A millennial revolution?

In her post-election column, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan described the mood of Hillary supporters as one of “enraged mourning,” an excellent description for the emotional and often irrational reactions to Trump’s win we’ve all seen in the news and social media. My favourite was the New York woman who decided to make herself and daughter the focal point of her family’s Christmas card, relegating her husband and son to a sidebar frame, in order “to reaffirm her place in the world.”

And yet not all Democrats were unhappy to see Hillary lose.

We’ve heard a great deal about the “lesser-of-two-evils” voters on the respectable right who regarded Trump with such distaste they voted for Hillary. What we haven’t heard so much about are those on the alt-left — the diehard Bernie Sanderites — who actually preferred to see a loose cannon like Trump win rather than vote for establishment-symbolic Hillary. They are not fringe or few; they are legion. If they had all voted for Hillary, she might have won. But they didn’t. And they are, overwhelmingly, young.

The millennials “preferred Sanders over Clinton by a margin so overwhelming that the word ‘landslide’ doesn’t even begin to describe it,” says City Journal reporter Michael J. Totten, who made the Sanders faction the focus of his scrutiny while attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last July. They dislike Hillary every bit as much as Trumpists do, but the similarity ends there. Totten saw signs of extremely edgy views in Philly: signs reading “Go home, F*** Hillary,” but also “Long live the Intifada!” Sanders people urged Communist Party pamphlets on all delegates.

Totten interviewed individuals on what they felt was wrong with Hillary (“lack of integrity” ranked high) and the Democratic party: “The Democratic party hasn’t gotten rid of patriotism yet” and “They brought out the flag and sang the national anthem” which “makes me uncomfortable” were some of the comments that troubled him.

It would be reassuring to believe that this alt-left group’s anti-American views are age-specific and that they will become more “patriotic” as they get older. But that is unlikely to happen. The millennials