Althouse: "I am going to make this country bigger and stronger and better and you’re going to love it and you’re going to love your president and we’re going to turn this place around and you’re going to be so proud."

August 22, 2015

"I am going to make this country bigger and stronger and better and you’re going to love it and you’re going to love your president and we’re going to turn this place around and you’re going to be so proud."

Did you watch the extravaganza last night?

I did. I calmly consumed the entire thing, fell asleep early, and woke up anguished. This man is spending his own money, and he can easily blow a billion dollars on this fabulous ego trip. Who can match him? The others are fading and withering away.

ADDED: All who have supported campaign finance restrictions should be squirming now, as Trump's competitors are hamstrung.

ALSO ADDED: Consider whether Trump is revealing something that has long been true about the American presidency, that he is not such a great outlier. And I'm not just talking about Obama. I'm thinking about all the Presidents I remember in my lifetime. It's a trajectory, and if you plot it out, you'd see that Trump is next. Trump is next, we are idiots, and we are screwed.

216 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 216 of 216

sane_voter said...: I also happen to live in an area of many immigrants. When you see flag stickers on their cars or the tiny flags hanging from their rear view mirrors, they are invariably of their home countries, and rarely American flags. I am going to start counting how many flags I see on all the cars around me when I drive to work, and determine the ratio of foreign to American. I am guessing it will be at least 10-1.

Now I have to go out and buy an American flag sticker for my car.; 8/22/15, 11:14 PM
Original Mike said...: "I don't see any dishonest maneuvering in his use of "immigration" rather than "illegal immigration"."

You're naive. They never make the distinction. It's calculated.; 8/22/15, 11:37 PM
Unknown said...: doubtful that Hillyar will be the nominee. if that's true, and Trump somehow manages to get the GOP nod, it will be Trump-Biden, or Trump-Sanders, or Trump Warren. Is there a question in there somewhere ?; 8/22/15, 11:57 PM
chickelit said...: A great bumper sticker slogan for either either party would be "Fair Trade not Free Trade"

That also explains Trump's bipartisan appeal.; 8/23/15, 12:00 AM
Sammy Finkelman said...: Donald Trump is not overspending money so far although the fact that he has money may have gotten a lot of free media coverage at the start, like it did with Perot)

Donald Trump has refused to spend money (yet anyway) on political advertising, or on polls. He didn't want to hire people (yet?) for ballot access. He attending events he is invited to,. His ony real expense is his airplane, and a small staff maybe and maybe making arrangements for crowds.; 8/23/15, 12:13 AM
Saint Croix said...: Well, ok, as long as we're fixing up the Constitution and all.

LOL. I meant the 11th Commandment.

I don't actually give a shit about the 11th Amendment, although it doesn't surprise me that people were pissed off at our unelected judiciary in 1794.

In fact the Supreme Court is still the most obvious thing in our Constitution that needs fixing. We have an unelected judiciary, and when they go off the rails and start killing innocent babies, or finding a right to kidnap people from Africa, it tends to fuck up our society. I don't know what the fix is, and my suggested fix (retention elections) could make new problems.

Maybe we need to take our cue from 1794 and strip the federal judiciary of any power to hear cases involving abortion.; 8/23/15, 5:35 AM
Saint Croix said...: Let us know when the Republicans have finished their purges so we can book you a little table in the backroom of the 14th St. Chipotle's for your celebratory lunch.

You think I'm a country club Republican because I don't support the billionaire fuckwit?

And where do you think Trump celebrates? Are you actually falling for his populist schtick? He's playing into your anger, and you're too angry to see his game.; 8/23/15, 5:51 AM
Saint Croix said...: the ship done sailed on the usefulness of playing the "racist!" card, by anybody.

That's like saying you can't call anybody a rapist because of all the she-wolves crying "rape." I certainly can call somebody a rapist, if he's a rapist. (I think Trump raped his wife). I also can call somebody a racist if he's a racist.

And I didn't mean "crypto-racist," dummy. A crypto-racist is somebody who is a racist in secret, while pretending to love all of humanity. You might be a crypto-racist, for instance. I have no idea, but anybody who loves Trump might have some sort of deep sewer feelings about the browns and the blacks. Entirely possible.

What I said, and I meant, is that Trump is a pseudo-racist. I think he's intentionally pressing racial buttons, trying to upset and agitate Republicans and stir up white racism. That's exactly what he's doing. Whether he feels this hostility himself is doubtful. He's all about the money. Remember that, moron, and up your game.; 8/23/15, 5:53 AM
Saint Croix said...: And to be fair, I might be a crypto-racist, too. Or, more specifically, I might be subconsciously racist. We don't always know what's going on underneath us.

Our government is (still) officially racist, dividing people into races on the census. Most Republicans respond to the issue of race and racism by refusing to speak about it, ever. But all this repression does is convince other people that your racism has gone underground. Republicans should be more, not less, vocal about race. We should explain, forcefully, why race is a stupid, idiotic means of dividing people. And we should insist that the government stop dividing people into races. This is an obvious and easy step.

Trump is an opportunity for a white hat Republican to step up and speak from the heart. Ted Cruz, are you listening? Marco Rubio, do you have a voice? You are the children of immigrants. Speak out. Speak up. Stop listening to your goddamn consultants and show a little anger.

He's an asshole! Spot the asshole and smack him down! Duh.; 8/23/15, 6:11 AM
Saint Croix said...: "I am the child of immigrants. Mr. Trump does not like me, and other people who look like me. That's fine. I have been taught by Christ to love my enemies. So I love you, Mr. Trump. But I am not voting for you, sir."; 8/23/15, 6:25 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Obama put the knife in campaign finance restrictions by backing out on his promise to abide by the restrictions that Presidential candidates normally followed. As much as I would like them to go back to that, Republicans learned you can't trust Democrats on that issue.

THAT killed campaign finance as an issue, not having a rich guy run.; 8/23/15, 7:38 AM
Matt Sablan said...: ""Great" means nothing, or everything, or whatever. It doesn't really matter except that it matters to you."

Are you saying he is a blank slate people can project on to? The audacity of great, perhaps?; 8/23/15, 7:40 AM
Sammy Finkelman said...: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/stuart-anderson-mouth-ate-gop-article-1.2333858; 8/23/15, 8:59 AM
Sammy Finkelman said...: Matthew Sablan said... 8/23/15, 7:38 AM

Obama put the knife in campaign finance restrictions by backing out on his promise to abide by the restrictions that Presidential candidates normally followed.

In 2007, when neither of them were front-runners, and the odds were againbst both of them, Senatord John McCain and Barfack Obama came to an agreement that if both of them became their party's nominees, they would accept federal matching funds and not raise money for the general election.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/06/obama_reneges_on_public_financ.html

The unlikely happened. Both became their party's nominees.

McCain kept his word. Obama didn't.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/06/obama_reneges_on_public_financ.html

The Washington Post tried to accept excuses ftom him - basically that this was conditional on working out a more detailed agreement, because without a contract, there could be some loopholes, or something, and he never signed a formal agreement with John McCain.

But that, I don't think, was the issue. The essential issue was over accepting federal matching funds, with whatever conditions came attached. There's no need to negotiate further, and it's not really possible, either. You could very easily attach conditions, like returning contributions, that would make it impossible for the other party to agree. You could just simply never try to negotiate and never agree.

And if sometimes Obama put n qualifications and other times he didn't, it is times that he didn't that count.; 8/23/15, 9:15 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: It's TRUMP, baby, and you are going to love it. He's gonna make America great again, because he won't let anything stand in his way. America is so great, and so is he. It is a natural! He'll make things happen because he understands the art of the deal. If we have to wait until 2017 for him to take office, that's too bad because that is how great it is going to be.
I can go on like thiis all day.
Trump (and Bernie Sanders) are appealing to a group of prople who would like to believe that all we lack is the will to solve our problems in a certain way. Whatever happens, these people will be disappointed down the road.; 8/23/15, 9:33 AM
David Duffy said...: "It's a trajectory, and if you plot it out, you'd see that Trump is next. Trump is next, we are idiots, and we are screwed."

I was reading your "Oops" today and remembered some earlier post about taking the time to read comments on posts that are a few days old. This quote from August of 2015 stuck in my head all this time. You are right, Trump was next and we are idiots. You were wrong about us being screwed. I thought he was worth the gamble, and though I cringe, I think the bet paid off.

I always enjoy your blog and at times read it to Mrs Duffy. Reading out loud to my wife is both soothing for me and unpredictable in the reaction I get.

Dave Duffy/Limited Perspective; 4/30/19, 3:43 PM