It's Not About Gaza

Near the beginning of my book, Campusland, there is the following scene. It takes place as the president of "Devon University" (located in "Havenport," Connecticut—draw your own conclusions) approaches the building that houses his office:

A small knot of protesters were gathered outside the entrance. It was early in the year for that sort of thing, but having spent the last several decades at Devon, Milton Strauss was more than used to it. He even had sympathy for most of the causes, having himself slept several nights in a shanytown that progressives had constructed during the dark days of apartheid. That had been right there, in the stone expanse of Bingham Plaza. What could they be protesting today? No doubt something well-intentioned.

The protesters spotted Milton and instantly became animated. "Hey, Milton, divest from Israel now! Stop the murder! cried one. "Divest now! Divest now!" Their homemade signs thrust up and down like pistons.

Milton smiled and walked over. "It's great to see everyone. Really great." He began shaking hands, much to the bewilderment of the protesters. "Keep up the good work and welcome back to school!"

Then Milton Strauss, the seventeenth president of Devon University, disappeared into Stockbridge Hall.

Campusland came out in 2019, and I probably wrote those words in 2017 or 2018. In the book, the progressive students are disappointed at their lack of traction with the Israel issue, so they readily move on to something else.

In the real world, they wouldn't have to wait long.

I have been told, many times, that Campusland was "prescient."

It wasn't.

I was just paying more attention than most to what was happening on our campuses for many years, right in front of our eyes. Interestingly, there were a few critics of Campusland that accused the satire of being "over the top."

In reality, I dialed the real world back. There were things happening that were so out there, even then, that I decided no one would buy it, even in the form of a satiric novel.

And now here we are, only a couple of years later, and Campusland seems almost tame, particularly as the anti-semitism that pervades academia has risen to the surface.

In the novel, the fecklessness of Milton Strauss and his inability to impose any sort of discipline on his campus, gives rise to chaos.

Sound familiar?

In fact, it is the Milton Strausses of the world, and more particularly the boards that oversee them, that are the targets of my next novel, All the Lovely People (St. Martins Press, due out next spring).

But that's not really the point I want to make today.

What's going on at Columbia, and Yale, and Harvard, and just about everywhere has nothing to do with Gaza. As many have pointed out, most of the protesters couldn't find Gaza on a map. 

I was amused when one journalist approached a student who was chanting, "From the river to the sea..." and asked her exactly what river and sea she was talking about.

Of course, she had no idea.

But this underscores the point I want to make: it's not about Gaza.

Have you noticed that in a mere three years, the animating force behind the street-marching left has morphed from "black lives matter" to "trans rights" and now to "Gaza?"

It wasn't about black lives or trans people then, and it's not about Gaza today. Tomorrow, it will be something else. A bit further back, it was Occupy Wall Street. Does anyone think that was really about the failure of structured mortgage products?

No!

This is about one thing: the tearing down of America, the destruction of our traditions, institutions, and laws. Obama called it the "fundamental transformation of America."

He wasn't kidding.

And it's all the same people, over and over. Their animating influence is a hatred for the very country they live in.

At the heart of this is the radicalization of our education system, all the way down to kindergarten, with DEI at its core. It produces scores of fresh troops for the Movement each and every year.

I have written about this many times, and don't need to make the point again here.

But none of this stops until schools and universities are completely rebooted. If you're giving money, STOP. If you're serving on a board, raise your hand and say WTF! If you're dying for your kid to get into Yale, open your eyes.

Don't sit on your hands and hope others will do the heavy lifting for you.

They won't.

How Now, Democrats?

 

I don't blog about something unless I have something that is (hopefully) original to say, which is why I don't blog a lot. In the world of contemporary politics, especially, it is very difficult to have an original thought. There are literally thousands of pundits out there.

Today, I have an original thought. (At least, I think it is. I don't read everything.) I'll get to that thought in a moment.

This was a remarkable week in Washington as the left and the media were shocked, shocked to discover what all of us already knew, that Joe Biden is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. 

Actually, they did know. Of course they did. The shock was that their own Justice Department said the quiet part out loud. Merrick, you idiot, don't you read these things before they go out? 

My guess is, the conversation went like this:

Garland: So, there are no charges against the president, right?

Special Counsel Hur: Yes, sir.

Garland: Good job Ben—I mean Robert. Release the report.

Garland probably threw up on his shoes when he heard the details later. The half-life of Robert Hur's career can now be measured in nanoseconds.

These events have elevated the "Joe" problem to Defcon One. Various solutions include invoking the 25th Amendment, but that would result in...Kamala. 

You see, it isn't just "what do we do about Joe?" it's also "what do we do about Kamala?"

There's so much hand wringing in Democrat circles that I hear the Beltway has run out of salve. Things would be so much easier if she weren't around. They could just slide in the next guy (or non-binary person, or whatever). 

But Kamala cannot be simply disappeared. The woke wing would throw a tantrum befitting of their juvenile status.

So, while I am loathe to ever make suggestions to help the Democrats, the answer to their problems is one I haven't heard. It involves the following steps:

1. Joe steps down for health reasons sometime around the convention. Dr. Dr. Dr. Jill will have to be talked into this, of course, but at this point things are so bad I believe it could happen.
2. Gavin Newsom rides in as the party's savior at the convention. Democrats and the media rally around Newsom in all the excitement. The weight of having to make excuses for "Old Joe" is off their backs. Note that Newsom deftly manages to avoid the scrutiny of a primary season—an important step, given that his record in California is indefensible.
3. Here's the lynchpin: Because Biden resigned instead of riding things out till January, Kamala gets to be president for a few months. This is her payoff. She'll be the first blah, blah, blah. Picture on stamps, statues, children's books on the presidents. Giant speaking fees and book deals later. No one could take it away from her. 

Step three is what I hear no one discussing and it's the only answer to "what to do" about Kamala. She's an idiot and cannot be allowed near the Supreme Court (despite the precedent for idiots already having been set with Sotomayor). She's already been a senator and no need to get Adam Schiff pissed. 

The Dems will figure that they can hide her at Camp David for a few months, trot her out for a few speeches, and maybe keep her finger away from the button. They certainly won't let her near the Newsom campaign.

This is a very dangerous scenario for the GOP because Newsom is a dangerous man. He can lie to your face and you know he's lying, he knows he's lying, but those teeth! That hair! They all lie, so we might as well have a charming liar, right?

Anyway, tell me I'm wrong.