[Make sure to read Robert Spencer’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]

What would happen if the educational system of a large, highly developed superpower were turned over for half a century to the mortal enemies of everything that nation stood for? This isn’t rocket science. The obvious result would be that a generation (or more) of young people would grow up loving that nation’s enemies and hating its heroes. And here we are.

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that “one in five young Americans has a positive view of 9/11 mastermind and Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, according to disturbing results of a DailyMail.com poll.” Disturbing? Sure. But unexpected? Only to those who have not been paying attention to what has been going on now for decades.

In the 1960s, leftists began what Communist activist Rudi Dutschke indelibly dubbed “the Long March Through the Institutions.” In China, Communist leader Mao Zedong began the Long March in 1934 to evade nationalist forces; the term, however, came to be associated with his slow, steady, patient rise to power, culminating in the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949. The Long March Through the Institutions was the same kind of slow, steady takeover, as Communists, leftists, and their allies gradually gained control of America’s colleges and universities, its primary and secondary educational systems, its popular culture, and above all, its ever-growing federal bureaucracy.

This has created a situation in which those who oppose this multifarious and all-encompassing establishment are universally derided virtually everywhere one turns — in what are supposed to be objective and impartial news broadcasts; in lessons about the nation’s history, present condition, and future prospects at every level of the educational system; in movies, popular music, and more. All of the late-night comedians who host talk shows are part of this camp, and although they hobnob with the political elites, they still posture as if they were plucky outsiders going up against a stultified and stultifying entrenched orthodoxy.

In fact, the antiestablishment rebels of the 1960s have become the establishment all over the world and are working hard now to consolidate their power and crush all dissent. The result is in the Daily Mail’s survey: “Three in 10 Gen Z voters believe the views of the anti-Semitic terrorist leader who slaughtered thousands of innocent people were a ‘force for good.’” What’s more, “another DailyMail.com poll in October found one in 10 voters under the age of 30 had a positive view of Hamas, despite the group’s murderous attack on Israel that killed more than 1,300 men, women and children.”

Then in mid-November, there was the Osama bin Laden craze on TikTok. Hordes of witless millennials suddenly discovered the terror titan’s 2002 letter to America and professed to find wisdom in its whiny grievance-mongering and Jew-hatred. But that was just the beginning. Now the same disaffected, diseducated, and rationality-challenged millennials are embracing not just Osama, but the whole hog, or if you prefer, the whole halal enchilada, and converting to Islam.

High-profile “influencers” are driving much of this trend. First, there was former kickboxer and accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate, who converted to Islam precisely because it sanctifies brute force and intolerance, qualities that he confuses with strength and sees lacking in the woke, relativistic half-men and men who think they’re women of the contemporary left. Following Tate into the Religion of Peace was the “Internet personality” Sneako, who is now doing his part to bring into the fold of Muhammad the legions of antisemites who have revealed themselves since Hamas’ Oct. 7 jihad massacre in Israel.

On Nov. 21, the venomously anti-Israel propagandist Jackson Hinkle, who has over two million followers on X, posted a video in which Sneako presents him with a biography of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Hinkle wrote: “Thanks @sneako for gifting me the biography of the Prophet Muhammad. It’s already a very eye-opening read.”

It is indeed, although Sneako is unlikely to have given Hinkle a Muhammad biography that will enlighten the anti-Israel advocate about Muhammad’s violence, cruelty, Jew hatred, misogyny, and the like. Or maybe he did, as it could be that they both regard all those aspects of the Islamic prophet’s life (as it is depicted in early Islamic texts) as positives.

Either way, if Hinkle decides to convert to Islam, he would be late top the party. The Daily Mail reported in mid-November that hatred of Israel and support for Hamas, so prevalent among leftists since Oct. 7, is now leading many millennials to embrace Islam, which they see as the “ultimate rebellion against the West.”

By the time these young dupes wake up to how they’re being manipulated, it is likely to be far too late. But what is happening was all too predictable. What did anyone expect would be the outcome of teaching young people to hate their own culture and heritage?