No one who writes about the world in real time can get everything right. (I, for one, published an e-book on the Iraq War called “I Was Wrong.”) And yet that’s what journalism is: the truth merely for le jour. It’s not the highest but far from the lowliest profession, and it seems to me that surveying the past year, the Dish deserves some plaudits. A year ago this week, for example, I made five core claims: “Donald Trump is likely to be the next president of the United States; Ukraine will never win back its lost territory; the two-state solution in Israel/Palestine is dead; DEI is incompatible with a free society; and Joe Biden is too old to be re-elected.” Not so shabby a year later. Perhaps the most glaringly obvious was Biden’s age problem. In September 2023, I urged him to leave the stage. A year ago I wrote, “The idea that this 81-year-old man could command the country in four years’ time is as delusional as the blithe self-confidence of his team.” That’s long before Ezra Klein cleared his throat. Yesterday the WSJ ran a follow-up to its groundbreaking revelation of Biden’s decrepitude earlier this year. (It tells you something about the state of legacy media that the reporters were harangued for it at the time.) This detail leapt out at me:
And that was in the first months of his term! The Dish thrice called for his withdrawal so that someone other than Kamala Harris could take the helm. But nah. Biden’s vanity and his wife’s cunning, arrogance, and mendacity won the day. A year ago I also gave the Democrats some campaign advice: “The way to beat Trump is to compete on policy grounds — controlling mass migration, intensifying law enforcement, touting legislative wins like the CHIPS Act — rather than to disqualify him on grounds that the American public has largely rejected.” So, of course, Harris and her moronic advisers tried to disqualify Trump on grounds that the American public had largely rejected. Then there’s immigration, an issue whose salience I’ve been banging on about for several years now. Many readers objected. “Bottom line: America’s immigration problem isn’t that we have too many people trying to get here; it’s that we have too few,” one wrote in October 2021. Another wrote six months earlier, “Why only rant about Latinos from failed states seeking a legal entry? It makes you appear racist.” The elite view — what intimidated many, including me, from speaking up — was that anyone opposing mass immigration is a bigot. Many Dishheads agreed. But, whatever your view, I was right about the issue’s overarching importance, wasn’t I? Biden’s choice — and it was a choice — to expedite the entrance of millions of illegal migrants, and to insist that the border was secure the whole time, made his re-election impossible. It was made impossible because of the sheer scale of the new migration. And again, the Dish constantly cited the data showing the biggest-ever jump in immigration over four years, and the highest foreign-born population in America ever. I insisted that any debate without this context was misleading. And yet only once the election was over did the NYT bring itself to say the same thing. And the issue you’ve been most diligent in telling me to shut up about — the transing of children with few safeguards — also turned out to be a big deal. Trump’s ads on Harris being for “they/them” became the most effective he deployed in moving voters against Harris. This year also saw the Cass Review, which confirmed all my worries about the politicization of medicine and the toll of transqueer ideology on gay and lesbian kids. Harris herself? I stick with my first take: “Harris is one of the weakest and wokest Democratic candidates there is.” I didn’t fall for the “joy” fad and I explained how Trump was obviously winning the campaign war: “The more you are exposed to Harris’ vacuousness, the more the whole fakery of it all sinks in, and the less conceivable she becomes as a president.” It does seem inconceivable now, doesn’t it? And wokeness? “How many times can you use the word ‘woke’? Week after week. Column after column. It’s the same pabulum every issue,” wrote one reader. In fact, nothing stirred opposition more than my insistence that the top-down imposition of the concepts of critical theory on race and sex was not just a campus sideshow but the new establishment. But what I wrote almost seven years ago is essentially the consensus now. BLM was built on a lie and became a racket; Ibram X Kendi’s anti-racism center was revealed as yet another scam; and the rancid racism of the Ivy League — especially its toleration of anti-semitism — was exposed in the Congress. Today, the liberal establishment wants to convince you that woke is dead. In the words of Democratic Party hack, Jon Chait: “The [woke] era lasted almost exactly 10 years. The final cause of death was the reelection of Donald Trump.” Really? Here’s a a smattering of pieces by Chait’s Atlantic colleagues since Trump’s reelection: “Misogyny Comes Roaring Back,” “Since the Election, I Fear Men,” “What Can Women Do Now?”, “What the Men of the Internet Are Trying to Prove,” and “The Three Pillars of the Bro-Economy.” Never mind that female voters moved toward Trump in 2024, compared to both 2020 and 2016. The Atlantic also enforces DEI ruthlessly in its hiring processes. This year, it boasted that “roughly 46 percent of 35 new hires identified as people of color and 71 percent identified as women”? Is Chait predicting that The Atlantic will stop their systemic race and sex discrimination now that Trump is elected? Please. DEI is their religion. Or take the trans issue. Have the Democrats moved from their extremist position — a complete end to biological sex in law and society, an end to single-sex competitive sports, and the transing of children with almost no safeguards at all? The one congressman who suggested there might even be a debate was disowned by his own staffers. Kamala insists her values have not changed. The US medical establishment and the Biden administration are still ignoring the Cass Review. Moderate liberal Jesse Singal was inundated with death threats after joining Bluesky, the new redoubt of the online woke. And CRT? Kendi is still operating his scam; the plagiarism charge against Robin DiAngelo was dismissed; Nikole Hannah-Jones is still at the NYT; Ta-Nehisi Coates is still writing bestsellers and treated like the Dalai fucking Lama; all the hosts at MSNBC still have their lucrative perches; and BLM is still referred to as an inspiration rather than a massive, counter-productive embarrassment. Where does this leave us in this strange political and cultural interregnum? Nowhere that certain. I have severe doubts as to Trump’s basic competence. The insanity of the negotiations on the budget are a preview of the chaos to come, with oligarchs calling the shots, and Republicans with a teeny-tiny majority in the House. I don’t know if Trump has a formula to end the war in Ukraine any more than he has “concepts of a plan” for healthcare. I worry that a crude purge of wokeness could backfire. I suspect the migrant roundup will be needlessly cruel and provoke backlash. It’s possible we are on the verge of real and lasting realignment to the right, as I discussed earlier this year. It’s also possible that Trump will be as feckless this time as last. All of which means next year is anyone’s guess. The core reason for optimism, it seems to me, is that we have a new administration open to new ideas and backed by a solid, if not spectacular, electoral victory. That has cleared the air a little, allowing for a little clarity. The core reason for pessimism is that Trump is returning, with all the madness that brings with it. Together, we’ll have to figure out in real time what it means, and keep reassessing where we are. Join me. It’s gonna be an epic 2025. We may even get a few things right. (Note to readers: This is an excerpt of The Weekly Dish. If you’re already a paid subscriber, click here to read the full version. This week’s issue also includes: an informative chat with Aaron Zelin on the situation in Syria; reader dissents over Trump’s dumb luck; nine notable quotes from the week in news; 18 pieces on Substack we recommend on a variety of topics; a Mental Health Break of a musicians saying “stop”; a snowbound window in California; and, of course, the results of the View From Your Window contest — with a new challenge. Subscribe for the full Dish experience!) From a new subscriber:
From a loyal subscriber:
Heads Up
Chris and I are taking our annual Christmas break, but the pods will keep coming! Next week we’ll air our episode with Brianna Wu; and the following week, Mary Matalin. The full Dish will return on January 10. If you still need a last-minute Christmas gift for a friend or family member, consider a Dish subscription. Choose between an annual gift for $50 or stocking-stuffers of $5 monthlies (and don’t worry, the gift subs don’t auto-renew). Substack lets you craft a custom message, and you can schedule the gift to arrive at any time, e.g. Christmas morning. If you’re already logged in, your credit card info will be loaded automatically, so purchasing a gift is super quick and easy. Merry merry! New On The Dishcast: Aaron Zelin
What the hell just happened in Syria? We asked one of the sharpest scholars on the subject to give us a primer. Aaron Zelin is a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he also directs the “Islamic State Worldwide Activity Map” project. He’s also a visiting research scholar in the politics department at Brandeis and the founder of the website Jihadology. His first book is titled Your Sons Are At Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad, and his forthcoming book covers the history of Syrian jihadism. We talk about the entire history of Syria, as it faces what could be a turning point. Listen here. There you can find two clips of our convo — on the evil of the Assad dynasty, and the sudden fall of Bashar al-Assad. That link also takes you to commentary on our recent episodes with Christine Rosen, David Greenberg, and Anderson Cooper. Readers also discuss the reaction to the CEO killer, and another tells her story of hormone therapy. Plus, a Truman tribute. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Brianna Wu on trans lives, Mary Matalin on our sick culture, Adam Kirsch on his book On Settler Colonialism, John Gray on the state of liberal democracy, Jon Rauch on his new book on “Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy,” Nick Denton on the evolution of new media, and Ross Douthat on how everyone should be religious. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com. Dissents Of The WeekAfter my column last week on Trump’s dumb luck, a reader writes:
Fair enough. But “hysterical” seems a bit much to me. Yes, Biden deserves credit for helping keep Ukraine in the game. And if a less-than-awful settlement follows, he deserves part of the credit for that. My reply to three more dissents are here, for paid subscribers. Follow more Dish discussion on the Notes site here (or the “Notes” tab in the Substack app). As always, please keep the dissents coming: dish@andrewsullivan.com. In The ‘StacksThis is a feature in the paid version of the Dish spotlighting about 20 of our favorite pieces from other Substackers every week. This week’s selection covers subjects such as Elon’s power-trip, the wake of Assad, and wins against factory farming. Below are a few examples, followed by a brand new substack:
Here’s a list of the substacks we recommend in general — call it a blogroll. If you have any suggestions for “In the ‘Stacks,” especially ones from emerging writers, please let us know: dish@andrewsullivan.com. The View From Your Window Contest
Where do you think it’s located? Email your guess to contest@andrewsullivan.com. Please put the location — city and/or state first, then country — in the subject line. Proximity counts if no one gets the exact spot. Bonus points for fun facts and stories. The deadline for entries is Wednesday night — January 8 — at midnight (PST). The winner gets the choice of a VFYW book or two annual Dish subscriptions. If you are not a subscriber, please indicate that status in your entry and we will give you a free month subscription if we select your entry for the contest results (example here if you’re new to the VFYW). Contest archive is here. Happy sleuthing! The results for this week’s window are coming in a separate email to paid subscribers later today. Our resident film critic includes a frame of a Jackie Chan movie showing the hotel from which the window photo was taken:
See you on January 10. Happy Christmas and New Year! Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy The Weekly Dish, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe.
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I Was Right
December 20, 2024
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