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.
This is not a paywall. The rest of this article is available to free subscribers of the newsletter. Just leave your email below to continue reading.
This post is sponsored by Mechanize. AI alignment is perhaps the most important issue of our time, and if you’re interested in being part of that effort, Mechanize is hiring software engineers at a base salary of $300K-$400K/year, plus substantial bonuses. They also have openings for other positions, including Recruiter ($200K). Here is their website, and you can apply here. If you apply, make sure to use the links provided here so I can receive credit, and name me as a reference in the process.

If the Republicans don't lose heavily this year, and then go on to win in 2028, I think it's game over for America. We will dissolve into half a dozen warring factions and become a 3rd world hellhole. A highly advanced modern society requires just and effective governance, and today's GOP is only capable of 3rd world style corruption and bigotry-first policies.
“[Talarico] no longer thinks God identifies as nonbinary.”
His comments on this were some very lame and gay bullshit. But what’s the “correct” view here, other than don’t use the language of the pro-trans movement to talk about religious figures? Are we pretending that God has a Y chromosome and a penis? Is God hung?