I didn't get much out of it... other than that DT's favorite book is "All Quiet on the Western Front." Also that he thinks of himself as "a person."
ADDED: Less surprising but probably more significant: His favorite movie is "Citizen Kane." Kelly — presumably because she was doing some lightning-round set of questions — failed to ask the obvious question: Do you identify with Kane? Kane was an unsuccessful politician and a successful journalist, so a conversation between Trump and Kelly about Kane could have had some real content, but Kelly is not the journalist to see and do anything about that potential.
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No. I can't stand to watch either of them. At least he hasn't gone Hollywood with his hairdo,
I want to talk about us.
One of Trump's biggest decision will be how to reward Fox. I predict Sean Hannity as Ambassador to England. Megyn Kelly to SCOTUS.
I saw most of the interview. He has an odd kind of charm in that he is both obnoxious and companionable. In any event, he's emotionally comprehensible. You know what makes him tick. I don't think anyone understands the dynamics of Hillary Clinton, least of all her.
"...DT's favorite book is "All Quiet on the Western Front." Also that he thinks of himself as "a person."
Those are only suggestions. By tomorrow his favorite book will be "How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis" by Karen Salmansohn, and he will think of himself as a trisexual panda if saying so is what he thinks will win. I think it's worth a shot.
"I don't think anyone understands the dynamics of Hillary Clinton, least of all her."
Functionally, she's an ambitious city councilwoman whose husband became President.
I just fail to understand how "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a favorite book. It's a good book about someone writing a tribute to fallen comrades, and the guilt of living. Marcus Latrell wrote such a book.
But favorite books should be quirky. Phillip K. Dick, or Bradbury. Something that captures your attention, and then scolds you for lacking imagination.....Why didn't I think of that!?!?!?!
"I don't think anyone understands the dynamics of Hillary Clinton, least of all her."
If you've been married and divorced to some psycho she beast, you know. Yes, you know.
"All Quiet on the Western Front"... no doubt one of Bernie Sanders' favorites too.
Interesting that, according to the primary results I've seen, Bernie & Hillary both got an equal number of delegates in KY and Bernie garnered [heh heh] several more delegates than she in Oregon.
Watched it. Though I thought Kelly showed professionalism and skill, it was still too much of an attempt to paint a Trump in a bad light ... and Kelly in a good one.
I would much prefer she had taken the angle of, What is it that you're doing that so connects with people. He and Bernie, this is the main question that interests me.
But that would've pushed M. Kelly into the background a bit too much.
I wish he had said Atlas Shrugged.
I really do.
I just fail to understand how "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a favorite book.
He's not a reader. He doesn't read for pleasure. He reads because he has to. Ergo, his "favorite book" is one of the books that was assigned to him in school.
Agree Saint Croix. "All Quiet on the Western Front" is the name of a book tossed out by someone desperate to think of the name of a classic-sounding book. He would have been better off with Hemingway.
Nice views of Mars just now. It's at opposition and the atmosphere is quiet tonight.
All Quiet makes sense for a future CIC. Both his grandparents on his dad's side were
German. Myabe he's going for the german vote. He's got the scots irish. Needs some
balance.
A clip this morning established that you can never say bimbo.
This is from a news bimbo. I don't get the power of PC.
I think that if anybody ever asks him his favorite movie, he should say "Convoy." That movie is running on MGM right now and Trump is Rubber Duck. He should play the song at his rallies:
Cause we got a little old convoy
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a little old convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
By the time we got into Tulsa Town,
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.
"We about to go a-huntin' bear."
...
Well, we rolled up Interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left 'em settin' on the scales.
By the time we hit that Chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin' smart:
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard.
There's armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of ev'ry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full'a bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus.
CONVOY!
Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn't have a dog-goned dime.
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll,
It's so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye.
All Quiet On the Fox News Front. That is the story. The quiet is before the next Offensive starts with a rolling barrage at Bill and Hillary using Bernie's ammunition.
Well one thing is for sure, if Hillary suggests either a coin toss or a voice vote DON"T FALL FOR IT!
"tim in vermont said...
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll,"
Nope:
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4"
So close.
Or when you say ammunition, are you talking about the spent bullets from his Nevada campaign headquarters?
Bernie Sanders revealed Tuesday that shots were fired into his Nevada campaign office and that an "apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked." The Democratic presidential candidate did not explicitly blame his rival, Hillary Clinton..
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4"
LOL, I know. Have you watched the movie recently? I watched it only because I like Sam Peckinpah movies and didn't realize that was him. Then I watched it last night from my DVR and I'm thinking "Trump is Rubber Duck!"
Interesting that, according to the primary results I've seen, Bernie & Hillary both got an equal number of delegates in KY and Bernie garnered [heh heh] several more delegates than she in Oregon.
The "inevitable Hillary" crowd might want to start getting concerned that at a time when the press has made sure to tell everybody that the Dem race is over...she is losing basically every primary presently and hasn't actually wrapped up anything.
Nobody doesn't like Orson Wells. Trump appreciates his showmanship genius.
Just in: the Martian Machines are advancing all over the World and nothing stops them!
"I don't think anyone understands the dynamics of Hillary Clinton...."
You think her motives are inscrutable? Really?
She's quite transparent: her driving impetus is ambition for power.. This is true for many in Washington, or course--it is the political personality--but most do a better job of masking their hunger.
Hillary is one of the more transparently power and money hungry people to appear anywhere in the world. It's nothing but that.
And she plans on giving North Korea the same deal Obama gave Iran. Sounds like a GREAT idea. Really.
"I just fail to understand how 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is a favorite book."
Why? It is a great book. Now, if someone who is a reader names it has his or her favorite book, one might anticipate a statement explaining this preference for it over other books the person has read, sure. But do you really fail to understand how it could be someone's favorite book?
Trump probably read it in high school or military school and he is naming it because he remembers liking it or because it is one of the few books he has read.
"Just in: the Martian Machines are advancing all over the World and nothing stops them!"
Yep, and we're calling them jihadis!
"tim in vermont said...
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4"
LOL, I know. Have you watched the movie recently? I watched it only because I like Sam Peckinpah movies and didn't realize that was him. Then I watched it last night from my DVR and I'm thinking "Trump is Rubber Duck!""
I don't think I've ever seen it. I just remember the song. Came out my senior year in high school. It was a hit, whatever that means, and the lyrics get implanted in your brain.
"I wish he had said Atlas Shrugged."
Trump is too smart to to say something that would make himself look like that much of an imbecile.
Trump probably read it in high school or military school and he is naming it because he remembers liking it or because it is one of the few books he has read.
Popular opinions of people aren't always factual.
"Everybody" assumed Obama was more well-read than Bush, but the exact opposite was true. Obama reads virtually no books while GW was a voracious reader.
I wouldn't assume Donald never reads. I'd imagine he reads more than Hillary who I do doubt reads much at all.
Ditto Sanders.
Not to read too much into it--sometimes we pick favorite books simply because we like the story and how it's written rather than some underlying message--but AQOTWF is quite the anti-war novel. Almost as much as "Johnny Got His Gun." Does Trump have a pacifist side?
"Functionally, she's an ambitious city councilwoman whose husband became President."
This remark by bagoh20 on the nature of Hillary's driving force, is a masterpiece of wit: it's vicious, funny, succinct, and true. It should be her epitaph.
"Obama reads virtually no books while GW was a voracious reader."
How do you know this? Because he said so?
Bush said many things as President that weren't true--things of greater moment--why would you accept this statement without pause?
When I heard Trump's book selection, it signaled to me that he is a realist about war, and he is not a martial nationalist looking to start another war for a chance at immense profits.
How do you know this? Because he said so?
Rove first discussed his reading habits. His writing and discussions often factor in information from a wide array of books. The American Scholar did an interview with him on his reading habits (he is big on historical non-fiction).
What evidence would satisfy you?
Bush said many things as President that weren't true--things of greater moment--why would you accept this statement without pause?
He didn't bring it up, Rove did. And others have discussed his reading and the information included in a lot of what he has written and discussed.
Again, what evidence would satisfy you?
He certainly enjoys reading and talking about books. And his friends know it. On his desk is a stack of books that have come as gifts: All Things Are Possible Through Prayer; Basho: The Complete Haiku; Children of Jihad; and Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children. To the pile, I add my own gift, Cleopatra by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stacy Schiff. Right now, Bush is reading Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life, a biography of the first president. “Chernow’s a great historian,” Bush says excitedly. “I think one of the great history books I read was on Alexander Hamilton by Chernow. But I also read House of Morgan, Titan, and now I’m reading Washington.”
He mentions David Halberstam’s The Coldest Winter, a book about the Korean War that he read before a visit last year to Korea, to give a speech to evangelicals. “I stand up in front of 65,000 Christians to give a speech in South Korea … ,” he says, “and I’m thinking about the bloody [battles] fought in the Korean War.” Halberstam’s book—coupled with earlier readings of David McCullough’s Truman and Robert Beisner’s Dean Acheson, a biography of Truman’s secretary of state presented to him by Bush’s own secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice—gave the event deeper resonance. The decisions of the unpopular President Harry S Truman, he realized, made it possible for a former U. S. president to speak before freely worshipping Koreans 60 years later. “So history, in this case, gave me a better understanding of the moment, and … put it all into context—the wonder of the moment.”
I tick off a partial list of people Bush has read books about in recent years in addition to Washington, Truman, and Acheson: Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Huey Long, Lyndon Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ulysses S. Grant, John Quincy Adams, Genghis Khan.
“Genghis Khan?” I ask incredulously.
“I didn’t know much about him. I was fascinated by him. I guess I’ve always been fascinated by larger-than-life figures. That’s why I’m looking forward to reading Cleopatra. I know nothing about her. … But you can sit there and be absorbed by TV, let the news of the moment consume you. You can just do nothing. I choose to read as a form of relaxation. … Laura used to say, ‘Reading is taking a journey,’ and she’s right.”
I must remind myself: This is the same man I met in Midland, Texas.
https://theamericanscholar.org/dubya-and-me/#.VzxgpBtMq9I
Robert Cook said...
"Functionally, she's an ambitious city councilwoman whose husband became President."
This remark by bagoh20 on the nature of Hillary's driving force, is a masterpiece of wit: it's vicious, funny, succinct, and true. It should be her epitaph.
Really, world class comment.
"Rove first discussed his reading habits."
Rove? The Joseph Goebbels of the Bush administration? Oh, for heaven's sake!
You ask what evidence would satisfy me? I'm not asking for evidence; I make no claims to know whether Bush is a reader or not. My skepticism has to do with your readiness to believe and assert Obama doesn't read--and he may not, for all I know--while being just as ready to believe and assert Bush does, simply on the basis of unsubstantiated claims to that effect.
None of us really knows the private leisure time activities of these men, and one must assume that if an effort is made to "reveal" that Bush is a voracious reader there is a reason for it: it is in the nature of being an advertisement for Bush's intellectual bona fides, and can be taken no more seriously than any other public relations efforts.
Funny how the statist who covets complete state control over the economy is the first to go Godwin. The Fascist and the Communists are like the Irish Catholics vs the Protestants. Nobody outside their fight could tell them apart without a scorecard.
Someone should ask Marco Rubio if he identifies with Rosebud.
Robert Cook and Chuck could give each other pointers about how not to let anything undermine their personal certainty and who can squander their credibility on the most picayune point. We could play limbo music while they have at it.
BTW, I bet Citizen Kane is exactly nobody's actual favorite movie since Orson Wells died.
Also provided independent corroboration. Bush read and still reads a ton.
"Favorite Book" and "Favorite Movie" are such odd questions. It's like asking "What was your favorite meal from last year?"
Replace "favorite" with "memorable" and you have a question that has a real answer. Otherwise you're just asking someone to throw darts at their memory.
Ann Althouse said...so a conversation between Trump and Kelly about Kane could have had some real content, but Kelly is not the journalist to see and do anything about that potential.
Meeeow!
I don't watch or know enough about Kelly to make an independent judgement, though, so I'll go with yours here Professor. By whom would you like to see Trump interviewed?
"Functionally, she's an ambitious city councilwoman whose husband became President."
This remark by bagoh20 on the nature of Hillary's driving force, is a masterpiece of wit: it's vicious, funny, succinct, and true. It should be her epitaph.
Gotta agree with Cook & Bagoh here. She is the embodiment of the "Bobbi Dooly" character the late great Phil Hendry used to do in his act / radio show. He would assume the "Bobbi" persona -- she was actually the head of a fictional HOA, perpetually issuing rules impossible for homeowners to comply with -- and entrap callers in discussions on absurd subjects. For context, think how transgender bathroom privileges have subsumed important stories from the news and imagine HRC in charge of the key to the restroom. Hendry was a comic genius at this.
I didn't watch and without regrets. Larry King was interesting because his interviews were never about Larry King. Enough said.
Blogger Robert Cook said...
How do you know this? Because he said so?
I once heard Mark Steyn do an interview with Bush about books. It was about books Bush had read recently (last year or so I think), what he liked about them and so on.
It was pretty obvious from the discussion that Bush had read all the books they talked about.
Why do you think Bush is not a reader?
How many books have you read in the past week? Month? Year? your favorite book?
I've not seen anything one way or the other about Trump and his reading habits or lack thereof. He does strike me as the kind of person who might be a pretty voracious and fast reader.
John Henry
Gotta agree with Cook & Bagoh here. She is the embodiment of the "Bobbi Dooly" character the late great Phil Hendry used to do in his act / radio show.
Hendrie isn't dead. Still does shows. Even has a "Dooley" show.
I was a Ted Bell fan, myself.
So how do you hillbillys respond when someone asks you your favorite book?
There are a dozen or so that I would class as favorites. These are books that I have read 15-20 maybe more times. I am not sure I could pick just one.
A Town Like Alice and Trustee from the Toolroom (Both Nevil Shute) would be high on the list.
Cryptonomicon (Stephenson)
Cobweb (Stephenson)
Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Sometimes a Great Notion (Kesey)
Atlas Shrugged (Rand)
You want just one favorite? Hard to do. It would be kind of a random selection of whichever popped into my head at the moment.
John Henry
"Why do you think Bush is not a reader?"
I don't know that he isn't, (but I am skeptical). He just doesn't seem like a man who has done much reading in his life. I could be wrong. I don't believe Bush is the moron of much public jest, but I certainly don't believe he is tip-toeing around "stacks of books" he has read or will read.
I was questioning the certainty of Damikesc that Bush was a "voracious" reader--while quickly asserting that Obama wasn't--simply because we had been told this.
The alert citizen must assume that all or nearly all of what we are told by or about our purported representatives in Washington is told to us to craft an image for our consumption, and is questionable to lesser or greater degree, up to being pure invention. Whatever we're told is wholly in the service of trying to persuade us to accept a particular view of them or of their policies.
I do love the echo-chambery comments on All Quiet from some of the fools here: That Trump can name a favorite book is evidence he doesn't read. I suppose if he had a favorite sex act it would prove he's a virgin.
I had a little uptick in my respect for Megyn Kelly after her initial contretemps with Donald Trump. I felt like she really did participate in a perfectly reasonable attempt on the part of Fox News to ask the sorts of questions we all know Republican candidates will have to field from other media personalities, and if you can't handle it from a relatively friendly group, how will you handle it from real opponents? But boy, it didn't take long for Kelly to demonstrate that, actually, no, she was just an inadvertent beneficiary of the process. She's actually not that good a journalist. Surprising? Not really. Disappointing? Yeah, a little.
Kelly is very direct and a bit dominating - but not savy. Trump deals with directs, dominating, and not savy with ease.
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