For nearly eight years, liberal politicians, journalists, and commentators have awoken in a cold sweat every morning. Like Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, leftists feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if something terrible has happened, at the mere reminder that President-elect Donald Trump exists. Of course, the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president never destroyed a planet with a moon-sized space station, but our friends on the Left have been trained by corporate media to react to benign, even positive, developments such as tax cuts, deregulation, or deporting criminal illegal aliens the same way they would react to Darth Donald giving “Governor” Justin Trudeau’s Canada the Alderaan treatment.
Things feel different after Trump’s landslide victory on Nov. 5. While Los Angeles burns due to the incompetence of California Democrats and their refusal to manage the state’s forests, other cities have thus far been spared the fiery fate seen in 2020 at the hands of Black Lives Matter and antifa. Surely, Libs of TikTok will still find plenty of unhinged content from liberals on everyone’s favorite Chinese Communist Party spy app, but the general discourse on social media appears to be more calm and rational than in the aftermath of elections past. Even some journalists have attempted the previously unimaginable feat of self-reflection after the electoral implosion of their beloved Democratic Party.
One main reason for this shift, I assume, has to do with the fact that every tech giant, most wealthy political donors, all of corporate media, and the entire intelligence community joined forces to launch the broadest and best-funded propaganda campaign in modern human history to stop Trump’s reelection in 2020, and what did they get for their troubles? Instead of remedying Trump’s economic mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration adopted all of the Trump team’s worst impulses, and the result was a stagnant economy with inflation at 40-year highs. Biden first delayed Trump’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, then proceeded to handle the evacuation in the most rushed, foolhardy, and deadly way possible. Biden’s handlers made left-wing social policies, which are well outside the Overton window for most voters, central to the administration. Then, of course, there is the elephant in the room, namely dementia, or whatever serious degenerative cognitive condition the 46th president is suffering from. It must be difficult for #Resistance types to maintain their enthusiasm when they are receiving nothing but inflation, war, transgender propaganda, and babbling nonsense from their preferred party.
It is clear that Democrats have outkicked their coverage. The cultural dam-break became apparent at the beginning of the NFL season, when players routinely did the “Trump dance” after scoring a touchdown. Hispanics, Jews, and black men supported Trump at a higher rate than any Republican presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan’s reelection in 1984, but it is not just everyday people warming to Trump and Trumpism; optimism and willingness to work with Trump are coming from unlikely places all across the political spectrum.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who ran for office as left-wing, became the first Democratic senator to meet with Trump since his victory in November. “I agreed to meet with the president. I mean, it’s reasonable. I’m the senator of Pennsylvania, not just for Democrats, it’s for every Pennsylvanian, and that’s going to be the president,” Fetterman said Thursday. The senator has also expressed support for the Trump-backed Laken Riley Act, which would empower law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants who have been charged with additional crimes, calling the measure “common sense.”
Meta/Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who famously did the FBI’s bidding in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, a decision that may have dragged Biden over the finish line in 2020, reversed course in light of new political and social realities. Facebook and Instagram will get rid of their fact-checking program in favor of community notes (similar to X). Zuckerberg specifically cited Trump’s reelection as the catalyst for the change. “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech,” he said. “So we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
This comes after the tech mogul praised Trump’s response to being shot in the ear in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most bada** things I’ve ever seen in my life,” he told Bloomberg. Zuckerberg also announced that Trump ally UFC President Dana White will be joining Meta’s board of directors.
Trump has reportedly been communicating repeatedly with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon about his incoming White House agenda. Dimon said in November that Trump’s plans to reduce regulations have bankers “dancing in the street.” SoFi Bank CEO Anthony Noto all but endorsed the former president last summer. “I’d be lying if I told you a Republican administration wouldn’t be better for our business, so I know who I’ll be voting for on Election Day,” Noto told CNBC in July.
Despite claims by the press that Trump is some sort of Ron Paul-esque noninterventionist, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be optimistic about working with the Trump administration. “It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelensky said in an interview with Suspilne, adding that his nation “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means.”
Even Trump’s fiercest, and most obnoxious, adversaries appear ready to turn over a new leaf. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski traveled to Mar-a-Lago in order to “reopen lines of communication” with the incoming president. Brzezinski told the Daily Beast she was “surprised at the backlash” from her Trump-hating audience. At the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday, Trump greeted former Vice President Mike Pence and shared a laugh with former President Barack Obama.
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It is clear that politicians, journalists, business leaders, and foreign heads of state do not actually view Trump as a “threat to democracy” as they once breathlessly asserted. Laymen and celebrities alike no longer fear the repercussions of supporting Trump and Republicans publicly, and even congressional Democrats, who have protested the certification of every Republican presidential victory since George W. Bush in 2001, allowed the Jan. 6 Electoral College vote and certification to proceed without incident.
Perhaps some #Resistance types are starting to view Trump accurately as a deal-maker, not an ideologue. Maybe Trump haters are simply exhausted from opposing every minor Republican policy point as if they are defending the gap at Thermopylae, or they are simply feeling burned by the disastrous governance of Democrats. Whatever the case may be, Trump’s second term is shaping up to look far different than his first. Less screaming, less rioting, and fewer pink hats — more discourse and deal-making. #Resistance was an annoying, childish, and counterproductive time in American politics, and its death could not have come soon enough.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
