✪ THE BIG FRIDAY SOOPER THREAD

A DEFIANT IRAN VOWS IT WILL MAINTAIN ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM

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he Islamic theocracy of Iran stated on Wednesday that it would work to preserve its illicit nuclear program “under any circumstances,” denying that the American airstrikes on key uranium enrichment facilities had marked an end to its nuclear ambitions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei declared in an interview with the Qatari network Al Jazeera, according to the Iranian propaganda outlet PressTV, that Iran was “determined to preserve” its right to “enjoy nuclear energy … under any circumstances.” PressTV also cited officials from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) declaring that Tehran would “expand” its nuclear development, rather than contain it, in response to United Nations condemnation and military action by Israel and America.

Iran’s nuclear program sustained significant damage; both American officials and the United Nations nuclear oversight body affirmed this week – after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against the uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz on Saturday. President Trump declared the sites had been “completely and totally obliterated” in a “spectacular military success by American troops in support of Israeli operations to contain the threat of an Iranian attack.

Iran has for years engaged in nuclear energy development while calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and promoting chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel.” President Trump attempted to engage in talks with the Iranian regime throughout the year in pursuit of an agreement to contain the Iran nuclear threat, sending a delegation to five separate negotiations mediated by the nation of Oman. The talks resulted in no agreements as Iranian diplomats insisted that they would not accept any limits to the country’s uranium enrichment. American officials countered that no nation on earth is enriching uranium at Iran’s pace without having a nuclear weapons program – and that no known civilian use for such a large stockpile exists.

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) corroborated American accusations of Iran failing to abide by international law on June 12, passing a resolution condemning the country for violating its commitment to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Hours later, Israel began “Operation Rising Lion,” targeting some of Iran’s highest-ranking military officials and its military facilities to limit its capacity to fire back. Iran responded by targeting Israel’s population centers and killing at least two dozen civilians.

President Trump announced late on Monday that the nations had agreed to ceasefire. After a shaky first few hours, the ceasefire has, as of press time, remained in vigor. Iran refused to even acknowledge that it had agreed to a ceasefire, then threw a parade on Wednesday to declare “victory” against Israel and America.

In this context, Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei affirmed that Iran would continue to enrich uranium. Baghaei declared:

“Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy remains intact. Iran has every right under the NPT, under Article IV of the NPT, to enjoy nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances.”

Similarly, PressTV cited AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi stating that “the country’s nuclear program will continue to expand” despite the attacks.

The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said in an interview on Thursday that his agency does not believe much remains of that nuclear program following the American strikes.

“I think that ‘annihilated’ is too much,” Grossi told Radio France International (RFI), “but it has suffered enormous damages. What I can say, and in this I think everyone agrees, is that very considerable damages have been produced.”

Grossi predicted that, “with its reduced capacity, it will be much more difficult for Iran to continue at the same pace as before” to enrich uranium. While Iran has blocked IAEA inspectors from assessing the damaged sites, Grossi said that, based on satellite photos of the damage, the facility at Fordow appears to no longer be operable. He concluded:

“Obviously we cannot evaluate this and nobody can say what is the grade of damage, but we know that, given the potency of these artifacts [the bombs] and the technical characteristics of a centrifuge. These centrifuges are no longer operational because they are quite precise machines. There must be important physical damage.”

The “supreme leader” of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered a nationwide “victory” speech on Thursday marking the end of the conflict with Israel and America, contrary to the evidence of significant destruction in his country.

“I feel it is necessary to extend several congratulations to the great Iranian nation,” Khamenei declared, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. “We thank God for aiding our armed forces, who managed to breach their advanced multilayered defense systems and flatten large parts of their military and urban centers with powerful missile and weapons strikes,” he said.

“Here, too, the Islamic Republic emerged victorious, delivering a harsh blow to the US, specifically targeting the Al Udeid base, one of its key regional bases, and inflicting damage,” he claimed. ✪

CALIFORNIA GAS TAX SET TO SURGE 65 CENTS/GALLON ON JULY 1ST

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alifornia’s gas taxes will rise on July 1, and new “low carbon” fuel standards will take effect, pushing gas prices up by as much as 65 cents per gallon or more, forcing drivers to pay an estimated $6 per gallon. San Diego’s local CBS affiliate, KFMB-TV, reported on Tuesday:

California drivers are bracing for a substantial increase in gas prices starting July 1, as multiple new taxes and regulations take effect. Experts are divided on just how high prices will climb, but some estimates suggest they could reach up to $6 per gallon.

The first factor contributing to the price hike is an increase in the state’s excise tax, which will rise by 1.6 cents per gallon. However, this is just the beginning of the cost increases.

A more significant impact is expected from the Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, approved by the state’s air resources board in November. This program aims to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions, but will result in stricter regulations on gas producers.

Warnings have been circulating for weeks that gas prices could rise even higher in the state — perhaps as high as $9 per gallon. High taxes and fuel standards already make California’s gas the most expensive in the U.S., and new taxes passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom mean there is no end in sight.

One reason for the enthusiasm on the Left for gas taxes is a desire to drive consumers into the electric vehicle (EV) market. California has banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles, effective 2035. Yet drivers have been slow to buy EVs, and Newsom’s plan may be sunk by sagging demand.✪

⭐️ HelloKitty’sGotAHairTrigger

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Everybody Hates The Iranian Theocracy

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t is hard even to digest the incredible train of events of the last few days in the Middle East. Iran had been reduced to an anemic, performance-art missile attack on our base in Qatar—the last Parthian shot from a terrified regime, desperate for an out—and a ceasefire. Iran would have been better off not launching such a ceremonial but ultimately humiliating proof of impotence.

Even worse for the theocracy, Iran’s temporary reprieve came from the now magnanimous but still hated Donald Trump.

So ends the creepy mystique of the supposedly indomitable terror state of Iran, the bane of the last seven American presidents over half a century.

For Supreme Leader Khamenei, it was hard to swallow that U.S. bombers got their permission to fly into Iranian airspace from the Israeli air force.

A good simile is that Trump put a pot of water on the stove, told Iran to jump in, put the lid over them, then smiled, turned up the heat—and will now let them stew.

As postbellum realities now simmer in Iran, the theocracy is left explaining the inexplicable to its humiliated military and shocked but soon-to-be-furious populace. All the regime’s blood-curdling rhetoric, apocalyptic threats against Israel, goose-stepping thugs, and shiny new missiles ended in less than nothing.

A trillion dollars and five decades’ worth of missiles and centrifuges are now up in smoke. That money might have otherwise saved Iranians from the impoverishment of the last fifty years.

How about the Little Satan Israel, to which Iran for nearly 50 years promised extinction? Israel had destroyed Iran’s expeditionary terrorists, Iran’s defenses, its nuclear viability, and the absurd mythology of Iranian military competence. And worse, Israel showed it could repeat all that destruction when and if it is necessary.

So, the most hated regime in the world crawled into the boiling pot because it looked around in vain for someone to void Trump’s ultimatum for a cease and desist. But there were no last-minute saviors to rescue them.

The dreaded decades-long Iranian nuclear threat? It is either gone for now, or if it resurfaces, it will be again far easier to vaporize at will than to rebuild a lost trillion-dollar investment.

Russia? Its former Obama-Kerry re-invitation back into the Middle East lasted only a decade. It will now cut its losses like it did with the vanished Assad kleptocracy in Syria. Putin exits the Middle East not entirely displeased that his lunatic Iranian client did not get a bomb—but did get its just desserts. A tense Middle East tends to prop up Russian export oil prices.

Did China come to the mullahs’ aid? No, they were not shy about ordering their Iranian lackey to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, through which 50 percent of Chinese-purchased oil passes. For President Xi, the Iranians are treated as little more than Uyghurs with oil.

The world decided that it was tired of a half-century of crybully terrorism, empty nuke threats, mindless mobs screaming scripted banalities, cowardly murdering, and medieval theocrats threatening the general peace.

So, the world turned its back on Iran. And with a wink and nod, it let Israel and the U.S. do what they must.

As for Iran’s terrorist appendages, Hezbollah’s commanders are either dead, maimed, or in hiding. Hamas has fled into a subterranean labyrinth. The last Assad thug fled to Russia.

The crazy Houthis? They are reconsidering the idea of launching their last missile at the cost of their last port or power grid. The anti-Trump Democrats and loony left? Their talk of impeaching Trump for the supposedly “illegal” 35-minute, one-off strike will fade.

The Trump mission equaled less than one day of Obama’s predator drone strikes, targeted killings, or his five-year chaotic bombing in Libya. Is the incoherent left furious that there is no more Iranian nuclear threat?

Mad that no Americans were killed last Saturday night? Furious America likely killed few if any Iranians. Or is it raging because Trump ignored Iran’s last-gasp attack and instead orchestrated a cease-fire?

Of course, in the Middle East, there is never a real end to anything. We may see freelancing terrorists try to fill the vacuum of Iran’s decline. Or Iran itself may try to let loose a terrorist cell. It may later boast it has hidden away some enriched uranium. But no matter.

The dimensions of this new Middle East will persist. The new reality is that either Israel or the U.S.—if they keep their earned confidence within proper limits—can now ensure a non-nuclear Iran by easily blowing up its costly nuclear program as often as it is rebuilt. ✪

Pride Month In Seattle: The Ocean Is Queer

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or years, radical gender ideology appeared unstoppable. The media framed transgender identity as the next frontier of liberation. Pride Month drew enthusiastic endorsements from nearly every university, corporation, and school district. Dissenters were often marginalized, and the prevailing narrative allowed little room for debate.

No longer. Since the start of the second Trump Administration, the movement has begun to retreat. The Supreme Court recently upheld a Tennessee law banning medical transition procedures for minors. Many corporations have withdrawn support for this year’s Pride events. An ideology that once seemed culturally dominant has lost significant ground in public opinion very quickly.

In retrospect, this reversal may have been inevitable. The gender movement sought to enshrine a rejection of biological reality in law. Its core claims—such as the idea that a man can become a woman—reflected the movement’s hubris and delusion.

Americans have the right to believe that human beings can change sex (though they cannot). But the gender cult pushed further, insisting that institutions adopt its tenets as official policy and punish dissent. What followed was a kind of petty tyranny; one which policed adult speech and imposed contested ideologies on children—exposing the hollowness of its favored slogans: “love” and “equality.”

I recently attended a Pride Month event in Seattle to take the temperature of the gender movement. The occasion was Queer Community Day at the Seattle Aquarium; temporarily renamed the “Aqueerium.” Staff had placed LGBTQ+ flags inside the fish tanks and set up for Drag Queen Story Hour and a lecture titled “The Ocean is Queer.” One of the ticket attendants wore a bisexual flag pinned to her hat; several attendees wore Covid-19 masks and buttons bearing political slogans.

The drag event featured a tall man with an aquiline nose who introduced himself as Miss Stachio and read from the book Me and My Gender Dysphoria Monster. The book conveys the trans movement’s belief that children can be born in the wrong body and that society must affirm their “true” identity, even when it conflicts with biological reality.

The story follows a young boy who tries to tame the anger and confusion of his “dysphoria monster” by adopting new pronouns, wearing girls’ clothing, and calling himself Nisha. The audience; which included infants, toddlers, and young children, clapped along with the story and affirmed each step in the boy’s gender transition.

Though the children in the audience had already internalized the storyline and could anticipate the triumphant ending, one could sense that these narratives; so ascendant just a few years ago, had lost some of their novelty and force. Next to me sat a heavyset “trans man” in a pink shirt with a wispy beard, nodding and nearly in tears, capturing the emotional intensity of a cult’s last true believer.

Then came the science segment. The next presentation, titled “The Ocean is Queer,” attempted to ground transgender ideology in nature. A docent explained that the ocean serves as a metaphor for the “queer community.” She highlighted how male seahorses can become pregnant, clownfish live in matriarchal groups and can change sex, and bottlenose dolphins sometimes form gay male “throuples.” These examples, she told the children, are part of “queer ecology” and show that heterosexuality is not the only pattern found in nature.

This, too, carried an air of desperation. One could just as easily note that sea creatures breathe underwater or sometimes eat their young—neither of which offers a useful model for human behavior. Like much of what’s labeled “transgender science” or “gender medicine,” the lecture reflected a grasping for analogies, metaphors, or justifications. But when stated plainly, these comparisons verge on the absurd. “Pipefish change their sex, therefore children should, too” fails completely as a logical syllogism.

Perhaps this was always the central weakness of the gender cult: its reliance on euphemism and analogy to obscure the harsh realities of its practices. Proponents sought to maintain public support by repeating phrases like “life-saving, gender-affirming care” rather than confronting the clinical details—injecting children with cross-sex hormones, surgically removing the breasts of pubescent girls; and in some cases, castrating boys to create the appearance of a female body.

The movement was always predicated on a fairy tale—not in the Walt Disney mold, but in the original, dark and disturbing sense. At the aquarium, Miss Stachio read from another book, Nen and the Lonely Fisherman, which adapted The Little Mermaid into a gay romance with a happy ending. The author, and the drag queen, seem to have forgotten the original Hans Christian Anderson version of the story: the little mermaid makes a bargain with a sea witch to acquire human legs, endures immense physical torment; and in the end, does not win the affection of the prince.

The moral of that story is relevant. While the gender movement may still cast its spell over some children, its reach has limits. These limits may appear political, but at a deeper level, they are imposed by reality itself. ✪

OP-ED: Protest Is Overrated

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nother week has passed, which means the street theater geeks have found another foreign flag to parade through the streets of American cities. After the Trump Administration authorized a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, demonstrators waved the Iranian flag. Less than two weeks prior, rioters waved Mexican flags in Los Angeles while burning vehicles under the auspices of protesting against the enforcement of immigration laws.

The outrage du jour changes, but street theater is the M.O. of the anti-Trump resistance. Sometimes the cause is hatred of law enforcement, from local police departments to ICE. Sometimes it involves foreign disputes in the protesters’ home countries, from Palestine to Iran. Two weeks ago, Democrats staged a nationwide day of protest to voice their displeasure with Trump.

Protest theater has also become a favorite pastime of elected Democrats desperate for relevance. Earlier this month, Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was charged with “forcibly impeding” federal officers at an ICE detention facility. The day after McIver was indicted, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., tried to get in on the attention by rushing up to the podium at a press conference given by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (security restrained him, a development he immediately tried to fundraise from).

At the height of the riots in L.A., The New York Times published an op-ed expressing support for the riots, blaming Stephen Miller for them, and claiming that “Protest Is Underrated.” The author, David Wallace-Wells, concluded that there are “enduring lessons from political science about what works” and that “those lessons are not exactly … that some amount of violent protest is always counterproductive.” (Buried behind a double negative and three quantitative adverbs, it kind of sounds like he’s extolling the virtue of violent protest, but I digress.)

I don’t know if Wallace-Wells or his editor came up with his headline, but it’s exactly backward. Protest, while not meaningless, is grossly overrated as a useful means of effecting change in a representative republic like the United States.

The right to protest is an important one, though it’s notable that the word “protest” does not appear in the First Amendment, which ensures the right “of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Protest has historically been a powerful tool employed by citizens to register dissent when their government has left them no other recourse. But in a country like America, where we have the freedom to actually participate in self-governing, waving signs in the street is a pretty impotent alternative. The protesters themselves might claim the Trump Administration is a fascist, authoritarian dictatorship, but they and their friends just voted for a literal communist in New York City, so do with those accusations what you will.

Most of the “protests” taking place today demand something from the government, whether the demand is to stop enforcing immigration law or to give out more taxpayer-funded freebies. The operating assumption is that the preeminent solution is action from the government, and if the government won’t take the appropriate action on its own, it must be pressured to do so by civil unrest.

Sometimes the people fanning the flames sincerely believe the government can and should solve what they perceive as urgent problems; other times protest is simply a way for privileged liberals to cosplay as freedom fighters and earn back-pats for sticking it to the man. Either way, it’s a lazy cop-out from people who have never done the work of self-governing.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want those people running my local school board or civic organizations. But it’s a bad thing for society when people seek to solve their problems by making demands on the government instead of doing something about it themselves. It takes a lot more work to effect real change by investing in your community than it does to order a wrinkled polyester flag on Amazon and carry it around.

The people making actual progress toward a better republic are the ones living and working in their communities, raising families, attending church, starting volunteer organizations, and building relationships. They understand that they and their neighbors are far better equipped to solve social ills than government bureaucrats.

Even when there is merit in petitioning lawmakers for a particular policy objective, those petitions are best accompanied by shoe-leather community work. Pro-lifers may have marched in D.C. to raise awareness for reversing Roe v. Wade, but they did far more through conservative legal organizations and local pregnancy resource clinics.

When French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 1830s, he observed a phenomenon in which Americans would solve problems by forming associations among themselves instead of demanding solutions from the government.

If an object blocked traffic on the highway, he observed, “neighbors immediately establish themselves in a deliberating body; from this improvised assembly will issue an executive power that will remedy the ill.” Citizens would have the problem solved “before the idea of an authority preexisting that of those interested has presented itself to anyone’s imagination.”

Americans only appealed to the power of “social authority,” he found, when they had exhausted all other resources. And their associations weren’t limited to political goals; they also gathered to advance causes Tocqueville classified as industrial, intellectual, and moral. These associations, in his mind, were the fruit of the First Amendment’s freedom of assembly.

The local, practical solution of joining with your neighbors to solve problems is less glamorous and more demanding than writing expletives on a piece of posterboard with a Sharpie. In a word, it’s underrated. But it has a far better track record of success. Plus, it has a wonderful side effect: if you invest physically, relationally, financially, and/or spiritually in your community, you’ll find you have a real stake in how your ideas play out in the real world. It might even turn you into a conservative. ✪

Argentina’s Economy Is Growing Faster Than China’s

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n news that surprised even the most optimistic observers, Argentina surpassed China in terms of year-on-year economic growth during the first quarter of 2025. While the Asian giant reported an expansion of 5.4%, Argentina achieved a remarkable 5.8% year-on-year, marking a strong recovery after the deep crisis inherited from the Kirchnerist government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner.

According to official data from INDEC, Argentina’s economy expanded in the first three months of the year at a pace that not only surpasses most countries in the region, but also puts the country in the global spotlight. This growth represents the highest quarterly record in recent years and is a direct result of the successful economic plan implemented by President Javier Milei.

The libertarian administration inherited a country on the brink of hyperinflation, with a devastated economy, a Central Bank with negative reserves, and a fiscal deficit that seemed impossible to eliminate.

However, in just a few months, Milei’s government managed to stabilize the macroeconomy, halt monetary issuance, correct prices, and advance deep structural reforms.

The deregulation of the economy, the adjustment of public spending, and the end of the fiscal deficit began to bear fruit. Far from generating a prolonged recession, as many so-called “econochantas” predicted, the adjustment program has laid the foundation for a solid recovery.

The 5.8% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2025 is explained by the increase in Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which showed a year-on-year growth of 31.8%.

Regarding the different sectors of activity, there were notable increases in Financial Intermediation (27.2%), Fishing (11.6%), and Accommodation and Food Services (9%).

During this same period, GDP recorded a growth of 0.8% compared to the last quarter of the previous year, according to seasonally adjusted measurements.

Regarding demand, INDEC indicated that both private consumption and gross fixed capital formation increased quarter-on-quarter, with rises of 2.9% & 9.8% respectively. Meanwhile, exports decreased by 1.5% and public consumption fell by 0.1%.

Today, the world is looking at Argentina with renewed interest. Far from the populist recipes that condemned the country to stagnation, Milei’s Administration is generating growth with economic freedom, fiscal responsibility, and respect for market rules. ✪

The American Left Is In Big Trouble

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he Left always likes to portray itself as the angry party. It defines itself by its ability to champion causes that recall the French Revolution’s trilogy of liberty, equality, and fraternity and the mob storming the Bastille.

Wherever there are restrictions — even legitimate ones — the Left calls for liberation and license. Where differences appear — even natural ones of talent or effort — the Left denounces them as injustice and demands absolute equality. The angry party is always looking for a good revolution to incite or a crisis not to waste.

However, this angry party image is now in trouble in America. Since the last election, the Left has been rudderless, disoriented, and uninspired. It has gone from being the party of clamor to that of whining. There is no thunder on the Left, only incoherent rants.    

✪ A Global Populist Movement

This lack of direction is a sign that something major has gone awry. It is not a matter of tweaking, framing, or re-messaging. Some observers suggest that the world is transitioning from one historical epoch to another. The debate shifted, and the Left was left behind.

The New York Times editorial writer David Brooks, who himself shifts from Left to Right as the mood seizes him, describes the current phenomenon as “a world-shifting political movement” affecting both the Left and the Right. He compares it to the Communist Revolution, the New Deal, the Sixties, feminism, the LGBTQ+ revolution and other key leftist movements which marked modernity.

He calls this massive shift the “global populist movement.” It is characterized by a general distrust of social structures, governmental programs, and institutions. People consider everything to be “rigged, corrupt and malevolent.” They question everything, harbor social resentment and demand signals of trust. 

✪ A Failure To Adapt

Brooks thinks conservatives have taken note of this new movement and begun to adapt. However, most rank-and-file leftists did not get the memo and cling to old, exhausted models and rhetoric that no longer reflect how things have changed. 

Between lattes, the Left’s wealthy liberal elites are still looking for downtrodden masses to hail. They are stuck with outdated leftist scripts that are too worn to refresh. They claim to speak in the name of “the people,” with whom they rarely associate.

✪ The Wrong Focus

Angry leftist narratives have always focused on attacking power structures based on the erroneous Marxist idea that everything can be reduced to power and money. They automatically divide society into haves and have-nots. Every problem can be resolved by taking money away from those who have too much and throwing it, as government funding, at those they deem have too little.   

Since the sixties, the Left has concentrated on infiltrating and conquering the institutions of power: academia, media, industry, culture, and government. It has succeeded fabulously and used its new-found power to redistribute wealth and suppress the Right.

The problem with taking over institutions of power is that one becomes identified with them. Together with power, the Left also assumed complacent and bourgeois attitudes.

Thus, the Left neglected the “proletariat” of ordinary Americans and adopted a new, more learned and sophisticated one with an alphabet soup of LGBTQ-type causes associated with identity politics. From its positions of influence and control, the Left became woke and imposed a cancel culture on all who stood in their way.

✪ The Response To Cancel Culture

In response, the Right complained bitterly of this oppression, took up the cause of working (not woking) class Americans, proposed credible alternatives and won elections. It spoke to voters in a language they could understand and reassured them that they mattered.

However, from the comfort of its ivory towers, movie studios, and corporate C-suites, the Left’s response to electoral defeat has been to return to its tired and spent rhetoric. The problem is that the Left cannot return to its angry politics against the establishment because it is that establishment.

This leftist establishment is disconnected from the American reality and mesmerized by an alternative woke reality. To put it bluntly, in 2024 electoral terms, the Left now represents they/them, not you.

✪ A Return To The Culture

Thus, conservatives have successfully shifted the debate from the economic field to the cultural one. Accordingly, before the Left can propose anything credible in the economic field again, it will need to reconnect with the culture first. David Brooks claims, “The Left can’t get a hearing until they get the big moral questions right: faith, family, flag, respect for people in all social classes.”

In other words, what Brooks is saying is that if the Left ever wants to win again, it must stop being yesterday’s angry Left. In this historical movement of resentment and distrust, the Left has become the easy target of an army of forgotten and aggrieved voters.

The only way to placate them is for the Left to change. It must speak to voters in soft, reassuring, and patriotic language to earn the trust of the man on the street. Its radicals need to tone down their message and pronoun usage. They must eat less organic avocado toast and more apple pie.

The Left must rein in its woke activists who, like trans athletes, are running unfairly and far ahead of a public that only wants normalcy. It must get its pseudo-champions to return their ill-gotten trophies.

Such a dramatic shift might mean throwing corrupt union cronies, border haters, tree huggers, and police defunders under the bus.

Brooks argues that mastering such contradictions is what it will take for the Left to navigate “the tectonic shift” that lies ahead.

That is why the Left is in big trouble. To survive, it must rewire its DNA. The party born of rage that feeds on unbridled passions must now go lite. It is an existential challenge. Brooks is asking the Left to come up with a new identity and grand narrative that will “take decades.”  

This new image that Brooks prescribes as a remedy will make many angry leftists angry. It is not only that they see no need to change, but they also don’t know how to make it happen. They will double down on their old turf of Marxist boilerplate. The Left cannot understand why David Brooks says that, at the height of power, having full mastery of the institutions and believing itself victorious, it must “think anew.”

What Brooks did not mention is that the anger of the radicals might turn to despair when they finally realize the Left has nothing new to offer. ✪

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