Trump: time to transition
“My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing I was fighting to defend American democracy. I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters, and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.”
I can’t argue with a word of his speech.
His presidency is over – or will be on Inauguration Day – now that he has conceded. Of course, this speech doesn’t mean that Trump won’t continue to be excoriated by those heady with what they see as their complete victory over him. Nor does it mean that any healing will actually occur.
Both before the election and shortly after, I had a discussion with a beloved relative on the left who insisted to me that Trump would have to be dragged out of the Oval Office by federal troops or police; that he would never leave voluntarily if he lost. I said that if Trump lost he would fight tooth and nail in the courts, but when it was over he would go voluntarily. We had quite a few discussions about this, and the gist of that argument never changed.
I guess now I’d be able to say “I told you so” – except for one thing. I’m pretty sure that his response now would be that Trump only conceded because they threatened to remove him. I don’t think that’s what happened, but I can never prove it.
I see so much hatred of Trump online today that it actually eclipses what I’d seen previously, and that’s saying something. Now it has the flavor of dancing on a grave. It disgusts me, but that’s the way it is.
When I was very young, I read a child’s version of The Iliad. I remember reading in it that after Achilles had killed Hector, he triumphantly and in rage defiled Hector’s corpse:
Hector lies slaughter’d here
Dragg’d at my chariot, and our dogs shall all in pieces tear
His hated limbs…
Even as a small child, I felt a horror so strong that I recoiled and had to put the book down for a while.
There’s something about today that reminds me of this, although of course Trump’s not dead. Neither is the right, although it’s badly divided and most of the GOP politicians in Washington DC are scrambling to get as far away from Trump as fast as they possibly can. What they do in the next year or two will determine their political fate – and ours.
That’s my president.
I see so much hatred of Trump online today that it actually eclipses what I’d seen previously, and that’s saying something. Now it has the flavor of dancing on a grave. It disgusts me, but that’s the way it is.
What you’re seeing is what’s there. Right now we have in our set a shirt tail attacking her aunt’s husband on Facebook. Said shirt-tail has the assistance of her obnoxious husband in this endeavour. The man they’re attacking is 70 years old and earns a meagre income from nature photography. If he has any politics, they’re of the Sierra Club variety. Someone said a fanatic is someone who redoubles his effort when he’s forgotten his aim. That’s these two.
Or you can have a look at the controversies at The Dalton School in New York City, where you have two-thirds of the faculty petitioning the headmaster to hire a dozen witch-hunters to harass the other third and any white student on the campus who manages to annoy a black student on the campus. And also to distort and disfigure the curriculum to make it something like the Howard Zinn / 1619 Project show in every discipline. These people have no business teaching, but they somehow landed a job at a private school that can do something few others do: pay its teachers handsome salaries. How did they arrive at the point where two-thirds of their faculty are fanatics? Perhaps slowly, then all at once.
A large section of our bourgeoisie are damaged and so addled by social fantasies that they cannot be trusted to run anything. And they have a rather large block of feckless enablers attached to them. One of the distressing things we discovered this year is that the social antibodies to protect our political society from destruction seem to have taken a holiday.
You may find this of interest, posted over on ChicagoBoyz.net
Year of Consent, by Kendell Foster Crossen
https://amzn.to/35dtq68
—-
This is a pulp SF novel from 1954, which has uncomfortable relevance to our present era.
The story is set in the then-future year of 1990. The United States is still nominally a democracy, but the real power lies with the social engineers…sophisticated advertising & PR men…who use psychological methods to persuade people that they really want what they are supposed to want. (Prefiguring “nudging”) The social engineers are aided in their tasks by a giant computer called Sociac (500,000 vacuum tubes! 860,000 relays!) and colloquially known as ‘Herbie.’ The political system now in place is called Democratic Rule by Consent. While the US still has a President, he is a figurehead and the administration of the country is actually done by the General Manager of the United States….who himself serves at the pleasure of the social engineers. The social engineers work in a department called ‘Communications’, which most people believe is limited to such benign tasks as keeping the telephones and the television stations in operation. Actually, its main function is the carrying out of influence operations.
One approach involves the publishing of novels which are fictional, but carry implicit social and/or political messages…via, for example, the beliefs and affiliations of the bad guys versus the good guys. Even the structure of novels is managed for messaging reasons: romance-story plots should not be boy gets girl…loses girl…gets girl back, but rather boy gets girl, loses girl, gets different girl who is really right for him.
Some methods are more direct, although their real objectives are not stated. One such objective is population control: If the fertility rate is running a little low, advertising is ramped up for a pill called Glamorenes, which are said to create the “rounded, glamorous figure of a TV star…remember–it’s Glamorenes for glamor.” Actually, the real function of Glamorenes, which is top secret, is to increase a woman’s sex drive and expand the fertility window. On the other hand, if the birth rate is running too high, the ad emphasis switches to Slimettes for women and Vigorone for men, both of which have a contraceptive effect. The book’s protagonist, Gerald Leeds, is one of the few who is in on the secret, and when he hears a Glamorenes ad, he realizes that this is the real reason why his girlfriend, Nancy, has been acting especially affectionate lately.
Few people, even at the highest levels of government, realize just how powerful the Communications Department really is. “Even the biggest wheels only know part of it. They think the Communications Administrative Department exists to help them–and not the other way around.”
The computer known as Sociac (‘Herby’) accumulates vast amounts of data on individuals, including such things as shopping, dining, and vacation preferences. “Thus, when the administration wanted to make a new move, they knew exactly how to condition the people so that it would be backed. Or they knew exactly what sort of man to put up to win a popular election.” Telephone calls are tapped, but are rarely listened to directly by government agents; rather, they are fed directly to “a calculator” (perhaps a front-end to Herbie) and added to “the huge stock of intimate knowledge about the people.”
Those individuals who resist the conditioning and are found to hold unapproved opinions–or find themselves to hold unapproved opinions–are said to have “communications blocks,” and good citizens will act on their own to request treatment for such blocks. The first level of treatment is the Psychotherapy Calculator, an interactive system which will help the patient change any objectionable opinions and behavior. But in some cases, the PC determines that stronger methods are necessary, and in those cases, the patient is referred for a lobotomy. The escorting of patients for mandatory psychotherapy and lobotomy procedures is done by a white-uniformed police force known as the Clinic Squad.
Citizens are, of course, expected to report any instances of unapproved beliefs or actions. When the protagonist’s girlfriend Nancy overhears one of her colleagues expressing sympathy for a man who is in serious trouble, she reports the girl immediately. (“For the moment I disliked Nancy,” says Gerald. “Then I felt sorry for her.”) Nancy herself is concerned that there may be something wrong with her, and has considered reporting herself for voluntary automated psychotherapy. “If I did have (something wrong with her), I’d want to be purged of it quickly before it could make me do something awful like that poor Mr Shell”…Gerald notes that her hand was shaking as she lifted her glass to finish the drink.
Welcome to the Year of Consent…. :-/
OBH, that is scary how much that resembles what is going on today. I found especially chilling this passage:
“The first level of treatment is the Psychotherapy Calculator, an interactive system which will help the patient change any objectionable opinions and behavior. But in some cases, the PC determines that stronger methods are necessary, and in those cases, the patient is referred for a lobotomy.”
Gives a whole new spin on “PC”. Yes it is designed to change “objectionable opinions”!!
I respect the office of the President. It’s been upsetting to see and observe the results of TDS for four years and now see it unfold just how limited Trump’s true support actually was. I mean his party and staff. I honor all of Trump’s activities on our behalf. I’m so troubled by the nastiness and vindictiveness of the openly hostile animus Trump endured. But I’m so grateful for all his efforts. Amazed at his fortitude and endurance.
I am writing an essay about this after what I saw in DC. I have some insight on your questions for this evening that I will post later. I posted my rally support in the crowd essay.
Maybe Trump wasn’t fit for the job.
Character matters. It really does.
Honesty matters. This is foundational. Truth or falsehood has never mattered to Trump. He’s just a brand-builder (he’s very, very good at that – it’s his chief skill). He weaves narratives of strength and success and winning, regardless of the facts on the ground.
Before the *last* election in 2016 he claimed it was “rigged” – until he won and even then he tried to claim he *really* won the popular vote. He claimed this election was *rigged* for months before this election. It was always going to be his narrative if he lost.
He told his supporters to fight, over and over again. He told them on Wednesday to march to the capital. He claimed he would be marching with them (just another lie).
He’s put the country through this trauma, further divided us, I wasn’t surprised by the Capital breach (well, I was surprised the Capital police had their security measures so easily bested, but still). His supporters did what he wanted them to do. Not surprising at all.
The congressional leaders who tried to turn the formality of Jan 6 into a circus all know Trump lost fair and square. They know, they’ve always known. To guys like Hawley and Cruz this was just theater to burnish their MAGA credentials. I think *they* were surprised that Trump supporters believed him and them and were taking the reckless rhetoric to its logical conclusions. I hope they had some moments of introspection while they cowered in the cloakroom. Their political careers need to be over.
Character matters. Unlike many of you, I don’t remember a golden era of Trumpism. Strong economy (those can evaporate – have you noticed?) Fueled in part by the jettisoning of fiscal responsibility and pre-COVID 1 trillion dollar deficits (which don’t evaporate). This has not been a good four years.
Trump has brought most all of this on himself.
Character really does matter. His sucks.
Let’s never do this again.
Bill, fuck off
I second that motion.
Bill, go fuck yourself. And the hobby horse you rode in on.
I’ll third that motion.
He didn’t lose, he won 70% of the vote and probably did the same in 2016. That’s how much they cheat. The worst thing is how many of the Republicans stood with the Democrats and ratified this treason.
While I doubt that the military have the balls to keep true to their oaths and act, it would have been nice. And if that had occurred, at least half of the Reps in the House and all but 7 of the Senators would be standing trial for treason right beside their socialist pals.
But they won’t act. Oh, the rank and file might be for it. But in this modern world you don’t get to be a general unless you are more politician than warrior. They won’t obey their oaths any more than any other part of our govt. and system of law has done.
The nation is over. The Constitution is over.
The only thing I can see coming, other than Venezuela, is secession And even then it won’t happen until people on the right stop being so nice and peaceful and start pulling triggers.
And of course, while civil war and the breakup of the nation might give us on the right some satisfaction in that we’d finally get to shoot some of the left. It will still give China what they want because a nation broken into pieces will be even less able to oppose anything they do than a nation ruled by shameless, lawless, bought and paid for cheating scum.
Bill, so you are happy with lying, bribing, don’t care about you, same old, same old politicians who are getting rich off of you?? You are part of the problem. We finally had somebody who was fighting for the little guy, no matter what color or gender, and you and your ilk were too blinded by the lies the Propagandists spewed over and over and over again. Enjoy your serfdom.
The impending President said this yesterday.
“They weren’t protesters, don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists domestic terrorists. It’s that basic, it’s that simple,” “And I wish we could say we couldn’t see it coming, but that’s not true, we could see it coming.”
“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently from the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,”
“A mob of folks stormed the Capitol. Well, we all know that’s true. And it is unacceptable, totally unacceptable. The American people saw it in plain view. And I hope it sensitizes them to what we have to do.”
“What we have to do” is anybody’s guess, but it sounds ominous to me.
And he STIll insists that Trump said “fine people on both sides” meant he was referring to the nazis and white supremacists.
Now that’s what I call healing.
MORE FITTING AND FITFUL CONTEXT from Sarah Hoyt. Striking, and True:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2021/01/07/attention-please/
Said it before but I’m still gobsmacked. I can think of no objection to Trump which is not a vile adjective applied as if it’s an objectively valid noun. And supported by layers of same.
Policy? Results? Meaningless.
I’m not sure about whom to hate. The Directors, of course. But their mindless drones in the tens of millions who voluntarily abjure the rational capacities built up by a million years of evolution are necessary to The Directors.
It was obvious before Trump’s election, but somehow, with Trump as a delicious target, it increased exponentially.
“Trump!” followed by a snort is all the political discussion necessary. Which would be meaningless if it were not for the support for social and political collapse.
My wife says I should not say, in coming years, “You voted for it,” when one or another catastrophe, utterly predictable, happens.
But then I recall a very nice church lady, saying dismissively of the dead of Waco, “they were a cult”. So what a human might consider a catastrophe would impress this very nice church lady as somebody getting what they deserve. And since she, in her millions, would be paying no attention, the judgment would be, if they got it, they must have deserved it, smug rationalizations to come later if necessary.
A few…. But millions upon millions. Where did they come from?
I find it amazing some of the terms floating around by supposedly level headed people. I constantly see the terms “insurrection” and “complicit” used when I pointed out that assaulting government buildings has been occurring all year. And the same people who eagerly defended BLM the entire summer. Now have completed the 180.
Simply stating that both sides were wrong to turn to destruction of property and assault. Was attacked by many.
I see no common purpose or ground with nearly 1/2 the population anymore. The left is too busy literally lighting fires and screaming apostate to anyone who even mildly disagrees with them. I denounced violence over the summer. And verbally attacked while alluding I was a racist. I denounced the same actions again and found myself be accused of being complict. Having an attitude of anything other than a reactionary hysteric. Is considered a fatal flaw of character.
And this is no longer considered a mental disorder. This defective line of reasoning is now being taught in school, and runs as mainstream thought throughout huge swaths of this country. I have no answers. And i feel we are in for several generations of pain and misery
My husband and I will be forever grateful to President Trump for exposing so much of the facade that is our federal government and proving that even with virtually no structural support in the main things can be accomplished that were bandied about for years on end. As for the Republican officeholders distancing themselves from him, etc etc, cowards and hangers-on. In the lead-up to this last sham election we witnessed the success of propaganda and brainwashing. The fruit of it is HATE and HATE of this President and his supporters is what motivated every vote I know of for Biden/Harris. Apart from a sovereign act of God I don’t see anything holy emanating from that truth.
The ruling party is now assaulting us with Soviet levels of propaganda:
Just searched on Bing (as I’ve tried to avoid Google for many years now) for a fairly obscure 19th century American artist I have an interest in, as I’d received an alert that one of his artworks was coming up for auction. This was top result of my search terms “John Linton Chapman”:
“Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempts_to_overturn_the_2020_United_States_presidential…
2 days ago · After the 2020 United States presidential election in which challenger Joe Biden prevailed, incumbent Donald Trump, as well as his presidential campaign and his proxies, pursued an aggressive, unprecedented effort to deny and overturn the results.. Trump and his allies falsely alleged that an international communist conspiracy, rigged voting machines, and polling place …”
I can’t take it any more.
In concert with Sarah Hoyt’s essay regarding “the Republic is dead”, my first thought upon waking this morning was Boston was in lockdown for months prior to “the shot that was heard around the world”. I live in California where since mid-March all of the small business owners and employees of various businesses have been in lockdown per the willy-nilly commands of Newsom and Garcetti. Why Lexington that day? Word had it that the British were going after the store of weapons and munitions. I just read that President-elect Biden just appointed 2 more pro gun-control people to his administration.
He’s put the country through this trauma, further divided us,
I take it you were sound asleep (1) between 2000 and 2009 and (2) from the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2019, and (3) over the last 7 months. Either that or you’re competing for the Twee-Fool-of-the-Year award.
Trump has brought most all of this on himself. Character really does matter. His sucks.
Bill, people would be more impressed with this judgment if they had any evidence you’d bothered to evaluate anyone else.
1. Four of the previous five Republican presidents celebrated their retirement by shlepping around with a hideously expensive, publicly provided security detail. Jacqueline Onassis lived in Manhattan for 19 years with no security other than the doorman to her apartment building and the Nixons lived for nearly eight years with no security detail at all, but for decades we all pretended Betty Ford’s life was in danger.
2. Two of the previous five Republican presidents gleefully hoovered up speaking fees. George W. Bush speaks only to confidential fora and evidently says nothing worth leaking, so you may have the impression he is silent. A third among our retired Republican presidents wasn’t so enthusiastic but decided on reflection that if someone was going to pay him $100 k to yap for 45 minutes, he wasn’t going to leave money on the table. The other two accepted lucrative one-offs, one of whom you could excuse because he had over-due legal bills. Put this in context. Presidential pensions were created by law in 1958 because it was known that Harry Truman was rather cash poor. When Medicare was set up, he and his wife were at the ceremony as the first two enrolled; it was a benefit they could use. The man who played piano in the whorehouse of Kansas City politics for 20-odd years thought it unseemly for him to accept speaking fees or paid directorships. AFAIK, none of Gerald Ford’s predecessors tapped into this cash cow.
3. For two of the previous five Republican presidents, politics was their career. In regard to a third, the lucrative part of his business career was crucially dependent on leveraging connections derived from his father’s prominence.
4. I keep hearing about Trump’s ‘lies’, which I find interesting because you’d be hard put to identify a policy initiative of his administration you would not have expected given what he was saying in public speeches in 2015 and 2016. I tend to doubt if you catalogued Trump’s statements and his predecessor’s statements and applied a neutral screening tool to them that you’d actually discover he was more mendacious, and I cannot help but notice that both Bushes and Richard Nixon were accused of being chronic liars in office (and, in Nixon’s case, after he left office). If you’re going to be witlessly literal-minded with Trump’s car salesman pitch, misrepresent statements by editorial cropping, and define differences of opinion and changes in circumstances as ‘lies’, well that’s your problem, not his.
5. Can you tell me when and where Mitt Romney, John McCain, George Bush the Younger, and George Bush the Elder (not to mention St. Jimmy Carter) ever offered a public objection to the use of the Internal Revenue Service contra the Obama Administration’s opponents? Or ever objected to the vertiginous decline in ballot security in the last 25 years? Or ever objected to the abuse of the legal system and the security state contra the current Republican president and a menu of his associates?
Trump accomplished outstanding domestic and foreign policy objectives.
Nevertheless, he’s not going to be President again. “The Storming of Congress” is the straw that broke etc.
The Left is gloating – but Trump’s supporters scare the hell out of them. Civil War 2.0 is here. It’s not going away.
Biden’s teeth have a life of their own. They just might turn around and bite him (Doctor Jill – the failed cocktail waitress – to the rescue). Merrick Garland’s got his mission: Snatch Hunter from the jaws of Justice !
His presidency is over – or will be on Inauguration Day – now that he has conceded.
I’d say it’s over because the Electoral College votes were counted, not because he’s conceded.
I’m not aware of any legal or Constitutional mechanism for setting aside or changing the Electoral College votes after Congress has counted them.
All this popular vote and slates of electors process is much more recent than the Constitution. The Electors don’t have to have a reason for the way they voted; they never did. It may be that you can punish a faithless Elector afterward but you can’t undo their vote.
When our elected representatives refuse to adhere to the law, they swore to uphold, when they abrogate their responsibilities to serve and protect the CITIZENRY, when they sanctify the results of a fraudulent election at EVERY level of government, what recourse then to the citizens have??
What is the point of voting if the entire process is rigged, is a joke, a farce?
Even when the truth is not what we want to hear, we can’t expect to make good decisions or correct choices when we’re operating under the control of a lie.
My wife and I resent like hell the manner in which the Washington establishment — on both sides of the aisle — fought Trump from day one. He never managed to get the approval of more than a small number of Washington insiders and MSM big wigs, and no successful policy initiative was ever credited to his efforts.
For months now, friendly pundits have been encouraging him to stop fighting the results of the election (no matter how flawed it was), to concede defeat, and to take credit for the good things he has done. That didn’t happen. He kept fighting. To what end, I don’t understand. Even he must understand that if he could somehow have changed the results of the Electoral College count, he would never have the support he needed to serve out another 4 years. Pelosi and her minions would have nipped at his heels mercilessly, making it impossible for him to govern.
Now my wife and I are on opposite sides of the question. She thinks he should continue to fight, I think he should concede (as he has) and move on. My wife thinks Trump’s concession will only strengthen the Democrats’ willingness to corrupt elections and ignore the Constitution. I can’t disagree with her on that, but there comes a point where a strategic retreat and regrouping is called for, and I think that’s where we find ourselves now.
Republicans need to look at the long game. Fight the culture wars. Go after school boards and other less political electoral positions. Buy media outlets like cable stations and teen magazines. Oppose (through the withholding of financial support) political slogans and grandstanding in sports. There are at least 74 million like-minded people out there — they need to stop defending Trump and start defending constitutional law, better elections, and local conservatism.
I am not agreeing with Bill here, I am trying to preserve the America I was born into and delay the policies Biden wants to implement. First and foremost, I want to preserve the Bill of Rights, which I think will come under attack immediately after the inauguration. Forget about starting a shooting war. That didn’t work the last time it was tried. Forget about seceding from the Union. That only weakens us all. Focus instead on local elections. Work at the grass roots level. Preserve what we have that makes America special.
“Said it before but I’m still gobsmacked.”
Those of us who are not on MSM perhaps don’t appreciate the effect of unrelenting hostility.
“His presidency is over – or will be on Inauguration Day – now that he has conceded.”
It’s a nit. But is it accurate to say Trump will step down and allow a peaceful transition but he has not formally conceded? I don’t expect to ever hear PDJT say that Biden* won.
Do you want to know what in Italy passes for information about the facts in the Capitol?
Look at this video, from minute 00:19:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2TXvtcHMFc
This is one of the important News programs in Italy: the images purported to depict what’s happened are taken from
– a movie,
– then another about progressive people falling a Columbus statue,
– then a BLM protest with a guy donning a Batman costume.
All along the clip the “experts” comment on the violence, ignorance and absurdity of these Trump’s supporters.
As regards the movie scene, when a flamethrower (!) enters in action some doubts arise among the “experts” whether it really happened in the Capitol – one of the “experts” suggests that it took place in the suburbs.
They are all very concerned about the danger for American democracy, under Trump. The guys are also very serious about fake news and the indispensable role of professional journalists in order to have reliable information.
This is considered a moderate program – some leftist journalists were happy that a girl got shot, “she deserved it”.
My wife and I resent like hell the manner in which the Washington establishment — on both sides of the aisle — fought Trump from day one.
They’re properly free to propagate their viewpoint, sponsor legislation, use the customary parliamentary maneuvers to bloc legislation. That’s not a problem. For the security state to be launching bogus investigations and engaging in rampant abuse of process, for the federal judiciary to be engaging in political warfare against the administration (which included such howlers as asserting a prerogative to determine which questions will be put on the Census), for functionaries of the permanent government to be conspiring with politicians because they’re butt-hurt the president decided against the policies they fancy, and for general officers of the military to be insubordinate and publicly discourteous is not legitimate and never will be. (I could complain about the media, who are worthless in a way they were not 40 years ago).
A big part of our problem is that the culture of our professional-managerial bourgeoisie is malignant and cannot sustain non-pathological public discussion.
Bill:
You have crawled out from under your snugly and now speak truth to power (LOL). Are you prepared for Joe and Ho’s dark, dark winter?
Notice that Bill can’t say her name –
Ashli Babbit.
The Capitol Police, are you proud of their conduct and professionalism? Assassins in suits with cufflinks? After nearly a year of pepper balls, bean bags, backing down to riots and mayhem it’s good to drop one of those deplorables? Not just an Antifa assassination, a Federally-funded summary execution?
Art Deco:
Agree entirely.
Was that Bill-the-sensitive-conservative from Texas? The guy who finally admitted that he put the comforts of illegal aliens above the rule of law? ( honestly admitted, to his everlasting regret) Back now, to lecture us on character, while dismissing Trump Administration policy acheivements with a wave of the hand?
The economic work is dismissed in a sentence. The Supreme Court picks not mentioned at all. The trade deal resets ignored. The middle east successes unnoticed. Standing up to totalitarian China? Silence. Roll back of Obama executive orders … nothing. Neutering the Obamacare enforcement penalties … nothing. What planet do these kinds of preachy santimonious pseudo conservative eunuchs live on? How do they manage to even feed themselves?
Probably by activities performed on their knees.
Neo, our fate has already been determined.
See the cancelation of Sen. Hawley’s book contract just because he was going to bring Electoral College issues to the floor:
https://www.toddstarnes.com/cancel-culture/simon-schuster-cancel-sen-josh-hawleys-book-contract/
I wonder how long your site will be allowed, Neo.
F:
You cannot defend the Bill of Rights with local political action.
I completely agree with your viewpoint. Interestingly, today’s youth will not know what you are referring to because Homer is being purged from high school reading list.
The selective outrage is truly Orwellian. These Jacobin democrats and their media supporters have spent the last 6 months promoting violence against innocent businesses throughout America’s cities. And as pointed out by Powerline, the riots at Trump’s inauguration barely elicited a nod of moral opprobrium from the likes of Schumer. What else did they expect? Hard to fight an asymmetrical war.
Speaking of character, Bill. Let us ask about the character of other Presidents. How about that of William J. Clinton? Accused rapist, convicted sexual assaulter, unfaithful husband,. perjurer, and through the Clinton Global Initiative, grifter extraordinaire. Yet, admired by many because he has a D after his name.
Or how about Lyndon B. Johnson? Alleged election fraudster, serial womanizer, and expert at the use of crude and profane language. A man who sent Americans to die needlessly in a war he had not the spine to try to win. A man who used political blackmail of opponents to pass his Great Society legislation, which has resulted in a Greatly Indebted Society. Yet praised by many because he had D after his name.
Or how about John F. Kennedy? Probably the king of presidential womanizers. A man who posed as a a good Catholic family man who was anything but. A gift for oration hiding his true character. Yet, many still long for “Camelot” because he had a D after his name.
Yes, character matters. Too bad more of our presidents haven’t had it.
So much for “uniting” the country. Via FoxNews, Biden charged Trump with “inciting a mob to attack the Capitol,” which he said was the culmination of four years of “unrelenting attack” by the president “on the institutions of our democracy.”
Biden had his chance to be an actual national leader and didn’t even try. Harris will be even worse.
If Simon & Schuster owe Hawley an advance on the cancelled contract, he will make them pay it. He will find another publisher, and when he does I’ll order it just to send it to the best-seller list.
Paolo Pagliaro on January 8, 2021 at 11:52 am said:
Hi Paolo,
Concering the same editing practices, but in a lighter vein …
I was recently watching an Italian documentary on the WWII American B24 Liberator raid on the Romanian oil fields at Ploesti and got a surprise
Now, it is certainly common in reviewing documentaries for one to notice the same recycled material being used again and again. Half of the naval footage of the Pacific combat we see, seems to have been snipped from “The Fighting Lady’ 1944 wartime documentary, and then endlesdly recycled. These same scenes even appear in countless commercial movies where a shot up Grumman Wildcat or a damaged Dauntless is needed to be seen careening into and crash landing on a fleet carrier deck.
Much of the European theater of operations B17 footage we see in movies is cannibalized from a 1944 8th airforce documentary narrated by actor, then Army Air Force captain, Clark Gable; a film made for service personnel. Or alternatively, from footage taken from another restricted circulation training film made for the same audience.
But this Italian documentary takes the cake. In portraying battle scene crashes they repeatedly take a snip from a film record of an air show collision and crash, which most Americans are already familiar with: as edited and manipulated versions have been incorporated in 1950s science fiction movies in order to portray the effects of flying saucers stooting down fighter planes.
In the Italian Ploesti documentary, the snip of the tumbing and burning crash of the second fighter sized air show accident plane is repeatedly run to portray battle damaged war planes crashing to the ground.
Taking stock footage from one actual battle scene to represent another, is one thing. But using edited air show disaster footage already incorporated into old science fiction films, takes it all to a new level.
Trump won’t be attending the Grifter’s inauguration.
He should schedule a rally in a true red state to occur at the same time. Broadcast it, Podcast it, get it out to the public however possible.
His viewership will dwarf that of Barry’s Butt-Boy.
LeClerc, I certainly will not watch the inauguration of two cheaters and liars.
Every conservative or Republican, everywhere, needs to begin now pushing all legislators to eliminate electronic voting systems, Dominion or any other; to require voter ID, and to restrict mail-in voting (with ID proof) to a bare minimum. We cannot have another election like this one.
Oh, and someone needs to (figuratively) throttle Pelosi. A lightning impeachment? This is insane.
I’m sorry folks, everything Bill wrote is true, but I think many of the replies to his comment are also true. Our elites are thoroughly corrupt. The ideology of the left is destructive and frightening. The Republican party was in a terrible rut. Jeb! probably would have made a better president than his brother, but the party’s support for his 2016 campaign was a bad joke. The fact that only one of 16 candidates in 2016 couldn’t bring themselves to admit that the Iraq War was a mistake was pathetic. Rs really had left the working class behind. Of course there’s more.
It was almost certainly the case that Trump was the only candidate in 2016 who was going to shake up this status quo. I don’t deny that Trump did a lot of good things, related to judges, life, regulations, and such. I don’t deny that the alternatives in the Republican party were also flawed. What I don’t see Trump supporters recognizing though, is that, despite everything, elevating Trump to the presidency carried huge downside risks, mostly related to his character (or lack thereof).
At every step of the way, his lack of character has made him less effective and harmed the country overall. Now, his character meltdown since the election has brought the worst of the downside risks to pass. We are about to be governed by a left that is more radical than it was in 2016 and more convinced than ever that the crackdown on dissent that they’ve always wanted is now righteous and necessary. Because of Georgia, the only Trump accomplishments that will survive the summer are his judges, and that goes too if Ds can convince Manchin to pack the courts.
The situation now is clearly worse than it would have been if another Republican had been elected in 2016. There’s a good argument that it is worse than it would have been if Hillary had won in 2016 (especially if Ds pack the Court).
In other words, Trump supporters took a huge gamble and its come up snake eyes. That means giving Bill his due. Facts have proven him right, and a lot of other NeverTrump folks too (though by no means all of them). It also means leaving Trump behind. He’s failed the country. He’s failed as president. Most of all, he’s failed his supporters. Let’s figure out how to make the best of what we have now and not let Trump or his family do anymore damage.
I was waiting to see when the HATE!!! would turn away from Trump. Well, it’s started and its coming directly at anyone who even voted for him. Those nice liberal people in the cities and suburbs are turning their vehemence towards the other half of the population. 85% of the FB posts today were still directed at Trump, but 20% are now pointing at anyone who even thinks anything Trump did was good. 2020?? Man, you ain’t seen nutin’ yet!!
Let the pogrom begin!!
I’m sorry folks, everything Bill wrote is true,
Bill is being stupid and so are you. Someone with a different personality might have been less useful as fodder for media drivel which sways vacuous swing voters, but the reaction to Trump among the political and media class wasn’t driven by that.
What’s interesting about Trump is that he never promoted anything particularly out of the ordinary – a more confrontational stance in trade negotiations and in re Chinese infiltration of American institutions; a more circumspect raison d’etat driven policy in the Near East, with some tactical innovations which included humbug reduction; a different mix of confrontation and accommodation in re Russia, a more permissive stance toward oil drilling, an end to the promotion of witch-hunts against male students in higher education, a modest reduction in marginal income tax rates, repeal of Obamacare, Federalist Society picks on the courts, and, of course, more vigorous immigration enforcement. There’s always been a 10th planet regulating the reaction to this administration in official Washington and among Democratic voters.
And, of course, you’ve forgotten that George W Bush was treated atrociously by partisan Democrats and the media, his accommodationist stance notwithstanding.
The situation now is clearly worse than it would have been if another Republican had been elected in 2016. There’s a good argument that it is worse than it would have been if Hillary had won in 2016 (especially if Ds pack the Court).
It’s amusing when people who wish to present themselves as allies expect Republicans to adopt the mentality commonly attributed to battered wives.
Bauxite–I disagree with you and Bill 100%. Obama weaponized government agencies and the Leftists were firmly entrenched in our security institutions. Under the Dems the redefinition of genetics (male/female we were created) was in full emergence. Kicking the can down the road with another Deep State entrenched or simply obsequious Republican was never going to be the answer for the Orwellian circumstances in effect and now on steroids. Trump’s presidency alone stood between us and that. It has always been true that they were coming after us (anyone they deem their political adversaries). You really need to face reality. But that takes will and courage.
Biden had his chance to be an actual national leader and didn’t even try. Harris will be even worse.
It’s doubtful Biden is able to write his own copy anymore. He has never in his career given much evidence of a public-spirited bone in his body, so I cannot figure why anyone would expect him to now, even were he lucid. The Democratic Party elite and their dependents and hangers-on are a mix of crooks and fanatics, so you’re not getting the song you want from them. As for Willie’s ho’, she was corrupt from a very young age.
re Hector and Achilles…indeed a rather chilling passage….a great deal of current Prog political behavior is motivated by the desire–subconscious or otherwise–to combine *cruelty to outsiders* with *acceptance by an in-group*, and to gain a feeling of righteousness while doing so. This relates to Milan Kundera’s concept of ‘circle dancing’, which has been referenced here several times before.
See my post Conformity, Cruelty, and Political Activism:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/57600.html
The situation now is clearly worse than it would have been if another Republican had been elected in 2016. There’s a good argument that it is worse than it would have been if Hillary had won in 2016 (especially if Ds pack the Court).
Carson
Christie
Cruz
Fiorina
Gilmore
Graham
Huckabee
Jindal
Kasich
Pataki
Paul
Perry
Please Clap
Rubio
Santorum
Walker
List for us, please, all of the above who would have been elected in 2016. Who would’ve beaten the most beatified presidential candidate in history. Who would’ve punched back against the scum that passes for our “popular” media. Who would’ve taken the fight to Her Royal Thighness instead of…cowering away bc “that’s not who we are” or some such nonsense.
C’mon, impress us. Show your work.
Pelosi is pressing her impeachment ploy. On CNBC this AM it was leaked to Eamon Javers that there are enough GOP votes in the Senate to convict.
And Pelosi is telling the Joint Chiefs not to obey the Commander-in-Chief’s orders. As I have written here, Trump really needs to destroy Iran’s nuke facility at Fordor. On General Jack Keane’s Twitter feed this AM, I asked him if that should be done. It was a question. Someone complained and I’m banned from Twitter for 12 hours.
Hypothetical. If there was Twitter in 1939 and I suggested bombing Berlin in order to stop Hitler, would I get banned from Twitter?
I previously satirically suggested that we bomb China’s coal-fired power plants to bits because of global warming. Over 20 years of book reviews deleted by AMZN and I’m banned for life from posting reviews.
We don’t have Free Speech in this country anymore and the uni-party likes that.
Also on CNBC it was made clear to me that the Street loves all the Green New Deal. All sorts of interest in “clean energy” because there are BIG BUCKS to be made. That, of course, feeds Biden’s two bases: 1. The useful idiot retail Greens; 2. The Street and the Valley.
Kara Swisher (a nasty piece of work and so-called tech journo) thinks the first trillionaire will be in “clean energy.”
CAGW is the greatest scam of all time. I think I need to buy TESLA stock.
There are definitely big bucks to be made in (what people think is) clean energy; there are also big bucks to be *lost* in those industries that use a lot of energy in their operations, especially if they choose to locate such operations in the United States.
Biden/Harris are likely to considerably set back any ‘reshoring’ of US manufacturing, and this likely includes manufacturing of ‘clean energy’ components.
Rather than letting things cool down a bit, this impeachment push is just going to swat the hornets nest again. WTH are these people thinking? God, the need for revenge is getting out of hand. He’ll be gone in 12 days!
I’ll make it a fourth – Bill go fuck yourself
@Art+Deco, very well said, but you are completely wasting your time. Far too many people’s brains have atrophied to the point of uselessness. You cannot reason with idiots. I honestly can’t tell if these people ARE that dumb in buying the media lies or what, but I find it hard to believe they can be rational people and believe the BS.
It’s really this simple: The Democrats will absolutely overplay their hand, and in a spectacularly tragic fashion. So keep your powder dry until the day comes that they inevitably kill people on their own property while trying to enforce their new socialist edicts. And then, its all over.
And for the record, Democrats will not continue to steal elections because Trump concedes. As if they care about that. They will continue to steal elections because they did it as brazenly in the open as possible AND GOT AWAY WITH IT.
No, you’re not restoring the Constitution from the school board or town council or the county executive. Even if you could, every one of the places where you might make some difference is completely corrupt and run exclusively by Democrats.
What mikeski said. I supported Cruz in the 2016 primaries and still like him but he wouldn’t have beaten Hillary in a million years. Trump was the *only* Republican who could have won, which I did not realize until after the election.
Speaking of ‘clean’ energy, I am concerned about the visual pollution resulting from massive wind-power installations. I’ve already seen previously-scenic views really messed up by these things.
GE, which makes & sells both wind turbines and natural-gas power equipment, posted some interesting land-use numbers. For the same 1 gigawatt of generation capacity, you need a footprint of:
–13 ACRES for a combined-cycle (gas) power plant, or
–5000 ACRES for solar panels, or
–50,000 ACRES for wind
Their analysis also indicates that wind/solar can provide the power for 25-45% of the time…and, even with 4 hours of battery storage (not cheap) that number rises to only 35-50%. The rest of the time, you need a gas-fired power plant, which GE would be delighted to sell you…but will this be politically acceptable?
https://www.ge.com/news/reports/talking-about-generation-this-mix-of-technologies-can-lower-the-power-industrys-carbon
Internet rumor is that SpecOps went in with the crowd and captured several laptops including one from Pelosi’s office. This rumor on the interwebz before the Pelosi mouth piece said a laptop was stolen but just one from a conference room. So maybe the criminal bitch is still worried about Trump going full Franco.
What mikeski said. I supported Cruz in the 2016 primaries and still like him but he wouldn’t have beaten Hillary in a million years. Trump was the *only* Republican who could have won, which I did not realize until after the election.
IIRC, in hypothetical match-ups published on RCP, Trump performed worse than Cruz, Kasich, and Rubio and Clinton performed worse than Sanders. Now, these are all ghostly figures on pollster’s lists and polls have been getting less and less reliable over the years, but that’s the best evidence you have.
In some sense it’s regrettable that we did not draw from our bench of governors in 2015. Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal &c. In some agreeable alternate timeline, I wish they’d stood foursquare for immigration enforcement and headed Trump off at the pass. I don’t think Jindal had much to say on the subject and Walker’s principal billionaire donor insisted he equivocate on immigration.
There’s lots to criticize about Trump (as about any politician), but once you realized what The Machine was up to, you had to heed Pat Buchanan’s counsel offered in 1987: “When the mob is coming to get the old man, you don’t have him sit down and write down a list of his ‘mistakes’. You start firing from the upper floors”.
…most of the GOP politicians in Washington DC are scrambling to get as far away from Trump as fast as they possibly can…
Perhaps, like Paul Ryan, they intend to pursue life outside politics.
They may as well.
Well the interwebs has been very useful of late except when it isn’t.
The politicians in DC aren’t known for courage or convictions for the most part.
The fact that only one of 16 candidates in 2016 couldn’t bring themselves to admit that the Iraq War was a mistake was pathetic.
At the risk of riling MBunge, the following:
1. Decisions are made prospectively, and under conditions of uncertainty.
2. You only live in one timeline. You only see the disagreeable outcomes in front of you. Who’d you prefer, Uday or Qusay?
Consider that the Republican candidates might have had that in mind even if you did not.
Speaking of ‘clean’ energy, I am concerned about the visual pollution resulting from massive wind-power installations. I’ve already seen previously-scenic views really messed up by these things.
I’m not. There are benefits and costs to any sort of economic activity. There are eyesores everywhere – as in pretty much all of modern architecture and every bloody parking lot in America. Few of them have the kind of practical utility a power station does.
If engineers and businessmen can make wind and solar cost effective in certain venues, that’s just dandy. Just get the government out of the venture capital business and make the tax code neutral between sectors and subsectors (and if there are externalities, address them case-by-case).
it’s badly divided yep – the GOP is divided. Not quite GOPe (establishment), but more el-Rep (elite Republican folk), vs normal America-loving Republicans. The UniParty should be called the EliteParty, composed of el-Dems and el-Reps.
The el-Reps never liked Trump personally, and usually hated his style. Often not too keen on some of his policies, but did like Tax Cuts. And they loved, LOVED getting Trump supporting votes.
They were, and still are, hoping “Trump will go quietly”, altho it’s already too late. Those who he promoted, including Betsy DeVos (who I liked, and still like), will be leaving him now. Hoping to avoid being tarred as a “Trumpist”, tho I suspect they’ll mostly fail at that.
Maybe about 1/3 of young adults are college educated, 2/3 non-college educated. Most college educated consider themselves elites – I call them elite wannabes. I was one of them (remain college educated from then, tho!).
The Dems have taken over Academia, Media & Gov’t, and are closing in on Big Business. Making them full of Trump-hating college credentialed middle manager bureaucrats.
But most effective leaders of the 2/3 non-college educated folk will, nevertheless, be college educated themselves, as Trump was. To a significant extent, they’ll be anti-elitists.
It’s not clear how many more Dear Leaders China will have before they get change – I did think Bush supporting them going into WTO was a good shot. Capitalism, and full bellies, before democracy.
I fear, now, that China will have to be involved in a war which they fail to win, like the US in Vietnam, like Russia in Afghanistan, before the deservingly proud Chinese supporters of the CCP become less proud and more freedom loving.
In the meantime, the CCP and other foreigners continue to be successful at finding anti-Americans to be professors at colleges, who discriminate against Reps. And mock Christians. And demonize those who disagree with
PC junkthe new “wokeness”.Democrat Derangement Syndrome is getting worse, and seems set to keep getting worse before it gets better. The “getting better” means it loses in an election, rather than wins, like in 2020 & and Georgia. Trump was, so far, just a speed bump.
On our current Road To Hell. Like Chris Rea sings:
“Son, what are you doing here???”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUUdQfnshJ4
Most radios don’t play the full intro; nor my Greatest Hits CD!
Like many climate & capitalism alarmists, he has heart, music, voice (my range!), but bad economics.
“This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway, Oh no.”
Art Deco: “The Democratic Party elite and their dependents and hangers-on are a mix of crooks and fanatics”
Indeed.
David Foster:
“.a great deal of current Prog political behavior is motivated by the desire–subconscious or otherwise–to combine *cruelty to outsiders* with *acceptance by an in-group*”
All too true, and causes me to repeat something I’ve said many times: today’s liberals are among the least self-aware people I know. Maybe scratch “among”. Speech and behavior which they would instantly see as hateful, bigoted, etc etc from others is totally acceptable from their side. Not just acceptable in spite of being harsh etc, but not even seen as harsh.
Two items from Facebook: 1) a person whom I know to be extremely kind in general rejoices in the prospect of doxxing and “ruining the lives” (her words) of any identifiable people in the Capitol protests/riots. When challenged on that (not by me), no reply.
2) Someone unknown to me, friend of a left-wing friend, posted a photo of Capitol police holding guns on protesters lying face-down on the floor, with the comment “Shoot them”. As of a few hours later no one had objected.
Just imagine if [you fill in the blank]
To hell with them all.
I am not even taking call from family because my emotions are too raw; and if they say the wrong thing it could get ugly. This is a temporary measure, of course. I love the darling, misguided souls.
I sent a message to the President. I know he will never see it; but the WH staff did acknowledge receipt which is more than may Democrat Reps in California do.
Here is the gist. I did not copy the form.
Dear Mr President
God Bless.
Thank you for all you did for the country over the past four years. You did your best for us.
Now, as events unfold I grieve for you, and I grieve for the country.
May I suggest that you consider immigrating to Israel? I should think that they would welcome you. I would do so if I could.
Best Wishes,
Captain E. R. xxxxxxxx, USN ret
I would encourage others to reach out. I presume that the staff are keeping some kind of tally, if nothing else. Of course, if the numbers are low, he may have time to read them.
BTW, I am in the bridge burning mode–my wife calls it “cutting of your nose mode”. I sold my Shopify stock first thing this morning. It was one of the core I intended to stay with even after I learned the election results. and went into a defensive mode.. It went up today, naturally. Don’t care. I want nothing to do with those sanctimonious, virtue signaling, expletive deleted, companies who are piling on when he is down.
Accepting the 2020 election outcome, I refuse to believe that Biden got 80 million votes. It just doesn’t add up. He got 19 million votes in the Democrat primary (36 million total cast), he bombed in the first two debates, he bombed in the first two primaries, his running mate couldn’t even make it to the 1st freaking primary, he ran as bad a (non)campaign as I’ve ever seen with little to no energy. I call him “the walking cadaver” though I love it when he adds the phony little jog–almost as much as I enjoy Kammies phony laugh. Odds on how long he lasts?
Bill and Bauxite are right that Trump’s excessive NY salesmanship has some downsides. But they’re very fundamentally wrong about Trump critics:
“Facts have proven him right, and a lot of other NeverTrump folks too (though by no means all of them).”
There are NO FACTS, today, about the future. The future with a Trump win would be different than the future with a Biden Presidency (never a win! “stolen Presidency” maybe).
In looking at the actual facts, from today and the past, it looks like Trump, with his massive braggadocios, partially saved America. And exposed the elite Deep State criminals.
It’s fair to say, as Neo does, that things are bad and likely to get worse. And maybe never will Reps win again. But none of today’s “maybes” is yet Fact.
The election does have some facts.
One fact is that Trump got 12 million MORE legal votes in 2020 over 2016- a landslide of almost unquestionably legal votes.
Biden got about 16 million more votes than Hillary, legal AND illegal (& Mickey Mouse!) votes, so was declared the winner by the Elite Deep State Dictatorship. By elites who hate anti-elitist Trump. Who say, without examining contrary evidence, that virtually all those votes were legal.
I’m certain that millions of Biden votes should have been disqualified – but can’t prove it. I’d be interested in full audits of the election process in the 6 fraud states. Discounting all votes without full chains of custody; discounting mail-in votes without signature matching; discounting all votes counted without Rep observers observing.
But we all know, now, that such an audit ain’t gonna happen. Because Dems object (proven fact) since they know they cheated (opinion on motive).
Instead of honesty about election problems, Dems want to persecute Trump.
Everybody who keeps hating Trump, now, is just like a Jew-hating German Nazi. Disagreement/ envy, discrimination, demonization, hate – HATE. How do these “unifiers” feel about Trump supporters now?
Listen to the middle (8:30 ) of Alice’s Restaurant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM
I wanna kill. Kill.
I wanna kill. Kill.
I wanna see blood & gore & guts
and veins in my teeth.
I wanna kill … kill, kill.
And I started jumpin’ up and down yellin’ kill, kill
This was a “peace-nik” singin’ this anti-war song.
An early pajama boy (on the cover w/o PJs).
An elite wannabe displaying an inner desire to kill others.
The US Democrats have been feeding their Hate wolf for years, so it’s no surprise their hearts are being won by Hate.
I now expect to ask my Dem friends:
“Did you ever wonder how Germans felt about Jews?”
…
“I think it’s about the same as you now feel about Trump supporters. ”
(and maybe)
“I think you’d be a Jew-hater if you were in Germany in 1933.”
They won’t like that idea.
Back in the day, when so many people thought the new internet social media platforms were wonderful toys to play with, they questioned why some of us didn’t want to sign up with a provider that required we use our real names, hometowns, birthdays, whatever “so that friends could connect with us.”
“Someone said a fanatic is someone who redoubles his effort when he’s forgotten his aim.” – Art Deco
Someone said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Probably the same guy.
“If the political culture forbids respectable politicians from raising certain issues, then the electorate will turn to unrespectable ones.” – Mark Steyn
“Those who make peaceful resolution of disagreement impossible will make violent resolution of disagreement inevitable.” – John F. Kennedy
#AlwaysMyPresident
Speaking of Mark Steyn,
LeClerc on January 7, 2021 at 3:58 pm said:
Mark Steyn’s comments are right on target – and he sticks a thumb in the eyes of all the jackasses at Fox News:
https://www.steynonline.com/10914/this-is-not-who-we-are
Another responsible legislator heard from.
Nick Freitas from Virginia.
Due to be cancelled on Facebook in 3,2,1,
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/424669/
with commentary by Sarah Hoyt
Direct link, while it still exists.
I’ve started copying things like this and Larry Correia’s Manifesto to my documents file.
https://www.facebook.com/NickFreitasVA/posts/3567513429983813
1) a person whom I know to be extremely kind in general rejoices in the prospect of doxxing and “ruining the lives” (her words) of any identifiable people in the Capitol protests/riots. When challenged on that (not by me), no reply.
I think you mean ‘a person I know to be kind in certain venues’.
Neo,
“My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.
Well said, agreed.
That was the reason Pres. Trump fighting for, none of the others cares about these matters before him.
Rather than letting things cool down a bit, this impeachment push is just going to swat the hornets nest again. WTH are these people thinking? God, the need for revenge is getting out of hand. He’ll be gone in 12 days!
It’s been suggested that this month’s Col. Vindman is sh!tting bricks over possible declassifications and is stoking his contacts in Congress. It actually makes more sense than other explanations.
As for San Fran Nan, I’d say don’t interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake, but one thing we see this year is that there’s no amount of grossness that seems to injure the Democratic Party with anyone but a tiny sliver of unpredictable swing voters.
“In the lead-up to this last sham election we witnessed the success of propaganda and brainwashing. The fruit of it is HATE and HATE of this President and his supporters is what motivated every vote I know of for Biden/Harris. Apart from a sovereign act of God I don’t see anything holy emanating from that truth.” – Sharon W
“In looking at the actual facts, from today and the past, it looks like Trump, with his massive braggadocios, partially saved America. And exposed the elite Deep State criminals.” – Tom Grey
I think those 4 years of Trump are going to be all the Acts of God that he gives us for awhile. Now it’s a matter of letting everyone reveal who they really are (while crying “That’s not who we are!” at everyone doing something different).
Third act curtain going up?
#AlwaysMyPresident
Johnnyreb has the right of it.
The Constitution is effectively dead.
The rule of law is whatever those on the left say it is on that day. Go along to get along or be crushed is now all of which the law consists.
1984 is just getting started. Totalitarians don’t settle for half measures.
In the not too distant future, the left will confirm all of the above.
Nancy B – not doubting your word for a moment, but if what happened to you was going on across the web, the browser mavens seem to have gotten the message that people don’t like that.
“John Linton Chapman” actually turned up the exact same top article on all three browsers I use. First time that’s ever happened so far as I’ve ever tested a search.
BTW, calls to impeach Trump or invoke the 25th amendment and advise that he should resign to escape that fate are all of one purpose; to disqualify him from running for reelection in 2024.
He’s the leader of the left’s opposition and cutting off the head of an enemy’s leader is a tried and true tactic for consolidating power.
Art Deco: “I think you mean ‘a person I know to be kind in certain venues’.”
Well, we can reverse the signs of the quantities on either side of the equation, but the truth is more like “kind in all but political venues.” Or one might engage in psychological speculation that there is a lot of malice in there which is only allowed expression in political opinion, but I don’t have grounds for thinking that.
In 2016 I argued against Trump on the possibility his presidency would leave the Republican Party with a reputation so toxic that its ability to oppose Democrats would be lost for years, maybe decades.
But I sure didn’t see it happening this way. One may argue against Trump’s immoderate, careless rhetoric at times, but it was the Democrats’ non-stop hellish hatred and willingness to oppose him by any means necessary, however hypocritical, unfair, deceitful, violent or criminal that brought him down.
Sadly, it now looks like Trump will not realistically be able to mount a 2024 campaign, assuming he would want to, and I don’t see anyone who can replace him.
“Even he must understand that if he could somehow have changed the results of the Electoral College count, he would never have the support he needed to serve out another 4 years. Pelosi and her minions would have nipped at his heels mercilessly, making it impossible for him to govern.” – F
Agreed.
I would have liked to eke out another 4 years of winning, but sometimes you have to thank people for their sacrifices and let them take care of themselves.
There do seem to be some fighters still left in the GOP.
Cruz has been stalwart, despite the deeply insulting things Trump said in the primaries (Ted is the only one of the pack that understood the kayfabe of politics).
Nick Freitas put out a Middle-road Manifesto, but it looks to me like he is mostly cautioning the Right not to sink to the level of the Left.
https://www.facebook.com/NickFreitasVA/posts/3567513429983813
(h/t Hoyt at Instapundit)
Matt Gaetz gave a blistering rebuke to the Congress yesterday.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/01/07/matt-gaetz-destroys-democrats-hypocrisy-on-contesting-elections-and-violence-n1312232
All the responses are typical of the MSM & its satellites in less prominent media, but this one lists some allies.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/matt-gaetz-alleges-antifa-infiltrated-violent-capitol-hill-protest/ar-BB1cys5f
The article stays almost neutral up until the end, but I think that msn is revealing the playbook for when all of the “baseless” claims that Antifa was precipitating the violence start turning up solid facts. Then the Dems will pivot to “but QShaman wasn’t Antifa!” (which at this point looks true) and therefore none of the other participants positively identified to be leftists don’t matter, and the Right’s charges will once again be dismissed as “without evidence.”
#AlwaysMyPresident
“Do you want to know what in Italy passes for information about the facts in the Capitol?” – Paolo
Sad to say, that isn’t a whole lot different from what passes for information in the USA about other countries.
As well as our own.
“Rather than letting things cool down a bit, this impeachment push is just going to swat the hornets nest again. WTH are these people thinking? God, the need for revenge is getting out of hand. He’ll be gone in 12 days!” – physicsguy
I’ve heard speculations that conviction will (a) make it impossible for Trump to run again in 2024 (as if he would want that headache again!) which it would; (b) somehow forestall him pardoning more of his family, friends, and possibly himself proactively (I don’t have any problem with him doing that, given the precedents our other presidents have set) which seems doubtful – he could always do that as soon as impeachment is begun.
However, doing it in 12 days is a pipedream, even with the Congresscravens we have in the Senate.
#AlwaysMyPresident
Neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red herring?
Or neither Antifa, nor MAGA, just Florida Man being himself.
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2021/01/08/florida-man-friday-crazy-guy-who-stole-pelosis-podium-identified-as-you-know-you-n1323897
#AlwaysMyPresident
Source for embedded quote only adds “reporter” bio for the Tweeter:
https://twitter.com/tbridis/status/1347556865840996354
But remember: Twitter delenda est.
However, if you want a few minutes of levity to lighten the load today, read the rest of the Florida Man post.
Seriously, they look like applicants for a spot at some Darwin Awards Reality Show.
Coming soon to a country near you.
https://pjmedia.com/columns/rick-moran/2021/01/08/the-coming-purge-of-all-things-and-people-trump-n1323314
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2021/01/08/insanity-wrap-121-abc-news-political-director-calls-for-cleansing-of-trump-supporters-n1323253
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
–Theodore Roosevelt, “The Man in the Arena” speech (1910)
Bongino boots Twitter off his social media presence.
https://trendingpolitics.com/breaking-twitter-suspends-dan-bongino-for-posting-trump-s-video-calling-for-peace/
Trump’s call to peace is still posted on their TrendingPolitics YouTube channel. Watch it while you still can.
The fruit of it is HATE and HATE……… The lies uncontrolled by Social media (Facebook and others)
Let see the HATE what done to innocence people with help of Social media lies…..
mikeski – You can’t prove or disprove a counter factual, so “show that another R could have won” is just a parlor game. Maybe Trump was the only R who could have won in 2016. I doubt it. Remember that House Rs won more votes than Trump and more votes than House Ds in 2016. Senate R candidates also ran ahead of Trump in every state. There’s a good argument that Republicans in general were better vote getters than Trump in 2016. We’ll never know if, say, Marco Rubio or Ben Carson could have won.
While we’re playing parlor games, though, I think there’s actually a pretty good argument that even if Trump was the only R who could win in 2016, he was also the only R who could have lost in 2020, and certainly the only R who could have blown 2 Senate seats in Georgia. He is without a doubt the only R who would have goaded a mob into storming the capital to stop the counting of electoral votes.
I’m not just posing as a Republican ally. I’ve been a registered Republican for twenty five years. My purpose isn’t to criticize Trump supporters either. Electing Trump was a big risk. I didn’t think the risk was worth it, but it might have paid off. It came much closer to paying off than I thought likely in 2016.
The bet has failed, though, and failed spectacularly. That means that, whether we like it or not, the people who warned that Trump wasn’t fit for office were right. Its time to acknowledge that, stop defending the indefensible, and move on.
Bauxite:
You’re right. We shouldn’t have worn that short skirt. We were just asking for it.
@Bauxite:
Permit me to be perfectly Candide (geddit geddit?) with you:
I respectfully suggest that you research the career of Admiral Byng and Voltaire’s famous quip about him.
I think you’re going to find that tolerance on the Right for waverers, fence-sitters, hand-wringers, holier-than-thous, etc… is about to hit an all-time low.
On the other hand, Pour Encourager les Autres would make a nice epitaph and you could rest assured that future unlettered generations would mistake your grave for that of a particularly wise and cultivated person.
Bauxite assures us he is a 25 year Republican. Whoop whoop whoop, so is Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Jeb!, and many others. Go play in your parlor and concoct counterfactuals. I’m all out of F’s for concern trolls.
“That means that, whether we like it or not, the people who warned that Trump wasn’t fit for office were right.”
That’s like saying the people who poured sugar in your gas tank were right that your car wouldn’t start. Donald Trump has been attacked, undermined, betrayed, persecuted, lied about, and smeared more than any President in at least the modern age, if not all time. If Trump isn’t fit for office, what about Pelosi? Schumer? Hell, what about Romney and McConnell? What about the media? What about the tech companies?
I think I’ve mentioned this around here before but a lot of people thought everything was JUST FINE on the morning of Election Day 2016. Then, for no reason whatsoever that those people could understand, Trump won. Ever since, those people have believed that if they just got rid of Trump, everything would go back to being JUST FINE.
They’re now going to learn just how wrong they were all along.
Mike
AesopFan —
From the Freitas rant:
Many of our citizens, regardless of party, appear to have decided that control of the government, in order to force other people to do what they want, is the primary goal of political engagement. If this is true, then no matter which side wins, my whole reason for engaging in the political process loses.
I guess I can’t speak for others, but I specifically don’t want to control the government to force other people to do what I want. I want to control the government to stop people from forcing other people to do what they want.
One of my favorite claims I’ve seen so far as to Why He Must Be Removed is “because he still has his finger on the nuclear button”.
These people are unhinged in every possible way.
“One of my favorite claims I’ve seen so far as to Why He Must Be Removed is “because he still has his finger on the nuclear button”.”
Yes the man who wants to bring all the troops home. The man who scotched a retaliatory strike on Iran when they shot down a drone because civilians would be killed. Bolton and Mattis had the missiles warmed up in the tubes when Trump called it off.
The man they had to lie to in order to keep the number of troops in Syria higher than authorized. Use that when someone says Trump is deranged. Ask them how many body bags were there from the Trump initiated war. Demand an answer and when there is silence say “CORRECT because he never started any war”. To criticize him means that you are a war monger. Use the Obama straw man arguments on them. Never concede the high ground to them but make them live in the reality of facts. They don’t do well there.
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.”
–Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Hat Tip PD Quig @ Meaning of History).
Folks it is a bit too gloomy around here. As mentioned before the Left ALWAYS oversteps and a fierce reaction rebounds upon them. Look at Obamacare and the result. Yes it is still with us today but that is because the Rino’s had no plan and when Trump won it was like the dog that caught the car. But the left lost power. Today Twitter and Facebook brazenly kicked off 500K accounts and demanded that Parler fall in line. People will not tolerate that. There will be a reaction.
Both parties have internal conflicts that are going to have to be resolved. The Republican has the fight between the Economic Populists (Gaetz/Jordan/McCarthy/Hawley) vs. the Globalist Corporatists (Nikki Hailey/Pompeo/Rubio). Cruz I haven’t decided. He was definitely a Corporatist four years ago. A person can change. These outlooks tend to allow personal space and freedom.
The Democrats have an even more intense struggle as they have a generational fight going on too. The Technocrat Overlords (those in the thrall/pay of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter) vs. the Totalitarian government class (Sanders/AOC/Omar and Jeffries). This fight will be intense. Right now they are externally focused but once Trump is out of office they will turn on themselves as totalitarians always do. Right now they have the external boogey man called Trump to unite them but soon it will become a struggle for the spoils like hyenas squabbling over a picked over carcass left behind by a lion.
Already the financial constraints are starting to bite. No $2000 stimulus for thee of bien pissant status. No forgiveness of $50K of student debt. Keep paying the US Government. Tax cuts revoked? And watch the stock market crash? Don’t think so. Stay inside and wear your mask. When the lies are uncovered there is going to a real cat fight. That is a good thing as they can’t mess with us too much. To get a sense of how a Biden Harris administration will function look at New York and California.
So while this is going on we need to organize and quickly. Stay involved, volunteer, be cheerful and get out debt as soon as possible. Individually it looks impossible but united we will triumph because suppression pressure only shifts it to another place. An individual act while small adds an increment of truthfulness. It accumulates and grows. Remember the quote that started this essay.
The precipitating event will be when a state goes bankrupt and the Federal Government can’t bail them out. Illinois is leading the way with California and New York close behind. Without the Trump economy boosting their economies the fall will be accelerated. With reapportionment these states lose even more power and clout and their power brokers will have to divide even smaller scraps to their base. Nothing is ever static.
Main Street economy consists of real goods and services like electricity, plumbing, HVAC and building trades. The Totalitarian economy is based on financial leverage, entertainment and bandwidth. Electric signals beaming along. Think which one people can do without. We have this exaggerated view that Facebook, Google and Twitter have this outsized impact because we are so often in their electronic realm. But take a sabbatical for a few days shows how little you miss it.
Apple and Amazon are a different story but even they have vulnerabilities. Use an Android phone and go buy in a store. See a movie in a theater. Support living wages for Amazon employees.
So we have our emotional moment. Now gird your loins for battle, set your face with a stony expression and act with purposeful cold anger.
I am Spartacus:
Thanks.
The conflict is far from over. We are far from lacking resources. It’s a complicated world out there. No one really knows what will work.
Keep yourself healthy. Keep yourself sane. Keep yourself solvent. Take care of your people. Look for others. Look for leverage. Look for opportunities.
Pray ’em if you’ve got ’em.
Im with Bill and Bauxite. Trump’s petty demeanor screwed himself and now its screwed us. Good luck for us ever regaining the Presidency ever again. I mean, sure, the left would have eventually gotten us to that point, but there might have been a delay, or even a reversal in opinions if we had only managed to put in office someone more honest and mature than who they were offering. Instead, in the end, he manages to maker Biden look Presidential in comparison, and Biden’s a mediocre, child sniffing dolt. Good job Trumpers.
There was no perfect Republican candidate, but this was a disaster I saw coming way back in the primaries when I heard this guy’s hat being tossed into the ring. How the hell do you choose a guy conducing a petty needless weeks long twitter argument with Rosie O’Donnell? Thats somebody you thought had the mental fortitude to conduct the most important job in the world?
So now he cant even leave the office in a dignified manner, but why should he? He never presided with any.
I’d rather not end this thread with a troll.
Let’s read Sultan Knish instead.
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2021/01/what-stalin-quote-about-rigging.html
“Verrryyy interesting.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=krD4hdGvGHM
If you didn’t listen to Mark Steyn’s piece at Tucker Carlson’s show, there is a partial transcript here.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2021/01/07/attention-please/#comment-733299
And read Sarah’s rant while you’re there.
Now the Captain called me to his bed
He fumbled for my hand
“Take these silver bars, ” he said
“I’m giving you command”
“Command of what, there’s no one here
There’s only you and me
All the rest are dead or in retreat
Or with the enemy”
“Complain, complain, that’s all you’ve done
Ever since we lost
If it’s not the Crucifixion
Then it’s the Holocaust”
“May Christ have mercy on your soul
For making such a joke
Amid these hearts that burn like coal
And the flesh that rose like smoke”
…
“Your standing days are done, ” I cried
“You’ll rally me no more
I don’t even know what side
We fought on, or what for”
…
Now the Captain he was dying
But the Captain wasn’t hurt
The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt
–Leonard Cohen, “The Captain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yvOn-E-Kw
________________________________
There are more verses but I’m hoping you get the gist.
meh
huxley, the text reminds somewhat of one of Sting’s old songs on Ten Summoner’s Tales.
I’ve been shirking work again today trying to keep up with everything… wondering when I’ll see a news flash that Trump has resigned or something. So here I am up late again for days on end, watching, wondering, just like last June. This is starting to become a habit.
Huxley, re the Leonard Cohen poem: What is your interpretation of what he’s saying here? I started a discussion thread back in the summer, here:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/63418.html
…but not a lot of responses.
David+Foster:
I hear “The Captain” as a Christian and a Buddhist message. As a Christian one picks up one’s cross, follows Christ and becomes Christ for others. As a Buddhist one follows the “Four Great Vows of the Bodhisattva”:
_____________________________________________
Beings are numberless, I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.
_____________________________________________
It’s not about winning. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about accepting responsibility and one’s place in the great chain of those bringing God/enlightenment to humanity.
However, no happy ending in temporal terms is assured and one accepts that.
BTW, Cohen had a Cathoic nanny as a child from whom he absorbed a fair amount of Catholic spirituality. Hence, his songs for St. Joan and St. Bernadette.
With regard to Trump, I posted the Cohen lyrics as encouragement to the rest of us to pick up where Trump left off, however large the odds appear against us.
Huxley…the last lines of the post are powerful:
“The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt”
This is also a good time to remember something written by Field Marshal Lord Wavell, commander of WWII British forces in Burma. Within two months of his appointment, he had suffered a severe defeat, with heavy casualties, and had been forced to withdraw. In his book,
“The only test of generalship is success, and I had succeeded in nothing that I had attempted…Defeat is bitter. Bitter to the common soldier, but trebly bitter to his general. The soldier may comfort himself with the thought that, whatever the result, he has done his duty faithfully and steadfastly, but the commander has failed in his duty if he has not won victory–for that *is* his duty. He has no other comparable to it. He will go over in his mind the events of the campaign. ‘Here,’ he will think, ‘I went wrong; here I took counsel of my fears when I should have been bold; there I should have waited to gather strength, not struck piecemeal; at such a moment I failed to grasp opportunity when it was presented to me.’ He will remember the soldiers whom he sent into the attack that failed and who did not come back. he will recall the look in the eyes of men who trusted him. ‘I have failed them,’ he will say to himself, ‘and failed my country!’ He will see himself for what he is–a defeated general. In a dark hour he will turn on himself and question the very foundations of his leadership and his manhood.
And then he must stop! For, if he is ever to command in battle again, he must shake off these regrets and stamp on them, as they claw at his will and his self-confidence. He must beat off these atacks he delivers against himself, and cast out the doubts born of failure. Forget them, and remember only the lessons to be learnt from defeat–they are more than from victory.”
David Foster:
The prose you cited teaches quite a bit more than the poetry, just an opinion.
David+Foster:
Thank you. Lord Wavell’s account reminds me of one of my favorite stories of heroism: Ernest Shackleford and the Endurance expedition to Antarctica.
Long story short: Shackleford outfits an expedition to Antarctica and things go horrifyingly wrong. Their ship becomes trapped in the ice, then over a period of months the ice squeezes and crushes the ship into splinters.
Shackleton and crew are left stranded on an ice floe only six feet thick over the frigid ocean and a hundred miles from land. They have no ship–just three life boats with limited provisions, the Antarctic winter will be coming, and no one knows where they are. It is a time when any reasonable person would give up hope.
What does Shackleton do? He assembles the men and calmly tells them: “Ship and stores have gone, so now we’ll go home.” He declares a possibility in the face of no possibility and persuades his despairing crew. And by God, together they make the impossible happen.
I love that: “Ship and stores have gone, so now we’ll go home.”
“You may find this of interest, posted over on ChicagoBoyz.net” – OBH
Year of Consent, by Kendell Foster Crossen
https://amzn.to/35dtq68
* * *
Just for the record – yesterday the top-seller on Amazon Books was “1984.”
If the Left is using Orwell as an instruction manual, maybe the Right needs to take up Crossen’s work.
“Fahrenheit 451” and “Harrison Bergeron” should be part of the canon, but may not function as well as a practical how-to.
Heroism in the face of disaster is not a new theme in literature.
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but him had fled;
The flame that lit the battle’s wreck
Shone round him o’er the dead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casabianca_(poem)
See also – way down in the middle of an excruciatingly long poem:
https://www.thoughtco.com/horatius-at-the-bridge-4070724