The clock is winding down on 2025. Thanks to Bobby Junior’s prominence, we saw a lot of activity on the Horseshoe People front this year. Hence this repost.
I’ve added a new featured image because I saw an outstanding French documentary about the OG Horseshoe Person, Benito Mussolini. The narration of Mussolini: The First Fascist is translated into English; its only flaw is colorized film footage. It makes Musso’s face all pink and rosy as he emotes on his beloved balcony.
Mussolini grew up in a leftist household and became a Socialist journalist before finding his true calling as a nationalist who created the Italian Fascist party. That’s why I call him the OG Horseshoe Person.
Grading Time: I give Mussolini: The First Fascist 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos grade of B+. I saw a lot of film footage I’d never laid eyes on before. This two-part docuseries is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Set the Wayback Machine to 11/21/2024.
I’ve been pondering the Horseshoe Theory of late. It’s a simple notion that explains a great deal about the state of the nation after my side lost a close election. MAGA Republicans are trying to spin the results as a landslide with a mandate for systemic disruption and displacement. But we know that they’re:
Disruption is tech-bro slang for blowing stuff up and burning shit down. It’s something far left and far right Horseshoe People agree on. I think nihilism is nuts but I dig this Los Lobos song:
The legacy media insists on calling Trump’s terrible cabinet appointees loyalists. It certainly applies to the likes of Linda McMahon, but Bobby Junior and Tulsi Gabbard are Horseshoe People who started off on the far left. They’re only loyal to themselves but that goes for the Insult Comedian as well. He’ll discard and deride them as degenerates once they’re no longer of any use to him.
I used to think that Horseshoe People were a vestige of the Cold War. In the Fifties and Sixties, the American right was groaning with former Communists who became friendly witnesses and worse. Alger Hiss’ accuser Whitaker Chambers, who was a Soviet agent turned William F. Buckley mentor, is the best example. He was, however, telling the truth about Hiss even if he was in cahoots with Tricky Dick.
The other reason I’ve had Horseshoe People on my mind is that someone I grew up with and was once close to has become a rabid MAGA Yippie. I’ll call him Trevor.
I met Trevor in grade school. We clicked immediately. He had a quirky and original way of thinking. We became fast friends and remained close until we moved to different parts of the country in our mid-Twenties.
In high school, Trevor was the biggest hippie in our class. Other than my Deadheadery I was too sarcastic to be a good hippie. Anyone surprised? I thought not. I have been known, however, to ramble on:
Trevor had a difficult home life. His step father was a strict disciplinarian who hated having a hippie son. Trevor’s mom was nice enough, but she was in thrall to her husband. I don’t know what became of them, but I know that Trevor was thrown out of the house by his dictator dad. He wound up living with one of our circle whose mother appreciated Trevor’s quirkiness.
Trevor was a talented musician with a flair for performative living. Life was his stage and his exuberant eccentricity was contagious. I found myself doing things I wouldn’t have done without knowing Trevor. I recall carrying a tuba into the local Denny’s while Trevor wore a wet suit. I’m still not sure if the waitresses hated us or thought we were funny. That was life with Trevor.
We drifted apart over the years but reconnected on Facebook as people do in the 21st Century. Growing up, I was the political one, Trevor was best described as a mostly apolitical leftist.
I understand from friends who stayed in closer touch with Trevor that the internet sparked in him an interest in conspiracy theories. That was the beginning of his evolution from hippie to punk rocker to his final destination as a MAGA Yippie and Horseshoe Person.
Trevor’s Facebook feed has become pure MAGA propaganda with a mildly leftist spin. Bobby Junior seems to be a particular favorite of his. That makes sense: they’re both Horseshoe People. Trevor is at least harmless but if Bobby Junior is allowed to run wild with our health care system there will be more of these:
That was my earworm as I wrote this post. I had to squeeze it in somewhere.
I haven’t seen Trevor in almost 40 years, so I can’t say I know him as an adult. But his life as a MAGA Yippie still saddens me. I remember him as a lively, funny, and kind person, which should have made him an unlikely adherent of a movement characterized by rageful nastiness.
Many of us have Horseshoe People in our lives. Make that past life, I’m past the point of trying to reform anyone. I am, however, not past using Trevor as a cautionary tale. We started off in the same place, took different paths, and find ourselves divided by politics. In the immortal words of George Harrison: Isn’t it a pity, isn’t it a shame.
Finally, you know what they say about horseshoes and hand grenades. The last word goes to Green Day:
