The Left’s Reaction to Israel/Hamas Has Positioned Trump as the Protector of the West

A protester waves a Jihadist flag at a Pro-Palestine protest

I think the war in Israel, and the way much of the Left in the West has
responded to it, has just created a new culture war.

Or, to be more precise, it’s encompassed and magnified all the previous
culture wars going back to 2014 or so, and turned it into a new monster.

We have massive protests that seem to be celebrating Hamas, not just the
Palestinians, many of which include violent slogans and signage, and we
don’t see widespread condemnation from the Left.

So what’s happening is polarization, with people in the West across the US,
Europe, and elsewhere picking sides.

And the sides are (generally and sloppily) pro-West and anti-West. Here
are some very imprecise and perhaps flawed associations:

Anti-West

Pro-Islam

Pro-Palestine

Anti-Jewish

Anti-Israel

Anti-US

Pro-BLM

Pro-Critical-race-theory

Anti-business

Anti-rich

Anti-police

Pro-protest

Pro-violence to enact change (not everyone, obviously)

Narrative: Despite all its success, the West still today represents colonialism,
oppression, and is the reason so many people are suffering on the planet.

Pro-West

Pro-Israel

Pro-business

Pro-police

Pro-Jewish

Pro-Judeo-Christian

Pro-order

Pro-discussion

Narrative: Despite its flaws, the West still represents the best place in the
world for people of all types to come and pursue happiness and success,
and it should be celebrated rather than torn down.

Those lists themselves aren’t what’s so important. And obviously not
everyone fits into one or the other, and there are actually many columns,
not just two.

But in a world where we’re often forced into X or Y, what’s crucial is how
different groups of people in the US are slotting into one side or the other
as we head into the 2024 election. Normally there wouldn’t just be two
sides. Normally people would resist being forced to pick one. But right now
isn’t normal. Right now the pressure is so high I think tons of people are
going to literally “pick a side”.

So here’s the question. How are most people in these groups going to go?

• Middle-America whites

• Hispanic immigrants

• West-coast Techie Types

• American Jews

• Asian Americans

• African Americans

• Asian-Indian-Americans

• Blue-collar workers

• The top 10% in income/wealth?

All this to say, I think a whole lot of Americans are going to go Pro-West,
and guess who’s about to become their new spokesperson for the next 13
months?

Trump.

I think this war in Israel, and the response we’ve seen to it, is about to
galvanize the Pro-West side massively by pulling tons of center and
left-center people to the Pro-West side, which will be lead by him.

This deeply troubles me, since I think a second Trump presidency is an
extraordinary risk to civilization. The West absolutely needs a champion
right now, but I really wish it weren’t going to be him.

This is what I see happening, though—basically the Islamacists (defined as
extremist theocrats, not the majority of peaceful Muslims), US academia, the
general group of “down with America” types, and tons of young idealistic
people who have no idea what they’re talking about, are going to get
increasingly vocal, and likely violent as well.

And the other side is going to say, “See!?!? This is the same thing as
before with BLM and such! And this is why crime is rising. And this is why
Israel was attacked! And the attacks in Paris! And this and that!” Etc. All
this complexity and contradiction will get collapsed down into
overly-simplified sides.

So it’ll be:

1. Trump (The Savior of The West according to his fans)

   vs.

2. Biden (the Fragile Beacon of Subtlety and Nuance)

Who do you think is going to win that?

Basically, we’re fucked. Not just in the culture war that’s about to ensue,
but in the fact that this might very well get Trump re-elected.

P.S.: Since I know you want to know, I’m on the Pro-West,
Pro-Jewish/Israel/Palestine/Secular/Humanist, Anti-Trump side. Meaning,
not cleanly in the two columns as they’ll likely play out, but mostly
Pro-West.