No, George Soros wasn’t really a Nazi collaborator
It’s pretty much a standard thing now for people on the right to add the words “Nazi collaborator” (or something similar but even more extreme) to their descriptions of George Soros.
But it’s not true that he was a Nazi collaborator. At best, it’s an exaggeration so extreme as to effectively be a lie. I’ve written about this topic before at some length, and I’m about to reiterate some of that information in this post. But that’s not really what prompted me to write about it The larger question that interests me is one I often wonder about: how much the right can fight fire with fire before becoming a version of what it hates.
No, we shouldn’t play by Marquis de Queensberry rules when the left is playing so dirty. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, and all that. The left lies incessantly, and with the full backing and cooperation of the MSM. So what should the right do in response? Correcting the lies of the left doesn’t really work very well, because a lie really does get halfway around the world before the truth has time to put its pants on. And by then it’s too late.
Plus, lies are usually simple to assimilate and understand. Truth tends to be more complex, and a lot of people figure TL;DR.
Also, this question of how far the right should go to counter the left isn’t just about lies. It’s about tactics in general. It’s about things like – just to take one current example – indicting one’s political opponents for crimes that would ordinarily not be prosecuted at all. Once the left starts and the right responds in kind (which it hasn’t yet), where does this thing end?
I yield to no one in my criticisms of Soros and especially of what he’s done in backing far leftist prosecutors in the US. His actions have been exceptionally destructive. Actually, though, I don’t think it’s even necessary to lie about him; the truth will suffice because the truth is bad enough.
There’s just something that sticks in my craw when I read lies, and lies discredit – in my opinion, anyway – those who write them. Your mileage may differ.
So here I am in the position, not of defending George Soros in general, but of attempting to set the record straight on this particular detail once again. Why bother? I’m not sure anymore, but let’s just say I’ve always tried to follow the truth wherever it leads me.
I refer you to this previous (2018) post of mine. Here’s a relevant excerpt:
With Soros there’s also the fact that, that although he was born a Jew by the Nazis’ definition—in other words, he was born in Hungary to parents of Jewish ancestry—he was never given any instruction in Judaism and his parents had actually repudiated Judaism. They weren’t just non-practicing Jews (although they were indeed that), they were actually anti-Jewish, according to Soros himself, who said that he “grew up in a Jewish, anti-Semitic home,” and called his parents “uncomfortable with their religious roots.”
I want to clear one thing up at the outset, however. There’s a lot of vilification of Soros for what he supposedly did during WWII in Hungary (as a child and young teenager), but the bulk of these accusations don’t appear to be true, or at least they are greatly exaggerated and built on only a small kernel of truth. On the other hand, Soros was mostly protected during World War II and didn’t seem to suffer, by his own admission. Soros himself has described WWII as an exciting period of life for him because his father seemed to have everything under control (Soros managed to masquerade as a non-Jew during this time) and “we managed not only to survive but to emerge victorious…”.
The allegations about Soros being a Nazi collaborator are based in great measure on an interview he gave with “60 Minutes” in 1998. The story is told in great detail in a 2002 Soros biography (let it be noted, by the way, that Soros was nine years old when the Second World War began and 14 years old when it ended):
Shortly after George went to live with Baumbach (who was a wealthy Hungarian; George was in hiding and concealing his Jewish identity in order to survive the Holocaust), the man was assigned to take inventory on the vast estate of Mor Kornfeld, an extremely wealthy aristocrat of Jewish origin. The Kornfeld family had the wealth, wisdom, and connections to be able to leave some of its belongings behind in exchange for permission to make their way to Lisbon. Baumbach was ordered to go to the Kornfeld estate and inventory the artworks, furnishings, and other property. Rather than leave his “godson” behind in Budapest for three days, he took the boy with him. As Baumbach itemized the material, George walked around the grounds and spent time with Kornfeld’s staff. It was his first visit to such a mansion, and the first time he rode a horse. He collaborated with no one and he paid attention to what he understood to be his primary responsibility: making sure that no one doubted that he was [his assumed non-Jewish identity] Sandor Kiss…
In a separate autobiography written by Soros’ father, his father adds that Soros the younger “even helped with the inventory.” That seems to have been on this one occasion, when Soros was around thirteen years old. He only stayed with Baumbach for a few weeks and then went to live with his mother, who had also assumed a false (non-Jewish) identity. Hardly the sort of thing people understand to mean by the term “Nazi collaborator.”
There’s much more at the link, including a discussion of other similar allegations against Soros. Each allegation seems to be based on the enormous exaggeration of a very very small truth about something Soros did as a child and young teen during the war. They don’t seem to be based on anything other than the testimony of both Soros and his father.
So, although you’ll read plenty of strong condemnation of Soros on this blog, it won’t include the charge “Nazi collaborator.” Why not stick with the very real things he’s done as an adult that are worthy of condemnation and opposition?
Whether or not Soros is called a Nazi collaborator, it doesn’t answer the larger question of what tactics the right should use in the very intense and bitter fight we’re in. I think it’s an important question.
One of the best things about this blog, in which it is fairly unique, is its adherence to truth. Thanks for that.
What is deeply troubling is this question: “how far the right should go to counter the left isn’t just about lies. It’s about tactics in general.” Because it does seem as if that old saying that the Democrats are the evil party and the Republicans are the stupid party might be true. The left’s policies might be a nightmare, but their ability to put them into practice is remarkable. Just look at how they have ruled so many big cities for many decades–ruled them to ruination. And the Republicans seem to have simply given up. Somehow, if this situation is to be saved from disaster, the Republicans must find a way to counter the lies and propaganda of the left. So far, they don’t seem to have a clue.
There were, I imagine, Jews – but not practicing Judaism, that ended in the Gas Chambers. Soros is truly an Evil person to my way of thinking, but did not work for the Nazi’s. That is not to say he didn’t support them either, in his 14 yr old way.
Also annoying is the leftist charge that any criticism of Soros is “anti-semitic.” Since he raised by parents who actively rejected their religious heritage, and has never, so far as I have heard, embraced Judaism in any way, this charge is bogus. Criticism of Soros is based on his actions and in no way related to his ancestry.
Along with Neo, I favor aggressive criticism of leftists, but it needs to be based in truth and reality.
Neo, what do you suggest the right can do to counter the left’s tactics? Here’s a Soros relevant example. In the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court judge election, Soros and other leftists spent millions supporting the radical candidate who won.
In the same election, the Republicans gained a 2/3 majority in the state Senate. They already have a majority in the state house. Should they impeach and remove the leftist supreme court judges before they transform Wisconsin into a leftist hellhole? What would the Democrats do if the situation were reversed?
i don’t hold that against him when he was a teenager, and was in fear of the arrow cross, however the fact he decided to turn on the uk that gave him sanctuary and even a first class education, well therein lies the rub,
I have wondered for years about Soros’ motives. Why is he promoting the left so vigorously when (I believe) he helped anti-Soviet activities in Hungary ? Obviously, his attack on the British Pound was motivated by money but why work to destroy cities? Arizona now has a governor funded by him and probably elected by fraud. She has already vetoed 37 bills passed by the Republican legislature. What does Soros get out of this mayhem ?
Mike K, I wonder this exact thing myself. It’s frustrating not to know the answer. I’ve read all I can find about the guy, but it’s mostly what he DOES, not WHY he does it. What is his ultimate aim?
He’s still a horrible person and a major threat to the West!
neo’s point about Soros reminds me of my kindred points about [here it goes] Trump.
I liked almost all of his policies, once he had assumed office, and I was nauseated by the man. I felt strongly during the 2016 campaign and then during his 2017-2021 presidency that /! from the liberals’ standpoint !/, there was a lot substantial about which to criticize Trump — so why go digging for lies (many blatant) and trivialities to criticize? Why not criticize him *intelligently* without sacrificing one’s integrity in doing so?
I was never a Trumpkin, but unlike so-called never-Trumpers, I could /never/ imagine going over to the other [Dark] side and politically hobnobbing with the likes of Wasserman-Schultz, Pelosi, Schumer, and so on. (I’m looking squarely at you, Jonah Goldberg (and a few others).)
I finally came up with what I might term myself: I was not a Trumpkin, I was /certainly/ not anti-Trump, what what I was, was
anti-anti-Trump.
And then there’s neo’s larger “question of how far the right should go to counter the left”; of “how much the right can fight fire with fire before becoming a version of what it hates?” and all the nuances and mental conflicts attached thereto.
Carry on, friends . . .
I HAVE read this about Soros:
“For Soros, the goal of contemporary human existence is to establish a world defined not by sovereign states, but by a global community whose constituents understand that everyone shares an interest in freedom, equality and prosperity.” This was from a 2018 article in the Guardian. Whether that’s accurate or not it seems to detail what at least the author thinks drives Soros.
I don’t actually see how what he’s doing here in the US will accomplish this, though.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/06/the-george-soros-philosophy-and-its-fatal-flaw
With his wealth he won’t face justice here. Extraditing him, if calls for that are true, might work, but it would take Conservative leadership to do that, something we’ll probably never see again.
hes lying as with schwab, it is a new feudalism, with an invisible serf’s collar, as a blog acquaintance has described it,
Even in my on line crowd who keep saying that he was , I keep saying he can’t be due to his age. He isn’t old enough. He still is a evil person out to destroy anything he can it seems to me.
What the dumbpublicans should do is always bring a gun to a knife fight, and every time they have the power, they should use it relentlessly to destroy the demokrats. They need to stop trying to work with demonkrats or placate them or even deal with them with respect.
You will note that when the dems are in power, you never hear the words, “reach across the aisle.”
Also, the republicans need to stop the idiocy of addressing the opposition as “my colleagues across the aisle.”
Really now; even the worst, dishonest liar in congress, Adam Shitt (oops, is it Shiff? nope, it’s not) is treated with respect when he should be called out for what he is; a two timing lying SOB.
The dems have established , very effectively, the template for how to destroy their opposition. The republicans need to learn from that, improve on that and actually get with it.
When one side plays dirty, the “clean” side will always fail.
And yea, one reads often that “the truth in the end will prevail.”
Well, this will do you no good if “in the end” is 100 years from now, and there are a few million dead (as in murdered) souls who held the “moral high ground.”
Politics is a real dirty business and the dumbpublicans had better act as if they are in an existential struggle – because they (and us) are.
I still regard him as a Nazi collaborator and will call him as such (as have others like Daniel Greenfield, who knows what he speaks of), but I freely admit that he was a bit player and what we know of his collaboration (as opposed to what might be inferred as possible but cannot be proven, and what has been claimed but is flatly impossible) is rather marginal and I also use the term “X Collaborator” more widely and less pejoratively than most (for instance, I would consider most members of the Judenrats as collaborators, albeit partially unwilling at the least, and many of them were far from evil.
Likewise Feliks Mlynarski, a Polish economist who became head of the Nazi puppet bank operating in Poland in order to keep the economy stable, with the acceptance of the legitimate Polish government. Also C.P. Kryssing, a Danish Army officer and anti-Communist who joined the SS in order to organize a Danish anti-Soviet volunteer unit with the blessing of the democratically elected Danish government and King, but who was ultimately demoted by a mutiny because of his “liberal” and anti or at least non-Nazi leanings and who was never implicated in war crimes.) His connections to his “stepfather” are skeevy at the best of times and he certainly benefitted from the man’s more in depth collaboration, and pointing this out helps deal with the chaff that we are anti-Semitic by pointing him out, but it was far from the worst sin he committed and nobody has provided solid evidence he did anything very heinous.
Especially in comparison to what he did as an adult.
The utter lack of empathy and awareness when he spoke on the matter I do think is more damning than what we can prove he did (which were essentially nothingburger errand runs).
To be precise, Soros was not a Nazi collaborator during the Nazi era. But to be against the existence of the Jewish state of Israel, he and others of his ilk are accessories after the fact. To paraphrase the late Rabbi Elijah Palnick, they want to give Hitler a posthumous victory.
@Banned Lizard
I’d argue he was a bit collaborator during the Nazi occupation of Hungary (and particularly Budapest), though (as far as we know/can prove) not in a way that would or should have made him criminally liable (being a minor involved in running notices on behalf of his actually-mature-and-criminally-collaborationist Stepfather). I have grave doubts about the true nature of his actions and how forthcoming he has been about them, but I have to admit we have no serious or ironclad proof he did anything manifestly criminal, and let’s be honest when one studies the genocide and mass theft of Budapest’s Jews and other “undesirables” by the Nazi Government and their Arrow Cross lackies, the list of people to hang for it shouldn’t start with teenagers who were involved in cataloging furniture or (possibly) running notices.
What stands out to me about Soros’s own records about those times is less the supposed magnitude or nature of the crimes involved (which were paltry and not very harmful and so would be glossed over given their nature and his minority) so much as the visceral excitement and even joy he seems to have had even recalling it, and while he and others have tried to spin this by saying they were just excited or happy that they were using Baumbach’s power and contacts to save people (which the various Hungarian resistance orgs certainly do not seem to have thought, since while they identified Baumbach as a non-ideologue for the Reich they also viewed him as an utterly shameless and exploitative profiteer who would sell people up the river to Himmler as quickly as he’d send them to freedom), it still indicates he relished in the contacts he had, the privileges’ he got as “son” of a collaborator, and what very paltry, limited role he had in either making or unmaking the vulnerable at threat for their lives.
That more than anything alarms me far more than what he actually did during the Siege, and the fact that he was willing to speak so openly about it decades later without realizing how it makes him look under a critical eye makes me dread the man.
But while I’m one of those willing to defend the label of Soros as a Nazi Collaborator, that doesn’t change the fact that his known collaboration was exceptionally marginal and (as far as we know) nonlethal. He certainly was no SS officer at Auschwitz with easy-to-prove blood on his hands, especially since he was under the authority of Baumbach as a minor and so even if more damaging evidence did come to light primary responsibility would probably fall to him, not Soros.
Soros is a very complicated person. If you read histories about the events leading up the the fall of the iron curtain and the collapse of the Soviet empire, Soros and the Open Society Foundation are often given credit for their strong support of antiSoviet activities. He helped bring freedom to Eastern Europe.
My conclusion about him is that he does not believe in or at least does not trust the police power—the power of the state to maintain order using force. I think it stems from his childhood where he saw the state rounding up innocent citizens and sending them off to the death camps in an unjust and arbitrary way— not that there could ever be a just way to do that.
Strange man he, who is doing a lot of damage.
My recollection of my reaction to that 60 Minutes interview was, “This Soros is one damn s—b-g.” Why? Because my perception was that he had no sympathy for the victims of the NAZIs and was happy that he came out ahead of most of his fellow Hungarians.
@gwynmir:
Yes, I think that the way to understand Soros is that he thinks the nation state to be the root of all evil.
But, Georgie, I don’t think that your no-bail prosecutors are going to help in that. I’d say that they will provoke a reaction that will make the nation state stronger.
I wish for George Soros the reward he so richly deserves.
Engaging in reasoned rebuttal is an exercise in futility when
dealing with the mendacious. The equivalent of trying to teach a horse to sing. Laughing ridicule and derision is the appropriate response to the Left’s lies.
Bill Maher shows the way;
https://youtu.be/yysKhJ1U-vM
Alas, it’s not just Soros.
The Democrats know a good scam when they see it, viz. among the many elect helping them to destroy their political opponents AND the country: Zuckerman, SBF, and Reid Hoffman:
“Dem Megadonor Secretly Funds Rape Lawsuit Against Donald Trump;
“LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman has secretly paid E. Jean Carroll’s legal bills since 2020”—
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/dem-megadonor-secretly-funds-rape-lawsuit-against-donald-trump/
– – – – – – – –
Speaking of “coincidences” along the Demoratic Party Policy Path to desolation, despair and destruction…here’s a rehashing of an already-discussed meme (and the reason why lower COVID rates in Africa—where sickle-cell anemia is rampant in some regions—SHOULD NOT BE SO SURPRISING)…
“Contentious COVID-19 Drugs Are All Anti-Malarial: May Not Be A Coincidence”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/contentious-covid-19-drugs-are-all-antimalarial-may-not-be-coincidence
To be sure, these drugs are ONLY “contentious” for those who deny their efficacy in a concerted, maniacal effort to push a catastrophic one-size-fits-all vaccination policy upon the world.
Alas, it’s not just Soros.
The Democrats know a good scam when they see it, viz. among the many “elect” helping them to destroy their political opponents AND the country: Zuckerman, SBF, and Reid Hoffman:
“Dem Megadonor Secretly Funds Rape Lawsuit Against Donald Trump;
“LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman has secretly paid E. Jean Carroll’s legal bills since 2020”—
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/dem-megadonor-secretly-funds-rape-lawsuit-against-donald-trump/
H/T Instapundit.
– – – – – – – –
Speaking of “coincidences” along the Demoratic Party Policy Path to desolation, despair and destruction…here’s a rehashing of an already-discussed meme (and the reason why lower COVID rates in Africa—where sickle-cell anemia is rampant in many regions—SHOULD NOT BE SO SURPRISING)…
“Contentious COVID-19 Drugs Are All Anti-Malarial: May Not Be A Coincidence”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/contentious-covid-19-drugs-are-all-antimalarial-may-not-be-coincidence
To be sure, these drugs are ONLY “contentious” for those who obsessively deny those drugs’ efficacy in a concerted, maniacal effort to push a catastrophic—if tremendously profitable (both financially AND politically)—one-size-fits-all vaccination policy upon the world….
Related:
Rudi Giuliani on Bragg/Soros:
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/district-attorneys-alvin-bragg/2023/04/15/id/1116275/
Jerry Nadler on Bragg (repost):
https://nypost.com/2023/04/15/democrats-to-participate-in-ny-judiciary-committee-hearing/
Who ya’ gonna believe…
+ Bonus:
“Another attorney leaves Soros-backed prosecutor’s scandal-ridden office, citing ‘toxic work environment’;
“Kimberly Gardner has struggled holding onto staff in what observers describe as dysfunctional office”—
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/another-attorney-leaves-soros-backed-prosecutors-scandal-ridden-office-citing-toxic-work-environment
(What they don’t tell you is that it’s SUPPOSED TO BE dysfunctional…as a microcosm of that fabulous “Fundamental Transformation”(TM) they love to tout….)
And another “coincidence” (as in “coincidental disinformation”)…
“The corrupted science behind Biden’s COVID vax mandates”—
https://nypost.com/2023/04/14/the-corrupted-science-behind-bidens-covid-vax-mandates/
H/T Powerline blog.
(Hey, maybe we DO need a “Disinformation Czar” after all…! Or maybe just a factitious—facetious(?)—fact checker… Hold on, we certain have enough of those—just ask Glenn Kessler…)
Speaking of Alvin “no one is above the law” Bragg…
“…here are 327 people [in NYC] who appear to be above the law…”
https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1647359018086572034?cxt=HHwWhICxqZCTzNwtAAAA
H/T Mollie Hemingway Twitter feed.
(Or is that Nancy “no one is above the law” Pelosi…?—Hold on, make that “presumed guilty until proven innocent Pelosi…)
+ Bonus:
“Ex-Biden Energy Department official Brinton gets no jail time in luggage theft plea deal;
“Brinton has been accused of stealing airport luggage on more than one occasion.”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/ex-biden-official-sam-brinton-gets-no-jail-time-luggage-theft-plea-deal
(To be fair to the DOJ, though, how can one really know which non-binary personality to actually charge…)
True, he decided to become a Nazi in his old age.
so while 400000 Hungarian Jews were being sent to Auschwitz , Soros and his fellowNazi collaborating godfather were taking inventory of confiscated Jewish property.
Maybe not Ans van Dijk level but still Nazi collaborating.
Had I a magic wand Id go back in time and trade the traitor for Wiesel’s sister.
More of a fascist—in terms of government-corporate cooperation (or rather co-option…even if we can more accurately refer to it as “collusion”).
But then many others have as well.
…Though quite possibly, he’s the one who’s reinvented the fascist wheel, transforming “fascism”, if you will, into purported “Democratic government”-corporate cooperation/collusion, which cooperation/collusion, with its massive coverups and built-in, overarching censorship, subverts the norms of a Democracy, or Republic, of course “for the BENEFIT of the people”, etc., etc., IOW, the old fascism in new “Democratic” clothing!
(Must be said that Soros has a real talent for the Orwellian abuse of language, no doubt taking a page from grotesque Maoist (and other) “euphemism”—just look at the name saccharine names of his sinister organizations!)
I couldn’t call Soros a Nazi collaborator fairly, because his age at the time provides a consideration. But I can’t dismiss the effects of being surrounded by such activities during the formative years of his consciousness, either. I’ll accept that they must have had an important impact, and take his subsequent actions as an adult as a kind of supporting evidence. He’s a particularly odious and repugnant example of how a talented individual can become warped and anti-societal. I do wish that his motives were more clearly-cut so that his activities would be correctly identified and put into the public light. He’s caused a lot of mischief during his life, and for personal profit – a kind of implacable and intemperate opportunist. apparently without many of the normal moral impulses of self-restraint.
Putin. Soros. Russia. Nazi’s. Lets call the whole thing off.
Russian Hybrid Warfare & Ukraine: Propaganda, cyberwarfare & hybrid war methods – Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBTyAZg5OA
Timestamps:
Timestamps:
00:00:00 — Open
00:01:37 — What Am I Talking About
00:03:03 — Sponsor: Ground News
00:04:09 — The Great Power Challenge
00:08:20 — Competition & Western Conception
00:13:51 — Russian Hybrid Warfare
00:22:13 — Cyberwarfare
00:26:09 — Proxy Use
00:29:43 — Ambiguity & Kinetic Operations
00:34:09 — Information Warfare
00:51:43 — Designing Hybrid Campaign
01:00:00 — Hybrid Warfare In Ua
01:08:21 — Countering Hybrid Warfare
01:12:40 — Conclusions
01:13:36 — Channel Update
Soros has many beliefs/behaviors that should rightly be criticized; however, I will NEVER condemn anyone who could have been a victim of the Nazis (or any other murderous thugs) for “collaborating.”
Having never been even closely in the situation of “working with” murderers or being killed myself or, worse, having family or friends killed if I don’t do their dirty work I cannot say that I wouldn’t “collaborate.”
It seems to me that it was something that Victor Frankl wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp in which he described how some inmates who were in charge of distributing the thin soup each day. Some would try to be fair to everyone and make sure that everyone got some bits of turnip or potato while others would only scoop down to the bottom of the kettle to get those bits for their family and friends. It is a good question – which type of soup distributor would you be? The one who makes sure everyone gets a fair share even if you don’t know them or would you save the choice bits for those you know?
I would love to brag that I would fight to my own death against such evil; but, not having come face-to-face with such evil I cannot certainly say what I would do. I cannot even answer Frankl’s question about soup!
It’s possible to think Soros might not have known exactly what he was doing running messages.
Question for me is whether he’d have been a willing collaborator without external pressure had he been, say, fifteen or twenty years older.
His current strategy seems, considering the circumstances which he confronts, is leading in that direction.
So I would guess…yes, he would have been.
Soros is the embodiment of evil. Neither Satan nor Soros is stupid.
Soros simply wishes the American Republic to be extinguished. He uses our election laws against us, funding garbage district attorneys who prosecute extremely selectively, and negate crime laws on the books. Murderers are released by them from jail “on their own recognizance”. What?
He hunkers down in Switzerland, corrupting the USA from afar. It is easy for him; half the country and all our major cities are Democratic, and the history of that Party since before the Civil War is filthy and corrupt, continuously. It captured the South, destroyed by the War, flooded with newly freed slaves who needed to eat, as did whites, for about a century. Now the South in its recovery is Republican!
Remember, the South was agrarian. Family farms depended on their men to plow, and so many, non-slaveholders, did not return in 1865. More Americans died in that war than all other war casualties combined. So the South was basically destroyed. The Reconstructionists were economic and social vultures.
of course he knew what he was doing, he hates this country and the West in general, he hates orban because he turned against him,
I first came across his dark deeds with regards to decriminalization of drugs, something which was how china ended up being conquered seemed to be a bad thing, there was a Chicago trader who did the same,
we ‘dodged a bullet’ not having kerry or gore or hillary but he redoubled his efforts, in 2020, and who knows what beast will arise after ’24
When one side plays dirty, the “clean” side will always fail.
And yea, one reads often that “the truth in the end will prevail.”
Well, this will do you no good if “in the end” is 100 years from now, and
The problem is that most of them are on the same team.
I think–I hope–that there are enough voters left who abhor lies that we can do considerable good by (1) telling the truth consistently and (2) exposing people who lie. Opponents who are willing to lie can be dangerous, but they also give us a tool to undermine them if we are careful and relentless.
As they say, you can’t reason a man out of a position he didn’t reason himself into to begin with, but not all voters fit that description. Those who have simply been misled, but still care about the truth, can be reached. When they realize they have been lied to, they can change their political positions dramatically and even become politically active in a way they never were before. It can be a “Saul on the road to Damascus” transformation.
As noted above, before Soros turned his efforts to the West, he was a large contributor to the fall of the Soviet empire. Could Soros be against the power of the state? Is he against what is? Is he a nihilist? Hard to say.
Soros has made his huge fortune through speculation, famously making over $1 billion in one day by shorting the pound in 1992. He has a view of civil society that is not that different from the reigning thinking on the academic left. To say that he is uniquely deranged or anti-social is not right or accurate. Many rich (therefore unaccountable) people share his views. Think Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jon and Pat Stryker, Pierre Omidyar, etc. It is safe to say that these people are not advocates for the middle class. Their primary audience is each other. They are not for liberty. They are for government through the dictates of the elite–the “best minds”.
Remember FDR’s famous demagogic rants about what he called the economic royalists? He railed against “the lone wolf, the unethical competitor, the reckless promoter, the Ishmael or Insull whose hand is against every man’s.” Pretty wacky stuff by our only four-term president. What would he say about our own social justice oligarchs? Could he fit Soros and social justice in with Ishmael and Insull?
We live in strange times, but so did our parents and grandparents.
he was against the pauperization of the Russian people, I will give him that, he was one of the proponents of a Marshall Plan, as if he understood how that was impossible in the Soviet system, that plan operated on fresh soil to prevent Soviet contagion,
He’s not terribly keen on Xi, except he is doing everything to make us his prey, maybe he agrees we must be dominated as punishment for the Opium War,
Amadeus-
Agree!
But I still think he is Satanic.
“…about soup.”
Brings to mind the story told by a woman who was imprisoned in one of the camps together with her mother. She survived, but I don’t recall if her mother did also.
In the camp, they had a problem (well, more than one) but the more immediate one involved eating.
The daughter refused to eat—if the thin gruel made of vegetable skins, some vegetable bits, perhaps some meat grease on occasion, and water could be referred to as “food”—insisting that her mother should “eat” the daughter’s meager portion in addition to her own.
Problem was, the mother insisted the same: that her daughter should eat the daughter’s portion and also the mother’s.
As time passed, they realized how ridiculous this was, but neither was prepared to budge—a stiff-necked people, one might say—until one of them (I forget which) lit upon a life-saving solution: “I will feed you one spoonful of your soup; and then you will feed me one spoonful…and we will do this until our two bowls are empty.”
Each vied with the other to feed her companion as full a spoon as possible, the soup in both bowls disappearing rapidly…and so they survived to live another day….
Soros is just the most visible of the globalists that are working to break down borders, break up societies, and create a new world order. The U.S. is a major problem for their ideas, but they are making progress that few could imagine only fifteen years ago.
As far as I can tell, they see a world where the elite run things and the proles do their bidding. A new feudalism. Freedom and property rights won’t exist in their brave new world………..except for them.
Our side had better finally recognize that these people are serious and not our friends. By nature, most Republicans are live and let live sorts of people. That mind set has to change. We need to become more aggressive and go on offense as the left does. We have to be willing to stand in their way at every turn, as they do to us.
The Texas judge’s ruling on the abortion medication has become a huge rallying point for them. It’s an issue that needs to be decided by careful deliberation and cool heads. The Dems have put big rallies together to protest the issue as they frame the GOP as misogynists and anti-women. This is their major MO.
The Republicans need to be just as aggressive on such things as the new EV policy, the anti-fossil fuel plan, and deficit spending. These are important kitchen table issues that should get much more attention and angry protest from the GOP. Until that happens, the left will continue to make headway.
if it wasn’t that it would be another thing, pointing out deficit spending is racist dontcha now, and fossil fuels, cause gaia pain,
no they are evil, and yet the top men have though they could negotiate with them, you can’t anymore than you can do so with Al Queda,
I’m more interested in why Soros is doing what he’s doing now. It does feel as though he was twisted in some way — perhaps by the war years — to become some kind of Mephistopholian, or Faustian, or Luciferian character. Much of what George Soros says is what the left is saying. Much of what he does is what other billionaire philanthropists are saying. But I don’t quite see how letting criminals out of prison fits in with the new world order.
Maybe there is a connection and it’s all been planned out. Maybe it’s accidental: Soros combining all kinds of fashionable causes without any connection between them. Or maybe he just gets off on disruption. Find a rationale for destroying currencies and a justification for benefiting from that, and you might just find that you get off on increasing disorder and chaos. Soros does seem to be something like a Shakesperean (or Marlovian) character whose mind and motives are hard for ordinary mortals to fathom.
he saw his palette in the eastern european realm, and he found how easily societies can be disrupted, and had some hangups regarding the west perhaps as a foreign student in cold war london,
If I accepted* that the struggle was between the Left and the Right, with the Left being most of the Democrats and the Right being most of the Republicans, then I would say that no, the Republicans shouldn’t be making up lies about Democrats just because they are doing it. They shouldn’t be doing anything immoral, or anything illegal, even if the Dems are doing it.
That said, they should be willing to play hardball. When they have power they should be willing to use every legal means necessary including changing laws and regulations when they can, because the Dems do it to them. If they did this, they would start to make gains, and possibly the Dems would back down from what they have been doing so that Republicans will follow suit and they can fight more evenly but with less intensity. (This does happen, there’s numerous examples in history, and it’s well explained by game theory.)
And so the question is “why don’t the Republicans ever play hardball”? Almost all the answers l’ve heard from Republican-leaning people is either “Republicans are too pure” or “Republicans are too dumb”. I don’t think either of those answers really make sense of the situation.
*Obviously I don’t accept that. The two “parties” are the Party of Government (aka the Uniparty, the Establishment, etc) which consists of nearly all the elected Democrats and most of the elected Republicans at the Federal level, and the overwhelming majority of those who work for the government, vs normal people. The Party of Government exists to maximize their personal wealth and influence by collecting and distributing tax revenue and providing a forum for rent-seeking and regulatory capture. The media provides cover by focusing mostly on culture issues and the Party of Government pretends to fight over them publicly while working together behind closed doors on what puts money in their pockets.
The advantage of this way of looking at things instead of focusing on Republican vs Democrat is we don’t have to posit that party labels mysteriously make people more pure or less stupid: all we have to do is believe that what the media is telling us is not the real story, which we all think we know and always forget.
This why the Republicans in general never play hardball the way Dems do, they’re not really on the other side. They exist to provide the illusion of choice and to play a role in the national culture war drama, and in return for their cooperation they get a seat at the table, sharing in the rewards from appropriations, patronage, rent-seeking, and regulatory capture. We’ll keep never stop being ruled by lizards if we think the key is to get enough red lizards in and keep blue lizards out. The few Republicans at the national level who don;t go along can’t do much about any of it.
Here, in its entirety, is the statement of the new mayor-elect of Chicago. This relates to two nights of street disorder at Millennium Park in which the police were overwhelmed by hundreds of teenagers from the south and west sides:
“In no way do I condone the destructive activity we saw in the Loop and lakefront this weekend. It is unacceptable and has no place in our city. However, it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.
“Our city must work together to create spaces for youth to gather safely and responsibly, under adult guidance and supervision, to ensure that every part of our city remains welcome for both residents and visitors. This is one aspect of my comprehensive approach to improve public safety and make Chicago livable for everyone.”
This is Soros’s candidate. This fellow is a fool. He is so far behind this he thinks he is ahead. The problem in Chicago is not a lack of spaces for youth (in Chicago we call them “yoots”) to gather safely and responsibly under adult guidance and supervision. The problem is no family structure, no discipline at home or at school, and a predatory attraction to the lakefront, combined with a complete failure of civic pride or responsibility and an undermanned and overwhelmed police force. I wonder what the people that piled out of Symphony Center after the Saturday concert and onto Michigan Avenue at 9:30 pm thought? At least two “yoots” were shot.
Next up: city organized midnight basketball in the neighborhoods. I hope no one gets killed.
This is going to finish off both the tourist business and Michigan Avenue if it continues throughout the summer.
Chicago businesses that complain will get shaken down for donations to ridiculous, empty programs that mostly line the pockets of connected city contractors. The big question always is whether this is a “no show” (you don’t have to show up to get paid) or “no work” (if you have to show up, you don’t have to work) job.
If you are in politics or in government, then to some degree or another, you are part of the Party of Government. Reformers have to work with that and figure out some way to get around the Establishment and the bureaucracy and the career politicians. They also have to make sure that their fellow mavericks and insurgents don’t make more trouble by going too far. It takes a lot of energy and cunning to get anything done. Bulldozing one’s way through the system doesn’t work and causes troubles of its own.
Soros’s favorite philosopher, Karl Popper, was an opponent of totalitarianism, the command economy, and top-down social control. Popper’s idea was the “open society” which practiced “piecemeal social engineering.” Soros took the phrase “open society” and the opposition to Soviet communism from Popper, but he seems to have turned Popper on his head. Maybe Soros took the idea of “social engineering” too seriously and in the wrong way.
What George Soros supports looks a lot like the Platonic ideal of supposedly wise and benevolent guardians ruling over society — an ideal that Popper actually rejected. Society will go through a period of chaos and then our wise and benevolent overlords will sort things out. That’s a view that, as I understand it, Popper would have categorically rejected. It might be interesting if somebody could actually interview Soros about this, and how he ended up espousing the very things his philosophical mentor opposed most. I still suspect that between the Holocaust and a lifetime speculating aganst national currencies something got really twisted in Soros.
popper opposed kant, who disdained inalienable rights, which is where anti freedom philosophies come from, this is why woodrow wilson was such a bad egg,
Frederick…”Party of Government”…see my post Paying Higher Taxes Can Be Very Profitable:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/52376.html
Soros’s favorite philosopher, Karl Popper, was an opponent of totalitarianism, the command economy, and top-down social control.
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The rap on Popper has been that his students referred to his most famous work as The Open Society by One of Its Enemies.
@David Foster: Paying Higher Taxes Can Be Very Profitable:
Of course. The value of limiting competition, extracted rent, and regulatory capture are far higher than the additional taxes. It’s win-win for everyone but individual taxpayers and consumers, who ultimately pay for all this.
George Soros is so evil there is no need to invent stories about him that are not true. He reminds me of a James Bond movie villain.
The Forever Trump fanatics keep[ saying that Soros is supporting RonDeSantis!
By the way Neo, you really are a very good writer.