Letting the media just treat you like a Nazi-branded doormat isn’t the way to influence voters. Trolling them until they self-destruct, on the other hand, seems to be working great for Trump, at least as long as the media doesn’t fool anyone into thinking they’re not enemies of the very concept of liberty, just because they are such fierce defenders of liberty for themselves (but just as fierce opponents of their same liberties being granted to the deplorable untermensch).

Very late back to the thread but if yiu imgaine Cruz would melt down at this stage, you are an idiot. You have to be cruel to be kind.

Being honorable has no place in combat when the enemy is trying to kill you by means fair and foul.

I think Trump is the right personality in his job, compared to the alternatives. Cruz, my 2016 favorite, would have melted down by now. I just hope Trump avoids the temptation of appeasement of enemies domestic and foreign. That would be like drilling holes in the hull of the Ship of State to let out the water coming over the gunwales.

http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/05/12/student-editor-fired-reporting-unapproved-truth/

“The short version of Andy Ngo’s story is that he recorded the discussion by a Muslim student at an interfaith panel of the thorny question whether a sharia state can allow non-Muslims to live there in peace; i.e., unmolested. The question came from the audience, and was based on a Quranic sura about the treatment of non-believers.

…
At this point, Ngo got his smart phone camera going and recorded the next passage:

And some, this, that you’re referring to, killing non-Muslims, that [to be a non-believer] is only considered a crime when the country’s law, the country is based on Koranic law – that means there is no other law than the Koran. In that case, you’re given the liberty to leave the country, you can go in a different country, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. So you can go in a different country, but in a Muslim country, in a country based on the Koranic laws, disbelieving, or being an infidel, is not allowed so you will be given the choice [to leave].

Ngo posted video clips of this interlude in a pair of tweets. Four days later, he was blindsided when his editor-in-chief called him in for a dressing down and a hearty firing. In the interim, Breitbart had picked up on his tweets, and had posted a story on the panel event.
…

Moments after publishing the original video, I shared the tweet with the editor and a Vanguard reporter who was at the event. Neither of them expressed any outrage in response back then. The tweets apparently only became “predatory” and “reckless” when conservative sites picked up on them.”

Emphasis in the original.

“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) earlier this week revealed that another senator had told him that he was surveilled by the Obama administration.
“I know one other senator who’s already confided to me that he was surveilled by the Obama administration, including his phone calls,” he told Fox News on Wednesday.

“So when this all comes out, if there are political figures from the opposition party, it’s a story bigger than any of the allegations with regard to Russian collusion,” he said.

Earlier this month, Paul announced that sources have told him that he has been surveilled by the Obama administration, and that he has requested information from the White House and the congressional intelligence committees on whether he has ever been surveilled, unmasked, or searched for in intelligence reports.”

amwick | May 13, 2017 at 11:30 am
Ok, everybody gets two scoops… Many people, for whatever reason only really want one, waistline, sugar, dairy, who knows?… Many, many scoops remain uneaten, Trump and his staff are reported for wanton waste of taxpayer ice cream. Either way, MSM creates headlines against President Trump.

nordic_prince | May 13, 2017 at 12:27 pm
Aren’t we fortunate to be living at a time when the MSM have the courage and tenacity to perform intrepid reporting such as this. We can now sleep safely at night knowing that the media are on top of these vitally important situations that threaten the very fabric of society.

/sarc

DouglasJBender | May 13, 2017 at 4:12 pm
One screen, two screens, CNN screams about ice cream.

I am going to the WH website to read the statements, press meetings, EA and all that stuff. Less stressful than listening to all of the talking heads talking over each other.

The bottom line is do you honor your word/hand shake and do you treat others, even those you disagree with, with respect, until they demonstrate they deserve no respect.

I have no problem with djt acting ‘unpresidential’. My problem with Trump is how he acts unpresidential. He is like Popeye, he is what he yam and thats all that he yam. Not to my liking for sure. But he is what we have. As long as he does not go full Ivanka, I will make allowances.

Pssst…. I expect that to happen before his 365th day. But don’t tell Cornhead.

We thought the left “lost it” under GWB. It sure seems a much different ballgame now, and it is not clear whatsoever that it would be so under any other GOP candidate, as they would be handling it all in a VERY different manner.

With Cruz there would have been a much more cohesive front, a sounder strategy to get things done, anticipating hurdles from the left, and less opportunity for the left to score on.

In a word – (an order of magnitude more) competence.

trump invites and generates controversy, whether it serves a strategic purpose or not. He escalates. He feels compelled to be in the news regardless of the consequences – is he even considering the consequences, or is he just reacting to what his Id tells him at the moment?

Could go on…but the point is made.

People wanted a “fighter” and that’s what we have, and maybe all we have (he has some good cabinet picks, but remains to be seen if they will be listened to or overridden (thrown under the bus?).

Too bad he is missing many of the other attributes we’d want in a conservative leader, including a (largely) conservative philosophy.

Having spent some time around the executives of various client companies, across many cities (incl. NYC – though no brokerage or law firms, admittedly) – some very nice, some fist slamming on the table yellers. Each was able to be assertive in their own way.

The ones (the very few) we had most trouble with were the liars, schemers, bullies, etc. – they come in both flavors and in variations in between.

Our path to success was invariably being honest, forthright, and both tactically and strategically smart (e.g. trust but verify), and if it was just not going to work, we parted ways.

Bottom Line: I don’t believe the generalization, as, when one gets past the style / assertiveness, it still comes down to character.