#‘Right’ thinking Gen Z will save America: Devine

Remember when Jane Fonda, the octogenarian actress, triumphantly declared last year that ­COVID-19 is “God’s gift to the left,” because it would help Joe Biden beat Donald Trump and transform America into a socialist paradise? 

Well, be careful what you wish for, lefties.

There are generational consequences for the repressive lockdowns, the vaccine and mask mandates, the disruption of school and college and the savage curtailing of the social lives of young people for a virus that basically doesn’t affect them. 

When old people in power scold children and young people for “selfishness” if they don’t get triple-vaxxed, or if they let their mask slip below their nose occasionally, or try to have some fun in the sun, it’s obvious who actually is being selfish.

It’s not the generation that has pretty uncomplainingly borne the brunt of the pandemic emergency measures in order to keep older and obese people safe.

Generation Z, aged 9 to 25, have a minuscule risk of death or hospitalization from COVID-19 but they have missed out on school and sports, and lost jobs and opportunities. At an age when socializing with their peers is crucial, they have suffered the isolation of curfews and closures that have taken a savage toll on their mental health. 

“We have been locked down for the best years of our life, and high school and college has been ­ruined,” says 16-year-old Tim Korshunov.

Now they are rebelling against the liberal establishment that ­betrayed them. 

In what will be a great shock to the Boomers, Gen Z’ers are becoming conservative — or at least rejecting the woke cultural soup into which they were born. 

You can see the trends on their preferred social-media platform, TikTok. It was TikTokers who helped make the anti-establishment, anti-Biden “Let’s Go Brandon” chant at college games go ­viral. 

“It’s the slogan of our generation,” says Korshunov.

The first generation not to know life before cellphones, last year they became the largest generation on Earth. And by 2024, Gen Z and millennials will be the largest voting bloc.

But unlike millennials, many of whom have gullibly accepted the leftist indoctrination of their elders, Gen Z is skeptical and less trusting of authority. They verify reality with their own research, and they trust their peers on social media more than established sources of information.

The top influencers on TikTok — youngsters who produce 10-to-15 second videos — are refreshingly scathing about the dishonest meta-narratives pumped out by establishment media, whether it is the lionizing of Marxist organization BLM or the false branding of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse as a white supremacist.

Tapping into the TikTok-influencer market is the future for the right, and so far, so good. 

The largest conservative network for young people on the platform is “Today is America,” which caters to 55 million users under the age of 33, with a network of 260 young “content creators” from all over the US, who make short videos on their phones with pro-America, pro-conservative, pro-capitalist themes, often delivered with wry humor. 

“We don’t care if you’re libertarian or conservative . . . or all forms of the ideological spectrum . . . as long as we are on the right side and we’re all promoting America,” says TIA co-founder Cam Rafizadeh, a 25-year-old entrepreneur.

One of TIA’s TikTok videos, titled “Liberals after watching the mainstream media and blindly believing it,” features a CNBC freeze frame claiming double masking has “Efficiency: 75%” and “Triple Mask. Efficiency: 90%.” A young man stands in front of the screen and silently puts on multiple masks over his face and eyes.

Another video begins with a young woman sipping a cup of coffee when the words “Since when did girls star preferring . . .” flashes onto the screen over images of boys in drag. The words “. . . to this” then appear, over images of Leo DiCaprio, Prince William, Tom Brady and assorted masculine types.

Popular Manhattan influencer “thedebralea” promotes traditional family values. “Motherhood is the biggest blessing in life,” she says in one of her posts.

Cam and younger brother Liam, 21, got into the ideas business by accident.

The North Carolinians found themselves with time on their hands in the pandemic and launched an online store to sell Trump gear and patriotic merchandise. They used social-media influencers to market their T-shirts but, says Cam, “these people were brutally attacked, harassed and threatened.” 

One of their young TikTokers was sent a bloody box of animal guts to his family home. Others were doxxed, their families threatened, and they were bullied at school, including from teachers who didn’t approve of their conservative output.

A lot of their creators decided to quit TikTok.

“My brother and I thought it’s terrifying this is going on in our country,” says Cam.

So they quit their jobs and turned from a merchandising company into a nonprofit pro-America community of Gen Z influencers, protecting them, helping them expand their brands and providing them with cameras to make more professional videos for YouTube or Rumble. 

“I felt a serious calling,” says Cam. “I felt this is it. If we don’t, we will lose our country.” 

The brothers recruited smart Gen Zers into the organization. Korshunov, for instance, has quit school and become TIA’s head of development.

Their director of strategy, 25-year-old Ben Geller, was just elected a legislator in Dutchess County District 4.

He points to the untapped electoral power of Gen Z, of whom the 70 percent who were eligible to vote last year stayed home. Geller says a lot of younger conservatives are “cautious or apprehensive about being judged or losing their jobs. They don’t talk on social media for fear of retribution from their employer or being lashed at by family members so they stayed home or stayed silent because of fear something would happen.”

That’s where TIA comes in, helping make conservatism cool.

Of course, their creators come in for the usual social-media censorship. Every day, someone is deleted or deplatformed. As many as three quarters are on their third or fourth accounts, but TikTok’s algorithms allow them to regain their audience within a week or two, says Cam.

And he says the more suppression they face, the more Gen Z seeks out forbidden ideas. 

“I always tell people Gen Z will save America.” 

It will be up the Gen Z to rebuild the institutions and replenish the moral capital squandered by their forbears.

Eat your heart out, Hanoi Jane!