Althouse: "One thing to understand about Trump is that, rather unexpectedly, he's neither angry nor combative."

June 1, 2016

"One thing to understand about Trump is that, rather unexpectedly, he's neither angry nor combative."

"He may be the most threatening and frightening and menacing presidential candidate in modern life, and yet, in person he's almost soothing.... If onstage he calls people names, more privately he has only good, embracing things to say about almost everybody. (For most public people I know, it is the opposite.) He loves everybody. Genuinely seems to love everybody — at least everybody who's rich and successful (he doesn't really talk about anyone who isn't). Expressing love for everybody, for most of us, would clearly seem to be an act. But with Trump, it's the name-calling and bluster that might be the act. I offer that there are quite a number of people in New York, some we know in common, who are puzzled that the generous, eager-to-be-liked and liking-everyone-in-return Donald has morphed into a snarling and reactionary public enemy, at least a liberal enemy. This, I suggest, might be a source of the continuing dialectic — or to some, wishful thinking — that he does not necessarily believe what he says."

From "The Donald Trump Conversation: Politics' "Dark Heart" Is Having the Best Time Anyone's Ever Had," by Michael Wolff in The Hollywood Reporter.

Also interesting: Trump has a refrigerator in his Beverly Hills home that has nothing in it but bottled water and pints of Haagen Dazs... and Trump eats a whole pint of vanilla at 11 p.m. and tells Wolff not to put his water bottle on the fabric ottoman.

92 comments:

eric said...: I think these people believe the crap they write.

Trump isn't what they've painted him to be.

Imagine him sitting in your living room and he says, you know, we ought to build a wall along our southern border. And to top it off, we should get Mexico to pay for it.

You'd probably say, hey, that's not such a bad idea.

But when he says that in public, it's, Racist! Xenophobic! Hate!

It's not what he says, it's the constant characterization of what he says that seeps into our conscience.

And so this guy thinks there is a public Donald me a private Donald that are at odds.

And I say, nope. Same guy. Just a lying media that has created a perception that isn't true.; 6/1/16, 1:55 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: I think a lot of people who abjure alcohol (such as Trump) may use Ice Cream as a substitute. I once when on a double date with two young LDS women and we ended up in a Bob's Big Boy on a Saturday night where they had an all you could eat ice cream buffet; the place was filled with young Mormons -- apparently, ice cream is the LDS substitute for alcohol.; 6/1/16, 1:58 PM
rehajm said...: The effect is not only not damaging, it's fun-loving, comic, even joyous

This is a stark admission by a 'journalist', the expectation of 'damage'.

This is where Trump gets his power.

Wolfe will expect his criticisms of Trump in this journalistic 'think' piece to be 'damaging'.; 6/1/16, 2:01 PM
rehajm said...: "And Brexit? Your position?" I ask.

"Huh?"

"Brexit."

"Hmm."

"The Brits leaving the EU," I prompt, realizing that his lack of familiarity with one of the most pressing issues in Europe is for him no concern nor liability at all.

He seems to understand 'The Brits leaving the EU'. Perhaps he isn't the type of person that mashes words together to invent new words? I'd reckon Trump knows some names for those people.; 6/1/16, 2:09 PM
FullMoon said...: A whole pint? 1 pint is two cups. Not much.

Young people at all youcan eat ice-cream are substituting ice cream for alcohol? Huh?
Maybe they are substituting for heroin? Or, sex? Hard to tell, these days.
Or, maybe it's a cheap way to spend some time talking.; 6/1/16, 2:15 PM
Michael K said...: "the place was filled with young Mormons -"

My ex-wife had a close Mormon friend and went to her wedding where ice cream sodas were the drink of choice.; 6/1/16, 2:30 PM
Peter said...: This surely invites a comparison of whether Queen Hillary is also "fun-loving, comic, even joyous" when one speaks with her privately?; 6/1/16, 2:30 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Haagen Dazs is the best. But coffee.; 6/1/16, 2:33 PM
fivewheels said...: One pint is one serving, as far as I know.; 6/1/16, 2:39 PM
Jaq said...: eric nailed it first post. To be surprised that the man you painted as a monster by deliberately mishearing and misreading what he says is not actually a monster takes a serious lack of self awareness.

Ben and Jerry's used to be the best, before they sold out.; 6/1/16, 2:40 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I don't like ice cream with a lot of stuff in it. All of that stuff is frozen, so it's like gravel. Only tiny things work, like the minuscule chocolate chips in mint chocolate chip or the cookie crumbs in cookies and cream.; 6/1/16, 2:47 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Trump's water-bottle rule is such a telling petit-bourgeois detail, like neglecting to remove plastic sofa covers for guests (or having plastic sofa covers in the first place).; 6/1/16, 2:49 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "One pint is one serving, as far as I know."

It is hard to scoop, so you start eating it from the container, and you probably will eat the whole thing.

But I believe the contain claims to be 4 servings.

The whole pint is 1200, which is fine if that's a whole meal for you.

Even on a diet: just eat nothing else that day.; 6/1/16, 2:54 PM
Hagar said...: A Haagen-Dazs "pint" is only 14 ounces. Not much for a hungry 19 year old, but an otherwise well-fed 69 year old should probably think about that.

Trump does make mistakes, like with his response to Susana Martinez. She is not from the Bos-Wash area and has no interest in going there, which is something he should have known by now. However, "Hispanics," of whatever kind, will tend to hold it against him as disrespectful to them, and there was no need for it.; 6/1/16, 2:55 PM
Achilles said...: That whole article was the reporter pretending to be smarter than Trump. It is a game reporters like to play. But they are not.

And Trump is right, Britain should leave the EU.; 6/1/16, 3:10 PM
Fernandinande said...: [Trump] tells Wolff not to put his water bottle on the fabric ottoman.

An ottoman umpire.; 6/1/16, 3:11 PM
rehajm said...: Clearly I missed the point of this post...

A Shake Shack design your own concrete has no equal.

Graeter's for you Northern flyovers.

Haagen Dazs only in a pinch.; 6/1/16, 3:11 PM
Brando said...: "Trump does make mistakes, like with his response to Susana Martinez. She is not from the Bos-Wash area and has no interest in going there, which is something he should have known by now. However, "Hispanics," of whatever kind, will tend to hold it against him as disrespectful to them, and there was no need for it."

It was an unforced error, and sheds light on his decisionmaking as president. It's one thing to fight when you have to, it's another to pick ones everywhere you go.

And consider this--what was in the news when he did this? Hillary's e-mail scandal and the IG report. Why take any news away from that? Why not continue to focus and pound on that, so that her numbers go even lower, and embolden the Bernie fans going into the California primary (where if Hillary actually loses that, it will be further embarrassment for her going to the convention, and keeping the party split longer?)? Would a smart politician not actually avoid such petty distractions?

But hey, I suppose sending lukewarm Republicans the message that "if you don't come out and endorse me, I'll mock you publicly" has its merits too. What those merits are, I don't know.; 6/1/16, 3:11 PM
MadisonMan said...: Graeter's for you Northern flyovers.

Can't I just go to UDF? They're in more places.; 6/1/16, 3:16 PM
Michael K said...: For those who still can't understand where Trump came from.

More than half of Fortune 500 CEOs say they would prefer Hillary Clinton to win the White House instead of Donald Trump, according to a new survey.

Fifty-eight percent of the CEOs said they would support Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, while 42 percent would support Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, according to a survey conducted last month by Fortune and released on Wednesday.

“Big company CEOs tend to lean heavily Republican," the survey said.
"But most of the 500 operate on a global scale, and many disagree with Trump’s proposals for raising trade barriers. Some also have been rattled by his stance on immigration, or by his comments showing little understanding of public finance."

The survey, which was sent to all Fortune 500 CEOs, asked which candidate they would favor most as next president and gave the two leading candidates as the only options.; 6/1/16, 3:17 PM
MadisonMan said...: I don't like ice cream with a lot of stuff in it.

Same. Ribbons of fudge work for me, though. :); 6/1/16, 3:18 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Trump's water-bottle rule is such a telling petit-bourgeois detail

Yes. It is telling that you think that way. It tells me that he doesn't like casual destruction and pointless waste of an asset. Even if you are a bazillionare....maybe especially if you are, you are aware of where your money goes and aware that a small thing like putting a wet bottle on a finely upholstered and probably very expensive ottoman will ruin the value of it.

Probably his momma also, as a frugal Scottish lass, brought him up right: to respect things and not be a slob.

Maybe someone who is aware of the value of a dollar and is willing to curtail waste is someone we want in government.; 6/1/16, 3:20 PM
harrogate said...: "Genuinely seems to love everybody — at least everybody who's rich and successful (he doesn't really talk about anyone who isn't)."

Yes. That's really "soothing" to know. What a great guy.; 6/1/16, 3:24 PM
FullMoon said...: Dust Bunny Queen said...

Trump's water-bottle rule is such a telling petit-bourgeois detail

Yes. It is telling that you think that way. It tells me that he doesn't like casual destruction and pointless waste of an asset. Even if you are a bazillionare....maybe especially if you are, you are aware of where your money goes and aware that a small thing like putting a wet bottle on a finely upholstered and probably very expensive ottoman will ruin the value of it.

Probably his momma also, as a frugal Scottish lass, brought him up right: to respect things and not be a slob.

AND, A waterspot on fine fabric, or a nic ewood table, is there forever. You hafta see the thing until it it repaired, or replaced. I hate that !; 6/1/16, 3:27 PM
Michael said...: Someone named Prole accuses another of being petit-bourgeois. Love it here. Absolutely.; 6/1/16, 3:27 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Michael,

Someone named Prole accuses another of being petit-bourgeois.

Well, at least prole didn't accuse Trump of being a lumpenproletariat Althouse hillbilly...; 6/1/16, 3:34 PM
Jaq said...: I don't like ice cream with a lot of stuff in it. All of that stuff is frozen, so it's like gravel

That's why it is best eaten at the factory in Waterbury. Fresh, the ingredients aren't frozen solid yet. In fact if you are driving down 89 in Vermont, it's worth a stop just for the scoop shop, skip the tour, which is boring and it is not the "real" factory anyway.; 6/1/16, 3:42 PM
Earnest Prole said...: @Michael

Think of it as an outing, not an accusation; 6/1/16, 3:44 PM
Jaq said...: But I agree, however; Ben and Jerry's has lots of flavors that aren't full of added bits.; 6/1/16, 3:44 PM
Jaq said...: Think of it as an outing, not an accusation

Trump's lack of class is on of his better qualities. Who wants somebody for president who doesn't know where the money came from to buy that ottoman.; 6/1/16, 3:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: You know that a Plain Vanilla Man is the sign of a Pure Conservative. They refuse added fruits and nuts like the CruzBots so love to mix in.; 6/1/16, 3:51 PM
eric said...: Blogger harrogate said...
"Genuinely seems to love everybody — at least everybody who's rich and successful (he doesn't really talk about anyone who isn't)."

Yes. That's really "soothing" to know. What a great guy.

Hello? Anyone home? It's meant to be an insult. The author thinks he is clever. "I'll write what looks like a compliment but sneak in am insult. It'll fool the rubes!"

So far, it's only fooled you.; 6/1/16, 4:09 PM
Kovacs said...: Another report that Trump's hateful rhetoric and insults are his ways of playing to the suckers (as he's regularly more or less acknowledged). But even more interesting: He's got a fridge with nothing but ice cream and water in it!

He plans to deport 11 million people, forcibly separating some of them from family members, presumably, a massive police action that seems Nazi-like to people across the political spectrum. But he sure zinged that one guy good about his alcoholism!

He ostentatiously announces a charity event as cover for ducking a debate, stiffs the veterans he's ostensibly helping until he gets called on it, cobbles together ex post facto a donation list that includes at least one group that gets an F from CharityWatch--he's also lying about the groups' being well vetted, obviously--but it's Clinton who really put her foot in her mouth by pointing out that she's helped veterans through our American legislative process (which process Trump neither knows or cares anything about).

What were you saying earlier about Trump's making people lose their minds? Look in the mirror. Jesus.; 6/1/16, 4:31 PM
Jaq said...: How many people who are not mobbed up in with the Democrats does Wolff talk to?; 6/1/16, 4:32 PM
Jaq said...: How do you feel about scabs Kovacs? Do you fret about their families?; 6/1/16, 4:34 PM
Earnest Prole said...: For the inert-minded, I should clarify that my comment was intended as a sociological observation more than a value judgment. The upper and lower classes generally encourage their guests to do whatever the hell will make them feel at home. Middle-class hospitality in contrast will often include rituals that protect or highlight property. Those who’ve been asked to remove their shoes as a condition to join a dinner party will know what I mean.; 6/1/16, 4:36 PM
harrogate said...: Eric, it's only an "insult" , at least in the sense you are using the word, if it isn't true .; 6/1/16, 4:43 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: So...Earnest Prole

You are saying that Trump, despite being a multi-billionaire shares middle class values with his supporters and can connect with the previously dismissed and ignored middle class? Ye!. This explains the appeal and the dislike from the upper crust types who are #nevertrump. :-)

Trump is just a middle class kinda guy. That IS what you meant. Right?

Personally I disagree with your assessment of polite etiquette as to the lower, middle or upper classes. Actually I disagree with the idea of classes because as Americans we are socially mobile. Middle class one day and who knows what with the next economic downturn or upturn. Polite people take care to not harm or deface the property of their host.

I don't care if it makes you feel at home to carve your initials into my furniture or put watermark rings on my upholstery, I'm not encouraging you in your slobby destructive disrespectful behaviour. As to the shoes off. Don't go to visit anyone in Japan. If you insist on tracking your dirt into their house, you will not be invited back, roundeyes. Same dealio in our area. Take off your dirty shoes and muddy wet boots when you come to a dinner party at my house. Otherwise you can just eat at home.; 6/1/16, 4:50 PM
Hagar said...: "America is a classless society. Furthermore, everybody belongs to the middle class."; 6/1/16, 4:55 PM
DanTheMan said...: >>He plans to deport 11 million people, forcibly separating some of them from family members

Didn't they choose to separate themselves from their families when they left home and illegally entered our country?

Let's just take a page from the lefty playbook and call our massive deportations "Family Reunification".; 6/1/16, 5:09 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Mmmm. Ribbons of fudge and not yet frozen add-ins. Tried a bite of HD vanilla by itself just now. (Had it to go with apple pie on Monday.) I think vanilla is a side dish to things like cake or pie, or it is a base for adding lots of non-ice cream ingredients. Chocolate or coffee favors, however, are like main dishes, basically complete unto themselves.; 6/1/16, 5:10 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The Haagen Dazs serving size is precisely the right amount to go with a piece of pie, in case anyone was wondering.; 6/1/16, 5:12 PM
Saint Croix said...: Vanilla!

I knew it.; 6/1/16, 5:15 PM
Saint Croix said...: German ice cream!

I knew it.; 6/1/16, 5:15 PM
Saint Croix said...: One pint of ice cream = Poland; 6/1/16, 5:17 PM
Drago said...: Kovacs: "He plans to deport 11 million people, forcibly separating some of them from family members,...."

LOL

Young unaccompanied illegal alien children sent northward to the US by adults in Central and South American countries cuz......family reunification!!!; 6/1/16, 5:17 PM
Drago said...: Who doesn't like a nice pint of Sudentenilla?; 6/1/16, 5:19 PM
Drago said...: I could sure go for a bowl of Barbarossa with Strawberries!; 6/1/16, 5:19 PM
eric said...: He plans to deport 11 million people, forcibly separating some of them from family members,

I don't think he has suggested any of them be sent to prison. Prison is where you're separated from family. Trump is talking about sending them home. You know, like if you went to Australia and overstayed your welcome. Would sending you back to the USA be separating you from your family?

I suppose it would be if your family chose to stay in Australia. But, why wouldn't they just come back home, to the USA, if that's where you were headed?

Hrmmm, maybe you shouldn't repeat liberal talking points. When they can be refuted, it makes the person doing the parroting look sorta dumb.; 6/1/16, 5:19 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger Kovacs said...
Another report that Trump's hateful rhetoric and insults are his ways of playing to the suckers (as he's regularly more or less acknowledged).
Whenever I read something like this, I think 'compared to whom? The guy the writer voted for twice? You know, the racial healer, the 'professor of constitutional law' who doesn't under stand the constitution, the guy who was going to make the oceans recede, the guy who said it was illegal for him to give illegal immigarnts amnesty and then gave illegals amnesty? The guy who refers to felons as 'justice involved individuals?'
What's Trump gonna do? Ignore the checks and balances provided by our constitution? Legislate from the White House? That would be horrible!; 6/1/16, 5:26 PM
buwaya said...: "Who doesn't like a nice pint of Sudentenilla?"

Its Czech (or South German for you Nazis). That would be Beer-flavor. Its an idea whose time has come!; 6/1/16, 5:26 PM
Meade said...: "The Haagen Dazs serving size is precisely the right amount to go with a piece of pie, in case anyone was wondering."

Even blueberry pie? Blueberry pie is the only pie I'll eat. Unless it's huckleberry pie. Or cherry pie. But that's it.

Except for apple pie. I'll also eat apple pie.; 6/1/16, 5:29 PM
Earnest Prole said...: @ Dust Bunny Queen

The American bourgeoisie has many strengths — next time, try to sound a little less defensive; 6/1/16, 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Perhaps it's all been said. He collected all the yellow journalism death by 10,000 cuts that would be used on the entire republican field, turned them into soundbites, plastered his opponents with them, and those that could take the heat survived or withdrew, including himself. Every criticism that could have been leveled against him was leveled and he survived, what’s left is noise and an opportunity to lampoon the press for being sleaze balls. He's taken it all and given it back 10 for 1. Easy for a natural born leader. It's about time the press got told to go back to working on reporting facts not opinion, take the party stickers off their doors and coffee cups, or better yet give up their spectrum for something useful like people and computer communication, or even pay TV movies.

Is your pTb the only one required to sacrifice to obtain the appearance of a more civil society that only enables the weasels of the left, who will shoot you when you're back is turned. Legalizing dueling is probably easier and will fix things faster than any libel regulations. How many people died dueling your Mr. Jackson? Would have made good TV for your pTb to take out (or not, nice thing about duels is there are no guarantees so the provocation needs to be great) the head of Mr. Cruz's PAC that shamed his wife in front of his children. Is there any doubt that a natural born leader like he wouldn't have issued the challenge same day? Or the folks that Katy Couric abused? “See you at dawn, bring your second. Or grovel for forgiveness and clean my boots of dog dung with your lying lounge..” Good fun. Where's my popcorn?; 6/1/16, 5:44 PM
Kovacs said...: What's Trump gonna do? Ignore the checks and balances provided by our constitution? Legislate from the White House? That would be horrible!

Well, Trump is almost certainly going to do those things, or try, according to his public statements. And I assume you do think that's horrible. So, clowning aside, where does that leave you? Anybody who complains about Obama's arrogance or antipathy for the rule of law but supports Trump is an ass or a fool.; 6/1/16, 6:06 PM
Kovacs said...: Hrmmm, maybe you shouldn't repeat liberal talking points. When they can be refuted, it makes the person doing the parroting look sorta dumb.

I had in mind DREAMers and US-born children of undocumented immigrants, just for example, but when we're talking about 11 million men, women, and children being detained and deported, it's not hard to imagine great potential for human misery there. Many of these people have never lived anywhere else, practically if not literally. Not really that analogous to a family vacation to Australia. Hmmm, maybe you should try to cultivate a little more empathy and decency. Otherwise, it makes you look sorta degenerate.; 6/1/16, 6:23 PM
buwaya said...: "Anybody who complains about Obama's arrogance or antipathy for the rule of law but supports Trump is an ass or a fool."

This requires some education. Obama is one with the tribe of persons who staff and direct the Federal bureaucracy as well as the industries that live off it. He is their rightful chieftain in the unofficial sense as well as according to the org chart. This is a big deal, the essence of Milovan Djilas' "new class" structure. The power of this new class, our nomenklatura, is the main political and economic problem of our time. This tyrannous tribe is strangling the country. The problem here isn't simply Obama, or even mainly Obama.

Trump? He will walk in as their enemy, as he should be.; 6/1/16, 6:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Your pTb eats a high saturated fat diet (high butterfat products, expensive very re: his diet of high fat ice cream, eggs, very limp bacon and other meats preserving the fats by cooking only to the minimum safe temperature, and a hot rare if the meat has been irradiated so no bacteria remains , because he knows the FDA food pyramid is based on Junk Science, like most government work not contracted out to the private sector (like drug testing). With his eidetic memory he probably read "the big fat surprise" and glanced at a few of the references and found them compelling, and thought “oh my, another government agency that has killed far more people than it's helped.” You can spend more and not get less. Though your BIA gives them a good run.

The insulin system does nothing other than run a terribly polluting chemical factory that turns everything coming in into saturated fat which is what powers everything in the body, nothing else. If you only eat saturated fat, you don't turn on the insulin system so it's by products don't exist, minimizing diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, early death. Well it's your life. Enjoy those chips and apple juice. Nice to see your pTb is going to be around for a while. Then again, the establishment and factions of Jackson’s day made multiple attempts to take him out. Sad that he and all his top tier are armed and have to sit through the daily threat briefs. Good thing that that reporter, or even his sister reaching by one of his people only got a bruised arm. The threat brief said look out for a Squeaky Fromme. She's lucky she didn't get shot, as would his sister if she did the same thing unannounced. Real leaders don’t f..k around risking the lives of their people, he’d be the first to throw his body in front of theirs. Aka as how to inspire loyalty. Don’t ask anything of the people you lead to do that you wouldn’t do yourself. Oh my. More popcorn please, extra butter. Note that our spit can be used to treat your diabetes. It offsets some of the sludge your insulin chem plant spills. Your pTb doesn't drink, doesn't sleep. Must be A monk. We've never seen him and the Dalai Lama together.; 6/1/16, 6:29 PM
buwaya said...: " Hmmm, maybe you should try to cultivate a little more empathy and decency. Otherwise, it makes you look sorta degenerate."

This is, at minimum, rather personally hostile for decent argument. Restate your objection and you should get a polite response.; 6/1/16, 6:30 PM
Kovacs said...: This is, at minimum, rather personally hostile for decent argument. Restate your objection and you should get a polite response.

You must be new around here.; 6/1/16, 6:38 PM
Michael said...: Prole:
American bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeois in the same thread! Awesome and thanks. LOL. Really hard to find concentrated pomposity, not to mention redundancy, crammed into so few comments.; 6/1/16, 6:46 PM
buwaya said...: "American bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeois in the same thread! Awesome and thanks. LOL. Really hard to find concentrated pomposity, not to mention redundancy, crammed into so few comments."

The hip commies when I was young talked like that all the time. It was all bourgeois this and comprador-capitalist that, and the petit-bourgois were like the worst bad guys they could think of, being both conservative and uncool. There are new words these days. Maybe all that bourgeois stuff is just unfashionable.; 6/1/16, 6:51 PM
Michael said...: Kovacs

Presumably you were out sick when the concept of hyperbole was discussed. You would appear to be the only person I know who takes the deportation remarks seriously. To translate for you, Trump is saying that people in this country who are here illegally are not going to get the easy citizenship routine. It is going to cost them and put them at the end of the line. Same for the wall. What he means is that border enforcement will be as though there is a fifty foot wall. It will be both difficult and painful to get in illegally.; 6/1/16, 6:52 PM
Michael said...: buwaya

Yes. And they never said "people of color" in those days. Instead they used the proper "peoples of color." Plus dialectic. I should make a complete list but we are off to a good start, a good proletarian start.; 6/1/16, 6:54 PM
buwaya said...: "You must be new around here."

I am old as the hills, as the sky, as the clouds, as the flower buds on the path.
Leave your preconceptions on the trail, and new, and yet ancient, worlds of structured argument can open before you.; 6/1/16, 6:54 PM
Kovacs said...: You would appear to be the only person I know who takes the deportation remarks seriously. To translate for you, Trump is saying that people in this country who are here illegally are not going to get the easy citizenship routine. It is going to cost them and put them at the end of the line. Same for the wall. What he means is that border enforcement will be as though there is a fifty foot wall. It will be both difficult and painful to get in illegally.

Wow. Please, please, tell as many Trump supporters as you can that their man is just talking about a metaphorical wall and metaphorical deportation. And good luck to you!; 6/1/16, 7:00 PM
buwaya said...: Michael,

Dialectic was always there. They used it for something else though, being actually dialectical materialism, which you don't hear about much anymore. I'd rather argue with those guys really, not because they were right, but because they played cricket, more or less. You could have an argument with steel production and median income and social mobility and use real numbers, or fake ones they took seriously anyway.; 6/1/16, 7:02 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Michael said...
". . . It will be both difficult and painful to get in illegally."
An awful lot of Mexican and central American illegals regularly go home and come back. The reasons for this aren't difficult to discover. Basically, they want to keep alive their social and family ties to their home village. Simply making it more difficult to regularly leave and return would reduce the number of illegals on the margin.
The reason you don't hear much about the high percentage of immigrants who go back and forth is because the Left wants you to think of them as American, and the open-borders right doesn't want you to realize that the southern border is so porous that people regularly move across it with ease.; 6/1/16, 7:04 PM
Michael said...: Terry

Agree. I am in and out of Mexico a fair amount and I can assure you they would not be keen on me setting up shop down there without papers. One way street.; 6/1/16, 7:06 PM
Michael said...: Kovacs

Get out more dude. People, even the people you think are stupid, are not stupid.; 6/1/16, 7:08 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Virgil Hilts said...

I think a lot of people who abjure alcohol (such as Trump) may use Ice Cream as a substitute. I once when on a double date with two young LDS women and we ended up in a Bob's Big Boy on a Saturday night where they had an all you could eat ice cream buffet; the place was filled with young Mormons -- apparently, ice cream is the LDS substitute for alcohol.

It's the sugar. I've known several recovering alcoholics that constantly drank coffee with huge dollops of sugar and only rarely cream. Mormon's can't drink coffee, so they substitute ice cream.; 6/1/16, 7:45 PM
Kovacs said...: Michael--

I hope you'll translate the rest of Trump's pledges for us. For example, when he says he'll command the military to torture prisoners, intentionally target civilians, and commit other war crimes, what does he really mean?; 6/1/16, 7:56 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Michael:

You nailed me before I had a chance to deploy my favorite pompous word, lumpen, which is marxist for “impervious to irony.” Used in a sentence: Everyone has the right to be lumpen, but you abuse the privilege.; 6/1/16, 8:19 PM
buwaya said...: I thought that lumpen in Marxist meant those guys who were likely to beat up the comrades in glasses, just because.
I like the words Marx used to describe the components (of the lumpenproletatiat) thereof (the Wiki is great, and shows why Marx was a great journalist) - among them mountebanks, lazzaroni, literati and organ grinders.
I wouldnt mind being any of those.; 6/1/16, 8:40 PM
Paul said...: "The insulin system does nothing other than run a terribly polluting chemical factory that turns everything coming in into saturated fat which is what powers everything in the body, nothing else. If you only eat saturated fat, you don't turn on the insulin system so it's by products don't exist, minimizing diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, early death."

It's true our bodies are designed to live on mostly protein and saturated fat. That's why vegans look like shit.; 6/1/16, 8:54 PM
Hyphenated American said...: "Anybody who complains about Obama's arrogance or antipathy for the rule of law but supports Trump is an ass or a fool."

As Obama said - “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”.

In other words, conservatives really have no choice now, we have to do this. Obama told us so. Isn't Obama awesome? We've learned so much from him.

If liberals want to keep the rule of law, they need to punish Obama and his henchmen. And then we'll talk. Until then - sorry, payback is our slogan.; 6/1/16, 9:43 PM
Hyphenated American said...: "Many of these people have never lived anywhere else, practically if not literally. "

How can you be an illegal alien in USA, and yet never lived outside of USA? Is this Obama's logic? If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.; 6/1/16, 9:45 PM
walter said...: "Trump eats a whole pint of vanilla at 11 p.m."
Ah..sugar rush behind those late night tweets.; 6/1/16, 10:10 PM
DanTheMan said...: Kovacs:
Sneak across the border into Mexico. Demand free medical care and all other forms public charity, the right to drive with a state issued license, and demand that your children be taught in English. Demand that the Mexicans pay to relocate you closer to your family members who have also illegally entered Mexico, and then demand that you now have the right to bring in the rest of your family. Vote illegally in their elections, and band together with other Americans illegally in their country. Wave US flags at their political rallies and scream insults at their candidates. In English, of course, as it's racist to ask you to learn Spanish.
Then lecture the Mexicans, and tell them to ban wearing of the Mexican flag on the 4th of July as culturally insensitive. Convince their universities to ban any parties with an American theme as racist. In fact, form a group called "The Race", just for Americans who believe that northern Mexico is rightly part of the USA.

Then report back on Mexican empathy...

Failing that, take your empathy lecture and shove it.; 6/1/16, 10:32 PM
Kovacs said...: How can you be an illegal alien in USA, and yet never lived outside of USA? Is this Obama's logic?

You understand that many of these people have been here for years, right? Brought young children with them, had children while here (who are American citizens, as much as Trump would like that not to be the case)... It's just plain ol' logic, actually.; 6/1/16, 10:33 PM
Joe said...: Good God, this isn't about Trump, it's about Hillary, who is bought and paid for by Wall Street. Obama's continued push into crony capitalism won't hold a candle to what Hillary would do. Everything else is a sideshow.; 6/1/16, 10:35 PM
Night Owl said...: "...it's not hard to imagine great potential for human misery there."

It's not hard to figure out that a lot of the misery is created due to unconscionable leftist immigration policies.

Obama's immigration policy of "sanctuary cities" full of "Dreamers" is an example of the liberal desire and need to create victims for their hypocritical hearts to bleed for. If leftists really cared about these immigrant kids and their families they would not be in favor of policies that encourage Latin Americans countries to send their unaccompanied minors here.

It's thoughtlessly cruel to encourage young people and children to leave their homes and families and risk death and disease to enter the US illegally. We'll never know how many children die making the journey because no one on the left would ever think to find out; they don't really give a damn about these youngsters except as political pawns. If they had a sense of decency they would feel ashamed of the way they routinely use and abuse people to score political points.; 6/1/16, 10:50 PM
Night Owl said...: An immigration policy that can slow down or stop the flow of human misery-- in the form of poverty, disease, and crime -- across our southern border will save lives.; 6/1/16, 11:00 PM
Hyphenated American said...: Kovaks: ""Many of these people have never lived anywhere else, practically if not literally. "

A few hours later:

"You understand that many of these people have been here for years, right? "

So, if I come to USA from Mexico as an adult, and live here for a couple years, then by your logic, I've never lived outside of USA. BTW, what's the ratio here? One year in USA is equivalent to 10 years in Mexico? Or 20 years? Liberal math.

"Brought young children with them, had children while here (who are American citizens, as much as Trump would like that not to be the case)..."

So, if I was born in Mexico, got educated there and moved to USA - then if I have a child there, I can honestly say that I lived all my life in the USA. Cause I have a child in USA - he made the years I lived outside of USA disappear. That's liberal logic.

Sigh. And these people say conservatives hate science.... Damn.; 6/1/16, 11:22 PM
Achilles said...: Kovacs said...

"I hope you'll translate the rest of Trump's pledges for us. For example, when he says he'll command the military to torture prisoners, intentionally target civilians, and commit other war crimes, what does he really mean?"

It means he is listening to people who fought in the middle east and that if we go to war our goal in that war will be to win. Anyone who fought over there will tell you how ducked up those people are and that the "civilians" were just people who hid their guns when they heard us coming.

The veteran community is overwhelmingly and enthusiastically behind trump. So is anyone who actually believes in this country.; 6/1/16, 11:25 PM
Achilles said...: Kovacs said...

"You understand that many of these people have been here for years, right? Brought young children with them, had children while here (who are American citizens, as much as Trump would like that not to be the case)... It's just plain ol' logic, actually."

Kovacs goal is to turn the USA into Mexico. It is the prog goal to ensure there is a permanent elite and a permanent underclass just like Mexico. They want to ensure businesses have to negotiate through a corrupt bureaucracy that stops startup companies from competing with said elite. And mostly they want to replace the relatively more educated American voters with a poor and more compliant set of voters.; 6/1/16, 11:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Just wow. Of course Trump is "different" in private, because influencing his audience must be done differently in private. A good con man knows that you don't use the same tactics on an individual one-on-one that you do on a crowd. You incite the crowd with a rabble-rousing speech filled with invective and insults and chest-thumping. You amplify everything, counting on the crowd to feed on the energy in the room and be carried along without stopping to think about the specifics. But that doesn't work in a more intimate setting. Then you need to modulate the pitch. Mr. Showman knows that. He's still a dangerous, narcissistic, non-nothing. I agree with Kovacs--- how can anyone who condemns the behavior of Obama in office turn around and support Trump, who is just Obama amplified and unfiltered.; 6/1/16, 11:57 PM
buwaya said...: Re Trump vs Obama -
Because in spite of appearances its not really about the individual. You are electing not one person but thousands of them, hundreds of thousands if you include all the interest groups that come attached. Have a look at Obamas, and tell us that they will be the same as Trumps.; 6/2/16, 12:28 AM
furious_a said...: Imagine how Mexican riot police would respond to a Yanqui rent-a-mob waving Old Glories storming and trashing the Zocalo and pelting them and their horses with rocks and bottles (like, oh, Albuquerque)...

Could you blame them?; 6/2/16, 1:35 AM
PianoLessons said...: Trump SAYS he doesn't drink ......but he is on something else with his late night tweets.....ours to wonder. This man needs some pharmaceuticals or other elements to preform the way he does.; 6/2/16, 3:00 AM
mikee said...: "When some one charged Gen. Grant, in the President’s (Abe Lincoln) hearing, with drinking too much liquor, Mr. Lincoln, recalling Gen. Grant’s successes, said that if he could find out what brand of whisky Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders." NY Times, 1863.

Would that PianoLessons could identify what Trump is taking, I would send a generous amount to every member of Congress and the Courts, and expect good things to happen.; 6/2/16, 1:33 PM
Gahrie said...: but he is on something else with his late night tweets

Vanilla ice cream according to one journalist.; 6/2/16, 5:43 PM