When This Blows Over

Draw the Battle Lines
Another objection from the left is that an efficient confirmation process
will break norms, which is ridiculous coming from the ideological side
that understands nothing but how to use raw power for political gain. It
was a power play when Kavanaugh was nominated, an episode that
stiffened the spine and broke the starry-eyed spell of a lot of formerly
centrist Republicans. It is a power play when ideological pseudo-history
such as the 1619 Project wins a Pulitzer Prize and is taught in more than
3,000 schools.
It is a power play when Democrats stop budget relief that would have
aided thousands of working-class people. It is a power play when jobs
and livelihoods are held hostage by protests and riots. Barricading a
Supreme Court nomination is most definitely a power play coming from
a side that wants to give statehood to D.C. and Puerto Rico, pack the
courts, and abolish the Electoral College. The talk of constitutional
norms, therefore, is absurd, as those who win elections decide the
norms, according to the established rules.
This election was always going to be about culture. Trump, for good or
for bad, understands that. Rhetoric aside, in the last week, his
Department of Education called the bluff of Princeton University’s
performative self-flagellating shtick, and fired a full broadside on the
insidious and subversive critical race theory. That is more ammunition
on the cultural front than any other Republican president fired off in the
last couple of decades.
It also has ensured the battle lines are clearly drawn. For decades,
playing “fairly” resulted in conservatives losing every single frontier of
culture due to their pretended neutrality. Neutrality historically cannot
oppose a crusading ideology such as liberalism.