Many people have argued almost since inauguration day that President Biden is not the one running America on a daily basis or making many of the decisions. The normal guessing game about who is running the show focuses on Biden’s chief of staff, close advisors like the secretary of state and national security advisor, the Vice President, and the First Lady, among others.
But forget the palace intrigue at The White House for a moment. Who is calling the shots as to what you, I, or anyone, especially public figures, can think or say on television, in print, or on social media?
That there is a liberal media mob in America is not new or even news, though the elites that own the major networks and their top anchors still fail to see or acknowledge this mob. It’s the equivalent of pointing out the surroundings to a school of swimming fish. “What water?” the fish would retort.
One need only look to yesterday for the latest example of someone who stepped on a liberal “land mine.” Former Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang defended Joe Rogan, on whose show he appeared in 2019, in a tweet that noted Rogan is not racist. “I don’t think Joe Rogan is a racist – the man interacts with and works with black people literally all of the time.” Yang added, “Do I know black friends of Joe’s who would swear by him? Yes, I do.”
The Twitter Universe lit up. The social media backlash was swift and fierce.
We often hear terms and phrases like that. But what or who exactly is the Twitter Universe? It’s not an easy question to answer. But it seems clear—there is a cabal of liberal elite activists who monitor speech in America, especially that of political figures and the Hollywood crowd. Straying from the progressive playbook risks public punishment. Of course, it’s not always known ahead of time what can be said, or what will be tolerated by the cabal. After all, the playbook isn’t an actual, physical book.
So, what is the definition of a cabal? Oxford Languages says, “a secret political clique or faction.” Merriam Webster says, “the contrived schemes of a group of persons secretly united in a plot.”
People essentially have two choices when the cabal comes for you. You can either repent or double down on what you said or think. Choose the former, and you might continue to be relevant, perhaps able to appear again on radio or television or be able to run for office again. Choose the latter, and you risk being marginalized, pilloried, or ultimately canceled.
Back to Andrew Yang. He repented within 24 hours. “I deleted the tweet because it was wrong-headed. It also hurt people, which is never my intent. I’m sorry. I’m learning and appreciate those who reached out to express their feelings.” Yang will likely survive.
Who dares double down? J.K. Rowling did. We’re familiar with the Harry Potter author’s war with leftist cabals over her initial tweet that only women menstruate. She continued to stand with biology. She explained being an ally of the LGBTQ and trans community when it came to discrimination. No matter. She has essentially been canceled.
Remember actor John Cena calling Taiwan, which is a free and capitalist bastion, a country? That offended China’s communist party. Cena was quick to apologize to the communists.
Why should we care about leftist cabals? Because no one is safe. Freedom of speech and/or expressing one’s opinion is becoming dangerous. The losers are all of us, as more speech has always been considered healthy in a free and enlightened society.
Leftist cabals have even had a chilling effect on comedy. If there was one group that has historically been allowed to criticize, make fun of, or say whatever they wanted, it has been comedians. Comedians now fear the cabals in practicing their craft. Everything and everyone used to be on the table. No person or political party was safe. That was the point of comedy. We wanted to laugh. No more.
Look at the flack that comedian Bill Maher, a staunch liberal, has been getting for a year. Who’s angry at him? MAGA supporters? GOP Congressmen? Right-wing media? No. It’s leftist cabals. What is Maher’s crime? Maher has been outing the cancel crowd and progressives for being so far outside the mainstream that even liberals like him don’t recognize what it is to be a Democrat anymore.
We need free speech and more of it. We need the Joe Rogans of the world to question those in authority of all stripes. We need the contrarians, like Dr. Scott Atlas, to take on groupthink. Remember when he said in June 2020 that kids belong in school for in-person learning? Atlas was called things unfit to print here, yet the American Society of Pediatrics concurred with him just one month later.
The point is this. One need not agree with, like, believe, or even care what Andrew Yang, Joe Rogan, Bill Maher, or Dr. Scott Atlas thinks or says. But surely society as a whole is better off hearing from many voices across the political spectrum, and the names in this essay are indeed that. The alternative is to allow a cabal of nameless, leftist elites from academia, Hollywood, and the media mob to narrow what we hear and, worse, what we can say or think.
Jeff Szymanski works in political communications for AMAC, a senior benefits organization with nearly 2.4 million members. He previously taught high school economics for 15 years.