This is my "Why I left the Left" letter

Dear Clay,

We've exchanged a few messages on various topics. In the early messages, I said I was not red-pilled, just disillusioned with the Democrats. Now I think maybe I've become a Libertarian.

I can imagine your surprise. You must think I have lost my mind. You said I didn't understand American politics, but don't forget I majored in American Studies in graduate school and wrote a thesis on soft money and campaign finance reform. So I think I know a thing or two about American politics. I feel the need to put my thoughts down on paper so that I can avoid emotional reactions. I'll explain how I've changed my mind.

I used to believe everything the mainstream media said and hold NYT, WaPo, MSNBC and CNN in high regard. That all started to change with what happened with Joe Rogan. If you don't know who he is, he's the most popular podcaster in the world. His podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, has hundreds of millions of followers on Spotify and each episode is downloaded 13 million times. He pioneered the 3-hour interview model that launched the careers of Lex Friedman and many others, proving that long, no-holds-barred conversations are preferable to TV interviews that are mostly about catchy soundbites.

Anyway, he interviewed Dr Robert Malone (the inventor of the mRNA vaccine technology) and Dr Peter McCullough (a very renowned cardiologist and the most cited doctor in medical journals). Dr Malone said that we can't vaccinate our way out of the pandemic because Covid is zoonotic and we can't kill all the animals to stop the infection. Dr Peter McCullough talked about myocarditis as a side effect of the vaccine, which has killed some young people. To me, they are the experts in these discussions. But the mainstream media unleashed a smear campaign against the two doctors, portraying them as crackpots, anti-vaxxers and right-wingers. Then they went after Joe Rogan with such ferocity that they demanded Spotify cancel him, and some woke artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchel threatened to pull their music from Spotify. You've probably heard of this episode, even if you've never heard of Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan was supposed to get the J&J vaccine, but for some reason it was recalled before he went on tour for his comedy show. Incidentally, he is a stand-up comedian, MMA fighter and the host of Fear Factor. He's a renaissance man. But I digress. He caught the Delta variant, but he had a plan. He took monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, large injections of vitamin D and recovered in a day. The mainstream media were furious because he wasn't vaccinated, he took Ivermectin, which CNN called a horse dewormer, and he talked about vitamin D and natural immunity, and he didn't die. CNN put a green filter on the footage of his Instagram video to make him look sick. I was horrified. By the way, Sanjay Gupta, CNN's own doctor, later went on Joe Rogan's podcast and admitted that CNN lied about Ivermectin. The poor guy was later pilloried by Don Lemon on CNN.

Spotify stood by Joe Rogan. Thank goodness. But this episode opened my eyes to the mainstream media's attempt to control the narrative. Any disagreement with the orthodoxy was labeled as conspiracy, misinformation or disinformation, anti-science or anti-vax. Is there only one way to fight the pandemic? Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, booster, booster and more booster. What about diet, exercise, vitamin D, zinc and magnesium supplements? People who have recovered from Covid have natural immunity, that counts for nothing? Then I watched a montage video put together by Jimmy Dore, which showed that every news program was sponsored by Pfizer. At the end of every clip you hear "brought to you by Pfizer". It's hilarious, you should watch it. Ivermectin was demonized because if it showed any efficacy, the vaccines wouldn't get emergency use authorization. Incidentally, Ivermectin was used to treat Covid in India during the Delta variant crisis.

Remember when the vaccine was launched, Trump was still President and Democrats like Kamala Harris were discouraging people from getting it because it was the Trump vaccine? Who was stirring up hatred against unvaccinated people as if they were immoral? For people who support "my body, my choice", why do they also support vaccine mandates?

But enough about Covid. I care about US politics because foreign policy is an extension of domestic politics, and it affects China and my livelihood as a translator. So you could say I'm interested in US-China relations for my own sake. As an English major, I naturally have a lot of admiration for the West in general and the United States in particular. But these days I find it increasingly difficult to defend the United States against the ultra-nationalists. America is not a democracy. It's an oligarchy. If we wanted ideological purity, there should be three parties in the United States, but the two-party system is too entrenched in its institutional design to allow for a meaningful third party. There should be a Progressive Party (Bernie Sanders, the Squad), the Establishment Party (the old guards on both sides of the aisle) and the Tea Party or Trump Party (the Freedom Caucus). The Tea Party, by the way, preceded Trump, but somehow Trump has co-opted it. The Establishment Party is funded by Big Tech, Big Pharma, Wall Street and the military-industrial complex. Anyone who does the donors' bidding can serve in government. They don't really care. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell. They are all basically the same. They all serve the billionaire class and enrich themselves in the process. The same goes for Clinton, Obama and Biden. The Trump Party is made up of right-wing populists. They want to shake things up and they used their power to block Kevin McCarthy's election as Speaker by extracting some concessions from him, even though the Senate will kill any bill they propose. The Progressive Party is made up of left-wing populists. They are spineless and have no influence. Jimmy Dore advocated "Force the Vote" so that the Squad could do what the Freedom Caucus did when Nancy Pelosi was up for Speakership. The Squad did nothing. I don't know what Nancy Pelosi said to AOC, but she was in tears afterwards. AOC didn't turn up to support the unionization of Starbucks, but instead went to the Met Gala wearing a dress that said “Tax the Rich”. These phonies disgust me. Have some courage of your convictions, please! They want to be invited to elite parties and advance their careers so they stay on the good side of power. Don't even get me started on how the DNC sabotaged Bernie's campaign, not once, but twice! Poor Bernie!

I'm conflicted about the Russia-Ukraine situation. I don't condone Russia's invasion, but I also don't think it's unprovoked. The United States and NATO have been poking the Russian bear for years, even though they promised Russia that NATO would not expand beyond East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell. They even brokered a sham Minsk Agreement to buy time for Ukraine, while having no intention of honoring it. I can't help thinking about the cross-strait situation. If the United States continues to arm Taiwan with more and more advanced weapons, not only for defensive but also for offensive purposes, how should China react? There are domestic pressures that can't be ignored. And please stop saying that the United States is defending democracy and freedom. It's fighting a proxy war with Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. There are two purposes for supporting the war, one is to weaken Russia (an adversary), maybe even achieve regime change, and the other is to weaken Germany (an ally) by cutting its ties with Russia completely, so that German products can't compete with US products without cheap Russian energy. Germany has concerns about sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The optics are bad. German tanks on the Russian border remind people of the Second World War, not a pretty sight. Giving tanks to the Azov Battalion (a neo-Nazi group) is ironic to say the least, don't you think? By sending tanks to Ukraine, there is no chance of Germany mending fences with Russia. The United States is playing a dangerous game. Secretly, I don't want Russia to lose, because then China will be left alone as America's number one enemy. That's not good for anybody.

I'm going to stop rambling here. Let me know what you think. I'll write again if you're interested.

Yours,

Jenny