Overcome with mourning for GHW Bush, Ross loves him some secret society Skull & Bones racists. Democracy dies in dimness, because old money trumps (sic) new money every time.
To summarize it for those who haven't read, he says "we" miss the white ruling class in America and we secretly long for it over our new "multicultural" society. That is...quite the projection there and is an opinion he reaches with such bad faith.
2/
To begin, he's assuming that he speaks for the majority of the country, which is what conservatism gets so, so wrong. They believe they are the voice of America because they have grown up in a culture that tells them constantly they are. They're not at all. 3/
Yes, Ross Douthat misses the white ruling class. Yes, Ross Douthat surrounds himself with people who do. His attempt to speak for the plurality of America's experience is just about as ignorant as it gets. 4/
He basically says in this piece of garbage column that the country, and remember America isn't just white people, would be better off with continued white ruling class leadership even if it meant some wouldn't have it as good... 5/
Now, here's where we get into actual conservative philosophy. They believe if people of color and women would just allow the white and wealthy to leave, if they'd sit in prison, suffer unbelievable discrimination, abuse, and literal murder, it would help America 6/
MEANWHILE, for whatever reason he blames SATs and Affirmative Action for making the country worse? Even though these are BOTH designed by the white ruling class and he totally ignores the real problem of how the white ruling class is literally harming the country. 7/
Trumpism is just that: the white ruling class attempting to hold on and dragging America down while doing it. Ross is just wishing for the better lie of the Bush's, the more humane looking and preppier white ruling class, the quieting of the people they hurt. 8/
I don't like recommending people to read garbage like this, but you really should. Despite all the bad faith arguments and ridiculousness, he's being honest about the philosophy of white supremacy in American politics and conservatism. It is...staggering. 9/9
The comments section always says it best about Douthat:
"I am not nostalgic for a WASP president. I am nostalgic for a president who actually read and understood the Constitution of our country and the Bill of Rights before becoming president."