Lance Morrow: Trump vs. The Woke: Let the People Decide

Well, of course I agree with this. I basically just keep saying it over and over:

   In America in 2024, who, or what, is the real threat? Mr. Trump? Or the left? It’s a harder question than either side will admit.
   The justices should entertain the possibility that the ambitions of the progressive woke and the soft-left elites have introduced an intolerant ideology—and a habit of mob behavior—that has done lethal damage to freedom of expression and thought, to say nothing of excellence, in American universities, public education, corporations, cultural institutions, big media and government. Their doctrine, damning Mr. Trump’s MAGA as the Bad America—Mr. Hyde to the left’s virtuous Dr. Jekyll—tolerates no viewpoint that disagrees with its own. Self-righteous progressives, needless to say, don’t recognize themselves in that reading of their saintly program.
   It’s Mr. Trump who lies, the left will say. It’s undeniable he does. But, the Trumpian right replies, progressive America has become an entire culture of lies: Nothing is true except “my truth”—and the party line. Men aren’t necessarily men and women aren’t necessarily women. Doctors or midwives merely “assign a sex” to a newborn. Mediocrity gets an upgrade; a student worthy of a C-plus under the old regime may now graduate summa cum laude. One must never hurt the feelings of mediocrities. An appeal to excellence is racist oppression. Western Civ has got to go.
   The Trumpian threat emanates from one egregious man and his massive following, citizens who, however, don’t consider themselves or their leader to be a threat at all but, rather, the better bet under these dreary circumstances. The faithful of the progressive left, every bit as cultish as Trumpians are alleged to be, consider themselves and their doctrines as the path to righteousness.

One of the innumerable things that concerns me about the illiberal left is that almost all of my peers--those who live in academia and its penumbra (so all literary intellectuals, bureaucrats, non-profit employees, policy wonks short of economists, etc.) seem to think that the choice between Trump and the Dems is easy and obvious. Trump is the devil, and the Dems are perhaps suboptimal (because not leftist enough...) but they're fine and always the default choice. The complete failure to acknowledge or even recognize the madness that has infected the left is horrifying. As I've said in the past: I understand those who say This is a horrific choice, but as best I can tell the Democrats are the less-bad of our terrible options. What I can't understand is thinking that the contemporary Dems are anything less than horrific.

   Don't get me wrong, there are Trump-worshippers on the right. Usually they also think that the election was stolen by outright fraud and the vax is killing millions... Those people are also cracked. And I say this despite the fact that I recognize full well that the left has created a demonic, fictional Trump. But anyone who thinks that guy is basically The Messiah is nuts. He has strengths. And he did a generally good job the first time. But he's always been a gamble. And his post-election freakout should make voting for him a last resort.

   Blah blah blah.

   Anyway, Morrow concludes--and I agree:

There’s the problem: The case for disqualifying both the flawed and tainted Mr. Trump and his flawed and tainted opponents on the left (including Mr. Biden) is strong. In a perfect world, that’s what would happen. But in such a bind as this—in this depressing equilibrium of negatives—a decision for one side or the other would require the Supreme Court to disenfranchise half of the country. The sane course is to disqualify neither. Let the people vote on it. And let all sides hope that by 2028, the country will have brought forth a new generation, offering a better choice of leaders and, let us say, more grown-up ideas.