... oh, I mean a few moments ago. The new teaser is:
The story when you click on the link is "Focused on Trump’s Successes, Many Supporters Are Unfazed by His Reversals." It has a paragraph that I think makes the project of understanding Trump supporters simple:
They knew all along that they were not voting for a man with concrete convictions. And they continue to see that lack of rigidity — his preference for the transactional over the dogmatic — as a quality they want in a chief executive.Another way to put that is: People chose a decisionmaker, not a packet of pre-made decisions. They saw reason to trust him, and those who don't trust him won't understand that, but they should understand the persistence of trust in those who began with trust. Trump's adapting to his work and to the world as he encounters it should not be a problem to those who had confidence in him in the first place.
As Mr. Trump’s policy reversals and other contentious moves draw scrutiny from the news media and criticism from his political adversaries, many Trump supporters seem to be rallying around him in the face of what they see as a relentless onslaught.
“That does tend to bond them to him — every day they see him attacked,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity....
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117 comments:
My suspicion is that a "silent majority" of Trump voters voted for him not because of his promises, but because they wanted to toss a brick through the front window of the political establishment. No matter what he does on the policy side, it's mission accomplished as far as they are concerned.
You know a man by the enemies he makes. Trump has the right enemies so far.
Trump knows the DNC/Liberal MSM/DC Swamp industrial complex cannot easily turn on a dime. Narratives must be coordinated between all the players and that takes time. The Sunday talk shows are only on Sunday and CNN can do only so much.
Continually keeping them off balance blunts their effectiveness. Even Ann's caught on...
I voted for Trump because the alternative was Hillary!. If he breaks the Washington log jam - or alternatively, keeps it jammed up good for eight years, I'll be satisfied.
What jae said.
My spouse and I were both NeverTrump (though I am happy to say now that I didn't vote for McMullin), but after he signed that bill yesterday allowing states to defund PP and Gorsuch sits on the court, neither of us find very much to be NeverTrump about now. My spouse said he couldn't do anything else for the rest of his term and he'd be satisfied.
I am more angry at Congress, Ryan, McCain, Graham and all the other squishy RINOs. THEY are the ones responsible for action in crafting and passing the laws. THEY are the roadblocks. THEY are the ones who are going to be the reason for failure. THEY are the ones who must i work on and pass the measures that Trump campaigned on.
Trump, all by himself, cannot write the laws. There is only so much that the Executive Branch can (legally) do with actions and executive orders.
The Republicans in Congress and the moderate Democrats need to get off their lazy asses and get to work. Or there will be Hell to pay.
"Trump has the right enemies so far."
Exactly.
I also agree with DBQ that Ryan needs to grow a pair and watch McConnell for hints on how to get things done.
McConnell has also never held a real job but seems to understand better what his job is now.
Thank goodness Trump is has realized that the Bannon worldview isn't one he wants to follow. The Kushner's are the ones in charge of leading Trump now, that's a relief as they appear to be rational people. The sooner Trump ousts Bannon and Co. completely, the better. Trump's flip flops of the last few days to a week are a step in the right direction, even if the Alt Right has now denounced him and calls him a "cuckservative"and the Kushners "enemies". What an amazing turn of events.
As other commenters have said, this isn't hard. Every single thing he does is better than what Clinton would have done. Some are much much better.
Pure profit.
That said, this might be our last chance. They need to get started gutting the federal bureaucracy. Close to three million employees? :O
"That said, this might be our last chance. They need to get started gutting the federal bureaucracy. Close to three million employees?"
Oops, Trump already lifted that Federal hiring freeze he put in place a few days ago. One more of those flip flops.
And they continue to see that lack of rigidity — his preference for the transactional over the dogmatic — as a quality they want in a chief executive.
I think the word that the NYT is looking for here is "pragmatic", as in "pragmatic leadership". I'm sure that if it was a Democrat in office they'd be able to find that word in an on-line thesaurus somewhere.
Ah, but just yesterday Inga was insisting that we Trump voters must all feel terribly disappointed because he hasn't done everything he said he was going to do within the first 100 days of a 4 year term.
Nope. I feel just fine - for the reasons listed by commenters above. The leftists can continue to go around telling us how terrible we must feel. That seems to make them feel better. So do safe spaces, coloring books and pussy hats, from what I understand.
Carry on!
Well, in the South especially, because of 'Bortions! and such, he's a Republican and so he will remain popular no matter what. "Trump supporters" and "reliable Republican voters" are interchangeable there, and it would be useful if the media remembered that too.
In the swingin' Rust Belt? How well is GOP rule going over? Time will tell.
As long as eyes are bleeding and heads are exploding at the NYT, I'll know dropping the orange MOAB on the Washington-Media cave complex was the right decision.
Trump has such ambitious plans no reasonable person expects him to have delivered every promise in just 100 days. He just got there. Chill a minute! Overall, I'm hopeful that I *will be* satisfied*. He's making some beautiful starts, and some ugly ones, and he's learning and adapting. That's about all I can tell about anything this early in the game.
"Oops, Trump already lifted that Federal hiring freeze he put in place a few days ago. One more of those flip flops." Glad to hear you're on our side, Inga.
"McConnell has also never held a real job but seems to understand better what his job is now."
McConnell has a different background than most Republican politicians in that he is more like the typical Democrat politician. The typical Republican politician was successful in the private sector before entering politics which is why they lack the political skills of the Dems who made politics their lifelong calling. McConnell knew as a teenager that he wanted go into politics and as anyone who has become skilled at something knows, the more you do it and the longer you do it the better you get which is why he is a much better politician than most Republican politicians.
It seems like everyone's riding high after the strikes in Syria and Afghanistan.
Is it my imagination or does there seem to be great complacency over what looms in North Korea? We are openly talking about a pre-emptive first strike. If so, one would think it would be big.
I'll like Trump even more after he nukes North Korea.
I voted for Trump for a lot of reasons. Gorsuch was only 1 of them, but he would have been reason enough.
The news media finds the small things to be of huge significance while the rest of us focus elsewhere.
I voted for him because of the Supreme Court. Now we have Gorsuch. This is a huge win and very important.
I voted for him because illegal immigration is out of control. He appointed Sessions to AG and so far, I'm incredibly happy with the direction things are going immigration wise.
The only area I feel let down so far is with Obamacare. I'd hoped they'd have gotten rid of that by now. I'm still hopeful that they will, it's just going to take more time.
I also voted for him because he said things like, "I'm going to bomb the shit out of ISIS." And he hasn't let me down on that front yet either.
If he turns into a liberal, then I'll be disappointed. But anyone who expects to get 100% of what they want are just fooling themselves
I expect to be let down when it comes to amnesty. I think he will compromise there. However, my hope is that he will get the border controls in place first.
So, substance does not matter for the Hillbillies that elected Trump. The good news is that the Democrats Ivanka and Jared are now taking the reins of her dad's ill-defined presidency.
Fuck Bannon and Breitbart.
"Oops, Trump already lifted that Federal hiring freeze he put in place a few days ago. One more of those flip flops."
Oopsy-Daisy! It seems the liberals are already tired of Trump winning. Yes, I'll take plenty more heaping helpings of Trump and our country winning.
Oh, and he is demanding a reduction in government employees. Awesome. And he is defunding PP, awesome. And he is getting rid of regulations and neutering entities like the EPA. Awesome.
F-NYT can't understand the lack of hatred.
Inga, honey, that's not a flip-flop. That's the next phase of winning. LOL
I also agree with DBQ that Ryan needs to grow a pair and watch McConnell for hints on how to get things done.
When Ryan doesn’t have his thumb up his ass he’s got his finger to the air - Ryan, either consciously or subconsciously, will sabotage anything to do with Trump, provided Ryan can keep his own panties clean.
The MSM: After distorting and outright lying about Trump’s position on various issues the MSM are astounded when Trump doesn’t act in a manner to fit their various idiotic templates. You cannot “flip-flop” from a position you never held in the first place. Most of the MSM news about Trump’s policies since he declared as a candidate amounts to a huge straw man argument.
I think the assertion that Trump voters are deeply disappointed reflects Democrats projecting their own tendency to worship politicians onto Republicans, who through both experience and ideology have lower expectations for this particular brand of prostitute.
Chuck may be repeatedly shocked and appalled by Trump's perpetual imprecision (or he may be just an uninteresting whiner) but more intelligent Trump voters were already fully aware of both his flaws and his strengths, and figured the package was worth it, especially considering Hillary's incorrigible corruption. So far, that undeniably mixed bag has included a lot of positives, so most Trump voters are happy enough.
The Alt Right most butthurt.
https://altright.com/2017/04/13/politico-trumps-base-turns-against-him/
"I signed up for “America First.”
It might not have been a White ethnostate or an independent South, but I thought it would be a step in the right direction. I assumed “America First” meant a sharp break with the status quo. It meant a triumph of nationalism over globalism. We would stop fighting all these stupid foreign wars in places we don’t care about. We would change our trade policy and start rebuilding our industrial base. We would secure our own borders and deport illegal aliens. It was music to my ears.
How much of Trump’s campaign rhetoric was ever real? What happened to Drain The Swamp? Was it all just marketing to get Trump elected president?"
https://altright.com/2017/04/13/politico-trumps-base-turns-against-him/
The 2016 election wasn’t about overthrowing the failed political establishment. Instead, it was about empowering Jared Kushner and moderate New York business leaders.
I’m pretty sure all the populists and nationalists who supported Trump in the 2016 election didn’t imagine Stephen Schwarzman or Gary Cohn having this much influence. In fact, quite a few of those people voted for Trump in the primaries and the general election precisely because they believed he wasn’t a puppet of those people like, you know, Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton.
In hindsight, it seems Lyin’ Ted was right about Trump having New York values.
The hiring freeze was a deliberate move to prevent the burrowing and the massive hiring that lots of agencies were trying to do to get people in the door. The problem is that lots of places that weren't trying to game the system got caught up because places like the Department of Labor and Energy feel that being part of La Resistance is more important than serving the public.
"So, substance does not matter for the Hillbillies that elected Trump. The good news is that the Democrats Ivanka and Jared are now taking the reins of her dad's ill-defined presidency.
Fuck Bannon and Breitbart."
I don't know, you just can't learn us hillbillies nothing.
Once written
How is the DJIA working for you? Those shorts have expired, no? Ouch. Speaking of a hillbillie. LOL
After eight years of having a hard core ideologue in the White House I find Trump to be positively refreshing.
And I certainly agree with The Godfather (9:26).
oooooh, it's the "alt right!!!" again!
*rolls eyes*
Carry on.
They are happy because at least they kept Hillary and her daughter and Goldman Sachs out of the White House.
readering said...
"They are happy because at least they kept Hillary and her daughter and Goldman Sachs out of the White House."
Trump had me at Hillary.
I don't know that Brannon's problem is his worldview as much as it is his abject failure at his first assignment, which was to get the Freedom Caucus on board with the AHCA. He didn't just fail, he failed "bigly" by offending them. Add to that Trump's expenditure of political capital to get Bannon on the NSC followed by Bannon's non-attendance at meetings and you're looking at a guy who needs to go.
"Here are 3 Trump diehards who appear to have turned on their beloved president and political ally. One might even hazard to call them "cucks."
1. Richard Spencer
The self-proclaimed founder of the alt-right movement, Spencer is the president of the National Policy Institute, a think tank devoted to "peaceful ethnic cleansing." As recently as November of 2016, Spencer led a conference of more than 200 attendees in a cheer of "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!" while delivering a Nazi salute.
Spencer was quick to condemn the missile strikes on Syria, calling for Bannon's resignation and likening Trump's presidency to a third term of George W. Bush. The white nationalist, or identitarian as he prefers to be known, even intimated he'd throw his support behind Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) in 2020."
2. Mike Cernovich
While he denies any formal ties to the alt-right, this purveyor of deranged conspiracy theories and dubious vitamin supplements has been one of Trump's most vocal and vitriolic supporters on social media. Just last week, he earned the praise of Donald Trump Jr. for "breaking" the Susan Rice story, a fallacious scandal involving Obama's former national security adviser that has gone precisely nowhere.
Shortly after the airstrikes, the attorney with a "gorilla mindset" took to Twitter to express his digust:
3. Milo Yiannopoulos
Yiannopoulos has mercifully retreated from the public eye after video surfaced of him saying pedophilia was a rite of passage for gay men, but prior to that he was Breitbart's most recognizable personality. He has staged all manner of tedious stunts to express his support for Donald Trump, including bathing in pig's blood, and refers to the 45th president as "daddy."
Trump's about-face on Syria appears to have sent the would-be author into a Freudian tailspin."
They saw reason to trust him, and those who don't trust him won't understand that,
Well, this is what is going on. They cannot comprehend the trust. Many want the President to be "Dad." Trump is not "Dad" and comforting. For many, the vulgarity, impulsivity, anger, and unpredictability inspires fear.
Trump did and said things during the campaign that were vulgar and impulsive. Due to partisan loyalties, many people forgave or overlooked those statements. If you have no partisan loyalties, you don't overlook the vulgarity or the impulsivity.
"Yiannopoulos has mercifully retreated from the public eye after video surfaced of him saying pedophilia was a rite of passage for gay men"
-- I don't like Milo, but that's not what he said. If I know that is wrong from reading this, why should I trust the rest of the fevered ravings in it?
9 Ultranationalist Trump supporters who are rapidly losing patience with Trump
Link to above excerpts.
Did anyone make continual, rolling lists of people disillusioned with Obama?
"6. Steve King
Last year, the Iowa Congressman argued that white people have "contributed more to civilization" than any other racial "subgroup." Just last month, he defended Holland's far-right presidential candidate Geert Wilders, tweeting "Widers understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore civilization with someone else's babies." In a related story, he was one of Donald Trump's most faithful supporters in Congress throughout the 2016 Republican primary and presidential election.
King has grown increasingly disheartened about Steve Bannon's marginalization in the Trump administration. "A lot of us look at [him] as the voice of conservatism in the White House," he told Politico.
7. & 8. Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen
Farage is one of the architects of Brexit and a member of Britain's far-right U.K. Independence Party; Le Pen is the leader of France's extremist National Front and quite possibly her country's next president. Both have lavished praise on Trump (Farage adoringly called him a "silverback gorilla" after the second presidential debate). And both have criticized his military action in Syria.
"I think a lot of Trump voters will be scratching their heads hard and asking, 'Where does this go from here?'" Farage told British radio host Nick Ferrari. "It plays absolutely into the ISIS narrative. I'm really pretty worried about this.""
"4. Paul Joseph Watson
Along with fellow Info Wars host Alex Jones, Watson has spent much of the past year and a half crowing about the globalists in our midst, at least when he's not daring journalists to visit the mean streets of Malmo. (In February, he suggested the small Swedish city had been overrun with violent immigrants.)
Watson's journey on the Trump train appears to have come to an abrupt end:
5. Ann Coulter
The conservative radio host and political commentator has been a mouthpiece for right-wing reactionaries before 4chan was a glint in the reddit alien's eye. Her racist screeds are legion—she's made a lucrative career of trolling—but lowlights of recent vintage include arguments that Mexicans are "culturally deficient" and that soccer's growing popularity in the States is a product of our moral decay. Earlier this year, she appeared to offer a bizarre half-nod to neo-Nazis on Twitter.
Coulter has been one of Trump's staunchest defenders—she actually published a book with the title In Trump We Trust—but even she has been rattled by his interventionist turn:"
Ooook.... so this is the copy-pasta thread now, it appears.
This also brings us back to the idea that Mr Trump's supporters took him seriously, but not literally. His supporters never expected--or wanted--him to act on the hyperbole. So they're seeing what they expected in cabinet picks, the ability to compromise, and flexibility. Who would have expected that? His supporters, of course.
Is it so hard to understand; there is no good reason to trust Trump on any political issues, because Trump has been on all sides of most political issues.
Issues don't matter when you are a tv celebrity. They are pretty much all that matters when you are in politics.
What I find most amusing is the hyper-confident way that Trump goes about making claims such as, "I will list China as a currency manipulator," or "NATO is obsolete." These are big ideas; major initiatives. Not some technical part of one bill or one treaty, that gets negotiated for something else and is explainable as such.
And it's the way that salesman Trump promotes these howlers. Like he is the one guy who really understands, and everybody else is stupid or corrupt or both. And then without so much as an acknowledgment of his own mendacity, he turns his back in what he previously promised and goes on to something else.
He's a sociopath. And anybody who doesn't see that has something very nearly as weird going in in their own heads.
I think you are trolling, Ann Althouse. I'm not going to dwell on that, because it is for you to know, and for us to find out. I just imagine running a video of all if the various and sundry Trump pronouncements; from the campaign and even before, on which the guy has totally turned, and questioning you about the details but also the tone and manner of Trump's speaking.
I didn't vote for Trump because he fills some emotional need or some nationalist longing in my part. I voted for him in the hope -- now more and more realized, it seems, that Trump would turn the Supreme Court away from some of its recent rulings. Like Obergefell.
Inga
Where did you copy this?
They will never understand trump supporters, they think he has been having reversals. All I see is winning. Sure there are some things that I wish were happening quicker, but certainly not for lack of trying.
It does show that our federal government is bloated, lethargic, self-indulgent and pretty crappy.
It also highlights that anything the democrat media says is wrong. Or if technically correct, I don't care.
It seems to me that complaints by such as Coulter merely go to show that they are far more independent and ethical than the left-media complex. Their minds and opinions are their own.
The other side is a machine, almost none of them has an independent thought, or it is irrelevant to what they are paid to say.
Coulter is perceptive, intelligent, and lacks the internal censor of others. She is the sort that will say if the emperor has no clothes. In that she is like Greenwald or Sailer. Right or wrong, with such people you can get into the guts of things.
"Trump's about-face on Syria appears to have sent the would-be author into a Freudian tailspin."
I believe what Milo said is something to the effect of "Sometimes Daddy lets you down" The "Daddy" thing has always been a bit weird, but that's hardly " a Freudian tailspin." And, as Matt said, Milo did not say "pedophilia was a rite of passage for gay men."
So it's safe to say everything Inga has cut and pasted is disingenuous bullshit.
This is a neat farming of Trump's bait and switch strategy.
It appears that not all of Trump's supporters will remain loyal.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/15366/these-trump-supporters-are-now-big-fans-syrian-aaron-bandler
"These Trump Supporters Are Now Big Fans Of Syrian Butcher Bashar Assad
It was truly hysterical to observe some of President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters turn on him after he launched airstrikes against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Now some Trump supporters are seemingly embracing the brutal dictator.
The ever-bombastic and fiery Ann Coulter raised eyebrows on Wednesday evening when she declared on Tucker Carlson Tonight that Assad was "one of the better leaders" in the Middle East, a notion she expounded upon in her Wednesday column.
"Assad is one of the least bad leaders in the entire Middle East," wrote Coulter. "He's not a murderous thug like Saddam, has no rape rooms, isn't into jihad, protects Christians and is fighting ISIS. He provided us with intelligence on al-Qaida after 9/11. He does not have crazy Islamic police slapping women around or throwing gays off buildings. (That would be our beloved ally, Saudi Arabia.)"
The odious neo-Nazi Richard Spencer tweeted out a photo of the Assad couple with hashtag "#StandWithAssad." Another contemptible neo-Nazi, David Duke spat out multiple Assad-loving tweets calling the dictator "a modern day hero" and declaring "GOD BLESS ASSAD!"
Other alt-right figures, like Mike Cernovich and Paul Joseph Watson, gave implicit support of Assad by claiming that he's the guardian of Christians.
Now that the nauseating pro-Assad writing from Trump supporters is out of the way, here are the facts about what genocidal butcher Assad is: (H/T: news.com.au)"
Democrats doing the Democrat thing, trying to divide and conquer. Same strategy that drives identity politics.
Chuck may be repeatedly shocked and appalled by Trump's perpetual imprecision (or he may be just an uninteresting whiner) but more intelligent Trump voters were already fully aware of both his flaws and his strengths, and figured the package was worth it, especially considering Hillary's incorrigible corruption. So far, that undeniably mixed bag has included a lot of positives, so most Trump voters are happy enough.
You think I didn't understand any of that? I got all of it; and consequently I too voted for Trump. But why would I stop remarking on Trump's idiocies? What does Hillary -- now a permanent private citizen have to do with Donald Trump doing and saying ridiculous things?
You think I didn't understand any of that?
No. Honestly, I think you're jealous of all that Trump has accomplished despite what you mistakenly believe to be your intellectual superiority, and you act out that envy with the maturity of a young and unhappy child.
Boy, between Inga and R/V and chuck, the nuts are out today.
Trump just hit ISIS/al Qeada with a fuel air bomb that makes napalm look like face cream.
Syria is no threat to us and needs to be kept at arms length. Just keep the "refugees " out.
T Rex is dealing with Putin and probably pretty well.
China is on board with coal and watching the Norks. I could see a deal with trade and NK.
The lefties plus chuck have no clue how well this is all going.
Now, we just need to get the rest of Trump's appointees confirmed, by a rules change if necessary.
Detroit would be a good location for the rebellious Labor Department bureaucracy,
Jobs and cheap housing. What's not to like ?
My suspicion is that a "silent majority" of Trump voters voted for him not because of his promises, but because they wanted to toss a brick through the front window of the political establishment.
Bingo
Oh, my, David Duke and Richard Spenser don't support Trump anymore? Whatever shall we do?
LOL! 'Cause those are surely mainstream conservative figures - in Inga's mind anyway.
As for Coulter and the others, buwaya is right. The Left is so used to marching in mindless lockstep behind their Great Leaders that they don't understand independent thinking. Coulter is criticizing Trump regarding Syria? See? See? She's against him now!
Boy, what subtle, nuanced thinking.
As for Inge's list, I don't know who most of those people are. I certainly don't care what they think.
Come on, political press. Twitter isn't real. Keep that in mind.
I never even heard of Richard Spenser until he turned up in DC with his pathetic little band. Apparently he lives out in Montana someplace.
But the left wants to believe he's some sort of influential spokesman on the right.
It's hilarious.
"He's a sociopath. And anybody who doesn't see that has something very nearly as weird going in in their own heads."
The above statement reveals more about you than it does Trump, Chuck.
IOW; Anyone who does not agree with Chuck is mentaly deranged.
I'm willing to bet , Chuck. After that statement. That I'm an order of magnetude more mentaly squared away than you are.
Furthermore.
It's Friday. April 14 2017 and Hillary Clinton is not now nor will she ever be president of the United States.
Life is good.
I love that Tillerson has picked up the ID as "T Rex." It tells you a lot about who Trump picked. Between T Rex and the guy who said, "Be polite and professional but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
I can't get enough winning.
Inga going apeshit is just topping on the ice cream.
Are people out there really too dumb to understand that the alt-right is an almost non-existent portion of the voting electorate?
Trump might have lost the alt-right, but as I just shared anecdotally, he's gaining a lot of Trump skeptics and NeverTrumpers.
Are people out there really too dumb to understand that the alt-right is an almost non-existent portion of the voting electorate?
Um, yeah. Look, people can reasonably disagree about how much economic efficiency is desirable to achieve other ends, and that's fine. But when people on the left read Ben Rhodes acknowledge that he counts on their ignorance, and they continue to believe the stuff that he shovels at them, then you have the credulity needed to believe in this latest ephemeral boogeyman.
Current Day "lifelong republican" Chuck: " What does Hillary -- now a permanent private citizen have to do with Donald Trump doing and saying ridiculous things?"
LOL
Pre-nomination "lifelong republican" Chuck wouldn't criticize Hillary because whats the point? We were in the middle of a primary which didn't involve her!
Post-nomination/Pre-election "lifelong republican" Chuck wouldn't criticize Hillary because Trump was the real danger and needed to be addressed.
You know, I'm starting to think that maybe there is a deeper "rule" "lifelong republican" Chuck is adhering to in his religious-devotion to non-criticism of leftists/dems.
What does Hillary -- now a permanent private citizen have to do with Donald Trump doing and saying ridiculous things?"
Well, she's still a public figure, and still both dishonest and corrupt, and the fact is that Trump kept her out of the White House and has done a fair amount to disrupt the culture in which she thrived, so references to her comments remind folks (at least those not drowning in their jealousy of Trump) that all told, he's okay.
Those supporters who aren't following things that closely probably mostly see that Trump is still outthinking his opponents, and gaining respect for the US around the world. Still bringing in new plants and jobs still Making America Great Again. Yes, the Trump team has had it easy in some respects so far, esp in foreign relations, since that was the thing that Obama seemed to hate the most about this country - it's feeling of greatness. It only took 100 short days for Trump to completely turn around our slide in international matters. Everyone now knows that there is a new sheriff in town now, who puts America first, rewards friends, and destroys enemies.
But there is more. His team is moving quickly to dismantle the administrative state. To realign our priorities from buying constituencies and votes with federal cash, as Obama and the Dems did, to putting our resources where we need them, in defending our country and its borders. Trying to bring jobs back. Etc. how do you tame a well entrenched, Dem leaning, federal bureaucracy that knows it will still be there when Trump and his people are long gone? You do it the way that Trump has, through executive orders freezing and rolling back regulations, hiring freezes, agency downsizing and dismantling, etc. you can't do it the way that Republicans have tried in the past, by trying to micromanage from the top of each dept and agency, because the permanent bureaucracy will wear you down.
Moreover, Trump and the Republicans are starting to go after some of the most egregious and political of govt employees from the Obama era. Lois Lerner is desperately trying to seal the court records in a civil suit against her, while Republicans in Congress have asked the DoJ to reopen their investigation into her. Expect the IRS to be brought around. ATF, one of the most hated and reviled agencies by much of Red America, is now in the hot seat for running slush funds funded by selling untaxed cigarettes. That, Fast and Furious, Waco, and their attempt to illegally ban the most common AR-15 ammunition, is likely to get the agency dismantled under Trump. At least brought to heel. State, Justice, and the FBI are maybe going to be harder
And that brings me to another thing to like - Trump's cabinet picks. He has brought in maybe the strongest team we have ever seen, at least in the last half century. So unlike the political hacks that Obama brought in for most of his cabinet positions. He seemed to give cabinet posts to constituent groups, and let them run their depts as personal fiefdoms as long as their constituencies backed him. Trump has, instead, brought in serious, strong, accomplished, dominant people to run the most important depts (State, Justice, Defense, Treasury), and unconventional reformers to head depts that need to be reformed (Education, HUD, HHS). What is there not to like?
The Opposition Party Media are very confused. But only because they fell for their own Fake News when they made it up to help Hillary.
watching DJT is like watching a super running back in the open field now and running for daylight. All the Media can say is but..but...but he started out to the left and has reversed field to out run the defense...why that is terribly unfair.
They ain't seen nothing yet.
My response to a similar post in InstaPundit: Trump is probably the freest person in the USA.
Interesting that on the same day the NYT portrays Trump as a flip flopper, they also published an editorial attacking Sessions and the DOJ for increased enforcement of immigration laws. I seem to recall that enforcing immigration laws was mentioned during the campaign. Now if Trump read NYT's editorial and told Sessions to follow their advice and ease enforcement, would NYT then attack Trump again for reneging on another campaign promise?
"Trump just hit ISIS/al Qeada with a fuel air bomb that makes napalm look like face cream."
Not sure if the analogy is that close. As I understand it, fuel/air bombs essentially atomize the fuel, and then when it is well dispersed, ignite the fuel/air mixture, causing it to explode. Which reminded me of a Myth Busters episode which tried to get the gasoline in a car's gas tank to explode, as it routinely does on TV and in movies. Turns out to be fairly hard to do, because there is much too little contact between the fuel and the air for it to happen. What you need is an aerosol, which allows the molecules of fuel to interact with the air. Which is what your carborator or fuel injectors do. And what, I think, is happening here with fuel/air bombs - turning the fuel into an aerosol, mixing it with air, then igniting/detonating the mixture. Typical fuel/air bombs apparently have two charges - one to disburse the fuel into an aerosol (or similar), and then one to detonate the disbursed air/fuel mixture. One of the reasons that they are so effective is that conventional explosives include maybe 75% oxidizer, which is not necessary with fuel/air explosives. The Soviets apparently used fuel/air bombs in Afghanistan, and maybe even their FOAB (father of all bombs), which is maybe even bigger that the MOAB) we used there this week.
Napalm, on the other hand, is a flammable liquid that adheres to what it comes into contact with. What is interesting to me is that we most associate Napalm with our war in Vietnam, but that was apparently also the place where we first used fuel/air explosives in war.
I recall many the conservatives here claiming an affinity for the Alt Right, when the Alt Right was becoming well known. . Now you folks deny them, like Judus denying Jesus. Some of you even had Pepe the frog as an avatar, Angel-Dyne being one, I see she deleted poor Pepe and replaced him with an angel, lol.
I recall many the conservatives here claiming an affinity for the Alt Right, when the Alt Right was becoming well known.
You may recall it, but it never actually happened. There is no credible definition of the "alt-right", and for the most part it's a phrase leftists to lump together people with whom they disagree with miniscule fringe groups.
Leftists *use*
Whoops.
Yeah, yeah surrrrre.
Blogger Inga said...
I recall many the conservatives here claiming an affinity for the Alt Right, when the Alt Right was becoming well known. . Now you folks deny them, like Judus denying Jesus. Some of you even had Pepe the frog as an avatar, Angel-Dyne being one, I see she deleted poor Pepe and replaced him with an angel, lol.
I considered myself a member of the alt right. Back when the alt right meant we were no longer happy with the Republican status quo.
Then the label was demonized and turned into the equivalent of being a member of the KKK.
Inga, here is a hint for you. We didn't change, the labels change.
" Now you folks deny them, like Judus denying Jesus"
So in your analogy, Richard Spenser is Jesus.
Jesus.
Yeah, yeah surrrrre.
I wasn't suggesting that you believe it, just that it's true.
The problem is that leftists don't listen to what conservatives think. They listen to what other leftists tell them conservatives think.
Alt Right used to be like how Libertarians were just "republicans + weed" for a long time. It used to just be "Republicans, if they were shock jocks."
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/
"No matter how silly, irrational, tribal or even hateful the Establishment may think the alt-right’s concerns are, they can’t be ignored, because they aren’t going anywhere. As Haidt reminds us, their politics is a reflection of their natural inclinations.
In other words, the Left can’t language-police and name-call them away, which have for the last twenty years been the only progressive responses to dissent, and the Right can’t snobbishly dissociate itself from them and hope they go away either."
Oh really?
What everyone on the right needs to keep in mind is the nature of the US press.
Literature can be instructive.
Tolkien was a man of virtue and experience, and he included a character that describes the US press precisely, Wormtongue, the false adviser, the demoralizer.
The damned servant of Tolkiens demons.
Whatever you read, consider the source.
I think most Democrats couldn't tell me the difference between: the Rand Paul coalition, Rockefeller Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans, the Tea Party, Libertarians and the Alt Right -- meanwhile, most Republicans could explain the difference between Clintonian Triangulation, Obama's coalition, the Bernie coalition and Blue Dog Democrats (if any still exist).
"and the Right can’t snobbishly dissociate itself from them and hope they go away either."
They can't. The Alt-right issues are concrete and fundamental. You can change words but facts remain. These are nasty and intractable.
Inga doesn't believe anything unless it's been substantiated by one of her 23 cats.
All of which, apparently, communicate with her.
In other words, the Left can’t language-police and name-call them away, which have for the last twenty years been the only progressive responses to dissent, and the Right can’t snobbishly dissociate itself from them and hope they go away either."
I'm still here. Or am I no longer here and Trump is no longer my President and Gorsuch is no longer on SCOTUS because I don't call myself Alt Right anymore?
"In other words, the Left can’t language-police and name-call them away, which have for the last twenty years been the only progressive responses to dissent, and the Right can’t snobbishly dissociate itself from them and hope they go away either."
-- I wonder why we don't extensively ask the left about groups that Democrats would like to disassociate from. Like fringe left elements, like the black bloc and anarchist groups who start riots, groups like the one Ayers belonged to that actively promoted murder and would have killed people if their own incompetence hadn't stopped that.
I find it really interesting why we aren't getting lots of questions about those sorts of groups for left leaning candidates. Why did no one ask Hillary Clinton about the support she gets from violent extremists or fringe political groups?
They can't. The Alt-right issues are concrete and fundamental. You can change words but facts remain. These are nasty and intractable.
I'm going to guess she doesn't get what you mean.
Which is fine with me. She can have her victory that the alt right is for all intents and purposes gone now, as is the tea party.
Just as long as I keep getting more Trump.
For those of you who are dissatisfied with the pace of Trump's reforms I remind you of the words of one of the preeminent conservatives of the 20th century:
"Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence. Burke agrees with Plato that in the statesman, prudence is chief among virtues. Any public measure ought to be judged by its probable long-run consequences, not merely by temporary advantage or popularity. Liberals and radicals, the conservative says, are imprudent: for they dash at their objectives without giving much heed to the risk of new abuses worse than the evils they hope to sweep away. As John Randolph of Roanoke put it, Providence moves slowly, but the devil always hurries. Human society being complex, remedies cannot be simple if they are to be efficacious. The conservative declares that he acts only after sufficient reflection, having weighed the consequences. Sudden and slashing reforms are as perilous as sudden and slashing surgery."
http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/
Blogger Inga said..."I recall many the conservatives here claiming an affinity for the Alt Right, when the Alt Right was becoming well known."
Oh, bullshit. I had never heard of them until you brought them to my attention. I still couldn't produce a cogent paragraph decribing them.
Inga if the Alt-Right were as influential in Republican and Conservative circles as Communists are influential in Democrat and Progressive circles they would be wildly successful.
The Alt-right issues were, to list those that were relevant in the campaign -
- White tribalism, largely as a reaction vs left-tribalism. This is a done deal, it exists now and it seems this will be ongoing, as left-tribalism is only growing stronger.
- Immigration restrictions, especially regarding illegal immigration and H1B and similar. Not an issue that is going away either.
- Protectionism. Ditto.
All three are now part of the general right mix, so just as you are all fascists now (right or left, all are corporatists), you are also all Alt-right now.
I wonder why we don't extensively ask the left about groups that Democrats would like to disassociate from.
We don't have the left' insecurity that requires them to demonize people with whom they disagree.
"Inga if the Alt-Right were as influential in Republican and Conservative circles as Communists are influential in Democrat and Progressive circles " ...
Well, they are influential. They shifted the Republican party plank decisively.
The Inga link proves that splinter groups like the Alt-Right are frequently disappointed by reality. Not much else. Various groups and individuals read much more into Trump than was actually there, making the same sort of error(from a different direction) that the Left and the MSM made.
Ann Coulter is a good debater but can occasionally go off the deep end. In 2008 she declared that she would vote for Hillary if McCain won the GOP nomination.
Cernovich served to force the MSM to begin coverage of the Rice Revelations. With that he spent his value. His opinion of Trump’s policies are of no importance whatsoever.
Richard Spencer is an idiot.
Yiannopoulos doesn’t matter anymore. If he can rehabilitate his reputation that might change.
Paul Joseph Watson? Never heard of the guy. Me and almost every other Trump supporter. He’s even more obscure than Spencer.
Congressperson Steve King, like so many in Congress, is an idiot.
Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen are in the Cernovich category. Their opinion of Trump’s policies matter very little.
Steve Bannon is like any other Trump employee. He has been treated fairly and generously but if he believes he is indispensable he is wrong, perhaps fatally wrong. Here is the only figure named that could pull support from Trump but Trump had the Trump Movement well in hand long before Bannon arrived and that situation would continue should Bannon be fired.
cubanbob said...
Inga if the Alt-Right were as influential in Republican and Conservative circles as Communists are influential in Democrat and Progressive circles they would be wildly successful.
4/14/17, 1:18 PM
Yes. Bomber Billy Ayres is as far to the left as Spenser is on the right. Spenser (who, unlike Ayres, never tried to murder Americans) sits in Montana someplace. Ayres was rewarded with a nice university job in Chicago - where he met and befriended Obama.
I don't know if Ayres actually ghostwrote Obama's books for him, which has been alleged, but it's a fact he visited the Obama WH on a number of occasions. With Bernadette Dohrn, who famously applauded the Manson murders.
They are evil people - and were warmly embraced by the Democrat Party at the highest levels.
I voted for him because illegal immigration is out of control. He appointed Sessions to AG and so far, I'm incredibly happy with the direction things are going immigration wise.
Half the problem with immigration is just perception from would be illegal immigrants. If people believe they are going to be sent back, they won't come. If you put out a welcome sign, you'll end up getting far more people attempting the journey.
Judas denies and betrays Jesus.
Still chuckling at the betrayal of Trump by the Alt Right and the denials of any association with the Alt Right by many conservative here on this Good Friday. It's convienient amnesia.
"Steve Bannon is like any other Trump employee. He has been treated fairly and generously but if he believes he is indispensable he is wrong, perhaps fatally wrong. "
Nah, only Democrats murder their apostates.
"Still chuckling at the betrayal of Trump by the Alt Right and the denials of any association with the Alt Right by many conservative here on this Good Friday. It's convienient amnesia."
Start providing some links. Otherwise, you're just making shit up.
Again, Inga compares Richard Spenser to Jesus. Nah, that argument is not going anywhere.
Jesus noted that the Devil can quote scripture for his own purposes.
Still chuckling at the betrayal of Trump by the Alt Right and the denials of any association with the Alt Right by many conservative here on this Good Friday. It's convienient amnesia.
Excellent. We get to be happy because we have a half-decent president instead of a corrupt harridan, and you get to be happy because your perception of reality isn't bounded by fact. Kind of win-win, really.
With Bernadette Dohrn, who famously applauded the Manson murders.
They are evil people - and were warmly embraced by the Democrat Party at the highest levels.
I have read a couple of books about the 60s radicals like Dohrn and Ayres, both of course rich kids with too much time on their hands.
Dohrn actually ran the Weathermen terror organization. Ayres was then, as now, mostly a playboy but fully on board with the murders and bombings.
The one I'm reading now is called, "Days of Rage" and makes clear that Dohrn was running things, especially after "The Townhouse" blew up killing Ayres' girlfriend Diane Oughten. She was another rich kid whose father ran a restaurant in Dwight IL in the old family mansion. He was a sad man after the explosion and we always felt sorry for him when we would see him.
Dohrn was a killer and even more evil than Ayres.
She did give a famous speech exulting in the Manson murders.
Inga.
The alt right is mainly an invention of the left media. I doubt there are 25000 people in the US who have ever heard the expression. Btw do you have insight into CasaPound?
"Days of Rage" is required reading in US history, highly recommended.
Blogger Inga said...
Judas denies and betrays Jesus.
Still chuckling at the betrayal of Trump by the Alt Right and the denials of any association with the Alt Right by many conservative here on this Good Friday.
Ignorance is bliss.
Inga said...Still chuckling at the betrayal of Trump by the Alt Right and the denials of any association with the Alt Right by many conservative here on this Good Friday. It's convienient amnesia.
Chuckle away, madam. Neil Gorsuch laughed all the way to the Bench.
You know, the MSM could just come and talk to me, a mainstream-conservative #NeverNeverTrump Trump voter who is not disappointed. Why not, you ask. Well: 1. Solid cabinet appointments. 2. Pretty solid SCOTUS appointment. 3. Pretty good EOs. 4. Start on immigration enforcement. 5. Message abroad: the O era is over. 6. Not bending over to the MSM and the left. 7. Didn't expect any consistency or careful thought or well-considered strategy in the first place.
Uh oh. Looks like "alt right" is going the way of "neo-con" and "chicken hawk"along with all the old standbys of Nazi, fascist, racist, misogynist, etc.
It's tough being a lefty when the "Power of Mindless Lefty Labeling" runs out.
I mean, it's really unfair to ask these little Maoists to come up with cogent and logical arguments based on coherent and consistent principles when no one on the left has ever been able to do that.
And of course we see on college campuses what happens when the lefty power to label runs out: the left proceeds directly to violence as is inevitable in every Lefty dominated venue.
But only every single time everywhere in the world throughout history.
Translation: we keep telling you Trump is a failure, why won't you believe us?
"Why not, you ask. Well:"
Agreed with all seven of these points, but the most important was omitted: Hillary Rodham Clinton is not President, or anywhere near the levers of power.
A corollary of course is that the likes of Podesta, Abedin, et al are also gone. Almost nothing Trump does that disappoints will detract from this.
"McConnell knew as a teenager that he wanted go into politics"
If only we had a means of identifying such mishaps, and culling them before the damage was done...
Inga,
Nobody here needs to disown and/or distance from the alt-right; it's sufficient to point out that Richard "Who" Spencer being a leading figure of the alt-right is purely a figment of his imagination.
@james K: "Agreed with all seven of these points, but the most important was omitted: Hillary Rodham Clinton is not President, or anywhere near the levers of power. A corollary of course is that the likes of Podesta, Abedin, et al are also gone. Almost nothing Trump does that disappoints will detract from this." I apologize for the omission. Of course, yes.
"Almost nothing": operative word "almost." I can tolerate a lot of "disappointment," but I very much hope DJT won't burn the GOP like W did, delivering 8 years of Oprah after 8 years of O.
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