State of the Disunion

A little more than a week ago, I wrote that Donald Trump faces no serious political opposition, and is becoming insulated from criticism by the astounding gormlessness of his critics:

Over and over again, in a constant stream of hysterical diaper-soiling, the absurd anti-Trump “resistance” sounds desperate alarms that are stupid and pointless….

No one is making Donald Trump more untouchable than his “critics.” Quick: Jamie Raskin or Adam Schiff or CNN or The Atlantic warn that the Trump administration has done something deeply troubling. Do you take notice? Or do you roll your eyes so hard that you nearly pass out?

The most striking thing about “the resistance,” which is allegedly rising in a moment of stunning importance to fight for important American political norms against an urgent threat, is how completely its unseriousness has become a self-castrating phenomenon….

The entire American political opposition is currently just stupid. They’re never right about anything, they never speak carefully, they never sort of wander into the realm of fact.

So. Did last night prove me wrong? I laughed out loud as I typed that sentence, by the way. You can love Trump and see the point, or you can hate Trump and see the point: The crushing lack of seriousness in the Democratic Party, the total absence of a compass, makes meaningful opposition impossible. While Trump is mostly doing things that I support, I don’t celebrate the absence of a political counterweight, because I think balanced cultures work better. But there’s nothing over there to cause any balance, so whatever. We have the conditions we have, and we work not with what we want but with what is.

And so Trump’s apparently ad-libbed line about the war in Ukraine, “You want to keep it going for another five years?” is the only thing that drew sustained Democratic applause.

It’s what Trump doesn’t want, so five more years of absolutely pointless slaughter would be very, very good, and should be applauded. These are not good people, these are not wise people, and the political wilderness is their well-deserved destiny.

On a personal note, I’m still at Point Reyes, chasing the pending closure of the ranches, and so will be offline more often than not. Mimicking the effectiveness of Democratic Party messaging, a bobcat “hid” from me this week, right next to a trail, by not moving.

“I totally see you,” I explained. The bobcat did not appear to be impressed.

I spent Tuesday night in a tent on the site of a long-closed ranch, once known as U Ranch. The former center of the ranch is a developed backpacking campground, now, with no sign of ranch buildings remaining. Much of the trail to get there, on land that was once grazed by cattle, looks like a green tunnel:

Close-up:

Not much mystery how that ends, I think.

By the way, Elissa Slotkin’s silly emoting in response to the State of the Union? The usual suspects think it wasn’t hysterical enough:

No pivot to rational argument is coming. Proceed on that basis. And watch for bobcats.