The Last Days of Disco Liberalism

How the Dominant Liberal Political Aesthetic of the Past 47 Years Came Crashing Down

Let’s get the obvious out the way: yes I read Woke is the New Disco. Even though I saw the piece a good three days after I thought of this one, I still felt it good enough reason to not write it. Until I read it. Consider this a companion piece to it. Whereas the Price Point piece focuses on how Trump’s massive victory was parallel to Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, I intend to delineate a liberal political aesthetic that has been prevalent from the days of Studio 54.

As I’ve said numerous times, the liberal media got its birth in 1968. Around this time, many famous celebrity liberals were guilty of radical chic, most infamously the Bernsteins who were savaged by Tom Wolfe by holding a fundraiser for the Black Panthers. At this time, the aesthetic was rich people championing the downtrodden and hobnobbing with radicals that wanted them six feet under.

1974 was when the liberal media truly found its voice with Watergate. Despite its mighty roar though, there still was no coherent aesthetic. This was the time of Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter liberals. Yes they looked inward, but they also took the folk style that once exclusively signaled revolution and focused on failed relationships in their upper-crust Canyon bungalows.

It wouldn’t be until Studio 54 in 1977 that the liberals would find their most durable aesthetic: centered around a philosophy of free expression and sexual liberation, much like the ‘60s, the ambassadors of this philosophy no longer bothered with radical chic or any rustic pretense: disco liberalism’s nucleus was coastal liberal celebrity elites (Liza Minelli) fused with coastal liberal media elites (Truman Capote) that justified their naked, mask-off elitism by emphasizing how comfortable they made things for girls and gays.

This was all linked to the ethos of the Me Decade of course:

The sexual revolution, which was initially about undermining ideas of property, (d)evolved into ego-gratifying meaningless sex at discos. The search for consciousness and peace was circumscribed in the ‘70s to become more of an inward journey. Besides these cultural reimaginings, there was also a steep decline in civic life and community values. The working class has been weak from the ‘70s till now. More than ever, the focus was on the individual more than the family. Feminism was hijacked to smuggle in propaganda about living for yourself instead of making a family or starting a community.

Much of this probably had to to do with the fact that the communities many women and gays grew up in were sexist and homophobic. Many hippies moved to communes to form their own societies for this reason. Those left behind opted out of society and followed their bliss.

As I have said, this has been the predominant liberal political aesthetic, with its absolute low point being the Kamala Harris campaign’s infamous overspending on celebrities. But it wasn’t the first low point. In the ‘80s, American conservatism was on the rise in the Reagan era. While journalistic institutions remained center-left, Hollywood blockbusters were patriotic, hip hop and hair metal offended boomer liberal critics’ sensibilities with homophobia and sexism respectively. ¹ But the most dramatic example of how disco liberalism had a rough climb past the ‘70s was “Family Ties.” Michael J. Fox’z Alex P. Keaton — the conservative, Wall Street wannabe son of two former hippies — was meant to be the butt of all the jokes. Instead teenage female watchers decided he was the clever heartthrob. The writers had to hold their nose and make him the center of the show. Even Hollywood itself, the mecca of liberal politics in media, seemed divided. All you need to do is compare the blockbusters of the ‘80s with the hilariously liberal Oscar winners. The top blockbuster of 1986 was the pro-military hit Top Gun while the Oscar winner was the anti-Vietnam film Platoon.

Liberalism’s strongest showing in ‘80s pop culture was music. Madonna and Prince’s sexual expressiveness fit like a glove with the postmodern, poptimist liberal academics. Bruce Springsteen, along with heartland rockers like him (Bob Seger, John Cougar) were collectively the last gasp of liberal populism then.

Just like disco had a critical reappraisal in the ‘90s, with many claiming that disco failed because of a homophobic, misogynist, conservative backlash, ² disco liberalism took much stronger root in the ‘90s, with the end of the Cold War, the beginning of the Pax Americana and the era of Clinton prosperity. Bill Clinton’s right-leaning policies meant this was no time for working class anthems or antiwar anything. Much like the Internet truly got its start in the ‘90s, so did disco liberalism. Although it wouldn't be as pronounced as it later was from ‘08 to ‘20, already in the ‘90s you see the core, overriding value of disco liberalism: inclusivity. This has been the paradox of disco liberalism: despite the inclusion of women (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), gays (“Ellen”) and blacks (“The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”), class issues were still swept under the rug, ensuring that the marginalized would look glamorous while there would be no more paeans to the common people. The emphasis now was on being cultured and cosmopolitan. Latte liberalism. In the background, conservatives started to get weirder. Ruby Ridge and Waco lead to the conservative militia movement and the general anti-government conspiratorial stance that once seemed to belong primarily to student radicals in the ‘60s.

The liberal media bias towards President Clinton, as I have mentioned before, backfired during the Lewinsky scandal. Sexist messaging came back full force in 1999, with Kid Rock shouting out Clinton as a pimp at Woodstock ‘99. This laid the groundwork for the PC-backlash of the early ‘00s, which early hipsters took up with gusto. ³ “Opie and Anthony,” Vice Magazine and “Family Guy” thrived at this time. The hipster community itself, regardless of what they thought about the Iraq War, shied away from political messaging, preferring to focus on craft instead of agenda. This was especially true with the alt-comedy of the time, which valued absurdity over topicality. Even indie music did not provide many, if any, anti-war albums. Neil Young took it upon himself to make one called Greendale. In a podcast interview with The Sound of Young America, former National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts was amazed at how no one besides The Daily Show and The Colbert Report was interested in satirizing the current moment. As I’ve pointed out numerous times, it was up to the NPR-listening indie twerps hipsters to lay the groundwork for the earnest Obama youth. ‘08 to ‘20 would prove to be the very golden age of disco liberalism.

Worthy of mention: Obama was the first Democratic President to do well with high-income earners. Thus began a paradox liberals have been haunted by for twenty years: even though their policies would seem to serve the middle class and poor, they seemed to appeal to and attract the elites. Nowadays liberals scoff at how someone could say a billionaire like Donald Trump is relatable. Back then, George W. Bush’s Texas accent and constant malapropisms meant he was the guy many blue-collar guys wanted to have a beer with, even as liberals constantly pointed out he was a rich Yale graduate. This made a sharp contrast to Obama’s Harvard airs, even though he grew up less wealthy.

Obama played a large part in the widespread popularity of Twitter, with his campaign using it to fire off messages, clips of his speeches, etc. He could even be said to be the nucleus of the Twitter liberal galaxy. Supporters retweeted him; journalists put up links to their articles about him; celebrities endorsed him. After Obama won, the hunger for progress got greater. But the excitement of a first Black President ensured that the progress would fit into that paradigm: first trans Olympian; first Pacific Islander Ninja Turtle, etc. As time went on, Twitter helped mainstream academic language that was once primarily found on Tumblr and it didn’t take long before the exclusivity got ramped up: now it wasn’t just about elite people, but elite academic language. Being tolerant wasn’t enough to be considered cosmopolitan; now you had to use the new slang; “intersectional,” “genderfluid,” “Latinx.” With no consideration about how such terms could be adopted into low income or working class communities. It was almost like the purity test of the Twitter community became a velvet rope.

The poptimist era of the 2010s of course was the perfect companion for disco liberalism, specifically Beyonce’s upbeat idpol manifestoes like Lemonade. Wasn’t long before beauty influencers put up black squares in 2020 in solidarity with George Floyd.

2016 was a year like no other. Not just because Trump won; because Sanders got screwed over. Before 2016, only conservatives noticed the media’s liberal bias. ⁴ When the Bernie Bros (a label of course concocted by the disco liberal press) felt betrayed by the Democratic party and got resentful of their condescending label, they also acknowledged the liberal bias. A Chapo universe started to build.

It is important to note this moment because for the first time since the Sixties, there was a sizable leftist movement that was disillusioned with electoralism and voting Democrat because it’s practical. From the Seventies until that year, no matter how left you were, you saw your vote more as a middle finger against the Republicans than a vote for a Democrat. Arguably, Obama was voted in to spite the Iraq War Republicans with their neocon agenda.

This divide only grew over time. COVID and Gaza proved to be fatal to the aesthetic. Celebrities telling people to stay home, not considering that not all of their audience has laptop jobs, grew out of touch. Yes, this has been a terrible decade for celebrity influence. Maybe the worst ever. Gaza and inflation proved the fatal wounds. Celebrities endorsing a candidate while ignoring genocide and high food prices; it was like a Marie Antoinette-themed disco ball.

Much has been written about the realignment of Democrats with the elites instead of the working class. But what good are the elites if their endorsement doesn’t matter? What good are the Democrats if they throw money at out-of-touch celebrities for nothing? Elon Musk buying Twitter was like the closing of Studio 54. That’s what people don’t get about what Twitter was; it was never as massively popular as Facebook, Instgram, Snapchat. Certainly not as big as TikTok. Twitter was for the media elites and those who wanted to break in. Those who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about getting a Time Magazine retweet and just wanted to show pictures of their nephew’s christening felt alienated.

As time went on after Musk’s 2022 purchase, the disco libs took too long to: a) leave X; b) find a new home. Not Donald Trump. Even after he was reinstated, Trump did not rely on X. As Ryan Broderick says on his Garbage Day newsletter, the 2021 Trump Twitter ban may have proven to have worked to Trump’s advantage more than many realized.It fed into his martyr complex. It led to an impossible scenario of some feeling weirdly nostalgic for his shitposts. As his campaign ramped up, he did everything but X it seemed. He appeared on podcasts. He did the McDonald’s video. He was decentralized in a way most influencers that are multiplatform would still do well to study. It was his ban that led to Musk buying Twitter just to reinstate its biggest attraction. But the biggest attraction went to Joe Rogan.

That talking heads all over cable news asked how liberals could have their own Joe Rogan speaks volumes. They were so sure Rogan cost them the election, not food prices, Gaza, etc. Taylor Swift would win them votes. Nope — turns out Rogan won him votes. Celebrities are the only thing legible at the Blue State disco ball.

So what’s next, now that the party is over? In this article regarding why Democrats won’t have a Joe Rogan competitor, Taylor Lorenz urges them to shift their focus to building bridges with the left much like Republican have no problem building bridges with figures from the far right.

It’s not just the party that is over. The culture war is over. So…the right won? No, but the liberals’ media empire is over. Much like Africa broke into independent nations after the British were kicked out, different political factions will have their own music, their own movies, etc. Don’t believe me? Go on Netflix. Home of Tony Hinchcliffe and Hannah Gadsby. Perhaps the competition will sharpen liberal writers who can’t simply demand to cancel or deplatform those they oppose. See, the good news about the culture war is the values did change. You can be trans, gay, etc. The bad news is not everyone has to like it. Wanting legal protections is one thing. Wanting consistent representation in the media until your group or lifestyle attains universal acceptance is childish. You know that will never happen.

We can’t be guilted into liking dance pop anymore. This election was arguably a referendum on Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, country music and general redneck entertainment was bigger than ever. But betting that redneck culture will be the entire culture for the rest of the decade is as dumb as predicting that Taylor Swift can win elections for struggling candidates.

Leftists have their own increasingly thriving ecosystem though. Pushed to the margins of the Internet much like the conservatives were mostly shunned except by Fox News, leftists have podcasts, streamers like Hasan Piker, a decent amount of Substacks, etc. ⁵

But wait, there’s hope for the liberal media with Bluesky, yes? All the liberals fleeing X and going there? It’s gotta work! Maybe…if Morgan Wallen and Hailey Welch also defect to Bluesky. If Hasan Piker and the Chapo guys go. But more likely than not, it will be a failed attempt at Internet nostalgia. Trying to bring back a moment that has long gone. Remember how SpaceHey was supposed to bring back MySpace-style social networking? Or how in early 2020, the maker of Vine made Byte, a short-form video app that was supposed to pull people away from TikTok to the Vine nostalgia camp? COVID happened and TikTok was bigger than ever. As I have said and others have said, Musk did liberals a favor by ruining it. They need to toughen up and get scrappy again. No need to rebuild the old nightclub. As the old song says, “Burn baby burn.”

1. It wasn’t until the online publication Pitchfork got going in the late ‘90s that non-hip-hop publications looked past the homophobia and gave critical acclaim to rap albums they respected anyway. To stay competitive, traditional publications like Rolling Stone and SPIN followed suit,

2. Partly true but not the whole story. If you even skim Turn the Beat Around, Peter Shapiro’s excellent history of disco, you can see that disco fans hated The Village People, Studio 54 and the general over-commodification of disco. Remember: Ethel Merman had a disco record.

3. Fun fact: for those too young to remember the ‘90s, there was a time when saying “black” instead of “African-American” was the equivalent of misgendering a non-binary person now. After 9/11 that changed. I distinctly remember a “Scrubs” episode where Turk corrects an earnest man saying “African-American”: “We say black now.” I can’t find the clip on YouTube, but that exchange is evidence of a decade-long pointless Culture War argument that somehow the country survived, even going on to vote for an African-American —sorry, Black — President.

4. I was a conservative from my Reagan childhood up until age 17. The moment I saw Don Henley sing Leonard Cohen’s “Democracy” at “MTV’s Choose or Lose Inaugural Ball” for President-elect Bill Clinton, I moved leftward. Of course I decided to be liberal not a communist yet. But even then, I remembered the media’s liberal bias, especially in the run-up to his election. The unbridled enthusiasm that twelve years of Republican rule would come to an end.

5. Substackers not only caught Biden’t dementia long before the mainstream press, they also saw how Kamala’s campaign might be in trouble. Considering the mainstream press’s bizarre aversion to Substack, no wonder they were caught unawares both times.