Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wonders: «Here’s the most baffling paradox of 2026: Most Americans agree on most things most of the time — and yet, our feeds and screens scream civil war».
What is basically wrong with this statement?
Civil war in the USA is not the main problem.
The main problem is the wars which the USA wages in other countries.
I call this the Hitler test. Ask whether this or that statement would be true if made by Hitler.
VandeHei states:
«[T]he vast majority of Americans are decent, hardworking, neighbor-helping, kid-raising people who don’t pop off online».
The vast majority of Germans in 1934 were decent, hardworking, neighbor-helping, kid-raising people. And they definitely didn’t pop off online. Hitler did, Goebbels did. Germans didn’t object.
Or, better to say, Germans didn’t object when those Germans who did object to Hitler were exterminated.
Russians nowadays are decent, hardworking, neighbor-helping, kid-raising people who don’t pop off online.
Chinese are decent, hardworking…
Israelis…
So the only abnormal people nowadays are “terrorists,” pathological personalities… God knows where they came from… They must be liquidated. Like Germans thought that Jews and Communists must be liquidated to let humanity be decent, hardworking, etc.
VandeHei gives the example of an ideal American: Ben Sasse, «a 54-year-old former senator, dying of pancreatic cancer, his face sunburned from the experimental drug buying him weeks or months with his wife and kids».
«Correspondent Scott Pelley asked Sasse what mattered. He didn’t hesitate. The best thing you’ll ever be called, he said, is “Dad or Mom, lover, neighbor, friend.” He spoke beautifully about community and connection, and the little stuff you hold when you’re leaving this big, messy world».
Putin also speaks about community and connection, Dad and Mom…
Hitler would applaud the sermon of Sasse; family über alles, above all!
For sure, not any family is a real family. Hitler and Sasse are enemies of same-sex marriages.
The most revealing word is “buying”: «experimental drug buying him weeks or months with his wife and kids».
Where did Sasse get this money?
He is Christian. A conservative Calvinist. Also, he is a functionary, a very successful fundraiser.
Collecting money was his main talent. So he was hired at a Calvinist college in Nebraska as a rector, and he gathered a lot of money, and he made the college a university. «Enrollment grew from 590 to 1,300 students».
This success helped him to become a senator from Nebraska. He was also a champion in collecting money as a candidate.
He was a senator of the USA in 2016–2021.
After that, he was hired as the president of the University of Florida.
«Sasse’s appointment generated some controversy on campus, with Sasse’s past comments on same-sex marriage leading to student protests. The university’s Faculty Senate also passed a no-confidence resolution expressing concern for the lack of transparency surrounding Sasse’s selection».
But…
«During his presidency, Sasse tripled the budget of his office to $17.3 million, $7.2 million of which was directed to consulting contracts. The president’s staff increased from under 10 people to 30. The new hires included former Senate staffers and other Republican officials, many of whom worked outside Florida, resulting in increased travel costs. Sasse’s office spent $1.3 million on catering at dinners and social functions, double the rate spent by his predecessor. The most expensive event was $177,000 on catering and drinks for a 200-person holiday party. An audit conducted by the Florida Auditor General found Sasse inappropriately spent university funds, including by paying above-market-rate salaries to his former congressional staffers who were not competitively hired and by chartering private jet flights without clear business purposes».
When he retired, the university decided to continue paying his salary: one million per year.
So Sasse has the best health care. But…
«While at Texas, he was critical of Obama-era proposals to expand public health care programs. He criticized public-option proposals as a step toward single-payer health insurance and health-care rationing. He supported a plan to lower the cost of Medicare by raising the eligibility age and cutting benefits».
What would Mark Twain write about Sasse?
I am afraid, nothing good.
Certainly, Sasse is not Hitler. He is just a usual egoist.
And family? Is family compatible with egoism?
Sure!
Family is a very comfortable refuge for egoism. It can easily become a sort of collective egoism.
A family of cannibals.
With an A-bomb and a clear conscience. A very explosive combination.