There’s a simple rule of life: If people cannot talk things out, they’re left to fight them out. One man who apparently understands this is Democratic comedian-cum-commentator Bill Maher. After all, bucking criticism from fellow liberals (leftists), Maher recently agreed to accept an invitation to visit the White House. Reports are, too, that the affair — in which Maher was hosted by President Donald Trump Monday — was most cordial. Yet what does it say about our time, and the “Left” in particular, that meeting a MAGA man can make you a pariah?
And it’s not just Maher. Senators John Fetterman (D-Penn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have faced resignation calls because they reached out to the “other side.” Left-leaning commentator Stephen A. Smith has also been targeted, with MSNBC accusing him of being a “megaphone for MAGA propaganda.” His “sin” was having the temerity to interview people such as Candace Owens and ICE director Tom Homan.
A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath
As for the Trump/Maher meeting, it was arranged by musician Kid Rock (born Bob Ritchie), one of Trump’s staunchest celebrity supporters. “The trio was also joined by Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White,” reported The Hill Tuesday. The outlet later added:
Trump wrote in a social media post Monday before the meal that he “didn’t like the idea much” of sitting down with Maher, but “thought it would be interesting” and “might be fun.”
It turned out, too, that the get-together was “weirdly” awesome, said Kid Rock afterwards. Though Maher has been a harsh Trump critic, Kid Rock said the president was “gracious.”
“We talked about things we had in common: ending wokeness, securing the border,” The Hill relates Kid Rock as stating. “The president was asking him what he thought about policy, going on with Iran and Israel and things. It blew my mind.”
“‘Nothing happens if people don’t break bread together and meet face-to-face,’ Kid Rock said.”
Yet this isn’t actually true. Something can happen: violent conflict.
So Far Left, They’ve Left Civility
In fact, to many on the Left, a face-to-face meeting with those they disagree with could only be a face-off. Author and commentator Mike McDaniel discussed this phenomenon Friday in an article titled “Bill Maher goes civil,” writing:
Among the many beliefs necessary for membership in the contemporary Democrat Party is the Party’s political enemies must never be “normalized.” How could it be otherwise with a Party that claims a brief, minor riot at the Capitol was worse than Pearl Harbor or 9-11, and that their enemies are worse than Adolf Hitler who plunged the world into war and presided over the murder of millions?
Normal Americans can find much to admire about people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, even if they might disagree with their politics or think them less than perfect people. Musk, a naturalized American genius, used to be praised by Dems because his manufacture of Teslas — electric vehicles — fit into their Green New Scam goals. Innumerable Dems bought Teslas as rolling virtue signals. Suddenly, even as his rocket and spaceship were rescuing two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station, Dems turned on Musk and began vandalizing and torching Tesla dealers and Teslas, occupied or unoccupied. Musk, who has received innumerable death threats, had suddenly become — you guessed it — Hitler.
…[And] Donald Trump, a political outsider, has always been more Hitler than Hitler to Dems….
Cultivating Hate
Yet such agitation is actually the norm in the history of the Left. Just consider, for example, a prescription attributed to Russian Revolution author and communist Vladimir Lenin:
We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn toward those who disagree with us.
This strategy is certainly operative today and has borne dark fruit. For instance, ponder the 32-second video below. In it, a very young woman talks about being surprised at discovering that a work colleague is “conservative.” This is a man, she says, who’s intelligent, works in “climate tech,” and whom she used to “respect.” What most surprises her, though, she also states, is the level of “hatred” she now feels for him.
Another example was then-Bernie Sanders field organizer Kyle Jurek, who was caught on hidden video in 2020 going full-Stalin. Talking about the violence he’d enjoy visiting on his political enemies, he said, “For liberals, it’s the ‘gulag. Liberals get the wall first.” This included Bill and Hillary Clinton.
This just underlines how most who actively support “leftist” movements are mere “useful idiots.” And many would be dispatched once no longer useful. Of course, there’s something Jurek doesn’t know:
He’d most likely be one of them.
As the Twig Is Bent….
So what explains this violent radicalism? People quite naturally project their own mindsets onto others. But there is a profound difference between leftists and so-called conservatives.
I’ve often written about how ancient Greek philosopher Plato emphasized the importance of instilling virtue in the young. (Cultivating an emotional attachment to virtue is the goal.) Once this foundation exists, he pointed out, the individual will be much more likely to accept reason’s dictates upon maturation. Yet an emotional attachment to vice can also be developed in a child, and much more easily. (Our popular culture does this superbly.) This results, ultimately, in an irrational adult, someone to whom reason seems unreasonable. So the truth is this: We call the people in question “leftists.” But they are actually low-virtue individuals — and end up being low-info voters.
And, of course, Kindness, Charity, and Love are virtues. They are all, too, not surprisingly, conspicuously absent in the hate-spewing leftists.
Idealists Take Note
More could be tackled here, of course (such as the God factor). But all this said, it’s romantic believing that everything can be “talked out.” It’s also untrue. I’ll illustrate the point with an extreme example, one which the non-religious can view as metaphor if they like. Question:
Do God and Satan talk?
What do they have to talk about?
The Devil has made his decision and simply isn’t interested in the good. All that’s left is to fight.
This doesn’t apply to Bill Maher. While he certainly does rationalize, as man will do, he’s at least willing to listen to other viewpoints. Yet it makes sense that many leftists don’t want to talk.
They’ve settled on evil, though they don’t conceptualize it as such — and it feels right to them. And divorced from Truth (from God), feelings are all they have.
This matters because, related to my opening line, people who cannot be reasoned with can only be fought. We can only hope, too, that all that’s necessary to settle matters is a cold war, not a hot one.
