Ace of Spades Goes Full-On Populist?

269 comments

1. Knowing Ace, he’s the last guy I would expect to dive off into Pat Buchanan/Peter Brimelow/John Derbyshire paleoconservative-style populism which I’m not saying he has, but I think he definitely now understands the teeth-grinding fury the Old Right felt toward the GOP’s constant compromising with liberalism.
   That may describe Buchanan to a degree. That’s not what animates the various tribes of the alt-right.
   Much as Mad Cow disease is ‘variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob’ syndrome, much of the alt-right incorporates a variant of a particular sort of portside opinion journalism typified by the collection of writers and trash-talking academics profiled by Paul Hollander and Thomas Sowell. The whole point is self-aggrandizement of one sort or another, of demonstrating your special intellect and sensibility as against the (conventional right) masses. It is not universal among alt-right partisans, but it’s commonly there. Rod Dreher is an amusing example of the type, because his delusions of adequacy are so manifest. Go look at the comboxes at the Unz Review if you want to see vicious and unctuous conceit on display. Read Front Porch Republic if you want to see a more self-conscious and insecure (and less ill-mannered) manifestation.
   That aside, the various components of the alt-right are not marked by their impatience with Addison Mitchell McConnell et al. They make it a point not to be so vulgar as to be concerned with mundane political practice or public policy (except when something is done which might benefit Israel or injure Vladimir Putin). They have no policy mavens other than Jason Richwine (who is not a sectary and contributes to conventional publications) and a few chaps at the von Mises Institute.

2. Americans have become soft morons out of touch with reality and history. It wasn’t that long ago we dropped a-bombs and 6 million people were murdered in death camps. We keep assuming people don’t do things because they don’t want to as opposed to being prevented from doing things. History tells a different story and we have been lulled asleep by our own Pax Americana. There’s a threat assessment of intent and there’s a threat assessment of capability; they are two different things. A Muslim America would own Canada and Mexico, if not the entire hemisphere, and with all the good old stuff Islam had taken from them, not things they volunteered to give up.

   Does anyone honestly believe an alternate history with the belt of Islamic nations from Casablanca to Baghdad having historic UK/US firepower wouldn’t still have slavery or have conquered every nation they could? Was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere my imagination?

   We didn’t fear the reactions of Nazi Germany nor the Empire of Japan and I don’t fear the reactions of Muslim nations. If anything – shamed before the world – they might take a step back and realize they can join the world or keep coddling the insane and supremacist among them. It’s a win-win for me; out or in. Let them hang out with each other if they dote on Islam so much. Why the need to come to America? Why do we need to have them here? What have we been missing all these years? The easy answer is nothing. Not one damned thing.

   We have no trouble institutionalizing the idea that men and whites constitute a de facto racist and sexist ideology, but suddenly we critique an actual ideology an we’re all racists? This is just another intersectional con game where decent and successful culture loses coming and going, thrown down at the behest of history’s also-rans, who nip at the heels of success like hounds.

3. Any “conservative” agreeing with Josh Earnest is a complete tool/fool.
   Therefore, this latest Trump “controversy” is just more of the same lib media bashing of any non lib.

4. “Was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere my imagination?”

   Heh. People forget history or, as in the case of most people under 40, never learned history. What astonishes me is the way the liberal version of World War II (“Hate is bad!”) has been institutionalized to such an extent that nobody ever seems to go back and point out that “hate” pre-existed Hitler, that the Nazis did not invent totalitarianism and, if you study the interwar years (1918-1939) in search of useful policy lessons, the real story is, “Pacifism kills.”

   Aggressors only respect force. Military strength is the only defense against aggression and military strength is useless without the judicious statesmanship necessary to recognize which threats deserve an armed response. Yet the U.S. education system is devoted to a simplistic liberalism and a worshipful celebration of “non-violence” to such an extent that anyone who speaks common sense about defense and foreign policy is deemed a warmonger, if not a “fascist” (a word that nowadays means, “Someone that a liberal doesn’t like).

5. Preach it, bother!

   The inability of the West to muster up some love of country is bizarre to say the least. How the West went from winning WWII to hand-wringing pansies in two generations is going to be a question for the ages.

   Our enemies (and those “refugees” are indeed our enemies) discovered an amazing trick: If you invade with tanks and guns; if you march in columns and wear uniforms, then you will meet resistence. But if you just walk in… well, you can demand anything. “Hey, German infidels! Hand over your country!”

6. Speaking as a member of the Horde in…well I’m standing: There’s a lot of us that see Trump not so much as the salvation of the Republic, or even a fit adversary for the Hilldebeast, but as a blunt-speaking blunt object with which to bludgeon the GOP for its continual failures. A constant diet of betrayal and incompetence has its consequences; l’affaire Trump is purely a self-inflicted wound for the GOP, the inevitable result of co-opting or destroying every messenger and then simply ignoring the message.

   The GOP will kneel, or it will burn.

7. It’s time: http://wp.me/p5VwFc-1ig Put them in camps. It’s Constitutional, even blessed by SCOTUS.

8. Hey, show Fat Faced Karl some respect!

9. Ace and the horde have unfortunately gone more and more pro Trump, though Ace would probably not describe himself as a Trump supporter. You hear the same things over and over (and over and over) again: GOPe, burn it down, “he battles,” etc. At first it was a plausible and even understandable explanation for the Trump phenomenon, but now it has gotten stale and boring. I can understand the drive to send a message, but few seem to grasp that the vehicle by which this message is being sent is someone who is a clownish authoritarian.

   You want populism? Go with the populist who isn’t invested in creating a pseudo police state, ie. Ted Cruz.

10. As I do from time to time, I call to the reader’s attention: The Green March … which strategy, by the way, the government of Mexico has been iintentionally employing for some decades, albeit more patiently.

11. I like “Pig-Faced Satan” better–stealing from Oklahoma U. back in the Jimmy Johnson days at Ok. State.

12. What has the GOP Congress accomplished:

    1) Pass an Obamacare repeal bill–Nope.
    2) Defund Obamacare–Nope.
    3)

13. Trump may in fact be a clownish authoritarian, but compared to who? We used to laugh at clowns like Trump and Putin, but that was before the racialized version of lesbian emancipation became the new law of the land.

    Let me tell you something about Putin: he knows where babies come from and he knows how to defend his patrimony. At this point in American history that’s a winner.

14. “Was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere my imagination?”
    Yes it is. It’s a product of meth fueled white privilege and racism against our little yellow brothers. /sarc

15. ” The whole point is self-aggrandizement of one sort or another….”

    I’m not willing to ascribe such a motive to that group. I’ve read Lew Rockwell’s site since it was originally put up. A lot of what is said over there is sensible, and some of it is straight from a rubber room. Buchanan has been fighting a battle with the GOPe establishment for many years. I have problems with who he blames for our foreign policy, but OTOH, our foreign policy through most of my adult life has simply been incompetent.

    “They make it a point not to be so vulgar as to be concerned with mundane political practice or public policy (except when something is done which might benefit Israel or injure Vladimir Putin).”
    If you seriously think this, then either you are illiterate, or you haven’t been paying attention.

16. No it’s not.

    That proposal violates the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

    Besides that, there are those like me who would stand against a nation that charged and punished a group for the actions of individuals.

17. 3) could have been __________ – nope.
    The GOPe is mostly about maintaining there positions so they can keep their snouts in the trough. I say “mostly” in case there is some minor issue I haven’t stumbled on that they will die for.

18. We all know that you would be quite delighted for the constitution to be a suicide pact, but you need to re-read his post.

19. I did.

    If we have to “destroy the Constitution to save it,” freedom is already lost.

20. Trump would be a mistake for the Repubs, not least because I doubt he’d follow through on most of his tough talk. But look at who the establishment prefers to him: according to Rove the choices should be Jeb, Rubio and Christie. Somehow he missed Kasich.

    The establishment is apparently not yet desperate enough to add Cruz to the mix.

    Re Muslim immigration I can only ask, did we encourage Japanese and German immigration during WW II? It’s apparent that few Americans presently realize we are in a war with Islam—undeclared on our part and covert on theirs but a war none the less, and our punitive expeditions to Afghanistan and Iraq have not been sufficiently persuasive.

21. I don’t think it’s so much that Ace as become a Trumpinator so much as he has gotten fed up with the GOPe and is delighted that someone has come along that is gaining politically and is willing to feed that bunch to the Rancor.
    By the by, Brimelow and the Derb have not become paleos. You need to take a bit more careful look at the lot over at VDare. Buchanan isn’t one of that bunch either, although he says a lot they like.

22. I would say that our punitive expeditions to the sand box and rock pile haven’t been sufficiently punitive.

23. If it’s a suicide pact then you’ve accomplished nothing. Using it as a suicide pact will destroy it because there won’t be anyone around to uphold it.

24. Trump may in fact be a clownish authoritarian, but compared to who?

    I don’t know, everyone?

    We used to laugh at clowns like Trump and Putin

    Used to?

    but that was before the racialized version of lesbian emancipation became the new law of the land.

    The fact that one set of authoritarians is running wild doesn’t excuse the counter-authoritarian impulse.

    Your comment is illustrative of the Manichean worldview of many of Trump supporters and/or sympathizers. These people over here are bad, therefore you either should rally around Trump or you’re with these bad people, as though there’s not some alternative to the goofiness on either extreme.

25. We in The West live in a Culture now based on Leftist Thinking.

    One of the traits Leftism encourages [for a whole host of reasons that time does not permit explaining here] is an all-encompassing Narcissism [suffice it to say: it serves it’s Utopian ends very well].

    So, having a Leftist-based Culture means our Civilization has become a collection of Narcissists.

    One trait of Narcissists is that they are so self-involved they believe everyone else thinks like they do.

    Thus, they believe non-Westerners, such as Muslims, have the same aspirations as they do, such as The Rule Of Law, Representative Government, Right Reason, etc.

    In their rabid Selfishness, the Narcissists cannot grasp that the Western Way Of Thinking [specifically the Anglospheric Way] is unique in this World and in History. It is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate in any time less than several centuries.

    Now, it’s understandable why Western Europe got it wrong when it came to the German Hitler – he was thought to be ‘one of us’ [and tried to seem that way, and used the reputation of the German Race as a cover], but there is no excuse for the Tolerance being granted to the Ideology/Religion known as Islam, which is, most certainly, a system of ideas born in a climate that is clearly not Western in any way, shape, or form. In fact, Mohammedism is rather Oriental, whereas we are the very definition of the opposite: Occidental.

    The threats that deserve an armed response are those which threaten the continuing existence of the Anglospheric Nations.

    As Stacy wrote, we need ‘the judicious statesmanship necessary to recognize which threats deserve an armed response’ and that kind of Statesman only arises from a soil firmly rooted in Judeo-Christian Values. The Narcissist is but a weed, a parasitic plant, exhausting the rich soil of The West – he only brings the rot of Pacifism and the disease of Apathy and the derangement of the soil, which is the Human Soul.

26. If you can only be bothered to uphold the Constitution when it’s convenient or when it applies to people you’ve approved, then you’re no friend of freedom.

    If those principles have any meaning to you, you can find ways to act within those rules and still be effective.

    It’s called honor. I’m pretty sure you heard of it. I’m reasonably sure you tried to live by it.

27. I still hold out for None Of The Above.

28. […] In the Comment section of one of his posts, Stacy McCain writes: […]

29. If Rubio is considered establishment then the Tea Party has already won.

30. The GOP Establishment (GOPe) would more likely vote Hillary than try to destroy Trump in the general campaign.

    YES, THEY ARE THAT CORRUPT.

    Don’t fool yourself! The “status quo” is paramount to them. No uncontrollable change (e.g. Trump) can be allowed. I do not discount an assassination attempt. God forbid it succeeds, as the ONLY thing that would follow is an ABSOLUTE CIVIL WAR with outside international forces playing on the side of the Dems/Internationalists.

31. The only part of you last paragraph I have a quibble with is ‘covert on theirs’ – actually many Muslims [like those in ISIS] are pretty open about it these days.

32. VERY eloquent! and VERY intellectually masturbational.

33. Don’t forget choice
    (c.) Both (a.) and (b.).
    ;~)?

34. ” I doubt he’d follow through on most of his tough talk.”
    I don’t care.
    As long as he stops doing what’s currently been going on. That would be success.

35. […] Ace of Spades Goes Full-On Populist? […]

36. Buchanan publishes in these outlets, but he does not resemble any of the usual subtypes who pen articles or comment on them.

    If you seriously think this, then either you are illiterate, or you haven’t been paying attention.
    I seriously think this, and I’m right and you’re wrong. Daniel Larison is concerned with topical questions. Alas, he has no academic or professional background in anything he writes about. He has no background as a foreign correspondent either.
    As for the von Mises Institute, much of what it does is traffick in fringe economics (or, in the case of Thomas Woods, popularizations of fringe economics). That’s actually a serious enterprise compared to whatever Wick Allison and Ron Unz are up to; it’s still not worthwhile.

37. I also find it amusing to be called an illiterate by a man who pays no attention to any qualification offered.

38. Brimelow is a founder of Vdare, and Derbyshire publishes there and at Unz Review and Taki. Both men are part of the alt-right. It’s just that the alt-right has a number of fragments juxtaposed with different concerns. The Rockford Institute is a filament attaching them.
    The serious work re immigration policy is being done by the Center for Immigration Studies, which is not an alt-right outlet.

39. Mr. Rubio is neither intelligent, accomplished, or trustworthy. It says something about the deadweight in the GOP electorate that he’s now their flavor of the season.

40. Since Mr. Cruz called Addison Mitchell McConnell a liar on the floor of the Senate, I don’t think the Capitol Hill / K Street / RNC / Chamber-of-Commerce / Big Donor nexus is ever going to call him one of their own.
    Keep in mind McConnell’s scamming around was for reviving the Exim Bank. The Exim Bank was an easy call and leaving it dead was the line of least resistance, but in Mitch McConnell’s world, what K Street wants, K Street gets.

41. Cruz is not a populist, and I’d be very wary of putting another lawyer behind that desk. (We may have no better choices, of course). I’d be happier about Cruz (like I would about Santorum) if he’d put in some time as a county executive and some time in business.

42. Well the non-lawyer, executive experienced alternatives (that are remaining) aren’t so hot, so Cruz it is (although I can live with Rubio).

43. In the meantime, RedState is about as anti-Donald Trump as a site can get, and they aren’t fond of Ben Carson, either. RedState isn’t all-in for any candidate, but Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are their clear favorites.

    Me? It’s probably a lost cause, but I support Carly Fiorina. I think that she’d make the best President out of everybody running, but she might not make the best presidential candidate.

44. Oh, I think it’s possible that Trump could win on a third-party run, if it weren’t for ballot access issues. He’d take a lot of Democrats too, but he’d have to meet all the statutory requirements for getting on the ballot everywhere first.

    Anyway. I’ve started working on rhetorical devices for attacking Obama, since he’s already weighing in on the Republican candidates. (Must be worried. I expected him to pretend to be above it all and wait for the general.) This one is as good as I can get it, so I figured I’d post it here for improvement and/or use:

    Barry is using his bully pulpit to act out his daddy issues in public. Again. His therapist should be fired.

    It contains nine separate linguistic shots; one would be better, but he’s a hard target after having been attacked so much already, and I grouped my shots.

    The adolescent immaturity of “Barry” is reinforced with “act out” and “in public.” The implied mental health problem of “daddy issues” is reinforced with “therapist”, which then calls back to the subtle double entendre of “using”. It’s tailored for the context (mocking Trump’s hair) with “bully pulpit” (for defense) and “fired” (for offense).

    The only shot that stands alone is “again”, but it casts his immaturity in stone as an incurable problem and sets up future counter-attacks. It also breaks things up so that there are actually two condensates, “Barry is using … again” and “Barry … should be fired.”

    It’s okay that it was actually Josh Earnest who was talking, because that just baits opponents into trying to respond with dialectic, which is a huge mistake. In this case, it sets them up to be disqualified: “Who do you think Obama’s spokesman really speaks for, if not Obama? The Illuminati? Space lizards? Inquiring minds want to know your conspiracy theory.”

    ETA: It probably goes without saying, but the point is that Obama literally wrote a book about his absent dad, and Trump is old enough to remind him of the white grandpa who was his surrogate father. So, Obama attacking Trump = Barry has daddy issues.

45. Toad Rove, L’il Dicky Morris and Mary Serpenthead walked into a bar, stop me if you’ve heard this one.

46. Hear, hear! As the saying goes, Trump isn’t our candidate; he’s our murder weapon. And our target is the GOPe.

47. I’m not sure you can call a man married to a “former” Goldman Sachs employee a populist. Or a man that worked for the Bush administration as did his wife. Or a Senator who has supported expanding massively HB visas along with the TPA… They are Beltway insiders — Cruz just occasionally stands up and pontificates on the Senate floor. I like Cruz, but the man is no populist.

48. Cannot live with Rubio. Unlike Cruz, there’s no evidence he’s a capable lawyer. He’s been Janus-faced about immigration policy, got snookered by Charles Schumer’s staff, and then tried to lie his way out of the embarrassment. Hit the eject button. The best you can say about him is that the other members of the Pretty Little Liar Caucus in Congress are more annoying. However, Kelly Ayotte and Renee Elmers are not running for president.

49. He most certainly is establishment — Gang of Eight, Billionaire backer, Jeb Bush protégé, questionable expense accounts in FL legislature, CoC star rating…

50. See AK, MS, VA — the GOPe actively worked against GOP voter chosen candidates.

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