National security risks
Democrats and the MSM seem completely unconcerned with the risks inherent in divulging a president’s – any president’s – phone calls with foreign leaders. Perhaps they believe that because they dominate the agencies doing the leaking, it will never happen to a Democrat and so that makes it perfectly okay.
Trump has been the target of such leaks from the start; for example, see this from August of 2017. And this approach to Trump’s administration was planned even before Trump was inaugurated, as I described in this post which quoted a DOJ employee saying, in this Vanity Fair article from January of 2017:
…”You’re going to see the bureaucrats using time to their advantage,” and [the person] added that “people here will resist and push back against orders they find unconscionable,” by whistle-blowing, leaking to the press, and lodging internal complaints. Others are staying in contact with officials appointed by President Obama to learn more about how they can undermine Trump’s agenda
Leaking Trump’s phone calls with foreign leaders began early. As far as I can recall, this has never happened to any other president, including any Republican.
It is my strong suspicion that if such calls of other presidents had been leaked, most presidents (of either party) would have been guilty of far worse than anything in any of Trump’s leaked calls. Not only could no president on earth stand up to such scrutiny, but no president has ever had to.
Why is that? I believe that it’s only recently that a large enough number of people in the federal bureaucracy and in the press believe that the ends justify the means, and that it is perfectly okay to jeopardize the security of the US and the world in order to harm a president they don’t like.
It’s not that no one felt that way before. But I believe it has reached a critical mass. And it has destroyed trust – on the right but not limited to the right – in all government institutions.
This is a terrible development, but such trust is no longer warranted. I realize that’s not a new thing; it’s been building for decades. But now, even people who have long resisted the notion cannot deny it any more.
I wonder – I don’t know but I wonder – how many people in the middle are now feeling this same sense of distrust. The MSM has been distrusted for a long long time, but strangely enough, that doesn’t seem to have diminished their influence much. Lies repeated often enough and widely enough have a power all their own.
[NOTE: During the last week or so, the anti-Trump propaganda has reached a fever pitch. When I was trying to research this article, I once again was forced to confront the fact that Google is now a propaganda organ. When I searched for something such as “leak of Trump’s phone calls is a national security risk” on Google, I only got anti-Trump articles. When I did the same search on DuckDuckGo, I got a mix, although it was no surprise that the articles in the MSM criticizing the leaks were several years old. For example, here’s one that appeared in The Atlantic in August of 2017. It was by David Frum, of all people, who is a NeverTrumper but a Republican. It contains plenty of criticism of Trump, but Frum was still wary of leaks as a weapon against him:
Leaking the transcript of a presidential call to a foreign leader is unprecedented, shocking, and dangerous. It is vitally important that a president be able to speak confidentially—and perhaps even more important that foreign leaders understand that they can reply in confidence.
Thursday’s leak to The Washington Post of President Trump’s calls with the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Australia will reverberate around the world. No leader will again speak candidly on the phone to Washington, D.C.—at least for the duration of this presidency, and perhaps for longer.
As I said, Frum is a NeverTrumper. I haven’t seen any mention of phone leaks and security risks in anything he’s written recently, although if you find something please post a link in the comments because I’d be curious.]
[NOTE II: I realize that Mark Felt aka Deep Throat, who was instrumental in Watergate, was the associate director of the FBI at the time he become Woodward and Bernstein’s source for information that implicated Nixon. But the American public was not aware of that till much later.]
Perhaps one way to deal with the deep state is to get federal agencies out of Washington DC. An added benefit would it be to make it more difficult for lobbyists. Also have senators and representatives stay home in their own States. We have the technology that would allow collaboration and voting from there home location.
The left has been holding the power, and it will stop at nothing, including the destruction of the republic, to keep power.
Excellent post indeed! On the subject of Google as manipulating algorithms for the purposes of propaganda (in addition to many other topics of interest) I highly recommend the recent conversation from PragerU (available on Youtube) between Candace Owens and Douglas Murray, author of the recently-published book The Madness of Crowds about identity politics and its corrosive effects.
“…a president they don’t like.”
Well yes, but just a bit too kind.
More like, “…a president they want—and intend—to DESTROY”; employing a conscious, intentional and perfervid policy of total demonization of said president, and those who support him, as the prerequisite for rationalizing—for justifying—anything and everything they might do and say to successfully accomplish that destruction.
“The Art of Demonization” (with apologies to Sun Tzu?…).
Rather curious (frightening? sickening? repugnant? repulsive?) that so many fine, upright, caring, decent and intelligent—even brilliant—people (along with the myriads of knaves, fools and scoundrels—patriots all, no doubt!) have found it “fitting and proper that [they] should do this” (with apologies to Lincoln?…).
Those same people who would no doubt express disgust at delegitimization of any other group of people (well, maybe with the exception of Zionists)…even as it brings to mind a policy of delegitimization (with the intention to ultimately destroy) deployed against certain groups of people in the second quarter of the last century.
File under: Beyond irony…..
Trump may have to go to another system of contacting foreign leaders. Maybe do away with the listeners, who seem unreliable and go to encrypted with recordings that are secretly preserved. A former CIA officer thinks an investigation and maybe reorganization. is in order.
The CIA needs to be radically downsized.
That Frum editorial is a real piece of work. He tries to puff himself up as somebody better than those scurrilous leakers but…
1. He echoes the whole Russian Collusion hysteria which fed the impulse he decries. After all, if the President WAS some sort of Russian asset under Putin’s control, wouldn’t that justify extreme action to undermine and defeat him?
2. He repeats leaked information while sounding the alarm bell about such leaking. Even while pretending to take the high road, Frum just can’t resist repeating leaked info that he thinks makes Trump look bad.
A couple days ago I had a new thought about NeverTrumpers like Frum, the Democrats, and the media. They don’t want to beat Trump in 2020. Partly that’s because they’re nervous over being so wrong in 2016 but beating Trump at the ballot box won’t make them happy.
As wrong as they are about most everything else, those people do correctly see Trump’s election as an attack on their personal and public legitimacy. His victory was proof they’re not as smart or as successful or as good as they think they are. They don’t want to heal that wound by winning an election. They want to wipe their defeat from history and pretend it never happened.
Mike
Would the deep state “resistance” had been this virulent hads we not chosen somebody this off-putting? Would they have went after Cruz as rabidly?
I wonder.
Would the deep state “resistance” had been this virulent hads we not chosen somebody this off-putting? Would they have went after Cruz as rabidly?
You mean we should cast ballots in deference to the opinions of some smarmy bureaucratic microbe like Peter Sztrok?
Cruz might have had less contentious dealings with the bureaucracy and a better idea of how to bring DoJ to heel, but more contentious relations with the Republican congressional caucus. (Most of whom are skeevy careerists and antagonistic to him).
A former CIA officer
He speculates that the ‘whistlblower’ is a straw and that this went up the chain of command at the CIA, including Gina Haspel. There have been suggestions in recent months that Gina Haspel was also involved in the Steele dossier / Mifsud shenanigans.
I caught the tail end of a TV exposé on the privacy or lack thereof for presidential phone calls. They presented an audio tape of Pres. LBJ’s phone call to someone, which got into the media not too long after the call was made. (Forgive me if I’ve got elements here wrong.)
LBJ did most of the speaking and repeatedly stated that the person on the other end of the call would not be subjected to an extremely aggressive criminal investigation, but his final words were something to the effect that this person “would serve.” (In prison?)
Kennedy or possibly Eisenhower had set up the taping system, and LBJ thing was bad enough that the taping system was scrapped.
_____
Neo encountered the fact that Nancy Pelosi had already established the meme that Trump had committed a crime in a national security setting. She knows it was a nat. sec. setting because he put the transcript on the nat. sec. server. (sigh.) So now Google feels obligated to enforce the Pelosi meme. Alphabet executives made something like 470 visits to the Obama White House over the 8 years (I think), in case you were uncertain about their loyalties.
Art Deco: “You mean we should cast ballots in deference to the opinions of some smarmy bureaucratic microbe like Peter Sztrok?”
No. I mean shouldnt we have cast our ballots for a less off-putting less bombastic, more mature human being as a general rule to begin with?
No. I mean shouldnt we have cast our ballots for a less off-putting less bombastic, more mature human being to begin with?
IOW, we should be trying to please people like Peter Sztrok. If he bothers your sensibilities, don’t vote for him. Obviously, his personality wasn’t a decisive impediment to the people who did.
“…less off-putting less bombastic, more mature human being…”
No doubt.
Except THAT person would NOT have won the 2016 election.
True, things with Hillary at the helm would be oh so much simpler.
And—no doubt—oh so civilized…not to mention mature(!)
BTW, wasn’t presidential candidate Romney decried (though not at all rabidly, thank the powers that be) as a NAZI?…. (That is before he became a hero of the MSM later on?….)
Here are the exact numbers from the Guardian:
Move the capital around to prevent consolidation of power.
Also, if the Republican primaries can make use of those who lost to Trum, and put them in his cabinet at interesting positions, it would reduce the pressure on Trum to keep bureaucrats in power to keep things running. Ted Cruz and Romney has a lot of connections in the CIA/FBI, for example.
But no one person, not even the President of the United States, is as powerful as the DS told the media to tell Americans endlessly. The President isn’t even cleared to know that Mueller and Comey were ordered to backstab Byzantine style.
Art Deco: “Obviously, (Trump’s) personality wasn’t a decisive impediment to the people who did.”
It came down to who’s personality was less revolting and if it werent for the electoral college, (Thank you founding fathers), Trump would have lost out. That is BECAUSE of his off-putting personality. We dont have to appease people like Peter Sztrok, we should however, make it more morally difficult for the Sztrok’s of the deep state to justify a coup attempt and pretend he’s some sort of national hero. This is why, as conservatives used to say, “character matters”. Because it actually does.
Perhaps you should have considered these points before making Donald “I love Wikileaks” your leader.
It’s not that no one felt that way before. But I believe it has reached a critical mass. And it has destroyed trust – on the right but not limited to the right – in all government institutions.
This is a terrible development, but such trust is no longer warranted. I realize that’s not a new thing; it’s been building for decades. But now, even people who have long resisted the notion cannot deny it any more.
Slaves obey the Authority. Americans think they are free, however. But in obeying the Authorities… it’s not rule of law being propped up of course.
I remember several individuals here that didn’t want to believe that the social compact had been damaged as much as I had stated. As things got to the point where the media kept slamming the war propaganda on (this time, not against Iraqi army but against anti Left forces in the US), people couldn’t do that “All is Well in Zion” belief system any more.
It was more comfortable when people believed their home was actually safe.
The human ego favors believing itself right and on target. But looking at Leftist SJws, their ego is in no way something good for spiritual enlightenment. They cannot be enlightened. They are burdened too much by their Egos. And yet, how can a human be born and grow up without an Ego created by their opposition to the divine?
It’s a catch 22 impossibility, an avatar that is separate from the godhead must be in rebellion due to free will, or else it cannot oppose the godhead at all.
The ego in semi psychological terms, keeps this human avatar alive and able to survive in the natural jungle. But if we aspire to higher achievements, that’s not good enough. The ego told people “Believe in what we tell you about Mueller, he is a straight shooter”. Was he?
How do people fall for cons? Well, for the same reason they fall for their own self deceptions directed to the Ego and from the Ego.
The Ego told you that everything was fine, don’t believe the doomsdayers online. America has been through worst. Right?
Related:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/07/rough-men/
The LBJ tapes were released a couple decades after the fact.
Why is that? They seek to make the head of the rigime a figurehead of their politburo
It is perfectly okay to jeopardize the security of the US and the world
They absolutely dont see it that way, they absolutely have always been taught a false notion without any means of validation
Their utopian ideals and ideas are not limited to just how they think things “should” but that weakness will not translate to victimhood at a national level by another nation/s
In order to harm a president they don’t like
In order to save the revolution and put its timeline back on track, who is irrelevant if they are in opposition
I wonder – I don’t know but I wonder – how many people in the middle are now feeling this same sense of distrust.
thats the angst prey feels before the fence closes
I once again was forced to confront the fact that Google is now a propaganda organ
Now? No, only when its behavior was serious enough that it was no longer ambiguous… So everyone has a different year in which they noticed it or believed, but it goes way back.
Just-noticeable difference
I brought this up before, but i could tell its importance wasn’t really noticed or comprehended…
You can be invisible if you operate outside of perceptual boundaries. The easiest being someplace else than the perceiver. However location isnt the only axis that we operate on, is it? we also operate in time… and we operate in all those other things having to do with perception and whether whatever it is has changed enough that we perceive it.
some perceive things early, others late…
while we watch barry allen zip along in the fantasy box we do not get the deeper concepts that his displacement in speed imply to our perceptions and find it normal that we would not see him but would certainly feel his displacing the air.
Lots of critters are camouflaged by time, its very normal…
though i dont know if i have ever read any science on time camouflage (military definitely see it)
move so slowly they cant be seen as they are below the speed of short term memory
or intergenerational memory
or that vast memory that exist in the human cloud of eveyrone knows that
which once family units break up, is destroyed as is the wealth of basic knowlege within
[how to change a tire, how to use a sewing machine, how to cook, etc]
this loss was known, it was a feature, not a bug
no more blockquotes, eva?
and my post deleted?
Harry’s points were discussed at length in 2016, and most conservatives here and elsewhere agreed that they would really, really prefer to have a candidate who favored all, or at least most, of Trump’s declared policies, but without Trump’s off-putting character.
That candidate was not running.
Trump’s defects, manifold and manifest, shrank to a pinpoint in comparison to Hillary’s — especially when her election would have empowered even more of the corruption that was already evident at that date, and secured its entrencment in the judiciary for decades.
Trump may not be able to replace all the rotten apples in the barrel, but at least he isn’t putting more of them in.
With the caveat that some of the Republicans in the administation are not much better than the Democrats.
And for those who think that said perfect candidate would not have been subject to the vituperation and obstruction which has been deployed against President Trump, you are urgently in need of reality counseling.
The only advantage which that perfect president would have had is that maybe the GOP would not be piling on as well.
The Left (including its nominal Republicans) is protecting a long-entrenched, multi-headed Hydra of corruption, graft, and power that would be jeopardized by any Republican administration, even one of the wimpy ones rejected in the 2016 primaries.
AesopFan: “And for those who think that said perfect candidate would not have been subject to the vituperation and obstruction which has been deployed against President Trump, you are urgently in need of reality counseling.”
Nah. Not to this degree. Trump’s behaviour is so ridiculously awful, there’s such a thing as “never Trumper” Republicans.
With the hardcore leftist deep state people, this is very personal. I dont think it would have been nearly this bad if we hadnt elected a near complete pig.
Harry,
Its like I can hear you adjusting your bow tie as you ‘harumph’. You’re posturing is, frankly, loathsome. At least manju is just working his hardest to push the party line and earn that bonus and vacation (off season of course!) from the Soros Cubicle farm.
“Freaking choose better next time.”*
It is to laugh. We did choose better. And we get it, he offends you.
But make no mistake: Although it makes you feel good to think that you are more of a gentleman, its not Trump’s “off-putting” and bombastic attitude that generates the furor against him. It the fact that he is the first man in ages actually fighting back against the Deep State. Its that simple, bro. So reach down deep- get a set of tongs if you have to- and find a set.
“With the hardcore leftist deep state people, this is very personal. I dont think it would have been nearly this bad if we hadnt elected a near complete pig.”
Ha! Harry thinks if only we had elected somebody nice and polite, they’d be raping us all more nicely.
If you signal your virtue any harder, you’re going to pull something and injure yourself. And the left will still consider you the enemy and seek to destroy you.
*Which I see you have since deleted.
Yeah, Fractal Rabbit, freaking choose better next time.
It isnt that our choice was limited to either Mitt Romney or Donald Trump. If it were, I’d have to choose Donald myself. But we did have better choices; Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina to name a few. Instead you chose for us a reality TV star blowhard who entered himself into a year-long public dispute with Rosie O’Donnell and an embarrassing conspiracy theory about Obama’s birtherism. He’s a shitshow candidate and he’s definately unworthy of the hero worship displayed here. He’s getting the treatment he’s getting because of his personality + his politics, whereas it wouldnt have been nearly as bad if we had elected somebody less rash and impetuous with his speech. Ted Cruz is far better at leveling the left than Trump is. What we need is smart, not bombastic.
Kind of a mute point now of course, but jesus…Next time choose better.
“Yeah, Fractal Rabbit, freaking choose better next time.”
LOL. I think I can even hear the nasal twang in there.
“He’s getting the treatment he’s getting because of his personality + his politics, whereas it wouldnt have been nearly as bad if we had elected somebody less rash and impetuous with his speech. ”
You keep telling yourself that, sport. Don’t pull a muscle while you do it.
P.S. Your bow tie is crooked.
and an embarrassing conspiracy theory about Obama’s birtherism.
You’ve got every dumb talking point down. He remarked on Obama’s odd behavior 8 years ago, inducing BO to finally release his long-form certificate, something Gov. Abercrombie had already publicly recommended.
Nah. Not to this degree. Trump’s behaviour is so ridiculously awful, there’s such a thing as “never Trumper” Republicans.
1. They can meet in convention in a linen closet.
2. They have nothing to recommend them
freaking choose better next time.
The alternative in the general election was a pair of useless 3d party candidates and the gruesome Hellary. The alternative in the primaries was Ted Cruz (no executive experience, rather young for the job, &c), Marco Rubio (no executive experience, intellectually mediocre, has the Yasir Arafat act down pat of saying one thing to Anglophone audiences and another to Hispanophone audiences (not to mention shivving his electorate with the Gang of 8), and John Kasich (swamp creature with a bad attitude).
And it failed right Art? Yes, embarrassingly so. Its still questionable judgement. You want something more up-to-date? How ’bout the 3D chess playing genius’s inability to select crucial players he cant find himself to agree with more than a year later?
Yeah, anyone of those conservative candidates I mentioned would have been better than what we have now.
Oh, and rabbit; bow tie adjusted. Thanks.
It came down to who’s personality was less revolting and if it werent for the electoral college, (Thank you founding fathers), Trump would have lost out. That is BECAUSE of his off-putting personality. We dont have to appease people like Peter Sztrok, we should however, make it more morally difficult for the Sztrok’s of the deep state to justify a coup attempt and pretend he’s some sort of national hero. This is why, as conservatives used to say, “character matters”. Because it actually does.
You want us to appease you. Your judgments are superficial and don’t merit serious attention.
I’m pretty sure if Obama said something like this…
I’m happy to sell you more Javelins to defend yourself against Russian aggression. I would like you to do us a favor though.
I would like you to look into this theory that debunks the myth that Putin has done bad things. Also, the Soviets were right to invade Afghanistan.
The other thing is that many people say Sarah Palin went to the Ukraine to have an illegal abortion. Could you please look into that.
I’ll put you in touch with our investigator, Mr Al Sharpton. You’ve seen him on TV telling the American people that Palin is a crook. See how efficient our justice system is. The jury already know the truth by the time we are ready to prosecute.
…some Patriot would file a whistleblower account, or even leak the call.
Manju,
You get that bonus yet at the Trolls ‘R Us Cube Farm? You sling BS faster than most I’ve seen kid. You deserve it. Tell your supervisor I said so.
And it failed right Art?
You’re wishcasting again.
Yeah, anyone of those conservative candidates I mentioned would have been better than what we have now.
I have it on your authority.
Manju:
You provide welcome comic relief.
Of course, when Obama took office, this was the plan, just as it was later announced with Trump:
Fractal Rabbit thinks you should get a bonus. I, on the other hand, think that whatever they pay you (even if it’s zero), it’s too much.
Harry –
All the “nice people” in Washington DC liked General McClellan, and everyone everywhere loved Robert E. Lee. Too bad the Union ended up with Ulysses S. Grant. That’s how it goes sometimes. Nobody in elite circles of London cared much for Winston Churchill. Nobody among US politicians could stand George Patton.
But there you are.
Neo,
I was just trying to make him feel better. You know, a good old fashioned pep talk. The kid needs it. He tries so hard but gets no respect.
Harry –
Also, just so you know, it’s tiresome and makes you look rather a fool that you come here with no idea of what neo and the others here went through in 2016 before realizing the ill-mannered lout was all there was left out there at a time when the “best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
It’s really boring to go back in time and justify oneself for you, a naif who needn’t linger.
Harry:
They hated Reagan. They hated George W. Bush. Absolutely hated him. And there were Republicans who hated them, too.
The difference now is rather simple, I think: now the left realizes they can get away with a lot more than they could get away with before. That’s for a number of reasons. The main one is that they learned it can be done from the Obama administration, and he (as well as the increasingly leftist tilt of the MSM and the education system) gave them the tools to do it by seeding the DOJ and other bureaucracies with increasingly leftist people.
Artfldgr:
I can’t locate any deleted post of yours.
Hey manju, what if Obama had bent over to the Russians and told them he could be “more flexible” after the election?
Harry, you are nuts if you think Cruz would have been treated any better. In fact many on the left saw him as being even “worse” than Trump. I supported Cruz in the primaries but after the election I realized Trump was the *only* Republican who could have won. No one else would have flipped PA/MI/WI.
manju, you mean the Al Sharpton, the anti Semitic demagogue who was repeatedly invited to the White House for private meetings with Obama? Just checking.
Neo; “They hated Reagan. They hated George W. Bush. Absolutely hated him. And there were Republicans who hated them, too.”
Oh yeah, I not saying that isnt true, or that they werent calling Romney Hitler, because they did. Im just saying that I think it would be harder for the deep state to justify to themselves acts of treason if the guy we chose as Commander in Chief wasnt some clown or some caricature. With the twitter king I can see someone being compelled to save the nation from this buffoon as a moral mission. Im not saying thats right, what Im saying is that Trumps troubles are largely of Trumps creation.
Oh, and manju: Straighten your bow tie.
I think it would be harder for the deep state to justify to themselves acts of treason if the guy we chose as Commander in Chief wasnt some clown or some caricature.
Who cares? We don’t choose our leaders to please wire-pullers in the bureaucracy. Time to purge the bureaucracy.
I liked Trump from the moment he rode the escalator. I liked his personality, because I sensed it was the personality we would need for the battle to come. His outlandish statements and behavior were a frontal attack on political correctness, which no one had ever done. He let the Left know from day one that he was, and remains, a fighter. You can’t win a debate using only the words your opponent allows. Further, Donald Trump doesn’t care if you like him; he has a job to do.
CapnRusty, Id prefer somebody who uses his energy to fight for the Constitution, the rule of law and individual freedoms, not waste that energy on a battle of personalities. You saw what you liked from the elevator. I saw what I disliked from his needless idiotic personal feud with O’Donnell.
As for the job he has to do, when he gets around to doing it without the idiotic distractions, the foot-in-mouth comments and ammunition handling tweets he’ll be fighting for us. The more he makes this personal, the less that has to do with doing his job.
Harry: Tough.
If you or the Deep State don’t care for Trump’s style, it’s tough luck for you and the Deep State. It’s not illegal or unconstitutional to have an unpleasant style. It is treason to commit treason and it’s quite objectionable to justify treason for such a superficial reason.
I don’t care for Trump’s style and I didn’t vote for him. But that’s small potatoes. Trump is the President. There’s no “if you don’t like the President’s style” clause in the Constitution.
“…unconcerned with the risks…”
Well, the stakes are rather high since the Democrats, in their infinite wisdom—and virtuousness—have decided that the Holy Grail they’ve decided to pursue is in fact a zero sum game.
Besides, so convinced are they of their invincibility—failure is just not possible—that they never considered the potential for any blowback.
(After all, they hold ALL the cards…do they not?)
But blowback there is. And now the Democrats (and the wise and the virtuous who support them) have nothing left but scorched earth…. (Ah, but moral and virtuous scorched earth!)
https://twitter.com/JohnWHuber/status/1179033670927044609
…with the MSM and its confederates providing megaton barrages of cover and curtains of ultra-high-decibel, non-stop noise….
Yep, invincible. (Just ask ’em!)
Harry, manju doesn’t wear a bow tie like you. Duh! He works in a cubicle and gets paid for what he writes.
He dresses in a polo and khakis, like Jake from State Farm.
“. . . waste that energy on a battle of personalities.”
And you? You are doing here what?
Oh, sorry, that’s right . . . endearing everyone to your point of view.
putz
CapnRusty, Id prefer somebody who uses his energy to fight for the Constitution, the rule of law and individual freedoms, not waste that energy on a battle of personalities.
Well, the Democratic Party has since 2010 been using the machinery of federal tax collection, law enforcement, and intelligence services against the political opposition. That’s the battle. Trump didn’t choose it, he’s just in it. You’re complaining about superficial matters. Your whole perspective is unserious and should disappear.
Actually, there’s nothing superficial about it. Being a clown in a position of such importance is off-putting and derisive. You are all locked in to Trump being this happy warrior fighter, genius extraordinaire, but the rest of us who are not slavish sycophants realize there’s a whole vast middle Trump could have attracted that might have shifted more support his way and made his election seem more legitimate, therefore diminishing the deep state jokers brazenness to take “justice” in their own hands.
None of you can apparently see this and dont want to consider that the Donalds behaviour is at least as damaging to our cause as it might get us some welcomed gain in the economy or Supreme Court appointments. Even there, with Kavanaugh, how he was treated, as an extension of Donald Trump’s personality, probably wouldnt have been a derisive an issue if someone else had appointed Kavanaugh to the position. Would he have been strongly opposed? Yes. I doubt it would have been so rabidly and sexually tinged as it was with the same cringeworthy hysterics as what happened.
I can tell though, a lot of you have some kind of personal emotional stake in Donald Trump by all the Ad hominem attacks thrown at me for expressing an opinion. Like, somehow not being a lickspittle makes me a bow-tie wearing something, something…a putz as sdferr calls me. I would have thought that behavior beneath adult conservatives who are supposed to be able to argue on the merits.
Not here though boy. It’s populism all the way.
Its like Im on the right wing version of The Young Turks.
Enjoy your day.
Art Deco nails it. The big story is how the Obama Administration packed the senior reaches of the intelligence community, the IRS, and the judiciary with highly political fellow travelers who could be trusted to hate the right people. That was new and unprecedented. In their overconfidence that no one would ever see their files, they played fast and loose with law and traditional processes.
So the hysteria and constant scheming flow from anger and fear.
Wretchard says the torpedoes are in the water and headed for capital targets. Giuliani says the trail of breadcrumbs reaches Obama himself. (Of course it does.) We are in for trouble. And the Left wouldn’t know how to call off the fight, even if they wanted to.
[off-putting and derisive]…[You are all]…[us who are not slavish sycophants]…[None of you…see this]…[I can tell though]…[a lot of you have some kind of personal emotional stake]…[by all the Ad hominem attacks thrown at me]…[somehow not being a lickspittle]…[argue on the merits]
Your modus operandi from the get go has been naught but insult, dimwit. You’re a putz quite simply because you are incapable of standing back to see your own effect. And warned, you persist. That’s the epitome of foolishness, or, to coin a term, putzishness.
It’s yours to choose of course, but honestly, you ought not to think this way is working, or even likely to work eventually.
Actually, there’s nothing superficial about it.
You need to learn what is meant by the term ‘superficial’. And look in the mirror.
Harry, people have heard your point. A hypothetical Trump might be more effective than the real one. A hypothetical Trump who talks in soothing tones, using the Higher Diction of the Higher Humbug—like a university president—instead of talking like a guy on a barstool.
Well maybe. GW Bush tried that (though it was’t his natural language), and he was still ”Bushitler.”
But your hypothesis will never be tested.
The people who hate him hate him for real reasons that have everything to do with power, money, and tribal identity. There is about to be not enough money to keep pumping up the urban machine, and a lot of rice bowls are affected. Teachers’ pensions, for example.
So maybe there are some suburban moms who could be a little less startled. From what I know of suburban moms, however, I think they are made of sterner stuff. Maybe they worry about affordable health care: that seemed to resonate during the midterms. Whether they thought they were voting for impeachment, who knows? I guess we will find out.
The Democrats remind me of a homeowner who hates their upstairs tenant and burns down their house* to get rid of their unwanted tenant.
*And allows their homeowner’s insurance to lapse.
Harry says, ” Id prefer somebody who uses his energy to fight for the Constitution, the rule of law and individual freedoms…” You don’t think Trump is doing those things? I do. Of course, his style grates on many. He uses that Twitter feed to bring up issues the established media will not permit to be discussed. However much people may dislike his personality, he has done more in office for causes conservatives are supposed to favor than any president since Reagan, and maybe even more than Reagan. I’m judging him on performance and not on whether he’s my kind of person.
We went with the guy that has helped blacks more than any other administration in my lifetime… has helped spanish here too for jobs… has actually helped tons get off of the rolls… has made sure that a conservative was on the bench… has been removing regulations that have stopped business… changed small business llc law to make that better…
if your white, would you care if they decided no medical care for you?
how about lets go national with blasio idea of RFID to control people city to city?
nah…
screw it.. just get the minorities to vote away X and you can load all the disgruntled people who didnt want freedom, into ovens again.
i could literally list about 200 positive things
and if THATS what a TV show blowhard does vs a communist…
why complain?
would you rather have your child shot in a protest like in beijing?
would you rather be re-educated in a camp?
Instead you chose for us a reality TV star blowhard who entered himself into a year-long public dispute with Rosie O’Donnell and an embarrassing conspiracy theory about Obama’s birtherism.
no, thats not why we chose him…
we ignored THAT BULL SH*T which the left thinks is so important..
you really care a lot about rosie odonnells feelings?
her f*cking daughter hates her… (i know her daughter)
Rosie is even more disgusting in person… (i have met her)
your a complete asinine idiot, and a very bad person… to reduce the list below to just rosie, and the fact that the birth certificate has the wrong number, and was easily a fake (which in and of itself means nothing)… no scan of a birth certificate has layers in photoshop and if you had the software as i did, you could hve downloaded the white house copy from the white house at the time and looked at the layers and history… so the person that did it didnt know photoshop well enough to get rid of that history
but reducing your complaint to rosie, a belief and that, and missing below?
thats just how bad a person you are… and how badly you think of the people your talking to now
Economic Growth
4.2 percent growth in the second quarter of 2018.
For the first time in more than a decade, growth is projected to exceed 3 percent over the calendar year.
Jobs
4 million new jobs have been created since the election, and more than 3.5 million since Trump took office.
More Americans are employed now than ever before in our history.
Jobless claims at lowest level in nearly five decades.
The economy has achieved the longest positive job-growth streak on record.
Job openings are at an all-time high and outnumber job seekers for the first time on record.
Unemployment claims at 50 year low
African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American unemployment rates have all recently reached record lows.
African-American unemployment hit a record low of 5.9 percent in May 2018.
Hispanic unemployment at 4.5 percent.
Asian-American unemployment at record low of 2 percent.
Women’s unemployment recently at lowest rate in nearly 65 years.
Female unemployment dropped to 3.6 percent in May 2018, the lowest since October 1953.
Youth unemployment recently reached its lowest level in more than 50 years.
July 2018’s youth unemployment rate of 9.2 percent was the lowest since July 1966.
Veterans’ unemployment recently hit its lowest level in nearly two decades.
July 2018’s veterans’ unemployment rate of 3.0 percent matched the lowest rate since May 2001.
Unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma recently reached a record low.
Rate for disabled Americans recently hit a record low.
Blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades.
Poll found that 85 percent of blue-collar workers believe their lives are headed “in the right direction.”
68 percent reported receiving a pay increase in the past year.
Last year, job satisfaction among American workers hit its highest level since 2005.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans rate now as a good time to find a quality job.
Optimism about the availability of good jobs has grown by 25 percent.
Added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election.
Manufacturing employment is growing at its fastest pace in more than two decades.
100,000 new jobs supporting the production & transport of oil & natural gas.
American Income
Median household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, a post-recession high.
Wages up in August by their fastest rate since June 2009.
Paychecks rose by 3.3 percent between 2016 and 2017, the most in a decade.
Council of Economic Advisers found that real wage compensation has grown by 1.4 percent over the past year.
Some 3.9 million Americans off food stamps since the election.
Median income for Hispanic-Americans rose by 3.7 percent and surpassed $50,000 for the first time ever in history.
Home-ownership among Hispanics is at the highest rate in nearly a decade.
Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels ever recorded.
American Optimism
Small business optimism has hit historic highs.
NFIB’s small business optimism index broke a 35 year-old record in August.
SurveyMonkey/CNBC’s small business confidence survey for Q3 of 2018 matched its all-time high.
Manufacturers are more confident than ever.
95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future, the highest ever.
Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.
12 percent of Americans rate the economy as the most significant problem facing our country, the lowest level on record.
Confidence in the economy is near a two-decade high, with 51 percent rating the economy as good or excellent.
American Business
Investment is flooding back into the United States due to the tax cuts.
Over $450 billion dollars has already poured back into the U.S., including more than $300 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
Retail sales have surged. Commerce Department figures from August show that retail sales increased 0.5 percent in July 2018, an increase of 6.4 percent from July 2017.
ISM’s index of manufacturing scored its highest reading in 14 years.
Worker productivity is the highest it has been in more than three years.
Steel and aluminum producers are re-opening.
Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and NASDAQ have all notched record highs.
Dow hit record highs 70 times in 2017 alone, the most ever recorded in one year.
Deregulation
Achieved massive deregulation at a rapid pace, completing 22 deregulatory actions to every one regulatory action during his first year in office.
Signed legislation to roll back costly and harmful provisions of Dodd-Frank, providing relief to credit unions, and community and regional banks.
Federal agencies achieved more than $8 billion in lifetime net regulatory cost savings.
Rolled back Obama’s burdensome Waters of the U.S. rule.
Used the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations more times than in history.
Tax Cuts
Biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history by signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs act into law
Provided more than $5.5 trillion in gross tax cuts, nearly 60 percent of which will go to families.
Increased the exemption for the death tax to help save Family Farms & Small Business.
Nearly doubled the standard deduction for individuals and families.
Enabled vast majority of American families will be able to file their taxes on a single page by claiming the standard deduction.
Doubled the child tax credit to help lessen the financial burden of raising a family.
Lowered America’s corporate tax rate from the highest in the developed world to allow American businesses to compete and win.
Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.
Cut dozens of special interest tax breaks and closed loopholes for the wealthy.
9 in 10 American workers are expected see an increase in their paychecks thanks to the tax cuts, according to the Treasury Department.
More than 6 million of American workers have received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to tax cuts.
Over 100 utility companies have lowered electric, gas, or water rates thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Ernst & Young found 89 percent of companies planned to increase worker compensation thanks to the Trump tax cuts.
Established opportunity zones to spur investment in left behind communities.
Worker Development
Established a National Council for the American Worker to develop a national strategy for training and retraining America’s workers for high-demand industries.
Employers have signed Trump’s “Pledge to America’s Workers,” committing to train or retrain more than 4.2 million workers and students.
Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.
Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.
Domestic Infrastructure
Proposed infrastructure plan would utilize $200 billion in Federal funds to spur at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment across the country.
Executive order expediting environmental reviews and approvals for high priority infrastructure projects.
Federal agencies have signed the One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) streamlining the federal permitting process for infrastructure projects.
Rural prosperity task force and signed an executive order to help expand broadband access in rural areas.
Health Care
Signed an executive order to help minimize the financial burden felt by American households Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.
Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.
Signed Right-to-Try legislation, expanding health care options for terminally ill patients.
Enacted changes to the Medicare 340B program, saving seniors an estimated $320 million on drugs in 2018 alone.
FDA set a new record for generic drug approvals in 2017, saving consumers nearly $9 billion.
Released a blueprint to drive down drug prices for American patients, leading multiple major drug companies to announce they will freeze or reverse price increases.
Expanded short-term, limited-duration health plans.
Let more employers to form Association Health Plans, enabling more small businesses to join together and affordably provide health insurance to their employees.
Cut Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate penalty.
Signed legislation repealing Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known as the “death panels.”
USDA invested more than $1 billion in rural health care in 2017, improving access to health care for 2.5 million people in rural communities across 41 states
Proposed Title X rule to help ensure taxpayers do not fund the abortion industry in violation of the law.
Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy to keep foreign aid from supporting the global abortion industry.
HHS formed a new division over protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom.
Overturned Obama administration’s midnight regulation prohibiting states from defunding certain abortion facilities.
Signed executive order to help ensure that religious organizations are not forced to choose between violating their religious beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate or shutting their doors.
Combating Opioids
Chaired meeting the 73rd General Session of the United Nations discussing the worldwide drug problem with international leaders.
Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand, introducing new measures to keep dangerous drugs out of our communities.
$6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
DEA conducted a surge in April 2018 that arrested 28 medical professions and revoked 147 registrations for prescribing too many opioids.
Brought the “Prescribed to Death” memorial to President’s Park near the White House, helping raise awareness about the human toll of the opioid crisis.
Helped reduce high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent in 2017.
Opioid Summit on the administration-wide efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
Launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction.
Created a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis which recommended a number of pathways to tackle the opioid crisis.
Led two National Prescription Drug Take Back Days in 2017 and 2018, collecting a record number of expired and unneeded prescription drugs each time.
$485 million targeted grants in FY 2017 to help areas hit hardest by the opioid crisis.
Signed INTERDICT Act, strengthening efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids before they reach our communities.
DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.
Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.
Declared the opioid crisis a Nationwide Public Health Emergency in October 2017.
Law and Order
More U.S. Circuit Court judges confirmed in the first year in office than ever.
Confirmed more than two dozen U. S. Circuit Court judges.
Followed through on the promise to nominate judges to the Supreme Court who will adhere to the Constitution
Nominated and confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to develop a strategy to more effectively prosecute people who commit crimes against law enforcement officers.
Launched an evaluation of grant programs to make sure they prioritize the protection and safety of law enforcement officers.
Established a task force to reduce crime and restore public safety in communities across Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.
Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.
Violent crime decreased in 2017 according to FBI statistics.
$137 million in grants through the COPS Hiring Program to preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities, and support crime prevention efforts.
Enhanced and updated the Project Safe Neighborhoods to help reduce violent crime.
Signed legislation making it easier to target websites that enable sex trafficking and strengthened penalties for people who promote or facilitate prostitution.
Created an interagency task force working around the clock to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent human trafficking.
Conducted Operation Cross Country XI to combat human trafficking, rescuing 84 children and arresting 120 human traffickers.
Encouraged federal prosecutors to use the death penalty when possible in the fight against the trafficking of deadly drugs.
New rule effectively banning bump stock sales in the United States.
Border Security and Immigration
Secured $1.6 billion for border wall construction in the March 2018 omnibus bill.
Construction of a 14-mile section of border wall began near San Diego.
Worked to protect American communities from the threat posed by the vile MS-13 gang.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division arrested 796 MS-13 members and associates in FY 2017, an 83 percent increase from the prior year.
Justice worked with partners in Central America to secure criminal charges against more than 4,000 MS-13 members.
Border Patrol agents arrested 228 illegal aliens affiliated with MS-13 in FY 2017.
Fighting to stop the scourge of illegal drugs at our border.
ICE HSI seized more than 980,000 pounds of narcotics in FY 2017, including 2,370 pounds of fentanyl and 6,967 pounds of heroin.
ICE HSI dedicated nearly 630,000 investigative hours towards halting the illegal import of fentanyl.
ICE HSI made 11,691 narcotics-related arrests in FY 2017.
Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand introduced new measures to keep dangerous drugs out the United States.
Signed the INTERDICT Act into law, enhancing efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids.
DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.
DOJ launched their Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.
Released an immigration framework that includes the resources required to secure our borders and close legal loopholes, and repeatedly called on Congress to fix our broken immigration laws.
Authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure the border.
Enhanced vetting of individuals entering the U.S. from countries that don’t meet security standards, helping to ensure individuals who pose a threat to our country are identified before they enter.
These procedures were upheld in a June 2018 Supreme Court hearing.
ICE removed over 226,000 illegal aliens from the United States in 2017.
ICE rescued or identified over 500 human trafficking victims and over 900 child exploitation victims in 2017 alone.
In 2017, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested more than 127,000 aliens with criminal convictions or charges, responsible for
Over 76,000 with dangerous drug offenses.
More than 48,000 with assault offenses.
More than 11,000 with weapons offenses.
More than 5,000 with sexual assault offenses.
More than 2,000 with kidnapping offenses.
Over 1,800 with homicide offenses.
Created the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office in order to support the victims and families affected by illegal alien crime.
More than doubled the number of counties participating in the 287(g) program, which allows jails to detain criminal aliens until they are transferred to ICE custody.
Trade
Negotiating and renegotiating better trade deals, achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade for the United States.
Agreed to work with the European Union towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsides.
Deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.
Litigated multiple WTO disputes targeting unfair trade practices and upholding our right to enact fair trade laws.
Finalized a revised trade agreement with South Korea, which includes provisions to increase American automobile exports.
Negotiated an historic U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement to replace NAFTA.
Agreement to begin trade negotiations for a U.S.-Japan trade agreement.
Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.
Established a Trade and Investment Working Group with the United Kingdom, laying the groundwork for post-Brexit trade.
Enacted steel and aluminum tariffs to protect our vital steel and aluminum producers and strengthen our national security.
Conducted 82 anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations in 2017 alone.
Confronting China’s unfair trade practices after years of Washington looking the other way.
25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China and later imposed an additional 10% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods.
Conducted an investigation into Chinese forced technology transfers, unfair licensing practices, and intellectual property theft.
Imposed safeguard tariffs to protect domestic washing machines and solar products manufacturers hurt by China’s trade policies
Withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Secured access to new markets for America’s farmers.
Recent deal with Mexico included new improvements enabling food and agriculture to trade more fairly.
Recent agreement with the E.U. will reduce barriers and increase trade of American soybeans to Europe.
Won a WTO dispute regarding Indonesia’s unfair restriction of U.S. agricultural exports.
Defended American Tuna fisherman and packagers before the WTO
Opened up Argentina to American pork experts for the first time in a quarter-century
American beef exports have returned to china for the first time in more than a decade
OK’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.
your turn to refute ALL THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Harry’s argument might make sense if the response to Trump had been sober, civil, and responsible. But it’s been the exact opposite.
Complaining about Trump’s behavior in 2016 made some sense. Complaining about it NOW make you a putz.
Mike
IF it gets cut, you cut overwhelming evidence of why he should have a 2nd term, and why the people who want to CHANGE AMERICA hate him the way Lenin hated the Czars reforms for being so good, no one wanted to rebel (in the late 1800s)
The people who hate him hate him for real reasons that have everything to do with power, money, and tribal identity.
Him, yes, but as much his supporters. The Democrats’ whole approach to public policy is now a series of harassment gestures directed against the non-exotic working class and the more vernacular elements of the bourgeoisie. The cruise ship conservatives like David French have yet to figure this out. The more astute like Kevin Williamson have, but he despises the non-exotic working class just as much.
NEW SECURITY RISK
Sanders has heart stent surgery after chest discomfort
Bernie Sanders experienced chest discomfort during a campaign event on Tuesday and had two stents inserted to address a blockage in an artery, his campaign announced.
“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days,” senior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement. “We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”
Harry’s argument might make sense if the response to Trump had been sober, civil, and responsible. But it’s been the exact opposite.
It’s been pointed out that David French has posted justifications for just about every mendacious or kooky Democratic talking point you could imagine, bar those directed against Brett Kavanaugh, a fellow lawyer.
* * *
We get the picture, Harry.
A couple of years ago, most of us here would even have agreed with you.
Some people still do, obviously, but not too many here, because we spent three years hashing it out (in the logical context, not the CO & CA one).
Without question, a less bombastic, rash, impetuous, uncouth, thin-skinned, etc etc etc President would be far more palatable to conservatives and Republicans in general — David French and Jonah Goldberg, among others, have made that their on-going cri de cœur.
And now, as on many prior occasions, it looks like The Donald is not just selling the Democrats the rope to hang him with, but giving it away free.
Republicans have lots of cause to worry.
But, those causes do not arise primarily because of Trump’s character or demeanor, but because he stands in the way of the Left’s agenda to permanently transform America.
Most of Harry’s complaints have been ably answered already, but when I got up this morning, I realized that they could be demolished simply by referring to the treatment the Left and Democrats accorded to Justice Kavanaugh — who is certainly not guilty of any of the character defects attributed to President Trump.
And — lo and behold! — Harry anticipated me on that very point.
ALL of the vituperation heaped on Kavanaugh was TRUMP’S fault for contaminating the nomination!
They were forced to demean and smear — on international tv, in the halls of Congress — a respected judge who had no prior accusations against his character after decades of judicial prominence.
Trump made them do it!
If he was only a more couth, accomodating, soft-spoken opponent, they wouldn’t have to rave and lie at all, but could just put forth their objections in a reasonable, a gentle, way.
Each one is, in reality, just an ordinary politician,
Of course they are.
But when you cross them, they get mean
Once upon a time, The Democrats loved The Donald despite all those character flaws, or at least they got along with him and were willing to cozy up to him if they saw any gain it before he jumped into the presidential party pool, and even then they thought his piggy buffoonery was just fine, when it looked like he was going to be an easy mark in the general election.
They only started hating him after he won.
Gosh, Artful, that was indeed Artful.
And comprehensive. And long.
And astounding. (Can it all be true?)
If it is in fact true, then it should be more obvious than ever why Trump must be utterly destroyed, utterly annihilated: the man is terrifyingly dangerous for the party absolutely convinced that it “has history on its side”. (IOW for the party that is absolutely convinced that it can fool ALL of the people ALL of the time.)
Speaking of “history”, it seems crystal clear, given the quasi-religious nature of the war in which we currently find ourselves, that the “progressive” types (and “moral” and “ethical” paragons) will be itching to do to Trump (and his supporters) that which was done to Akhenaten of yore….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten
Indeed, the arc of history certainly does bend!
Does leaking Presidential phone calls with world leaders to the MSM, which then, with no care for the disastrous effects of doing so, publishes them, destroy those foreign leaders confidence in the U.S., and reduce–or even eliminate–these foreign leader’s willingness to talk with, trust, and to negotiate with a U.S. President–today’s President, or any future President?
Does it very seriously impair–even essentially destroy–the ability of the U.S. to conduct major foreign policy, which needs some level of secrecy to be successfully conducted?
From the numbers of such leaks and their consequential nature, it is quite obvious that Trump’s opponents really don’t care what they tear down in order to destroy him and his presidency, what procedures and norms–that have stood us in good stead for almost 250 years–they shred, what oaths and loyalties they betray, or what the consequences of their reckless actions might be down the road.
They are hellbent of destroying Trump, no matter what the cost might be.
Cue Neo’s “A Man For All Seasons” video.
Harry:
I don’t know what blog you’ve been reading, but it doesn’t seem to be this one.
Most of the people here don’t think Trump’s a genius extraordinaire. Nor did they support him in the primaries. Most of the people here support him now, though, because (a) yes, he IS a fighter (b) his policies have been far better than expected, and infinitely better than those of the opposition (c) much of the rhetoric against him is based on lies and/or an objection on style.
And yes, we can all imagine a far more perfect president. But that is actually completely and utterly irrelevant.
Snow on Pine on October 2, 2019 at 11:46 am said:
…
From the numbers of such leaks and their consequential nature, it is quite obvious that Trump’s opponents really don’t care what they tear down in order to destroy him and his presidency, what procedures and norms–that have stood us in good stead for almost 250 years–they shred, what oaths and loyalties they betray, or what the consequences of their reckless actions might be down the road.
They are hellbent of destroying Trump, no matter what the cost might be.
* * *
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/the-vicious-circle-of-norm-breaking
EDITORIAL
The vicious circle of norm-breaking
by Washington Examiner, | September 30, 2019
It’s a nice essay, but it misses the point.
The Democrats’ norm-breaking started a long time before Donald Trump’s inauguration; the malfeasance of the minor sort is part and parcel of the whole attempt to destroy his presidency, before the fullness of their perfidy is revealed to the nation as a whole.
*Looks like Harry is channeling the WE editors.
Let me repeat myself:
Trump’s lack of experience and proper comportment are only the hooks that the Left is using to grapple with their real primary issue: his unraveling of their policies and disclosing of their agenda.
If the Washington Examiner misses that, then it’s no surprise that the NeverTrumpers still find an audience.
Artfldgr on October 2, 2019 at 10:43 am said:
We went with the guy that has …
i could literally list about 200 positive things
[and so he did!]
and if THATS what a TV show blowhard does vs a communist…
why complain?
* * *
Standing ovation for making the case with facts, instead of “truths” that don’t ever seem to have any connection with reality.
https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-the-claim-that-trump-is-hitler-lacks-concrete-evidence-but-alludes-to-a-deeper-truth
“While Trump may not be factually Hitler, he is morally Hitler, so we’re gonna go with ‘Unproven,’” said one Snopes writer. “The important thing for a fact-checker is not the facts, but the truth.”
Harry:
One more thing—
You write:
To prove you wrong, I have only to state three words: “Clarence Thomas hearings.” Or was that somehow Donald Trump’s fault, too? After all, Trump was alive on earth at the time.
The vicious attacks on Kavanaugh are a symptom of Democrat derangement, not of a reaction to Trump. A neighbor of mine was rabid about Kavanaugh, because of abortion, she said. Neo has it right. This was Clarence Thomas, magnified.
Akhenaten? really?
i figure i would get the cassandra treatment..
and as i said, they are as angry as lenin was with the Csar for ending serfdom
A neighbor of mine was rabid about Kavanaugh, because of abortion, she said.
Of course, the question is why is she a fanatic on that issue. Can’t help but notice that the women in my family who are fanatics on that question include one who disliked her children (and her husband, though he’d given her reason to), one who was most succinctly described as a drunken slut, and one a divorcee with a 25 year long history of sour intramural bickering with her father and her one-and-only sibling (a sister; I don’t think she’s on the best of terms with her mother, either).
No, Art Deco, she’s really a nice person, happily married for decades. She has two daughters in their twenties, so she worries about them — although she’s told me she’s made sure they both have contraception in place, so she need not worry much. Basically, she gets all her information from having CNN on when she’s around the house. It’s ignorance. It’s also an absence of religious instruction and belief. She’s “spiritual but not religious.” She knows I’m conservative in both religion and politics and remains friendly.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/02/report-trump-white-house-upgraded-special-compartmented-computer-system-to-deter-leaks/
That’s the conclusion; the arguments in Dyer’s article amply justifies it.
To keep in perspective what the term “national security” really means —
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/02/sound-of-d-day-in-old-audio-recording-found-in-n-y-cabin/
“The recording came from the Navy command ship USS Ancon (AGC-4). The date: 6 June 1944. It was made by radio correspondent George Hicks, who was on the Ancon to cover the D-Day landing. Ancon, formerly a civilian vessel, had been converted to a troopship, and then to a command ship for the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Forces. She had taken part in the landing in Sicily in 1943, and was now the flagship for the U.S. amphibious forces marshaled at Omaha Beach.”
Harry, maybe you have a point, if Trump wasn’t so bad.
But I just read a ton of comments — none specify what Trump tweets are so bad.
One says Trump raised a question about where Obama was born. Recall, on Obama’s first book, there was blurb stating he was born in Kenya.
Repeating a lie from a Democrat is not so bad. And we don’t see Obama’s entrance to Harvard, or his transcripts, or his tax forms — but somehow he’s getting wealthy.
Results are more important than actions, which are more important than words. Even most Trump haters will agree with that, in theory — but then still hate Trump.
Despite his great results.
Lowest unemployment in decades.
Conservatives into judges.
More Reps getting a bit of backbone to stand up against the PC-bullies, and especially the lies.
I like Cruz. I used to say I didn’t like Trump’s words — but I then I started reading his tweets. Like 65 million others (?). Show me the bad tweets you think are so terrible, or the bad words in paragraph context.
He’s constantly saying good things about most folks, except those who have attacked, insulted him. Then he insults them back. I didn’t use to like this.
Then I remembered the book The Evolution of Cooperation, and repeated Prisoner Dilema games, and the strategy which wins.
Tit for Tat.
Start with cooperation, then do what the other guy did.
Trump is trying to get cooperation, but the Dems are not cooperating. And a hundred elite Trump-haters, all telling lies about his actions, some similar, some different, don’t mean Trump’s actions are actually bad.
Oh yeah, it’s actions which are mostly criminal, not words so much.
Trump is far less guilty than most top Dems.
An ancient Roman legal maxim was, “F?at j?stitia ruat cælum” i.e. “let justice be done, though the heavens fall.”
Now the Left and the Democrat’s motto seems to be ”no matter if the Constitution and the Republic fall, as long as we get Trump.”
Don’t know what happened here–what I believed I typed was “Fiat justitia…”
Maybe your internet avatar wanted to say “Will Justice be done? Let the Heavens fall!”