Tipping points imply a threshold event that results in a game-changing outcome. Tipping point talk used to be used in discussing the threat of global warming. We generally don't use that language anymore. The problem is that a 2 degree global temperature increase isn't a magic number. Despite the existential consequences, passing that threshold doesn't make one day different from the next.
In politics, tipping points do happen. The bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war in a day. Senator Joseph McCarthy's collapse seemed to stem from one sentence, "at long last, sir, have you no decency?" But that tipping point wouldn't have happened without a widespread, mostly unspoken groundswell of outrage at his tactics. Until then, most were still too afraid to speak up.
Which obviously brings me to Trump. Democrats pronounced dozens of supposed tipping points. Access Hollywood tape? Injecting bleach? January 6? "They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs"? Tariffs? I could go on. But how about the Iran war? His poll numbers are lower than ever, but where is the tipping point where his voters speak out?
In his 2024 campaign he promised lower prices and constantly repeated, “no more stupid wars”. But while demanding the Nobel Peace Prize, he managed to bomb Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela while threatening Cuba and Greenland. This past week he promised to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, specifically citing civilian targets, and graphically vowing to eradicate their culture, clearly war crime territory.
How much is enough? Is the tipping point finally here? Hemmingway accurately described a collapse as "gradually, then suddenly". It's inevitable. The tipping point is out there, but when?
I'm Reed Scherer and that's my perspective.
