Tea at Trianon: The America Report: Diplomacy, 2024, and the Culture War

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

The America Report: Diplomacy, 2024, and the Culture War

From The European Conservative:

Unbeknownst to many Europeans, the American political machine is already preparing for the 2024 election cycle. We are only a little more than halfway through Joe Biden’s presidency, but some of his prospective opponents are already working on their campaigns. This past week, Fox News contributed to the emerging 2024 frenzy by announcing that they will host the first debate among the primary election candidates. The debate will be held in Milwaukee, which is in Wisconsin, a key so-called ‘swing state’ with a narrowly divided electorate. It is one of a handful of states that will decide the outcome of the election.

There is nothing unusual with the next election making itself known this early. Running for president is a serious project; being a credible candidate is a business operation that requires a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Therefore, those who want to run have to be out front early and build credibility with prospective voters as well as good relations with prospective donors.

European media, mostly, has not yet caught on to America’s fledgling 2024 campaign stories. This is understandable given that few have announced yet, and there are no policy debates between the emerging candidates. At the same time, the field of Republican candidates is becoming interesting for two reasons: the current frontrunner is former president Donald Trump, and his competitors are all people who have been sympathetic to him.

His former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has already announced her candidacy. On Wednesday, April 12th, Senator Tim Scott, a conservative Trump-supporting Republican from South Carolina, announced that he has formed an “exploratory committee” for a presidential run. Scott is one of three black Senators, the other two being Democrats Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock. (Read more.)