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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026

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If you don't believe in the political project of the united states then you should leave.

Does this apply to everybody or just to your political opponents? Because there are a lot of people on the Left that don't believe in United States as a political project, as it was created by Founders, and consider both Founders and the whole 250 years of history of the United States to be evil beyond repair. Is it OK to ask such people to leave? OK, let's ask even milder question: is it OK to not let such people come in and become residents and citizens of the United States?

but the far right is also bad and has a terrible grip on the Republican party

That's not true. While woke right and idiots like Qatarlson and Owens and Fuentes exist, they reside on the fringe of the party, have - at least for now - virtually no representation in governing circles and certainly do not control the narrative of the party and the culture to the extent that the woke do. There's no analogue to dominating concepts like DEI or "anti-racism" or even affirmative action on the right. The worst excesses Republican extremes produced is some censorship (mostly in porn and adjacent areas) - where the Left now has them also beaten with much more aggressive and insidious censorship. There's no mirror picture and nothing even close to comparison between how woke left caused the party literally to kneel before them, and the fringe right which is at most the source of embarrassment but nothing more.

Does this apply to everybody or just to your political opponents?

I'd say yes but it's a bit circular, anyone who has given up on the American project is my political opponents, but at least for the general election there are many people who will pull the same lever as me that I think would be best leaving.

Because there are a lot of people on the Left that don't believe in United States as a political project, as it was created by Founders, and consider both Founders and the whole 250 years of history of the United States to be evil beyond repair

Yes. The DSA's official platform includes things like abolishing the senate and either packing or abolishing the supreme court. I despise these people. I am, like the founders, a liberal. I am beset on both sides by populist anti-liberals. The united states is and has always been a liberal project.

is it OK to not let such people come in and become residents and citizens of the United States?

Obviously.

That's not true. While woke right and idiots like Qatarlson and Owens and Fuentes exist, they reside on the fringe of the party, have - at least for now - virtually no representation in governing circles and certainly do not control the narrative of the party and the culture to the extent that the woke do.

Anyone who will repeat obvious lies from Trump, like those who debased themselves by pretending they believed the 2020 elections was stolen is tainted. Some may have done it through gritted teeth in a misguided belief that it was the lesser of evils but they're wrong, they sold their credibility for a man who would toss them away the moment it becomes convenient.

like those who debased themselves by pretending they believed the 2020 elections was stolen is tainted

If by "stolen" you mean there were multiple documented violations of both law and procedure, including non-citizens voting, ballots counted without chain of custody, paid voting, illegal vote harvesting, electoral law and procedure manipulations, and so on, and so forth - then for many, including myself, it is not "obvious lies" but a fact, confirmed by piles of evidence, and I couldn't care less if you consider it "tainted". Now, I can not prove it changed the result of the election, obviously - even in the best case, with the cooperation of all authorities, proving such a thing post-factum would be very hard, but under the condition of universal obstruction it is absolutely impossible to make any informed statement about it. In my opinion, elections in a healthy democracy should be conducted in a way that it is demonstrably clear and obvious that they are fair. Not in a way that "you can not prove in court that something was wrong, because we don't even let you inside the court, because you got no standing anyway". So if you are upset by the word "stolen", you are welcome to use any word that you'd think describes this situation better, the conclusion is the same - the elections in 2020 were not conducted like the elections in a healthy democracy should be conducted.

Getting back to the topic of comparison, though, I have heard about multiple Republicans prosecuted by Democrats (and by that I mean not criticized in press, but criminally) for questioning the elections, and never heard about any Democrat prosecuted by Republicans for the same (yes, of course they did and do it regularly, what kind of question is that?) So if we have Republicans whining harmlessly, and Democrats putting their opponents in jail, or ruining their lives. Not much of a symmetry there.

they sold their credibility for a man who would toss them away the moment it becomes convenient.

I am not sure what you even mean here. Trump is well into executing his populist program. I wouldn't say I am happy about everything he is doing - some of his actions I would call mistakes, or blunders, or useless distractions, but I am not seeing what "tossing away" you're talking about. And how it's related to 2020 elections or the point that I discussed.

To reiterate, my point is that the Left - you can call it "DSA" or "radical Left" or some other term, though to be honest I do not see any serious opposition to them within the party's establishment outside of lone mavericks that are increasingly being isolated and pushed out - is all-in on the worst anti-US and anti-liberal ideas around. They are pro-censorship, pro-cancel culture, pro-DEI, for mass uncontrollable migration, for infinite expansion of welfare state, against assimilation, for destruction and suppression of traditional Western culture, for suppression of local economic development, against fighting crime, against limited government, against meritocracy, etc. - and these are not fringe positions. By now, not embracing any of that makes the person an odd one, an outcast, and a target for the attack. Even if - and I think I addressed this enough to show how big an "if" it is - the whole 2020 election complains on the right were fully baseless and purely partisan bickering, it can't even begin to compare to what the Left is doing. Of course the Left always declared every election where a Republican ever won illegitimate and stolen - some people still whine about Bush being elected - but nobody dwells on that because it's such a minor point. If that's what you put on the scales on one side, and you put DEI, BLM, cancel culture, trans cult, trillion-sized welfare plunder, 20 million illegal migrants, on the other, and put several attempted or accomplished murders (which were and continually are widely lauded by the masses) as a cherry on top - I don't see how any comparison even can be seriously made.