Sunday Thoughts July 14, 2024

As expected, the conspiracy theories are flying around the internet about the attempt to take out Trump at his Pennsylvania rally. The kooks were the first to have a go at it. Their initial reaction was that it was staged, and Trump was hit with a BB gun. Once it became clear that at least one person was killed, they stuck with the staged hit narrative, but then the proof was how Trump reacted. As of this morning they are still peddling this theory.

It is a downstream consequence of official lying. Like printing up money for the short-term benefit of the state, official lying eventually works at first, but then undermines itself over time to the point where no one believes anything. Joseph de Maistre said, “False opinions are like false money, struck by guilty men then circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing." Official lies spawn a cottage industry of lying until no one believes anything.

Of course, not everyone is a liar. The hard thumping kooks in the kook media took to their favorite platforms to tell the world that their hatred of Trump and his fans was always real. There have been many posts like this one in the hours after news broke of the assassination attempt. The truth is, most of official Washington agrees with this guy, but they are smart enough to hide it. Most of the people who rule over us think Trump should have been taken out long ago.

You can spot the people who are disappointed the shooter missed, but do not want to make it public, by their relative silence. Jonah Goldberg is a good example. He waited a few hours to post anything then put up this tear-soaked item on Twitter. Whenever these guys put on their “sober face” you know they are lying to you. His mentor, the neocon crank Ben Wattenberg, was famous for playing the sober-minded, avuncular guy who dispassionately agreed with the crazies.

In the end, yesterday should be a good reminder that history often turns on serendipity. An inch or two another way and we are talking about the death of Trump. The good Lord looks out for damn fools and drunks, so maybe in time this will be viewed as the moment the political class dodged the bullet. It is hard to know what would have happened if that bullet found its target, but it is hard to imagine that the trajectory of things would not have veered toward the revolutionary.

Topics

* Trump The Lion

* This Was Overdue

* Is There A Way Back To Normal?

* The Kooks Never Learn

* Lots Of Normies Got Radical

* Biden Is Safe Now

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