Leftism’s Post-2022 Strategy: Play It Nice, Encourage Apathy

After a widely-anticipated butt stomping on Election Day 2022, what options will Leftists have?

Those who linked arms to stop Bad Orange Man at all costs, stood by the Democratic Socialist takeover of the Democratic Party, and justified vandalism and violence in the streets as a “national reckoning” will very soon be faced with a sober reality:

• A Republican-led House and Senate — no longer the trifecta of power they’ve enjoyed.

• Two more years of a failing, unpopular presidential administration and its gaffes-of-the-day.

• A rising tide of Republican state legislative seats, flipped school boards, and a general “red wave” across a country broke, tired, and sick of radical Leftism.

Their backs to the wall, and few other options, they’ll more than likely adopt a tack familiar to those of us who lived through the ’80s and ’90s, which itself came after a much more turbulent period during which the Average Joe became disenchanted with divisive politics.

Simply put: Liberals are going to play nice. If history is any guide, they’ll slam down the American unity card and blame the Republicans for sowing the seeds of division and hatred in the human heart.

Almost overnight, the days of urging devotees to avoid Trump supporters at the Thanksgiving table will be over. That attitude will seem far and away as shaming neighbors without face masks or demanding the U.S. flag be banned in neighborhoods as not to offend.

But we don’t have to wait until late November to see if that pans out. It’s already happening right before our politics-weary eyes. Below are a few examples of this sneaky, new middle-ground strategy.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s allies are busy blaming “the far right” for Friday’s hammer attack on her husband Paul Pelosi, while calling for softer rhetoric and civility across the board.

• Former President Barack Obama called out a heckler at a rally yesterday — not to chide him as outside the norm of leftist politics, but to urge civil dialogue and decry an environment in which “everybody’s yelling.”

• No matter what happens, accept the 2022 election results, barked Joe Biden, while still blaming Donald Trump for “violence” following the 2020 election results. (In other words, don’t blame Russia this time?)

• Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke has toned down his rhetoric during his campaign tour to unseat Gov. Greg Abbott. About three weeks ago, he took a decidedly softer approach according to observers with whom we spoke — a marked shift from the “hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15s” stance from his doomed Senatorial run (and his subsequent flip-flop on gun rights).

The mainstream media is feeling the pressure as well and shifting their phraseology ever so slightly.

• After a look into the “key battleground state” of Arizona, NBC Nightly News’s Harry Smith‘s conclusion wasn’t the usual fait accompli of changing attitudes and demographics one day making it impossible for Republicans to cling on to narrow victories, but a scene of people sharing beers at a brewery. “It makes you wonder if we’re all that far apart.” Before that: A feature story on the newest edition of Emily Post‘s “Etiquette” and the relevance of kindness and civility even in today’s world.

• And we all know about The Atlantic opinion piece suggesting a period of COVID “pandemic amnesty.” If you haven’t heard the buzz yet, that hit a sour note. Even the ever-compromising National Review is saying “hell no.” Stronger voices on the right are calling for a take-no-prisoners approach once the tables are turned. A writer for The Federalist suggested “Letting people off the hook isn’t amnesty; amnesty requires an admission of guilt and a commitment to repairing the wrongs done,” calling for the Left to repent for “the science” so-called.

• Voices on the Left have been warning about a “collective traumatization” that would inevitably occur as Greta Thunberg-esque fits and cries for government action are met with mass resistance. One can only maintain that clinched fist for so long while worried about man-made climate change spook-stories and perceptions of social and economic inequality. One prolific blogger attributed a drop in sexual activity among young activists as indicative of a growing depression slowly enveloping hopeless progressive youth.

• TIME picked up on this earlier this year, blaming COVID-19: more Americans had time on their hands to follow the news and be upset about everything from gender pronouns to the war in the Ukraine, therefore making it difficult to “care about anything.”

The Hollywood elite is sure to follow soon, including producers, directors, actors, and crew. After all, how many more woke incarnations of beloved fictional characters can we as viewers stomach? Crowds are already voting with their feet and cutting away at studio profits. As a few more examples:

• On the sci-fi end of things, parents kept their kids far, far away from “Lightyear,” the Toy Story-inspired animated film by Disney, after reports of LGBTQ preachiness. “The Matrix Resurrections” by the Wachowski ̶B̶r̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ sisters flopped majorly, with sci-fi fans fearing the worst and skipping the theatrical release.

• Nobody appreciated killing off the epitome of “toxic masculinity” in the 007 entry “No Time to Die.” Flop. James Flop.

• Even the venerable “cape opera” genre is suffering. Warner Bros. took a $90 million hit to cancel “Batgirl,” which was already exhibiting signs of wokeness. Need we mention angry fan reactions to “She-Hulk,” and fears that a “Black Panther” sequel will mean Woke-anda forever?

• A subversive rom-com titled “Bros” bled money, not because it featured gay characters but it used that as cover to promote what was essentially a dirty movie.

Actors will most certainly continue favoring lefty causes, but maybe not to the level of entirely ostracizing conservatives for their convictions.

Leftist leaders, the mainstream media, and Hollywood have no other option but to play it nice in the next few years. They’ll gaslight conservatives as the ever-divisive “angry right” as they always have, while heralding themselves as the arbiters of peace and prosperity.

It may even be that a decade of fashionable apathy is upon us — in which politics, sex, and religion is no longer allowed to be discussed in pleasant company. Some of us remember when it was just best to leave politics at the doorstep. That’s bound to happen again, and perhaps very soon.

An American revival is still on its way. We can be civil and continue loving our neighbors and all, but don’t for a second be fooled by the “amnesty.” The pleasantries are without doubt a temporary ruse brought on by desperation — whether it’s pre-election theatrics to pander for moderate votes or a longer trend.

Make no mistake: when given the opportunity, the new nice guys will revert to calling for burning buildings, toppling monuments, and creating lawless autonomous zones — just like they once cheered Moltov cocktails and spitting on soldiers returning home from war.

You may get your liberal social media friends and family members back in the next couple of months. But don’t for even a second let your guard down.