Naomi Wolf: Happy Indictment Day
Here’s a truly excellent piece by Naomi Wolf, on the reaction of so many Democrats to the J6 Trump indictment. Wolf is neither a Trump supporter nor a conservative, but she has the reaction that all Americans should have no matter what their political stance. I think it’s the reaction that the vast majority of Americans would have had several decades ago. But sadly, these days that seems to make her rare among Democrats.
One of the reasons that Wolf has gotten to that point is that she’s been very against the government’s line on COVID. I agree with some of her contentions on that topic and disagree with many others, but that’s not the point. The point is that she is already quite disillusioned about federal government, so her mind is open to possible government overreach and lies. And now, with this indictment from Jack Smith, she also has relevant personal experience from 2000 that informs her point of view. She cannot un-know what she knows, and her discomfort with the contrast between the way the Democrats reacted to challenges about the results of the 2000 election (she was somewhat of an insider, having worked for Gore’s campaign) and the way they’re reacting now to Trump’s challenges to the 2020 election means that she sees the huge contradiction and the naked drive for power that it represents.
What is seen cannot be unseen, at least not by Wolf.
An excerpt from her essay:
“Happy Indictment Day!” shouted the neighbor of my host, as my host and I sat out on a balcony. The neighbor was emerging from a car, three stories below us. The building must have contained thirty apartments. The man was certain that everyone who was in earshot of his joyous shout, agreed with his sentiments.
He witnessed my silence. “Don’t you agree?” he goaded me, a near-stranger, still shouting. “Don’t you?”
Finally I responded, “I am not sure that this sets a great precedent. Every sitting President in the future will try to indict his or her political opponent.” He cut off the discussion — a reaction, from the Left, to which I am getting accustomed — and headed inside.
Earlier, at lunch, an otherwise lovely lady had celebrated the possible-near-incarceration of “that criminal.” Again, she assumed that everyone present shared her view of the events of the day.
I am experiencing considerable inner turmoil at the spectacle of President Trump’s indictment, as well as at the almost animalistic glee that this spectacle has triggered in the solid bloc of Democrats that currently surrounds me.
I am extraordinarily sad — at the thickheaded ignorance of history that those who are celebrating tonight, reveal; and at what has become of our country.
Don’t people understand — much as they may hate this fellow — that this is exactly what coup leaders in every banana republic, do? Seek to imprison their political opponents? …
Another reason for my discomfort and misery is that I have a guilty conscience, because of what I experienced two decades ago and what I know — things that not that many people have experienced or know, and things that seem to be generally forgotten. These memories bear directly on current events.
Much more at the link, and well worth reading.
It’s simple human nature. Categorizing other human beings as pure evil allows for people who imagine themselves to be good to commit and/or strongly support evil acts. Not only that, but righteous vengeance just feels really good. Who hasn’t felt that sweet shot of dopamine when some evil person gets what’s coming to them. And Trump has been reduced to an evil monster in the minds of many liberals.
It’s very hard these days to not feel like these people (non politicians) who are gleefully rejoicing in what we around here may view as something truly awful are themselves truly evil. But most of the time they’re really not evil. They’re just deeply emotionally wrapped up in a particular world view that is unfortunately not true.
Nonapod:
Agreed.
Wolf is a rare breed of liberal/progressive; one that has gotten much, much rarer since the day Trump came down that escalator eight years ago: one not infected with Trunp Derangement Syndrome.
TDS is a massive epidemic which has infected nearly half of American adults. It’s most pervasive symptoms are endorsing and cheerleading anything which damages Trump and turning a blind eye to any possible repercussions or collateral damage that might happen in the process.
Most of my social and professional circle is left of center. Many are highly intelligent, well educated (and from a time well before wokism infested every corner of higher education), well spoken and are (or were) reasonable about political and social views. Up until Trump came down that escalator eight years ago, most of them were content with ‘agree to disagree’ and ‘live and let live’ in regards to conservatives and Republicans, like myself. Oh sure, discussions could get heated, especially during election season, or on hot button social issues (abortion, gay marriage, second amendment). But for the most part, they respected differences of opinion and did not assume moral worth was based on political views or voting preference.
That is mostly gone. Trump is now the litmus test. You must hate him. You must detest his very being. You must gleefully celebrate any damage he suffers. You must pine for his imprisonment and even his death. Moreover….and this is what is really disturbing….you must extend your scorn and fury to his supporters.
Again, the people I’m referring to are not Antifa or any other group of social misfits rounded up to serve a leftist cause. They’re otherwise completely well adjusted, middle and upper middle class folks, who lead normal lives and are sociable, approachable, kind and friendly. Except when Trump or his supporters are at issue.
I’m guessing many people in this blog have similar experiences.
Ackler:
I have certainly had similar experiences.
Pretty much the attitude too many people have, and I know I’m repeating myself, is that they’re on the right side so nothing will happen to them. Faint little comfort that is to those of us with any understanding of history. If you said that because you a muslim, it’s not much of help if you’re a shia in a sunni area. Or if you thought that because you were christian you were in deep trouble being a catholic in a protestant. BTW remind me how well did the followers of Lenin do when Stalin took over? Anybody with a better understanding of russian/soviet history how did the Mensheviks do?
But what if “we are the Baddies?”
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-we-the-baddies
And LINKING to memes, Ackler’s post causes me to wonder on the salutary effect of this very Christian meme on a Tshirt: “ LOVE [Trump. Pic] BECAUSE YOU HATE”
I watch some MSNBC. I can’t tolerate Rachel Maddow or Joy Reid, but I will watch Chris Hayes and Ari Melber for short bits. They have an almost sexual joy and satisfaction over the prosecution of Trump. They can’t even conceive of the fact that he might be innocent.
I’ve posted this before. I hope the MAGA crowd surrounds the DC courthouse. Peaceful assembly. The BLM crowd was outside the Hennepin County courthouse during the Chauvin deliberations. Turnabout is fair play.
3m Mitchell and Webb clip, since my LINK at site above is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKcmnrE5oY
A glimmer of hope. Wolf is a widely known and read author/journalist. She might change a few minds. It can’t hurt.
I heartily endorse Cornhead’s idea of a protest.
These poor gullible lefty fools will be very surprised when they find themselves up against the wall when the party line changes and they didn’t adapt fast enough.
They have been practicing hopping on the bandwagon of whatever the current thing is so they can show their loyalty.
When the long knives come out loyalty won’t matter a bit.
Ackler’s comment hits the nail on the head. It’s all so sad and infuriating at the same time.
I think it’s a more dangerous mutation of Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Would be interesting reading reactions of Soviets who had interesting opponents taken in only to have themselves in turn arrested.
Just to clarify I mean they think they’re on the “correct” side. (Just re-reading it and I realize it wasn’t clear if I meant right as in politically or right as in “correct”.)
Ackler’s clear-sighted observation is precisely what leaves me conflicted.
On one hand…I want to feel sympathetically inclined toward folks like Wolf who can see where the dominoes might fall once POTUS Trump goes down. Simultaneously, she was/is part of the problem just like our friends family and acquaintances who are otherwise Dr Jekyll nice until the issue is one of the 21st century hot-buttons: CRT, gender/sex, Trump, global boiling etc… Then out pops Mr Hyde and I want to bring back the guillotine… figuratively for the most part.
I’m also realistic enough to know that genies don’t quietly go back into their bottle. This is already past a point of no return…IMO. I really want to be wrong on that.
Josh Marshall has a long thread of tweets about how the real two tier justice system is that Republicans never get punished for all their corruption and crime, but Democrats are too honest to ever do anything wrong.
It needs to be read.
Ira –
Agreed, it has a lot in common with Bush Derangement Syndrome. But it seems much more aggressive (not sure that’s the exact word I want, but I think it’s close) than BDS was.
The only bit of good news about TDS is that it’s caused some on the left – Wolf is one, Maher appears to be another – to realize that there’s something very wrong with the left these days, and that the left is doing things that are a threat to the Republic.
I still can’t believe that Wolf went from utter self-immolation — with her feminist screed of a book which was so error-ridden that the publisher canceled its publication — to being a warrior against government overreach. It’s remarkable really. We’ll take our wins where we can find them, I guess.
Ackler,
Large percentages of Democrat voters believe that W was responsible for planning and executing the attack on the towers on 9/11.
Large percentages of Democrat voters supported jailing people who refused to get the jab.
Large percentages of Democrat voters supported taking children away from parents who didn’t support the jab for themselves or their kids.
Are those in your circle among those?
well its a pattern which has been slow but present, eastman and burnham (the latter technically a trotskyite, who became national review’s lead strategic thinker, dos passos who had strong anarchist leanings, but awoke in the spanish civil war, moving on down to collier and horowitz,
I mentioned this in the comments when I first referenced this same Naomi Wolfe column back on August 8: there’s an editing battle on her Wikipedia entry.
People keep adding “conspiracy theorist” to her description: “Naomi Rebekah Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American feminist author, journalist and conspiracy theorist.”
I checked out the editing history of that “conspiracy theorist” and it first appeared in June of this year. And it’s been going back and forth several times since then. Someone edited it out at one point with the comment, “Seriously, why burn Wikipedia’s credibility to the ground with “conspiracy theorist” allegations for everyone you don’t like? It’s Wikipedia suicide. Please stop.)” The placement of it BEFORE the footnotes implies that the source material supports the claim. But they are the same footnotes without “conspiracy theorist.”
I think Wikipedia’s “credibility” crashed and burned a loooooooong time ago.
It’s with checking out Sasha Stone’s offers at her substack, “Yes, David Brooks, You Are the ‘Bad Guys’ — But it’s not entirely your fault…”
She’s apparently a “former Democrat and leftist” who escaped the Bubble.
https://sashastone.substack.com/p/yes-david-brooks-you-are-the-bad#details
The neighbor speaks for the hard core Democrats. I’m wondering if “ordinary people out there” are actually talking about or thinking about the Trump indictments (and the Biden investigations). Is it the case that everyone who knows about or talks about this indictment is on one side or the other? Is there a “silent majority” that will eventually wake up to what’s going on, or are they just going to stay silent (and not even be a majority)?
Ms. Wolf has something that few ‘progressive’ intellectuals have – she can learn from experience. Brava!
Another reason for my discomfort and misery is that I have a guilty conscience, because of what I experienced two decades ago and what I know — things that not that many people have experienced or know, and things that seem to be generally forgotten. These memories bear directly on current events.
–Naomi Wolf
________________________________
That’s quite a teaser!
Neo’s link tells all, but when I read this extract I had to wonder what Wolf’s dark secret might be. All I could recall was that she was the fashion consultant who advised Al Gore to dress in “earth tones” for his 2000 campaign.
Earth tones might qualify as a felony in some circles, but as a male I wouldn’t know.
However, her point is that she was an insider in the Gore campaign and vividly recalls the roller coaster of the contested 2000 election in which both parties denied the election’s outcome. The issue was hard fought on both sides and taken all the way to the Supreme Court for resolution.
________________________________
And yet today, you are a criminal if you ask for everything — for anything — to pause so you can review reported voting irregularities in the tally of the race?
Why did the two sides fight so hard in 2000? Why did they battle for 35 days after the polls closed? Why go all the way to the highest court in the land?
Why?
Because that is how our system is supposed to work.
–Naomi Wolf
________________________________
Our Little Naomi has grown up!
Ackler:
Vivek has said that Trump drives 30% of the population insane. I think that is correct. That’s why I support Vivek. Clean slate. No drama.
Trial date set for January 2, 2024. He will be convicted. I can see the judge immediately remanding him into custody. She’ll figure out the exact sentence later. And I can also imagine MAGA riots in DC. Sadly, we’ve come to this and I blame the Left.
“Again, she assumed that everyone present shared her view of the events of the day.”
This is, in my experience, unique among the left, generally, and particularly Democrats. They are so confident they are correct that they just cannot imagine a credible counter argument or that any reasonable person would disagree.
Arguing and ignoring them are pointless. Unfortunately the only possible remedy is ridicule.
I’m humbled that my comment generated so much response. I appreciate it.
Ira,
Yes it is. A far, far more intense and dangerous mutation.
Stan,
Yes, my social circle largely supported mandatory vaccinations with punishment for refuseniks. An offshoot of the TDS mania, I’d say.
It’s been many years, but some of them certainly flirted with 9/11 conspiracies as well.
Cornhead,
I agree a conviction in likely in a DC Circuit kangaroo court. With what follows…God help us all.
As for Vivek, I’m open to persuasion for him.
Tony2shirts,
Thank you! Your comment also was spot on. It is all very sad and infuriating.
@ stan > “Democrats are too honest to ever do anything wrong.”
That showed up years ago as “Obama didn’t have any scandals during his administration.”
Not admitting the plain evidence is not the same as there being no evidence.
Exactly what they are doing now with the Bidens (see my comments on the Garland-Weiss thread).
Ira; Ackler:
Actually, it’s an ever-escalating series of derangement syndromes that goes like this: Bush Derangement Syndrome → Palin Derangement Syndrome → Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Neo,
Absolutely. And it will continue, even if Trump disappeared tomorrow. There’s already rambling of DeSantis Derangement Syndrome. It’s relatively low key. Since Trump dominates all the media attention. But it’s there
Have these Democrats ever read, watched or listened to any non-Left media, and seriously considered the ideas therein?
If not, they have been derelict in their civic duty. They lack the “virtue” that is necessary for a Republic. In consequence, we have lost the Republic, at least temporarily.
Thanks, Democrats! I pray that you will learn your lesson, and receive an appropriate comeuppance!
WROTE stan on August 11, 2023 at 5:37 pm said:
“Josh Marshall has a long thread of tweets….”
And reactions…saw no ridicule?
SORRY, but why should I care what Josh Marshall writes on (Twitter) X..?
pornhub marshall* yes hes a barrel of spider monkeys
in the era of the mid 00s, when the nutroots were getting underway, he was an authority, the reverse of the one eyed man trope, his oneliners were as reckless as jason leopold who thought to pen enron to the bushes, then time passed and tom white, turned out to be a critic of the iraq war, never mind, about that, since then, leopold has turned out some reasonably good work
also there was this notion he floated they were going to indict porter goss, for something, the punchline was his successor michael hayden, turned out to be crooked as the day is long, to the present day,
If a group of Trump supporters surrounded the court house where the kangaroo trial was being held they would be arrested and charged with illegal assembly if not treason. I would not have been anywhere near the Capitol on January 6 because I am a conspiracy theorist and they keep coming true. The New York Times and Washington Post have morphed into Pravda while we were preoccupied with life, family and children. Osama bin Laden was pretty smart to see how the reaction to his attack has caused far more damage than he did. The National Security State got its impetus from 9/11. Saddam was just a preview.
One thing I have never been clear on is exactly why they think Trump “guilty”, or guilty of what. I really haven’t seen anything resembling a coherent explanation. And I do not mean psychological diagnoses; I see far too many of them on the right. True, false, or whatever, they miss the point, as such approaches always do.
Is there such a thing out there? I confess I’ve stopped reading leftists, for the reasons others cite: they have become wholly detached from rational argument.
However, I will say this: The notion that they could not possibly be mistaken is not unique to the left. I see it everywhere; even here. It’s a human trait, alas. I’ve been conscious of this since my teens, probably because I find myself disagreeing with almost everyone.
Back then (late 60s) my teachers all told us to “question everything.” Well, I did. And they were NOT pleased. The reaction was effectively “No us, you idiot.”
Mike K: “If a group of Trump supporters surrounded the court house where the kangaroo trial was being held they would be arrested and charged with illegal assembly if not treason.”
I was thinking that, too. Coincidentally, yesterday I ran across a book review I wrote twenty years ago. The book was about MLK and the civil rights movement and noted how important the assistance of the media was to its success. I ended the review by speculating in some detail about what would have happened if the media et al had treated the civil rights movement as it has treated the anti-abortion movement. It might well have failed.
So yeah, I’m sure protests by Trump supporters would be spun across the board as potential insurrection, terrorism, etc.
Neo: “Bush Derangement Syndrome ? Palin Derangement Syndrome ? Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Yes, and as I’m sure you know you can go back a bit further: Nixon DS, Reagan DS. Neither of those was as widespread as these later ones, but psychologically they were the same. I can remember some really loony conversations from each era. And am sorry to say I shared NDS for a while. People really believed that Nixon was a fascist preparing concentration camps for hippies. I had changed my political mind by Reagan’s time so I was spared that.
Cornhead: “That’s why I support Vivek. Clean slate. No drama.”
The left WILL find drama and if there is none to be found, they WILL manufacturer it. Steel dosier?
Mac: Very true. Nixon Derangement Syndrome had people on both sides of the political fence taking so much stuff as the objective truth about Nixon. He’s vilified for inconsequential stuff he may have done. Read Geoff Shepard’s books for insight into reality.
Mac: Again. Spot on about the media. If they treated the pro-life with even any amount of objectivity I think the overall view would drastically improve. If they covered them as fawningly as they cover the pro-abortion people, the pro-life stance would dominate. I always find it so… frustrating that the media writes as if American abortion laws were so out of touch with the rest of the world.
@ Mike K > “I would not have been anywhere near the Capitol on January 6 because I am a conspiracy theorist and they keep coming true.”
Sarah Hoyt agrees with you, and so do I.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/12/07/our-trump-card/#comment-891039
Trump’s biggest mistake by far, IMO, was not realizing that he would be walking into a trap if his rally happened anywhere close to the Capitol.
Anyone with any political acumen, or even normally suspicious minds, should have predicted that something would be done by the Democrats to turn the rally / protest against Trump, even if it is hard even now to realize the depths of depravity of the Pelosi Plan.