In 1958 a political novel, The Ugly American, by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer became not only an international best-seller but permanently embedded the phrase “ugly American” into the global lexicon.  The book had become notorious for its scathing critique of how privileged Americans behaved abroad and how the supposed best and brightest, in their condescension and ineptitude, were viewed with derision by the native populace for their failures and hubris.   

This image of America’s elites has not waned over the past 60 years.  It is more pronounced than ever and not just because of their ongoing arrogance and fatuousness.  Today, the rest of the world is viewing, with alarm, an American elite class that has lost its mind and self-control, as it is the American ruling elites that are solely responsible for unleashing out-of-control-leftism and cancel culture upon the nation and the world.

The current American ruling class is the laughingstock of the planet.  This coterie includes among its number the Democrat party, the media/entertainment complex, Wall Street, tech oligarchs, corporatists and the professoriate.  This gaggle of buffoons are perhaps the most inept, egocentric and oblivious among all ruling classes in democratic and free nations around the globe.

This descent into absurdity began many decades ago but accelerated precipitously over the past five years.  The primary catalyst: the campaign and election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.

The shock of Trump winning the presidency confirmed that the contemporary elites never really accepted the commonly held belief that American society was essentially devoid of rigid and immutable classes.  Their near-hysterical reaction and unfettered determination to oust President Trump from office by any means possible was solely based on their belief that he was not only a reprobate but far worse -- a denizen of the deplorable lower classes to whom he had vast appeal.  The ruling elites knew that if the rabble in flyover country were to unite under Trump’s banner of populism, they could permanently oust them from the corridors of power.  This potential dire consequence had to be nipped in the bud.

Therefore, the search for allies in the crusade to crush Trump’s populism took on  urgency, as the ruling elites could no longer count on their decades-old hoodwinking of the working classes.  The primary critereon in this recruitment drive was a mutual hatred of Donald Trump and what he stood for; any other philosophical leanings were immaterial. 

Thus, fringe groups that would never have been given a seat at the table were accepted into the grand coalition.  Self-described democratic socialists, race-baiting activists, radical Marxists, extreme environmentalists and dedicated anarchists as well as their affiliated organizations such as Black Lives Matter, Antifa, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) and Color of Change  were mainstreamed.  The overriding objective of all these radical left-wing groups: the transformation of American society and reconstituting the nation into a one-party socialist/Marxist state. 

Once at the table the demands of these previously marginalized factions could no longer be dismissed or criticized.  The ruling elites, by their silence, gave these extremists their tacit imprimatur and green light to run roughshod over the Constitution and the country.

In exchange for their support, the radical left’s policy demands, such as open borders, abrogation of the First and Second Amendments, defunding the police and citizenship for illegal aliens had to be implicitly validated by the same ruling elites that for years had opposed these measures.  Additionally, faux issues such as “systemic racism,” “white supremacy,” “critical race theory,” and “non-binary gender identities” were tacitly endorsed and dominated the national discussion.  This gave birth to a new Inquisition -- cancel culture -- which was unleashed across the United States and which is now invading Europe. 

The ruling elites and the superannuated president they dyplicitously elected are unwilling and incapable of confronting their now inseparable allies.  These confederates have framed all their left-wing societal and policy demands in the penumbra of mythic systemic American racism.  They know that the elite class is too cowardly and easily intimidated to offer any resistance, as their tenuous hold on power is more important than the future of the country.

The depth of the gullibility and obliviousness of America’s best and brightest is revealed in their inability and unwillingness to counter a facile argument about the cure for “systemic racism.”  They remained mute as their associates have propagated the following Kafkaesque scenario that permanently condemns the country and the white population:

If someone agrees with the proposition that America is an irredeemable racist nation, then they are conceding to the absolute necessity of re-education, censorship and societal transformation.  If someone disagrees that America is an irredeemable racist nation, then the proponents of “cancel culture” will pounce on that statement as evidence that these miscreants are more racist than they realize, thus, the absolute necessity of more re-education, censorship and societal transformation. 

The fecklessness of the American ruling class and what they have unleashed is not lost on the rest of the world.  France, which also has an egocentric ruling class and is a long-time darling of American elites, recently expressed great concern about what is happening in America. 

Politicians, prominent intellectuals, and academics in France have voiced concern that “out-of-control leftism and cancel culture” from the United States is threatening French identity.

They are arguing that American ideas on race, gender, post-colonialism -- especially those coming from U.S. universities -- are undermining French society and are an attack on French heritage.

In the mad dash to eliminate Donald Trump and his supposed populist threat, this coterie of fools chose to get into bed with factions determined to permanently marginalize them.  In less than four years, the radical left’s success in sidelining a feckless ruling elite is breathtaking.

The Democrat party is now effectively controlled by the radical left.  Extremists both outside and within the social media companies have intimidated those entities into censorship of the left’s political adversaries and eventually their erstwhile allies.  In what will be a futile attempt to assuage the leftist rabble, book publishers and distributors are now refusing to publish or sell books unapproved by the extreme left.  University professors, regardless of political leanings, are being ostracized for writings from decades or years past and forced to conform to leftist orthodoxy if they wish to remain employed.  Major corporations are meekly succumbing to threats and blackmail into financially supporting the militants and at their behest abandoning a large potion of their customer base, thus assuring their ultimate demise.

Thus, what the ruling elites feared about Trump and his populist movement -- their permanent ouster from the corridors of power -- is well under way.  Except those taking over the corridors of power will oversee the downfall and destruction of the country.  Americans must stop blindly showing deference to the ruling elites that have betrayed them as the time has come for the people to declare unconditional political warfare against the radical left.

This begins by acknowledging that higher social status, due to circumstances of birth or economics, does not confer inherent credibility and that the credentialed set is often wrong and almost always self-serving.  Consequently, the ruling elites should be ignored and not accorded any believability.  The next step is to understand the left’s armament and tactics.  They are small in number with a large megaphone provided by the media arm of the ruling class and must, therefore, also be ignored.  By doing so the left’s primary weapon will be rendered moot.  Further, their only other weapon is intimidation which succeeds only if the targets allow it to. 

If the United States is to survive as founded, the damage wrought by the 21^st Century’s version of “The Ugly Americans must be overcome with resolve and little or no help from this self-aggrandizing cabal.