Nice post, Luc. Although I (at the last second) voted for Trump, I don't necessarily think the issue is one of optimism or pessimism as laid out here but in (1) framing proper expectations so that we can perceive reality better (based on recursive predictions as a grounding mechanism; if predictions are wrong, one's worldview should update accordingly) and (2) holding "our side" accountable based on principles and avoiding the horrors of Q-level "trust the plan" sophistry and blind hero worship which are already popping up like herpes. The way I see it, the issues that allowed 2020 voting fraud have not been corrected: not the national permanent vote-by-mail fraud (headed by a Democrat "tsar" installed by Marc Elias), not the extensive ballot harvesting, not the Dominion electronic voting machine fraud, no one punished for ballot stuffing in key swing state cities, etc. Therefore, one can only conclude that our upper elites allowed this result to happen, for whatever reason(s) remains up for debate...
I hope that Trump is more successful this time around; that would be great if he is. There are certain structural issues that I think will prevent him from succeeding, though - the extreme deficit and national debt which prevents rearing in very high (20%+) inflation, the unprecedented degree of illegal immigration (where they and their children vote Democrat), and this fraudulent voting structure, basically. I'll go into it in my post tomorrow...
Oh they rigged alright, but as I said, I believe the extreme level of rigging required was probably impossible both for practical, strategical and perhaps deeper reasons. As I wrote in a note, I also don't expect things to go well the way some hope - we may see the end of the US as we know it. But there may be other timelines available too at this point, so not all hope is in vain. Agreed that looking for a savior is not the way to go. We need a good, multi-faceted read on reality.
(To add something here: it is conceivable as well that your theory is correct and that they know something we don't about how things will go, and that they therefore didn't make the effort and took the risk for another huge-fraud. Then again, even then unexpected things can always happen, so the future is still open.)
Terrific discourse agin the curmudgeons who stand aloof from this moment of spiritual breakthrough, doom-casting the next spell of angst against a people experiencing the euphoria of victory!
Sure : it's the battle, not the war, that is won. The hard work begins now ; even more so for us in the increasingly benighted lands of the UK and EU.
Yes: the war goes on — the spiritual war against evil, not the Ukraine proxy war : that ends soon — we must again take up the shield of faith, the sword of truth and belt of faithfulness to God's will — and keep on prevailing.
But, take a moment to enjoy the moment. Take the win. “Monday morning” we go again!
A very solid argument. Unfortunately, the true schizognostics (great term) cannot be reached through evidence and argument because schizognosticism is a pathological condition, requiring something like a 12-step program to remedy. I say this as a confession, as someone who has flirted quite a bit with this worldview.
Labelling disagreement as pathological can be quite dangerous, and the Regime would certainly like to apply that label to everyone who holds dissident views. But in the case of schizognosticism, it seems to actually be a symptom of underlying factors like grandiosity compensating for low self-esteem. Like with addiction.
An easy way to avoid dealing with one's own impotence in the world is to develop a worldview that, merely by adoption, places one in an elite class. The schizognostic "knows" the ultimate, esoteric truth about human civilization, one that only a select few can grasp. Everyone else is a useful idiot or is "in on it." The grandiosity lurking behind such a view is manifest. The same applies, in spades, to the woke virtue signaler.
In addition to rendering oneself an intellectual hero in one's own mind, this worldview also makes one morally superior to the Man in the Arena. Through this lens, the Man in the Arena does not acquire power and influence through skill, merit, character, ambition, and fortitude, but rather through repeatedly making Faustian bargains with the Globalists, the Jews, the Military Industrial Complex, the Adversary himself. In this view, the Man in the Arena earned his position precisely because of his moral and spiritual inferiority, while the irrelevant schizognostic in the arena's nosebleed seats is able to sneer down at the gladiators from what he believes to be the morally superior position.
Without lifting a finger, without participating in the world, without exposing one's views and abilities to the acid test of true political combat, without even exercising that minimal amount of power he has over the Great Dramas through voting or donating or otherwise supporting some influential group or leader, the schizognostic convinces himself he is an omniscient saint. The blackpill is, in this sense, a classic delusion of grandeur and the ultimate cope.
There is of course truth to the schizognostic view. To compete in the arena, one exposes oneself to a veritable flood of corrupting influences. Many give in completely to these influences and become their loyal servants. Faustian bargains are made on a daily basis at the highest echelons of power and influence.
But, as Solzhenitsyn told us, "the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." This applies to the powerful as well as the weak. The battle between good and evil is playing out within each of our souls, and within the collective unconscious. It is our duty to discern good from evil in ourselves and in the world, and to lend our support to the better angels in both realms.
I don't know about Trump himself, but much of the movement behind him, and people like Vance, RFK Jr., Gabbard, and others, strike me as people who are genuinely trying to discern good from evil and act on the side of good. Something is happening. The most vile monsters clearly don't like it. It seems too grandiose and self-satisfying to just write them all off as "in on it" and refuse to use one's limited capacities to support these Men in the Arena. Unfortunately, for the schizognostic, this view is too comforting to abandon, absent some deep soul searching.
"schizognositcs" is one of the more creative terms to marginalize anti Trunp truthers, but it Trump last term validated us and the next 4 years will validate us again.
Calling us names will not change the fact that Zion Don openly betrayed his country and brags that he will do it again.
"I'M GONNA GET RID OF JEW HATERS"
Maga are the ones that are impotent, and no amount of armchair psychology will change that.
From Iron John by Robert Bly, “There’s a general assumption now that every man in a position of power is or will soon be corrupt and oppressive. Yet the Greeks understood and praised a positive male energy that has accepted authority.”
I think most Trump-paranoid folks are suffering from a form of PTSD where they project very real oppression memories onto everything they see. “There’s no way out, it’s all shadows and mirrors, give up hope” is the voice of someone recoiling from life.
Excellent essay! It's the first one of yours that I've read and you touch on many of the things I have been thinking through myself, and speaking with others about (not writing here on SS, though). I'll read more, for sure.
There seem to be a great number of two-sides-of-a-coin camps that are often talking at odds with each other. There are, for example, as you put it, the "schizo-Gnostics" on one side, and the peace+love+bunnies+Jesus on the other side (as I put it). Another important bicameral camp might be characterized as, "It's always the Jews!" vis a vis, "It's Never the Jews" on opposite ends. Nearly as polarizing, but perhaps not as widespread are the following: It's the Jesuits; It's the Freemasons; It's the Reptilians; It's the Illuminati; It's the Communists; It's the British (Empire); It's the Black Nobility, etc., etc.. (And, yes, it could actually be It's All of Them! The rabbit-holes do seem to intersect quite a bit.)
My point in bringing all of this up is to reinforce your point that there's always a question of nuance. In the brief list, above (it could have been much longer) it seems obvious that both sides -- the yays and the nays -- could not possibly be right at the same time. However, one must always consider that one side may, in fact, be right or more right. For example, if it's impossible that "it's never the Jews" (or whichever group you pick to defend/blame) that means it is possible to be right at least some of the time.
Such a realization immediately puts us into the realm of nuance and skepticism about pretty much anything; whatever it is we are seeing or hearing regarding any of the many blameworthy groups or causes, and definitely including the "Trump is one of Them; Trump is Not one of Them" bifurcation. Both of these cannot be true. That said, all of the foregoing is still worthy of our scrutiny, research, and continued vigilance, yes, but some should be looked at more seriously than others at any given time. So for now, I'm sticking with "Trump is Not one of Them".
Seems like it would be a lot of work to arrange Trump's election in 2016, fake opposition to him for 4 years/ arrange the election of not Trump in 2020, and then arrange Trump's win again in 2024.
Most people are stupid so this seems like a lot of headfakery for a group of starchamber elite who are seemingly powerful enough to install Obama as King America Bonanza Supreme if they desired
It's possible that this has all been orchestrated by time traveler Baron Trump so that he can become the god-emperor of the new galactic empire made possible by Elon Musk's spaceships, but not very probable.
Much of what I read on this site is overthinking to an absurd degree. It’s an intellectual masturbatory circle jerk par excellence. It’s not that complicated. People with common sense decided: “Fuck this, we need a change. Trump ain’t perfect, but he’s better than these loonies, let’s do it.”
pendulum swings, the true nature of people emerges—friends become foes, and enemies into allies. Rigid thinking benefits no one, especially those in search of truth or aspiring toward greater things, whether for themselves or for their country. To hold a belief, to move forward by testing it against reality, is to embrace the possibility of being proven wrong. It’s a journey that requires the flexibility to dance in the rain or sit quietly in the sun, open to whatever insights each moment might bring.
To add some concrete meat to your point contra the Doomers -
Election law and the stubby pencil work of elections is a *very* niche practice area. When I read the Doomers, I'm inevitably struck by how little of the concrete goings-on they talk about or understand. It's glaringly obvious. While I don't practice in that area per se, but I have a partner and friends who do (and are currently suffering the slings and arrows of Marc Elias' 65 Project scumbags out of 2020, I should add).
1. Cheating most assuredly happened this time, just like it did in 2020, but it's important to understand that rigging a Presidential election isn't like fixing a horse race or a boxing match. The Presidential election, while a national event, isn't a single contest - it's FIFTY different contests segregated by state that are then aggregated for the total. That makes it a VERY different proposition to try to "fix" that Doomers *never* address.
2. There are states that are reliably red, and reliably blue, but as Trump just showed, that's not nearly as monolithic as Doomers and average Joes assume. We are a mobile country and millions of people move and change the demographics of states regularly. See, e.g. what happened to Florida as a result of Coronadoom lockdown stupidity. NYC sent a shitton of its conservatives south and now FL is dominantly red.
3. Related to 2 is the fact that elections are very, very closely watched. Voter roll litigation goes on constantly by various Team activist 501c3s, not just in elections years. It has a significant impact on the ability of anyone to rig a race because Team Red and Team Blue have organizations in place and are looking over each other's shoulders every step of the way. Dirty, outdated voter rolls are a large part of how dems cheat. Their city machinery keeps the dead and those who have moved on the rolls until they are forced to clean up their rolls by litigation. (Look at Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch as a great example. That guy is a hero unknown by the masses because what he does is boring as shit, but hypercritical).
4. The public has no idea how important it was for Trump to defeat his "enemies within" - i.e. In his own Republican (RINO) party. Ronna (Romney) McDaniel (niece of Mitt) getting canned as head of the RNC was YUGE for Trump. 'Pubs were absolutely toothless, the Washington Generals to the Dems harlem Globetrotters. Putting Lara Trump in there, along with other Trump loyalists, is like the Washington Generals starting to actually play defense and use the pick-and-roll on the other end.
I could go on and on (I am a lawyer, after all), but hopefully you get the point. The Gnostic demiurge Doomsayer crew always speaks at a level of abstraction so far removed from Reality that it's not a useful hypothesis at all because it ignores so much individual and collective action that happened to help Trump win. Trump's wins (well, the two that counted) were not "accidents."
We are no longer under Coronadoom Mail-in Ballot Jamboree rules like we were in 2020 and that has made all the difference. Now he has a chance to potentially take that further and we may very well be witnessing the electoral demise of Dems.
I messed up yesterday by accidentally replying to one of these Gnostic Doomers on the Twitter/X/Elon App.
When I mentioned that I couldn't believe the people on the Left (who or whatever they might be) were competent enough to pull off a century-long James Bond plot, I was reminded that "they" started two world wars so anything was possible.
I have some sympathy for this crowd, but their total paranoia detaches them from any sense of reality. In their minds the battle is already lost and they'll find any evidence to make it true.
Fantastic post! This is yet another time when I feel like I'm intuiting something about a shift in the zeitgeist, but my vision is hazy and I'm having trouble connecting abstract patterns with concrete events, and then I read one of your posts and find that you've perfectly articulated what I dimly sensed and poorly understood. Reading you is like looking at shadowy shapes on a dark night and suddenly someone shines a spotlight on them and I can see clearly what they are. I hope you write a book soon!
Spot on. I feel a little less lonely in this very much not black and white world.
Thanks so much. This is why I'm doing this, which is easy to forget sometimes in the middle of all the mayhem.
Nice post, Luc. Although I (at the last second) voted for Trump, I don't necessarily think the issue is one of optimism or pessimism as laid out here but in (1) framing proper expectations so that we can perceive reality better (based on recursive predictions as a grounding mechanism; if predictions are wrong, one's worldview should update accordingly) and (2) holding "our side" accountable based on principles and avoiding the horrors of Q-level "trust the plan" sophistry and blind hero worship which are already popping up like herpes. The way I see it, the issues that allowed 2020 voting fraud have not been corrected: not the national permanent vote-by-mail fraud (headed by a Democrat "tsar" installed by Marc Elias), not the extensive ballot harvesting, not the Dominion electronic voting machine fraud, no one punished for ballot stuffing in key swing state cities, etc. Therefore, one can only conclude that our upper elites allowed this result to happen, for whatever reason(s) remains up for debate...
I hope that Trump is more successful this time around; that would be great if he is. There are certain structural issues that I think will prevent him from succeeding, though - the extreme deficit and national debt which prevents rearing in very high (20%+) inflation, the unprecedented degree of illegal immigration (where they and their children vote Democrat), and this fraudulent voting structure, basically. I'll go into it in my post tomorrow...
Oh they rigged alright, but as I said, I believe the extreme level of rigging required was probably impossible both for practical, strategical and perhaps deeper reasons. As I wrote in a note, I also don't expect things to go well the way some hope - we may see the end of the US as we know it. But there may be other timelines available too at this point, so not all hope is in vain. Agreed that looking for a savior is not the way to go. We need a good, multi-faceted read on reality.
(To add something here: it is conceivable as well that your theory is correct and that they know something we don't about how things will go, and that they therefore didn't make the effort and took the risk for another huge-fraud. Then again, even then unexpected things can always happen, so the future is still open.)
Terrific discourse agin the curmudgeons who stand aloof from this moment of spiritual breakthrough, doom-casting the next spell of angst against a people experiencing the euphoria of victory!
Sure : it's the battle, not the war, that is won. The hard work begins now ; even more so for us in the increasingly benighted lands of the UK and EU.
Yes: the war goes on — the spiritual war against evil, not the Ukraine proxy war : that ends soon — we must again take up the shield of faith, the sword of truth and belt of faithfulness to God's will — and keep on prevailing.
But, take a moment to enjoy the moment. Take the win. “Monday morning” we go again!
A very solid argument. Unfortunately, the true schizognostics (great term) cannot be reached through evidence and argument because schizognosticism is a pathological condition, requiring something like a 12-step program to remedy. I say this as a confession, as someone who has flirted quite a bit with this worldview.
Labelling disagreement as pathological can be quite dangerous, and the Regime would certainly like to apply that label to everyone who holds dissident views. But in the case of schizognosticism, it seems to actually be a symptom of underlying factors like grandiosity compensating for low self-esteem. Like with addiction.
An easy way to avoid dealing with one's own impotence in the world is to develop a worldview that, merely by adoption, places one in an elite class. The schizognostic "knows" the ultimate, esoteric truth about human civilization, one that only a select few can grasp. Everyone else is a useful idiot or is "in on it." The grandiosity lurking behind such a view is manifest. The same applies, in spades, to the woke virtue signaler.
In addition to rendering oneself an intellectual hero in one's own mind, this worldview also makes one morally superior to the Man in the Arena. Through this lens, the Man in the Arena does not acquire power and influence through skill, merit, character, ambition, and fortitude, but rather through repeatedly making Faustian bargains with the Globalists, the Jews, the Military Industrial Complex, the Adversary himself. In this view, the Man in the Arena earned his position precisely because of his moral and spiritual inferiority, while the irrelevant schizognostic in the arena's nosebleed seats is able to sneer down at the gladiators from what he believes to be the morally superior position.
Without lifting a finger, without participating in the world, without exposing one's views and abilities to the acid test of true political combat, without even exercising that minimal amount of power he has over the Great Dramas through voting or donating or otherwise supporting some influential group or leader, the schizognostic convinces himself he is an omniscient saint. The blackpill is, in this sense, a classic delusion of grandeur and the ultimate cope.
There is of course truth to the schizognostic view. To compete in the arena, one exposes oneself to a veritable flood of corrupting influences. Many give in completely to these influences and become their loyal servants. Faustian bargains are made on a daily basis at the highest echelons of power and influence.
But, as Solzhenitsyn told us, "the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." This applies to the powerful as well as the weak. The battle between good and evil is playing out within each of our souls, and within the collective unconscious. It is our duty to discern good from evil in ourselves and in the world, and to lend our support to the better angels in both realms.
I don't know about Trump himself, but much of the movement behind him, and people like Vance, RFK Jr., Gabbard, and others, strike me as people who are genuinely trying to discern good from evil and act on the side of good. Something is happening. The most vile monsters clearly don't like it. It seems too grandiose and self-satisfying to just write them all off as "in on it" and refuse to use one's limited capacities to support these Men in the Arena. Unfortunately, for the schizognostic, this view is too comforting to abandon, absent some deep soul searching.
"schizognositcs" is one of the more creative terms to marginalize anti Trunp truthers, but it Trump last term validated us and the next 4 years will validate us again.
Calling us names will not change the fact that Zion Don openly betrayed his country and brags that he will do it again.
"I'M GONNA GET RID OF JEW HATERS"
Maga are the ones that are impotent, and no amount of armchair psychology will change that.
“Schizognostics” is hilarious.
From Iron John by Robert Bly, “There’s a general assumption now that every man in a position of power is or will soon be corrupt and oppressive. Yet the Greeks understood and praised a positive male energy that has accepted authority.”
I think most Trump-paranoid folks are suffering from a form of PTSD where they project very real oppression memories onto everything they see. “There’s no way out, it’s all shadows and mirrors, give up hope” is the voice of someone recoiling from life.
Super piece Luc, my personal favourite from your stack. Thanks.
Thank you, that's very kind.
Excellent essay! It's the first one of yours that I've read and you touch on many of the things I have been thinking through myself, and speaking with others about (not writing here on SS, though). I'll read more, for sure.
There seem to be a great number of two-sides-of-a-coin camps that are often talking at odds with each other. There are, for example, as you put it, the "schizo-Gnostics" on one side, and the peace+love+bunnies+Jesus on the other side (as I put it). Another important bicameral camp might be characterized as, "It's always the Jews!" vis a vis, "It's Never the Jews" on opposite ends. Nearly as polarizing, but perhaps not as widespread are the following: It's the Jesuits; It's the Freemasons; It's the Reptilians; It's the Illuminati; It's the Communists; It's the British (Empire); It's the Black Nobility, etc., etc.. (And, yes, it could actually be It's All of Them! The rabbit-holes do seem to intersect quite a bit.)
My point in bringing all of this up is to reinforce your point that there's always a question of nuance. In the brief list, above (it could have been much longer) it seems obvious that both sides -- the yays and the nays -- could not possibly be right at the same time. However, one must always consider that one side may, in fact, be right or more right. For example, if it's impossible that "it's never the Jews" (or whichever group you pick to defend/blame) that means it is possible to be right at least some of the time.
Such a realization immediately puts us into the realm of nuance and skepticism about pretty much anything; whatever it is we are seeing or hearing regarding any of the many blameworthy groups or causes, and definitely including the "Trump is one of Them; Trump is Not one of Them" bifurcation. Both of these cannot be true. That said, all of the foregoing is still worthy of our scrutiny, research, and continued vigilance, yes, but some should be looked at more seriously than others at any given time. So for now, I'm sticking with "Trump is Not one of Them".
Seems like it would be a lot of work to arrange Trump's election in 2016, fake opposition to him for 4 years/ arrange the election of not Trump in 2020, and then arrange Trump's win again in 2024.
Most people are stupid so this seems like a lot of headfakery for a group of starchamber elite who are seemingly powerful enough to install Obama as King America Bonanza Supreme if they desired
It's possible that this has all been orchestrated by time traveler Baron Trump so that he can become the god-emperor of the new galactic empire made possible by Elon Musk's spaceships, but not very probable.
great read! I will go back through a couple of times, taking notes - there is a lot of meat on this bone……thanks
Thank you.
Much of what I read on this site is overthinking to an absurd degree. It’s an intellectual masturbatory circle jerk par excellence. It’s not that complicated. People with common sense decided: “Fuck this, we need a change. Trump ain’t perfect, but he’s better than these loonies, let’s do it.”
Nice post Luc. Whenever the
pendulum swings, the true nature of people emerges—friends become foes, and enemies into allies. Rigid thinking benefits no one, especially those in search of truth or aspiring toward greater things, whether for themselves or for their country. To hold a belief, to move forward by testing it against reality, is to embrace the possibility of being proven wrong. It’s a journey that requires the flexibility to dance in the rain or sit quietly in the sun, open to whatever insights each moment might bring.
Spot on.
To add some concrete meat to your point contra the Doomers -
Election law and the stubby pencil work of elections is a *very* niche practice area. When I read the Doomers, I'm inevitably struck by how little of the concrete goings-on they talk about or understand. It's glaringly obvious. While I don't practice in that area per se, but I have a partner and friends who do (and are currently suffering the slings and arrows of Marc Elias' 65 Project scumbags out of 2020, I should add).
1. Cheating most assuredly happened this time, just like it did in 2020, but it's important to understand that rigging a Presidential election isn't like fixing a horse race or a boxing match. The Presidential election, while a national event, isn't a single contest - it's FIFTY different contests segregated by state that are then aggregated for the total. That makes it a VERY different proposition to try to "fix" that Doomers *never* address.
2. There are states that are reliably red, and reliably blue, but as Trump just showed, that's not nearly as monolithic as Doomers and average Joes assume. We are a mobile country and millions of people move and change the demographics of states regularly. See, e.g. what happened to Florida as a result of Coronadoom lockdown stupidity. NYC sent a shitton of its conservatives south and now FL is dominantly red.
3. Related to 2 is the fact that elections are very, very closely watched. Voter roll litigation goes on constantly by various Team activist 501c3s, not just in elections years. It has a significant impact on the ability of anyone to rig a race because Team Red and Team Blue have organizations in place and are looking over each other's shoulders every step of the way. Dirty, outdated voter rolls are a large part of how dems cheat. Their city machinery keeps the dead and those who have moved on the rolls until they are forced to clean up their rolls by litigation. (Look at Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch as a great example. That guy is a hero unknown by the masses because what he does is boring as shit, but hypercritical).
4. The public has no idea how important it was for Trump to defeat his "enemies within" - i.e. In his own Republican (RINO) party. Ronna (Romney) McDaniel (niece of Mitt) getting canned as head of the RNC was YUGE for Trump. 'Pubs were absolutely toothless, the Washington Generals to the Dems harlem Globetrotters. Putting Lara Trump in there, along with other Trump loyalists, is like the Washington Generals starting to actually play defense and use the pick-and-roll on the other end.
I could go on and on (I am a lawyer, after all), but hopefully you get the point. The Gnostic demiurge Doomsayer crew always speaks at a level of abstraction so far removed from Reality that it's not a useful hypothesis at all because it ignores so much individual and collective action that happened to help Trump win. Trump's wins (well, the two that counted) were not "accidents."
We are no longer under Coronadoom Mail-in Ballot Jamboree rules like we were in 2020 and that has made all the difference. Now he has a chance to potentially take that further and we may very well be witnessing the electoral demise of Dems.
A beautiful sermon to all, regardless of any religious, political or philosophical leanings. Truly a blessing. Thanks.
I messed up yesterday by accidentally replying to one of these Gnostic Doomers on the Twitter/X/Elon App.
When I mentioned that I couldn't believe the people on the Left (who or whatever they might be) were competent enough to pull off a century-long James Bond plot, I was reminded that "they" started two world wars so anything was possible.
I have some sympathy for this crowd, but their total paranoia detaches them from any sense of reality. In their minds the battle is already lost and they'll find any evidence to make it true.
Fantastic post! This is yet another time when I feel like I'm intuiting something about a shift in the zeitgeist, but my vision is hazy and I'm having trouble connecting abstract patterns with concrete events, and then I read one of your posts and find that you've perfectly articulated what I dimly sensed and poorly understood. Reading you is like looking at shadowy shapes on a dark night and suddenly someone shines a spotlight on them and I can see clearly what they are. I hope you write a book soon!
and you need a buy me a coffee option - I read too many Substacks to be able to subscribe to any of them.
Yes, maybe I should include this. But you can always subscribe and then cancel immediately. In any case, thanks for the support.