My view of the conservative side of the political spectrum has grown increasingly dark. It’s not a matter of finding bad people on social media. The dominant impulses of the movement, as demonstrated in the words and behavior of Trump, Vance, and the most popular influencers, are rotten to the core. This naturally leads to the question of what might set the movement on a different path.
I think that whether the right reforms in any meaningful way or continues its slide into stupidity and genocidal vibes will depend on election results. Parties are always responding to messages from voters, and this will continue to be true going forward.
Democrats’ loss in 2024 has them moving away from woke. Those in the party running for office have largely remained silent on the rollback of affirmative action, become less likely to frame their policies in terms of racial redistribution, and increasingly have come around to the position that biological males shouldn’t participate in female sports. In some ways, the party has moved to the Left with the rise of the DSA. But even committed democratic socialists no longer talk like it’s 2020, and are embarrassed by their old tweets. The left got the message that woke social views were electoral poison, which doesn’t mean that it needs to moderate on economic issues.