The Democrats believe they have checkmated Trump
Maybe they have.
But maybe they haven’t.
For a few weeks now, ever since Trump threatened to send troops to stop the riots and Senator Cotton backed him up, and the entire left, Democratic Party, and MSM (but I repeat myself) yelled “Tyrants!,” I’ve been thinking along the lines that commenter “Barry Meislin” describes quite well here:
…[I]t is an attempt to finally force Trump out of office.
To finally finish the Democrats’ war against Trump and his administration.
To finally finish the coup against Trump that ran aground when the Russia hoax couldn’t live up to its intended result (though it certainly did plant, with the able assistance of the MSCM, the requisite vicious dragon’s teeth amongst the public).
To finally finish the failed effort to drive him out of office after several blatantly specious if vituperative and vociferous impeachment attempts.
To finally finish off the job Obama began in 2016 (vis a vis Trump, but way before 2016, vis a vis the country, which according to Obama was to be fundamentally transformed, and was certainly on that path, except for Trump’s “disruptive” appearance on the scene).
And so the current collusion between Democratic politicians in the House and Senate, in the governorships and municipalities—and needless to say, in the media—to encourage mayhem, to wreak destruction, to promote discord, to sow division, to hold the country hostage to its ends-justify-the-means policy of violence and subversion, has reached its peak.
Here I beg to differ. I’m not so sure it’s reached its peak, as I wrote about a month ago (and please read the whole thing):
The 60s radicals were relative amateurs. These people, less so, at least in terms of organization. And we have not yet seen the worst of it, of that I am convinced.
I hope I’m wrong. But it’s something like a fireworks display. At first, there are pauses between the explosions, and some are smaller and some larger. But towards the finale, they come fast and furious and the reverberations are huge.
And we’re still more than five [now four] months from that finale. Did I say “finale”? If somehow Trump manages to get elected, I believe that the left’s resultant fury will be even greater and the fireworks will be greater, as well.
Back to Barry’s comment [emphasis mine]:
And they will continue to encourage this policy of destruction and violence so as to show—to prove—their Truth: that Trump, “Mr. MAGA” himself, cannot protect the country, can neither defend the country nor its institutions nor its citizens; is totally helpless against those who wish him gone and seek “to disappear” him.
(And if the country has to be rent asunder to “prove” this inalienable Truth, then so be it.)
And should Trump attempt to defend against the onslaught, then he will be excoriated as a tyrant, a fascist, trying to prevent violently, to eradicate(!) lawful public “protest”—trying to wipe out an American right, a HUMAN right. Trying to trample the US Constitution by calling up the military against “his own people”.
Yes, like the fascist they’ve already determined he is, which they’ve been repeating since Day 1 “ad infinitum”, “ad nauseum”.
And so they believe they have him in their elegant trap (almost as exquisite as Obama-gate but not quite as “transparent”).
They have him in their vise. He cannot escape. This time he will not be able to extricate himself from their “patriotic” clutches.
He can watch helplessly as America burns. Or he can try defend the country, to end the destruction, in which case he will no doubt be subjected to another impeachment circus by those who insist on showing us just why they must be trusted with power.
Since for the Democratic Party and its MSCM comrades in destruction—destruction of truth, destruction of individuals, destruction of the country—this entire devilishly wrought policy is, they are firmly convinced, formidably successful politics, awesome in its conception, pitch perfect in its implementation, so drunk are they on their own virtue, so inebriated are they with their sense of values, so enamored are they of their perversity, so deluded are they regarding the rightness of their mission and the utter necessity of their success.
(I highlighted the word “virtue” because it was a big part of Robespierre’s justification for the Reign of Terror; please see this.)
So Barry Meislin has described what I meant by “checkmate.” For those who don’t play chess, here’s what the term signifies:
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is a game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player’s king is in check (threatened with capture) and there is no way to avoid the threat. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is never captured—the player loses as soon as their king is checkmated. In formal games, most players resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated. It is usually considered bad etiquette to continue playing in a completely hopeless position…
The term checkmate is, according to the Barnhart Etymological Dictionary, an alteration of the Persian phrase “shah mat” which means “the King is helpless”…[S]heikh is the Arabic word for the monarch. Players would announce “Sheikh” when the king was in check. “Mat” is an Arabic adjective for dead “helpless”, or “defeated”. So the king is in mate when he is ambushed, at a loss, helpless, defeated, or abandoned to his fate.
There is little question in my mind that this is what explains some otherwise inexplicable moves by the left, in particular by mayors of blue cities that are being ravaged by violence. After all, even a leftist mayor probably doesn’t want his or her tax base to leave the city – mayors know that’s the only way to keep the benefits flowing. But I believe the mayors are bargaining that the flight will only have just begun by November and that it will be temporary, and that once the goal of total Democratic victory is reached (presidency, and both houses of Congress if possible), order can be restored in their cities and people will relax, thinking the Democrats have the answers.
That’s the plan. And we may not even be finished with the chess moves on the board – neither the left’s nor Trump’s (many Republicans just seem to be observing right now rather than playing).
But life is not chess. In chess, you can clearly see when a king is in checkmate. Right now, the MSM is busy writing article after article saying Trump is finished, washed up, about to quit, sure to lose, all of the above. The polls that are released may or may not be accurate, but either way they’re yet another method of getting across the message that Trump is kaput (and also an “insurance policy” so that on the remote chance he wins, they will start off by saying it’s because of fraud). But none of it means that Trump is actually in checkmate right now. We can’t see the positions of the pieces on the board all that clearly, and neither can they.
The outcome depends in part on the players, but it also depends (unlike in chess) on the observers, the American voting public. Will they be fooled by all of this? Will they actually believe that it’s all Trump’s fault, and that Biden (or his carefully-selected approved-identity-group Veep) and the Democrats are the answer? Or will they see through it? Will they notice that it’s in red states and red cities that there’s no turmoil and no upheaval?
I recently spoke with a friend who lives in New York City, who said that people are starting to leave – to sell their homes and buy elsewhere. So some are voting with their feet, as we used to say in the bad old days of the Sixties. Will they carry their Democrat voting habits with them? Or have they been mugged by reality?
It depends, in the end, on the American people. Doesn’t it always?
I think Trump won the election with the May riots, but he needs to do some things differently. Open air rallies at airport hangers and with limited attendance is one thing. He did one in Omaha in 2016.
VDH suggested a federal task force with Barr leading the way to arrest these BLM and Antifa rioters.
The McCloskeys in St. Louis prove two things: 1. You’re on your own now. When seconds count, the police are minutes away; and 2. Liberals get the bullet too. Moderate Dems have to see this.
I think the FBI arrests Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok and Paige on July 2. They’ll have to sit in jail until July 6 for a bail hearing.
Trump needs to attack Biden for his hiding in his basement.
Trump needs to go after Biden hard. Biden has already been bribed by China.
And, of course, if Biden does debate he will get destroyed.
Trump wins about 40 states.
Cornhead has spoken!
There is no checkmate. There are no grandmasters in real life. Nobody is actually in control. People just do things.
If the Left are such masterminds, why were they basically forced to nominate a near-dementia patient as their Presidential candidate?
Mike
Regarding your question, Neo: “Will they carry their Democrat voting habits with them?” I live in western NV, only a few miles from the border with CA. We see a constant influx of Californians into our valley, many of them proclaiming how happy they are to be gone from the high taxes, poor policies, and overcrowding of CA. But our state turns ever more blue, and it is not the native Nevadans who are voting Democrat: they are staunchly anti-government, anti-tax, and pro-gun, while our new (as of a year ago) Democrat governor has raised taxes, increased the size of government and tightened gun laws.
So yes, they will carry their Democrat voting habits with them, at least here in NV.
Now it is not true that all Californians vote D when they arrive in NV — much of our state’s blue transition has resulted from the union vote organized by Harry Reid in southern NV. But Washoe County, which borders California from Reno north to the Oregon border, has also turned blue, a phenomenon that is largely attributable to the influx of Californians into that area as it is not a heavy union area. I think we’re seeing the same thing in AZ and TX, and will probably see it in ID next — all places with a large number of Californians who are re-settling.
It is a frustrating thing to watch, maddening, really.
Cornhead: I hope you are right! About the vote in November, but more immediately about the arrests you predict taking place tomorrow. That will certainly put the cat among the pigeons!
Liberals won’t be mugged by reality, if that implies they will change their ways.
In the first place, these liberals are not really self-sacrificing altruistic types. They are ” I’ll sacrifice you,” types. Liberalism is just a political strategy that works for these people who see a collectivist environment as one in which they can maximize their personal advantage.
If they have to flee to the safety of some suburban community or redneck backwater they will not suddenly become grateful , no matter how ingratiating and even chastened they appear for show. They will view those who have provided them refuge, as primitves in need of liberal direction , and see Neanderthal recalcitrance as the ultimate, if not proximate , cause of the progressive migrant’s predicament. They will view their hosts as responsible for whatever ill or inconvenience has befallen them. ” If they had only done as I and other good , enlightened, and selfless people directed, I would not now have to lower myself to live among them. I wonder when the next city council or school board election is?”
Another very good post Neo.
The riots in May and June helped Trump and hopefully woke up large numbers of the silent majority. It looks as if the democrats and the MSM have decided that the riots and protest had no bearing on the uptick of COVID cases. Maybe the new cases will slow down the riots. But I have no doubt they will crank up again closer to the election. And if / when Trump wins the riots will increase substantially.
Now there is the democrats and MSM are stepping up their attacks on Trump with the ‘news’ of Russia paying bounties to the Taliban for killing U.S. troops. It appears he was briefed and told there was nothing to it. If it’s true what was the military doing? The State Dept?
Pay attention to what the MSM says. But also remember that they are democrat party operatives with a byline.
Supposedly, at the beginning of June The President was favored to win reelection. Now it is the challenger.
Here in The People’s Socialist Democratic Republic of Illinois-Madiganistan I have yet to see any sign that the Trump campaign here is even aware that an election just over 4 months away.
Biden stuff, OTOH, is all over the place.
IIRC, though, about this time in 2016 it was all over except for the coronation of Queen Hillary.
Just be sure to vote come November.
The same phenomenon described by F above was seen in New Hampshire as refugees from “Taxachusetts” brought their voting with them, mainly cultural. We fled to AZ from CA and are still conservative but realize the problem.
VD Hansen has described Trump as a “tragic figure” and I agree because his party does not have the guts to withstand the pressure from the left.
Tucker Carlson explains it with an example.
Some historical perspective:
CNN posted on online story on October 23, 2016, that quoted an ABC poll that had Hillary beating Trump by 12 points while CNN’s polling average had her up 9 points.
Hillary actually got 48.2% of the popular vote to Trump’s 46.1, a gap of 2.1%.
The Real Clear Politics polling average also had Hillary at the end of October 2016 at 41.8% favorable and 54.4% unfavorable. She was just as unpopular then as Trump supposedly is now.
Mike
Dems are throwing everything but the kitchen sink and that will probably be shipped next day tomorrow. No crazy story lie is too small or too big to throw at the Orange Man to see if it sticks and according to the NYT for the last 3 1/2 years Trump is just one week from being thrown out of office. Now they are circling the Diversity groups, no grievince too small to join in the coalition and if some cities have to burn a bit, so be it, small price to pay if they can oust Trump so I expect the next four months will be full out media onslaught and I don’t think the have the, “One Thing” to put him under and might be a death of a thousand cuts and maybe a whole lot of fraudulent ballots to over throw Trump in November.
These days I’m feeling all right
‘Cept I can’t tell my courage from my desperation.
–Bruce Springsteen, “Local Hero”
__________________________________________
The Democrats’ onslaught is indeed fierce, but I sense much desperation with their kitchen sink strategy, which is not without risks to their cause.
I don’t believe Democrats are near checkmating Trump and, switching metaphors, Trump still has cards to play.
I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the journalists are nothing but DNC apparatchiks. The media have simply turned themselves into Pravda for the democrats’. They are corrupt and dishonest. Edith Efron wrote a book on this in 1971.
https://www.amazon.com/news-twisters-Edith-Efron/dp/0840212062
I’ll be voting straight GOP in November.
Pessimism will get you nowhere.
It’s all about November, and the desperation is reflected in the particular chutzpah of the media elite, who right now lack the time and patience to properly set up these narratives so are settling for “quick and dirty” across the board.
I assume nobody here is voting for Biden. I’ll further assume nobody here is going to change the mind of any Biden voters they know. But perhaps we can explain the concept of federalism to the people ON OUR SIDE since they too never received a civics education. Maybe then our guys will stop demanding the leader of one branch of the federal government roll tanks because deep blue state governments are intentionally stoking the flames consuming their jurisdictions. When your enemy is digging their own grave, hand them, you know, the thing.
Probably won’t happen, as our side is only slightly less dumb and historically ignorant than the collectivists who keep attacking us, but are far more naive and far less interested in political power. But you go to war with the army you have…
F is totally right about Nevada. When crying Californians flee to Nevada or Texas, they simply take their politics with them. I currently live in California, and am a former resident of Nevada and Texas. This has been going on for 25 years. I remember once I was at a legislative hearing in Carson City in the early 90’s. One of the legislators made a comment something like, “….well In California they do it this way.” I remember thinking he was the dumbest guy in the whole state.
I hope the sane in our society start to wake up and realize we are in a fight for our country. It’s going to get ugly. We have to fight back and not sit back and watch as the greatest country on Earth is decimated by a bunch of communists who hate the very idea of America.
All Trump has to do to win is to pick out one issue where he can show kindness and altruism and a little love….especially one that has been ignored by the liberals and the media.
For example, start talking about the homeless. How he feels sorry for them. How he is going to set up a task force on the problem. How the Democrats have ignored them and how the liberal policies of yore have caused them.
This effort would be in a hitherto liberal vacuum. What response could they mount other than copying?
To show some human softness and gentlemanly attitudes toward these unfortunate souls would surprise the voters and return many of them to his side.
It had been my hope that the Trump administration would be able to expose in detail the players & the moves behind the Russia-gate campaign against him, and to identify the leakers who have actively undermined him. And that this would begin over the summer, continuing into the fall. If he loses, all of this will just disappear, just as it has more or less disappeared into the pandemic, the BLM furor, and everything else we see the MSM concentrating on.
A full court PRESS the next 4 months. Yeah, I didn’t see this coming.
In late July 1988 Mike Dukakis was 17 points ahead of GHWB. Just sayin’.
…maybe a whole lot of fraudulent ballots to over throw Trump in November.
OldTexan: That’s my biggest concern. If Dems manage to leverage Covid into a mail-in ballot election, they may manage to flip one too many battleground states by fraud into the D column.
Liberals don’t vote on economics. [Obviously — Dem policies are brain dead. Every liberal on Wall St admits it.] They vote on social issues. Mostly to confirm that they aren’t racist Nazis like the evil GOP. It really is that simple. There’s a reason D politicians hammer the message to death. Republicans know they aren’t and don’t realize that not fighting back is seen as an admission by the average brain dead white liberal.
The election comes down to cheating. If Trump stops the D cheating from getting out of control, he will win.
Any bet made now is simply a bet about whether he can stop the Ds when they cheat. I don’t think he can in any blue state. But he might be able to in the battleground states. Maybe.
Any Trump supporter who wants to make a difference should be organizing ballot integrity groups. Poll watchers, support for litigators who will fight mail ballots, fight ballot harvesting, etc.
Vote fraud is the concern. Ballot harvesting turned districts in California blue right before our eyes. It should be illegal!
NO early voting.
NO voting machines
NO vote by mail
NO vote harvesting
FEW absentee ballots
PAPER BALLOTS
PURPLE FINGERS
I’m not so pessimistic about the election results yet because I think a lot of people have no idea how much Biden has declined from when they last remember him. When Biden flubbed the lines from the Declaration of Independence, I mentioned it to my sister and daughter and was surprised that neither of them had seen the video. I’m also surprised at how few people have seen the creepy videos of Biden groping young girls.
What makes me pessimistic for the future is that such a man was selected to be the nominee in the first place by people who knew (and probably know a lot more) about his obvious deficiencies. Propping up such a damaged person to be nominally the most powerful person makes the election process a farce. It will be interesting to see how long they can pretend that there is nothing wrong with Joe.
I think the assumption that Trump is perceived as responsible for local law enforcement is erroneous. Most/same people understand that policing is a local activity. Also, most people understand that BLMAntiFa are political and trying to draw Trump into a political mistake by sending in the “National Guard” (which are state by state) and having another Kent State situation for the left to wail about. Also, those of us on the right who are paying attention know that federal law enforcement is no prize and cannot be relied upon to do a good job.
The same people who are responsible for allowing bad police officers to keep working in the community are the same people who are responsible for the rioting in the street. The local yokels and the people who pull their strings. Talking about Trump is a deflection. BLM/AntiFa/media – none of whom represent the best interests of the people – have changed the topic several times from the original concern about excessive police force. Race, defunding, Trumphate – deflection, deflection, deflection. The evil people behind BLM/Anti/media have no issue with excessive police force. They plan on directing that excessive police force in the future.
Gregory, there is a long history, at least as long as I can remember, where the political parties decide that it is X’s turn (replace X with the candidate’s name). Think “John McCain” in 2008. It is my belief that they do this for two reasons: (1) to honor their long service to the party, (2) the incumbent is strong and likely to win reelection.
Both sides working hard against themselves. Dems think refunding cops and supporting riots are the answer and Trump going all out on the ear against John Bolton. Can’t tell you who’s going to win here but it’s probably not going to be this country either way.
“…leverage Covid …”
Well, yes, there is that, certainly.
But it seems to me we’re looking at potentially far worse. (Neo’s right: it could get far worse even if one hopes that it won’t.)
It could be far worse, because what happens if the riots continue throughout the summer and early autumn to the point where the big cities in the states where most of the votes are cast can barely (or no longer really) function? Violence in the streets. Demoralized police (if there are any at all). Fleeing populations, with the Democrats and the MSCM fanning the flames, encouraging the mayhem and thrilling at the “insurrection” and the “opportunities” it provides.
Potentially.
All of which will be attributed, if it does happen, to Trump’s “inability to govern”, and—the kicker—to “the RACISM of Trump and his supporters”. (Doesn’t matter if it’s not true: they will believe it, anyway.)
How do you hold elections cities shut down? When there’s utter chaos in the strees? When civil society breaks apart? When significant swaths of the country become ungovernable?
Well, if you’re a Democrat (and always willing to make the best of any crisis—a crisis that you just man in face have helped create—then you demand that the physical polling places be shut down (how could one even contemplate opening them??)…and further demand that write-in ballots be the only “reasonable,” “sensible,” “democratic,” “possible” way to hold elections UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. (Never mind how those “circumstances” came to be.)
So it’s going TO HAVE TO BE—naturally—voting by mail.
And when Trump refuses that option hands down because of the obvious abuses that will occur—and insists adamantly that the elections will be held and the physical polling places be open “as usual”, then the usual suspects will be all over him for “trying to cancel elections”, “ruling by diktat”, “usurping the country”, “trampling the Constitution” (the usual “Through-the-Lookinglass” stuff). The uproar will by then have reached fever pitch, in fact will red line, and the MSCM will go berserk with righteous apoplexy, while the Democrat-provoked “anti-fascist” thugs will take the violence to the next level.
Because face it: the Democrats are going for broke. There is nothing that will constrain them, nothing that will hold them back. Theirs is a quest for pure power and they are both desperate AND (believing their own propaganda) CONFIDENT.
And so it will be all or nothing on this lurid throw of the dice.
But we’re not talking here about losing your shirt, your car, your house, your Rolex. Your wife.
We’re talking about losing the country.
And in this demonic game of chicken that the Democrats have cooked up and for which they have been eagerly rolling up their sleeves, you have to count on it that they won’t blink.
(In fact, they’re probably getting ready to wire their eyes wide open, like the thugs in “A Clockwork….Orange”….)
And so, it seems to me that all this rather than COVID (though the latter plays a definite role in the chaos and anxiety) is the key to the events that will unfold in the next few months.
How to prevent it is the question. A question. Seems clear that Trump and his advisors supported by all good and decent people—no matter how they feel about Trump—will have to come up with a plan (to continue the metaphor) to prevent the Democrats from even getting inside the casino in the first place. Or else find a way to encourage them to destroy themselves.
A lot can happen between now and November 3. One thing I am looking forward to is the movie release of ‘Hamilton’ on July 3. Consider the message: It is fundamentally patriotic. It is an uplifting story about our origins and our ideals. It is a skillfully-told story of the inspiring men and women, with all of their imperfections, who created this wonderful country of ours, with all of its imperfections. It is a story told by mostly non-white actors. That in itself says that color need not matter. Intelligence and courage matter. Blaming others for all your troubles gets you nowhere.
And it is a story that was created before the rise of Trump, so it has nothing to do with Trump. Our country is greater than Trump or Biden or the rioters. It is good for us to be reminded so powerfully of our exceptional heritage at this troubled time.
‘Hamilton’ is the antidote to the 1619 Project.
Barry, CHOP/CHAZ leader(s) have already admitted what it’s all about. He said “Vote Democrat”. I heard it (that is, I read about it) but I don’t know if the rest of America heard it. I say, let’s postpone the election until peace returns. No mail-in ballots, no nothing until the rioting and intimidation stops. Like you said they will go berserk but they will reveal themselves. I want every last man and woman to see that this entirely a political operation.
Yikes, gremlins!: “…man in face…” should be “…may in fact…” (How did that ever happen….)
I kinda look at this in a different way and light.
Trump knew he was being played and if he had called in the National Guard to suppress/liberate Chop/Chaz he would have played into their hands as being a Dictator, murderer, etc….
I feel Trump played his cards right. By putting the problem SQUARELY in the laps of the local Mayors, City Council, DA’s, the State AG and the State Governor. He as much said it was a STATE/LOCAL problem… State Rights and Control… Ask if you need or want Federal Help. But NO calls or request was made.
So ALL blame and liability is owned ONLY them for failing to act and protect their citizens.
Now if CHOP/CHAZ leaders has started violating Civil Rights of US Citizens in their little fairyland and the Local/State Authorities refused to act, then Trumps case would have been air tight and 100 x politically insulated.
As it is now, the State and Local Elected leadership are facing a mountain of HATE come Nov. elections for their Rebellion supportive actions. Plus a mountain of lawsuits and Voter Recalls for Failing to adhere to their oath of office to protect ALL LIVES.
I see the DC/political party strategy which they may think is a chess move checkmate for Trump. However, I also see municipalities run by Democrats or even further left progressives gladly defunding police forces and leaving their residents to wonder what’s the point of government if it isn’t to provide basic services. I think that will be very difficult to square in an election and likely explains why Democrats are still losing special elections.
I think that continued protests and civic dysfunction would rebound in Trump’s favor; who wants to vote those guys in? On the other hand, if Trump wins the election, the same cities and people (and MSM) would explode; though I suppose that’s reason enough for some people to vote for Trump.
Anyway, the polls are meaningless. Too many people are reluctant to admit that they would rather elect a deeply flawed individual who nevertheless manages well.
If Trump does lose than I expect to see more individuals in revolt outside the city. I have a nagging fear it will be arson, especially in the West.
I think that continued protests and civic dysfunction would rebound in Trump’s favor;
Estoy Listo: That’s my thinking too. Whatever help the protests/riots may have given Democrats at the outset has gone past the point of diminishing returns to harming Dem chances in 2020.
The chaos at the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 is considered to have flipped that election to Nixon. Today’s Americans aren’t as conservative as five decades ago, but we are looking at craziness far beyond the fun and games of Chicago.
Democrats have allowed radicals to occupy six city blocks of a major American city and then fester for three weeks. (Apparently CHOP was just cleared this morning.) How far do you go back for something comparable? The Civil War? Shay’s Rebellion? Even in the 1960s that didn’t happen.
My bet is Durkan and fellow Democrats realized that CHOP had become a liability to their 2020 electoral chances.
Switched:
“Hamilton” isn’t all that faithful to history, either.
I saw the musical a couple of years ago, and I seem to recall that Jefferson and Washington were portrayed as narcissistic and not especially laudable.
huxley:
But the CHOP/CHAZians were blocking I-5 in Seattle last weekend as a “protest.” How will that play in the media if that continues and escalates? You would expect the Aunty Fay and BLM to escalate that tactic to disrupt trucking/supply chain since it has been reported that truckers are concerned/reluctant to deliver to areas that have decided to “defund” the police. Aunty Fay and BLM have to push chaos; some just want to burn it all down.
The dems may find that a mob is a hard thing to manage for the best optics and clicks.
Getting too windy here.
The Switchel Philospher / The Switchel Traveler (2:58 pm) said:
“And it [‘Hamilton’] is a story that was created before the rise of Trump, so it has nothing to do with Trump.”
My philosopher / traveler friend, for an awful* lot of people, *everything* has to do with Trump, and Trump has to do with *everything*.
* I employ the adjective “awful” in more than one sense of that word.
But of course they do think they can manage the mob. I wonder how many of their side have to get caught by it before they realize that they’re Dr. Frankenstein.
Added: and that this time, the monster really is a monster.
Jamie:
And “a riot is an ugly thing…..” especially when done by a mob
https://youtu.be/9yL89sTITZQ
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”
— War Games
And some (some) of all of these may be working:
Moscow Rules
1.Assume nothing.
2.Never go against your gut.
3.Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
4.Do not look back; you are never completely alone.
5.Go with the flow, blend in.
6.Vary your pattern and stay within your cover.
7.Lull them into a sense of complacency.
8.Do not harass the opposition.
9.Pick the time and place for action.
10.Keep your options open.
Or, to quote one of Trump’s favored phrases, “Let’s see how that works out.”
I’m rather with Steve T., on Trump’ approach being sound.
If the Dems ASSume that swing voters will blame him (after showing all this patience) for finally sending troops (esp. after mass carnage), they may be in for a real shock.
Moreover, the Big Ugly may still be on tap.
If Barr/ Durham can bust a slew of SparkleFarters (and at least some of their MSM shills) by summer’s end, I’ll bet that more of the saner Elites will wake up, enough to guarantee DJT 4 more years.
Whereas, if Barr ducks bringing the Big Ugly, or if it shows up but fails to arouse much of the public, then this republic is likely doomed anyway.
…Barr/Durham…
aNanyMouse: Wasn’t there Kevin Costner movie like that name? There was and it was magnificent! I too believe “there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter,” but that’s another story.
Yes, Barr/Durham is a card Trump has yet to play. I’ve got to believe he was saving it for an opportune moment on the homerun stretch run to November. He can’t let it go too close to an October Surprise and it would have been wasted during the lockdown months when all the news was Covid, Covid, Covid.
So it’s near put up or shut up time for Barr/Durham. I’m on pins and needles.
huxley, he’d better not be saving it for an opportune moment.
Too many things (e.g. another virus, DoJ leaks) can sabotage such moves to time such a thing.
When it’s ready, Barr must let it rip,
When it’s ready, Barr must let it rip,
aNanyMouse: As the great poet and philosopher, Paul Valery, once said, “A poem is never finished, only abandoned.”
There is no end to polishing and perfecting a poem or, I would say, a legal case. Is it likely that Barr is still waiting for the perfect bit of evidence and argument to complete his case against Obama and his people?
What could Barr be waiting for? And if he waits past November and Biden is elected, what does it matter?
I’m a software engineer. When you gotta ship, you gotta ship. It may not be perfect — and it never is — but you gotta ship.
Barr’s gotta ship.
___________________
* Just in case — ship means deliver the product.
The key here is not checkmate. It is zugzwang, a state in which whichever move a player makes will hurt him.
Trump has been doing that to his opponents. They are finally getting to make a few moves. Let’s see how Trump responds–and when.
“Anyway, the polls are meaningless. Too many people are reluctant to admit that they would rather elect a deeply flawed individual who nevertheless manages well.”
Ah, not really for such reasons. There actually much sounder reasons to cite to friends.
Polls with the sock puppet Bidden have D+ levels of 10% oversampling (happens every four years). Before Covid, Trump was getting more votes than ads together. And even since then, in special elections, Rs win except in deeply entrenched Left territory.
But Covid? Now riots? How can one know? There’s an outfit that penetrates all this by asking people what their neighbours say on who’ll they will vote for. Results? One point something difference. In other words, equal or within margin of error.
The campaign still commences with or after Labor Day weekend.
IMPORTANT o/t the longest interview yet with Gen. Flynn attorney Sidney Powell, a pjmedia piece, finds “Sidney Powell Drops a Bomb or Two on the Glaring Problems With the Flynn Case”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2020/06/29/sidney-powell-drops-a-bomb-or-two-on-the-glaring-problems-with-the-flynn-case-n588095
Trump needs to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate and see that all damning but hidden evidence sees the light of public inspection. Listen to the 53 minute interview. Our federal justice system is evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHeCSjcTC64
I’m sure bigger fireworks are planned by the left, but Trump is directing the DOJ to roll up a fair number of foot soldiers, and some of them will roll over on their leadership. So I expect the October surprises to be lone wolf type operations. Likely bombings.
Maybe someone can help me here. Why Joe Biden? I don’t need to go into the myriad reasons why he is a flawed candidate.
If the Democrat Party really wanted to have a God’s honest chance of winning the election then why didn’t they go with Tulsi Gabbard? I know Republicans who would vote for her over Trump. So the question is why? I think it is because they have lost patience and therefore are making mistakes.
What gives me hope, believe it or not, is the younger generation, voting age! I met a young lady tonight, 20-something, in blue New York of all places. She was calm and collected but she ripped the Democrats, including Cuomo, a new one.
There is hope. You can count on us and everyone we know to deliver!
There has been a fun reversal.. the more extreme left want to get rid of the democrats… going to get real interesting when the dems realize they made a monster they cant control… and it will take them first…
There is a song by Elvis Costello called “What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?” Here is Bruce Springteen’s rendition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szAMOyTe1IY
In my mind this harkens back to a time long ago when there were “traditional liberals”, you know, the kind that called themselves “JFK Democrats”. I knew many of them growing up. I was one. My friend’s mom had a portrait of JFK in most rooms of her house.
What’s changed? Republicans haven’t changed one iota, well maybe, they’ve drifted leftward perhaps. So why is the Democrat Party in such a kerfuffle?
They’ve been hijacked. If you ask me, most would love to go back to “peace, love, and understanding.”
How can we help?
If the Democrat Party really wanted to have a God’s honest chance of winning the election then why didn’t they go with Tulsi Gabbard?
Brian Morgan: It's not my original thought, but I believe the Dems panicked about Biden for fifteen minutes, then realized Biden could be a Trojan horse carrying Kamala Harris or (even) Michelle Obama or another properly radical, intersectional and younger candidate as the payload to be the Real President, after Biden rides off into the sunset to battle the lyin' dog-faced pony soldiers beyond the windmills of his mind.
Dusty Springfield / Windmills Of Your Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKV9bK-CBXo
I’m 40 miles north of the city. The Woodstock generation is entering their 70s now. I know them. They are good decent people. Many of them live the life they chose. Near the soil. Raising horses. Raising chickens. Good people.
The violent, angry bunch are in the city.
I recall this because “peace, love, and understanding” has nothing whatsoever to do with what is going on today. It is a perversion that the media glom onto for their own political ends.
Biden is a sock puppet of the Bernie-AOC Marxist wing, and with Obama’s approval. The ultimate tell? “His” Veep choice – traditionally announce at the convention, but increasingly more sometime in advance of it.
Brian, see this and insights building on Democrats self hatred via Zack Goldberg, here
https://carolineglick.com/the-great-threat-to-america-and-to-american-jewry/
huxley, understood, but Kamala Harris is no longer viable. Michelle Obama, maybe, but in this political climate she will be seen, and framed, as part of the problem, not the solution. A young, fresh face like Gabbard could pull it off. The reason she wasn’t selected is because she can’t be controlled, apparently. I don’t want to give Democrats any ideas but Gabbard has the best shot.
Brian Morgan: I’m not wedded to Kamala Harris or Obama, though I don’t think their shortcomings would matter much in the VP slot.
Gabbard, however, lacks a certain melaninicity. I seem to recall Biden committed to a WOC. I take your point, too, about Gabbard going off the reservation.
PS. Costello wrote “Peace, Love…” from the heart and somewhat defensively as that was the New Wave/Punk era. He was also a closet Deadhead.
huxley, thank you for the Dusty link. In response I’d like to introduce you to Taeko Onuko, a jazz artist who schtruggled to get her voice heard in the early 70’s in Japan.
Titled “400A.M.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejvUU6mxiFw
The Chorus has many voices but hers is alone: “This is ridiculous! I want to go back.”
I hate being the buzz killer but here is an example of what is called “Psychedelic Folk” music in Japan 1976:
“Mikkou” (The Stowaway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmnco7CKoYo&feature=youtu.be&t=2516
Translated Lyrics:
[Birth 1]
Someone on the wharf gave me
Ivory combs and peacock feathers
Wrapped in a faded map and shed
Board a pirate ship
Shall we go out even when looking for treasure?
[Hook]
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
[Birth 2]
Shake, shake, shake in the waves
Tour the Seven Seas
Forget my whereabouts
Sailor returning from Shanghai
I can’t go home this time
[Hook]
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Let’s celebrate the endless journey
Looking back, the horizon
Endless journey
If you are interested here is her first full album (Kaleidoscope):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBeiuhb36RY
Since no one is watching I might as well put in a good word for Rumi Koyama.
One thing to know about the Japanese is that they LOVE California surf music. Way back in the 60’s there was an an American group called The Ventures who recorded a song called Manchurian Beat. The Japanese loved it. Many Japanese artists recorded it.
Sometime in the early 1970s someone put lyrics to it. The song became known as “Wandering Guitar”. I read somewhere that a Japanese man said at the time that it was “shocking”, meaning the lyrics.
I’ll link to the song but the lyrics go something like this:
“I stole everything from you,
Close your eyes, shut your lips, don’t say a word,
I’m happy but scared,
God taught me.”
There is a lot more to the song than that but that is the gist of it.
Rumi Koyama is half Japanese so I find here voice to be easy to follow.
I sing this song with her in the car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4df2Z6HIaqw
Here she is in 1968 in the lead role of Kemeko’s Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tBl931441U
(the person who created the video superimposed her singing “Wandering Guitar” three years later in the future.) I like this video. It is Film Noir.
When I was young, I was into military board games. The classics: Blitzkrieg, Jutland, France 1940 and so on. About 40 years ago a friend game me this very strange board game titled “The Plot to Assassinate Hitler 1940-45”. You can see it here: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3575/plot-assassinate-hitler-1938-44
(Yes, I know the title on the link and on the cover-art at the link says 1938-44. I still have my copy and it is 1940-45. I don’t the difference between the versions.)
The game has resolution tables like 10.71 Harassment, 13.36 Investigation, 14.34 Interrogation, and of course 12.82 OKW Panic.
It seems we are watching the professionals play The Plot to Oust Trump 2016-20. Waiting for the Mail-in Vote Fraud resolution roll of the die but the Roberts Court has been captured by the Deep State. They get a +6 modifier, I think.
And it looks like Pink-Shirt-AR-Guy gets to roll two, one for Harassment and one for Investigation.
It is going to be a bumpy ride. Keep your hands and feet inside the car and your seat-belt fastened at all times. And no, you can’t get off.
“The outcome depends in part on the players,” – Neo
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1278314332011585543.html
Longtime conservatives can hardly believe they’re now fighting a last-ditch battle to conserve the basic rights of free speech, private property, and presumed innocence. We have to fight to preserve history, and even to keep the police.
But that IS unquestionably where we are right now, and if you aren’t fighting tooth and nail against the all-out Democrat war against free speech, property, the rule of law, history, and the police, you are not “conservative” in any meaningful sense.
…This is not even slightly ambiguous or nuanced. The Left has made it all VERY clear.
There have been times when complicated arguments about the definition of conservatism have been necessary. This is not one of those times. Every single thing we ever thought was vital for a healthy, just, and prosperous society is under sustained attack by the extreme Left.
…
This election should be a binary choice: vote Republican, vote Trump if you want to have police, free speech, capitalism, the rule of law, and the tiniest shred of historical memory and tradition. Vote Democrat if you want none of those things and you’re up for Mao’s Year Zero.
Anyone nominally on the Right or in the GOP who clouds that choice, anyone who doesn’t make it crystal clear through every word and deed between now and Election Day, is helping to kill off conservatism. There won’t be anything left to conserve. No more choices, only echoes.
…
Again, we’re talking about the basic pillars of society, the key elements of our Constitutional system, the core concepts of liberty and justice under direct attack. If you won’t fight for those things, proudly and passionately, then what the hell are you “conserving?”
That also goes for the people who don’t understand what a desperate battle this is, the folks who assume some silent majority of shy Trump voters has this election in the bag, no matter what the polls say today. Trump is blowing this election and EVERYTHING is on the line.
…
You can’t conserve America by fighting for little bits and pieces of it, here and there, picking only the easiest battles and falling back when the Left gets violent – or picking only the fights that benefit your personal political goals or policy preferences.
The Left knows this, which is why they spent decades teaching generations of our young people the opposite lesson: America is uniquely and irredeemably evil, everything we value is hypocritical and corrupt, enlightened totalitarianism has never really been given a fair chance.
They spent decades bullying conservatives and Republicans out of making populist or moralist appeals. This allowed the Left to seize populism and moralism entirely for itself, virtually unopposed. Now it makes moral arguments for violence and oppression.
Against that kind of onslaught, playing defense just means losing slowly. Making deals with the aggressors only slows them down until they don’t see any further point in honoring the deal. Hoping “moderates” are somehow lurking behind the extremists is delusional.
Assuming that sensible people will just wake up and vote against extremism is also delusional. Those people are being made to feel helpless and isolated. Surrender is their only reasonable option, the only way to get back to normal. Trump isn’t giving them much to fight for.
Whatever your reason for sitting 2020 out are – whether you hate Trump, or you ARE Trump and you can’t get your act together, or you’re a Republican looking to cut a deal with the New Order – if you don’t grasp the stakes and start playing to win, you aren’t conservative. /end
Whoops – forgot the blockquotes. All text is from Doc Zero’s thread.
Music is very much a matter of taste. It is true. But I remember a time when I was in my 20s when music was a common language that all of us could find something to like whether it be the percussion, or the strings, or the brass, or the vocals. Everyone could find something to like. Have our tastes changed or have we become less willing to appreciate what others find pleasing?
Continuing my thought…
I think yes. We are less willing. Why? I don’t know. I don’t even have a theory. I could fabricate something but I’d rather not. I think it just comes down to the fact that we don’t listen to each other any more. The only voice we care to hear is our own.
huxley, Gabbard is ~ 1/4 Samoan. More important to me is, she is good looking.
But I’m not interested in advising Dems, just wish they would dry up and blow away!
With the foremost of our national holidays coming up, I am not looking forward to whatever theater of the absurd the Left will stage.
It won’t be a celebration of the red, white, and blue (as in law enforcement) —
I think it’s kind of awkward having the ambiguous reference to Democrat-run states & cities up there on the flag, but the politicized color scheme was just a media-initiated ploy to keep their Party from being publicly labelled what they are now showing themselves to be: socialists, and, in some cases, outright Communists.
The red-blue shift is going to seriously confuse historians someday, assuming there are any in the future, which there won’t be if the “party like it’s 1984” faction achieves its aims for a hostile take-over of the country.
https://babylonbee.com/news/democrats-prepare-to-celebrate-dependence-day
FNC is running a story about a record 3.9 million background checks in June, over 19 million in the first half of 2020.
Question is who is buying those guns? Most of the right did those purchases during the O’Bama years. I suspect these are indys, moderates and red-pilled democrats. I would sure be interested in targeting these people for Trump in the 2020 campaign on the law & order issue. Cheers –
I know quite a number of people, that I encouraged to arm up during the Age of Obama, that didn’t. Most of them have rectified that now. Anyone that has waited until now will find the pickings slim and all the common ammo in short supply.
At least Maxwell, Epstein’s pimp, got arrested today.
Durham better start arresting people soon. He can’t wait until Labor Day. July has to be the month.