From the right: The Revolution Is Waning
“The Jacobin left is just now beginning to get edgy,” argues Victor Davis Hanson in National Review. Black Lives Matter’s “outright racists and nihilists,” antifa’s “Maoists” and “their wannabe hangers-on” have now begun to embarrass the “woke rich” who aided and abetted the riots. “Some 150 leftist writers and artists recently signed a letter” against cancel culture. The protesters themselves, meanwhile, now seem “bored with the puerile bullhorn chants” and the “statue-toppling.” Goya CEO Robert Unanue “seems utterly unfazed,” despite the “pajama-boy mob” calling him out for praising President Trump. “Seattle’s CHAZ/CHOP is gone.” In other words, “the revolution is tiring.”
Culture critic: F - - king F-Word
If you’ve watched or heard the current riots, you’ve probably noticed that the “ ‘F-word’ is having a moment,” Conor Dinnison quips at Spectator USA. “Once the razor-sharp ‘Piss Christ’ of the English lexicon,” the F-word now seems “neutered of semantic utility or illicit charm.” Hard-left protesters are using the F-word as “a weapon against order, against beauty, against the conscionable.” Because of its overuse, now even the ability to desecrate is “irrevocably lost,” with the erstwhile counterculture unable to “rail against the status quo” because it “is the status quo.” The real counterculture these days stands for order, and it uses “lingo worthy of its high ideals.” It should keep on using high language: “Desecration requires little in the way of skill or investment,” after all, “but creation does, in spades.”
Conservative: For a Progressive Conservatism
While “Never Trumpers fondly imagine” that Republicans will return to being “beautiful losers when President Trump departs the scene,” the president’s “progressive conservatism” will remain after he leaves office, contends F.H. Buckley at The American Conservative. The seemingly oxymoronic term actually refers to being “left-wing or middle of the road on economics but right-wing on social issues” — and explains how “the Trump campaign cracked America’s electoral code in 2016.” If Republicans want to win again, they have to “take the issues of inequality and immobility away from the Democrats,” oppose corruption and embrace “horizontal nationalism,” a “sense of kinship to and fraternity with fellow citizens.” That kind of “progressive conservatism,” Buckley predicts, will not only stick around but also “inform the policies of a successful Republican Party.”
Barrasso: Don’t Stop the Reopening
At RealClearPolitics, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a physician, cheers America’s recovery “from its coronavirus-induced coma. The economy added nearly 5 million jobs in June — our largest-ever monthly jobs gain.” Which is why it’s irresponsible to react to any spike in viral cases with premature and overly drastic calls for more shutdowns. “As a doctor, I trust the science and the data. The science tells me we can’t reopen recklessly or all at once. The science also makes clear that mortality and hospitalization rates are falling in many areas. Young people, while not invincible, are increasingly experiencing mild or asymptomatic cases. We also know the health cost from staying locked down is huge.” Plus, the lockdowns have their own costs: “Data show that long-term unemployment leads to a rise in abuse: spousal abuse, substance abuse and child abuse. These problems are equally as serious as the coronavirus.” Bottom line: “We can be smart and sensible as we reopen,” but we can’t pull back.
Conservative: The Cost of Media’s Policing Lies
“In the effort to stop violence,” a pair of Texas police officers recently “became its victims,” laments Greg Gutfeld at FoxNews.com. And “that’s the story of many cops’ lives,” though “the proportion of media coverage on such crimes, compared to other stories, is sorely lacking.” When cops mess up violently, “it’s amplified to suit the media need.” But “what need does it serve to report a story of two dead cops?” For too many mainstream outlets, the answer is: “very little.” The media distortions aren’t consequence-free. It’s “now energizing violent criminals, as Democratic mayors and other politicians follow the same path: deserting law and order — and you.”
— Compiled by Karl Salzmann & Sohrab Ahmari