Trump deflates ‘racist’ hustle, Dems losing their souls and other commentary

Liberal: Eclipse of the Climate Movement

“These are dark days for the climate movement. Indeed, the whole movement is falling apart in front of our eyes,” snarks The Liberal Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira. “Leaders of major countries can’t even be bothered to show up at the U.N.’s annual climate change conferences,” having realized that “net-zero by 2050” isn’t going to happen and their publics lack “interest in seeing this goal attained.” To save the fading movement, some “climatistas” are jumping on the “affordability and lowering the cost of living” bandwagon. As the “climate movement fades slowly into irrelevance,” Democrats can now consider a host of “economic and energy policies” without the climatistas’ “thumb on the scales.” “Democrats should embrace it.”

Schools beat: Dems Losing Their Souls

Since 2013, “student achievement scores have been falling,” especially for “students from less privileged backgrounds,” laments The New York Times’ David Brookes. “Outcomes are becoming more and more unequal.” What happened? First, “screens”: If you use them to “passively consume short videos, you’re basically committing intellectual suicide.” Second: Republicans eschewed the centralized push for accountability, while Democrats shifted left; progressives never liked accountability. “The age of equity was here,” as Dems “watered down” accountability mechanisms. Eventually, “terrible education statistics” did spark reform — but only among Republicans, who are now “kicking Democrats in the butt” on education. Red state schools are “doing remarkably well.” Democrats will lose “whatever is left” of their souls if they don’t champion “equal opportunity.”

From the right: Trump Deflates ‘Racist’ Hustle

“For decades,” claims Heather Mac Donald at The Spectator, “pointing out that any action . . . fell disproportionately on black people was sufficient to discredit that action.” Thus the claim that “racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates” were proof of racism. Trump’s focus on urban crime has been called “motivated by racial animus,” though “Trump had said nothing about race.” The “race hustle” has long been a “dominant force” in America, though it has “had zero effect on Trump.” His “indifference to being called a racist” has changed American culture, which has a “collective fatigue” regarding accusations “of bias or of insensitivity.” Looking ahead, “arguments from skin color may be met with an eye roll” after years of exposure to “a President who is patently and shockingly indifferent to identity-based blackmail.”

Russia desk: Oil = the Bear’s Achilles’ Heel

“Disrupting the flow” of Russian oil to create shortages “can grind the Russian bear to a halt militarily” and impose major “financial implications,” explains Michael Bohnert at The Wall Street Journal. World War II showed the “decisive” effect of “attacking oil infrastructure” in “both Europe and the Pacific.” Ukraine’s strategy of “striking Russian oil and logistics networks with drones and saboteurs” has created a “steep reduction in refining capacity,” so Moscow already lacks “enough fuel to meet all the industry and military needs.” The “consequences for Russia will grow,” forcing Vladimir Putin to choose between “war-materials production or the commerce demands of Russia’s oligarchs.” Keep up the targeting, and Russia’s military “will become less mobile,” creating “opportunities for incremental Ukrainian victories.”

Media watch: Censorship Almost Destroyed Us

“My publication, our writers, and I were all directly targeted for destruction by my own government, using my tax dollars,” because of “our reporting,” storms Federalist CEO Sean Davis in Senate testimony. E.g.: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency directed and funded “censorship” against the Federalist over “our reporting on unprecedented new election laws in 2020.” “Kafka-esque doesn’t even begin to describe this madness.” “We were also targeted for outright bankruptcy and destruction” by the Global Engagement Center, and “just barely survived.” It’s “absurd to watch the government crack down on accurate reporting, like that of the New York Post, which was censored for reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop,” while publications that “repeatedly published falsehood after falsehood” won “lucrative journalism prizes” for “their nonsense.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board