The Price of Legitimacy

When government becomes theater and citizens are the props, the only question left is why we keep buying tickets.

It takes a particular kind of government to gaslight you about a fire while standing in front of the flames with a gasoline can. Today’s White House “ANTIFA roundtable” was a pageant, a reality-TV set piece tuned to the Stephen Miller attention economy, where the goal isn’t governance but spectacle, not law but the performance of “law and order.” The cast list featured the usual chorus of aggrieved influencers and political appointees telling one another they are very brave, very persecuted, and very close to uncovering a sprawling left-wing terror hydra funded by NGOs, homeless-services nonprofits, and, naturally, the media. The villain, “ANTIFA,” was invoked like a magic spell that makes due process disappear and federal troops appear.