P.J. O’Rourke had the left figured out long before the Trump years sent them into a permanent emotional tailspin.
His description was brutal, but it was also accurate. At the core of modern liberalism is the spoiled child, miserable, demanding, unsatisfied, and convinced the whole world must stop what it is doing every time they feel offended.
That was true when O’Rourke said it, and it is even more obvious now.
The Trump years exposed something that was always there. For all their lectures about tolerance, decency, democracy, compassion, and norms, the modern left cannot tolerate being told no. They cannot tolerate losing. They cannot tolerate disagreement. They cannot tolerate the idea that millions of normal Americans might see the country differently than they do.
So what do they do?
They scream. They boycott. They censor. They accuse. They demand investigations, indictments, bans, resignations, apologies, and punishment. They call half the country dangerous, stupid, hateful, or worse, then turn around and insist they are the enlightened ones.
That is not maturity. That is not leadership. That is not moral superiority.
That is a tantrum with a political platform.
O’Rourke called it a philosophy of sniveling brats, and the shoe still fits. In fact, it may fit better now than ever. The more Trump succeeds at forcing the political class to answer to the people again, the louder and more irrational the left becomes.
They are not upset because democracy is dying. They are upset because democracy keeps producing results they do not like.
And when spoiled people do not get their way, they do what spoiled people always do, they cry louder.