My apologies for the length of my summary and comments, but this is a difficult one for me, requiring more than a cursory review, because I believe it explains why the Left will fail.
Turley criticizes a recent incident at Sarah Lawrence College and uses it to argue about campus intolerance and the “self-devouring” nature of extreme left-wing activism. New York Times columnist and podcast host Ezra Klein, a prominent liberal figure and critic of certain Israeli policies, appeared at the college for a “Building Bridges” event titled “In Conversation” with college president Cristle Collins Judd. The discussion focused on overcoming political polarization.
It failed. The polarization was very evident. Protesters, including members affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine, disrupted the event by shouting accusations at Klein, labeling him a “genocide denier,” “Nazi normalizer,” “Zionist pig,” and complicit in alleged atrocities in Gaza. Even prior to the talk, campus graffiti and circulated images attacked him in similar terms, including on a free speech board and in a bathroom. Klein offered to debate, talk, and discuss. President Judd sat silently during the interruptions.
Turley portrays Sarah Lawrence as a far-left echo chamber that has long purged conservatives and libertarians from its faculty and administration. With no conservatives left to target, the “far left” turns inward on liberals like Klein, meaning he faced a heckler’s veto.
A couple of takeaways: Woke cancel culture is the very antithesis of “communicative rationality.” Cultural Marxism, much like its ideological ancestor Robespierre’s Jacobin Revolution, is planting the seeds of its self-destruction in its own version of Leftist Terror, just as Robespierre did back in 1793–1794, and Trump is their Napoleon. Interesting thought, and one I’ve mentioned before.
The Trump-as-Napoleon line fits this historical script: after revolutionary chaos and internal terror, a strongman figure, Napoleon, emerges to restore order, capitalizing on exhaustion with radicalism. In this view, overreach by the far left creates fertile ground for populist conservative reactions, as seen in some electoral shifts or cultural backlashes.
What happened to Klein demonstrates that cancel culture is absolute. There is a need for purity of message from top down; dissent is not allowed. Progressives brought this on themselves, hence the “Trump as Napoleon” analogy—a strong, populist figure who capitalizes on exhaustion brought on by extremism.
As the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same; this captures the cyclical irony: revolutionary fervor promising liberation fails, whether in 1790s France or modern campus/political spheres.
