Roundup!
(1) We’e talked about Trump as a tragic Shakespearean hero, and also as Captain Queeg. Victor Davis Hanson explores the latter possibility in this article.
(2) A tale of college propaganda convincing a student to turn hard left, and of her mother’s successful attempts to deprogram her. This probably happens a lot, minus the second part. I’m often surprised that so many people are susceptible to being indoctrinated like that – one attendance at an SDS rally in college made it clear to me that this was not the way to go, for example – but many certainly are, and there’s no dearth of college professors and administrators dedicated to the task these days.
(3) About that Trump dinner with Kanye West and others.
(4) RIP Irene Cara. She had a couple of really big songs and a lot of positive energy when she performed. Here’s a very 1980s video of one of those songs.
(5) In Arizona, Maricopa county has certified its results despite all the sketchy things that happened. This is no surprise; they’re the ones responsible for allowing the sketchy things to happen in the first place. Lake is suing. Meanwhile, some smaller Republican counties are still delaying their certification of results, due today.
It is hardly a coincidence (in the old Marxist phrase) that all the MAGA-candidates in AZ (a state riddled with ghastly pseudo-conservatives who style themselves as “McCain Republicans”) would seem to have been “defeated”, when no-one with a functioning brain could possibly prefer the cowardly, incompetent, and inarticulate Hobbs over Lake; as for the indoctrination both in K-12 and in our mostly worthless universities, until such time as moderate middle-class conservatives manage somehow to cease funding the brain-washing of their children in publicly-supported schools, there may be little hope indeed of salvaging our republic.
Nice political hit job on Trump, very convenient timing. And including Nick Fuentes? Very suspicious.
Did somebody steer Kanye into this stunt trying to damage Trump?
Another view:
https://www.anonymousconservative.com/blog/news-briefs-11-26-2022/
Almost always agree with VDH, this isn’t one of them
That’s the Leftist game plan, rig the election then as fast as possible certify it, now it’s all water under the bridge, see you next election
On #2, like Neo I also attended an SDS meeting back into the day, 1970. I also had the same reaction. However, even at the Univ. of Colorado back then the faculty were not anywhere near as radical or as dedicated to “transformation” of the students. The big switch over of the faculty started about 2005, and is now complete.
Then there is this from Ireland
“A court in Ireland has blocked billionaire Twitter CEO Elon Musk from firing a top employee of the company.”
Seems it is temporary. Will any in the US try this? Will they win?
(2) A tale of college propaganda convincing a student to turn hard left, and of her mother’s successful attempts to deprogram her. This probably happens a lot, minus the second part.
That she was led astray in this manner indicates she wasn’t very well-grounded. Seeing to it your children are well-grounded is a joint venture, but papa is more important in this endeavour. You get your politics and religion from your father; your manners from your mother. Of course, conscientious fathers may fail in spite of their efforts.
For some reason, all the parties involved thought it optimal that she attend a private women’s college with a certain amount of cachet and thought it optimal she should remain there for four years. Might have been a satisfactory idea in 1948, but those places are collecting pools of lesbians nowadays.
physicsguy:
Yes, the faculty wasn’t radical (or at least if they were radical they were pretty quiet about it) except perhaps for a few. But a lot of students were becoming very radical anyway. For students, radical leftism was a stance of defiance rather than compliance with what they were being taught, unlike today.
The actual important thing with Trump now is how essentially NONE of the NeverTrumpers have admitted they were wrong about him. Not wrong to dislike him and his conduct or even wrong to disagree with his policies.
But they were wrong to declare Trump some sort of existential threat from beyond the borders of civilized society. And they were absolutely wrong to either endorse Biden and the Democrats as a better alternative or to willfully ignore the threat they pose.
That’s important because while NeverTrumpers are a tiny fraction of the U.S. population, they have an outsized influence on the public discourse and, more importantly, they do represent a lot of the GOP political establishment.
Mike
Cinque donald defreeze would fit on a college campus today
Neo, good observation. Today’s campus conservatives are the ones rocking the boat of all those former campus leftist radicals now in faculty/administration positions.
180 degree turnaround.
NONE of the NeverTrumpers have admitted they were wrong about him.
Well, there is this, but Daniel Pipes is a person of unusually high character.
https://www.danielpipes.org/19529/a-reluctant-but-unhesitating-vote-for-donald-trump
Of course the less charitable explanation for the Democrats’ and Never Trump Republicans’ hysteria over Trump boils down to they did not want him to “drain the swamp” (and in fact McConnell told him to tone down that rhetoric) because then all the log rolling, insider trading, debauchery, drunkenness, drug use, etc. etc. might be exposed, with people getting kicked out of office or even facing indictment and prison time.
Neo:
one attendance at an SDS rally in college made it clear to me that this was not the way to go, for example
I suspect that Neo’s experience with her Stalinist uncle was the reason SDS immediately turned her off. It took more than one SDS exposure for me. I attended several SDS meetings in1969.The killer for me was an informal conversation on the quad, where an SDS honcho said that Lenin should be a major part of the college curriculum. Her gushing tone regarding Lenin, implying that Lenin was on the level of Shakespeare, Dante, Plato, or the Bible, was what shocked me.
I had no objection to Lenin being studied in college. I took an Introduction to Politics class in 9th grade which spent some time on Communism/Marxism. From that class I learned from reading A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich that Communism was evil. From doing a term paper on Soviet agriculture, I learned that Communist economics didn’t deliver the goods.
Her Lenin-gushing turned me off. Had she recommended studying Lenin as in “know your enemy,” I wouldn’t have disagreed with her. I grew up with Iron Curtain refugees- two classmates in my small town of 1,500 had Iron Curtain refugee parents- and they weren’t the only ones I knew. At the regional high school I attended, I had classmates whose parents had fled Hitler. (In high school among those I dated were children of both Iron Curtain and Hitler refugees.) I wonder if that SDS honcho had known any Iron Curtain refugees.
That SDS honcho didn’t go Weatherperson crazy, though. Right after college she went to work at a state-run psych hospital and later got a Ph.D. in psychology. She has been a Massachusetts state legislator for 2+ decades, where it appears her greatest accomplishment has been to get her photo taken with famous Democrats.
“Well, there is this, but Daniel Pipes is a person of unusually high character.”
I’ll give Pipes some credit but I do notice that nowhere in that piece does he grapple with WHY he was wrong about Trump or how Trump is able to govern so well while being what Pipes considers a repellent human being.
Mike
Neo
Yes, the faculty wasn’t radical (or at least if they were radical they were pretty quiet about it) except perhaps for a few..
Which reminds me of a campus story from the Vietnam War era. One professor put up a poster on his door that denounced the Vietnam War. Two doors down, a professor replied by putting up an American flag. In between the disagreeing doors, a professor put up a Demilitarized Zone sign on his door.
The professor who put up the American flag was a bit of a Cold Warrior. He had served in the Army between undergrad and grad school, thanks to the draft, and was in the Army Reserve for years. He later attended an international conference in Moscow. His seeing the backwardness of Moscow compared to the US- and Moscow was the crown jewel of the USSR- led him to decide that there was no need to fear the USSR. It wasn’t going to bury us- which didn’t mean we should let up our guard.
Handsome performances. Not much indication Irene Cara’s done anything since 1983 that anyone would recall, though apparently she was associated with musical acts. She was only married a modest run of years and had no children. Sort of dispiriting to contemplate a life where your most consequential acts were things you did before age 25.
Art Deco:
She actually had a long career as a child and teen actress, singer, and dancer, prior to her big hits, and she continued to perform (particularly in Europe) after them. Sounds like a pretty good run to me. She had a large and continuing fan base, from the evidence I see online. The details of her personal life after her divorce I don’t know.
Gringo:
Perhaps the uncle connection helped turn me away from SDS, but recall it differently. It was the speakers themselves. They seemed very shallow and full of themselves. Plus, at least in the group I happened to attend, they were misogynistic. I don’t remember what it was that cued me to that, but it was quite pronounced. They seemed stupid, arrogant, self-important, and offensive to me, all at the same time. I didn’t even connect them to my uncle.
It also coincided with my taking a course in Russian Intellectual History of the 1800s, and I recognized the connection there. That professor was one of only a few whom I admired in college and the course made a deep impression on me. He never spoke of any connection between what was happening in the US at the time and what had been happening in Russia back then, but to me the resemblance was obvious despite the differences, and it frightened me and made me wary.
Mike Plaiss; MBunge:
Well, by definition a NeverTrumper who is still a NeverTrumper wouldn’t have changed his or her mind, or he or she wouldn’t be a NeverTrumper anymore.
But some people who didn’t like Trump at first changed their minds, many of them rather quickly. I did, for example. I’ve noticed many others over the years, but I didn’t necessarily note down their names at the time. One I do recall was Glenn Beck.
Neo, thanks for the explanation. BTW, the Lenin-gusher I wrote about is a woman.
Re the Russian Intellectual History- I recall reading Fathers and Sons in high school, where the protagonist is one of the very sharp intellect, tear everything down types, who dies from an infection of a self-inflicted knife cut. Rather prophetic from Turgenev, given that it was written ~50 (?) years before the Revo.
Kaplan’s review of the latest addition to The Red Wheel in English stated that A.S. concluded that the total collapse is what led to Lenin taking over. Tear everything down, and something will fill the power vacuum.
The details of her personal life after her divorce I don’t know.
She, her mother, and one of her sisters settled in Tampa / St Petersburg, where her brother-in-law’s family lived.
Neo. It was kind of an odd misogyny. I got out of college in 68, two years after graduating due to a temp med deferment. So I got a lot of looking at college from the point of view of several field projects and what stressed the younger folks was not a problem for me.
The campus left insisted that good looking women, women who took care for their looks, and sorority women, were shallow, superficial and so forth. Were not shy about saying so.
Still, the guys lusted after sorority row–who wouldn’t? And that’s a toxic brew. Which kind of improved the odds for normal guys. At the very least, the good looking women wanted to be around a normal guy, whatever the future may be.
But, even though the appeal to maximum frump showed one’s social awareness, the lefty women couldn’t catch a break from the lefty guys either.
I may be imposing a conclusion back over fifty years, but the lefty girls seemed to have a higher proportion of Genuinely Demented, compared to the guys who were more, some, or less, some, SDS ish. They’d have to be to hang around such an unhappy world. Damn shame for the moderate ones who might have had more chances in normal times.
Plus, at least in the [SDS] group I happened to attend, they were misogynistic. I don’t remember what it was that cued me to that, but it was quite pronounced.
–neo
No question about that. And it didn’t pass unnoticed by the Sisters of the (Leftist) Revolution either.
Here’s an excerpt from a famous Robin Morgan piece, which heralded the defection of many women from the left to feminism at the time:
____________________________
And that’s what I wanted to write about–the friends, brothers, lovers in the counterfeit male-dominated Left. The good guys who think they know what Women’s Lib, as they so chummily call it, is all about–who then proceed to degrade and destroy women by almost everything they say and do: The cover on the last issue of Rat (front and back). The token pussy power or clit militancy articles. The snide descriptions of women staffers on the masthead. The little jokes, the personal ads, the smile, the snarl. No more, brothers. No more well-meaning ignorance, no more cooptation, no more assuming that this thing we’re all fighting for is the same; one revolution under man, with liberty and justice for all. No more.
–Robin Morgan, “Goodbye to All That” (1970)
http://blog.fair-use.org/2007/09/29/goodbye-to-all-that-by-robin-morgan-1970/
____________________________
The male left made adjustments and the two sides sort of made up, but that tension has obviously continued into the #MeToo era.
Very good bit of writing by VDH.
But Trump’s no Queeg. Lear’s the appropriate likeness.
Ivanka = Cordelia?
Sort of dispiriting to contemplate a life where your most consequential acts were things you did before age 25.
Apparently she had a big conflict with her record company over their not paying her, ending up in a lawsuit, and her being (in her words) “blackballed” by the recording industry. In any case, there were a lot of “one-hit wonders” in pop music, and she at least had two big hits.
Not sure of the resistance of some to VDH’s Trump-Queeg piece. It concludes:
______________________
Queeg ends up as a disgraced captain as the mutineers go free. Case closed?
Not quite. Wouk offers the warning that such self-righteous denigrators may be the true nihilists. In their clubby, black-and-white fixations on their commander’s obvious frailties, they miss the totality of a man and the importance of seeking to aid their captain rather than destroy him in a time of war.
As the novel closes, the promoted and chief NeverQueeger proves no better in battle and on rough seas, but perhaps even worse. And in a final twist while Queeg’s career is destroyed, he is eventually exonerated by the Navy. Most of the mutineers fare badly in their circular firing squad. Wouk reminds us that for all their self-righteous rhetoric about patriotism, legality, and duty, they nevertheless did a great disservice to themselves—and to their country.
https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/27/was-trump-our-captain-queeg/
______________________
I guess that to compare Trump to Queeg at all is a problem. I’ve come around to Trump on many fronts and I will defend him. However, human-to-human he still strikes me as a dangerously flawed, fixated person, who looks good compared to the current Dem alternatives, but still…
I’m not sure why folks are expecting people to admit they were wrong about Trump. It’s surreal.
The guy is so incredibly reckless. It is inexcusable that he had dinner with Kayne/Ye after Kayne’s anti-semitism issues. Even if Trump didn’t know who Fuentes was, it is beyond unbelievable that he doesn’t have staff or other safeguards in place to make sure that he doesn’t end up hosting a holocaust-denying pro-segregationist.
Democrats will absolutely try to destroy any Republican who is a threat to win the runs for president. The difference between Trump and other Republicans is that Trump does half of Democrats’ work for them.
re Captain Queeg, the character of this officer was marked by his fear of making a mistake. That’s not Trump’s problem.
I reviewed The Caine Mutiny and linked the original Commentary review (and the later Commentary apology for that review)
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/43106.html
re Captain Queeg, the character of this officer was marked by his fear of making a mistake. That’s not Trump’s problem.
–David Foster
No, but the personal vindictiveness and the expectation of glorious vindication exhibited by Queeg fit Trump like a glove.
Very early on I realized that if one country has people trying to get in and another country and type of government has people trying to get out , then maybe the country and type of government that needs walls to keep people in is not the country I wanted to live in. Plus, growing up in evangelical circles I was made aware very early that Communism was not friendly to Christians or freedom of speech. I remember one book I had to read for the boy’s group at church was a book called ” God’s Smuggler”, which was supposed to be a true story about a man who smuggled Bibles behind the iron curtain.
“A tale of college propaganda convincing a student to turn hard left, and of her mother’s successful attempts to deprogram her“
I saw an interview of her by Dennis Prager and she attributes part of her change to watching PragerU videos. She got started by watching the video about whether police are racist. Consider donating to PragerU tomorrow, giving Tuesday, and I believe your gift will be multiplied.
“I’m not sure why folks are expecting people to admit they were wrong about Trump. It’s surreal.”
No, it’s literally about the Enlightenment. Trump got elected. He succeeded where no one thought he would. He was then President for four years and, while certainly things weren’t perfect, he wasn’t anywhere as bad as his critics predicted.
Those are facts. When you advance a theory and it is disproven or contradicted by facts, you are supposed to adjust your theory or, at the very least, find additional facts to support it. That’s not what is happening, by and large.
For example, Trump is “incredibly reckless?” What? Our current policy in Ukraine is vastly more reckless than ANYTHING Trump did while in office and carries vastly worse potential consequences than ANYTHING Trump did while in office. If a majority of people decide to jump off a bridge, that does not make the idea less stupid of self-destructive.
Mike
MBunge – OK. Give him credit. He got elected when I thought he had no prayer. He wasn’t as bad in office as I expected and even did a number of good things.
But for pity’s sake, he “accidentially” hosted an out-and-proud white nationalist for dinner. The attack ads write themselves. Queue up the footage of Trump sticking his foot in his mouth over Charlottesville. Then mention that he hosted Fuentes. Then include some videos of Fuentes denying the Holocaust and pushing for re-segregation. (Then queue up some of the commenters here ranting about how unfair Democrats are to Trump!)
My dog has a better chance of winning the 2024 election than Trump. Nominating him would be a ticket to progressive hegemony for a decade or more.
Re Bauxite and huxley. First B: “The guy [Trump] is so incredibly reckless.” OK. How many times did Obama host the black anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan? 30 times at the WH? But Trump’s friend Kanye drags one to dinner and he’s “reckless.”
RIGHT. SENSIBLE DOUBLE STANDARDS there./s
But there’s MAOR! That unrepentant admitted if not exactly shit grin proud ex-terrorist guy where I launched my political career? In his living room? “Just some guy” in the neighbourhood — not my buddy on various boards. [Liar.]
But Trump’s one indiscretion, well, THAT’s just too much!
Wait. There’s morrrre. That preacher I’ve supported. With all his Hate-America First Marxist diatribes in the church’s mag — the one that sent Oprah fleeing?
I didn’t know, was what He professed. 20 years of it, He didn’t know. In your home.
He couldn’t tell! Flummoxed.
Let’s stipulate that Obama is either psychopathic or else a well polished, if not professional, liar. Is Trump? I think not. So, why THIS rare honesty in a novice Pol not admired? Instead, somehow IT’S JUST WRONG.
At least Trump has the decency to welcome his friend’s friends.
Your “reckless” J’acuse is my common decency.
Second, huxley tomorrow.
“Our current policy in Ukraine is vastly more reckless than…”
Beg to differ.
“Biden” NEEDS war in Ukraine.
“Biden” NEEDS Putin to continue to screw Ukraine.
“Biden” gets to blame the war for all the things “he”‘s doing to screw the US and Europe.
“Biden” gets to USE the war as a GRAND EXCUSE—a fantastic smokescreen—for “his” own war on the US, its citizens and “his”—purported—allies. As a huge distraction for “his” own plan to amass total and unfettered power over the country and its institutions.
IOW “Biden” gets to USE the war as a GRAND DISTRACTION for the GRAND BETRAYAL “he”‘s about to plan with the help of the Mullahs (and Putin).
As a GRAND DISTRACTION in general…and for a whole slew of other reasons…not unrelated to the WTF.
The long and short of it is: “Biden” NEEDS this—tailor-made—war to continue.
“He” NEEDS the deadening effect it has on the world; “he” NEEDS the despair and the disfunction it causes globally; “he” NEEDS the confusion and desperation, the dislocation and the NOISE generated by this most PERFECT of distractions.
As the expression goes, “It’s the coverup (of the coverup of the coverup of the coverup…), stupid.”
“…vindictiveness…”
Gosh, if one were to compare vindictiveness, NOBODY but NOBODY “competes” like Obama and “Biden” (a bit redundant, I realize).
Nobody.
That “pair”—among the most serious of serial (I would even call them “professional”) “vindictives”—is off the charts on the Vindictiveness scale, and would win the Vindictiveness Olympics hands down, no question—this assumes, of course, that Putin would not be allowed to compete (because of, um, “reasons”…).
TJ – One indiscretion? Trump is a walking indiscretion. Political attacks stick when there’s a ring of truth to them. He’s said and done enough dumb stuff on race that those attacks will stick, and they will continue to repulse voters that are absolutely necessary to win.
You’re correct that there is a double standard with Democrats and Farrakhan. But you cannot change that and neither can Trump.
Sometimes I get the sense that Trump people would rather lose as long as they can blame it on someone else and whine about how unfair it all is.
The funny part to me is that I support almost all of the same policy goals as Trump people. I would just prefer to run a candidate who doesn’t constantly do dumb stuff and has a chance of winning. I really don’t get any catharsis from complaining or blame casting, so that will be no comfort to me when I have to watch my children deal with the woke progressive mess that our country is becoming.
For someone who claims to get no catharsis from blamecasting our concerned conservative™ spends most of his time doing it.
Beacause OMB and my children.
Yeah om, it’s OMB. Trump hosted an out-and-proud white nationalist along with a man who just last week who talked about his desire to go “death con three” on Jews.
But clearly, OMB is the only reason that I or anyone else would have a problem with that. Keep telling yourself that. I hope you enjoy a full four years of President Kamala.
Touched a nerve. Disconcerting. Dogs and cats living together.
Who is this “anyone else” you have been authorized to speak for?
Yeah sure, it’s all about touching a nerve. Trump may have normalized anti-semitism and re-segregation while smearing the whole party by association, but hey, he upset the “concerned conservative TM,” so it’s all fine! Trump 2024!
The “anyone else” is the reason that Trump is unelectable in a national race.
Oh! You mean something kinda like this…
“Obama-Farrakhan Photo Released After 13-Year Media Cover-up”—
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/01/25/obama-farrakhan-photo-released-13-year-media-cover/
Got it.
(Actually, you’re probably right. Trump should’ve hosted Farrakhan! Seems like a nifty career move…)
+ Bonus (different angle)…
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/now-it-can-be-seen-long-lost-obama-and-farrakhan-picture/
As for “[normalizing] anti-semitism”, heh, well maybe one should thank all the bright lights in the “Biden” administration who are doing their best to help “him” trash the country AND introduce TRIBALISM as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
And then there’s this:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/363622
If a Republican once thought of shaking hands with someone who said something controversial in kindergarten about pronouns, it is proof positive that the Republican is malevolent and unfit for office.
If a Democrat embraces and praises a KKK leader, a former Nazi, an active Communist, a violent killer, a corrupt arms dealer, an inciter of deadly riots, a vicious anti-Semite, a foreign spy, an advocate for the incineration of Israel, and a coddler of murderers, it just shows how open-minded and inclusive Democrats are. Democrats are such lovely people.
One has to be remarkably stupid and incapable of learning from the past to play this stupid game of gotcha. It’s like David French on steroids with dementia.
I’m not sure why folks are expecting people to admit they were wrong about Trump. It’s surreal.
Do they discuss political affairs? Do they discuss them completely without reference to current history? If the answers are yes and no, it’s only by studiously ignoring the question at hand that they avoid admitting much of anything. (I realize being disingenuous is your calling card).
Some evaluated Joe Biden’s life and Donald Trump’s. They concluded that Biden was a good, morally decent person while Trump was the worst person on the planet. Not only did they demonstrate conclusively that they are incapable of rational thought or moral discernment, they doubled down on their quixotic quest for the dunce’s hall of fame by claiming that a president’s moral example was more important than the policies and personnel that resulted from a presidential election. This notion is so stupid that one has to wonder how such people manage to tie their shoes.
People who are proven liars and cheats shouldn’t be trusted. This is why we don’t believe the news media or big tech. This is why we don’t believe that elections in Philly or Chicago or other inner cities are honest.
People who have repeatedly demonstrated that they are idiots shouldn’t be viewed as wise and insightful. This is why we don’t pay attention to Paul Krugman or CNN or MSNBC or the NY Times.
Why would anyone with at least a room temp IQ get their panties in a bunch worrying about a couple of voters who might get the vapors about Trump meeting with someone? We all know who Trump is. Does anyone really want to claim that a meeting is going to turn Trump into an anti-Semite? Just what kind of horrible case of cooties is supposed to result from a meeting?
If we don’t know much about a candidate, it may make sense to look to their supporters and associates in an effort to learn more about them. But for the Donald? Really?!
Let’s dial down the histrionics a tad.
Not sure.
I think the perceived danger is that if people really think a person’s meeting up with the wrong people they might just go and justify stealing elections to ensure that the person meeting up with those wrong people would have no chance getting elected.
That’s right. Steal elections for the sake of a higher morality.
Heck, you can pretty much do anything for the sake of a higher morality these days.
Rob people blind.
Make people miserable.
Take away their livelihoods, their hopes.
Destroy their families.
Destroy their lives….
Tell all kinds of earnest lies.
Withhold and/or fabricate and/or doctor evidence.
Insist that people do what you say…. OR ELSE!
All the while telling ’em that it’s for their own well-being. Their own welfare. Their future…and that of their families.
All for the “greater good”(TM)…especially since so many of them don’t really KNOW what’s good for ’em.
Nope, don’t have a clue….
(All illuminated and accompanied by a beaming, gleaming, dazzling smile!…uh, make that a s**t-eating grin.)
Chatlottesville was a precursor to the whole monument eraser of 2020, the fsft that fuentes was at the edge of this putup job is troubling also hes a jackass fullstop
Looks like the concerned conservative™ is mightily troubled by the orange stain to his virtue. Don’t light your hair on fire.
So a white nationalist, Fuentes, had dinner with a Black man?
Along with a Jewish Gay man?
Milo’s mother is a German Jew:
https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/analysis/301037/milo-yiannopoulos-talks-about-his-jewish-identity-trump-and-zionism-in-berlin/
Strange world we live in.
Never mind
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warnocks-former-church-repeatedly-hosted-anti-semitic-professor
On the topic of this thread, here’s Dan Gelernter’s latest in American Greatness:
https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/28/lets-declare-a-tax-holiday/
Excerpts:
“Fast-forward two years, and the 2022 elections have happened—have been perpetrated. But we can’t wake up again because we’re already awake. We were shocked by 2020. Now we’re in danger of just tuning out. We’re not allowed to be shocked by 2022 and we’d better not be. The weak among us scamper around finding reasons to explain away the improbable results: “Republicans were too extreme in their messaging!” or “Trump dragged the GOP ticket down!” or “The Supreme Court made people angry!” It’s all nonsense.”
And:
“I’ve written a few pieces suggesting we need more courageous state governors to stand up to the federal government, and to stand for the rights of Americans. Unfortunately, almost everything in politics—like crime—is about money. And states, even Republican states that like to think of themselves free and liberal (in the old-fashioned sense of the word) take a hell of a lot of money from the federal government: Texas and Florida are two of the top three states receiving federal money (the first is California). So before you get your hopes up that Governor Ron DeSantis—whom I really do like—will tell the federal government where it can get off, remember that there’s $24 billion per year at stake, and he probably wants Florida to keep that cash.”
Professional politicians–DeSantis included, unfortunately–are businesspeople. Their business is big government. The (R) business model is maximum grift with minimal effort. The (D) business model is maximum grift plus the “fundamental transformation” (destruction) of the United States.
Actually hes not hes a former naval officer somewhat in the decatur mode
yes he served for a spell in Congress as the founders suggestedThere is more pressure from the possible of certain donors like griffin but we shall see
Abbott was more get along till he was challenged by allen west i hope he replaces steve mcgraw but he would need pressure to do so.
Miguel: I like DeSantis. If he’s the nominee in 2024, I’ll vote for him. But I’ll vote for him without any illusions that (a) he can beat the (D) election-fortifying machinery and (b) he will want or be able to radically downsize D.C. if he does. You won’t find enemies of the Establishment among the Establishment.
Any nominee that really wants to challenge the system in fundamental ways face titanic opposition that ard not merely national but global
Lets look at signora meloni she is making some powerful strides but she hasnt fully confronted xi for instance
On this season of yellowstone an establishment player explains to duttons son the long game in waiting him out
Miguel: I like Meloni too, and wish we had politicians like her in this country. As I’ve said before: we need somebody who is willing to swing the big wrecking-ball when it comes to D.C. DeSantis doesn’t strike me as the wrecking-ball type, but perhaps he is and is just being very subtle about it. An iconoclastic, insanely rich, happy-warrior-who-likes-to-take-the-piss outsider like Elon Musk would be perfect. Unfortunately, he’s not eligible.
He has cracked many rice bowls with a little finesse its easier in a red state where there is more sanity the hordes do. Not give up because they are like the chtauri minions feral and unreasoning pawns of evil.
Elon is a blunt instrument like the bombers that cracked the ruhr river dams
Silvio threatened some of their rice bowls after 20 years they took him out of the picture
Nixon had many faults and he wasnt emotionally equipped for politics but at the beginning he did great things time and bitterness wore himdown along with exposure to bad ideas he picked up in ny
Miguel:
Blunt instrument? The bombers had to fly at specific altitude at release, drop at a specified point relative to the dam. The bomb had to be rotated in as specific direction and speed relative to the flight path of the bomber. All done at night while being shot at.
Not a blunt instrument at that time.
As opposed to a cruise missile more maneuverable
Trump is the low life – I am finished with him!
It’s been said you don’t build a machine that could do you harm if you lose control and your enemies’ hands are on the levers.
But if, see Maricopa County as a generic, what if those hands are permanently welded to the levers.