When French President Francois Mitterrand described Margaret Thatcher as having “the eyes of Caligula and the mouth of Marilyn Monroe,” he encapsulated a dichotomy asserted by 1980s lefties that the British prime minister, although manifestly a woman, didn’t think like one.
Four decades later, just weeks before the 2020 elections, “plus ça change.” The Left clings to the bizarre and insulting notion that people don’t think for themselves but adopt the views of their caste.
Back in May, Joe Biden told an African American radio host, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” In addition to taking minority voters for granted, Democrats cannot shake the foundational arrogance that people in groups think alike.
Clarence Thomas, a black conservative, terrified Democrats because his very existence gave the lie to identity politics. If one black man could reject leftist claptrap, others could too, and then where would Democrats be? This is the explicit and refreshing message of Kim Klacik, a young black Republican making a long-shot bid for Congress in Baltimore.
The Left’s identity politics has been glaring, too, following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. The New York Daily News quoted mourners praising RBG because she “broke through that glass ceiling for us all.” You wouldn’t know it from such commentary, but the late justice was not the first but the second woman elevated to the Supreme Court. The first was Sandra Day O’Connor, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and confirmed in 1981. As she was conservative, however, she doesn’t count.
Barrett is another nominee who, in her person, gives the lie to the Left. She is a brilliant constitutional lawyer and accomplished appeals court judge, so they cannot get her on competence. She also appears to have lived an admirable and unimpeachable private life while reaching the pinnacle of her profession. So Democrats attack her on speculative and lamentably flimsy policy grounds that she’ll support a pending challenge to Obamacare.
What they really can’t abide is that Barrett, being an orthodox Catholic, doesn’t think about abortion the way they say women should. They’re all for a woman’s right to choose, as long as she’s not choosing how to think. At one point in the hearing, the nominee confronted Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, saying, “I hope that you aren’t suggesting that I don’t have a mind of my own.” But that’s exactly what the Left says of voters — don’t think for yourselves, just follow us like sheep.
President Trump hopes Barrett’s confirmation will help him win reelection, but he’s trailing Biden at the moment. In our cover story, Jim Antle takes stock of the campaign, asking, “Are the wheels coming off?”
Deputy Editor J. Grant Addison calls out the “guild bullying” responsible for the academic groupthink now pervading society. In Life & Arts, Will Lloyd guides us through the ghosts of Martin Amis’s life, and Graham Hillard bids farewell to Fargo.
