$50 Million Gone, Conservatives at War, and Three People Who Definitely Are Not Victims (The Five for 04/19/26)
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter, but don’t always make the front page.
Let’s dive into some Culture & Commentary.
[one]
There was a brief moment when it could be argued that Ibram X. Kendi was briefly the high profile public intellectual in the world (around the time of George Floyd’s death).
What happened next…was big. Kendi raised $50 million to launch a “center for anti-racist studies.” Five years and $50 million later…the center shut down in January 2025 (and Kendi split with Boston University, who was housing the project), all $50 million had been spent, and zero projects or meaningful research had come of it.
Before we move on…I’m going to reiterate my argument about any movement that blames just one thing/people group/belief system for ALL problems…that is intellectual schizophrenia.
I’m not making light of a very serious mental illness (my late grandfather ran a mental hospital in Galesburg, IL where most patients suffered from this terrible disease), but only as a comparison. Most schizophrenics think the Mafia/CIA/FBI is after them, and are always on the run.
Ditto on blaming racism (or the “patriarchy,” or “homophobia,” or “the liberals” or “the Republicans”) for everything. Is racism a real problem in 2026? Yes. Is it the ONLY driver of society? Absolutely not.
Kendi’s all-or-nothing approach in How to Be an Anti-Racist was en vogue during the COVID lockdowns and riots of 2020…but now that the world is a little more normal…he’s really fallen out of the public conscious.
The author’s attempt at a comeback comes in the form of his latest book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, which swaps out blaming racism for everything, to blaming people who dislike immigration for everything (note, part of my family are refugees from Laos—I’m pretty pro immigration). Just because I am somewhat in agreement with his general perspective…doesn’t mean that it’s not obvious Kendi is one of the least-skilled public intellectuals ever to gain the eyeballs of the nation.
From Coleman Hughes at The Free Press (video linked above)
"In a 500-or-so page book, the reader never gets the sense that Kendi believes there's a right way to restrict immigration. He doesn't, for example, contrast his long list of alleged neo-Nazis with thoughtful conservatives like Nikki Haley or Kemi Badenoch — people who want to slow down the pace of immigration for valid and non-bigoted reasons. The upshot is that the only way to be a good person is to be unreservedly pro-immigration, without restrictions or reservations. Not just for your country, but for every country on earth."
So, if you think that it’s a good thing that Taiwan, a capitalist, free country…can restrict immigration from mainland China, a Communist dictatorship sworn to overthrow the island nation and who would love to send spies…you’re a Nazi? Even though the immigration restriction has nothing to do with ethnicity (both countries are ethnically Chinese) and instead about the fact that China would love to send in spies ahead of their planned invasion?
That’s…really stupid. Kendi had his moment…he made a bunch of money by releasing a topical book at the exact right moment. And now he’s cooked…because he never really had a good idea.
This is not a new phenomenon…in the 90’s, there was a super popular relationship book Men Are From Mars, Women are From Venus, which was written by John Gray—his bachelor's and master's degrees came from the Maharishi Educational Research Center in Switzerland — a school founded by the Beatles' guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that has since shut down and is not recognized by U.S. higher education associations. His PhD came from Columbia Pacific University in Northern California, a correspondence school that was later shut down by the State of California for allegedly selling worthless diplomas.
Turns out…a lot of “revolutionary ideas” in best selling nonfiction books are just…things that go out of style very quickly. Kendi is just one of a very long list to fall.
But hey, he was a much more famous (and rich) writer than…the author of this publication…so maybe the real loser here is me, who refuses to chase trends or make bold, stupid statements for attention (to my financial detriment).
[two]
One of the biggest stories this year that blends politics and pop culture…is just how much two different factions on the political right hate each other. More traditional, limited government/Constitutionalist Conservatives (not saying “Republican” here, because the lines of political parties move all the time), including Ben Shapiro, Dana Loesh, Erika Kirk (Charlies widow) and the Populist/Nationalist crowd, who claim to be “America First” but for some reason (cough *money, cough) also love Russia and Qatar, and are oddly apologetic for Islam (Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens).
And the jabs thrown are not subtle, with Megyn Kelly squawking on her podcast “Ben Shapiro—f*ck you.” (Cause, you know, swearing a lot is a sign you really mean it). Tucker and Candace Owens have made similar statements about those on the “other side of the right,” which you can YouTube. I’d take a moment to make fun of Candace’s audience, but the Venn Diagram of people who listen to her show and people who can read above a third grade level are two circles half a mile apart.
Well, Shapiro took aim at another major figure on the right this weekend, VP JD Vance, who recently endorsed Theo Vonn’s podcast. From the video linked above.
Theo Von is basically just a Bernie Sanders leftist... and engages in all the sorts of conspiracy theories and, of course, is good friends with Candace Owens... and that's the guy that the Vice President thinks everybody should listen to.
Now, let me take a brief aside on J.D. Vance. I’ve probably never felt so betrayed by a politician. Vance is friends with one of my friends (they were in Marine boot camp together), and I pre-ordered Hillbilly Elegy back when no one was buying the book, and saw so much of my own story in it.
Since he made it to the White House, I’m not sure who JD is. Vance, married to a woman of Indian descent, was soft on white supremacist Nick Fuentes, after Fuentes called Usha Vance a “Jeet.” (Apparently a racial slang for Indian people).
I’ve never respected Vance since then, and I will never vote for him, even if that means not voting at all. Vance deserves to be called out by his own political side for endorsing a far-left comedian/podcaster.
Shapiro went on to point out that the members of Podcast-istan (so named because they like Islamic -istan countries so much) do nothing but complain—and never build.
Laughing along with the purveyors of bull****, while occasionally tut-tutting, and then when push comes to shove, defending the overall importance of grifters and nuts, popularizes the worst ideas. And that matters.
It matters, because when the same figures push the demoralization opp that America is run by nefarious forces beyond your control. When you prop up and promote those people who do that sort of stuff, you make people’s lives worse. You’re making American politics worse, and that does make the world a worse place.
Terrible low IQ slop ideas have consequences. Stop burnishing them.
Slow. Clap.
[three]
Well, welcome to another week of everyone claiming to be a victim. Up first, the fallout from Cochella. Sabrina Carpenter, arguably the biggest pop star in the world at the moment (especially since Taylor Swift is off planning a wedding), produced an elaborate, over the top set with six costume changes, eight stage layouts, backup singers and a bevy of dancers. And her views were dwarfed by…Justin Bieber scrolling through a laptop and singing along with his old videos.
Bieber, uber-famous since his pre-teen years, came up as one of the original YouTube stars, so one of the reasons his set resonated so well was watching an artist, now a married father in his 30’s, essentially flip back through a video yearbook while singing kareoke with…his younger self. This wasn’t exactly a lazy move, but one motivated by the fact that Bieber sold his back catalog, and had no intention of making one additional dollar for the company that now owns his old songs.
The results on YouTube were…dramatic.
Justin Bieber: 94.2 million views
Sabrina Carpenter: 2.1 million views
This sparked a flurry of reactions on X that Sabrina was…a victim:
female artists give full effort : flying, high notes, fireworks, outfits. meanwhile justin bieber, the most expensive coachella performer, just sits in a plain tee, plays youtube, no makeup, and still gets a pass? switch the roles and a woman would get dragged immediately.
Carpenter’s songs have been streamed 39 BILLION times, helping her rack up a net worth of $22 million. But hey, one person had higher YouTube streaming numbers at one festival, and bam…victimhood.
Elsewhere, remember the CEO/HR director caught having an affair at the Coldplay concert in Boston? Well, she claims she’s a victim…because the band’s vocalist, Chris Martin, never reached out to her.
So, the victims were definitely not her husband, or the CEO’s wife…who were both being cheated on…but her, because a band with 92 million monthly listeners…didn’t reach out after she experienced the natural consequences of the decisions she and the CEO made?
And finally, actress/producer/entrepenuer Reese Witherspoon posted a video to Instagram encouraging women to learn to use AI. Which seems…like a pretty non-controversial, right?
Well...I've decided it's TIME. The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. We don't want to be left behind. So...do you want to learn with me?
Nope…a number of fiction writers instantly determined that they were “victims” here. (Comments below are all from authors with major published works).
Well, in a way…they were. Because Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine company excels at the book-to-movie development pipeline, and her book club can move one gazillion paperback copies of whatever the actress puts her stamp of approval on…so in a way, the authors are the victims here.
Of their own stupidity.
At the end of the day, people are allowed to complain. But whining and finding creative solutions are…mutually exclusive. Every minute spent auditioning for victim is a minute not spent becoming the person the next generation of victims will be complaining about.
[four]
Well, this is dumb. A growing number of Gen Z women have live in “stay at home boyfriends” now.
I’m breaking my own rule about “it’s not my job to tell you what to do.” I’ve known one female exec who’s husband stayed home with the kids (cool, as she earned a gazillion dollars a year), but he refused to go back to workwhen the kids were grown. I think they’re still together, but I could tell she hated him. And honestly? She probably should.
Contrast this with Dolly Parton’s husband Carl, who was married to a woman worth $100 million, but put on steel toe boots every morning and laid asphalt for decades. Now that’s a man worth respecting.
Twentysomething adults (regardless of gender) should not be sitting around playing video games while someone else supports them. Ditto with 50something adult men.
Work is about a lot more than a paycheck. Even if you don’t need the paycheck, we all need to work in some way, or our brains and souls decay.
[five]
As always, let’s close this out with a pop culture roundup:
I loved Street Fighter on arcade in the Wal-Mart mezzinine. I loved the came on console (over several generations of tech). I loved the game as (a very bad, in retrospect, movie in 1994 (although “It was Tueday” one of the most brilliant lines in a bad movie).
Now, I’m ready to love the reboot, because it looks…like they figured out how to take very silly animated characters, and give the actors some real material to work with. It’s hard to make something this silly…be both fun and (somewhat) grounded (for the world the movie is set in), but I think they might stick the landing. In theaters 10/16.
I can’t even remember if I finished the last couple of seasons of Jack Ryan on Prime Video (I think they released during COVID?), but bringing John Krasinski (The Office, A Quiet Place) & co. back for a big-budget movie…looks like this will work even if you didn’t watch the TV show.
Out later this year.
You know how I keep harping on the fact that Metamodernism is sweeping pop culture as the nihilism and despair of Postmodernism is dying off (in some ways, the final season of The Boys is the dying breath of this round of Postmodernism—not that it won’t ever return).
Well, the same “wholesome” vibe that drove Superman to a box office hit last summer is now present in a Little House on the Prairie remake…which appears to exceed the original show in every way (with apologies to those who love the original—Michael Landon was great, but the rest of the acting was wooden, cinematography was garbage and the script writing was bad).
The biography of Laura Ingles Wilder truly is one of the great American tales, and the books deserve a better on-screen treatment than the IP got in 1974…
Streaming 06/09.
Another Hunger Games prequel…I didn’t see the last one, but it got good reviews. I doubt the series will ever reach the 2010’s fever pitch of the original films…but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the journey, if you’re into that world.
In theaters November 20th.
[new music]
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
I had never heard of Willow Avalon before this duet with Jason Isbell…but wow. Her vocals are distinct, and the songwriting here is brilliant. I’ve gotta dive deeper into the back catalog of this one…
Well, this is worth noting…Foo Fighters frontman (and former Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl has alluded to the fact that he ran into the drug dealer that got Kurt Cobain hooked on heroine, and possibly led to the singer’s death (if Kurt wasn’t murdered—which cannot be ruled out at this time), and wrote about his anger about the dealer being alive and free…when so many of his friends are dead from OD’s on “Of All People.”
That track alone is worth a quick play through of Foo’s new EP, which has a lo-fi garage rock recording feel (too lo fi for me, but Grohl addressing Cobain’s death makes in noteworthy).
[read and learn]
Well, I had to put down mulch and weed over the weekend (hurray for suburbia) and dove back into an Audible book I bought probably five years ago, and never finished. Shawn Smucker is clearly influenced by C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series (and to a lesser extent, Tolkien)…but his style is slower, grittier and more grounded.
Set on a farm in rural Kansas (I’ll let to Google synopsis take over):
a young adult fantasy novel about 12-year-old Samuel Chambers, who, after his mother's tragic death, embarks on a quest to find the Tree of Life to bring her back, discovering a hidden world of angels, monsters, and a secret war. The story blends magical realism with Judeo-Christian cosmology, exploring themes of grief, faith, and the struggle to accept death, and is the first book in a duology.
While I haven’t (quite finished the first book, I’m far enough along to make it an official recommendation. Amazon | Barnes & Noble
And finally, Allie Beth Stuckey (who broke the internet earlier this year with her Surrounded debate episode) hosted NY Times writer David French, in a debate about her book Toxic Empathy. Worth it.
Until the next one,
-sth