Year after year, leaders have stood on this stage to discuss what we can do together to protect our heritage, to promote our culture, and to defend our freedom.Here's what I said out loud (to my audience of one): "That's a dog whistle. White power." Questioned, I said, "heritage... culture... freedom..." Even freedom? "Yes, in context with our heritage, our culture, and then our freedom. Our freedom."
I switched to the transcript (here, at Vox). I'll live-blog my reading of it, with excerpts and commentary. Trump forefronts his judicial appointments, presumably because this is the place where he can claim and successfully vaunt* conservative credentials:
We have confirmed a record number, so important, of circuit court judges and we’re going to be putting in a lot more. And they will interpret the law as written and we have confirmed an incredible new Supreme Court justice, a great man, Neil Gorsuch. Right.He admits no doubt here. Conservative = doing it right = Gorsuch. I won't slow this post down to lawprofsplain what's specious about all that.
Trump himself swiftly moves on to his second-best accomplishment, taxes:
We have passed massive, biggest in history, tax cuts and reforms. I don’t use the word reform...I didn't just say what I said.
... there was a lot of reform too, very positive — I don’t use it. And when we were first doing it I told everybody, everybody gathered, I said, just talk about tax cuts. People don’t know what reform means. They think reform might mean it is going up. And I said, do tax cuts....So, he lets doubt leak in all over the place there, but he needs them to believe he's a tax cuts guy. Despite all the "reform" talk. Ah, it's just a word, "reform." People don't even know what it means, he says.
To say that less crudely, that is, to use a Democrat's words, he's chattering about "framing." Republicans want to say "cuts" (even when some taxpayers may pay more) and Democrats want to say "reform" (to assure you that the right people will have to pay more — their fair share — and the good people will get relief). But even though they bandied the word "reform" about...
We didn’t have one Democrat vote and I think that’s going to cost them in the midterms. I know that whoever wins the presidency has a disadvantage for whatever reason in the midterms. You know what happens? I’m trying to figure it out. Historically, if you win the presidency, you don’t do well two years later. And you know what, we can’t let that happen and I know what happens. Finally figured it out. Nobody has been able to explain it. It just happens.That's some fantastic Trumperish — Trump jibberish. Has he figured it out or does nobody know why it happens? It sounds nonsensical, and it's said so simply that you feel he's just jabbering without thinking, but he does make sense of it:
Statistically, almost all of the time, for many years, what happens is you fight so hard to win the presidency. You fight, fight, fight. And now only two years, that’s a very short period and by the time you start campaigning, it is a year. And now you got to go and fight again. But you just won. So nobody has that same drive that they had. So you end up not doing that well, because the other side is going — they’re crazed, and, by the way, they’re crazed anyway, these people. They are really crazed. Right.He figured it out: The other side has more motivation to fight. The losers maintain their drive.
So I kept trying to say, why is this? But it is just there. So the great enthusiasm, you know, you’re sitting back, you’re watching television...You're like him, lying around watching TV.
... maybe I don’t have to vote today, we just won the presidency, and then we get clobbered and we can’t let that happen. We get clobbered in ’18, and we can’t let that happen.I'm sure that works better in the audio version, that adherence to the present tense: "We get clobbered in ’18."
Only because we are so happy, we pass so many things, honestly, and I’ll say — I’ll use the word, my administration as opposed to me, my administration, I think, has had the most successful first year in the history of the presidency. I really believe that. I really believe it. I really believe it....He really believes it.
See the word really is complacent. People get complacent. It is a natural instinct. You just won, and now you’re happy and you’re complacent. Don’t be complacent. Don’t be complacent....Get the message? Don't be complacent.
If they get in, they will repeal your tax cuts, they will put judges in that you wouldn’t believe, they’ll take away your Second Amendment, which we will never allow to happen, they’ll take away your Second Amendment. Remember that. They will take away — thank you. They will take away those massive tax cuts, and they will take away your Second Amendment. By the way, if you only had a choice of one, what would you rather have, the second amendment or tax cuts? Second Amendment, tax cuts? Second Amendment? I’m going to leave it at the Second Amendment. I don’t want to get into that battle. All right.Man, he is a repetition machine. So soon after that school-shooting empathy theater and his seeming openness to gun control, he's scaring people about losing the right to bear arms. Note the locution: your Second Amendment.
Trump denounces the "very crooked media... very, very crooked media." They won't give him credit for his accomplishments.
He moves on to the subject of health care:
Obamacare is just being wiped out. The individual mandate essentially wipes it out. I think we may be better off. And people are getting great health care plans and we’re not finished yet. But, remember, one person walked into a room, when he was supposed to go this way, and he said he was going this way, and he walked in and he went this way and everyone said, what happened? What was that all about? Boy, oh, boy, who was that? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to be controversial, so I won’t use his name. Okay. What a mess....Mmm. I don't know. Maybe prepare your speech? Man, that got me thinking of a song I hadn't thought of in 50 years, "Did You Ever See a Lassie?" ("Go this way and that way/Go this way and that way/Did you ever see a lassie/Go this way and that?")
So, you know, the fake news always — if I say something a little off, next day headline, he misrepresented — I have to be careful. But in the history of presidents, no president, and I’m saying no president, maybe they’ll find if I was off by two, but we’re here one year, no president, I read it in lots of good papers, actually, but they’ll change the story when I say it. No president has ever cut so many regulations in their entire term. Okay.The news is fake because they point out errors that, in his view, are really no big deal. That's not fake. That's just picky. And — to the extent that they weren't equally picky about Obama (when Obama was equally unpicky about accuracy) — biased.
We have ended the war on American energy... [I]t is amazing how many people understood the Paris accord because it sounds so good. It is like some of the environmental regulations that I cut. They have the most beautiful titles. And sometimes that’s — look, I’m going to close my eyes and sign this, because, you know what, I’m going to get killed on this one. I get so much thanks. The country knows what I’m doing....In other words, the things he's signing may look bad — even as the things with "the most beautiful titles" looked good — but people know it's for the best.
We couldn’t build, we couldn’t farm. If you had a puddle on your land, they called it a lake for the purposes of environmentals. It is crazy. It is crazy. And I signed certain bills, I would have farmers behind me and have house builders, home builders behind me.... They couldn’t do what they had to do. We gave them their property back, we gave them their dignity back. By the way, you don’t mind if I go off script a little bit? It is sort of boring. It is a little boring.Heh. "Dignity." Booorrringg!
Beautiful speech, everything is wonderful. But a little boring. We have to, you know — but we gave them their dignity back. And that’s why our country is doing record business. We’re doing record business. We’re doing business and you have to look at the fundamentals. Companies are pouring back into this country, pouring back.....Dignity is boring. He wants to talk about business business business. Pouring pouring pouring.
I used to get the greatest publicity.Uh oh. Back to the fight with the media.
Friend of mine said, you used to be the king of getting great publicity. What happened?....We know what happened. It's a rhetorical question.
So, thank you, everybody. You’ve been amazing. You’ve been amazing....That sounds like he's coming in for a landing. But there's much much more. Even though he just expressed his concern about being boring. He reminisces about the time he gave a CPAC speech in 2011. Then it's on to the story of how he won the election.
You need the electoral college, which, by the way, is much tougher than the popular vote. The popular vote would be so much easier. You go to three or four states and you just go and you just do a great job. Hillary forgot that, you know. She went to the states. What is she doing? Why does she keep going back to California? Crazy....He gets around to the military ("Our military was going to hell") and foreign policy ("Kerry may be the worst negotiator I’ve ever seen") and Israel ("Every president campaigned on we’re going to recognize Jerusalem as a capital of Israel... every other president really lied....") and the vets ("We have been doing a good job on the vets") and foreign aid ("We rebuild other nations, and give a lot of money. And we don’t ever say, hey, you got to help") and infrastructure ("we’re rebuilding our nation") and values ("all of us here today are united by the same timeless values") and the police ("We support the incredible men and women of law enforcement") and... has he forgotten anything?
You’re getting the wall. Don’t worry. I heard some — getting the wall.I hear you. It's like he only brought up the wall because someone yelled it out as he was going through a laundry list. He says "we’re going to have the wall," but "We have a problem. We need more Republicans." The Democrats "always vote in a bloc," and the next election is coming. He's off the subject of the wall as fast as he can, and without going through the usual words about illegal immigration. Having begun the speech with abstract words that triggered my aversion to xenophobia, he's completely avoiding any specifics in the zone of xenophobia. [ADDED: so far!!] He gets right back to his favorite topic, business:
You saw Apple just brought $350 billion in, Exxon brought in $50 billion. So we’re going to be fighting. We need more Republicans to vote. We want to get our agenda... We need more Republicans. That’s why you have to get out and you have to fight for 18, you have to do it.Business and the next election. And that sounds too down and dirty, so let's launch abruptly to the heights:
We salute our great American flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance. And we all proudly stand for the national anthem.But what about those immigrants? We're not talking about the immigrants. Look! The flag! Quick! Put your hand on your heart! Stand up! Proudly! There's only an implication of disrespect for those people — those black people — who don't want to stand for the national anthem.
More loftiness needed. Take us higher:
Above all else, we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are at the center of American life. We know that. Because in America we don’t worship government, we worship God.God!!!!
Our nation’s motto is “In God we trust.” This week, our nation lost an incredible leader. Who devoted his life to helping us understand what those words really mean. Leader. He was a leader, a great man. We will never forget the historic crowds, that voice, the energy, and the profound faith of a preacher named Billy Graham....Oh, my, I'm just seeing that Billy Graham will lie in state in the Capitol rotunda. He will be the 4th private citizen given this honor. The last one was Rosa Parks.
Trump goes on to "the evil massacre" in Parkland, Florida. The families "have suffered beyond anything that I have ever witnessed." He frames the problem in terms of mental illness — "this was a sick person. Very sick. And we had a lot of warning about him being sick." And the solution is mostly better defense of the schools:
Well trained, gun adept teachers and coaches and people that work in those buildings, people that were in the Marines for 20 years, and retired, people in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, people that are adept, adept with weaponry, and with guns, they teach.Not the inept. Not cowards like that one guard who "turned out to be not good." And not making the place look all militarized:
I mean, I don’t want to have 100 guards standing with rifles all over the school. You do a conceal carry permit. And this would be a major deterrent, because these people are inherently cowards. If they thought like if this guy thought that other people would be shooting bullets back at him, he wouldn’t have gone to that school. He wouldn’t have gone there....This goes on for quite a while, and then he is on to the subject of illegal immigration I'd said he was avoiding:
I’ll tell you what, when you deal with ms-13, the only thing they understand is toughness. They don’t want anything. All they understand is toughness. If that ICE agent or border patrol agent is tougher than them, they respect him. We have the toughest guys you’ve ever seen. We got tough. They don’t respect anything else. And they shouldn’t be in our country. They were let in for years, they shouldn’t be. And we’re getting them out.... These are animals. They cut people. They cut them. They cut them up in little pieces, and they want them to suffer. And we take them into our country.... And you meet with Democrats and they’re always fighting for the criminal....Ah, this shows he planned to talk about immigration and the wall, but he previewed it a bit earlier because someone called out.
And, by the way, the Senate Democrats and the House Democrats have totally abandoned DACA.... To secure our country, we are calling on Congress to build a great border wall to stop dangerous drugs and criminals from pouring into our country....
But when I walked in today, did anyone ever hear me do the snake during the campaign? Because I had five people outside say, could you do the snake?Oh, no, he's going to do the snake! There's a big lead up, then the entire performance — She wrapped him up all cozy in a comforter of silk/And laid him by her fire side with some honey and some milk etc. etc.
And that’s what we’re doing with our country, folks. We’re letting people in. And it is going to be a lot of trouble. It is only getting worse....Man, this is long!
So I just leave you with this. We have to fight Nancy Pelosi. Want to give your money away....The next election.
The Democrats are trying to figure out who they are because they want to get you back. But you were people, we had people that never voted. But they’re great patriots, but they never saw anybody they wanted to vote for. Then they go to the election, they have trump, pence, trump, pence, hats, all sorts of things, trump over here. Make America great again, hats....Hats hats hats.
He gets so inflated he says, "Even the media, the media will absolutely support me, sometime prior to the election." Oh, but it won't be because they'll realize that what he's doing is right. It's because "if somebody else won, their ratings would go down, they all would be out of business. Nobody would watch. They all would be out of business."
_______________________
* I originally wrote "flaunt" and put so much thought into changing to "vaunt" that I'm going to write a separate post on the topic. By the way, this is the first time, in the 50,000+ posts on this blog, that I have used the word "vaunt."
Posts
260 comments:
1 – 200 of 260 Newer› Newest»Can you go into a little more depth next time, Ann? ☺️
our heritage, to promote our culture, and to defend our freedom.
I think you have to be trained to see that as a dog whistle for white power. I hear that as American values of justice, liberty, and opportunity, of upholding Enlightenment values under the system of free markets and limited government that we inherited and adapted from the British.
It would never occur to me to hear that and think "white people only."
Wow... did someone hack Ann’s account or replace her with a doppleganger?
Preident Trump’s speech was a dog whistle to White Supremecists? WTF?!?!
Trump never gets any “courtesy edits” from the media when they transcribe his speeches. Bush didn't either, and it contributed to the perception of him as an inarticulate lightweight. Obama, by contrast, frequently tripped over his lines, especially if he had no teleprompter, but he could count on his pals in the press making him sound like Cicero when his words were put in print. One more small example of the many ways the powers that be surreptitiously tilt the playing field leftwards.
"That's a dog whistle."
In the immoral words of Dogodile Crundee, "THIS is a dog whistle."
Something which is easily confused is race and culture. There is absolutely no reason what we know as Greco-Roman culture could not have been Korean-Japanese culture, except by historical accident. Had that happened, we would probably be whining about Asian Privileged. Well, come to think of it, some are. Substitute culture for race when you hear Trump talk, and a lot of things become clearer and less ominous.
Are you drunk?
Canadian politicians talk about "our" heritage and it means all Canadians, especially as opposed to Americans, not just white ones.
Trump's speeches suck.
He's a sand in the gears of PC guy.
And Trump himself is anti-ideology.
...which is really the essence of small-c conservatism.
I wasn't paying much attention the entire time. Ironing my hood takes a bit of effort to get the creases just so.
It's a subconscious reaction. Liberal academics hear the words "heritage, culture" and it triggers an immediate repulsive reaction.
Kinda like how high school kids can see the mathematical symbol of square root and see a gun.
This is the most bigoted post I have ever seen on this blog.
Perhaps Trump's speeches do not lend themselves well to close textual analysis. It's all about feelings.
I'll agree with t. maguire on this – Althouse's interpretation strikes me as bizarre. "protect our heritage, to promote our culture, and to defend our freedom"... have you ever read the Preamble, Althouse?
She trolls! She scores!
If you believe that we the people have a right to sovereignty within our own borders, and a right to make decisions on what is best for us as a people, you are a xenophobe, and because you might be accused of xenophobia if you express any recognition for the need for borders, well then borders are bad!
There is no point talking about the fact that when you have sovereign control over your borders and immigration, you can weed out the undesirables, the drunk drivers, the gang members, whatever, from the mix, because that’s just racism. There are no undesirable foreigners!
I am trying to figure out what Obama’s “anti-black” policies are too, BTW. But the optics are the substance, the feelings are the discussion, and deep and insightful conversation consists of nodding and murmurs of agreement with expressions of feelings that avoid the uncomfortable facts that an honest examination of the issue might turn up.
Perhaps Trump's speeches do not lend themselves well to close textual analysis. It’s all about feelings.
Beloved wrote that without irony.
Preident Trump’s speech was a dog whistle to White Supremecists? WTF?!?!
Did not get that at all.
Tim beat me to it. Funny stuff.
One of his biggest applause lines was his shoutout to our embassy's move to Jerusalem. That's not what white supremacists would call a dog whistle.
Canadian politicians talk about “our" heritage and it means all Canadians, especially as opposed to Americans, not just white ones.
So Canadians don’t have immigration controls? I can just move there and start partaking of “free” health care? Kind of nice not to have a thousand mile border with what is in many ways a third world country!
If you hear the dog whistle, you're the dog.
If heritage, culture, and freedom is code for white power, what's the code for heritage, culture, and freedom?
If mainstream conservative ideology is white power, then what's the difference between conservatives and liberals? Both would then define everything by race.
I don't like it when speakers are accused of saying something they didn't say, because of something that happens in the listener's mind.
You can take the girl out of the academy but you can't take the academy out of the girl.
Acme Thunderer.
Pandering to respect for the flag people is the big Trump mistake.
The flag isn't anything. It just makes them dumber to pander to them.
mock: She trolls! She scores!
The best trolls are the ones that leave you in doubt as to whether they're trolls after all.
Tim in vt
Wtf do Canadian immigration laws have to do with pointing out how stupid Althouse reading of "our" as white supremacy?
One could guess that Althouse has had a hot button hit. Either male penetration of choiceless female, or something anti-gay, has been sensed.
I'd say the thing was just boilerplate ad-libbed to conservative morons.
When he's talking to women he ad-libs empathy.
What Trump has to say is that he'll do stuff that works instead of stuff that's PC hidebound and nonfunctional.
Anti-PC is the core.
Blogger rhhardin said... Trump's speeches suck. He's a sand in the gears of PC guy. Yes! This is it! The only thing Trump supporters care about is he dishes PC cliture. For that, he renews his license to serve Goldman Sachs, General Dynamics and grab the pussy. What a genius, the only think his voters require to remain loyal is the warm glow of schadenfreude he provides in a rambling speech, great speech that erases center mass.
"to protect our heritage, to promote our culture, and to defend our freedom"
I submit that the following constitute our heritage, our culture, and our freedom:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
"Our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal... we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
White power? No, no, Ann, the first person plural pronoun for white people is "weex" -- x as in Merckx --. Note the confederate flag.
What the left has to say is that you can't do stuff that isn't PC because consequences.
Anti-PC is the only target... absolutely. rhhardin for the win!
Our founding fathers were more into white powder.
Nice analysis. I spent about 20 hours in the car Tues-Thurs and I listened to the Trump meeting of Thursday around noon on the radio. That was the most impressive demonstration of strong leadership that I have ever heard from a politician. Just amazing. I saw most of the CPAC talk live. It was good but he is most impressive to me when he is going back and forth with others in a group setting.
“She trolls! She scores!”
Yep, chumming for Chuck and the hysterical of the Left and Right.
I guess JFK's Berlin speech was a dog whistle.
I think Ann is having fun with us today.
Blogger rhhardin said...
Our founding fathers were more into white powder.
2/24/18, 9:29 AM
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Actually, they were more into "black" powder... the kind used to shoot scary guns...
If you hear a dog-whistle, it's probably because you're the dog.
Very original dog whistle observation, Dave. It's classic soap opera argumentation with a frustrated housewife high on valium and bon bons
No word yet on the Ta-Nehisi Coates cartoon sweeping the the cinematic world, threatening to start a revolution?
@ Professor Althouse
Do you believe Trump intended what he said as a white power dog whistle?
If Meade whistled at you because you were looking good and Zeus came running, was it a dog whistle?
I had nearly forgotten why I've been a faithful reader of this wonderful blog for more than seven years.
I think I'll buy a new Audi through the Althouse Amazon portal later today.
Wow, where did this come from? It's the most scathingly brilliant post from Althouse in a couple of years.
Despite all this insightful commentary, Trump just doesn’t play politics like we are used to seeing. You have to look at results,not words. He a salesman. Are you happy with the product? I
Actually it's more a Thor vs loki story, is as mythical as asgard or paradise island for that matter. And we shall how wise tchaka's decision was when thanos drops by.
Folks, my best guess is that Althouse considers CPAC to be a white supremacyst group. In all these years of reading her, she's never had a good word for them.
Canada is a gated community.
Joshua: never failing to compete in the never ending contest: Quien es mas Macho?
Trump drives word people crazy.
I'd guess there's a part of the speech that restores grab them by the pussy to our culture.
SteveR: the Trump voter is the product he delivers to the poles. Clearly that's the message behind the moron whistles.
Its going to be very difficult for academics, later.
The Kennedy School at Harvard is going to have to have a new department of specially trained Trump specialists, else their regular fellows will suffer with emotional issues.
I considering not coming here. If I can't talk about my country, my heritage, my culture, without being branded a racist white supremacist, then I'd rather not be here.
To repeat Steven Den Beste's observation, America is not about race. It's about values and beliefs. If you come here legally and subscribe to those beliefs embodied in the Constitution, you're an American and welcome to stay! That's the whole of the law.
But if Althouse links "culture" and "values" to white supremacy, then I can only throw what sounds like a kiss (to steal from Dottie Parker) and find more congenial company elsewhere.
I demand to know the Puparazzo's position on "white power" dog whistles. Can black Labs hear them? And what about Norwegian flags? Can dogs see colors? Does it mean something when a dog pees on a Confederate statue? What if a dog pees on a Union monument? Or Lincoln? Do dogs have a view on slave-holding US presidents? Do they do their business a respectful distance from statues of Harriet Tubman? And what about Native Americans?
So many questions.
Wtf do Canadian immigration laws have to do with pointing out how stupid Althouse reading of "our" as white supremacy?
Most web comments are beyond parody, so parody is not a great tool. Sorry if I misunderstood your comment, but I stand by my words in any event, even if they are not aimed at you. I happened to be, for a while, near Rouses Point, NY, the final US stop on the NYC to Montreal train, where Haitians were getting off the train, then walking to Canada. It was kind of interesting to see Canada’s posturing put to the test.
Althouse may want to consider a career as one of those Trump specialists, as a founder of the new faculty. The other natural founder of course is Adams.
One cannot talk of culture without genuflecting to diversity.
A culture that once distinguished itself by melding disparate cultures into itself can no longer describe itself as such, because of the prevailing sensitivity of disparate cultures.
In America, every culture must get a Participation Trophy.
Those sheltered from the rain curse the umbrella. Because without the umbrella there would be no rain. Obviously.
The Germans have a word for this.
Can black Labs hear them?
Those fucking black Labs! Try keeping a matching pair of socks when you have one of those slinking around the house!
You get stream of consciousness in his speeches.
Liars require more planning.
For that, he renews his license to serve Goldman Sachs,
Hilarious moment on Tucker Carlson last night. He has this girl on that he has had on before.
She advocates these wild left wing/SJW positions but she is always grinning and I'm not sure she is serious.
Fox hires these lefties to say crazy stuff, I swear.
Anyway, she was on this thing about not using the word "man" in anything, like fireman and policeman., etc.
Tucker asked her what would she call Goldman, Sachs?
She said, "Well I just wouldn't shop there anymore."
I began to doubt that these people have to be paid to say stupid things.
"If Meade whistled at you because you were looking good and Zeus came running, was it a dog whistle?"
In every case it would be a wolf whistle. It's what keeps long-lasting marriages going.
As I have said before—Ann is a bullshitter.
Ann, you just noticed that Trump uses racist dog whistles? What do you think he was doing right before the primary when he called for “a total and complete ban on Muslims”? Trump has made his political career on racist dog whistles. Please don’t pretend now that you are just noticing.
Ann is such the bullshitter.
"I clicked it off and said "It's a white power speech.""
I read that and said "It's a Madison blog post."
Blogger Howard said...
the Trump voter is the product
Yet it remains unclear who is the buyer.
If you think talking about preserving American culture, heritage and freedom is a dog whistle about white power, you're an idiot. Such language is from the far left fringe kooks who cannot present an argument to counter it, so they seek to smear it.
You hearing the dog whistle says more about you than Trump.
Poll dancer.
Only dogs hear dog whistles.
Data Clashes With Emotion As CPAC Immigration Panel Goes Off The Rails
"SteveR: the Trump voter is the product he delivers to the poles. Clearly that's the message behind the moron whistles."
What the hell do the people of Poland have to do with it? Or, alternatively, a long, slender, rounded piece of wood or metal, typically used with one end placed in the ground as a support for something?
Ann, you have made your blog using dog whistles to cultivate your Althouse Hillbillies. Don’t pretend that you are somehow different than Trump. You are just smaller.
Ann whistled and Now I Know! came running.
I'm assuming this is a Socratic exercise, professor, so what common element binds this country together.
Blogger Howard said...
Joshua: never failing to compete in the never ending contest: Quien es mas Macho?
2/24/18, 9:54 AM
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I'm sorry... and who are you again?
Initial Althouse comment very triggering it seems.
Roll with it.
The rest is correct, this was a ramble, but as Althouse implies a very good insight into the mind of Trump, who does indeed seem to place his inner conversation on the outside. On one level this is about as honest as anyone can be. On another this is far from polished. It reads like the beginning of a session with a speech writer.
Derive from this the speech you think Trump meant to deliver, and tell it to yourself.
Althouse Hillbillies -- drink!
Ann is like Zappa. When she covers a song, or a position, she does it better than the original.
Ann, your little legacy that you have created in this life is this backwater blog that excused and cheered Trump’s ugly behavior. In the future if anyone bothers to google you (like maybe your grandchildren or their children) this is the totality of what they will see. It will be like finding out that your grandfather was a Klansman.
In the past, CPAC has featured speakers like Steve Bannon, Ted Cruz, and Sarah Palin. These conservative voices trigger Ms Althouse in negative ways. I'm pretty sure that Althouse was just setting distance between herself and Trump's latest audience.
I'm trying to figure out what flag "Now I Know!" uses as an avatar. I think it's a clue to his/her double identity.
Wow! Althouse is ornery today (and yesterday). Annoyed by "heritage . . . culture . . . freedom" (annoyed by a 26-year-old waving the flag of the Weimar Republic).
I'm glad to see that ARM gets the Officially Branded Talking Points.
Joshua: Nice classic canned response. You win, you are definitely mas Macho!
Blogger Now I Know! said...
Blah, blah, blah...
2/24/18, 10:17 AM
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Oh FFS... do you have any idea what an idiot you sound like?
"It was kind of interesting to see Canada’s posturing put to the test."
And the result...? Don't leave us in suspense!
Blogger Howard said...
Joshua: Nice classic canned response. You win, you are definitely mas Macho!
2/24/18, 10:21 AM
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I think you need to try harder, Howard... I'm not feeling it... FASTER, WITH MORE INTENSITY!!!
Trump's speaking style: he is not the studio, he is the live performance bootleg.
The studio record has every moment polished, EQed, leveled, overdubbed.
The live bootleg hears the interaction with the crowd, the extended breaks with the contemporaneous call-outs, the ebb and flow of the setlist.
In the live bootleg you get authenticity.
In the live bootleg you can even hear someone shout "Judas!".
The Germans have a word for this.
Ann, why do you think your boys are avoiding you?
This is the depth of their arguments. “You will be shunned!” It’s the ultimate collectivist argument, Nazis and Commies both use it. Whatever you do, don’t think! Just feeeeel!
Any talk of "Code Words" and "Dog Whistles" is dishonest. As Scott Adams would say "its Mind-Reading".
Its a way of avoiding what was ACTUALLY said, so you can set up a straw-man and knock it down.
Liberals/Leftists do it all the time. Its a way of smearing people and derailing a conversation. Too bad the Right is too stupid to call them out on it. Instead they take the bait.
bc ARM: Your joking, right? The buyers are mostly the same as the Hillary and Obama buyers. The illusion of a difference helps keep people thinking they sane, but medicate anyway.
The CPAC Immigration panel did indeed go off the rails, which it should have. The panel was very unwilling to deal honestly with the problems raised, and they repeated obvious absurdities without even an attempt to justify them. One has to wonder why they thought they could get away with it.
That, the pushback by the punters, is healthy politics. An acquiesence to obvious foolishness would be a sure sign of illness - which was all over CPAC anyway. They kept a lot of people out who were inconvenient to their funders agenda. But in at least some cases the audience was not having it.
I think you need to try harder, Howard... I'm not feeling it... FASTER, WITH MORE INTENSITY!!!
I think you have your windows mixed up, this is not a porn cam.
Americans of all colors and backgrounds are part of our culture. When Chinese or Italians came to America they added to the richness, they didn't insist we speak Chinese or Italian. Each ethnic group retained some identity but didn't typically use it as a bludgeon on everyone else, or America's shared values, they could appreciate some adoption of elements which were not 100% perfect without screaming "cultural appropriation". This has metastasized to the point where a working-class black woman is fired for designing a meal to celebrate Black History Month, because some upper-class black person finds the menu, which could be found at most Soul Food restaurants offensive. The left is sick.
It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille is a good mocking of the conservatives as a political group.
Put that many in a room and you've got weirdness.
Its so much better to hear a Trump speech then read it. He's very good at talking to crowds and getting people jazzed up. He also avoids the filter that most politicians posses and that constant defensive crouch that most Republicans have.
But Good Lord, what a tangled mess when you read it.
LOL!
Honest discussion in this area is impossible. Same as with so many areas; sex, money, power, race, class, etc, etc...
Any area where denial is in play, and the cost of abandoning denial looks to be too high (It never is) is going to get a huge pushback from the deniers.
"The CPAC Immigration panel did indeed go off the rails, which it should have"
CPAC got bought out by the Chamber of Commerce and the Koch brother years ago.
I've never cared about them for years. They're Mitt Romney "conservatives".
I forgot, did they boycott Trump in Feb 2016 or let him speak?
rcocean: so you don't pick up on librul dog whistles? It's not mind reading, it's common sense. You are right it is a strawman purposefully erected to cause the opponents to knock it down. This is a persuasion technique to help close the deal with the base by division and bright-lining "opponents". The purpose is votes leading to more power... the entire speech is built on straw, of which some are presented for mollification of the loyal troops.
I hear leadership. I hear my father.
At this point, I am no longer surprised that woman can't hear that.
arrrggghhh.....women, not woman.
"If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin"
Hank Williams heard that Lonesome Whistle Blow.
Another great evaluation by Althouse! Well done.
Only found 1 significant flaw,near the beginning regarding Trump's modest paean to American heritage, tradition and culture:
"Here's what I said out loud (to my audience of one): "That's a dog whistle. White power.""
Tsk, tsk - AA should know better.
What % of Wisconsin is white? Answer 83%.
Does that mean ipso facto you're part of the Wisconsin White power structure? Of course not.
In China, you tend to find Chinese people. In the US, since it was founded by White, British Protestsnts, you tend to find.....White, British, Protestants. Not a big deal.
But, this amazing Constitutional Republic these White, British Protestants is a big deal! As Americans, we celebrate what these White, British Protestants ACTUALLY CREATED, not the fact of their whiteness.
And, there's a lot of room in this country for non-White, non-British and non-Protestant to celebrate our Consitutional Republic, too!
Americans of all colors and backgrounds are part of our culture.
Amen to that, Gretchen! Our culture is comprised of our values as Americans, not race or national origin.
masAsHell: you nail it. The actual dog whistle that you have identified for us whom did not hear it is the signal of paternal authority the tortured cuck zeta man needs to feel macho, like an alpha. Sad, I didn't hear the more pathetic dog whistle until reading your and Joshua's posts.
There can be little debate that 'white people' are under attack, culturally.
Evident in that 'white people' vehemently deny even the appearance of defending 'white people'.
mom Jeans: you go grrrrrrl Keep batting the pinyata, soon you will be showered with candy.
Ann, that analysis is nuts.
But he did provoke you to make a fool of yourself, and you fell for it. It's like those signs that say "It's OK to be white." The message is 100% bland and innocuous. But it makes anti-white racists angry, only because they think it's not OK to be white.
This makes it look as though you have absorbed the leftist hatred of America.
Get smart, Ann. They're laughing at you in Moscow.
chickelit,
It's Madison's city flag. IIRC
Paranoia of being under attack is the cuck hive security blanket. Pa-fucking-thetic.
Worst column EVER by Althouse. Not because it was long, but because it was condescending, stupidly snarky, and obtuse.
As for the so called dog whistle, did you suddenly become fashionably woke? What a truly obnoxious and stupid reaction.
To Cookie: A week or so ago you asked why we play the national anthem and display the flag at sporting events. The answer came to me shortly after: It is to remind the players and the fans that, though we may be bitter adversaries on the field, we are all Americans.
Now I Know! said...
"It will be like finding out that your grandfather was a Klansman."
Tell us, NIK — what is it like?
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free - Pete Townsend.
"It is to remind the players and the fans that, though we may be bitter adversaries on the field, we are all Americans."
And just as importantly, it serves as a two-minute warning that the game is about to start.
I think Althouse has fallen for the Left’s persuasion, to borrow from Scott Adams.
Bay Area Guy said...
In China, you tend to find Chinese people. In the US, since it was founded by White, British Protestsnts, you tend to find.....White, British, Protestants.
Actually the largest ethnic group is German. Brits/Scots are only third.
@CWJ: Thanks!
I'm no longer vexillologically vexed! I knew I'd seen that flag somewhere. I think it was all those parades I saw growing up with the Drum & Bugle Corpses. God hates flags!
Regarding the flag of Madison: The leftist liberals of Madison culturally appropriated a New Mexico Zia Pueblo symbol and then put it on a WHITE band. And further, it was adopted from the Madison Scout's Drum and Bugle Corps, an ALL MALE organization. That damn flag is nothing but a Giant Visual Dog Whistle.
The common failure to recognize the predominance of Germans and to some extent German culture in the US is an interesting phenomena, for its own sake.
If Trump was whistling at all he was just whistling a happy tune.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...The common failure to recognize the predominance of Germans and to some extent German culture in the US is an interesting phenomena, for its own sake.
I've never denied that. I have a long-running series of posts tagged Oh The Germanity at Lem's, and also at my own backwater blog.
The common failure to recognize the predominance of Germans and to some extent German culture in the US is an interesting phenomena,
I think the anti-German hysteria of Wilson's administration is one reason.
My uncle told me that there were pictures of the Kaiser in Chicago public schools before WWI.
Did not mean to imply denial, if that is how you read it.
ARM,
Yes, Germans are a big bloc in America. And they are white, But they didn't found America.
Keen insight (not!)
Michael K said...
My uncle told me that there were pictures of the Kaiser in Chicago public schools before WWI.
Certainly the two wars are a big part of it, but I still always find this odd. Althouse, who is presumably ethnic German, objected to Germans waving the German flag the other day. Hard to imagine any other large ethnic group behaving this way.
bc-ARM Wrong again. Most white people have significant % German and know it. We joke about being closet Nazi's and obsessive gearheads. The biggest denial is English... everyone claims Scot, Irish, Welsh as a badge of honor
FDR's Executive Order 9066 was a gulag whistle.
buwaya: That, the pushback by the punters, is healthy politics. An acquiesence to obvious foolishness would be a sure sign of illness - which was all over CPAC anyway.
It's been very funny watching the Conservatives(tm) having fits about this year's CPAC - didn't they used to own it? Well, not own it, I assume it's still owned by the donors. Rather, held all the profitable concessions from the donors/owners of the operation. I don't follow this stuff, but was vastly amused when I saw, in a passing headline, that Marion Le Pen was a featured speaker. Now, unless I'm completely off the mark about what CPAC was and is: that is surely interesting. (And I don't mean "interesting" in the way WaPo/NYT "conservatives" would find Ms. Le Pen "interesting".)
Fun to see CPAC as an instrument of making cucks hopping mad, in both senses of the word "mad".
Meade said...
"FDR's Executive Order 9066 was a gulag whistle."
They're laughing at you in Siberia.
I'd like to see what's on the teleprompter.
Trump is the Jim Morrison of political speakers.
His speeches remind me of extended live versions of Doors songs.
Especially the way they both go off script/lyrics to digress into improvised dialogue with the audience.
@EDH: I think you're onto something there. Women fawned over celebrity Morrison and he flaunted it.
Chuck said...
"I think I'll buy a new Audi through the Althouse Amazon portal later today."
The company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. "Horch", meaning "listen" in German, becomes "audi" in Latin.
Listen. Do you hear the Horst Wessel whistle?
"We salute our great American flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem."
Imagine a German leader saying "We salute our great German flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem." Maybe German leaders do say such things. Sounds insanely wrong to me.
To restate my point from yesterday.
They still use that anthem ("The "Deutschlandlied" (English: "Song of Germany"...) or part of it, has been the national anthem of Germany since 1922, except in East Germany, whose anthem was "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins") from 1949 to 1990. Since World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. The stanza's beginning, "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ("Unity and Justice and Freedom") is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins.")"
"The song is also well known by the beginning and refrain of the first stanza, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all else"), but this has never been its title. The line "Germany, Germany above all else" meant that the most important goal of 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (Kleinstaaterei) of then-fragmented Germany."
Ok, mockturtle was right. You're just trolling us today.
Good point about young Le Pen.
Under "normal" political circumstances she would be a star attraction. Normal in that she is representative of very large European interest groups, and in fact her mother (with her no doubt significant assistance) has forced the French establishment to change policy to a remarkable degree, or pretend to anyway.
And, of course, she is very pretty and charming, for a politician.
She seems a talented politician.
"They're laughing at you in Siberia."
They and their laughing Huskies.
If you don’t like “our heritage, our culture, our freedom” then whose do you prefer? Mexico? India? Nigeria?
"Ok, mockturtle was right. You're just trolling us today."
You've heard of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North? She's Althouse, the Good Troll of the Eastern Wisconsin Ridges & Lowlands.
Lincoln specifically appealed tho German voters in Missouri and Wisconsin in 1860.
They tended to be quite anti-slavery.
In Pennsylvania they were very prominent and there are black families in Pennsylvania who have identified with the "Pennsylvania Dutch" since before 1860 as many were refugees passed up the Underground Railway.
A lot of those black families have military backgrounds.
Who would give up Haydn for a national anthem?
Post WWII, they could have added the first line of the Anglican hymn version:
"Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God."
Germanity contributed to Progressive politics more than people realize: Freiheit Ist Meine
Come ladies, put on your phrygian caps and speak to us in modern vocal fry!
I guess that dog whistle forced you to shit on the rug.
How about:
"We salute our great Canadian flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem."
Does that sound insanely wrong? Not being a smart ass.
Is all national pride the same? Is it all wrong?
Why have so many taken to equating American national pride with the Nazis?
Meade,
I always thought that Audi was the old Auto Union brand. I had assumed that the Au was from Auto Union and the di was (an)other absorbed make(s), or Deutche something. It seemed to go with their multi-ringed logo. Damn you. Now I have to look it up.
Imagine a German leader saying "We salute our great German flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem." Maybe German leaders do say such things. Sounds insanely wrong to me.
Why? Are there any other countries not allowed to be proud and celebrate their people and culture? How about Austria? Hitler and an awful lot of the SS were actually Austrian. So no anthem for Austria? No flag salute for Austria? What about Italy? Or do they get a pass because they changed sides at the end of WW II? How about Russia? Japan?
"I tried to watch Trump's CPAC speech."
You and I are apparently quite different. I've never done that, but I've never tried to eat feces or vomit, either.
Even freedom? "Yes, in context with our heritage, our culture, and then our freedom. Our freedom."
I think you're taking it too far but whites did used to have the "freedom" to oppress others. That used to be one of their "freedoms." One that they fought very arduously to keep.
The American "enhanced" nationalism comes from the same roots as the German, the Italian, the French, and to a degree, and belated, the Spanish. You will also find it all over the ex-colonial third world.
Its purpose of course is to convince a disparate population with unity issues that they are one thing. That Alabamans are "American", in spite of the place being really run by Northerners, or Bavarians that they are "German" in spite of all those Prussians being Prussian, or Alsatians that they are French, not German, or Sicilians that they are Italian, in spite of all those guys from Milan making all the rules and enforcing them with bayonets.
Same same same.
The only different bit about the US is that not only did the nationalist propaganda have to make Americans out of a lot of people that hated each others guts, it also had to make Americans out of yearly hordes of complete foreigners who could very easily have ended up hating the rest, or being hated.
The German nationalism was not exceptional, and seems dubious, now, only because of subsequent history. Its a bit difficult to see the world in the context of 1880-1900 say. Back then Germany was a "good guy" as European powers went, a civilized, orderly, humane lot. The French and Russians were the perennial odd characters likely up to no good in the eyes of the Anglosphere.
Trump jibberish. Has he figured it out or does nobody know why it happens?
It IS Trump gibberish. The man is a fucking moron. As with other well-known facts, he just figured out that it happens. Not why.
Trump has a talent for manipulating people - nothing more, nothing less.
"To restate my point from yesterday."
We got it the first time.
The repetition doesn't make it more persuasive.
We couldn’t build, we couldn’t farm. If you had a puddle on your land, they called it a lake for the purposes of environmentals.
A beautiful puddle of toxic waste.
We gave them their property back, we gave them their dignity back.
Translation: We gave them their toxic waste back. To build up in your environment. Freedom. Blah blah blah.
Volvo translates from Latin as "I roll".
I’ve been reading your blog for several years. I appreciate your moderate stance and your underlying emphasis on reasoned clarity of writing and speech.
Though you often defend Trump against narrow-minded critics in the media, you also criticize him when needed. I consider this balanced and wise.
However, I was shocked this morning to read your viewpoint about Trump’s words:
“Year after year, leaders have stood on this stage to discuss what we can do together to protect our heritage, to promote our culture, and to defend our freedom.”
A “dog whistle” for white power?
Obviously, “our” heritage and culture and freedom is a reference to Americans’ heritage, culture, and freedom. How could you read it any other way? Why introduce such a cynical motive?
This is not like you (unless I’m quite mistaken). You generally call for fair interpretations of speakers’ remarks and defend their intentions (whether conservative or liberal). If they don’t communicate their intentions well, you point that out.
It’s possible your column was a purposefully narrow-minded screed in order to sarcastically showcase how a bad critic would see things.
On the other hand, if this is your actual viewpoint, I request you give a reasoned argument as to WHY we should conclude that Trump’s remarks were racist. I’m sincerely interested. If this is true, it’s important and we need to know. This needs to be discussed.
Remember, something is not true just because you say it’s true. Something negative is not true just because you throw dark insinuations into the room. Cynicism is widely available elsewhere, so why should I come to you for more of it?
Make a case like you would to a good judge. Our ears are open. You’re usually able to do this.
I’m tired of the suspicion and polarization that most blogs spew out. If you can’t be direct and serious about such an important subject, I’ll have to respectfully withdraw my readership.
@Gahrie: "Why? Are there any other countries not allowed to be proud"
What, you think Althouse is going to concede a point after she has dug in?
Perhaps Germany should change their flag to the gay pride flag (although all those new "immigrants" would surely object) and change their anthem to say:
"We're really, really, really, really sorry and we promise never to do it again. Honest. We swear."
The Marseillaise is far more extreme in its sentiments and much more bloody minded than any German patriotic song, even any Nazi one that I know of.
We are the result of cultural programming, which includes generations of wartime propaganda. This flooded popular culture long after the wars. Its not easy to climb above all that and see everything in perspective.
Jesus Christ. How much of his bullshit did you even bother listening to? The guy's a pathological liar. Everything he says is bullshit designed to assuage and bolster his permanently weak ego. As with many aging narcissists, his hold on reality is flimsy. Your readers need to understand that for these people their psychological needs outweigh their interest in objective truth so they go to huuuuuuge lengths to warp the latter in service to the former. Listening to this guy and analyzing it seriously is as dim-witted as writing a dissertation on the scientific breakthroughs revealed in the ramblings of psychiatric ward patients.
Bill Peschel: I considering not coming here. If I can't talk about my country, my heritage, my culture, without being branded a racist white supremacist, then I'd rather not be here.
May I gently suggest that you be a bit more charitable? Regardless of the troll-level Althouse is occupying here, a lot of well-meaning Americans, particularly the educated Boomer class, went down a rabbit hole about the meaning of "heritage" and "culture" 40-50 years ago, drank a lot of the Kool-Aid on offer in Wonderland, and in consequence are a little shaky on the cognitive skills/implicit workaday "philosophical" grounding necessary for dealing with these human, ordinary concepts like sane human beings.
"Racist/white supremacist (nationalist, whatever)" vs. "being an American is about nothing but adhering to purely abstract 'values' that have nothing to do with a real, historically-embedded culture" is an utterly bullshit dichotomy that doesn't reflect any kind of human reality, but it's all they've got to work with right now. They'll work their way out of it; the conceptual space they're in right now is just too unrealistic, stupid, and unsatisfying, and its use by bad faith actors getting too obvious. Expect more crying, confusion, and crazy along the way, though.
Only a bigot would assume Frederick Douglass and MLK are not part of our culture and heritage. Only a bigot would assume that if a white man talks about American heritage he must be excluding them.
Madison is already worried that 2020's sesquicentennial of the German state will cause a mass uprising of chauvinism in the upper NW. Cosmopolitania Forever!
The Marseillaise is far more extreme in its sentiments and much more bloody minded than any German patriotic song,
Yeah..but nobody is scared of the French except pre-teen children anywhere their "peacekeepers" are stationed.
Oh. So this speech was made for the benefit of the lunatic society known as CPAC. I'm not sure that Althouse is a conservative - I don't know what she is, actually - perhaps sympathetic to social conservatism?... so I have no idea of the value of her "analysis," here. Obviously conservatism is a spent force in American politics. It never was a legitimate one to begin with. I guess we can only hope that if there actually was a disconnect between Orange Cheetoh and his audience of robber-barons and their serfs that it was a durable one. Either way the man is an abomination but if he takes that abominable ideology he piggybacked on to down with him so much the better.
I'm not sure that Althouse is a conservative
Trust me..she's not.
She sometimes pretends to be a Libertarian...she's not.
Probably the closest thing would be a modern (as apposed to a classical) liberal.
buwaya said...
The French and Russians were the perennial odd characters likely up to no good in the eyes of the Anglosphere.
Some things never change.
There are two problems with German nationalism, compared to any other of the romantic period or later - there are loads of problems and injustices in any centralizing politics of course. There are no clean hands here. The Vendeans, the Carlists, the Neapolitans, the Irish, etc ad infinitum had much to complain about the centralizing state.
- The German state was too vulnerable to personalities. It was founded by brilliant, prudent men, who did not anticipate that their masterpiece would fall into the hands of a wilful mediocrity (Kaiser Wilhelm II, subsequent events were downstream consequences). A roll of fortunes dice, coming up snakeyes.
- The Germans, as a people, were just too competent. Remarkably efficient, inventive, brave, enduring, they punched way above their weight on a population or resource basis. They were dangerous if badly led. Unlike say the Italians.
Probably the closest thing would be a modern (as apposed to a classical) liberal.
This clarification presents an opportunity to critique the overused construction of "classical liberal."
As I understand it, these folks basically want the 16th c. liberalism of Locke while refusing to acknowledge that the massive social upheaval of the industrial revolution gave oligarchs as much power over the people as kings used to exercise.
Modern liberals understand the importance of balancing that out. Modern American pseudo-conservatives love authority, hierarchy and money too much however to see this need.
But they've started appropriating the rhetoric. "Drain the swamp" is the clarion call to replace presidential cabinets with expertise in what they regulated with even richer billionaires who lack the objectivity to be the night watchmen over their invested industries' abuses and excesses.
So now they see the corruption in wealth - or at least they pretend to - as long as it's wealth held by a progressive or politician who's actually doing his job. But in every other respect, they're just as blind as always.
EDH:
Trump is the Jim Morrison of political speakers.
His speeches remind me of extended live versions of Doors songs.
If so, maybe I'd never have voted for Trump if I had any taste for watching speeches. Never could stand Jim Morrison or his music. Annoying pompous doughy fuck.
What's wrong with the modern German flag? The Nazis hated it (they changed it immediately) so there's no connection there. The colors are from the 19th-century German movements for political liberalization/democratization.
One proposal post-war was for those same colors but with a Scandinavian-flag-style cross. Now, a cross, THERE's a triggering element, for sure, for the modern Left.
They were dangerous if badly led. Unlike say the Italians.
The Ethiopians might disagree with the last bit.
Trump is the Jim Morrison of political speakers.
His speeches remind me of extended live versions of Doors songs.
Wow. The conservative "mind" at work.
Ok, let's go with this. Like Morrison other than for:
1. The lack of any sex appeal.
2. The fact that he's drunk on a fragile ego instead of alcohol.
3. His impact on culture, the arts and music is non-existent rather than legendary.
4. The minions he carries with him are wrong instead of right and have no social value.
5. Women flee him rather than flock to him.
6. His mind is moreso just gone rather than expanded through psychedelics.
7. His hair looks like a plucked turkey's ass instead of a cuddly little "bird's nest."
Other than that, great comparison. You pseudo-cons are really getting somewhere.
The past couple months a few of Prof Althouse's comments seemed to me to be leaning in
the alt-right direction. This post I think is just reminding herself vigilance is still needed re racism in USA.
Buwaya observes: - The Germans, as a people, were just too competent. Remarkably efficient, inventive, brave, enduring, they punched way above their weight on a population or resource basis. They were dangerous if badly led. Unlike say the Italians.
;-D
Modern oligarchs are not opposed to the state, they are quite often elements of the state itself, or dictate to the state, in a complex tangling of systems.
This was Schumpeters prediction, and in fact such conditions of state-oligarch entanglement were already apparent in his day, and which pre-existed both socialism and fascism. For a detailed description of one case, highly recommended, the classic "The Arms of Krupp", W. Manchester. And, contrary to popular perception, the connecting point, in most places, was more railroads than armaments.
This all is seen elsewhere pre-1914. During and after WWI it just intensified. Mussolini invented nothing here, he just carried it on with a catchy label. Others relabelled it in other ways, such as the nationalizations of the British Labour party.
Airbus Industrie for instance is a classically "fascist" enterprise, or rather a pre-fascist entanglement of oligarchy and state.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
I think you're taking it too far but whites did used to have the "freedom" to oppress others. That used to be one of their "freedoms." One that they fought very arduously to keep.
2/24/18, 11:54 AM
That's right! In the entire history of the human race, only white people have oppressed others. Everyone else is just one big happy fucking family.
Angle-Dyne, Angelic Buzzard said...
maybe I'd never have voted for Trump if I had any taste for watching speeches. Never could stand Jim Morrison or his music. Annoying pompous doughy fuck.
Which one?
Yes Germany, had fee classically liberal influences, Kant was one, but hegel superseded him, he didn't believe in inalienable rights. In political economy, there was a similar pattern with not only Marx but Warner and moller
JohnAnnArbor,
Google Adwa, battle of
Yes corporatist, syndicalism defers individualism to the collective, the private sphere to that of the state.
Back then Germany was a "good guy" as European powers went, a civilized, orderly, humane lot. The French and Russians were the perennial odd characters likely up to no good in the eyes of the Anglosphere.
Yes, the Germans got hijacked by the Prussians. Florence Nightingale was distraught at the Prussians taking over her romantic Germans.
The fault of, course, was Louis Napoleon. He started the Franco Prussian War in a misguided attempt at le Gloire. Bismarck cleaned his clock and united Germany but the Prussians had a streak of militarism that cost Germany badly.
Wilhelm II was so unstable his ministers did not tell him everything.
RE Trump looking better - I suspect he really is on a diet/exercise program. He's competitive, and if he decided to do it at all, he really was going to do it. It's making him more hyperactive, so you're going to have to deal with it or hide from a lot of this stuff through November. Did you notice he's less snuffly? Lower inflammation.
As for the White Power crack - no. My better half is certainly not white, and he would absolutely perceive it as being about "us". Trump worked very hard at his SOTU to try to rebuild the "us" of Americans. He has been explicit about this from the get-go.
This is more of the same. Trump has remarkably strong support among a cohort of immigrants who are not of European extraction. It's because of jobs, unashamed patriotism, and THIS. It is really terribly condescending and infuriating to be treated as an eternal "other" when you are personally convinced you are an American. Also identity politics is terrifying if you come from a country where people let that sort of thing spawn violence.
Trump came to turn out the troops. I think he was successful.
Blogger The Toothless Revolutionary said...
.... Everything he says is bullshit designed to assuage and bolster his permanently weak ego.
Yes, and that is his direct connection to his supporters. In his speech, Trump reveals who he thinks his audience is and he strokes them with a jackhammer.
I disagree with the thought Trump is dumb and not self aware. Underestimation is part of his game. You understand the psychology and economics of the Nigerian Prince offer, he's just doing a more sophisticated version because the stakes are so high.
I knew the speech was going to be one massive white power dog whistle when I saw all those Norwegian/Confederate flags our lefty betters are so concerned about.
Has Althouse broken free of the Trump Trance? Is it possible?
That speech made my skin crawl.
Ann Althouse said...
"We salute our great American flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem."
Imagine a German leader saying "We salute our great German flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem." Maybe German leaders do say such things. Sounds insanely wrong to me.
To restate my point from yesterday.
They still use that anthem ("The "Deutschlandlied" (English: "Song of Germany"...) or part of it, has been the national anthem of Germany since 1922, except in East Germany, whose anthem was "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins") from 1949 to 1990. Since World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. The stanza's beginning, "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ("Unity and Justice and Freedom") is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins.")"
2/24/18, 11:34 AM
Ann Althouse said...
"The song is also well known by the beginning and refrain of the first stanza, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all else"), but this has never been its title. The line "Germany, Germany above all else" meant that the most important goal of 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (Kleinstaaterei) of then-fragmented Germany."
2/24/18, 11:36 AM
Right; the lyrics are 1840's. And the music is Haydn.
I truly wish we could return to the honesty standards of the clinton and obama administrations.
I really REALLY wish Trump would return to the obama admin policy of spying on domestic political opponents using the most advanced intelligence gathering tools available and then weaponizing that raw info for political purposes.
Alas.
That's right! In the entire history of the human race, only white people have oppressed others.
Not the point. But after colonization they did have more of it than anyone else ever did and they seem to be the only group obsessed with denying it and telling everyone to look away and minimize it, as you're doing here. Look away, everybody! Look away! Look at the others! The legacy of ancient Egypt's hegemony needs examination! Stop picking on the whites!
"Everything he says is bullshit designed to assuage and bolster his permanently weak ego.'"
Yes, and that is his direct connection to his supporters.
You mean, that they're narcissists with fragile egos, also? That's a good point. I don't doubt it for a second.
It's a white power speech. It's a dog whistle.
This is a disgust response to a white President talking about "our culture."
Audi is the Latin for Horch, which means "Hark" or "listen". Imperative form, naturally.
The reason Ann is driving an Audi rather than a Horch is that early in the 1900s (close to 1910), August Horch had a fight with his partners and set up a new auto company. A court later ruled that he couldn't call it Horch, because that trademark now rightfully belonged to his previous partners. To which court and his prior partners lieber August replied "Fick dich", by using the Latin translation of his name to identify his new company. Perhaps there was some humor in the action, but perhaps not.
Horch departed from Audi in 1920 (post war money problems caused him to lose control) and then who knows what really happened. In 1937 he wrote his biography. "I Built Cars". No nonsense kind of guy.
The "white", or rather Western European, conquest of the world (in effect, more or less so), was the cause of all the whining about race, or oppression, or anti-colonialism. There would be no such fields of study without a conquest.
It is a remarkable story, of small (very, very small) parties of adventurers taking over often highly advanced societies that massively outnumbered them, and which were not lacking in brave, self-sacrificing warriors. The achievement of Cortez was not unique, in fact, it was typical, even when the opposition was plentifully armed with cannon.
It was not till the later 19th century that the natives, here and there, found - something, that restored some of the balance of battlefield effectiveness, to overcome which Europeans had to rely on superior technology -
Whatever happens, we have got,
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
In the great days of expansion, they had no Maxim guns. Cortez and Pizarro, Clive and Coote and Wellesley, Abuquerque, Legaspi, and etc. had no significant technological advantages as such. And yet they conquered.
Adowa, Isandhlwana, Khartoum, Anual, etc. are cases of the difficulties of latter-day colonialism. This proved very costly and in the end made colonialism unremunerative.
The manner and causes of European success as conquerors is very poorly understood. It is poorly studied. It is in fact avoided, mostly, in recent times.
And then there are the cases where conquests failed. Morocco for instance, was a very difficult case, for hundreds of years, and in the end was highly unprofitable. The sort of men, the very few men, that Portugal sent to conquer an Asian empire, failed, over and over, very expensively in Morocco in spite of proximity and vastly larger numbers.
Likewise the North African littoral was very tough slogging for everyone else. Emperors failed there, where elsewhere poor but ambitious gentlemen conquered. France took all this with large armies, and had to maintain large garrisons just to hold on.
Its a fascinating subject.
This is a disgust response to a white President talking about "our culture."
What "culture" do generically defined "white people" in America share?
A common language? No. The country regardless of color speaks a common language and most white Americans did not share English as an ancestral tongue.
A common food? No. See above.
A common history? No. See above.
So what cultural history did they share?
White privilege. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else was either particular to the countries they came from or held in common insofar as it pertained to America as a whole or the privileges granted exclusively to America's whites.
New world has a lot to do with disease and Machiavellian politics.
Africa I don’t know that much about.
Middle East why did the crusades fail, but later most countries became colonies - by then technology.
Asia - Not an area I know much about on the colonization.
Nicely done trolling by the professora ... By flouting the vaunted neutrality expected by this audience
Back in the great days of romantic nationalism, and deliberate nationalistic propaganda, new Americans - Jews, Italians, Irish, Slavs, Chinese, you name it, were taught the heroic legends of their new tribe, its rituals and symbols, its songs.
Thats why for instance, in San Francisco, an immigrant city to beat all immigrant cities, as it was never ever majority "Ametican", you have any number of bronze statues to patriots, to founders, to victories. To those who served in 1898 or 1918, or even the conquerors of 1846, commissioned by ethnic associations, those Italians, Slavs, even Assyrians. Thats why little boys from Southern Germany were taught to sing "Hail Columbia". Thats why little Chinese children memorized Longfellows "Paul Reveres Ride", and most of them, these Asians, went to schools named Washington and Lincoln. You can check out the walls of old photographs in the schools, where these still exist, and that aspect of flags and such is striking.
All that is simply gone now.
And then there are the cases where conquests failed. Morocco for instance, was a very difficult case, for hundreds of years, and in the end was highly unprofitable.
Cochran in "The 10,000 year explosion" pointed out that successful European colonization of Africa was unsuccessful until the 20th century.
North America was easier because the Amerindians were completely naive to European diseases, whereas Africa had been in contact and had some diseases even worse.
One reason the Aztecs fell so easily is that they were hated by their neighbors and the Spanish found allies to help in the conquest.
There warrn't gold in them thar hills.
Just diamonds.
US has a culture, and it’s interesting how most of the trolls here actually reflect that.
I like Meade’s essay on the 4 political tribes. Trump is very Jacksonian, with some Hamilton. Obama Wilsonian.
The archetypes explain a lot of why the us is so powerful.
And the constitution and our form of government has a lot to do with it.
We have a political process that self corrects, eventually.
http://www.confluenceinvestment.com/assets/docs/2012/weekly_geopolitical_report_01_09_2012.pdf
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