The Biden presidency has been a morose one. Progressivism's march to Utopia is a parade away from a dark, troubled, penitential place. We are a nation, progressives say, of racism, homophobia, and misogyny. The shades of the White House are drawn. How can anyone fill bright and chipper when so many people are living in misery, drawn, poor, left aside by neo-colonial, racist white elites, governed by the law of unbridled capitalist extortion, and destined to founder, lost and misguided unless....
And here of course what passes for a positive mantra begins - only when the black man is finally installed in his rightful place on the human pyramid, when the hegemony of heterosexuality is replaced by gender diversity, when the air and skies are as pure as Elysium, when wealth is distributed equally can the curtains be opened wide and the shades lifted.
The country is rotten, the air is foul, whiteness is a curse, and capitalism a scourge. We live in a desperate, dark, and dangerous age.
Now that Donald Trump is back in the White House after his tumultuous victory which few people expected. Not only did he win, but he won big, and exit polls told the story why - voters were tired of being hammered and badgered; tired of hearing the harping and whining of a dour, shuffling old man who went around shutting off the lights.
'What happened?', the President said to his wife after his decisive loss. 'We're the good guys', but despite all the campaign talk about the Left's being the only hope for America, the savior of democracy, and the hope for all people, few people were paying attention. In fact, it was the cant, the interminable liturgy of sin and desperation, and the constant bowing and bending before the wailing wall that threw even the most convinced supporters over to the other side.
They were not disappointed. The new president's inauguration was worth the wait. It was an extravaganza all glitz and glamour. There were showgirls from Las Vegas, diamonds and emeralds galore, tinsel and bright lights, color, verve, and delight. It was Gatsby-esque. It had aura, it announced the disposal of the old, shabby, lace curtain and antimacassar Biden days. It was marvelous.
Within months the entire cadre of the White House had changed - everything from upholstery to paint, from decor to cuisine. The place was unmistakably his - it was the image of America that all but ornery old Bostonians, Upper West Side Jews, and Delaware shopkeepers wanted. Americans were Trump - all show, glitz, sequins, tinsel, and bright lights; big yachts, Mar-el-Lago, arm candy, and above all the details of America. No more electric cars, recycling, and political correctness.
The air-conditioning was turned up in the summer, no-sweater heat in the winter. Long dresses, sparkle, and tuxedos were de rigeur, Cadillacs and Lamborghinis, Dior, Lanvin, and Armani.
Within weeks the White House was demographically proportional - seventy-five percent white, overwhelmingly heterosexual, religious, and middle-class to the core. There was nothing racist or homophobic about the transformation. The new president simply reconfigured the White House to actually look like America - not some liberal fantasy of what it should be.
Portraits of Jefferson, Washington, and Hamilton were again on display in the corridors. Tableaux of Versailles, Buckingham Palace, the Crusades, and Notre Dame were in conference rooms, anterooms, and foyers. Clerical collars were commonplace and prayer breakfasts renewed. Trump, a master of image and meaning, let the White House speak for itself...and for America.
Dinner parties were reinstated and frequent. Being American was a celebration, and no expenses were spared to throw the most sumptuous affairs possible. Again with Gatsby-esque flapper era glamour and pzazz, White House organizers planned the most visibly rich and fanciful affairs.
The Left, gobsmacked and incredulous licked its wounds but kept on howling. The hated, reviled low bourgeoisie was now in residence in their White House. Their seriousness, rectitude, and Utopian purpose had been replaced by cheap women, garish displays of wealth, and tasteless decor.
The Trump victory wasn't so much a question of politics or policy but culture - in that and only in that were Bidenites on target. Donald Trump's political conservatism - tight borders, militant foreign policy, economic nationalism, historical recognition, and foundational values - was not the issue. It was the return of a middle-American, Fifties self-assurance, staidness, and personal conservatism.
While Trump supporters valued these core political beliefs, they were even happier that the old, dark, moroseness of the Biden administration was one; and instead of a doddering old man fed lines and political pablum by his handlers, they would get an outrageous tummler - a Wild West, individualistic, rough-and-ready virile man ready to take on all comers.
Hillary Clinton and the progressive Left couldn't believe they had been defeated by Trump in 2016. It was inconceivable, impossible, unheard of that such a hateful, despicable man could possibly sit in the Oval Office; and so for four years they howled foul and engineered a campaign to discredit and neuter him. Even with the election of Joe Biden, the Left was still mortally afraid of Trump and set out to get rid of him once and for all. However 'Democracy is in Danger', lawfare, charges of insurrection, autocracy, and moral corruption never caught on and Trump won handily in 2024. The Left had no clue that the election had more to do with culture and personality than Utopian ideals.
The Left actually thought it could win on the issues and always believed that their lifeless, errant President was a match for the cultural potency and personal charisma of his opponent. Wrong and wrong again. Biden was fooling no one; and his claques' hysteria about democracy dying, and the end of liberalism only added energy and passion to Trumpists.
So, the lights are on again at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, and a brand new American era is about to begin.
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