Politico: Trump’s Culture Warriors Go Home

Politico has a new article on the demise of the Alt-Right:

“In February of this year, at the close of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, the pro-Trump blogger Mike Cernovich trekked to the Capitol Hill townhouse that serves as the personal headquarters for former White House adviser Steve Bannon. The inconspicuous brick building, once the unofficial Washington bureau for Breitbart News, had grown into an unlikely center of political gravity during the presidency of Donald Trump. Now out of the White House, the president’s former chief strategist was still holding court there for a steady stream of journalists, donors and activists.

Cernovich was there to vent. Seated at the long dining-room table where Bannon hosts visitors, he complained that Trump had stopped sticking up for his most loyal supporters. He mentioned some public altercations at which anti-fascist demonstrators had assaulted Trump fans. While the president seemed to have plenty of time to engage in feuds with celebrities on Twitter, Cernovich griped, Trump had remained silent on those violent attacks. So had, Cernovich noted, “that sleepy elf,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “You can’t wear a MAGA hat and not get a brick thrown at your head,” he said …”

The long and short of it is this: if you look around, almost everyone who was a big Trump cheerleader on the internet in 2016 is worse off than they were two years ago. Sheldon Adelson and other Jewish donors swooped in and bought the policies that came out of the last election.

What did the GOP do in power after the last election? It used the political capital to do the huge tax cut and banking deregulation. It massively increased military spending. It did a laundry list of “pro-Israel” stuff like ending the Iran deal and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Amazingly, these priorities just happened to align perfectly with that of Jewish donors like Sheldon Adelson.

Just as important as what the GOP has done in power over the past two years is what it HAS NOT done in power. It HAS NOT changed our foreign policy in any dramatic way. Look at Nikki Haley, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo and the sanctions that have been piled on Russia. It HAS NOT built the border wall and has punted on every chance to do so. It HAS NOT deported millions of illegal aliens. It HAS NOT done anything about chronic Antifa violence, but passed the Charlottesville resolution and launched a witch hunt against Alt-Right groups. It HAS NOT done anything at all to address the destruction of our monuments which is an issue far more popular than the GOP’s agenda. It HAS NOT done anything about the explosion in social media censorship except clamor to give Mark Zuckerberg more tax cuts.

Rise Above Movement has been crucified by the FBI. Alex Jones has been purged from social media. Shlomo Rubashkin, however, got a presidential pardon. Everyone who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election has taken hit after hit in the form of violence and censorship and the legislative response has been to do things like pass a $38 billion foreign aid package to Israel.

The rhetoric has changed. The memes have changed. We now see things like “Punished Kavanaugh” memes to celebrate Trump appointing establishment Republicans like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. This has been the Jeb administration without Jeb Bush. If it were not for the tweets and the rallies and Trump’s cult of personality, you would not be able to tell the difference.

That’s why everyone has gone home. Are you ready to get sued, deplatformed or physically assaulted … for Tax Cuts 2 or the Koch Brothers prison reform or possibly a war with Iran?