I’ve quoted this before, from the late, lamented Florence King:
Did your Congressman fuck a Doberman on the steps of the Capitol? He’s guilty of bad judgment, not dog-fucking. Who said anything about dog-fucking? Where in the world did you get that idea? Dog-fucking has nothing to do with dog-fucking. It’s a question of bad judgment, and if you don’t agree, you’re not only an –ist, you’re a –phobe.
Changing the subject to something utterly irrelevant is a time-honored technique for evading sharp, difficult questions. Politicians must master it before their first network appearances. The alternative can involve admitting to having been wrong, or having to explain why their conduct clashes with their representations.
But it isn’t just politicians who self-exculpate in this fashion. Others do so routinely. Sometimes, they have third parties to help them: persons who style themselves “therapists” or “mental health professionals.”
If there’s no one with a pseudo-medical credential to do the job, there might be a commentator or a political pundit.
And so, many have been wondering how the left will take it if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. According to veteran political analyst Mark Halperin, a Trump-Vance victory will trigger “the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country.”
Halperin sat in on Tucker Carlson’s show this week for a wide-ranging discussion. When Carlson asked him what he thought would happen if Trump wins, Halperin predicted a psychological holocaust on the left that would fall somewhere between “The Purge” and the zombie apocalypse.
“I say this not flippantly,” began Halperin. “I think it will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country. I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future — for them and their children — could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it’ll lead to trauma in the workplace. I think there’ll be some degree of —”
At this point, an incredulous Carlson asked Halperin if he was being serious.
I’d have asked, too. Halperin is excusing the inexcusable, and must be hauled up short.
Put the behavior Halperin predicted in the above – which is only an amplification of their behavior in November 2016 – next to the behavior of any toddler who’s just been told that he can’t have what he wants. Can you see any differences between them? Honestly, now? Because behavior is the starting point for analysis. As with the military analyst, reason backwards. Deduce objectives, and then motives, from observable behavior, not the other way around!
(Dear Lord, please forgive me for repeating that particular advice so often. It appears it’s been ignored by the very people who most need to heed it. Thank You for Your kind attention. Sincerely, Francis W. Porretto, Curmudgeon Emeritus to the World Wide Web.)
The toddler and the shrieking Leftist have the same general intention: to punish those who denied them their way. It probably won’t change the decision at issue, but it might deter future refusals. It’s a rational, if unarticulated, application of a well understood phenomenon: people shy away from pain and suffering.
But in our time, innumerable helpful sorts will explain it away with psychological doubletalk. In this connection, watch for the words stress and trauma. (“Beelzebub, what a useful word!” — C. S. Lewis) Anything is preferable to the bald admission that the flailing, screaming toddler is striving to punish Mommy or Daddy, and therefore should receive more punishment, not less.
And so, to this credentialed “helper:”
This question is for those who are voting for Trump.
Are you ok with having these kind of meltdowns on your conscience? Because it will happen again. pic.twitter.com/gHAf4AMpFB
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) October 17, 2024
…I say bring it on, if you have the guts. We’re tired of the deflections, the rationalizations, and the excuses. We’ll hear no more of them. It’s not trauma; it’s not Post-Election Stress Disorder; it’s not “bad judgment.” It’s dog-fucking, and we will have no more of it. We certainly won’t kowtow to it. The miscreant deserves to be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
3 comments
This is absolutely in-line and expected behaviour.
The liberal democrats of today are the coddled children 30-years ago. Yaknow the parents who didn’t believe in spanking, every mistake was just a little present from their snowflake, and the coup de gras, the temper tantrum in the cereal aisle was successful. The kid threw themselves on the floor and pitched a fit, and Mommy bought the damned Lucky Charms.
Now this child is an adult, after a lifetime of being told they are smart, special, wonderfully awesome.. Yet reality will not be denied, so there is a this calamitous explosion as the two worlds collide. That’s what we are witnessing. Adults being forced to grow up, and they’re not handling it well at all.
They didn’t learn sportsmanship and team-work when they played intra-mural sports. They learned participation trophy’s and ‘you’re a special snowflake, who cares if you can’t swing a bat or throw a ball!’ Anyone who has ever been picked last to the team, grew up that very afternoon. These people have never progressed that far emotionally.
There are fundamental differences to the world these people live in and believe is real, and the one you and I live in and believe is real. Their stance on gender is the tell. For most of their lives, they’ve been able to ignore reality and go to their delusional world because their parents supported it rather than be a parent. Chemistry and the Law of Thermodynamics doesn’t care what kind of snowflakes they are, and that shits painful when you’re 40-something and it’s the first time. Kinda like prison butt-sex, but I’d digress!
Excellent essay Francis. I saw the same snippet of that interview, although I did not draw your conclusion, mainly because I know a few of those people and I was focused on what they might do.
Having said that, I was watching an interview with a former Navy SEAL who was asked to give his opinion on what might transpire after the election. He said that if Harris is installed, there will be what he called “long term violence”. He went on to say that this will involve people on the right and it will entail among other things, sabotaging the system. People will say, “This country can’t stand me, it wants me gone, why shouldn’t I do what I can to jam up the gears?” and that I can see happening.
He said that should Trump win, the period between election day and inauguration day will be a period fraught with violence. He added that that will be a period where the more unhinged lefties, as well as a number of foreign elements that have been allowed in will be given the “green light” to go after our infrastructure. Spicy time is here.
Not only would my conscience be clear of any guilt, I’d relish them. They did it to themselves, so to me it’s bargain entertainment.
Hell I can rattle off the names of some half dozen friends and acquaintances that are already worked up into that kind of psychosis.
I’m immune to it.