This week, a lot of people and institutions got “punked,” that is, humiliated, by their own actions. Of course, the eternal punkees, as Hussein Aboubakar so brilliantly notes, are those who bought the Nakba myth by which Arab rulers instrumentalized the Palestinians for their own ends, a myth which ended with the Abraham Accords.

There are so many hoist by their own petard this week, I’m faced with an embarrassment of riches. Let’s start with the attack on Justice Samuel Alito. The Left simply cannot abide the fact that it doesn’t control all branches of the government, and threatens to pack the court and, barring that, disparages and tries to force the recusal of justices Clarence Thomas and Alito from the presidential immunity case, if not their removal from the court altogether. They promote one pretext after another. Someone -- maybe a dummy or a prankster determined to expose them as idiots -- reported that once the American flag at Alito’s home in Virginia briefly was flown upside down. In the fevered world of the Left, this represented Justice Alito’s support of the January 6 “Insurrection.” For people with any military or historical background, an upside-down flag is a distress symbol, and Alito responded that it was his wife’s response to some incivility by neighbors. Not satisfied with this first, not terribly successful, smear of the justice, a second flag, a pine tree with the words “An appeal to God” flown at the family’s vacation home, became the get-Alito rallying point. The usual media mob, and even the once sane Bill Kristol (who years before had endorsed Alito for the court) argued this was further evidence of disqualifying bias by Alito because one person on January 6 waved such a flag. In fact, the flag is an historic one. It was created during the Revolutionary War and was used by George Washington’s troops. It has been seen flying over the office of the San Francisco government and remains the official naval and maritime flag of Massachusetts. Anyone and any media outlet which reported that these flags were controversial or provocative chiseled away any remaining credibility he or it still had. (On any day anything may be “proof” of wrongthink. Remember when it was the AOK sign?)

President Donald Trump is the greatest punker of all. Just as Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were patting themselves on their brilliant strategy of tying him down in New York’s courtroom defending against a preposterous lawsuit and under gag orders from a demonstrably prejudiced judge, he announced a rally in the very blue Bronx at a venue which normally accommodates 3500 participants. At least 25,000 enthusiastic Trump fans showed up, fans of all races, mostly working-class........

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