340 Comments

I am so blown away by your journey in just one year and as hopeless as it looks to change any of your former "friends" minds somehow someway you changed so there is hope no matter how small it looks. I can relate as many years ago I went from being a Maoist Communist to a Born again American Conservative. This post may be one of the best and most thorough I've read on all these issues. We can be grateful that you made the courageous change you did and the role you play with your writings. Thanks and God Bless you

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I agree, It is shocking to read that Sasha has not been able to cause even some former comrades to see what is going on, what is being done to our culture and to our nation.

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Nov 16, 2023·edited Nov 16, 2023

I too am a leftist apostate. I was also hard core, a person who chose a career in education precisely to do my activism in the classroom with a captive audience of children. Talk about shame! My journey toward sanity began with the Travon Martin case, when it was crystal clear that the story the media was feeding us was NOT based on the facts of the case that were presented in the court room. Then, when the same thing happened with Ferguson, I knew something was amiss. I abstained in 2016, but within days of that election, with the accusations of Trump being a Russian spy and the accusations that the election was stolen with help of Trump's Russian masters (btw, when I aske them why it was ok for them to question that election, or why it was ok for Stacy Abrams to deny the gubernatorial results in my home state, but it is a virtual crime for conservatives to question election results, they literally go silent) and all that was uncovered about Crossfire Hurricane, I knew which side was the good guys and which side was the victim underdogs.

Like the author, all my lefty friends refuse to listen to logic and facts, they refuse to see the big picture, they delusionaly think they are the "good guys" while acting like monsters as they cheer on the criminality and immorality of the left. And yet, they think I am the one who has lost his mind.

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S. Havick. Good for you for finding the courage to go against your tribe and think for yourself. It's not easy but it's the right and brave thing to do. Hopefully you will find new friends and keep being a free thinker

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"I’d have left the Democratic Party for good...and lost a good many of my friends and very nearly everything else"

Welcome to the Dark Side. We have punch and pie.

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We're making moose stew here. All are welcome. It's good grub.

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With dumplings?

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I prefer mashed potatoes

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Not tonight. Taters and barley (w/the standard mirepoix of onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf and herbs).

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Haha. Punch and pie.

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Brilliant essay. Thank you so much. Don't despair at not having convinced any of your erstwhile friends on the left to come over, I went through much the same process over the 2008 election cycle . . . from being invited to meet Obama in 2007 to fully ID-ing with the Tea Party by 2009, and now, almost 15 years later, I can't say that I've really convinced any of my hard-core liberal-progressive friends and family to come over. You can do OK with those who were always more in the middle, persuadable by either side, but for those who as you say, spend their days watching CNN and MSNBC and reading the New York Times or the Washington Post . . . no, there's no hope for them. It's closed loop epistemology, everything they see, read and hear confirms their "priors", if you try to tell them that Trump is not a monster, the J6 defendants were not insurrectionists, and that their heroes are power-hungry, egoists that would sooner sell their own parents into slavery than lift a finger to actually make things better in America, they'll look at you as if you just declared that the Earth is flat.

And yes, the Paul Ryan types are nearly as bad, maybe even worse.

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"closed loop epistemology"

That's awesome. I'm going to bookmark that.

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founding

"Closed loop "epistemology" means unfalsifiabilty. Which in turn means no possible negative evidence. Which in turn means they get to maintain the faith forever. Objective achieved.

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Yeah. I agree. Better to live your own better life than waste time trying convince these fools. It’s a totally different mind set. You almost can’t even blame them.

It is lazy thinking. They don’t want to think for themselves. And Now. Here is where We all are. They are still After All these Years Flailing around trying to grasp on to any potential diversion. To fling out to the American people. I’m telling you. It is exhausting for me to watch this useless effort they’ve all condemned themselves to.

As much as I laugh. My God . I wonder.

With all your so called absolute power with supposedly all the new technological geniuses.. are you people SERIOUSLY presenting yourselves to the world like this.

You know what might happen with these useless fools. We will end up taking it State by State. Choose the State that best fits you And go and live in it.

This government is useless.

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Indeed the Paul Ryan proselytes are worse. They wring their fear-frayed hands, speak eloquent pieties, speak of what SHOULD be done, not of what WILL be done. Bless their inept, cowardly, self-centered hearts.

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Who cares about Paul Ryan.???.. lol

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The same ton of bricks hit me after Biden moved into the White House. For me there were red flags starting to build in the months leading up to the election but I did vote for Biden reluctantly. Unfortunately I was indeed spinning around in the MSNBC vortex of propaganda during the Trump presidency. I was most definitely brainwashed. Then, the dominoes started to fall pretty fast. I was an early subscriber to Bari Weiss and her team, Taibbi, Shellenberger, Johnathan Haidt, Konstantin Kisin, Jenny Hollande, Abigail Shrier , etc. And of course you Sasha. You all helped lead me out and I will always be grateful. The increasingly aggressive attempts to crush the free speech of anyone who dared to disagree with them, watching Biden and his whole gang advocate for and facilitate the beyond evil “gender affirming care” for confused and suffering minors, the completely corrupted DOJ, the Democratic Party’s absolutely barbaric extremism surrounding the abortion issue, the Twitter files, the “mostly peaceful “ protests, and on and on and on. I am as done with them as you are. So many friends kicked me to the curb because according to them I have “gone crazy “. It’s been a pretty lonely journey but I am still grateful and far more at peace. I am encouraged by a handful of friends and family members who jumped to the other side with me. I’ll never go back. All that has become clear to you is also crystal clear to me. I do believe this next presidential election is our last chance to save our country and our freedoms. I’m so worried that I feel physically sick just thinking about it.

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Pretty sure they’re going to steal it again. I think the elections are all rigged and mostly a way for Americans to think they have a voice. But, it’s not true. Another thing the USG has lied about.

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Amen, sister.

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I think many people need an AHA momentt to change their long held views. . Hating your neighbor who is on the "other side" and holding yourself up to purity is so easy to do - I have cancelled a couple of the folks considered our "go tos" because I am Norman Finklestein disciple who can be both anti Hamas and Pro-Palestinian - a stance that is not acceptable to even our free speech warriors.

Just to share my own AHA moment if I may. Go back with me to the late 50's - My brother's best friend was the only black man in our whole county and was welcomed into our house like a member of the family. How could I be prejudiced? In the summer of 1959 I read James Baldwins - the Fire Next Time - and patted myself on the back for actually eating with a black man. Then I moved to Greenwich Village and walked those wonderful streets where I saw my first interracial couple - a black man and a white woman. My FIRST thought was "what is SHE doing with HIM" = my life literally changed on Greenwich Avenue that day. Once I was blind but now I can see to quote the Good Book. I got out of denial and admitted to who I really was once away from my all white world - well with one black in it.

If I hadn't had that personal God-given revelation, I would still be defending my "but Charlie was black" stance. Sasha is brave to write her posts - commentors are sincere in their observations about the "other side"But I am still a believer in those God-given personal aha moments to change the world . I won't go back to my mother's aha moment regarding

homos" as she called them. - The river of change flows slowly and wide and I only have a few years on earth to do more than make my corner of it as peaceful and "neighborly" as I can.

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Amen, sister.

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Agree

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Yeah. I think we can all agree on that That man was the wrong one to take the helm. We noticed in a second. How did the insiders not understand what a failing Embarrassment to America Joe Biden is. And destructive too and doesn’t care much.

Was weird to all that DJT hated and trump ruining the planet talk and everything else after he came down the escalators. And instead of functioning brain person They went with Uncle Joe.

Ok. How do we correct this?? If the government is still necessary? Hire somebody who knows what they are doing???

That is basic economics, trade, finance, leadership and you can go on and on. So after all that Ruin Created by DJT.

They chose a demented incompetent to fix it.

Democrats... please. Now is the time you need to only except Worthy leadership. You have to Have something to do with This.

Omg. It couldn’t be more simple

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I am a 57 year old redneck conservative from the truly red end of Tennessee (West TN) and the true deep truth of it all is that the Left and Right desperately need one another. That is the balance that Western Culture has tried to give us. I believe the current affluence we enjoy is why such fantasies by the Left can even be considered. The Woke hegemony will not last as it is self-defeating. The only question is how much damage will be inflicted.

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Good for you ... You have shown courage, it is not a triviality to do what you have done, it is admirable ...

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It’s not about R or D.

Not conservatives or Liberals.

Not really.

It’s about your freedom......of thought and expression. Both public and private expression.

It’s about fear. Fear others try to instill in you to quiet you.

It’s about control. Control of what you and your family watch, consume and think.

It’s about power.

Power to live your life as you choose or let someone else choose for you.

The decision to take action is squarely in your hands my fellow US citizens.

It will be interesting to see what you decide.

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Love this comment.

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Does is seem like everyone has been brainwashed into thinking abortion is the only right that matters? So flummoxed by this. Is every other civil right so invisible or taken for granted that people re-elect those who locked them down, ruined their kids schooling (maybe not their kids in private school, just poorer people’s kids), that lied to their faces and continue to gaslight them. It’s like New Orleans after Katrina, re-electing the incompetent, apparently corrupt, asshole who forgot to hire bus drivers for the evacuation buses. I sort of care about abortion rights for other women on an intellectual level; but the bloodied corpses of women do not now litter our streets since the heartbeat bill was enacted. What gives?

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Thanks so so much for your passion, Sasha! I thought Blasey Ford was so incredibly unbelievable with her little girl voice and her lies but “progressives” lapped it up. They now have what they wanted: Biden, the brain dead head of a crime family. Anyone who thought this guy would make a good President, or Mayor Pete a good Secretary of Transportation, or Mayorcas a good Secretary of Homeland Security is certifiably nuts. Biden has the most incompetent and corrupt cabinet in history—good match for his joke of a Presidency. Hope we can turn this ship around. My own story is I started out wanting Hillary and ended up voting for Trump. Very proud of that. FJB!

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The truly frightening reality is this: They are in their positions, all of them from the president, vice president on down...BECAUSE they are incompetent. It is an intended feature. Not a bug.

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I'm walking the same path as you Sasha, I was out there marching with the pink pussyhats along with all my friends It was a shock to wake up, although I had some temporary moments of discomfort beforehand that I tried to bury... when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the State of the Union address behind Trump, I thought, uh, I thought when 'they go low, we go high'? When everyone started calling him an orange cheetoh, I thought, wait, we're talking about his...color? But then when the lockdowns happened, everything became blindingly clear. It's lonely, but I will never go back.

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Stay strong and throw that hat in the trash!

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Exactly!

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OMG Sasha, your best Free Thinking yet! You have the courage to speak it and the ability to articulate it. The magic combo. Absolutely nothing to add but to hope it somehow goes viral. God knows it needs to!

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It is extremely frustrating to witness our country falling apart and yet half the country doesn't seem to notice what's going on. I think there are still persuadable people out there, but a lot of them simply don't want to believe that elections can be stolen and that our institutions have been corrupted to their core. There are so many delusional Republicans who think that we can somehow get back to "normal" if we just get rid of Trump and those distasteful MAGA extremists.

There is no going back to normal. Either we can wake enough people up to take our country back or we will be destroyed.

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And how do you propose we take our country back? I’m not seeing a way out. Don’t believe in the miracle of voting.

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I still think it's possible to win the 2024 election by a large enough margin to overcome election "fortifying" and fraud. The ability of Democrats to steal elections is not infinite, otherwise Republicans would not have gained a majority in the House.

I do think that things will have to get worse before more ordinary Americans wake up from their social-media induced coma. I'm not that optimistic about our country's future regardless of the outcome of the next election. We have fallen so far that it is possible we have passed the point of no return. But I am a new grandfather and I'm not willing to give up on my grandchild's future yet.

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I need your optimism. Thank you.

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Sadly, I tend to agree with you that its going to have to get worse before Americans realize what's going on, before they start to not believe the propaganda of the Democrat Media Industrial Complex. By then, it will probably truly too late, and would take a for-real (and scary) insurrection. The only way this can change legally is, like you said, to win so big that its impossible for the Dems to fudge the results in their favor. AND THEN, the GOP winners would have to be completely unified in their dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. Unfortunately, I don't see either of those things happening.

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You are right that the task ahead is enormous. Our institutions are so corrupt and we have such massive debt that it is hard to see how we can get ourselves out of this mess. But as long as there is any hope I will try to do what I can to make a difference. If our problems can't be fixed through our current system our children and grandchildren will be living through a nightmare.

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Another great one, Sasha! This needs to be forwarded to Rich Lowery, the entire NRO editorial staff and all the other self appointed “bastions of conservatism” who told us Trump was too undignified and that we shouldn’t vote for him. Thanks guys...thanks for three of the worst years in modern times!

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It is clear the GOP is just controlled opposition at this point.

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They’re all feeding at the same trough. Very few exceptions.

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Hence, the term 'Uniparty'.

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8 Uniparty "Republicans" just sunk the articles of impeachment of Mayorkas, a Bond villian globalist stooge who is actively destroying and undermining our country from one of the highest law enforcement perches we have.

It truly is the Globalist sellout uniparty and they hate this country. No two ways about it.

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And 70 Uniparty Republicans voted in favor of funding a new FBI building.

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I can only imagine what the spies have on them ...

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Remember the big brothel bust the FBI made about two days before the vote? Yeah, that.

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The fact that Nikki Haley and Kathy Hochul intend to use 10/7 as an excuse to police speech is proof positive that neither party believes in freedom.

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This is an awesome post.

Thank you

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The hatred of Trump is so irrational. It isn’t tied to any policy disagreement with Trump. It is all based on Trump’s confidence and unwillingness to apologize for calling out hypocrisy.

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He won’t play the woke game and says the politically incorrect. They can’t have anyone doing that, it undermines the cause.

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Houston, we have a problem. Like most of us, I have been unable to persuade any progressive that their path is a grave danger to this country, indeed, to western civilization. They now control, it seems, damn near everything. And they are on the march. Many of us here somehow came to our senses but I wonder what it was that allowed us to change. Something made us see clearly. What was it and can it be shared? I have had no success sharing my epiphanies. We need to figure this out, soon. If we can't break the code the alternative will be to no one's liking.

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I thought for sure the recent rash of AntiSemitism / Jew hatred after the October attacks would wake up at least a few liberals. But it hasn’t - many of the protesters chanting “From the River to the Sea” are themselves Jewish liberals. I don’t get it. I really don’t.

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Do you have any idea how scared and embarrassed THEY ARE?

We living in a moment of time that proves every single thing we have ever know about this mindset.

I hate it. I feel for these people. Imagine being an Ivy League graduate in a professional career Doing well and then to wake up one day to discover that You are completely Stuck on Stupid and the only choice that you have is to continue to be Stuck on Stupid.

Omg. I used to laugh when Ann Coulter and the rest used to joke about Liberalism being a mental disorder. But My God. It truly is. I take no joy in any of this. I guess liberals are way weaker than any of us could possibly imagine. That’s ok. They’ll sit around blaming , miserizing and waiting for the rest of us to figure it out and then fix it and then climb back up onto their mighty perch. And go back to calling people out for grammatical errors and miss types .

I’m not anti Liberal.

They have their place in society. Leadership no. Inventors. Not that many. But pencil pushers and micromanaging details. Absolutely.

All the stuff the rest of us hate to do.

So they are necessary. Let’s get back to that balance and we will all be ok

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Dr Michael Savage coined the phrase “liberalism is a mental disorder” over 20 years ago. Used to listen to him on the radio every day and get so mad! Read many of his books and then realized how destructive the Left truly is.

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Dr. Michael Savage has been a disappointment Just like the rest.

But I haven’t given up on him. Was sad to see all these media icons not be able to evolve.

Meaning that... when things were more balanced. We could rant and rave and have fun complaining.

Like we did for 20 plus years with Savage.

They went stupid. There is nothing really to mock or debate about.

They actually used to be pretty good propagandist

Excuse me.

Yes It’s true

That man holds a dear place in my heart

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I know I meant Miserable/ and made my own word up. Miserizing. Like trying to promote miserablism. Did not mean miser. So Calm down . I’m Pro everybody

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An excellent personal narrative. It is through the narration of our own personal transitions, what led up to them and the details as best we can relate them that others can see themselves making the same journey. Your story is a guide for others.

Well done.

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Another great substack article. I wish you had seen the light a few years earlier (but better late than never). You would have provided some interesting insight when Christine Blasey Ford and Jussie Smollett were making up remarkable and insane lies because their utopian monster needed to be fed.

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Welcome to the pleasure dome! Dismantling the internet titans will be rough going at this point. We need some pointy heads of the Rand Paul type to step it up a notch and everyone else to MAGA Haka through this election.

I can’t take another year of this malicious woke absurdity much less subject my grandkids to it.

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