Tea at Trianon: The Five Stages of Liberal Grief

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

Sunday, June 1, 2025

The Five Stages of Liberal Grief

From Direct Line News:

There’s been a lot of talk lately in my very blue, very cardigan-draped political theory classes about how “fragile” our democracy is. (Side note: the term “our democracy” is now basically code for “we didn’t win.”)
As we once again prepare for the distinct possibility that Donald J. Trump—yes, that Trump—could waltz back into the Oval Office like it’s Mar-a-Lago with better lighting, the Left has entered a well-documented, thoroughly dramatic existential spiral. Having spent the last eight years cycling through yoga, vegan charcuterie, and impeachment fan fiction, Democrats now find themselves trapped in a loop eerily similar to the Five Stages of Grief.
Let’s walk through it together. I’ve taken the liberty of renaming the stages for 2025 reality.
1. Denial (a.k.a. “Not my president 2.0”)
This is the early meltdown phase. It begins around 10:32 PM on Election Night, right after CNN’s John King zooms into Wayne County, Michigan, like he’s directing a Christopher Nolan film and realizes—too late—that this isn’t going the way his therapist said it would.
Liberal Twitter goes full Broadway:
“If Trump wins again, I’m moving to Sweden and taking my dog, my air fryer, and my gender-neutral sourdough starter with me!”
Celebrities release moody acoustic covers of “This Land Is Your Land” with ukuleles and tears. Democracy is declared dead before Trump even finishes his Diet Coke.
(Read more.)