In August 2021, Fox News’ “Gutfeld!,” a late-night comedy-talk show hosted by conservative pundit Greg Gutfeld, overtook “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in overall ratings.

Surprised?

We weren’t.

As media and comedy scholars, we’ve been tracking the recent ascension of conservative comedy, which has flourished thanks to shifts in media industry economics and political ideologies.

Gutfeld’s success might come as a shock because it punctures long-standing assumptions about what comedy is, who can produce it and who will enjoy it. These prejudices obscure an important truth: Right-wing comedy has become both a viable business strategy and a crucial element of conservative politics.

Yes, “Gutfeld!” is on Fox News, the cable channel known for partisan, right-wing political perspectives and news commentary. But it has all the markers of late-night comedy, too. The opening monologues are filled with Jay Leno-like punchlines that draw laughs from the studio audience, and the interviews with conservative politicians, pundits and other comedians frequently center on “owning the libs” with one-liners.The opening monologue of the Sept. 17, 2021, episode of ‘Gutfeld!’

Then, of course, there are the silly “Saturday Night Live”-like sketches. One recent episode broke from a panel discussion on cancel culture in order to imagine what a politically correct James Bond would look like. In the prerecorded bit, a crudely costumed actor chases down a thief and pulls a banana on him instead of a gun. Then “Bond” heads to a bar to order a latte – a soy latte – instead of a martini. You get the idea.

Regardless of whether or not this comedy is to your taste, it’s working for Gutfeld and his audience.

Hiding in plain sight

Despite its growing prominence, right-wing comedy remains largely invisible in both mainstream and scholarly discussions of media and humor. In part, this has happened because social media algorithms don’t send users jokes likely to challenge or offend their political sensibilities.

There are also intellectual trends that make it possible for Greg Gutfeld to spend two decades sneaking up on the Colberts of the world. Comedy theorists tend to diminish, or at least distinguish, right-wing humor from what they deem to be more authentic, liberal humor.

Philosopher Umberto Eco, for example, demotes joking that fails to critique power structures to the status of mere “carnival.”

Others make similar arguments, saying “true” liberal comedy is more likely to “punch up,” while dismissing conservative comedy as mere mockery that reaffirms unjust systems of power.

This effort to use ideology in order to categorize comedy can lead audiences, political analysts and even comedians to downplay or outright dismiss right-wing humor.

But even if conservative comedy doesn’t fit liberals’ tastes, it’s still comedy. And it’s increasingly becoming a feature of right-wing politics. Even “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah noted how former president Donald Trump’s performances at rallies mirrored those of stand-up comedians.

Some studies go as far as to identify innate, psychological differences that explain why liberals are more likely to laugh while conservatives are more prone to seethe. This research, often inspired by the success of liberal satirists such as Colbert, Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee, certainly provides intriguing looks into the relationship between politics, psychology and sense of humor. They are, without question, pleasing to the liberal reader’s ego.

They do not, however, square with the way Trump changed the country’s politics and culture.

The political comedy of the early 2000s, with its relatively big tent media companies and pre-Barack Obama politics, tended to joke primarily in the political direction of the largest audience segment interested in satire at that moment. “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show” became hugely successful during the years of president George W. Bush and inspired countless imitators, crowding the media marketplace for liberal laughs.

However, comedy’s perceived political bias at the time was more likely driven by specific economic circumstances, which have now radically changed.

Since then, further audience fragmentation, along with the proliferation of podcasts and social media platforms, has made it possible for right-wing comedians like YouTuber Steven Crowder to rise to prominence beyond conventional cable television. And it’s forced networks like Fox News to take comedy seriously.

On one level, Gutfeld succeeds today because he has virtually no competition from fellow conservatives in the late-night television comedy space. On another, he thrives because the current media industry moment is built not for a big tent of all viewers, but for audiences who share specific demographic, psychographic and political traits.

In this environment, the partisanization of comedy to the right was perhaps inevitable.

What’s in a definition?

If you find comedians such as Gutfeld unfunny or, more to the point, offensive, you may ask whether he should be granted the honorific of comedian.

Failing to do so, we argue, obscures the ways in which the right-wing political world uses comedy as a recruiting tool and unifying force. Republican politics have long been built upon an uneasy fusion that aims to bind together libertarian and traditionalist values, despite their apparent contradictions. The crassness of Trumpism has only added to this conceptual tension.

Right-wing comedy, we argue, serves to iron out, or at least paper over, such philosophical divides.

In addition to his show’s success, Gutfeld today resides at the center of a growing complex of comedians reflecting elements of right-wing worldviews, ranging from libertarian, libertine podcasts like “The Joe Rogan Experience” to Christian satire websites like The Babylon Bee to Proud Boys founder and Gutfeld-protégée Gavin McInnes. While the creators of this content don’t always agree on specific issues, they are united in their motivations to hilariously own the libs. They strategically cross-promote one another, while social media algorithms urge fans of one program to check out other flavors of right-wing comedy.

Gutfeld may be the biggest star, but a range of right-wing comedians are coming together in a constellation that allows young, right-wing-curious consumers to find a place in the universe of American conservative media and politics. The value, or danger, of right-wing comedy is a matter of political opinion.

Its reality, however, is no joke.

Trump-Elon Musk conversation was less enlightening than interesting. Definitely worth a listen. Two of the world’s wealthiest movers and shakers who are NOT Communists, talking about our future … largely, it seems, with accuracy and sincerity. It leaves you kind of hopeful, but still without an idea of how to topple these monsters in power, especially with so much of the country frozen and stuck.

Elon Musk says caring about the environment need not lead to suffering. Not true. Outlawing fossil fuels — before technology and business have created viable alternatives — will cause suffering, despair and even death for millions. The connected and the wealthy (who support the Party) will not suffer. The rest of us will have to contend with a world that is unsustainable for human life as we’ve known it, since the industrial revolutions of the 1800s.

Environmentalism is a depopulation movement. As of now, it’s winning everywhere, including in America.

Musk and Trump also discussed the need for deregulation. Deregulation does not work. The Reagan and Trump administrations tried deregulation, but when they left office regulations grew exponentially. Regulatory agencies will not curb their own power. The only solution is to DEFUND the agencies.

A recent, insightful opinion piece reveals the magnitude of the absurdity merged with toxicity we’re now facing in what used to be the free world:

The Republican nominee, a former president, was almost murdered in front of children. The sitting president, ill for the second time just days apart, was browbeaten by his own party into abandoning his campaign only three months before Election Day. His vice president was anointed the party’s new nominee without having earned a single vote. Now she’s campaigning like she’s not currently in the White House and like the past three years of her shockingly poor performance didn’t happen.

And just like that, we’re told Kamala Harris is wildly popular and Donald Trump’s clear electoral advantage has evaporated. Politico on Tuesday even ran the headline “Could Harris’ Momentum Put Florida In Play?”

A news media interested in thoroughly explaining, contextualizing, and documenting current events would be running headlines to the effect of “WTF, THIS ISN’T NORMAL!”

That’s unfortunately not the news media we have. Instead, our news media have offered no indication that there’s anything at all to be alarmed about. Well, except any remaining possibility that Trump could win the election.

No, this is all apparently just fine and the way things run per usual. Kamala has done no legitimate interviews or press conferences, has not articulated a single policy proposal — though she did just steal the no-tax-on-tips idea from Trump — and her Democrat peers are admitting there’s no need for any of that anyway. They’ve got the media to reliably, steadfastly attack Trump and his running mate while calling every provable claim against Harris a lie (or just racist).

Up until Biden officially dropped out, Democrats were dreading the possibility that Harris could end up as their nominee. It was virtually out of the question. Not anymore! Didn’t you hear about the enthusiasm? Everybody loves her. America can’t get enough of Kamala. She’s got nothing to worry about. The media will take care of everything.

Trump-Elon Musk conversation was less enlightening than interesting. Definitely worth a listen. Two of the world’s wealthiest movers and shakers who are NOT Communists, talking about our future … largely, it seems, with accuracy and sincerity. It leaves you kind of hopeful, but still without an idea of how to topple these monsters in power, especially with so much of the country frozen and stuck.

Elon Musk says caring about the environment need not lead to suffering. Not true. Outlawing fossil fuels — before technology and business have created viable alternatives — will cause suffering, despair and even death for millions. The connected and the wealthy (who support the Party) will not suffer. The rest of us will have to contend with a world that is unsustainable for human life as we’ve known it, since the industrial revolutions of the 1800s.

Environmentalism is a depopulation movement. As of now, it’s winning everywhere, including in America.

Musk and Trump also discussed the need for deregulation. Deregulation does not work. The Reagan and Trump administrations tried deregulation, but when they left office regulations grew exponentially. Regulatory agencies will not curb their own power. The only solution is to DEFUND the agencies.

A recent, insightful opinion piece reveals the magnitude of the absurdity merged with toxicity we’re now facing in what used to be the free world:

The Republican nominee, a former president, was almost murdered in front of children. The sitting president, ill for the second time just days apart, was browbeaten by his own party into abandoning his campaign only three months before Election Day. His vice president was anointed the party’s new nominee without having earned a single vote. Now she’s ca

Trump-Elon Musk conversation was less enlightening than interesting. Definitely worth a listen. Two of the world’s wealthiest movers and shakers who are NOT Communists, talking about our future … largely, it seems, with accuracy and sincerity. It leaves you kind of hopeful, but still without an idea of how to topple these monsters in power, especially with so much of the country frozen and stuck.

Elon Musk says caring about the environment need not lead to suffering. Not true. Outlawing fossil fuels — before technology and business have created viable alternatives — will cause suffering, despair and even death for millions. The connected and the wealthy (who support the Party) will not suffer. The rest of us will have to contend with a world that is unsustainable for human life as we’ve known it, since the industrial revolutions of the 1800s.

Environmentalism is a depopulation movement. As of now, it’s winning everywhere, including in America.

Musk and Trump also discussed the need for deregulation. Deregulation does not work. The Reagan and Trump administrations tried deregulation, but when they left office regulations grew exponentially. Regulatory agencies will not curb their own power. The only solution is to DEFUND the agencies.

A recent, insightful opinion piece reveals the magnitude of the absurdity merged with toxicity we’re now facing in what used to be the free world:

The Republican nominee, a former president, was almost murdered in front of children. The sitting president, ill for the second time just days apart, was browbeaten by his own party into abandoning his campaign only three months before Election Day. His vice president was anointed the party’s new nominee without having earned a single vote. Now she’s campaigning like she’s not currently in the White House and like the past three years of her shockingly poor performance didn’t happen.

And just like that, we’re told Kamala Harris is wildly popular and Donald Trump’s clear electoral advantage has evaporated. Politico on Tuesday even ran the headline “Could Harris’ Momentum Put Florida In Play?”

A news media interested in thoroughly explaining, contextualizing, and documenting current events would be running headlines to the effect of “WTF, THIS ISN’T NORMAL!”

That’s unfortunately not the news media we have. Instead, our news media have offered no indication that there’s anything at all to be alarmed about. Well, except any remaining possibility that Trump could win the election.

No, this is all apparently just fine and the way things run per usual. Kamala has done no legitimate interviews or press conferences, has not articulated a single policy proposal — though she did just steal the no-tax-on-tips idea from Trump — and her

The Trump-Elon Musk conversation was less enlightening than interesting. Definitely worth a listen. Two of the world’s wealthiest movers and shakers who are NOT Communists, talking about our future … largely, it seems, with accuracy and sincerity. It leaves you kind of hopeful, but still without an idea of how to topple these monsters in power, especially with so much of the country frozen and stuck.

Elon Musk says caring about the environment need not lead to suffering. Not true. Outlawing fossil fuels — before technology and business have created viable alternatives — will cause suffering, despair and even death for millions. The connected and the wealthy (who support the Party) will not suffer. The rest of us will have to contend with a world that is unsustainable for human life as we’ve known it, since the industrial revolutions of the 1800s.

Environmentalism is a depopulation movement. As of now, it’s winning everywhere, including in America.

Musk and Trump also discussed the need for deregulation. Deregulation does not work. The Reagan and Trump administrations tried deregulation, but when they left office regulations grew exponentially. Regulatory agencies will not curb their own power. The only solution is to DEFUND the agencies.

A recent, insightful opinion piece reveals the magnitude of the absurdity merged with toxicity we’re now facing in what used to be the free world:

The Republican nominee, a former president, was almost murdered in front of children. The sitting president, ill for the second time just days apart, was browbeaten by his own party into abandoning his campaign only three months before Election Day. His vice president was anointed the party’s new nominee without having earned a single vote. Now she’s campaigning like she’s not currently in the White House and like the past three years of her shockingly poor performance didn’t happen.

And just like that, we’re told Kamala Harris is wildly popular and Donald Trump’s clear electoral advantage has evaporated. Politico on Tuesday even ran the headline “Could Harris’ Momentum Put Florida In Play?”

A news media interested in thoroughly explaining, contextualizing, and documenting current events would be running headlines to the effect of “WTF, THIS ISN’T NORMAL!”

That’s unfortunately not the news media we have. Instead, our news media have offered no indication that there’s anything at all to be alarmed about. Well, except any remaining possibility that Trump could win the election.

No, this is all apparently just fine and the way things run per usual. Kamala has done no legitimate interviews or press conferences, has not articulated a single policy proposal — though she did just steal the no-tax-on-tips idea from Trump — and her Democrat peers are admitting there’s no need for any of that anyway. They’ve got the media to reliably, steadfastly attack Trump and his running mate while calling every provable claim against Harris a lie (or just racist).

Up until Biden officially dropped out, Democrats were dreading the possibility that Harris could end up as their nominee. It was virtually out of the question. Not anymore! Didn’t you hear about the enthusiasm? Everybody loves her. America can’t get enough of Kamala. She’s got nothing to worry about. The media will take care of everything.

from The Federalist 8/13/24

Here’s the Trump-Musk interview:

Democrat peers are admitting there’s no need for any of that anyway. They’ve got the media to reliably, steadfastly attack Trump and his running mate while calling every provable claim against Harris a lie (or just racist).

Up until Biden officially dropped out, Democrats were dreading the possibility that Harris could end up as their nominee. It was virtually out of the question. Not anymore! Didn’t you hear about the enthusiasm? Everybody loves her. America can’t get enough of Kamala. She’s got nothing to worry about. The media will take care of everything.

from The Federalist 8/13/24

mpaigning like she’s not currently in the White House and like the past three years of her shockingly poor performance didn’t happen.

And just like that, we’re told Kamala Harris is wildly popular and Donald Trump’s clear electoral advantage has evaporated. Politico on Tuesday even ran the headline “Could Harris’ Momentum Put Florida In Play?”

A news media interested in thoroughly explaining, contextualizing, and documenting current events would be running headlines to the effect of “WTF, THIS ISN’T NORMAL!”

That’s unfortunately not the news media we have. Instead, our news media have offered no indication that there’s anything at all to be alarmed about. Well, except any remaining possibility that Trump could win the election.

No, this is all apparently just fine and the way things run per usual. Kamala has done no legitimate interviews or press conferences, has not articulated a single policy proposal — though she did just steal the no-tax-on-tips idea from Trump — and her Democrat peers are admitting there’s no need for any of that anyway. They’ve got the media to reliably, steadfastly attack Trump and his running mate while calling every provable claim against Harris a lie (or just racist).

Up until Biden officially dropped out, Democrats were dreading the possibility that Harris could end up as their nominee. It was virtually out of the question. Not anymore! Didn’t you hear about the enthusiasm? Everybody loves her. America can’t get enough of Kamala. She’s got nothing to worry about. The media will take care of everything.

from The Federalist 8/13/24

Isaiah 59:14, “So justice is turned away and righteousness stands afar off. For truth has fallen in the streets and righteousness cannot enter.”

And this, from 2 Timothy 3, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away…

“….and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

Perilous times are upon us, friends.  There is no justice.  Truth hasn’t just fallen in the streets — it’s been pushed under a bus.  Righteousness is not allowed to enter.

How far we’ve fallen here in America.  This isn’t the nation I grew up in anymore. Those infected with the “woke mind virus” will call this “progress.”  It’s not.  Today, we have a nation of lawlessness and insanity, the by-products of men and women being lovers of themselves, and haters of God.  They’ve worked hard to earn the depraved minds they suffer with. We’re a nation of liars who prefer lies over truth.  Natural affection between men and women is becoming more and more rare, as once-sane people turn to the profane and succumb to the spirit of Sodom.

There’s no doubt that we love pleasure, comfort and ease much more than we love the God who created us and sustains us, even in His patience and longsuffering.  And evil men and seducers are growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Truth is now declared “hate speech,” and is punishable under color of law.  And in our ignorance and wickedness, we’ve now banned the one true God of heaven, our only hope of salvation.  The One Who sent His Son to Calvary to defeat the works of the devil and to make a way for our forgiveness and restoration is now not only not reverenced, but openly despised, mocked and hated throughout the Earth, once again.

And they call this “progress.”  It’s purposeful ignorance, self-centeredness and denial of basic, essential truth and common sense.  We’ve exchanged love and sanity for hedonism, and I see no way out of this without the righteous judgment of God Almighty Himself to wake us from this stupor of the “woke mind virus.”  We are ever “learning” so many new things — Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Critical Race Theory, Sodomy as a lifestyle and “Transgenderism,” yet we’re never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.  Because God isn’t in any of those things.

Today, we can no longer even have an opinion that goes contrary to the many  doctrines of demons, or we become targets of attack.  All who would live godly in Christ Jesus are suffering persecution, and ever more so each day.  Meanwhile, the evil ones are growing more and more evil.  This should not surprise us, but simply underscore the fact — told to us in Scripture — that we’re living in the last days, and perilous times have come.

I long ago abandoned Facebook, having been banned multiple times for telling the truth there.  It’s a lost cause.  Over the past few years, I’ve been a member of a local social media site called “Nextdoor.”  Recently, someone posted a Bible verse as an encouragement to another member, and I thanked them for doing that.  But almost immediately, the controversy began. People were upset and asked, “Is this right the place to be ‘spouting Scripture?’”  I responded, “Every place is the right place to share the Word of God.” Then the God-haters descended on the scene and what was originally meant as an encouragement from a Bible verse turned into ‘spouting Scripture’ and it all became very ugly very quickly.

Yesterday, I closed my account on Nextdoor and am no longer participating in this group for our local area.  Here’s what happened.  Several weeks ago, an illegal immigrant attacked and raped a local woman, and the local secular newspaper covered the story — including the part we’re never allowed to say out loud — that the attacker was in this country illegally.  Now, this is a very left-wing publication, and I was shocked to see they reported it as truthfully as they did.  But I posted the story on Nextdoor, to make people aware of what’s happening here, locally.

Stories of other crimes in our area have also been posted by others on Nextdoor, whenever they occur.  But my posting of this particular story really brought the wrath of the woke down upon me. It was incomprehensible to most that I would dare post this article — from a secular, Left-wing newspaper — about the violent rape of a local woman…because the rapist was an illegal ‘migrant.’  How dare I?

This situation spiraled so out of control, I eventually realized there was no point trying to have any rational discussion — and I not only ended the conversation, but removed myself from the Nextdoor platform altogether.  I want nothing to do with those who publicly support a violent rapist rather than the long-time local resident who was attacked.

The fact of the matter, whether those infected with the “woke mind virus” want to admit it or not is, these illegal invaders are, indeed, wreaking havoc on American citizens. They’ve already committed a serious crime by entering the country illegally, but then to violently attack innocent citizens is horrific. Yet so many just want to pretend it’s not happening.

It is happening. We’ve all heard of the heart-wrenching killing of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student murdered by a 26-year-old illegal from Venezuela in Athens, Georgia.  And just last month, in Albany, New York, a 21-year-old illegal from Turkey attacked and violently raped a 15-year-old girl who he found walking down a street in her neighborhood.

Also last month, two illegals from Venezuela savagely murdered a 12-year-old girl in Texas.  Before killing her, they stripped her naked and assaulted her for two hours.  Here are three more cases to consider — all in Florida, all in the past month.  A 26-year-old man from Honduras is in jail on charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, domestic battery with strangulation and aggravated battery on a pregnant teen.  A 43-year-old woman from Guatemala is being held at Palm Beach County Jail on charges of premeditated first-degree murder.  She also tried to hire a “hitman” to kill two witnesses in her teenage son’s criminal case.  And a 20-year-old male from Guatemala is in jail without bond on charges of kidnapping a minor under 13 years of age and sexual assault.

I could give you plenty more examples, but suffice to say, this really is happening.  The illegal invaders our current Regine is importing and resettling into our American neighborhoods with our tax dollars are mostly violent criminals.  No, not all of them, but certainly numbering in the millions; certainly, enough to be great cause for concern.  Meanwhile, the lying media and our government officials either refuse to report these crimes or conveniently omit the fact that the attackers, rapists and killers are here illegally, from many foreign countries around the world — and all living quite comfortably in taxpayer-funded housing.

These people are not here to “assimilate” and become genuine Americans.  They came waving the flags of their homelands and they’re here to conquer the US, and a majority have no value for human life.  All of our major cities have become cesspools of violent crime. I feel bad for those who live there and can’t understand why they don’t move out.  But it’s not just the big cities anymore.  The assault and rape I told you about happened in my small city, of just 40,000 people.

But also last month, in a very small town here in Wisconsin — an illegal invader attacked a woman and her two young children in their home while they slept. The woman was stabbed 17 times but survived. Both children died of their wounds — one stabbed 16 times and one 20 times… in a tiny town of less than 2,000 people.  This is happening all over America now — not just in the big cities.  It’s everywhere.

But it’s not just this country.  Recently, we’ve seen the riots in the UK over Islamic invaders there, taking over huge portions of the country and huge portions of cities.  The most recent riots came after word spread that an illegal “migrant” had killed three young girls, ages 6, 7 and 9; attempted to kill eight more children and a teacher.  This news spread on social media there, prompting outrage and causing the citizens to finally rise up and say “Enough!” with illegal “migration.”

When the full story was heard, it turned out that the alleged killer wasn’t an “illegal” but was actually born in the UK.  He’s 17 years old and was born in Britain to Rwandan parents.  So although he’s not an illegal immigrant, with all the violence perpetrated in the UK by Islamic invaders, it’s understandable how people came to that conclusion.

Now the UK is cracking down on “misinformation” on the internet.  So far, 600 people have been arrested for posting or re-posting “misinformation” online about these murders.  Three have already been sentenced to jail time for their social media posts, and England now has 6,000 officers trained to scour the internet for people posting “misinformation.”

But the bottom line is, no one was killed as the citizens pushed back against the invasion of their country by Muslim Jihadists.  Meanwhile, violent crimes and murders are ongoing in that country, mostly by Muslim Jihadists.  Another case of the criminals given preferential treatment over those they attack and kill.  And England is ramping up their “thought police” division, even threatening to extradite people from other countries — including the US — if they’re caught posting “misinformation” of any kind on social media.

Here in the US, Michigan’s Secretary of State has joined this Globalist agenda by asking voters to fight “election misinformation” by reporting on their neighbors.  We all know what a wide net can be cast when the powers-that-be start talking about “misinformation.”  Legitimate COVID cures were deemed “misinformation” and “disinformation” and doctors and other health professionals lost their licenses — and everything they had — for simply stating that Vitamins C and D were helpful for COVID.  The censorship we experienced then has only gotten worse today.  Now, we’re attacked for simply reporting that an illegal invader raped a local woman.  That’s not misinformation. It’s the truth. But it’s an inconvenient truth for those who are importing the illegals, and therefore, it won’t be long before such reporting becomes a “hate crime.”

Meanwhile, the city of Minneapolis has just become the first in the nation to allow the hideous  Islamic call to prayer to play five times a day, at all hours of the day, throughout the city.  They compare it to “church bells.”  But these prayers involve asking Allah for the death of Christians and Jews, five times a day, every day.

Meanwhile, in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, a man was confronted by “Mall Cops” at the Mall of America for wearing a T Shirt with the words “Jesus Saves.” He was told he could either change his shirt or be cited and removed for trespassing.  I was recently told by someone who works at the Mall of America that very few Americans shop there anymore.  “It’s almost completely Muslim,” he said.  Non-Muslims avoid the place, and stores are shutting down.  And while Islam has now conquered England, Christians are being arrested for praying silently outside abortion centers there.  And Canada has taken online censorship to levels that have American Communists salivating.

We have much to pray about as the foreign residents among us rise higher and higher above us and we sink lower and lower…and even more to pray about as truth — even the BIBLE — is now considered “hate speech,” or a “thought crime.”  And posting on social media today doesn’t just get you into a war of words with others on the platform — in many places, it can get you arrested and jailed.  George Orwell’s “1984” wasn’t meant to be an instruction manual, but that’s what it’s become as we continue the “progress” of this Godless world, with the “woke mind virus.”

Rob Pue

The word capitalism has no stable definition and should probably be permanently retired. That won’t happen, however, because too many people are invested in its use and abuse.

I’m long over trying to push my definition over someone else’s understanding, generally viewing disputes about vocabulary and dictionary definitions as a distraction against the real debate over concepts and ideals.

The point of what follows is not to define precisely what capitalism is (my friend CJ Hopkins is hardly alone in describing it as once emancipatory but now rapacious) but rather to highlight the many ways in which economic systems of the industrialized world have made a hard turn against the whole ethos of voluntarism in the commercial sector.

Still, let’s pretend we can agree on a stable description of a capitalist economy. Let’s call it the system of voluntary and contractual exchange of otherwise contestable and privately owned property titles that permits capital accumulation, eschews top-down planning, and defers to social processes over state planning.

It is, ideally, the economic system of a society of consent.

This is obviously an ideal type. So described, it is inseparable from freedom as such and forbids state planning, expropriation, and legal privileges for some over others. How does the status quo match up against that? In uncountable ways, our economic systems utterly fail the test, with all the results that one would expect.

What follows is a short list of all the ways in which the US system does not comport with some ideal type of capitalistic marketplace.

1. Governments have become a main customer of tech and media platforms, instilling an ethos of political deference and cooperation, resulting in surveillance, propaganda, and censorship. This happened gradually enough so that many observers simply did not notice the turn. They held onto their reputation as go-getting capitalist companies even as one platform after another fell to become minions of state power. It began with Microsoft, extended to Google, came to Amazon with its web service in particular, and made its way to Facebook and Twitter, even as taxes, regulations, and intense enforcement of intellectual property consolidated the entire digital-tech industry.

In the course of the change, these companies somehow still held onto their reputations as disruptors with a libertarian ethos, even as they were ever more deployed in service of regime priorities. When Trump took office in 2016, and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and UK’s Boris Johnson seemed to be forming a populist resistance force, the crackdown began. With Covid lockdowns, all these platforms swung into action to feed public panic, silence dissent, and propagandize for untested and unnecessary shots of an experimental technology. The deed was done: all these institutions became faithful servants of an emergent corporatist empire.

Now they are full cooperators with the censorship-industrial complex, while the few outliers like Elon Musk’s X and Rumble are facing enormous pressure to conform and get on board. The CEO of Telegram has been arrested simply for not providing a backdoor to Five-Eyes governments, while NATO nations are investigating and arresting for the act of posting disrespectful memes. Digital tech is the most notable and thrilling innovation of our times and yet it has been browbeaten and distorted into a main tool of state power.

2. The US has a medical cartel that works with regulatory agencies and official institutions to impose poisons on the public, charge outrageous prices, cooperate with business cartels to block alternatives, and promote addiction and ill health. The interventions in the sector are legion, from licensing to employer mandates to mandated benefits packages to government funding to financial support from patent-protected and indemnified pharmaceutical companies that fund and control the very agencies that are supposed to regulate them.

The signs and symbols of market economics still exist but in a highly distorted way that makes independent medical practice nearly impossible. It’s not socialism and it’s not capitalism but something else, like a privately-owned medical cartel that works hand in glove with coercive power at public expense. And the coercion is not about promoting health but promoting subscription-based dependency on pharmaceuticals, which have evaded normal liabilities that would otherwise pertain in a genuine marketplace.

3. The US has an educational system that is mostly government-funded, blocks competition, forces participation, wastes students’ time, and pushes a political agenda of compliance and indoctrination. Public schooling in the US has late-19th century origins but the compulsory features came many decades later, alongside bans on teen work, and this later mutated into state-funded universities that enlisted ever larger shares of the population into the system, eventually saddling several generations into vast debt that cannot be paid. The families seeking alternatives end up paying many times over: through taxes, tuition, and lost income. State intervention into educational services is massive and comprehensive, blotting out all normal capitalistic forces and leaving comprehensive state planning.

5. A wildly complicated and confiscatory system of taxation that punishes wealth accumulation and blocks social mobility in all directions. The federal government alone has seven to ten major forms of federal taxation in main categories like income tax, payroll tax, corporate tax, excise taxes, estate and gift taxes, customs duties, and various fees. Depending on how you count them, there are 20 or more. This is remarkable given that only 115 years ago, there was only one source of federal financing: the tariff. Once the government got its fingers into incomes with the 16th Amendment – before that, you kept every penny you earned – the rest followed. And that doesn’t count state and local financing. They are deployed as methods of planning and control, with no industry immune from the need to bow and scrape before their taxing masters to grant abatements or breaks of any sort. The net result is a form of commercial and industrial servitude.

6. Fiat paper money floating exchange rates (born 1971) give the government unlimited funds, create inflation and currencies that never rise in value, and provide foreign central banks investment capital to make sure international accounts never settle. This new system has blown up government power, which expands without limit, and disrupted the normal functioning of international trade. Treasury debt floated by governments with central banks evades all normal market forces and risk premiums, simply because they are guaranteed by the power to inflate a public expense. This gives the politicians, warmongers, and totalitarians among us a blank check to do their dirty work.

It is precisely this regime change, together with the manipulation of interest rates, that has given rise to what is called financialization, such that big finance has eaten so much of what was once a healthy industrial sector in the US in which people actual made things for sale in the consumer marketplace. In the old days, the price-specie flow mechanism (described by every free trader from David Hume to Gottfried Haberler) balanced out accounts to ensure that trade would result in mutual benefit. But under the dollar-dominated fiat money system, US debt has come to serve as an infinite source of financing for international industrial buildup that has wrecked countless US industries that once thrived.

This is not free trade but paper imperialism and it ends in producing a backlash like we see in the US. The solution being offered is, of course, tariffs, which turn into another form of taxation. The real solution is a fully balanced budget and a shutdown of the Federal Reserve’s money spigot but that is not even part of the public conversation.

7. The court system invites extortionist litigation and can only be fought with deep pockets. Litigation these days is merely about playing the long game in a wicked match that can be over absolutely anything, real or imagined, that any would-be plaintiff can assemble into a court case. Business people, especially small ones, live in daily fear of this constant threat. And this has become the means by which DEI hiring standards have become normalized; they are instituted by risk-averse managers in fear of bankruptcy by litigation. The irony is that the real wrongdoers, such as pharmaceutical makers, are indemnified against legal action, leaving the courts as playthings for the rapacious.

8. A patent system that grants private industry production cartels and stops competition for everything from pharmaceuticals to software to industrial processes. This is a subject too big for this essay but know that there is a long history of free market thinkers who regarded the patent power as nothing but a tool of industrial cartelization, wholly unjustified by any standard of commercial freedom. “Intellectual property” is not property as such but the creation of fake scarcity by regulation.

One needs only read Fritz Machlup’s 1958 study to understand the fullness of the fakery here, or read what Thomas Jefferson said about the commodification of ideas: “That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation.”

The corruptions that have resulted from the legislative manufacture of property in ideas cannot be overstated. In industry after industry, they have restricted competition, conferred privilege on would-be monopolists, hindered innovation, and truncated learning and innovation. This is obviously a hard subject but one impossible to avoid. In this connection, I highly recommend the sleeper of a monumental treatise by N. Stephan Kinsella: Legal Foundations of a Free Society. The capture of pro-capitalist thinkers by patent theory represents a serious breach in history and in the current day.

9. As for authentic property rights, they are weaker than ever and can be overridden or even abolished with the stroke of a pen, such that not even landlords can evict tenants or small business can be open for business. Such was common in poorer countries with despotic governments but such a system is now common in the industrialized West such that no business owner can be certain of his rights to his own enterprise. This is the devastating consequence of Covid lockdowns. It is so serious that the various indexes of economic freedom have yet even to adapt their metrics to the new reality. Obviously there is no capitalism as such if millions of businesses can be shut on the whim of public-health authorities.

10. A bloated federal budget supports 420+ agencies that lord it over the whole of commercial society, ballooning up compliance costs for entrepreneurs and creating vast uncertainty about the rules of the game. Slight attempts at “deregulation” cannot begin to fix the core problem. There is no product or service made in the US that is not subject to some form of regulatory diktat. If one happens to come along, such as cryptocurrency, it is beaten to pieces until only the most compliant firms survive the market competition. This has been going on in the crypto space since 2013 at least, and the result has been to convert a disruptive and stateless tool into a compliance-obsessed industry that serves mainly the incumbent financial industry.

10. A bloated federal budget supports 420+ agencies that lord it over the whole of commercial society, ballooning up compliance costs for entrepreneurs and creating vast uncertainty about the rules of the game. Slight attempts at “deregulation” cannot begin to fix the core problem. There is no product or service made in the US that is not subject to some form of regulatory diktat. If one happens to come along, such as cryptocurrency, it is beaten to pieces until only the most compliant firms survive the market competition. This has been going on in the crypto space since 2013 at least, and the result has been to convert a disruptive and stateless tool into a compliance-obsessed industry that serves mainly the incumbent financial industry.

Please consider all these factors the next time someone denounces the US system as the best example of the depredations of capitalism. It might just be marketing that is on the hot seat. Marketing to the consumer was a revolution in the use of resources but it too has been corrupted to serve the interests of power. Just because something is available in the consumer marketplace does not necessarily mean that it is a product of the voluntary matrix of exchange that would otherwise profit in a genuinely free market.

Again, I’m not here to argue about the meaning of a word but rather to draw attention to what everyone can surely agree is a hegemonic imposition on commercial freedom by state power, sometimes and even often with the willing cooperation of the dominant players in every industry.

I’m not sure that such a system has a precise name in the 21st century unless we want to go back to the interwar period and label it corporatism or just plain-old fascism. But not even those terms fully fit with this new mode of surveillance-based and digitized despotism that has descended on the US and the world, one that provides healthy rewards for private enterprise that links up with state power and brutal punishments for those enterprises which do not.

Jeffrey Tucker

Almost everything you see and hear with the Lying Legacy Media and the government is a lie. Just this past week, the Biden Administration backtracked about employment as it was widely reported, “US economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than first reported in year that ended in March.” A huge miss or a huge lie–take your pick. Other big lies we have been told in recent years: “Trump is colluding with Russia,” “Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian disinformation, and the “CV19 vax injections are “safe and effective.” That is just scratching the surface of the lies we are told on a daily basis. The lies, which people realize are becoming preposterous, are adding to the public’s lack of confidence in everything, including the economy. Martin Armstrong says, “We are in a period of great uncertainty. . .. When people are uncertain, they don’t spend. They save. That’s what happens in a depression and a recession. . .. So, if you have no confidence in the future because of all this crazy stuff going on, what do you do? You don’t borrow, and you pull back and say let me see what is going to happen.”

Armstrong says another big lie told to the public is the approval rating of Kamala Harris. The so-called polls say Harris is running neck and neck with Donald Trump in the presidential race. Don’t believe it. Armstrong says a recent data dive on his Socratees computer program shows, “Kamala’s approval rating came in around 10.5 %. (A second confidential source says Kamala’s approval rating is 8.5%.) Confidence in government is 7%. So, how can Kamala possibly be 40%, 50% and 60%? It’s illogical. . .. The polls are really propaganda at this point. They were propaganda back in 2016. They all said Hillary would win, and she would sweep Trump under the carpet.”

On news RFK Jr. suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump, Armstrong says, “I was always pushing RFK Jr. to be Attorney General. I think I got his eyes to light up when I said if you take the Attorney General job, you could even indict Pfizer.” Armstrong says the Trump camp is seriously considering RFK Jr. for AG, and Armstrong says he has been in contact with top Trump advisors. We will see, but we do know RFK Jr. is going to be a part of Trump’s Administration.

On Trump winning in November, Armstrong says, “Look, the computer says Trump should win. I don’t know how the hell they allow that to happen. They have to trap Trump into a war or they kill him, one or the other. These people are unconscionable. . .. We are looking at serious civil unrest regardless of who wins in November. Neither side is going to accept it.”

On gold at $2,500 an ounce, Armstrong says it’s not about inflation, it is about the fear of a US debt default. This is why central banks are buying. Armstrong says, “If there is a big war, the US will default on it’s debt. . .. I am very concerned they will start WWIII before the end of the year and maybe by September.”

There is much more in the 54-minute interview.

Greg Hunter

A few days before the Democratic National Convention, presidential candidate Kamala Harris made a speech laying out her plans for the economy. It included a federal ban on “price gouging,” especially by grocery stores.

Many people—perhaps most people—view price gouging as wrong, maybe even evil. But they’re misguided. Price gouging typically occurs during times of natural disaster, or business disruption such as in the pandemic. It serves a vital economic function. We should want more of it, not less.

Let me explain with a little story. About 30 years ago, my wife and I—along with our four young children, our dog, and my mother —were driving from Chicago to Boston. By the time we reached upstate New York, we needed to stop for the night. This was before cell phones and the internet, so we pulled off at a big freeway exit to see what was available. Nothing. We tried hotel after hotel. Nothing. We asked them to call around. Nothing. It turned out it was the weekend of Woodstock ’94. Finally we found a seedy Super 8 motel that had two rooms left, for $400 each. This was back when Super 8 motel rooms were about $50 at most. 

“Thank you, we’ll take them!” I said immediately. My mom was furious—our family was being gouged! 

“How dare he charge so much!” she said. 

I tried hard to explain why she should be grateful that the owner was charging so much. 

“If he charged $50, or $100,” I said, “those rooms would have been gone long ago and we’d be sleeping in the car tonight. He took a big risk holding those rooms for us. Thank him and be grateful!” 

Though my mom was an amazing, smart, wise, and well-traveled woman, she wasn’t having it. Nothing I could say would persuade her that the hotel owner wasn’t being terrible in “taking advantage of us.”

Natural disasters like hurricanes often give rise to shortages of items like 4 × 8 plywood sheets as people race to board up their windows. What do stores that still have some plywood sheets do? They raise prices. Ditto the gas station, when gasoline trucks are blocked by fallen trees from getting to the town. In the pandemic, people who worried about having enough toilet paper cleaned out the shelves. Stores that raised prices were accused of “gouging.”

Unlike price fixing, which is illegal, price gouging happens in perfectly competitive markets. There suddenly isn’t enough of something to go around, so prices rise sharply. If it were an auction, buyers would bid the price up themselves. Store owners who bought when prices were lower can make a temporary profit. But this practice so infuriates the public that 37 states have enacted laws attempting to ban it. 

These price-gouging bans are woefully misguided. Price gouging is wonderful for all the reasons that letting supply equal demand is wonderful. When there is a limited supply, it tilts the field to those who really need it—and are thus willing to pay the higher price. Who really needs that high-priced gas? A handicapped person who has to get to a doctor across town? Or someone who could bike, take public transit, or walk to see a friend? Price gouging lets the really needy person move to the front of the line. 

Why did people buy tons of toilet paper in the pandemic? They were worried about not being able to get it in the future. If the big grocery stores and pharmacies had not been worried about being sued, or about the likelihood of bad press, they would undoubtedly have raised the prices. Higher prices would have given would-be hoarders a clear message: Don’t spend a lot to stock up now. And if you really need it, there will always be some in the store later.

Indeed, most big companies are reluctant to price gouge. Costco let the shelves run out of toilet paper rather than raise prices. Other stores rationed: You can have only four rolls—no matter if you have a house of eight people with diarrhea or if you’re stocking up your summer house just in case. To some extent, companies are simply afraid of being berated by politicians for price gouging. It’s also terrible PR. People who buy some of the limited supply hate the high prices. People who can’t find any goods for sale don’t understand that they’re going home empty-handed because the store didn’t raise prices enough. Stores want a reputation for passing on the low cost to the customer. Price gouging risks that reputation.

Restricting price gouging also reduces supply. For instance, if you run a Home Depot in hurricane-plagued Florida, how many 4 × 8 sheets of plywood do you keep in your inventory? Well, if you’re allowed to sell them for $100 each when the next hurricane is forecast, a lot. If you are forced to charge only the pre-emergency price until the shelves empty out, then not so much. Keeping inventory around is expensive.

What about people who can’t “afford” $10 gas? Rule number one of economics is: Don’t distort prices in order to transfer income. Rule number one of politics seems to be the opposite. Agricultural price supports enrich farmers but lead to overproduction. Rent control causes rents to be unnaturally low for the lucky few who live in rent-controlled apartments, but discourages developers from building new apartments. 

Price gouging works the same way. If gas is capped at, say, $4 a gallon in the wake of a disaster, it will simply extend the shortages and cause drivers to spend hours in gas lines to fill their tanks. That’s exactly what happened in the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon imposed price controls on gasoline. 

If the government is genuinely worried about who can “afford” higher prices, then it should hand out cash to consumers, and leave price gouging alone. For example, give everyone $100 to “pay for gas.” But if some people look at the $10 price of gas and decide they can put up with substitutes like car pooling, bicycles, public transit, or just putting off the trip, then let them spend the $100 on something else instead.

In fact, this is mostly what our government did during Covid. There was a lot of noise about price gouging, but by and large the government just handed out checks so everyone could pay higher prices. (The big exception was the moratorium on evictions.) We got inflation, but we did not get the economic devastation that would have been caused by price controls and rationing.

Yes, rationing. Nobody likes “price gouging,” but choices are always between hard alternatives, not a dreamscape where everything rains down for free. If we aren’t going to use higher prices to decide who gets the limited supply, the alternative is rationing by waiting in line, political preference, or knowing the right guy.

Here’s the bottom line: Price gouging directs scarce supply to the people who really need it, encourages new supply to come in, encourages holding stockpiles for a rainy day, and encourages people to substitute for less scarce goods when they can.

Yet the cultural and moral disapproval of price gouging is strong. Going back thousands of years, people (and theologians) have felt that charging more than whatever price they are accustomed to is immoral, especially if the merchant happened to have inventory purchased in an earlier time, when the price was much lower. This idea of a “just price” motivates a lot of the anti–price gouging rhetoric. Economics has only understood the virtues of price gouging in the last 250 years.

As much as the U.S. is the land of free markets, we have a ways to go in our cultural acceptance of market behavior. In a capitalist society, the motto should be: “You’re free to charge what you want for your property, and I’m free to not buy. Everybody stop whining.” But that’s not how Americans feel.

It is surely morally worthy to give what you have to your neighbors in a time of need, especially the less fortunate. But we should not demand gifts. Moral feelings are a terrible guide for laws.

John H. Cochrane is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the author of The Grumpy Economist Substack, from which this article is adapted.

© 2024 The Free Press

One of the few interesting things about America’s highly choreographed political conventions is the gathering of people outside these events.  Supporters and protesters show up to yell at the top of their lungs for days.  What kinds of taunts do these opposing groups scream at each other?  Remarkably, they accuse each other of similar transgressions.  Probably the most common insults being lobbed from each side of the political spectrum are accusations that the other side is full of “fascists,” “Nazis,” and “racists.”  

It’s enough to make an observer wonder whether an awkward kumbaya truce could spontaneously break out, in which antagonistic foes raise a curious eyebrow and timidly ask, “You mean, you’re against fascism and racism, too?” before taking off their masks, throwing down their cardboard signs, and apprehensively shaking hands.  Of course, that never happens, so very angry Americans continue to denounce one another in nearly identical terms.

The whole thing would be funny if it were not so serious.  And it’s serious because the resulting confusion leaves Americans who might otherwise agree about an awful lot instead reaching for one another’s throats.  The more time they waste fighting, the easier it is for their real enemies to get away with all kinds of mischief without anyone noticing.  Who are their “real enemies”?  Well, regardless of any American’s particular ideological beliefs, those who most affect their lives (outside their families and friends) are almost certainly people with wealth and power — and not the vast majority of their working-class neighbors just trying to earn a living.  Because wealth and power remain in the hands of a small collection of political and financial “elites,” they benefit when citizens with neither wealth nor power choose to attack one another.  

Another way to think of this is to ask a simple question: what is the greatest threat to any political system?  Is it the threat of foreign invasion?  Economic depression?  Disease?  Of course not.  It is the possibility that those controlled by the system will overthrow those doing the controlling.  Every government in the world — communist dictatorship, theocratic regime, or so-called constitutional republic — claims to be working for the people.  But when the “elites” of those governments speak behind closed doors, their efforts are directed toward subduing the people.  Governments invest in the illusion that their power is limitless and that the people have no other choice but to obey.  Whenever common people recognize that they are the ones with inherent power, the government’s illusion of control is shattered, the system is upended, and a new era with novel organizing principles arrives.  

Seen through this lens, it is easy to understand why governments have a vested interest in stirring up domestic conflict.  A peaceful and well mannered society might engage in respectful debate and start asking serious questions, such as: why should private central banks be allowed to print money and devalue personal savings?  Why should America be financially squeezed by a bunch of multinational corporations that use cheap labor overseas and bully small businesses into bankruptcy here at home?  Why should foreign investment houses own so much land and property in America when fewer Americans than ever before can afford to own a home?  When government authorities use outside companies to censor Americans’ speech and spy on their private activities, do such workarounds really trump the Bill of Rights?  When corporations work hand in glove with government bureaucrats to track and police citizens, hasn’t our system of government transformed into something we would have once recognized as classically fascist?  

These important questions and others might lead common citizens to think more clearly about their government’s priorities before arriving at another uncomfortable question: does the government really represent the people’s interests, or does it represent the interests of its corporate partners?  Such discussions threaten to shatter any government’s well-guarded illusion of control. 

The political system can’t have that, so the corporate news media blast out daily reminders that “racism” and “extremism” are the real threats to peace and prosperity.  On television and on social media sites, the message is clear: trust the government but distrust your neighbors.  If everybody is more worried about Donald Trump’s personality or Taylor Swift’s political endorsements, nobody has time to wonder how we’ve reached the point when the federal government’s fiscal burden consumes 93% of America’s total accumulated wealth since its founding or how global debt now exceeds $315 trillion.  The wealthiest and most powerful people in the West take from everyone else and then set society on fire with engineered division and hate.  They are civil arsonists committed to destroying the evidence of all the damage they’ve wrought.

You can tell that financial and political “elites” are becoming desperate in their attempts to maintain power because they resort to little more than childish name-calling these days.  The great bugbear this decade is the “far right.”  Nobody explains why the “far right” should be feared more than the “far left,” when the theft and mass murder perpetrated by communist regimes over the last century dwarf the atrocities committed by all other ideologies in human history.  Nobody explains how the “far right” socialists of Hitler’s Germany can be distinguished from Venezuela’s “far left” socialists today.  Rather inexplicably, corporate news organs and academic institutions lump everyone who believes in limited government, national borders, self-determination, and personal liberty into the same category of WWII fascists who promoted totalitarianism, empire, dictatorship, and subjugation to the State.  Most citizens who are mislabeled “far right” distrust government and despise the notion of corporate control over society.  How that makes them “fascist” is a linguistic mystery.

What makes more sense is that Western governments fear the emergence of liberty movements not because they will one day be marching under the Arc de Triomphe, but rather because they represent a renewed public rejection of centralized power.  The more centralized the governing authority (e.g., the U.S. federal government, the E.U., and the U.N.), the more worried it has become that common people will reclaim sovereignty over their personal lives.  Consequently, the mouthpieces for the axis of corporate and government power in Western capitals — which is socialist in spirit and fascist in principle — slander citizens who are opposed to Big Government as somehow being the ideological descendants of Hitler’s Nazi Party.  It’s horse 

Those who are nonsensically labeled as “far right” do have all too frequent encounters with fascism.  It’s just that those experiences come in the form of corporate-government beatings from the same people and institutions claiming to “protect democracy.”  During the Reign of COVID Terror, social media companies threatened and censored citizens who questioned the government’s monopoly on scientific debate, the need for school closures and economic lockdowns, or the efficacy of the pharmaceutical industry’s experimental “vaccines.”  Fascist tyrants such as Justin Trudeau used his partnership with banking institutions to seize citizens’ savings and mortgaged properties when they protested against his COVID authoritarianism.  Cellular companies kept track of citizens’ movements and reported those violating house arrest to the police.

This kind of corporate-government fascism has become commonplace.  European governments dedicate enormous resources to monitoring citizens’ online speech and punishing those who express unapproved opinions, and tech companies are quick to assist these bureaucratic bullies in their hunt for “offensive speech.”  A UK man was recently arrested for engaging in “anti-Establishment rhetoric” in a social media post.  Google openly admits to manipulating search results in ways that promote the talking points of their government partners while hiding dissenting voices.  Big Tech, Big Banks, and Big Pharma don’t operate independently of Big Government.  They are one and the same.

It turns out that everyone hates fascism except for Western governments and their corporate friends.  That’s why they demonize citizens who cherish liberty.

I understand people who hate the United States – some of them, anyway. Well over 50 years ago, I interacted regularly with people who probably hated the United States. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. For the most part, I had no personal animosity toward them. They were North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers who were doing their duty, as we did, ours, brutal as it was on both sides.

So, I understand enemies who hate America, even though I disagree with them and have engaged in mortal combat with them.

But Americans who hate America are in a different category altogether. By an accident of birth, they have had the great luck to live in a great country that has delivered more people from poverty, provided more humanitarian aid to the less fortunate, and that has created more wealth for the common man than any country in history. Yet, oblivious to their good fortunate, they repay America and its citizens with undisguised hatred. Their hatred manifests itself in many different ways. I shall confine myself to two examples.

The first is the disgraceful pro-Hamas, anti-American riots that have become ubiquitous. We first saw them on college campuses and in major cities last year. We saw them again in D.C. when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited to address Congress. We saw a crowd that included what appeared to be many spoiled college-aged students, burning our flag and calling for bloody terrorism and murder – because that’s what an Intifada is – here in our country.

Here is one of them.

As you can see, the fool in the red shirt with the keffiyeh wrapped around his hips appears to be a young Caucasian, college-age male, maybe even a member of a fraternity. He is a nobody, but his burning of our flag is a desecration. We do not know who he is, but he clearly is identifiable. The U.S. flag he is burning is government property that was hauled down from the flagpole to be desecrated and replaced with a Palestinian flag. He clearly came prepared to burn the flag, as he is carrying a container of flammable liquid that he is squirting onto the burning flag.

One could only hope that our government would do its job and pull out all stops to identify him and his comrades, just as they did for anyone who was anywhere near the U.S. Capitol on January 6. DOJ? FBI? Where are you? Is there any reason why he and others should not be given equal treatment for destroying government property?

Alas, we now know the answer — It appears that the outnumbered police arrested 25 “demonstrators,” of whom eleven were referred to the Office of the Attorney General for possible prosecution. Of those eleven, however, it appears that the all the charges have been downgraded or dismissed. Whether fool-in-red-shirt is among them is unknown. Certainly, there has not been a pull-out-all-stops effort to identify and charge him and the others those who broke federal law by defacing and destroying federal property. So much for equal treatment under the law.

So, yes, I despise this ignorant but evil young American, with a passion that I never felt for a Vietnamese soldier looking down his rifle at me. And I equally despise our government officials who gloss over his crimes and refuse to investigate and prosecute because they fear offending pro-Hamas voters in Michigan.

I understand people who hate the United States – some of them, anyway. Well over 50 years ago, I interacted regularly with people who probably hated the United States. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. For the most part, I had no personal animosity toward them. They were North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers who were doing their duty, as we did, ours, brutal as it was on both sides.

So, I understand enemies who hate America, even though I disagree with them and have engaged in mortal combat with them.

But Americans who hate America are in a different category altogether. By an accident of birth, they have had the great luck to live in a great country that has delivered more people from poverty, provided more humanitarian aid to the less fortunate, and that has created more wealth for the common man than any country in history. Yet, oblivious to their good fortunate, they repay America and its citizens with undisguised hatred. Their hatred manifests itself in many different ways. I shall confine myself to two examples.Subscribe

Anti-American riots in support of intifada.

The first is the disgraceful pro-Hamas, anti-American riots that have become ubiquitous. We first saw them on college campuses and in major cities last year. We saw them again in D.C. when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited to address Congress. We saw a crowd that included what appeared to be many spoiled college-aged students, burning our flag and calling for bloody terrorism and murder – because that’s what an Intifada is – here in our country.

Here is one of them.

As you can see, the fool in the red shirt with the keffiyeh wrapped around his hips appears to be a young Caucasian, college-age male, maybe even a member of a fraternity. He is a nobody, but his burning of our flag is a desecration. We do not know who he is, but he clearly is identifiable. The U.S. flag he is burning is government property that was hauled down from the flagpole to be desecrated and replaced with a Palestinian flag. He clearly came prepared to burn the flag, as he is carrying a container of flammable liquid that he is squirting onto the burning flag.

One could only hope that our government would do its job and pull out all stops to identify him and his comrades, just as they did for anyone who was anywhere near the U.S. Capitol on January 6. DOJ? FBI? Where are you? Is there any reason why he and others should not be given equal treatment for destroying government property?

Alas, we now know the answer — It appears that the outnumbered police arrested 25 “demonstrators,” of whom eleven were referred to the Office of the Attorney General for possible prosecution. Of those eleven, however, it appears that the all the charges have been downgraded or dismissed. Whether fool-in-red-shirt is among them is unknown. Certainly, there has not been a pull-out-all-stops effort to identify and charge him and the others those who broke federal law by defacing and destroying federal property. So much for equal treatment under the law.

So, yes, I despise this ignorant but evil young American, with a passion that I never felt for a Vietnamese soldier looking down his rifle at me. And I equally despise our government officials who gloss over his crimes and refuse to investigate and prosecute because they fear offending pro-Hamas voters in Michigan.

And again, in Chicago with support from the President of the United States

We saw the same types again this past week in Chicago. As the Wall Street Journal reported,

On Tuesday night hundreds descended on the Israeli consulate with chants of ‘Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada’ and signs blaming the Democrats in Chicago for ‘genocide’ for supporting Israel against Hamas. 

And they were given cover by the President of the United States, who said, “They have a point.”

Well, they do have a point of sorts. Their point is that they support killing Americans. “Long live the Intifada” is just another call for massive murder and bloodshed on our streets.

When they shriek, “Intifada here! Intifada now!” and “Long live the Intifada!” these are not just slogans. They are calling for Americans to be massacred. No, that is too bland, too sterile. What “Intifada here” means in the real world is bodies dismembered, entrails hanging out of body cavities, blood and brain matter blown all over their friends, and worse horrors that most Americans — thankfully — cannot imagine. But when you pierce beyond the chanted words, that is what they are saying should happen in the United States. That is what an intifada is.

Here is one of the demonstrators at the DNC this past week. Take a look at him. This Chicago man-on-the-street sees nothing wrong with the crimes of October 7 (“What’s wrong with October 7? You tell me.”). He also made clear that “Every Palestinian supports Hamas. Not just me. Every Palestinian.” We do not know whether this man is an American citizen or a guest in our country. But he clearly despises this country and its values. We must despise his values.

And spare me the both-sides-do-it arguments. Israel is fighting a defensive but existential war against an enemy that has sworn to wipe of off the face of the earth and that uses women and children as human shields. For its part, Hamas revels in the propaganda value of its October 7 barbarism and vows to do it again and again.

Kaepernick squawks, Nike caves.

My second example: Colin Kaepernick and Nike. Nike recently released a new model of sneakers that had a depiction of the 13-star Betsy Ross American flag.

This apparently hurt Kaepernick’s feelings. No, that is too kind. He is a grown man; his feelings were not hurt by a picture of an historical American flag. Kaepernick obviously hates America, so he called on Nike to discontinue its marketing of the patriotic shoes.

Nike caved. Its capitulation was accompanied by a mealy-mouth statement that they withdrew the shoes, at God-knows-what-cost, because it was an “old flag.” They didn’t even have enough courage to tell the truth about what they were doing.

Nike, of course, is a corporation. It acts through its human agents. We do not know who ultimately made the decision that the Betsy Ross flag was too inflammatory be on a Nike sneaker, but it is a fair conclusion that whoever that weenie is, they at least disdain, if not hate America. If anyone thinks that I have overstated that, and that Nike and its officers really love America, then let them come forward with facts to prove that. I’ll wait.

Nike’s hatred for America, or at least its willingness to accommodate hatred for America, should be disqualifying. Mine is a small voice, but I hope that it might somehow be magnified. People who love this country should not buy any Nike merchandise. I know, I know…. Your kids like the sneakers. Sit them down and explain the facts to them: We will not give money to companies that do not support our country and that affirmatively work against it.

Trustees and boards of universities, including my own West Point, should send Nike a clear message that such anti-patriotic activity will not be supported by their school. I know that schools are raking in a lot of money for their athletic programs by displaying the Nike swoosh on their uniforms, but there does come time when principal must override money. If such a precedent were set by major universities, just think of the possibilities that such a change could open.

Yes, I know – you don’t have to tell me: I am being naïve to think that such a thing could happen. You probably are right.

But you never know what will happen if courageous people begin to take a stand.

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Here in the U.S., we are accustomed to economic growth almost every year. Look at a chart of U.S. GDP over the course of the last century, and the impression is of near-continuous and extremely robust growth. Here is such a chart from USA Facts, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (Commerce Department).

The so-called “Great Recession” of 2008-09 registers as barely a blip. Same for the Covid-related dip of 2020. (Note in the graph that backing out inflation flattens the slope of the curves to some degree, but does not change the basic form of robust and continuous growth.)

This pattern of continual growth is unfortunately not true for all countries. For an extreme case of the opposite situation, consider Venezuela. Venezuela elected the socialist Hugo Chavez in 1998, and he and his ideologically-aligned successor Nicolas Maduro have ruled ever since. It is not easy to get useful economic data from Venezuela. The best I can find for its GDP since the Chavez election and to the present is from Statista. Here is their chart:

I would not necessarily take these data from Statista as gospel. The main source is necessarily the Venezuelan government, which is highly suspect. The large run-up from 2004 to 2013 is probably mostly not real, being created by a combination of blow-out government spending (counted as real in GDP by economists) and increasing oil prices. On the other hand, the post-2013 collapse is undoubtedly very real. In fact, the collapse is likely understated, because the Venezuelan government would clearly cook the books in any way it could. Even if you think the current figure is mostly accurate, it leaves Venezuelan GDP today at well less than it was in the year 2000, and barely more than a quarter of what it was in 2013.

So what has brought about such an economic collapse for Venezuela? Apologists for the regime often cite the rapid fall of oil prices that occurred in 2014 and thereafter. But then, Texas also has an economy highly focused on the oil industry, and yet its economy has boomed in the decade since 2014. The same goes for many other oil and gas producing states and countries.

The clear thing that distinguishes Venezuela from economically successful places, and from the U.S. in particular, is that Venezuela has adopted one after another of economically destructive policies, well summarized by the word “socialism.” Let’s list a few: extensive price controls, particularly on food; huge increases in government spending notably on housing subsidies and redistributions; destroying the independence of the Supreme Court and of election authorities; “free” public healthcare.

Now we suddenly have a presidential nominee of the Democratic Party who has gone some combination of silent and vague on what economic policies she would implement if elected. Isn’t the presidency just about “vibes” and “joy”?

However, what little Ms. Harris has had to say so far on economic policy bears a remarkable resemblance to the Venezuelan program, notably price controls and middle class entitlements. Since she has gone silent, we have little to go on. But Kimberley Strassel in today’s Wall Street Journal points out that Senate Majority Leader Schumer let some of the mask down in an interview with CNN on Monday:

[Schumer] declared he was “committed” to everything Ms. Harris has outlined so far—the child tax-credit blowout, the new housing entitlement and all the rest. The moderator at one point noted cost estimates were $2 trillion; Mr. Schumer didn’t bat an eye. Reminded that even liberals were panning her price-control proposals, Mr. Schumer brushed them aside. This is “a good thing to do,” he assured, and he later promised price controls on drugs, too.

How about destroying the independence of election authorities and the Supreme Court?:

One of his first priorities would be the federal voting takeover that Democrats have been laboring to impose since 2021. Also important, said Mr. Schumer, is changing the Supreme Court; everything is on the table—including term limits. And “we’ve got to do more on climate change.”

Even Venezuela isn’t crazy enough to be trying to solve “climate change.”

The entire difference between economic success and failure for a country is good economic policy. I certainly hope that the voters will be smart enough to look through the current program of obfuscation by the Democrats to see what they actually have planned for us.

Francis Menton

The producers didn’t plan for the biopic about the life of Ronald Reagan to open so close to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but delays caused by the pandemic and an actors strike led to its release on August 30.

It seems easier to portray a historical figure that no one currently living remembers. In the case of “Reagan,” the challenge would appear especially challenging.

Actor Dennis Quaid, who plays Reagan, is more than up to that challenge.

Quaid avoids what could have easily been a temptation to portray Reagan as a caricature. Though he resembles the 40th president with the help of hair enhancement and makeup, Quaid’s performance does not distract from memories of those who lived through his presidency.

The film opens with real news footage of Reagan being shot as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981. It includes his now famous line to Nancy Reagan, (played convincingly by Penelope Ann Miller): “Honey, I forgot to duck,” along with his quip to surgeons at George Washington University Hospital, “I hope you are all Republicans.” Those two comments endeared him even to many of his political opponents, including Speaker Tip O’Neill who is portrayed (by Dan Lauria), visiting Reagan in the hospital and elsewhere agreeing to cease talking politics at 6 p.m. when he and Reagan would discuss how to resolve their differences over drinks at the White House.

While recalling his childhood, his early acting career, and Screen Actors Guild presidency during the blacklisting of Hollywood actors, writers and others alleged to be communist sympathizers, or members of the party, a good portion of the film centers on Reagan’s efforts to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the Soviet Union and United States. He responded to criticism for not meeting with a succession of Soviet leaders, saying “I would but they keep dying.” Eventually he meets with the reformist Michael Gorbachev, played by Olek Krupa, who bears little resemblance to the man he portrays (save for the birthmark on his head), but who sticks to the historical “script.”

Reagan’s insistence on pursuing his Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars” to his critics) is rightly credited with contributing to the fall of the Soviet Union during the administration of his successor, George H.W. Bush.

The film gets Reagan’s toughness and convictions right, but it also displays something absent from so much of today’s politics. They include his sense of humor (YouTube has a collection of some of his better jokes) and the fact that he treated even his adversaries with respect. One line that isn’t in the film but is an accurate depiction of his way of criticizing the beliefs of opponents without calling them names: “The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Unlike Meryl Streep’s portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” (it opens with her dementia while the Reagan film ends with his in a moving way that ought to bring tears to the eyes – it did to mine), “Reagan” is more of a love note to a man who did great things for his country and the world. There could be no better epitaph for any political leader.

If you are under 40, go see it and learn something beyond what biased historians and the media have said about the man. If you are over 40 and lived through his presidency, go see it and be reminded of what real leadership looks like and how one man, in collaboration with a British prime minister and a pope, helped bring freedom to millions in Eastern Europe and restored the faith of many Americans in their country.

Cal Thomas