy. Keep in mind that those DC bureaucrats are over 90% democrat, and the democratic party has given me no good reason to trust it.
And Trump is NOT trying to destroy social security. He is trying to come up with a retirement plan that gives a respectable return on investment. Social security ain't it.
All of the above does NOT make me a republican. I measure political parties on how good of a job they do of staying the hell out of life. They both suck at that. But the democratic party has taken the invasion of our individual lives and THOGHTS to a whole new level. Go ahead and march folks. But if you want my support, support getting both parties the hell out of my life.
I have a lot of thoughts about the demographics of protests and what needs changing. Also, I’m still waiting for that payout. Was I supposed to sign up for direct deposit somewhere?
I know many earnest people who are part of the resistance. However, in MN (fairly progressive state), I have noticed that the April 5th protests were significantly smaller than the women's march in 2017 by about 70,000 people. Paid protesters have been found, and organizers are getting funded, but most protesters are real. I agree that trash talk doesn't help. A brief check suggests the women's march in NYC was 4xs as large as hands off. Maybe I'm wrong, but I haven't seen those numbers in print. I had to look for them myself. Though protesters are real, I think there is a large amount of quiet people who are hoping Trump will succeed too. It might be helpful to set out on the road again to revisit the sites you did last year to see what people think across America (pitch it to Bari).
Young people are generally not as interested in politics as the old but there is an additional wrinkle here: David Shor was interviewed a few weeks ago and pointed out that Trump may have won the 18-29 demographic.
And that might not be a fluke. It could be that the generational pendulum is swinging back and young people will be far more conservative than Millennials.
I agree 100% that we (secret) Trump voters need to have compassion for those who are currently suffering from TDS (my whole family suffers from it and only my husband knows that I voted for Trump - he voted for Harris but he loves me anyway).
It doesn't help to demonize or ridicule the "other side" and those of us who did vote for Trump should know that better than anyone.
Great article, Ben. Thank You!
"And I would like to think that if America faced an external foe—or an internal one, for that matter—conservatives would fight alongside liberals, despite their ranks being full of queers, keffiyeh-wearers, and post-menopausal women."
Let's turn that around: "And I would like to think that if America faced an external foe—or an internal one, for that matter—liberals would fight alongside conservatives, despite their ranks being full of Christians, capitalists, and post-menopausal women."
I'm curious about the perspective that Ben presents, here, considering he claims to be centrist. If we want to speak of tolerance, let's keep it in context. The context is that the democrat cabal has spent a full ten years transforming America into a disreputable banana republic. When the democrat cabal can't win legitimately, it cheats. It engages in lawfare and weaponizes its enforceme4nt agencies. If the 2020 election was truly honest and above-board, it is the ONLY presidential election we've had that was open and above-board. Get real and smell the coffee, folks.
The people who complain about DOGE taking a weedwhacker to the DC bureaucracy are the same people who claim that Trump is trying to build an autocracy. You can't extend an autocracy without extending the bureaucracy. Keep in mind that those DC bureaucrats are over 90% democrat, and the democratic party has given me no good reason to trust it.
And Trump is NOT trying to destroy social security. He is trying to come up with a retirement plan that gives a respectable return on investment. Social security ain't it.
All of the above does NOT make me a republican. I measure political parties on how good of a job they do of staying the hell out of life. They both suck at that. But the democratic party has taken the invasion of our individual lives and THOGHTS to a whole new level. Go ahead and march folks. But if you want my support, support getting both parties the hell out of my life.
.
.
I have a lot of thoughts about the demographics of protests and what needs changing. Also, I’m still waiting for that payout. Was I supposed to sign up for direct deposit somewhere?
I know many earnest people who are part of the resistance. However, in MN (fairly progressive state), I have noticed that the April 5th protests were significantly smaller than the women's march in 2017 by about 70,000 people. Paid protesters have been found, and organizers are getting funded, but most protesters are real. I agree that trash talk doesn't help. A brief check suggests the women's march in NYC was 4xs as large as hands off. Maybe I'm wrong, but I haven't seen those numbers in print. I had to look for them myself. Though protesters are real, I think there is a large amount of quiet people who are hoping Trump will succeed too. It might be helpful to set out on the road again to revisit the sites you did last year to see what people think across America (pitch it to Bari).
Young people are generally not as interested in politics as the old but there is an additional wrinkle here: David Shor was interviewed a few weeks ago and pointed out that Trump may have won the 18-29 demographic.
And that might not be a fluke. It could be that the generational pendulum is swinging back and young people will be far more conservative than Millennials.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-david-shor.html