Early on, when Trump was running for election, I obviously shared someof the same concerns:
"Trump has an axe to grind with Obama, with Bill Maher, appears intellectually mediocre and a bit boastful, all traits that any modern elitist would consider cardinal sins"And indeed, were the left capable of finishing with a candidate that could at least engage the people as well as Trump did, they would have won. But instead of looking at how middle America has been hurt by Obama's "wanting to fit in with the Europeans" agenda, they unanimously declared them "deplorable", literally splitting the country down a radical divide: urban vs rural.
The average city dweller imagines the Trump voter as some dirty cow herder with missing front teeth. Nothing could be further from the truth. The average rural voter imagines city liberals as gay communists with a permanent buttplug who hate their country. They are also somewhat wrong.
The issue I take with modern elitists, especially movie and sports celebrities, is that thay are such intellectual nullities, that their views don't matter. Their opinions are based on superficial criteria. (1) They want to fit in, so whatever the current popular view, that's their stance. (2) They get emotionally involved in promoting the mantra they think is "la croyance du jour", adding discord, resentment and further dividing the people. (3) I can't name a single one with the cunning and depth to have studied any issue (that they have strong positions on) sufficiently to understand it, and then advance their own intelligent conclusions based on that understanding. To them having an opinion is like fashion. If everyone else does it, shit, I have to be seen doing it too.
In the years since 2016, most of the important worries about Trump have been dissipated, and we have grown to like him, the way he is, with his unique style, in spite of his annoying tweets and unconventional behavior that drives the elites and "elite wannabes" crazy. He didn't crash the economy, he actually handled it better than anyone in history, and he didn't start any new wars, he actually put them out.
The hatred only intensified, but the reasons for it remain in the realm of "elitism":
"He talks like a man child"
"His tweets make me pull my hair out"
But they don't even for a moment acknowledge his incredible accomplishments, for instance achieving energy independence, handling China, stopping the massive border crime wave fueled by the bad policies of his predecessor, or the record economic growth.
And this "burgeois" attitude "oh my god, he doesn't know which fork to use, he eats fast food burgers, he always talks about himself" is on its' face a real shitty attitude to have towards someone who literally saved the country from the brink of disaster. A disaster created by a left Democrat party hijacked by radicals. Remember that at the end of the Obama presidency anti-police sentiment was being fueled by Obama himself, the armed forces were defunded, ISIS was recruiting in the West, people were ashamed to fly an American flag, all Western values were being ridiculed as something to be ashamed of, open borders worldwide was on its' way to becoming reality, and "no jobs" was the new status quo. Obama himself promoted his own presidential incompetence and this gloomy situation as a "law of nature" and the rise of China as inevitable . "What does he have, a magic wand? Those jobs are never coming back".
Civilized folks didn't criticize Obama because he was black. But when Hillary tried to run on the same agenda, people took issue with it. One could say that the only valid concern the left may have today is the environment, or "climate change" or "global warming". And it is a fair point.
"What a monster this Trump to focus on the well being of American citizens when we are all willing to take one for the team and make sacrifices to save the planet".
The problem with this gloomy "the planet is all that matters" attitude is manifold. And I think nobody can explain it better than Jordan Peterson:
So while I still have a measure of admiration for Sam Harris, I find his superficial excuses for clinging on to his Trump Derangement Syndrome a bit ridiculous. On a deeper level, I understand the utility of his stance. He has recruited an audience of "new atheists" who are not exactly the cream of the crop, but rather mediocre people who replaced religion with some other strong belief, such as "hatred of theists" or "climate change activism", and it must be quite the juggling act to keep them all happy.
So, for what it's worth, while I still admire Sam's uncanny intelligence, I have come to detest his mediocre character. Some may say "dude, you would do the same in his place, the left lunatics would hang you and end your career if you don't comply". Yes, perhaps. But I never claimed "nobility" behind my atheism, I never denigrated religious people for their beliefs, except when they fuck up, and I never asserted a moral high ground.
In fact I am much happier in the company of Sunday worshippers who love their country than looters and young idiots who ask for socialism out of greed, not because they honestly wish to dedicate their lives to the good of their community.
"People don't have ideas. Ideas have people" - Carl Jung
