As always, the analytical approach is much appreciated, but you may have timescale issue here. How do the first few days of the 2025 Summer of Jorge compare to the first few days of the 2020 Summer of George? I note that there are 1,000 “protests” nationwide being organized for this Sunday, according to one website (which I am sorry to say I did not bookmark).
And, of course, we also have the potential that this year’s riot season won’t measure up because of a more robust response early on, as well as some cultural shifts over the past 5 years.
I've been swamped by a spike in work, an effort to move my fiancé into my house, and by working on a very complicated gun policy work group with Michael Siegel and Tufts University. Hope to have a little bit of time to write more in the next few months. Including probably several pieces on the Tufts thing.
Got to meet Jonathan Lowy there actually, fresh off his dunking by SCOTUS last week, and he was a surprisingly reasonable individual F2F. I sorta like him.
I’m in Tucson. I find it interesting that they aren’t trying to organize anything in South Tucson, which is the barrio. They have downtown (of course), Vail (a retirement community with plenty of Boomers), and NW Tucson (relatively newly developed, middle class with no particular Latino population as far as I know). Pretty sure Vail and NW Tucson both broke for Trump last year.
My understanding is that kayfabe requires both sides to cooperate in faking it. I’m not seeing that here. I think it’s a sincere political fight, though with a lot of PR posturing. Democrats are following their old playbook, unleashing the activists and giving them “room to destroy” while preventing local law enforcement from stopping them.
Trump, though, is upping the ante. He is “escalating” (enforcing the law) because he knows he’s got both the law and public opinion on his side.
You can often see Trump setting up no-lose situations for himself. Either Newsom and Bass cave, allow ICE to operate, and tick off their left wing (a Trump win), or they double down on protecting illegals and rioters, thus making Democrats look even worse to voters (a Trump win).
My first draft of this article had a level-up zeitgeist coordination argument in it, which then of course (because HWFO) tied in the egregore concept, but it was long and a stretch so I stripped it.
It’s certainly true that it’s a political dance, but there are crucial differences this time. I’m reminded of the great line from Patton: “Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!” Trump and his people know the Democrat/leftist playbook, and I’m convinced they intend to use that knowledge far more than previous opponents ever did. “No one is above the law” is going to boomerang hard on Democrats and the entire left.
I think it's questionable whether Trump yoinked them into this or they just faceplanted. The US has been the political equivalent of a cripple fight for at least a decade.
A number of things indicate to me that Trump is serious. DOGE was a brilliant move to give him superadmin access to the comms, spending, and secrets of the Deep State. Also, look at how he’s going after DEI and the universities, crucial power centers for the entire left.
Trump has a big ego. He wants vindication, revenge, the applause of the crowds, and a lasting legacy. Exposing government waste and crime, and crushing not just the Democrats but the entire left, would get him all those things. I think he’s won the war already, Sun Tzu style, and it’s just a matter of time for it to play out. Remember, he had a successful reality show for years. I think he’s got quite a show planned for the coming years.
I'm not sure DOGE going after USAID was Trump's idea. I don't give him that much credit. But whoever decided to blow up USAID was a very intelligent culture warrior.
I’m sure Trump’s team is aware of the Democrat/Deep State/leftist networks. I think they saw USAID as a linchpin of the Blob and as low-hanging fruit, because foreign aid is not popular.
Keeping in mind that the Applause Meter in an Information War is what the body count is in a Kinetic War, we have a world class master leading the charge from the Oval Office.
While Trump didn’t use the NG in 2020, he did have Fed boys just round up instigators who attacked federal buildings. And the reason for why he just went straight to using the NG now(as opposed to 2020) isn’t about clout and ego totally(because that’s always a factor for most politicians, like that one Cali Senator who got cuffed the other day) but because he campaigned HARD on border control. So he has the backing of his whole voter base, he had no reason to fear using the NG.
So I don’t buy it’s political theatre on Trump, Newsom for whatever reason has a population of people that want illegals to drive up their already crazy high housing prices and crime riddled streets, so he has to play up his love for it all.
As always, the analytical approach is much appreciated, but you may have timescale issue here. How do the first few days of the 2025 Summer of Jorge compare to the first few days of the 2020 Summer of George? I note that there are 1,000 “protests” nationwide being organized for this Sunday, according to one website (which I am sorry to say I did not bookmark).
And, of course, we also have the potential that this year’s riot season won’t measure up because of a more robust response early on, as well as some cultural shifts over the past 5 years.
Glad to have you back. It’s been awhile.
I've been swamped by a spike in work, an effort to move my fiancé into my house, and by working on a very complicated gun policy work group with Michael Siegel and Tufts University. Hope to have a little bit of time to write more in the next few months. Including probably several pieces on the Tufts thing.
Got to meet Jonathan Lowy there actually, fresh off his dunking by SCOTUS last week, and he was a surprisingly reasonable individual F2F. I sorta like him.
Congrats on your engagement!
Here’s the website:
https://www.nokings.org/
I’m in Tucson. I find it interesting that they aren’t trying to organize anything in South Tucson, which is the barrio. They have downtown (of course), Vail (a retirement community with plenty of Boomers), and NW Tucson (relatively newly developed, middle class with no particular Latino population as far as I know). Pretty sure Vail and NW Tucson both broke for Trump last year.
I should note that this morning I noticed “No Kings” signs at the LA riots, so they are involved with those.
My understanding is that kayfabe requires both sides to cooperate in faking it. I’m not seeing that here. I think it’s a sincere political fight, though with a lot of PR posturing. Democrats are following their old playbook, unleashing the activists and giving them “room to destroy” while preventing local law enforcement from stopping them.
Trump, though, is upping the ante. He is “escalating” (enforcing the law) because he knows he’s got both the law and public opinion on his side.
You can often see Trump setting up no-lose situations for himself. Either Newsom and Bass cave, allow ICE to operate, and tick off their left wing (a Trump win), or they double down on protecting illegals and rioters, thus making Democrats look even worse to voters (a Trump win).
The Yin and Yang of this is sub-textually coordinated even if not explicitly so. Neither side could exist without the other.
I agree on the double-win condition of this thing, from a strategy perspective. And if LA happens to burn to the ground, triple-win.
My first draft of this article had a level-up zeitgeist coordination argument in it, which then of course (because HWFO) tied in the egregore concept, but it was long and a stretch so I stripped it.
It’s certainly true that it’s a political dance, but there are crucial differences this time. I’m reminded of the great line from Patton: “Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!” Trump and his people know the Democrat/leftist playbook, and I’m convinced they intend to use that knowledge far more than previous opponents ever did. “No one is above the law” is going to boomerang hard on Democrats and the entire left.
I think it's questionable whether Trump yoinked them into this or they just faceplanted. The US has been the political equivalent of a cripple fight for at least a decade.
A number of things indicate to me that Trump is serious. DOGE was a brilliant move to give him superadmin access to the comms, spending, and secrets of the Deep State. Also, look at how he’s going after DEI and the universities, crucial power centers for the entire left.
Trump has a big ego. He wants vindication, revenge, the applause of the crowds, and a lasting legacy. Exposing government waste and crime, and crushing not just the Democrats but the entire left, would get him all those things. I think he’s won the war already, Sun Tzu style, and it’s just a matter of time for it to play out. Remember, he had a successful reality show for years. I think he’s got quite a show planned for the coming years.
I'm not sure DOGE going after USAID was Trump's idea. I don't give him that much credit. But whoever decided to blow up USAID was a very intelligent culture warrior.
The idea might have come from his team, but he’s implementing it.
I’m sure Trump’s team is aware of the Democrat/Deep State/leftist networks. I think they saw USAID as a linchpin of the Blob and as low-hanging fruit, because foreign aid is not popular.
Keeping in mind that the Applause Meter in an Information War is what the body count is in a Kinetic War, we have a world class master leading the charge from the Oval Office.
Been waiting for this.
Much appreciated, sir!
While Trump didn’t use the NG in 2020, he did have Fed boys just round up instigators who attacked federal buildings. And the reason for why he just went straight to using the NG now(as opposed to 2020) isn’t about clout and ego totally(because that’s always a factor for most politicians, like that one Cali Senator who got cuffed the other day) but because he campaigned HARD on border control. So he has the backing of his whole voter base, he had no reason to fear using the NG.
So I don’t buy it’s political theatre on Trump, Newsom for whatever reason has a population of people that want illegals to drive up their already crazy high housing prices and crime riddled streets, so he has to play up his love for it all.