And more’s the pity, it’s lonely out here. The following is an article along these lines of some interest: Some of my best friends are Trump supporters. The writer is Oleg Atbashian, a former denizen of the Soviet Union. It is worth reading through, but I will focus on this bit on how writers in the media never seem to come across Trump supporters:

There’s a big probability that Trump supporters are, in fact, all around them, even in their own families — and the reason why these writers don’t know it, is their own snobbery. No one likes to be called stupid, his IQ questioned, or presumed to be an unthinking herd animal, and many simply don’t have the time to stop and explain their reasons whenever a #Nevertrump activist feels like trashing Trump voters. Many simply choose to remain silent. . . .

Trump has consistently polled better on anonymous online polls than on phone surveys because some of his supporters were unwilling to identify themselves publicly. In other words, public shaming didn’t unwean Trump from his supporters but caused them to go underground.

Doesn’t this also describe how the majority of Americans have felt in recent decades, being constantly shamed into silence by the “progressive” media, education, and the cultural establishment? I know this too well, having worked in New York’s “progressive” corporate environment. My co-workers would ask me about life in the USSR and I would tell them exactly what I thought about socialism and political correctness until I realized that most of them didn’t like my answers and I was only hurting myself by speaking my mind. Some gave me frightened looks, others stopped talking with me. I might as well have told them that life in the USSR was similar to life in New York, where people had to learn to keep their mouths shut and to look over their shoulders before saying anything remotely political. So much for emigrating into a free country. It felt like history was about to repeat itself. Until now.

Actually, nothing has changed. The sensational ganging up on Trump is incredible. I can now see he has only a minimal chance of winning in November, but for all that he has more chance than any other Republican. When you see every news media network, including the Murdoch empire and Fox, gunning for him, when you find virtually every “conservative” site from National Review to Powerline out to see him lose, when you see so many so-called conservatives say they would rather see Hillary win than Trump, when you see a virtual absence of positive comment anywhere, you do have to appreciate how deep the resentment is that drives his campaign. He might still win, and if he does he will owe no one anything, which will be the best thing about the administration he oversees.

Two stories on Tony Abbott today, Abbott: the case for my foreign policy the first in today’s Australian on The national security case for the Tony Abbott government and the second just published in Quadrant, Abbott: I Was Right on National Security. Why is Turnbull not man enough to say so? From the article in The Oz:

Tony Abbott stands by his hard line on Islamist terrorism and his “Team Australia” rhetoric, and indirectly criticises the Turnbull government for not responding to the general request by the Obama administration to do more in the Middle East.

In a defence of his government’s national security policies, Mr Abbott says that in office he shunned the moral posturing of Labor, aspired to be America’s “most dependable” ally, did “shirt-front” Russian President Vladimir Putin and strengthened national security by practical action and close co-operation with other leaders.

And from Quadrant, the article begins:

As prime minister, I was determined to advance our interests, protect our citizens and uphold our values around the world. The best way to do this was usually to be as practically helpful as possible in our dealings with other countries. That meant putting aside the moral posturing of the Rudd years to be a country that said what it meant and did what it said.

What a difference he made!

There is also this from Andrew Bolt, The Belgian ambassador’s criticism of Turnbull is wrong: blame Islam and immigration, where we find this fantastic piece of self-delusion:

My view is that the terrorists who committed the latest attacks and in Paris and in Belgium are European-raised and born. Maybe from foreign origins, but they are Europeans. So it has nothing to do with the refugee crisis…

And therefore, presumably, another few million won’t make the slightest difference.