An even bigger story than Donald Trump's 2024 reelection: The right is (mostly) winning the war for the hearts and minds of the American people.
Few conservatives have noticed.
Last Sunday, the (center) left's flagship newspaper, The New York Times, raised the white flag of surrender in the most valuable piece of media real estate in the world: The New York Times, Sunday edition, page 1, above the fold.
In "Shift From 2020, Identity Politics Loses Its Grip on the Country," chief political analyst Jeremy W. Peters wrote: "The last time Kamala Harris ran for president, during the 2020 primaries, people were losing jobs or friends because something they said or posted online came off as insensitive.
"An unfamiliar new language around identity was catching on, with terms like 'Latinx' and 'BIPOC.' The homeless were now 'unhoused' and there were 'pregnant people,' not women.
"Back then, as the progressive movement tried to establish itself as a bulwark to the Trump White House, considerations of race, gender and sexual orientation became urgent and unavoidable. And some progressives tried to enforce a strict set of cultural and political expectations almost everywhere — inside classrooms and board rooms, movie studios and publishing houses, congressional offices and political campaigns. ...
"But the country is also in a starkly different place from four years ago. Case in point: Ms. Harris is boasting about protecting her home with a Glock, proclaiming her patriotism and campaigning with Republicans like Liz Cheney. ...
"'The brief era of their (the progressives') unquestioned dominance is now coming to an end.'"
Peters gives a litany of defeats of and retreats by the left: in academia, Hollywood, the commanding heights of the culture, and politics (municipal to national). Then, Kamala Harris, who couldn't convincingly distance herself from her California roots, lost to Trump.
Don't let our guard down celebrating the victory of capitalism over Marxism (including cultural Marxism). The left has not yet unconditionally surrendered.
The Times reported: "Whether Ms. Harris wins or loses next week, few expect full capitulation or retreat.
"'It's clear now that they have failed to take over the Democratic Party,' said Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist who is also president of the Democratic Majority for Israel, which has challenged and defeated progressive candidates ...
"'They thought this was going to be a much quicker process,' he added. 'But I think they're in it for the long term. The battle is going to continue.'"
We have not yet won the war. The left, however, admits that it is losing battle after battle.
One of the strangest phenomena of our era is the failure of the right, today, to celebrate our victories. That used to be different.
When imperial Japan unconditionally surrendered (as Nazi Germany had on May 8, 1945) on Aug. 14-15, 1945, there were celebrations throughout America.
A National World War II Museum article reads: "In New York City's Times Square, sailors climbed lampposts to unfurl American flags as ticker tape rained down upon the throngs gathered to celebrate the war's end. In thousands of small towns like North Platte, Nebraska, similar scenes included fireworks, confetti, and impromptu parades down Main Street."
Life Magazine featured a photo of a Navy sailor sweeping a stranger, a dental assistant later identified as Greta Friedman, off her feet, planting a kiss on her in Times Square. Unthinkable in this post-#MeToo era, photos of such victory kisses then were plentiful.
By contrast, when the Soviet Union lowered the hammer and sickle over the Kremlin for the last time, on Dec. 25, 1991 — Merry Christmas! — there was nary a Cold War victory parade in America. I, an old cold warrior, can bear witness to our dignified forbearance.
We didn't celebrate V-C Day: victory over Communism. We won't be celebrating Nov. 3 (or Nov. 5) as V-P Day (victory over progressives). Maybe we should.
The white flag appearing in The New York Times shows we are winning.
Newsmax readers have been alerted to the left's defeats, as announced here last July, "Whether Democratic or Republican, Capitalism Still Wins." Kamala Harris — to the fury of her party's hard left — proclaimed, "Look, I'm a capitalist."
I then wrote: "The metanarrative defining the Cold War and its following era? The war between the Marxist 'class warfare' warriors raging against the bourgeoisie, and us, the champions of those who aspire to join the middle class and achieve the American dream of economic security and middle-class affluence.
"The old Communist crusade to establish a 'dictatorship of the proletariat?' Over.
"Both parties (at least rhetorically) have turned both pro-worker and pro-middle-class. Goodbye class warfare!"
If not a victory parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, let's at least raise a toast to the left's many defeats.
Bourbon, please.
And, bartender?
Make it a double.
Neat.
Ralph Benko, co-author of "The Capitalist Manifesto" and chairman and co-founder of the 200,000+ follower "The Capitalist League," is the founder of The Prosperity Caucus and is an original Kemp-era member of the Supply-Side revolution that propelled the Dow from 814 to its current heights and world GDP from $11T to $104T. Read Ralph Benko's reports — More Here.