Eyes Wide Shut
The opportunity to defeat the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
It was a cold February night, earlier this year. I was at home chilling in my room, deciding what I wanted to eat for dinner.
Heard my phone ring.
Looked at the Caller ID; it was a college friend. One of my close friends - he heavily follows politics, specifically in New York. At that point, for the past 10 months, he and I spoke regularly about the lockdowns and the pandemic. It was through his influence that I even considered writing, let alone actually doing it.
“If the glove does not fit, you must acquit” - first thing he said. He’s a conservative, myself, I’m anti establishment. So we have quite a few things in common, but some core differences. Nonetheless, this was the day that Trump was impeached, but not removed in Feb. 2021 (for the second time, might I add).
We started talking about hailed, famed star of the Covid Pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. See, for those of us who were following, February 2021 is jjjjjuuuusssttt when things started to go South for the Luv Gov.
Me: “So, it sounds like, to me…. AG Letitia James is investigating both the sexual assault claims and the nursing home data cover up. This is massive. Only the beginning. Watch”
Friend: “It’s New York. There are two kinds of politicians - the indicted and the un-indicted. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s been investigated. Nothing will happen. I’ve seen this play out too many times, man.”
Me: “Let’s give it some time. I bet Letitia James will at the very least primary Cuomo in ‘22, and we’ll start to see some breaks in the dam.”
Friend: “Possible. But like I said. He’s not stepping down.”
In the coming weeks, we learned how corrupt and immoral Cuomo’s handling of the nursing homes and the data were handled. This would go on to make international headlines, firing up skeptics or conservatives and making liberals dig their heels in. Also, more and more women started to speak about about Cuomo’s sexual harassment and gross misconduct during his tenure as Governor. At one point, you could field a football team with how many women were making the same claim: the Governor sexually harassed them in their place of work.
My friend’s opinion didn’t change. I thought Cuomo would get away with it too, but lose the '22 Primary. Fortunately, we are both wrong.
Andrew Cuomo resigned today. Honestly, I don’t have that much to say about it. While it is good that somebody of his (lack there-of) character is no longer in office, part of me is concerned about a potential power vacuum in New York. See, while Cuomo was undoubtedly the face of lockdowns, masks, and other restrictions during the “Darkest Days” of the pandemic, I never got the sense he was an ideologue. I thought he was cut from the, for lack of a better word, “Frank Underwood” cloth of politicians; no real ideology, but knew how to play the game. One of them smooth operator types. And he was. But not smooth enough.
At the time I’m writing this, the MSM has either been silent on it, buried it, or, if you’re Chuck Todd, wildly proclaimed, almost rooting for, Cuomo to make a political comeback sometime in the future. I wish I could afford to be that out of touch with reality. I’m glad that for the most part, the media’s numbers are declining.
I know some might be expecting more from me regarding Cuomo. But from my point of view, he’s been a lame duck since May 2021. There are bigger fish to fry and more important battles to fight.
Like in California. That’s the most important one in the immediate. Gavin Newsom’s rising unpopularity has put the recall in striking distance. On September 14th, if over 50.1% of the voters VOTE YES ON THE RECALL, Newsom’s out. He’s gone, and his career is in shambles. Polls indicate that as many as 51% of the voters will vote in favor of recalling Gavin Newsom. Here is how he’s responding:
Cry me a river. You had the hardest lockdowns/mask mandates in the entire country, didn’t accomplish a damn thing, neutered small businesses in your state while kowtowing to Big Tech and Hollywood, then repeatedly broke your own rules. And you “don’t regret a damn thing.” Please be more out of touch, it only makes more people listen to me.
Nobody’s talking about “microchipping immigrants” or a “$0 minimum wage” or Q or Stop the Steal or January 6th or whatever NPC talking point he’s referring to. Parents are upset because their kids have not been in school, while his kids were in school all year. Business owners are upset because their businesses have been shuttered, while his wineries remained open during the pandemic. Kids who have recently become of age to vote are upset because they lost their senior year (some even more) of high school, and may lose some of their college career. This is because of policies Newsom supports and proudly championed for the greater part of 18 months. Lets not muddy the waters here.
And I’ll let you in on something here; I’ve been thinking about it for a little bit - Newsom was the Democrats’ long term play nationally. It just makes sense when you think about it:
Governor of the largest state (check)
Related to a high profile politician (Pelosi - check)
Good looking dude (check)
Says a lot of words to say nothing at all (check)
Pretends to give a shit about leftist issues i.e climate change (check)
Had Covid not happened, Newsom would’ve definitely been on the ballot; not 2024, but most likely 2028. I think he would’ve won, too. The country’s continuation of Californiacation, before Covid, was truly unlike any other era. Tech. Digital. Influencer Marketing. Nightlife. Acting. Music. You name it; California is on the forefront of all of those industries, and that’s where the culture is going. Not going, but speeding to. Some, like myself, would say it’s already there.
So you take all of those Ws, build a campaign around a guy like Newsom, and you can stroll to a national win.
Fortunately, we dodged all of it. If you’re like me, you know that has its place, but there are other issues that are more important. Newsom’s general elitism, entitlement, and being severely out of touch are what spoiled the party for him. He couldn’t get out of his own way, and I’m confident that voters will let him have it. You can brag about California being the “Innovation Capital of the World” or whatever, but if kids aren’t in school unmasked, normally as they should’ve been this entire time, none of the fluff shit matters. He’s given skeptics a golden opportunity, and unlike Cuomo, it is undoubtedly due to his lockdown political failures.
I want to make this clear: all politicians leave me skeptical. I believe power can easily corrupt even the noblest of men. I have never once even considered voting. I think it’s corny. I think it’s stupid. And quite frankly, I think it’s a psyop. For the better part of my life, the establishment Democrats and Republicans have been a two sided coin; fake bitching about culture issues or lower/raise taxes on everybody except their mega-donors. Meanwhile, the intelligence community actually runs the show around here, rendering whichever party won the election useless.
But that’s changing for me, quicker than I would’ve imagined, too. Of course, longtime Dogg readers know I’m not a liberal, and I’m not all that conservative. But I don’t think any cultural issues matter if:
Kids aren’t in school, normally
Business aren’t open, normally
Medical procedures aren’t happening, normally
Gatherings of any kind aren’t happening, normally
Domestic travel isn’t happening, normally
International travel in and outbound of our country isn’t happening, normally
All of these pillars are essential in a modern day Western Democracy. Here’s somebody who understands that:
While I may not be as socially conservative as Ron DeSantis, I more than respect his commitment to keeping his state functioning and open. I more than respect the commitment he is making to his citizens, to uphold their fucking rights and not let DC bureaucrats over-manage, mismanage, and micromanage Floridians. I more than respect his commitment to speaking with other experts, such as Dr. Jay Bhattacharya or Dr. Martin Kulldorf.
DeSantis has not kowtowed to the media, or to the White House, or to anybody, really. That’s good to see. Establishment Democrats do not understand why he’s growing in popularity outside of Florida, and I’m certainly not going to explain it to them.
Throughout the past few months, skepticism has only increased - exponentially, too! Think about where we were last year - now think about this year. It’s a gradual slide back into reality. While it was always going to be rocky, I have no doubt that the momentum is on our side; people are genuinely sick of mAsKs, or capacity limits, or school closures, or god forbid another lockdown. We’re sick of asking which brand of vaccine the random guy in the restaurant got. It’s not organic, it’s contrived, it’s forced, and everyday people aren’t drones like the average NPC. Nobody gives a shit anymore. Cuomo’s out of office. Newsom’s on his way out. The Biden Admin is sliding in approval ratings. All because they have their eyes wide shut. The opportunity to defeat the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.