First, there was the essay against David French. Then there was the answer that was a defense of David French. Then French defended himself. Ahmari takes the knife to French. Dougherty defends him, but it sounds more like a defense to keep French in the big tent. They both have points. I like Dougherty, but I agree with Ahmari. I care not what French says.

French symbolizes the Never Trump scum that revealed their controlled op status in ’16. They were willing to throw away just about everything to lose with honor. French is the symbol for it because of his failed entry into the presidential race to do what else but run a spoiler campaign. Even better, he grasps the knife and stabs his fellow conservatives in the back whenever possible. French represents the idiots who will adhere to the procedure when the procedure is obviously a sham and the other side will do whatever it takes to win and rule. French symbolizes the thought leaders who will gladly lose but tell their flock that it was a good, righteous loss. This might be understandable if the left was still pretending to adhere to any procedure. They do not. They also have escalated every single crazy identity politics fight. They are not stopping, and they will only formalize into law and regulation what the loons on campus shout now.

I will concede to Dougherty that French represents a wing of the right that we want to include. But wait one second… did French and his ilk grant that to us? Do they forget when French and Erick Erickson accused patriotic Americans of being Russian bots, Democrats and then Russian bots again? I clearly remember NRO guys sharing on Twitter screencaps of a blogpost of mine noting how Erickson and his Never Trump crew were like W.F. Buckley with ostracizing and purging the right, and them calling me and our crowd conspiracy theorists. After ’16, there was no integration of the populist nationalist crowd into the main right wing propaganda outlets. Tucker Carlson has carried that banner, and takes flak for it from the French crowd. On deeper reflection, it can be argued that many young right wingers were abandoned and tossed out into the cold for associations with what is now deemed evil, icky identitarians.

This hurts us today as these losers of a dying movement still control things, well them and the deep state plants. Who do you think has a better shot of getting a job in the Trump admin: a nationalist who openly states his support of the president or a neocon from Westchester or an evangelical from the Southern network that worked for every other candidate and likely pulled the lever for McMullin or Gary Johnson?

The ground shifted beneath their feet and they still act like nothing happened. These are the same people who mocked universities while letting the left completely dominate them. Any single one of them recommend deep red state governors and legislatures defund universities and take a baseball bat to hiring practices? We are two generations into the cultural revolution and are seeing the fruit of it with socialist chic.

Dougherty ends his essay with the following line, “My intention is to bring good men such as David French into that fight even if I have to drag him there“. I do not remember any mainstream right winger asking Ricky Vaughn for his help. I do agree with Dougherty in one way. Having every warrior on our side matters as the empire declines and the left goes insane. One word of warning. Do not be surprised if you drag French to the fight and he stabs you in the back.

A Nation Of Americans – I wanted to post these back to back because they argue about the same thing from different angles. America as a nation of immigrants would be a nation of colonies competing within an empire. That is not the case though as we are born of this soil and the land and our experiences shaped us.

America The Empire – This essay states how America is an empire. We should govern like an empire. This misses the crucial point that an empire is still beholden to its subjects. The problem is that our imperial elite have grown disconnected from the subjects. Lasch’s “Revolt Of The Elites” is in full bloom. I reject his notion that there is not an ethnic phenotype to America.

Salvini Ascendant – This is an interesting profile of Salvini. It is written by a liberal with all the baggage that a progressive perspective brings, but that gives it some charm as the writer is horrified and disgusted by what Salvini represents. If you are on social media, you know of Salvini’s policies and pictures of Italian desserts. Read this for a survey of his career.

Fast Acting Hashtags – The Brits have an entire unit of Big Brother to think of responses to terror. Not security responses. Hashtag responses. They want to manipulate the response to prevent that ever feared backlash.

VR For Pain – I found this interesting for how the gameification of therapy can improve patients. We really do not know how or what VR is going to be good for, but it would be great to see money go towards research and products that may help people rather than distract them.