Bullet Points and Blind Spots
Unless you’ve been under the influence of fentanyl in the last few days, or work for a far-left newspaper, or both, you’ll know they’ve tried to kill Donald Trump once again. I refuse to accept that the life of a conservative leader consists of going to bed every night, celebrating that he hasn’t been assassinated yet.
From left-wing leaders, we’ve once again seen reactions of condemnation with conditional nuances, almost apologizing to their supporters for condemning the attack. Without realizing it, they aren’t really condemning the violence against Trump, but rather seem to be hoping the next shooter isn’t so clumsy. (RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel and the ‘Left-Wing Culture of Hatred’)
Almost all of them talk about a mysterious “climate of political violence,” only to end up blaming Trump for his own assassination attempt.
It’s fascinating to read accounts of the shooting in the progressive press. Almost all of them talk about a mysterious “climate of political violence,” only to end up blaming Trump for his own assassination attempt. I won’t even get into the vast number of maniacs still convinced it was a setup; it’s possible fentanyl produces those effects, too. (RELATED: Now We Know What ‘Maximum Warfare, Everywhere, All the Time’ Means)
Obviously, all the journalists present tried to show off with their epic accounts, the kind that go: “And then I crawled through broken glass under crossfire, called my wife and told her I love her, and that I’m so sorry for flirting all night with the blondest CNN colleague at the WHCA dinner.” I understand it. Certainly, unless you work at Charlie Hebdo, attacks don’t usually happen at journalists’ gatherings — beyond some questionable tie choices. It’s normal that anyone who goes through something like this tries to be Hunter S. Thompson at the Hell’s Angels bar. (RELATED: The Hypocrisy of the ‘Hate Has No Home Here’ Contingent)
In that sense, I was amused by Jack Crosbie’s demystifying piece in Rolling Stone. His caricature and his reflection on the press’s subservience to power are sharp. The problem is, I can’t shake the feeling I would never have written the same article if the attack had been against Barack Obama or Kamala Harris. In that case, he would have considered it relevant for journalists to report the victim’s reaction, assess their heroism, and describe how the situation was brought under control. Crosbie, on the other hand, believes the only important thing is to investigate the gunman’s motives: “It’s to figure out why a college-educated white-collar worker got so fed up that he decided to tear up every last shred of the social contract we live under.” This is a good example of how Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) can instantly ruin an otherwise interesting reflection and an article that seemed entertaining.
Still, since he’s brought it up, let’s continue down that same path. Yes, I like it. Let’s say the important thing is to investigate why someone like Cole Thomas Allen did something so horrific. Fine: let the left investigate it. This isn’t Trump’s business, or the right’s, or the conservative leaders’ business. I don’t have to justify that I deserve to be alive because I sign my conservative columns every day, or because I’m a Christian, or because I believe socialism only brings hunger, misery, and violence. I’m not the one who has to beg for mercy for my life. You are the ones who should try not to kill anyone. It’s you. It’s always the left that uses violence. In the United States, in Brazil, in Colombia, in Chile, in Spain… we’ve seen it time and time again in recent years.
It’s a damn growing pattern in the postmodern left. So they shouldn’t drag us into their mess. The attacks against Trump should not prompt any reflection on the right. It’s the left that has to solve its problem. What the hell is wrong with them?
Some progressives are surprised that someone like Allen, whom they consider an “ordinary guy,” attempted this crime. Then, unable to find a satisfactory explanation, they accuse conservatives of defending conservative policies, as if they were accusing raped women of being provocative because of their miniskirts. I won’t swallow this cynicism anymore. If we accept that Allen is an “ordinary guy,” as some Democratic analysts say, then progressivism is the problem. This is the third assassination attempt on Trump. Don’t tell me this is an isolated case. A political ideology that drives ordinary people into madness and leads them to attempt a massacre is a real threat to national security and is incompatible with democracy.
As for the attack itself, I fully identify with the intoxicated journalists. That has been the only positive aspect of the whole story. There is still hope for the profession. If you happen to be caught, at dinnertime, in the middle of a shooting with all top government officials as potential targets, it means your day isn’t ending, it’s just beginning. And the only way to process something like that all at once, when you were already set on it being your time to get drunk, and an unexpected twist ruined it, is to get drunk anyway before going back to work, and before other colleagues take advantage of the chaos to grab all the bottles.
After all, journalism has always been a profession for drunks. Everything went to hell the day teetotal journalists appeared. Maybe this trend of sobriety explains some journalistic accounts of what happened at the Washington Hilton, blaming Trump for the attempted murder. A drunk would never do that. Drunks always tell the truth.
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