I love the novelty sunglasses, and I was going to give the NYT credit for highlighting a beautiful woman who supports Trump, but after I did the screen-capture and uploading, my impression that I was looking at a Jean Seberg type of woman...
... gave way to a realization that this is a young man and then that the NYT wasn't saying even some hip, pretty women love Trump but — Listen for the first strains of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
In that light, AMERICAN CARNAGE isn't political hokum, it's a dire warning.
So let's find the phrase in context. The article linked through that front-page headline has a different, milder headline, "Donald Trump Is Sworn In as President, Capping His Swift Ascent." But the cherry-picked phrase appears in the first paragraph:
Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on Friday, ushering in a new era that he vowed would shatter the established order and reverse a national decline that he called “this American carnage.”Shatter the established order! Does that seem at odds with ending carnage? No, not if you think he is lying about the existence of carnage and gulling Americans into believing we need dramatic change. The "established order" was presided over by a man, Barack Obama, who got elected under the banner of "change," and "change" was a worship word then. The existing order of the time needed to be overthrown, and it was delightful that Obama had descended from the heavens to perform the miracle.
But Trump has ascended — up from hell? — and the change he's threatening is shattering.
In the NYT's annotated transcript of the speech, we see the carnage line — "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now"— is accompanied by an attempt at factual correction:
Violent crime increased about 4 percent in 2015, but that is a small blip in a decades-long decline in crime. The United States remains far safer than it has been in generations.But did the speech equate "American carnage" with "violent crime"? Let's look at the text. The line appears about halfway in, after Trump has accused Washington insiders of channeling the rewards of government to themselves and denying the "just and reasonable demands of righteous people."
The demands are 3: "great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families and good jobs for themselves." That's all The People want and it's what they deserve — good schools, neighborhoods, and jobs.
With that premise, Trump unleashes exactly one sentence before the end-to-carnage announcement:
Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.So you see the "carnage" is not merely violent crime. It refers to everything that is robbing people of good lives: poverty, the loss of manufacturing businesses, bad schools, gangs, and drugs, in addition to crime. Trump embraces the people — we are "just and righteous" and "beautiful," but deprived of what government fails to give us as it funnels benefits to its own insiders.
That scam is over. That's what the carnage ends now means.
AND: Sometimes I feel that I'm making things happen. Here's the NYT front page right now, linking to the same article:
Posts
166 comments:
Per usual, great analysis by Althouse with her trademark eviseration of the NYT.
Trump is usually a casual and imprecise speaker. Yesterday, however, was a speech that Trump spent a long time working on and is precise as we will get from him other than the SOTU.
The thing is that Trump has really seen the country during the campaign. He really met with people. He knows about the carnage. Hillary didn't.
Loved the speech and not just because of the Nebraska mention.
One could that the Timesters went right to the meat of the address. It's what happens when someone asks "what's for dinner?" and you suspect it might just be you and all the assumptions you built over the last eight years...
Fuck the Left and the NYT shit-slingers. I love the smile of the woman in the Trump sunglasses. She is enjoying a proud moment and I wish her the best for the future.
WaPo and The Times are in full fire alarm mode and no wonder.
That speech was a shot, not only across the bow of the rich left and the insiders, it was a shot into the hull below the waterline.
Up and at it again, Althouse!!! Hope you slept well after the marathon!
There will be plenty of florid, sometimes even eloquent, journalistic prose floating around for you to dissect. One could wish they would turn their skills toward elucidating meanings rather than obscuring them.
Regardless of how Trump's presidency works out, and I assume it will be a 50/50 proposition, it is going to dump a field of limitless blogging opportunity in your lap.
Ah our host--optimistic as always that the New York Times will be both accurate and intellectually honest. Of course it will---on the 33rd day of February each year.
Of course, the significance of the boy in the picture was that he was blond. It had to be a blond.
If one were an hispanic or black wanted for a serious crime, the safest place to avoid capture would be in the middle of a pro-Trump rally in DC. Sure, there will be cameras everywhere, but one can be sure that one will never be included in any of the shots. Never.
Of course, the "carnage" ends with another uniquely Trump concept; the "decree." And like "carnage," decree is a word that has been dragged out of the middle ages.
Actually, public radio's Bob Garfield criticized Trump for the word, suggesting that there are no "decrees" in a democracy. I think Bob Garfield is more wrong then right on this one, technically.
Black's Law Dictionary has lots of examples of "decree" in American legal usage. But they are more casual, than precise. "Decree" gets substituted for "order" in plenty of court decisions. "Order" would uniformly be the preferred term, I think. And "decree" might be substituted for "executive order" or executive action in some usages.
In any event, isn't that what the Trumpkins hated about Obama? The Usurper in Chief? Issuing decrees whenever Congress refused him? Whenever it pleased him, a new "decree"?
Here's the paragraph from the Trump speech concluding the "carnage" section:
We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first.
(APPLAUSE)
Heh. Good analysis. Don't forget "We are the ones we have been waiting for." Now that hearkens to "Tomorrow Belongs to Me!"
I actually came over here to leave a comment about the press coverage in Germany. After Trump's truculent address (I found it startling), the first thing I wanted to see was the reaction of the Europeans.
As one might expect, their coverage of the speech was similar to ours, although slightly milder. But hilarity ensued when I started reading the comment sections in the articles (Bild, Spiegel, die Welt, etc). The number of Germans who were applauding the speech, and defending the right of a national leader to place his/her own country's welfare first was extraordinary. I sat there reading the comments to the Chief as we both howled. There were not a few wistful statements that it would be wonderful to have a German elected leader say such things. There were several approving comments on Trump's neo-isolationism, many mentions of his promises to improve infrastructure. Some said that if Trump could get some of what he wanted it would be good for the US and the world.
Overall, I got the impression that Trump could have won the next German election. Not what I had expected at all. And a few commenters dissected the press coverage of the speech in a way similar to Ann's - they quoted from it (in German) and opposed the actual meaning to that implied in the coverage. One referred to the US being the oldest democracy (of this age), and said the US was showing the way again (loose translation).
Perhaps this is a broader western movement.
You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways.
There are these things called "metaphors", Chuck. A plain ol' Websters will tell you all about them.
That was some amazing clip you reproduced from Cabaret. A political science professor of mine spoke/warned of the appeal of a "big father figure" who will promise to take care of us all. That is the false appeal of Trump to many. Then, not following his own advice, the professor began to sing the praises of the newly elected father figure at that time, Ronald Reagan. If my professor is swooned/seduced by black magic then who isn't?
I compared Trump to Caligula in another comment on this blog because I saw parallels. Comparing anyone to Hitler subjects one to being verbally stoned to death these days. So, it is best to find other comparisons.
I had another political science professor who spent the first week of class discussing the destructive effects of one thermonuclear weapon, let alone what would be unleashed in a nuclear war. It was beyond gruesome. It was frightful and appalling. His point was that the history of mankind was a history of conflict and war, but now war had the awful power to obliterate us all, and we had to be ever vigilant to avoid war and pursue peace, or else this human experiment will end, once and for all with us.
Well, Chuck, I don't know. Perhaps it's the "We assembled here..." instead of 'I decree' that makes your attempt weak. And sad.
A political science professor of mine
*skip comment*
This handy APP is 100% reliable.
Chuck said
*skip comment*
war had the awful power to obliterate us all, and we had to be ever vigilant to avoid war and pursue peace, or else this human experiment will end, once and for all with us.
I recall a statement from a Pope to the same effect except he was referring to the crossbow.
Peace is maintained by strength and calm resolution. You could even call it "America First."
Drainage for carnage.
Manage in charge.
I remember Obama's first inauguration speech was flat, and people actually tried to pretend he was boring on purpose to reflect somber times.
At least Trump wasn't boring.
appeal of a "big father figure" who will promise to take care of us all. That is the false appeal of Trump to many.
======
I can't believe after 8 years of Obama someone is saying *Trump* has the appeal of a father figure who will take care of us all.
"I had another political science professor who spent the first week of class discussing the destructive effects of one thermonuclear weapon, let alone what would be unleashed in a nuclear war. It was beyond gruesome. It was frightful and appalling."
Perhaps he should have told you how, in Stalin's gulags, not doing your work quota could result in you being turned to an ice statue. The guards tied you to a post and through bucket after bucket of cold water on you until you died, They then continued to throw water on your corpse until it was entirely frozen in a pillar of ice. All the rest of the winter you served as a gruesome warning to the other inmates to remember that they were nothing, the power of the State was everything.
Really, I think Trump has the appeal of someone who is going to finally get the government to leave you alone a little bit.
George Will:
Twenty minutes into his presidency, Donald Trump, who is always claiming to have made, or to be about to make, astonishing history, had done so. Living down to expectations, he had delivered the most dreadful inaugural address in history.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s White House counselor, had promised that the speech would be “elegant.” This is not the adjective that came to mind as he described “American carnage.” That was a phrase the likes of which has never hitherto been spoken at an inauguration.
Oblivious to the moment and the setting, the always remarkable Trump proved that something dystopian can be strangely exhilarating: In what should have been a civic liturgy serving national unity and confidence, he vindicated his severest critics by serving up reheated campaign rhetoric about “rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape” and an education system producing students “deprived of all knowledge.” Yes, all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/01/20/a-most-dreadful-inaugural-address/?utm_term=.81ab93dcda17
Except our Nation is littered with "rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape” and we do have an education system producing students “deprived of all knowledge.” You need to get out more, George.
George Will was in a factory once and he ruined a $2000 pair of shoes. Never again.
George Will is a pundit, Chuck. He's gotten increasingly cranky as the years have left him behind. George Will attacked Reagan for being too conservative. Now he attacks Trump for being too liberal.
Really appreciate this analysis of the phrase. Thank you.
"Up and at it again, Althouse!!! Hope you slept well after the marathon!"
I quit blogging at 9 last night, but I stayed up until 11 reading and doing the new NYT crossword on the iPad. The puzzle took me almost 26 minutes — better than average, but far short of my best for a Saturday.
I slept until about 4:15. The audiobook relied on to stop thinking my own thoughts and get to sleep was "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim."
"And only I can do it!"
Don't forget that, from his speech at the Republican Convention, in which he sets himself up as the destructive angel. In his speeches yesterday he made careful use of the word "we". To my ears it sounded more like the royal "we".
Thankfully, I don't read the WaPo and thus did not see Will's contribution to the punchbowl.
I used to kind of like him. Fox hired him and it has been downhill since'
Tomorrow must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.
Yes the Republican congress, Wall Street, and international corporations have been robing us blind, I agree, and now we can count on the Banksters and Billionaires to save us.
Trump is already providing the foundation to Make Althouse Blog The Greatest It's Ever Been!
And thanks to Obama and his Marxist cadre exiting we can proudly proclaim that Yes, Althouse Built That!
You know what worries me more than the things Trump says (more than half of what he says is either nonsense or lies) but what he hasn't said. I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy.
In fact it is quite the opposite, he has frequently advocated committing war crimes and torture and seems to approve of strong men who have no regard for human rights or justice (e.g., Putin and Duterte)
I also find it amusing that after all the bluster of the speech his first official policy act was to suspend a rule that would have lowered the mortgage insurance on FHA loans, thereby throwing a bone to the bankers and screwing the people.
. . . and now we can count on the Banksters and Billionaires to save us.
Remeber when Obama called a "jobs summit" with the tech billionaires who'd made their fortunes by outsourcing jobs to China and importing talent from India and East Asia?
They must have wondered why the Hell Obama wanted to talk to them.
R/V: "Yes the Republican congress, Wall Street, and international corporations have been robing us blind,.."
Is this the part where we all have to pretend that Wall Street and big business didn't support Hillary? Lest we upset another Lefty resident snowflake with facts?
I would hate to be one who caused R/V to purchase another pair of footy pajamas with the rabbit ears.
Chuck (lifelong Republican) quoted:
George Will:
" ....Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s White House counselor, had promised that the speech would be “elegant.” This is not the adjective that came to mind as he described “American carnage.”
Chuck, been to Mckeesport, PA lately? Youngstown, OH? Jamestown, NY?
Take a stroll through those ghost towns sometime. A word of caution though, better do it daylight hours.
his first official policy act was to suspend a rule that would have lowered the mortgage insurance on FHA loans, thereby throwing a bone to the bankers and screwing the people.
The left's towering economic ignorance continues. The left, like the Bourbons, learns nothing and forgets nothing.,
Chuck quotes George Will.
Perfect.
Two men that history has left behind.
==================================
"When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice."
Donald Trump
That there is a memorable line.
That should have been the Times headline.
I also find it amusing that after all the bluster of the speech his first official policy act was to suspend a rule that would have lowered the mortgage insurance on FHA loans
You should find it sensible, not amusing, Frederson.
Or do you like paying for other peoples foreclosed loans?
@Freder - I am not a Trumpster, but the lip service the ruling class has paid to advancing freedom and democracy in my lifetime has amounted to shit. Quite honestly, reflecting on the past 60 years of government action, my personal freedom has been substantially reduced.
Apparently no one told our Lefty and "lifelong republican" contributors that history did not start anew at noon yesterday because every single "concern", "fear" and supposed coming "transgression" that they claim will be realized with Trump has ALREADY occurred with Obama.
Of course, to be a lefty (and a "lifelong republican") by definition means one is happily amenable to wholesale historical revision and airbrushing of history.
The Commander-in-Chief just commanded. A Decree is ordered. And the first rule for all Commanders is to go out there and Command. And he commanded an end to the carefully crafted by Obama slow destruction by withering away of the USA's natural strengths as the English Speaking Nation occupying the ENVIED prime location in North America.
Obama wants us all to be removed like beaten refugees and we are at the point. DJT decreed, MacAthur like, we may be defeated for now but We Shall Return.
"The FHA came under severe stress after the financial crisis. In 2013, it needed $1.7 billion from the U.S. Treasury, its first bailout in 79 years, due to a wave of defaults. To replenish the FHA’s coffers, the Obama administration several times increased the fees the agency charges. The law requires the FHA’s capital reserve ratio to stay above 2 percent, and the agency hit that level in 2015 for the first time since the bailout." -- Bloomberg.com (emphasis added)
You should find it sensible, not amusing, Frederson.
Or do you like paying for other peoples foreclosed loans?
Don't ask a lefty to understand why the mortgage industry collapsed in 2008. That was, like, 100 years ago or something.
Lewis: "You should find it sensible, not amusing, Frederson.
Or do you like paying for other peoples foreclosed loans?"
Freder has no idea what the rule is, what its impact is and why it's better (as a first step) now that it's gone.
He was told this action is "bad" and he knows how to bleat in unison with all the other voice-actuated dummies.
What's the fuss w/ violence. That ended and safety has been restored starting yesterday:
“I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th of 2017, safety will be restored.”
"We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first."
Uh, Chuck, who do you think constitutes "We assemble here today..."
Other than the 65 Dems that are "boycotting", it includes all of Congress, and all of the SCOTUS.
"defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy."
Which, for the past two decades, has meant relentless and aggressive war.
My comment did not excuse Obama, but agreed with Trump that O along with the Republican congress, Wall Street and international corporations have been wrecking havoc on the American middle class, but suggested, ironically, that more of the same will not fix the problems.
The photo below the headline should have been the limo on fire in DC.
Lyin'PB_Ombudsman: "What's the fuss w/ violence. That ended and safety has been restored starting yesterday:"
The "violence" was taken out to the "receding tides" near Guantanamo and drowned there.
He was told this action is "bad" and he knows how to bleat in unison with all the other voice-actuated dummies.
Because corporations and banksters!
Oh, whoever will save us from Wall Street now that Obama has left us to play golf in California?
I wonder if he brought his cell phone?
Trumpit
"I had another political science professor who spent the first week of class discussing the destructive effects of one thermonuclear weapon, let alone what would be unleashed in a nuclear war. It was beyond gruesome. It was frightful and appalling. "
Did he then discuss that the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it?
R/V, like a child, just cannot bring him/herself to include Democrats in his lineup of The Guilties who have played a role in the harming of the American middle class.
Even more amusingly, R/V will now allow a criticism of Obama alone amongst the dems now that Obama is conveniently gone.
This level of adolescent scholarship is considered "clever" by the left and some "lifelong republicans".
Drago,
There were not receding oceans/tides. Only a beginning of a reduction of the rate of rise. And, no number re rate reduction was given, so think butterfly effect, and you've got an easy promise to fulfill.
I know that lying about the text makes for snappier blather, but that doesn't make it true.
I believe AA's analysis is spot-on. "Carnage" as used by Trump almost certainly referred to what's happening to American industry, quality of life and the middle class. Another thing that struck me was that, despite the howling by the left, 90% of Trump's speech could have been given by Bernie Sanders. Of course,if Bernie had given it, they would be reading in the NYT about how rightous it was and how Bernie really stuck it to the man.
The demands are 3: "great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families and good jobs for themselves." That's all The People want and it's what they deserve — good schools, neighborhoods, and jobs.
Obviously racist! Well, we'll see what he can do for us. But the way that "good schools" ends up entwined with "safe neighbourhoods," remote exurbs, and high home prices is one of the worst deformations about life in the US, at least in our large urban areas and their immediate suburbs. People want "good schools" but that means they have to move to a district with "good schools" which usually really just means a "safe neighbourhood," i.e. one where violence isn't disrupting peoples' lives such that children can't feel safe in or on the way to school. I remember those stories from a few years back about how students in Chicago could not safely walk to school because they had to cross gang boundaries. In typical fashion, this got served up cynically by the public schools as an excuse for why they ought to have more money and why failed schools ought to be kept open, but in reality, it pointed to a collapse of governing authority in Chicago, one that has only become more apparent in subsequent years. Facile rhetorical claims that poverty breeds crime have helped normalise crime and disorder; politicians have become adept at shrugging their shoulders and claiming that if we want a solution we just need to give them more money, more power, more control over everything, and if we won't do that, we just have to get used to crime. And they are always keen to remind us: the crime rate really isn't as bad as it looks. It was worse during the crack wars. Only a racist would complain about it.
I've complained about this tendency before here, and in largely the same terms. But as time goes on, I find it only more and more disgusting, the smirking, dismissive certitudes of our political and professional classes more and more repellent. Trump, at least, is pointed in the right direction here. Whether this policies will get us from A to B, I . . . well, I don't know what his policies are, and I somewhat doubt they will. The government doesn't have the power to remedy what I think is the problem, which is that over the past generation, there's been a breakdown in the legitimacy of lawful authority itself -- that a large segment of the population no longer attach any moral weight to the lawful commands of the government. The government can tighten its grip, but will that really bring peace?
But at least it sounds like he will try.
Trumpit: "I had another political science professor who spent the first week of class discussing the destructive effects of one thermonuclear weapon, let alone what would be unleashed in a nuclear war. It was beyond gruesome. It was frightful and appalling."
Did you ever discuss the Rape of Nanking?
LyinPB: "There were not receding oceans/tides. Only a beginning of a reduction of the rate of rise."
Were you laughing at yourself when you wrote this?
RV is right. How is Mnuchin going to drain the swamp when he is one of the worst of the swamp creatures himself
Blogger Lyin'PB_Ombudsman said...
There were not receding oceans/tides.
Look, maybe Obama could make the oceans stop rising from DC. It's close to the ocean. But Obama is in the desert now, golfing, PB&J. And without a cell phone.
We are just screwed at this point. Drago,
So you see the "carnage" is not merely violent crime. It refers to everything that is robbing people of good lives: poverty, the loss of manufacturing businesses, bad schools, gangs, and drugs, in addition to crime.
Aside from violent crime, hasn't there been an unprecedented reversal in the the long decline in mortality rates due to dysfunction?
"Freder Frederson said...
You know what worries me more than the things Trump says (more than half of what he says is either nonsense or lies) but what he hasn't said. I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy."
Seriously? WHat do you think these passages convey?
"...We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people."
What is America's promise to all of it's people.
More:
"but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People."
"It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America."
"We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow."
"When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice."
"And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator."
"So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:"
The question is where he doesn't talk about civil rights and freedom.
Today is first day of the new national holiday.
NOBAMA Day
Well, one way you do not drain the swamp is with Elizabeth Warren's CFPB. There ia a revolving door between that place and Wall Street. And the CFPB is not funded by congress, so the American People have very little say about how it is managed or what it does.
Way to go, Liz! Power to the Bankers!
HeideC: "Cook is right. How is Mnuchin going to drain the swamp when he is one of the worst of the swamp creatures himself?"
How is Martin Luther going to change Catholic church practices? Isn't he a Priest?
Social justice adventurism including Obama's axis of terrorism from Tripoli to Damascus to Kiev; anti-nativism including progressive wars; immigration reform including refugee crises; redistributive change including devalued capital and labor; and the Pro-Choice Church, selective and opportunistic. Hopefully, the ancient, primitive rite of abortion, too; and clinical cannibalism including Planned Parenthood. The progressive liberal culture has corrupted half the population, and the majority in some urban jungles.
Anyway, the violent, ugly speech supporting the status quo, and opposing revitalization, rehabilitation, and reconciliation is telling. The entrenched interests will not release their prey without leaving their mark on the world.
"Freder Frederson said...
You know what worries me more than the things Trump says (more than half of what he says is either nonsense or lies) but what he hasn't said. I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy."
Freder's problem is that like all lefties he sees people as seperate groups...by race, gender, sexual orientation. He wants to see "black", "white", women, hispanic, and gay. Words like "all", "everyone", "American People", and "citizens of America" have no meaning to him.
Drago:
How is Martin Luther going to change Catholic church practices? Isn't he a Priest?
Inside knowledge guided by a steady hand.
Curious George wrote:
. . .
The question is where he doesn't talk about civil rights and freedom.
The problem is all the wrong people have civil rights and freedom, so the government has to take away the rights and freedom of the wrong people and give them to the right people.
Your right to free speech and freedom of religion run up against other people's rights not to allow you to have free speech and freedom of religion.
While monopolies and practices are a feature of left-wing ideology, Trump set his sights on all special and peculiar interests that fail to reconcile moral and natural imperatives. Not just the anti-capitalist, trans-human movements of the Left. It's a reform or abortion of the Pro-Choice Church.
n.n.: "Drago:
How is Martin Luther going to change Catholic church practices? Isn't he a Priest?
"Inside knowledge guided by a steady hand."
Shhh. Heide is supposed to figure that out for herself.
I don't believe for a minute that Mnuchin has any desire to shift any power away from Wall Street and the banks. If he is confirmed, we'll see just what he'll do to ease the burden on the average worker, or not.
What I see here is a lot of blind faith.
n.n: "Social justice adventurism including Obama's axis of terrorism from Tripoli to Damascus to Kiev; anti-nativism including progressive wars;"
Not to worry. Obama and Hillary, fresh off handing Syria to the Russians have already solved the Libya issue by allowing the Russians in there as well.
You know, if you just looked at outcomes you would have to conclude that the official Obama and Dem policy was the reestablishment of Russia's global power.
But that can't be 'cuz "server", right? (Wink wink)
Yes Trump will wave his long red tie and our D+ infrastructure will be fixed, schools made at least as good as Devos's Detroit schools, everyone will have health insurance and there will be no increase in taxes, as Paul Ryan insisted.
Trump trusts the Russians, so what's the problem?
HeideC: "What I see here is a lot of blind faith."
Then you are choosing to be obtuse. Or maybe it's not a choice.
The blind faith crowd just left town (leaving many blind faith minions embedded in DC of course).
But it's nice to see the lefties continue with their projection.
What I see from HeideCruz is a lot of FUD.
HeideC: "Trump trusts the Russians, so what's the problem?"
HeideC trusts fake news...And apparently is a mind-reader.
That scene from Cabaret is one of the greatest of a great film.
If America is not supposed to be given too priority by its own politicians, i.e. Not America First, can somebody explain what the pecking order for Leftist Progressive politicians should be?
Chuck?
You are asking too much, Blogger roesch/voltaire.
Obama did not even close Guantanamo, breaking a specific promise, and he left office smiling, and with cheers of the media.
Don't ask a lefty to understand why the mortgage industry collapsed in 2008. That was, like, 100 years ago or something.
I'm sure you blame the mortgage industry collapse on the people who were suckered into bad loans or the government for somehow requiring the banks to make bad loans. I blame those making and packaging the loans and giving them bogus ratings.
Regardless, the reduction in mortgage insurance is appropriate now that the FHA has rebuilt its reserves.
The question is where he doesn't talk about civil rights and freedom.
He limits the desires of the American people
"great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves."
No talk of freedom, justice, democracy, and advancing those values.
Two thoughts:
1. George Will is a brainy guy, but he is a theoretician; in contrast to William F Buckley, who was a man of action (avid sailor, pilot, skier) in addition to being a wordsmith. Will, like Bill Kristol, has been totally lost this election, and is still wandering around without a compass.
2. It's great fun to watch the Left melt down like the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. But that's only a secondary consideration. Primary consideration should be to make the country better. Trump has a chance to improve the lives of the 95 million folks out of the workforce. Returning some of these folks to the dignity of work, stability, security, family support, and self-confidence would be great for the country. Work, family, community, neighborhoods and religion. That's what it's all about.
"Trump embraces the people — we are "just and righteous" and "beautiful" — but deprived of what government fails to give them as it funnels benefits to its own insiders." The Populist Fallacy. The "failure" to "give" people schools full of knowledge and factories that don't rust does not follow from the fact that insiders funnel benefits to insiders. Therefore, draining the swamp in DC won't make 100 flowers bloom in the heartland. But it's better than the alternative.
I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy...
That's because you never think of something like Citizens United v FEC as protecting civil rights. When in fact the entire decision was premised upon protection of First Amendment rights.
And you would never think of the notion of letting American taxpayers keep more of their own money, as protecting their own rights.
Nor would you think of allowing the Ford Motor Company to sell all the pickup trucks that it can, to American buyers who want to own one, without simultaneously having to worry about the number of tiny sedans sold so as to meet some Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards negotiated between Democrats in the White House, their wealthy environmental activist donors, and the UAW.
Nor would you think of a Catholic University which wants to conduct its own internal staffing business in a way that comports with its own religious teachings and tenets.
See; you just have a view of "civil rights" that is tightly constrained to traditional Democrat racial and ethnic groups.
Freder: I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy.
Not to worry, Freder. If it's references to human rights and civil rights and "advancing freedom and democracy" you're wanting, the collected speeches of 20th and 21st century control-freaks and tyrants, great and small, from the kleptomaniac and genocidally murderous to the slightly extra-legally acquisitive and annoyingly meddling, are bursting with 'em.
After reading about that coup,e in Money Mag who was suckered, they deserved it.
Did they not have friends, co-workers or parents to talk to?
If someone came p to me and told me they got a 1 3/4% mortgage for 30 years, I would have laugh tied in their face, to,d them to read the fine print and given them a history of mortgages from the 70s on.
Are my parents so unique that they talked to me about this stuff, or Zm I so unique that I actually paid attention when I got my mortgage and talked about rates with my parents and friends?
Or am I just a nosy busybody to wonder what others got?
Trump as the avenging angel just falls flat. His proclamation that "Only I can do it" depends on faith. He's done nothing that would or should prove to anyone that he has good intentions for working class Americans. He's already hurt those he professed to help with his actions just yesterday and his pick of Mnuchin. The choice of General Flynn as National Security Advisor is nothing but frightening, the man is a loon. I'm grateful that General Mattis was confirmed, that's reassuring.
Freder: "No talk of freedom, justice, democracy, and advancing those values."
Lol
Our view of freedom and justice bears zero resemblance to that of your Marxist bastardizations of those ideas.
Freedom and justice was in Trump's speech but you are far too leftist, far too authoritarian, far too "superior" to hear it.
Which gives me great hope for Trump's 2020 prospects.
Not that I am surprised. History has taught us again and again that the totalitarian left is not capable of introspection nor adaptive change. At all. Why would American leftists be an exception to that historical rule?
HeideC: "Trump as the avenging angel just falls flat"
Premise Fail.
All else written disregarded.
I'm sure you blame the mortgage industry collapse on the people who were suckered into bad loans or the government for somehow requiring the banks to make bad loans. I blame those making and packaging the loans and giving them bogus ratings.
I blame greedy consumers, the government, and the banks.
Banks look out for the banks. Consumers look out for consumers. But the government is supposed to look out for everybody. That's what makes the government's actions so much worse than what consumers and banks did to bring about the collapse in housing prices.
Somehow, "more government" doesn't seem like the way to solve the problem of incompetent, corrupt government.
Possibly off-topic but Alhouse got me thinking about Jean Seberg. Looking at old pictures of her, I wonder why she was not in a bunch of Alfred Hitchcock films. She looks like exactly his type.
The NYT, true to form, tries to take the "carnage" quote as out of context as they can but I doubt they were attempting to evoke Cabaret. Or if they were, who do they think will get the reference? I doubt more than a few percent of people under 50 have seen the film or play, though most have at least heard of it.
Sebastian: Trump embraces the people — we are "just and righteous" and "beautiful" — but deprived of what government fails to give them as it funnels benefits to its own insiders." The Populist Fallacy. The "failure" to "give" people schools full of knowledge and factories that don't rust does not follow from the fact that insiders funnel benefits to insiders. Therefore, draining the swamp in DC won't make 100 flowers bloom in the heartland.
Agree. Thought that tack in the speech was lame stuff.
Didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the "fuck you" parts, though.
Of course, prog linguistics is situational, but the NYT should like the carnage coinage. They spent the past year documenting the carnage in Chicago. Some of the best, open-eyed work they've done recently, angling for a Pulitzer, no doubt, but still. If their own reporting doesn't demonstrate "carnage," what does?
By the way, in case y'all haven't noticed, O already got the foundation going. The shakedown has started. Yours truly laid out the scenario months ago (ahem). The climate change part of the shakedown hasn't quite occurred yet. It looks like the race-hustle part will initially take the form of promoting "democracy" and "voting rights." No word yet from Michelle on whether she's thinking about running for office. Give it a couple of months.
"Change" used to be a worship word? Like a Yang worship word -- like the "E Plebnistem" (sp?)?
Chuck @8:55
Bravo.
And Momey Mag put their sob story on the cover!
lol!
In other campaign news, Corey Lewandowski can't get into the inauguration because he hasn't got a ticket. And while on his cellphone to somebody, begging them to bring him a ticket, a security officer asks what he's doing, and Lewandowski claims that he is Trump's campaign manager.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/video-corey-lewandowski-tries-fails-to-join-trump-campaign-staff-at-inauguration/
And of course, now, he is a high-priced lobbyist with an office three blocks from the White House.
Couldn't happen to a nicer piece of shit.
Obama! Just give him four more years and he'll have those bankers on the run!
I wonder who Obama is playing golf with out there in Palm Springs?
Poor folks, I imagine. People so poor Obama has to let them use his clubs and pay for their $3 bottle of water.
Chuck: "And of course, now, he is a high-priced lobbyist with an office three blocks from the White House.
Couldn't happen to a nicer piece of shit."
Corey was present at 1 inaugural ball at least and was interviewed alongside Jon Voight on Hannity there.
Chuck, don't allow your hatred of Trump cause you to happily jump on every single meme you come across.
It seems some people weren't so enthralled with "fundamentally transform."
Hmm, send the drug lords to GTMO and transfer them on an experimental fully-automated plane.
OOPS!
It's always bothered me that liberals act like Reagan's arms for hostages deal with Iran was an impeachable offense, but Obama airlifting pallets of cash and krugerands to Iran in exchange for hostages, and without congressional approval was just fine. Not a whisper of criticism.
Do they really believe that money in accounts frozen by the government is the president's slush fund? Cuz that would be new. Someone shouold tell Trump!
Sebastian: "No word yet from Michelle on whether she's thinking about running for office. Give it a couple of months"
After watching her on the platform behind Trump, I place the odds of her running directly for President at 80%.
It would be a three-fer: black (unchallengeable), female (unchallengeable), already secularly canonized.
She wouldn't even have to explain her make believe job prior to the White House.
The question becomes what does the economy and social fabric look like in 2 years? If we are at 4% growth with a few other items in the bank, Trump might look too strong to risk Michelle's sainthood. If Trump appears weak EVERY Dem will jump in, naturally.
Let's pull out another from the time vault.
You can't impeach/remove Clinton from office because it would "overturn" the election.
I guess the same goes for "The Donald."
Bwaaaa Trumpit, just how young are you?
Just dive under your desk, it'll be OK.
Chuck @8:55
Bravo.
Ditto.
Corey Lewandowski, Jon Voight, Sean Hannity...
Did you forget Hulk Hogan, Dennis Rodman, Mike Tyson, Gary Busey, Tila Tequila and Wayne Newton?
Literally, it was the biggest Inauguration in history, with by far the biggest celebrities in the world, trust me. Believe me when I tell you that no one has ever had a bigger or better Inauguration.
Ah, "Heide" is back. Remember "Heide" from last summer? Sorry, Heide, all available positions for dumb repetitive talking-point bots have been filled at this time. Thank you for applying again.
They really don't send their best, do they?
Or is this their best?
It's a day later and that speech continues to rise in my estimation of it. While he was speaking it, the cringe reflex in me was active in the first half because it was so raw and so dangerous and, yes, dark. But then I warmed to it and even found poetry in it, the "windswept plains of Nebraska," the factories rising like "tombstones." By this morning more and more of the speech is popping up in my mind and I'm seeing it more and more as a great speech, a jeremiad with a happy ending.
It was a speech NONE of the political class could give because they all speak in weasel, cowardly, opaque, trite words.
I thought the Inauguration was splendid. Chuck, you just burned through your 8:55 grace. Fuck off, why don't you?
Freder Frederson: "No talk of freedom, justice, democracy, and advancing those values."
After the last eight years of Obama telling me Freedom is Slavery, War is Peace and my chocolate ration has been increased from 20 to 15 grams... I cannot understand the nature is this conplaint.
"No word yet from Michelle on whether she's thinking about running for office. Give it a couple of months"
In December Michelle Obama said she wasn't interested in running for office. However if she changes her mind, she'll do well. He approval ratings are even higher than President Obama's.
I'm sure you blame the mortgage industry collapse on the people who were suckered into bad loans or the government for somehow requiring the banks to make bad loans.
There was plenty of blame to go around but I doubt you know anything about it. You just regurgitate DNC talking points.
The Community Reinvestment Act started the ball rolling. Clinton pushed it and expanded it.
Fannie and Freddie made Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick and James Johnson, the latter two with NO experience in banking, millionaires.
It became a slush fund for Democrats hacks.
The banks were also at fault. They turned to "Quants" with no experience in banking.
The ratings agencies "rented" their ratings. It's all in the book I recommended for another lefty yesterday.
Some blame also attaches to cleaning ladies who bought four condos with liar loans thinking that trees grow to the sky and nothing that goes up ever comes down.
Democrat politicians prevented the Bush administration from, belatedly, trying to take away the punchbowl but the Democrats took Congress because of Iraq in 2006 and put the pedal to the metal.
Disaster followed. But you have no idea how.
Did someone appoint the green lady as thread monitor?
Thank you, CG, for spelling it out.
For you Progs, welcome to the American collective "We the People."
I know you'll love it, because you love collectives.
Well, you love killing people and putting the remainder in collectives.
As as you love to constantly point out, we are really good at those kinds of things, so you should feel right at home!
RME!
Chuck, I'm sure Patterico has plenty of room for your "life long Republican" Trump hatred.
You can have my spot in the comments because I gave up on him last fall.
I'm sure you'd see eye to eye.
Michelle Obama Pride in America timeline:
1964 - 2008: Not proud
2008-Jan. 20, 2017: Proud
Jan. 21, 2017 -today: Not proud
Welcome to Wal-Mart USA, where we roll back regulations!
And We, The People, the collective, are the greeters.
And some of you never ever thought you'd step inside one, little did you realize.....
These next few years are going to be fun. I do like to laugh.
Except that Progs don't buy into the fallicy that Trump is the "only one" that can do it. When he stiffed his own contractors and hired foreigners to work at his resorts, it doesn't exactly prove he truly has the interests of the working class at heart.
Maybe Trump can say "Let me give credit were credit is due. Now that the oceans have stopped rising so fast and the earth has begun to heal, it's time to put the kabosh on some of these job-killing environmental regulations."
Made them MULTI-millionaires. And stuck us, the US Taxpayer, with the bill!
"Except that Progs don't buy into the fallicy that Trump is the "only one" that can do it."
Hey! We've tried the most left-wing president in the history of the country, ever, and it didn't work! That means that we need someone even more left-wing!
Chuck: "Literally, it was the biggest Inauguration in history, with by far the biggest celebrities in the world, trust me. Believe me when I tell you that no one has ever had a bigger or better Inauguration."
Chuck, I was merely noting that lewandowski was in at least one inaugural event with Hannity and Voight after you posted something you thought was earth shatteringly important.
What is it with you and this piddling stuff?
M Jordan said...
Michelle Obama Pride in America timeline:
1964 - 2008: Not proud
2008-Jan. 20, 2017: Proud
Jan. 21, 2017 -today: Not proud
1/21/17, 9:36 AM
Clearly her pride wenteth before her fall.
She was a complete cad* about that gift. It's as if she were saying "I ain't acceptin' nuthin' from them folks"
___________________
* Can I use that word to describe woman?
HeideC: "Except that Progs don't buy into the fallicy that Trump is the "only one" that can do it"
Premise Fail.
All else disregarded.
A Mia Farrow / Rosemary's Baby type of woman.
HeideC wrote: He approval ratings are even higher than President Obama's.
LOL!
"I cannot remember a candidate of either party, that as far as I recall (and correct me with a citation if I missed) who has never mentioned defending human and civil rights and advancing freedom and democracy."
Because Obama really helped advance freedom and democracy in Iran and Cuba.
"I cannot remember a candidate who has not mentioned-"
While we are on that topic, any lefties here want to take the time to denounce the violence of their little brown shirts in the street?
See, I hear all this hyperbole from you about the coming Trump fascism, but oddly none of you are concerned enough to disavow your own fascist thugs. You know, the ones that actually exist, as opposed to the imaginary ones you keep creating in your head.
I didn't like the speech but I was struck how it had elements of appeal to blacks, whites and everything in between.
This line got me thinking: "When You Open Your Heart to Patriotism, There Is No Room for Prejudice"
But at its core its wrong. If Mr. Trump's version of patriotism is "America First" that by definition is a "pre-judgement"
Hey, Althouse, here is a really, really interesting (and blessedly short) column from Chris Deaton in the Weekly Standard. It relates to the very much related issues of Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump and the boos clearly heard at the Inauguration.
So remember Schumer's speech? In real-time, I commented to my friends that it was the first time I could ever recall hearing a speech booed at an Inauguration. (I know that the general proceedings in 2001 were booed and protested, from a distance. But the boo birds on Friday were close enough to get picked up on-mic.
And, I thought that Schumer deserved the boos. I thought it was a typical, aggressively-partisan Schumer diatribe.
But Chris Deaton gave it some thought, looked at the transcript -- and he also had the benefit of then hearing Trump's own weird, dark speech. And Deaton came to the interesting and provocative conclusion that Schumer's words, about working people being left behind, wasn't so different from Trump's speech. And that partisanship was the only explanation for the booing of Schumer.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/to-boo-schumer-was-to-boo-trump/article/2006427?custom_click=rss
Again, I might have been one of the people booing Schumer in The Mall had I been there. That was before Trump's speech.
This isn't an easy pro-Trump anti-Trump question.
I couldn't tell if Mr. Trump was bored/irritated with the day and just wanted to "get on with it".
Trump looked like he was going to be sick when the Muslim Cleric was at the lecturn at the National Prayer Service. Just kidding, he did OK.
Get on with it!
Chuck, I was merely noting that lewandowski was in at least one inaugural event with Hannity and Voight after you posted something you thought was earth shatteringly important.
Oh, I don't think that Corey Lewandowski will ever need a ticket to get it on with Sean Hannity. NTTAWWT. I just wonder if he'll have any official connection with the White House.
And, that part about Corey Lewandowski's claiming to a Capitol police officer to be (present tense) Trump's campaign manager, after having once been Trump's campaign manager for about 22 weeks last year, is pretty funny.
Sorry; I just find Lewandowski to be a loathsome little prick after he lied to the nation last year.
Chuck: "Sorry; I just find Lewandowski to be a loathsome little prick after he lied to the nation last year"
You chase a helluva lot of squirrels.
Phil3:6 wrote: This line got me thinking: 'When You Open Your Heart to Patriotism, There Is No Room for Prejudice'
That phrase deserves a parsing, but we'll have to stipulate what a few words mean. For example, I'm sure that some see "patriarchy" when they read "patriotism." Others can't get beyond Wilfred Owen.
HeideC said...Trump looked like he was going to be sick when the Muslim Cleric was at the lecturn at the National Prayer Service. Just kidding, he did OK.
Another Inga clone with reading and listening comprehension problems. Do you know what an adjective is, Heide?
The establishment press--the NY Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.-- are so hostile to Trump because they are part of the self-serving establishment that he is promising to eviscerate.
Peter Irons said...
The establishment press--the NY Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.-- are so hostile to Trump because they are part of the self-serving establishment that he is promising to eviscerate.
Would you likewise agree that Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Eric Bolling, Bill O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson, all of Breitbart.com, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Jeff Lord are all making bank now, in the business of telling the American public that the mainstream media is all out to get Trump?
Chuck:
Do you even logic, bro?
Michael K @9:33 said it better than I ever could.
When You Open Your Heart to Patriotism, There Is No Room for Prejudice"
It's a Morgan Freeman line. When we see each others as Americans first (i.e., patriotism), the classic means of division fade away.
“Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You want to say, `Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm saying?"
Of course Van Jones didn't understand the context of the line.
While we are on that topic, any lefties here want to take the time to denounce the violence of their little brown shirts in the street?
I will denounce, but to claim they are our little brown shirts is ridiculous. They were a couple of hundred idiots out of thousands of peaceful protesters.
You know, the ones that actually exist, as opposed to the imaginary ones you keep creating in your head.
Actually they claim to be anarchists, which is about as far from fascist as you can get. Truth be told, anarchists have a lot more in common with libertarians than most left wing movements.
We've tried the most left-wing president in the history of the country, ever, and it didn't work!
Give me a freaking break! Obama was at most center left. Hell, some of the things Nixon did (price controls, found the EPA) was further left than anything Obama did. Obama's signature achievement was basically a Republican idea and was pretty much based on what Romney did in Massachusetts.
Freder Frederson said...
Give me a freaking break! Obama was at most center left.
Nice comparison, Obama to Nixon. Is Trump paying you to post, Frederson?
So if Nixon was a liberal, I guess that makes him one of Frederson's tribe. You can have him.
On the Nixon claim, Freder Frederson is largely correct. Nixon was a collectivist and believed in the ability of government to do good. Nixon was every bit as wrong in this as was LBJ or Carter.
Those three combined to give the U.S. stagflation and economic malaise.
Between George W. Bush and Obama, it only took two U.S. presidents to accomplish what it took three to accomplish a generation before. Is that Progress?
Repeal the 60s and 70s.
George Will supported Bush over Reagan in 1980, in fact he called him an "extremist Cowboy". Of course, after Reagan was nominated, Will supported him.
Will has to please his masters at the WaPo - that's why he was hired. If he wasn't a "reasonable conservative" aka no conservative at all - he wouldn't be there.
The WaPo/NYT/NPR etc. just want token conservatives who will attack those on the right and disagree a little bit with Liberals on Government Spending and foreign policy.
The WaPo/NYT/NPR etc. just want token conservatives who will attack those on the right and disagree a little bit with Liberals on Government Spending and foreign policy.
Exactly why PBS Newshour chose David Brooks as their 'conservative' spokesman on the Friday afternoon discussion segments. I always got the impression that Mark Shields, the 'liberal' was more conservative than Brooks.
Anglelyne writes: Ah, "Heide" is back. Remember "Heide" from last summer? Sorry, Heide, all available positions for dumb repetitive talking-point bots have been filled at this time. Thank you for applying again.
Yes, and don't call us. We'll call you.
The number of Germans who were applauding the speech, and defending the right of a national leader to place his/her own country's welfare first was extraordinary.
Germany is politically odd. Politically it's center-left; culturally it's *very* conservative. It has a strong vocational training system and a good economy oriented toward exports. And of course, it's going through big upheaval right now because of a very unpopular migrant policy.
You could probably think of Germany as a state in the industrial Midwest, which was Trump's powerhouse. Those states are ethnically german, and they would probably benefit a lot from german style policies. So there might be something to your idea that Trump could win an election in Germany.
Yeah I'm sure it isn't 'carnage' what's happening in the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C., St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Houston, etc... It's just a gang love-fest.
@Freder,
I will denounce, but to claim they are our little brown shirts is ridiculous.
It's nastier than that, Freder, & you know it. There's no shortage of the mainstream Left cosying up to these clowns when it suits them. Here's an article on the question by that noted running dog capitalistic lackey, David Corn. Look into where these clowns get their money, & it's NGO-laundered money from folks like Soros.
Actually they claim to be anarchists, which is about as far from fascist as you can get.
Those people aren't anarchists! I started reading Kropotkin when I was 14. They disgrace the name! What? Those clowns don't believe in government & seek the communal ownership of the means of production in autonomous communes. That's an anarchist. They're fucking Maoist Red Guards who use their political ideology to support their criminality, & would have no problem with using the power of the state to crush their opposition.
Also, in actuality, Italian Fascism did see anarcho-syndicalism as one of its historical influences. Since the IF sometimes referred to themselves as National Syndicalists, as opposed to National Socialists, it does make some sense.
And, yes, I know. So, let me just cut this off at the pass & do the obligatory posting.
Way to stuck up for Schumer, Chuck. I guess someone had to do it.
Media: Trump was partisan and dark; Schumer was clever and biting.
Chuck: Schumer was bad, but since Trump was so bad Schumer did the right thing. Well, Schumer wasn't so bad, anyway. (Trump stinks.)
If David Brooks ever retires I think you have a shot, Chuck.
Please, all of you. Really? Go TRUMP!
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