In Defense of Identitarianism

Last time I wrote about how tribalism and feudalism (or “identity politics”) have reasserted themselves, and reshaped American politics. That’s why Gavin Newsom can lie through his tiny, blinding teeth while reporters nod and smile. It’s also why Donald Trump was able to eat the GOP. As indeed he has, like a boa constrictor gulping a boar. You can watch the bump move slowly along his digestive tract.

You might deplore this development. It’s a definite falling off from the genuinely principled politics of say, Ronald Reagan — or the even more balanced and profound Patrick Buchanan. But out and proud tribalism and feudalism are a darned sight better than the phony, grifting platitudes that the likes of George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Liz Cheney employed to pick our pockets, open our borders, put us all under Deep State surveillance, and lie us into stupid wars.

[I understand the frustration, but identitarianism doesn’t address those failures. Tribalism is the result of identitarianism and it results in political stalemates. Nothing gets done because no one’s tribe is large enough to settle policy disputes. When the highest priority is identity, there is no compromise possible on policy. Zmirak concedes that Trump will win based on his version of identity politics, but that’s the problem — the Trump tribe can’t win general elections. They have lost consistently since 2016, and the only lesson possible from that is that the GOP has to *expand* its appeal rather than keep concentrating on its MAGA wing. Unfortunately, it will likely take another lost election cycle to learn that lesson. And to the extent that identity becomes considered determinative, especially in terms of ethnic determinism, it *is* idolatry of the material over the soul. — Ed]