"The answer: Often, they don’t. In Trump Country, people have learned to take a wait-and-see approach to the president’s extreme and categorical statements... I believe this explains the low-key response so far to the threat of a trade war with China among the farmers who stand to lose the most.... This distinction between the president’s words and his deeds might seem to cut against the Midwestern mythos of straight-talking folks who say what they mean and mean what they say. But there is another kind of mythical Midwesterner, the sort that Meredith Willson celebrated in 'The Music Man,' whose flinty exteriors cloak a soft spot for fast-talking flim-flammers. Trump entertains them and, besides, they never really expected a marching band."
Writes David Von Drehle in "Folks in the Midwest have Trump all figured out" (WaPo). I guess David Von Drehle has "folks" in the Midwest all figured out. He seems to live in the Midwest. Me too, but only on the island of Madison, so I know basically nothing about the Midwest Midwest, except from the viewpoint of people who are horrified to be surrounded by it. And last I looked "Music Man" was a Broadway musical, but it was written by a man who grew up in Iowa (albeit more than 100 years ago).
That said, I have something of the midwestern attitude toward Trump that Von Drehle described. Settle down, give the man a chance. See what he actually does. And, good lord, isn't he entertaining! Let's be kind to our guest, even if he's rough and weird.
And I can't help connecting this to the previous post, the notion that the whole truth must be told at a slant. By the way, I have always seen the feminine in Donald Trump.
The funny thing is, Trump seems to be delivering clear speech and stating the harsh truth straight on. That flummoxes some people when much of what he says turns out to be wrong.
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464 comments:
1 – 200 of 464 Newer› Newest»In Trump Country
Formerly known as the US of A.
I believe this explains the low-key response so far to the threat of a trade war with China among the farmers who stand to lose the most...
Farmers know they'll continue to sell their goods to China through intermediaries in Canada. Or they'll adjust their mix of crops as they always do under constantly changing market conditions. Farmers get good at this.
Many take Trump seriously, but not literally.
David. All you coastal elitists think you're dealing with a bunch of rubes so you go allin on three aces and the gap-toothed, florid faced, aw shucks local across from you calls your bet with a straight flush.
It would be a shame but you guys always lean in on being the mark.
Meredith Willson (two L’s) got some things about the Midwest right and some things very wrong. The most wrong thing was to have chosen Gary, Indiana as his example of pristine Midwest life. It wasn’t as tormented a town then as it is now, but no one from my state would ever have picked it for the role Willson gave it. He must have liked the name.
I initially thought Iowans would be put off by Trump’s New York style. I was wrong.
If you're not obsessed with looking at thing from the angle of getting Trump It's easy to imagine the trade rhetoric as shadow boxing, saber rattling, hollow threats, negotiation....pick a descriptor. None of which represents a damaging trade war...
...and even if it does...
As hare-brained as they are, I have to opine that the actual economic consequences of US steel import tariffs and Chinese soybean tariffs are essentially zero.
And here I thought Trump was doing just what he said he would do, subject to the limits of his actual powers of course.
Silly me.
"...when much of what he says turns out to be wrong."
There is an entrenched narrative that Trump is a continuous and intentional liar. You see it in almost every mainstream media article. Call me "Midwestern", but I just don't see it.
What I do see is a politician who challenges political correctness and who is willing to address issues that other politicians would prefer to ignore.
I think it requires a "slant" to say "much of what he says turns out to be wrong." I think the opposite is true.
One thing the media misses about Trump (among many things) is that he is evolving. He touched something while campaigning through his great crowds and it has changed him. He also seems to have had some religious experience in the process. His core message of America is getting screwed on trade deals is decades old with him, but he’s definitely added some songs to his repertoire in the last two years.
And I can't help connecting this to the previous post, the notion that the whole truth must be told at a slant. By the way, I have always seen the feminine in Donald Trump.
Women do off-topic connections. Women complexify where guys abstract from details.
The guys lead to systems and the women to their absence.
Nation vs neighborhood.
Derrida (deconstruction in its original form) does both, the complexification being there to show how language moves perversely to truth as you abstract.
Wittgenstein is a simpler form to follow, via his interpreter Stanley Cavell (The Claim of Reason) most explicitly. Curiously Cavell doesn't get Derrida.
"Folks" is always condescending. And "slants" is racist.
I haven't noticed any femininine in Trump. He's a sand-in-the-gears guy for pretentious bullshit that rules Washington.
Those grains of sand have hard bits of truth.
A generation raised on Seinfeld and the coastal elites can’t understand how the midwesterners understand and digest Trump.
(“Those hicks don’t even know that Trump is from Queens, not Brooklyn.”)
Women are, for that matter, the audience for the pretentious bullshit.
Tommy: “There is an entrenched narrative that Trump is a continuous and intentional liar.”
Part of this perception is nothing more than a lie itself. The media knows Trump’s so-called lies are simply his showman schtick, given with a wink and a nod. And the other part is a herd mentality which enforces narrative filters on them. Trump must go down, he must be a liar, America really couldn’t elect such a man straight up.
That flummoxes some people when much of what he says turns out to be right!
This distinction between the president’s words and his deeds might seem to cut against the Midwestern mythos of straight-talking folks who say what they mean and mean what they say.
Maybe midwesterners know negotiation and game theory better than this writer?
Trump promised Americans that he would negotiate tougher trade deals with countries that cheat. Part of negotiation is to begin that negotiation by actually taking a tough negotiation stance with those trading partners. Something previous administrations did, but only half-heartedly. Trump's promise kept?
rehajm said...
Farmers know they'll continue to sell their goods to China through intermediaries in Canada.
There is a world market in agricultural products. Any Chinese restriction on US imports in "retaliation" for the imposition of US tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods will mean the US sells to other buyers on the world market. Isn't that the theory behind bi-lateral tariffs? (Notice it's never in "retaliation" when Trump does it.)
The harm to the US economy is the higher cost of imported goods that carry the tariff.
But tariffs are taxes. Americans pay all kinds of taxes that interrupt economic efficiency to fund the government.
Any idea why official Washington finds tariff taxes on Chinese manufactured goods so onerous and harmful compared to other taxes?
I think most people in the Midwest -- I'll include myself since I live in the Midwest (albeit Madison) because my parents were both midwesterners -- understand that East Coast Media is not to believed. There is also the Show Me aspect. You can talk, talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker. You can talk all you wanna, but it's different than it was. You can talk all you want, but people will watch and see if the actions match the talk. And with Trump, it's pretty obvious that it doesn't. Because of anger at Trump, the Press ignores this so they can forward their anti-American narrative.
Re: Gary, Indiana, yes it is nice in the song. But he also needed a plot device with a town that sprung out of nothing.
Thank goodness he didn't call it "The Rustbelt"
It's the rust belt because the democrat-mob-unions killed the industries that once flourished and now we buy all those raw materials from China.
Thanks mob(D)!
See also : 'Show me' vs. 'Tell me'
It's the rust belt because the democrat-mob-unions killed the industries that once flourished and now we buy all those raw materials from China.
A bit hyperbolic. The golden age of the rust belt coincided with post World War II devastation (which, of course, the mainland US avoided). As the Axis powers rebuilt, sometimes better than before, it put a lot pressure on the US that wasn't there for upwards of 15 years (including war years).
Lol.
Althouse, I don't think your audience of Trump-lovers like the part about "the feminine" in Donald Trump.
For my part, I can see a bit of what you're driving at. You'll get no argument from me. It will be interesting to watch this comments space and see what Trump supporters think about Trump's femininity.
And of course you know that I agreed with you on your judgment that Trump "is pro-gay and is being cagey about it." Although, his actions haven't much matched our shared judgment in that regard.
The thing about the difficulty in these judgments is that we presume that Trump is about something; some ideology or some principle. Take your "gay" judgment about Trump. When you say, (and again, I agreed with you), that Trump is "pro-gay and being cagey about it," it presumes that Trump has a personal ideology ("pro-gay") and then a methodology about that ideology ("cagey").
In fact, I'm not at all sure how "cagey" Trump is about anything. I think he has no ideology, no belief system at all. He sees popular media issues, and a news cycle. Like preparing a week's television show. He has a generalized 1950's view of America as seen through the eyes of a well to do white man in the 1950's. But nothing else matters, other than pleasing his base through successive news cycles. He might be "pro-gay," but he's done nothing to show it, "cagey" or not.
As for getting things done as president, he's not a deal-maker. He hasn't made a single deal yet, of note. And why would anybody deal with him? He's a completely untrustworthy liar. He's lied to practically everyone, about almost everything. I wouldn't want to work for him, or with him, or make a deal with him, or associate with him in any way.
To the extent that anybody defends Trump by asserting that "every politician in Washington is a liar;" well, I guess Trump is your perfect Washington politician then.
That flummoxes some people when much of what he says turns out to be wrong.
yeah.....like that time he promised "If you like your doctor, then you can keep your doctor." Oh.....wait.
I know, I know......that dust up in Benghazi that was caused by a youtube video!! Oh....wait.
Russian collusion!! Oh...wait.
Darn!!! I'm having trouble with the "much of what he says turns out to be wrong". Can you provide examples....much? Otherwise, it's just an irresponsible statement.
We're coming up on the centennial of the end of WWI. That war was initiated and carried forward by a few dozen men. They all spoke French, went to church on Sunday, had studied the classics, and were considered smart and well intentioned by their peers.......After the first big battle of WWI , it should have been obvious to these cultured, well informed men that anything that they could possibly win in that war would not offset the horrendous losses they were suffering in pursuit of victory. Nevertheless, year after year they continued to send their children forward. As it worked out, there were no winners in WWI, although some losers were bigger losers than others.......All this talk of a trade war makes me nervous. I'm not sure if Donald Trump is the outsider telling us that our trade policies are foolish and self destructive or rather the Prussian general telling us that one more big push and we'll all get to Valhalla......Time will tell what time will tell. A disastrous scenario is as much a possibility as a better trade deal......I voted for Trump and wish him well, but I'm nervous.
"But there is another kind of mythical Midwesterner, whose flinty exteriors cloak a soft spot for fast-talking flim-flammers."
Just another way of singing the same old song, Trump voters are stupid, they're rubes, etc.
If for some reason you have forgotten why you voted for Trump, re-read 'The Flight 93 Election'.
It's here.
http://www.claremont.org/crb/basicpage/the-flight-93-election/
Trump says he's negotiation for America's side. No deals where we come out behind.
The other side comes out ahead too, just not as a charity case winner any longer.
Rehahj rhote: “Farmers know they'll continue to sell their goods to China through intermediaries in Canada. Or they'll adjust their mix of crops as they always do under constantly changing market conditions. Farmers get good at this.”
Trump will starve his people of cheap flat screen TV’s; China will starve its people in a more literal sense. One people will hunger for bread; the other shall not live on other people’s bread alone.
Dear WaPo,
I am an emotionally distraught, hysterical, guiltily White male trans-lesbian life-coach, and you have not properly represented my lived experience at the intersection of my body juxtaposed within a space of dominant American power narratives.
It is very ableist of you to assume a WHITE MALE can explain to me and my undocumented Brazilian partner what I should be feeling.
Please think of these words the next time you tell me about Donald Trump and expect your comment section to be safe.
So please go ahead write a column about Omaha and those fucking dupes getting their night in a bungalow with Trump.
***Imagining the most upvoted comment.
The cultural elite prefer to speak in platitudes, stringing together a bunch of nice sounding words which while usually true enough in themselves are ultimately a big nothingburger. These are the kind of people who speak for thirty minutes and say nothing, sometimes collecting huge speaking fees for the effort.
Trump is rather the opposite. He prefers to speak in rhetoric that gets a reaction out of his audience but like the more boring politician speaking in platitudes, the words themselves are strategic. The standard politician is trying not to say anything stupid. Trump is trying to stir the pot - even though his actions so far are pretty mainstream as far as presidents go, he gives the impression that he might act outside that box, an impression that the media hysteria encourages unaware it's part of Trump's strategy.
To understand Trump, the best thing to do is take what he says with a big grain of salt and focus instead on what he actually does to give context to the words. Reading all of Trump's tweets and the reaction to them is very entertaining, but as far as I'm concerned it's all a big show that I don't waste my energy freaking out over anything Trump says. Deeds trump words anyway.
WWI produced a lot of boys' literature flying books.
the democrat-mob-unions killed the industries
Part of that arose from industries doing too much to pollute. When you try to clean up the environment, you can make it difficult for industry. The pendulum swang from little regulation to a lot more -- and the majority public was convinced they wanted that. Sure, the Democrats benefited from this -- because they led the charge.
I'm not sad that much of pollution from extraction of raw materials is happening elsewhere. I do think that technology now could mitigate many of the problems associated with it. We'll see if it comes back.
There's no tariff on succotash. Just mix it with corn.
The golden age of the rust belt coincided with post World War II devastation (which, of course, the mainland US avoided). As the Axis powers rebuilt, sometimes better than before, it put a lot pressure on the US that wasn't there for upwards of 15 years (including war years).
There are a couple of strands to follow. Yes, the Japanese learned and practiced efficiencies in manufacturing that the Old-Line Rustbelt gang did not--and as a result, some of the RustBelt gang died.
But there's another strand: taxes and regulations (plus a dash of Gummint favoritism here and there) had serious and sometimes fatal effects on RustBelt, too. Unions, until roughly the early 1960's, were reasonable (George Meany-era.) After that, they were increasingly destructive.
The profits from polluting accrue to the consumer, not the polluter.
Cleaning up the Hudson was a statement that consumers were willing to pay more to have a clean river.
Overseas polluters though then become deadly competition.
Brazil is filling the world’s breadbasket role quite nicely these days. What does the Venn diagram of “Save The Rainforest” and Freetrader peoples look like?
The pollution angle is part of it, Madison Man, but union economics played a major role as well. See: the American auto industry. Golden goose, killed.
Chuck said:
"As for getting things done as president, he's not a deal-maker. He hasn't made a single deal yet, of note. And why would anybody deal with him? He's a completely untrustworthy liar. He's lied to practically everyone, about almost everything. I wouldn't want to work for him, or with him, or make a deal with him, or associate with him in any way."
Chuck has fully embraced the simplistic and hateful progressive narrative.
MadisonMan,
LOL I saw what you did there. Kudos.
I just wish we could get all the Russian collusion bullshit, the "Trump is anti-gay" and the "Trump is a racist" crap behind us and then "discuss" what he and his administration does.
For too many, all one has to say is "Trump!" and that starts AND settles the argument for or against whatever.
Dare we mention Schweizer's new book on how the Chinese purchased Joe Biden and McYertle? Dare we mention that ChiCom bailout of Bill Clinton's first presidential primary-election effort, and what Clinton gave them in exchange?
Let's not pretend that all the MFN giveaways to Red China were done by the Pure of Heart solely to benefit the Stressed-Out American Consumer who simply could not afford an RCA television built in Indiana, or a refrigerator built in Galesburg, IL., or power tools built in Milwaukee.
Speaking of Narrative Liars....
It isn't Trump's fault that he hasn't made a deal. Almost every stupid idea that Democrats asked for, he's offered (DACA, more spending, etc., etc.), and Democrats have done what they always do. Go for the mile after the inch.
It is a good thing Trump hasn't made many deals with them, because the ones he has managed to get (the bad budget, the small bandaid to ACA, etc.) have been compromises with people working in bad faith.
The NYT has been pushing so much bullshit for the last decade they can't, (or don't want to),
differentiate by the smell. Bottom line, elites and far too many women gotta have the sunshine blown up their asses. Elites call a spade a spade, Trump calls it a fuckin shovel.
I'm OK with that.
And here I thought Trump was doing just what he said he would do, subject to the limits of his actual powers of course.
Ditto. The MSM narrative is that Trump is a big fat liar. But Trump's current approval rating is 50%. Apparently less than 10% of the american people trust the media. And my experience is that when the media says Trump is lying the actuality is that they just disagree with him.
The MSM narrative is that Trump is a cross between Baby Huey and Hitler and that people who support him are both stupid and evil. They hope to keep him from picking up more supporters. But, since most people think they are big fat liars, nobody is buying it. Perversely, the MSM's treatment of Trump may be helping his approval rating.
Still. Not. Tired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKhH27zU8g
He touched something while campaigning through his great crowds and it has changed him.
I think there is something to this.
I don't listen to Trump much and simply look at what he, and his appointees, do.
Do you think any other GOP president since Coolidge would have appointed Pruit to rape and pillage EPA ?
union economics played a major role as well. See: the American auto industry. Golden goose, killed.
Read "Crash Course" and see how. The union boss at the Saturn plant in the South wanted to use the "quality circles" ideas that the Japanese had developed but the UAW chief vetoed it.
Let's consider Meredith Willson, the driving force behind The Music Man.
Born in Mason City, Iowa - but a graduate of what became the Julliard School, and such a accomplished flutist that he played in Sousa's Band under Sousa, as well as Toscanini's New York Philharmonic. He was a prototypical figure in explaining the Midwest's Midwest to those city slickers with whom he lived and worked. The nexus of Sousa and Toscanini was exactly the training he needed to do the job.
We forget that in the 19th century, the woodwind and brass instruments used in orchestras and bands were an expression of the dizzying pinnacle of Victorian technology.
Trump's style and rhetoric is right out of the Democrat/New York playbook. Is Chuck Schumer any less hyperbolic? Or Maxine Waters?
Being a New York land developer is not for the weak of heart. Anyone who has had construction done at their house knows what it is like to deal with the building trade. Trump survived (maybe even succeeded?) in his property business by being an intimidating and nasty SOB. How much of that is actually necessary is an interesting question.
I do wish Trump would tone down his BS but I worry more about his policies than what he says.
"The funny thing is, Trump seems to be delivering clear speech and stating the harsh truth straight on. That flummoxes some people when much of what he says turns out to be wrong."
Ann - is that a typo? Did you mean to say "turns out to be right" ?
If not, an example or two of what you had in mind perhaps?
Let's set the record straight. Professor Harold Hill claims to have graduated from the Gary Conservatory (class of ought-five), but the action of The Music Man takes place in River City, Iowa. The lyrics of the song Gary, Indiana extol not the town itself, but the way it's name rolls off the tongue.
“Trump will starve his people of cheap flat screen TV’s; China will starve its people in a more literal sense. One people will hunger for bread; the other shall not live on other people’s bread alone.”
Part of negotiating is knowing each side’s bottom line. And here, I think, Trump knows how gat we have the advantage. The Chinese need food more than we need more electronics. They have a rapidly growing middle class that demands more in their bowls than rice and insects (for the protein). Hundreds of millions of new additions to the middle class. What good is moving to the polluted cities to work long hours at mindless labor, if you can’t acquire the most fundamental thing desired by middle classes around the world - good and adequate food? The ChiCom government knows that if they want to keep their jobs at the top, they need to feed the beast, which is, in this case, the hunger of their rapidly growing middle class.
Barack Obama taught us to ignore what a president says, but pay close attention to what he accomplishes. We just carry this over to Donald Trump.
This writer still blows smoke and shows readers a fun house mirror.Midwesterners are neighborly and strong realists. And they don't understand a US Military Political Complex that wants to see them replaced by an inevitable Global World Government that refuses to treat midwesterners as neighbors anymore. All Trump had to do was convince the midwesterners that he was a fighter who was on their side. Everybody knew Hillary and Obama only wanted them to be sold off for parts and to pocket the loot left over for themselves so they could spend it on Satanic fun like the European elites like to do.
So Trump is that show off, hot shot, fighter pilot who loops and rolls the Government, flies it under the Golden Gate Bridge and buzzes the tower. But he fights our enemies for real for us and does not work for them on the pretense we want Venezuelan style socialism.
That flummoxes some people when much of what he says turns out to be wrong.
"Wrong" in which sense ? Factually, morally, or politically ?
the action of The Music Man takes place in River City, Iowa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI
It's asymmetrical warfare. Trump goes to doing things their way, they will slow-walk him to (poitical) death.
The Chinese "get" Trump at least as well as any Midwesterner.
They have no respect for Western PC BS. This is a clean battle over national interests, and on this matter the Chinese are unified.
The US has the problem that it is extremely factional and that these factions can and do place the national interest second to their relative power.
“It isn't Trump's fault that he hasn't made a deal. Almost every stupid idea that Democrats asked for, he's offered (DACA, more spending, etc., etc.), and Democrats have done what they always do. Go for the mile after the inch.”
Funny thing is that things like DACA are now off the table. He offered several inches, more than they could have rationally expected from him. They got greedy, and walked away from the table. Now, it is off the table. Can’t really be used against the Republicans in the Nov election. All those poor Dreamers? Talk to the Democrats. Not the Republicans’ fault that the Dems walked away, and the Dreamers are now open to deportation.
I think we have the upper hand with China in the tariff contest. There are lots of Asian countries that have learned to make the cheap stuff that Walmart sells.
Shut up.
Can anyone go a full week without nurturing some ridiculous geographical cultural caricature as the explanation for mindless trivialities?
By the way, I have always seen the feminine in Donald Trump.
Oh dear god.
How so? By being a whiny, entitled, materialistic yakker?
That statement was one that surely needs more of your expert analysis. Make it a gender studies at the Althouse blog Saturday.
I think we have the upper hand with China in the tariff contest.
Lol, yeah - that's right! Shut out our markets to all these Chinese autos that no one here drives or even knows of such as Dongfeng and Chang'an while they appeal directly to American laborers who can no longer sell them soybeans, cotton, etc. Brilliant.
Sorry Chuckles,
The Trump phenomenon is not as unique or unusual as you think. Only Republican Presidents are liars, according to the media. They play that up big time because they are the propaganda arm for the DNC.
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were saints.
The partisan bias of the MSM is so obvious that it amazes me that anyone with an IQ above room temperature doesn't see it.
Notice to all women: according to Toothless you are each and every one of you a “whiny, entitled, materialistic yakker.”
“There is an entrenched narrative that Trump is a continuous and intentional liar. You see it in almost every mainstream media article.“
And every post by Chuck.
An unprecedented high noise floor thanks to journolists, a foreign influenced press that seeks to manipulate American reporting, and domestic global interests placing Americans and native people second.
The warlock hunts (e.g. bullhorn prosecutions, public lynchings) and baby trials (i.e. denying due process for leverage) did not help their cause.
There is a timing problem in substituting Chinese manufactures. You certainly could move more to SE Asia for instance, and US tarriffs would be an incentive for this. There is already an incentive to move as the reaction to Chinese trade practices is global, and no matter what happens in this present argument there are guaranteed to be many more.
But this will take time and the Chinese will do all they can to limit the damage. Unspoken (much) subtext of Chinese pressure vs its near neighbors concerns this manufacturing-export competition. Vietnam and the Philippines are the two most clearly in their sights and is a significant factor in limiting manufacturing growth. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are safer from Chinese pressure.
“Barack Obama taught us to ignore what a president says, but pay close attention to what he accomplishes. We just carry this over to Donald Trump.”
Visited with some old friends this last week, and the subject of Trump came up, then was immediately squelched, when I indicated that I thought that he was doing a great job. For one thing, that 14% cut in corporate tax rates is BIG for me. But so is the fact that the EPA will no longer base decisions, such as what vehicles I can buy, on fake science, with private data that cannot be validated, because the researchers refuse to release it to the public. The list goes on. Does it bother me that he gets down and nasty with his tweets? Not-in the least. These friends wanted to talk about how horrible a person he is. They didn’t want to hear that he was making America great again for most Americans, contrasting that with eight years of recession, job losses, and insurance policy losses under his predecessor, despite his sharply creased pants.
“In fact, I'm not at all sure how "cagey" Trump is about anything. I think he has no ideology, no belief system at all.”
His ideology is that the American government should act in the best interests of the country as a whole. It’s not a Republican or Democrat ideology but it is an ideology nonetheless.
He put it on big red hats which he wears from time to time.
That the elites can’t figure it out is quite the running joke to the rest of the country.
Salena Zito had the best take of the entire 2016 campaign. "The press takes Trump literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." I think that still stands today, and the press still doesn't get it.
The Left continues to wander around the ring like a punch-drunk boxer, who still can't understand how he got TKO'd in the 15th round just before the bell.
Oh well.
But asking Trump supporters why they STILL support him is a bit foolish is a bit silly, since the sober folks at the Heritage Foundation have dutifully tabulated his substantive achievements and found them to be plentiful.
Are Midwestern Trump supporters rabid Heritage Foundation members? Perhaps not. But the "stuff" Trump has done that they like has probably filtered down to them, despite the media blockade. And, as such, they are probably more content than the ranting lunatic on CNN expressing his own discontent.
I could be wrong though. The Midterm election results and 2020 Prez election will put some meat on this supposition.
Many folks in the Midwest still wonder how Democrats can believe what they hear from the Washington Post
A lot of people liked Obama's lies and liked Hillary's lies. Those people don't like Trump's lies.
Agricultural products are almost as fungible as money. Its a global market. If the Chinese buy soybeans elsewhere then those other markets for soybeans that have lost their suppliers to China will buy from the US.
At worst there will be transportation and reorganization inefficiencies, which will cost the Chinese too.
The US is a low-cost producer for these commodities. Its not as if the Chinese are doing the US any special favors by importing its soybeans.
Manufactured goods and their producers are much more vulnerable to trade wars. They are much more substitutable, price increases more easily absorbed, and moreover purchases can be delayed.
China is on the whole a poor market for foreign manufactures as it has pursued a long term policy not just of developing export-oriented manufacuring but also of import substitution. China outright bans the import of many categories of foreign manufactures.
Michael K said...
I think we have the upper hand with China in the tariff contest. There are lots of Asian countries that have learned to make the cheap stuff that Walmart sells.
Contra TTR, China will have to get its food from some country, thereby bidding up the world price. US producers can sell to those former international buyers other than China.
Meanwhile, if this knocks China back in favor of other Pacific nations, the dividends of this policy could be huge in terms of saved defense costs and blood.
I prefer a trade war with weakened China now to a future shooting war with a stronger China.
What China has is a great amount of foreign investment held hostage, in China, mainly in manufacturing plant.
There are a lot of foreign investors in Chinese manufacturing. These are a "fifth column" in a trade war.
It will be interesting to watch this comments space and see what Trump supporters think about Trump's femininity.
It would be more interesting to have defined what are perceived as feminine or masculine traits that we should be aware of in Trump ...or in anyone else for that matter. Internal traits? External manifestations? Seriously. What?
My husband, who no one would consider feminine in the least, has his soft side. Loves to look at photos of cute kitties, puppies, loves such animals in real life and is a gentle giant with them....aaaaw. The sweet mushy feminine side. However, if he were to hear that someone was hurting such cute kitties etc he would have no compunction in literally kicking their ass to hell and back. The macho testosterone answer to a solution.
Everyone has some what are(I guess) masculine and feminine qualities. Thank God, because to not have that balance or mix of Ying and Yang would probably disqualify you from being a human being.
Why should we be surprised that Trump has a mix. Although someone will have to clue me in on what those traits are.
TTR pretty much hates women, but wants to make sure through whiney gashes can always abort any mistakes he makes. He is simple.
I doubt a trade war will weaken China. Its still in economic takeoff mode. Its got internal markets, domestic demand its not satisfied. The Chinese standard of living could stand a lot of improvement. Its just beginning to reach the edge on a lot of tech and could easily take a very scary lead.
The most likely route to Chinese breakdown would be its own government/governments bureaucracy sabotaging its growth. This is an ancient Chinese pattern of course.
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But so is the fact that the EPA will no longer base decisions, such as what vehicles I can buy, on fake science,
The greatest example of this is the original decision by Ruckleshous to ban DDT. It was contrary to the science and based on the Rachel Carson book and publicity. Millions have died of malaria as a result.
"Its just beginning to reach the edge on a lot of tech and could easily take a very scary lead."
This is Trump's real target. A lot of people have gotten rich selling American technology to China. Hillary and Bill are only two of them
Maybe this is an example of Trump "lying" creatively?
Remember how these tariffs were announced against many countries, and then slowly peeled back until China is the remaining target of what now seem like bi-lateral tariffs?
By introducing the concept in multilateral tones, and then peeling away the scope, did strategically Trump blunt the initial blow-back from the usual suspects -- China and their bought and paid-for swamp-dwelling advocates in the US?
EDH said...
“Any idea why official Washington finds tariff taxes on Chinese manufactured goods so onerous and harmful compared to other taxes?“
Because the uniparty liked 35% taxes on Americans and 0% taxes on everyone else. It made wealthy globalists rich and begat the erosion of the American middle class.
Democrats/uniparty serves the serf class and and the ultra wealthy. The open borders leading to replacement of citizens was the obvious tag team policy.
“The most likely route to Chinese breakdown would be its own government/governments bureaucracy sabotaging its growth. This is an ancient Chinese pattern of course.“
Central planning cannot compete with a truly free society.
re: Gary, Indiana (sigh)
the tune - it's not from Music Man. Instead it's from Bye Bye Birdie, which was produced in about the same time frame (a bit later IIRC)
the town - it's a steel town, and not a large steel town at that. Not exactly where you would look for a conservatory, but the rubes in River City at the turn of the 20th century don't know that. If Harold Hill gets feedback from some wag that there's no conservatory in Gary because his kid (like some young Willson) told him so, he goes to the next town over and gets his bidness done.
Tommy Duncan: "Chuck has fully embraced the simplistic and hateful progressive narrative."
There is no stronger defender and deflector for the hateful progressive narrative across the board then LLR Chuck.
And he was there from the very beginning.
Francisco D: "Only Republican Presidents are liars, according to the media."
Only Republican Presidents are liars, according to the media and their LLR allies.
FIFY.
Achilles: "Central planning cannot compete with a truly free society."
Yes it can under one condition: the elites of the competitor country become aligned with the interests of the centrally planned nation.
Which is precisely what has occurred in the US over the last 30 years.
""Many Democrats still wonder how folks in the Midwest can believe what they hear from Donald Trump.""
These many democrats are going to be blind sided when it turns out Senators like Democrat Warren from Virginia and Republican McCain are the ones that colluded with Russia to take out Trump. There are over a dozen democrats that have been fired/demoted from the DOJ so far but they think Trump did wrong.
They know Hillary was paid $145 million in bribes by Russia and paid millions to Russian agents through intermediaries to build the Steele Dossier. But they are totally convinced it was Trump colluding.
It is because democrat voters are stupid.
Modern China is arguably less "centrally planned" than the US, and less burdened with bureaucratic overhead. And its better this way than many other countries too.
Civil liberties it hasn't got, but it does have economic liberties.
And moreover the government does not get in its own way, as when it decides to build a railroad.
The Left is committed to the destruction of America, and they hate Trump because he stands in their way. But that is a tiny minority of the enemies of Trump. Far more common are those who regard themselves as "elites", and are committed to a fact-free view of the World in which there is no rational basis for any conflict. Except, of course, with us preternaturally hostile assholes who believe the most powerful nation on Earth has enemies. The "elites" are prepared to do us the kindness of saving us from our own paranoia, but it will first be necessary to take away our guns, our property and our children, and replace us with peons. They are prepared to make those sacrifices.
TTR pretty much hates women...
Really?
Just because I don't blow sunshine up their asses and pine away for them to validate me like you do?
...but wants to make sure through whiney gashes can always abort any mistakes he makes
Oh, you never give up hope that one of these days one of them will allow you to impregnate her - after which your mark is made! Your progeny secure! Good golly almighty tim in vermont will claim his seed no matter where it got left! It's his!
Of course if it were possible for him to leave an actually meaningful legacy (i.e. people who remembered him) then this wouldn't be his greatest fear - that his seeds would be discarded.
Drago said...
Achilles: "Central planning cannot compete with a truly free society."
Yes it can under one condition: the elites of the competitor country become aligned with the interests of the centrally planned nation.
Which is precisely what has occurred in the US over the last 30 years.
Oh you know I 100% agree. BushClintonBushObama were aristocrats serving the wealthy.
Any sane country would have higher taxes on things it imports than on things it produces.
buwaya said...
"Civil liberties it hasn't got, but it does have economic liberties."
You might want to consider whether that is even possible. My understanding is that everyone in China who has managed to make his pile is desperately seeking a means to export said pile to someplace with what you call "civil liberties", so that he can have some hope of spending it in peace.
There are a lot of foreign investors in Chinese manufacturing.
That's where GM makes the Buick Envision, for example. Ford will be making the next Focus there and it's already making the current model there. And a JV between Red China and FCA plans on exporting Trumpchi (no kidding!!) SUV's to the US in 2019.
What about the midwesterner's response to the news: "settle down, don't get your shorts in a knot."
To me, Trump is kind of like the weather. It's unpredictable and mostly bad, but I'm not going to get the vapors about it every day. It blows through.
buwaya said...
Modern China is arguably less "centrally planned" than the US, and less burdened with bureaucratic overhead. And its better this way than many other countries too.
Civil liberties it hasn't got, but it does have economic liberties.
And moreover the government does not get in its own way, as when it decides to build a railroad.
I agree that over the last 30 years the globalists in DC have done a number on this country.
The difference is the citizenry. Our education system is doing it's best to destroy the core strength of the United States. But the core is still there.
China doesn't have the requisite virtue in it's citizenry to facilitate a free society. The average Chinese citizen will only do the right thing if someone is watching them.
TTR: "Just because I don't blow sunshine up their asses and pine away for them to validate me like you do?"
But are you willing to learn?
No, I'm not.
I don't think that takes much learning, anyway. A lot of cucks (sorry, I mean American males) internalize the lesson naturally anyway. Or it comes naturally to them at birth.
We have seen the pathetic American tv sitcom male/dad and he is us, saith the tims in vermont.
Blogger Achilles said...
"Any sane country would have higher taxes on things it imports than on things it produces."
Bears repeating...
A man who has a feminine side means having a sensitivity to others. That is a civilized trait often found among those raised Episcopalian. They understand that one can always arrange for others to do the fighting.
Then there is the masculine trait that loves to fight.It requires men having an off switch for the sensitive side so one can focus on winning fights to the death. That is called masculine by women who wonder where men get that switch. The secret is that unless we are insane, we only flip our switched when attacked.
Many films have dealt with this theme. John Wayne was good at portraying it. (See, The Searchers) The film Noir Genre in the 1946-1954 era was directed to the men home from War who had been conditioned to turn off their switches for 3+ years and kill before they were killed. Many books came from that too. Brings to mind a sensitive man who did Peleliu and Okinawa With the Old Breed USMC, but Sledgehammer adjusted back to sensitive Eugene Sledge later.
Blogger buwaya said...
Modern China is arguably less "centrally planned" than the US, and less burdened with bureaucratic overhead. And its better this way than many other countries too.
I tend to agree but Xi is going to the old communist central planning route, I suspect.
I keep seeing these very bright young Chinese getting out and joining the US Army to get citizenship. In Los Angeles (where I will be working again next week,) almost 15% of all applicants, and that is the busiest MEPS in the country, are Chinese youth.
They know something.
If you turned around and caught a pickpocket trying to lift your wallet, would you be inclined to believe him about anything? That's a good rule of thumb: be more inclined to believe the politician who picks your pocket the least. And if a pickpocket tells you, "There's no truth but socialist truth," that's the one to absolutely disbelieve all the time.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
No, I'm not.
Weakness.
I don't think that takes much learning, anyway. A lot of cucks (sorry, I mean American males) internalize the lesson naturally anyway. Or it comes naturally to them at birth.
We can still choose to be citizens. The call to become a serf is tantalizing to many but the choice is there in this country.
We have seen the pathetic American tv sitcom male/dad and he is us, saith the tims in vermont.
Pajama boy is a pathetic image.
Blogger Bruce Hayden said...
"Funny thing is that things like DACA are now off the table."
The Democrats never wanted a deal. DACA is more valuable to Democrats as an election year issue.
The DACA deal was the epitome of self-serving progressive politics.
Tommy Duncan said...
Blogger Bruce Hayden said...
"Funny thing is that things like DACA are now off the table."
The Democrats never wanted a deal. DACA is more valuable to Democrats as an election year issue.
The DACA deal was the epitome of self-serving progressive politics.
Trump understands the truth of the issue. Actual citizens who vote are about 70/30 in support of illegal immigration.
If he continues what he started this week the only problem republicans will have in the midterm is the voters turning on traitorous cucks in the GOPe.
traditionalguy said...
A man who has a feminine side means having a sensitivity to others.
I'll let you break the news to President Mom-Jeans.
Would Trump's feminine side ask, "Do these jeans make my ass look fat? Because I want to burn that picture of me in my khakis in Scotland..."?
Asking for a friend. My friend's name is John Baron, by the way. He's a great guy. Strong. Very strong, believe me when I say. So strong you'll say, "Mr. President, he's too strong! We can't take any more strong!"
The title suggests only half the problem. Whether people believe Trump or not neglects the question of whether people believe Democrats. A simple phrase has become famous since Trump was elected; "That's how you got Trump." It's a catch all phrase to capture the numerous times other politicians, both Democrat and Republican but both part of the establishment, have lied to us.
Many of us don't believe or support Trump. We just prefer his dishonesty to yours. Heck, I can't think of any Trump lie worse than the notion put forth by Democrats that he somehow colluded with Russia to steal the election.
"These friends wanted to talk about how horrible a person [Trump] is."
Most of the people I know who are fervently anti-Trump seem to be personally offended by him. It rarely seems to have much to do with policy. Indeed, they never articulate much beyond "what an asshole!!".
I suppose because pundits stock in trade is words, they tend to pay lots of attention to the words issuing from politicians' mouths. Personally, I don't think I've listened to a political speech since 2008. The smoothness with which Obama issued Presidential speech product mattered far less to me than his actual actions, e.g., weaponizing the Executive branch against political opponents, undermining public and post-secondary education, disrupting neighborhoods, etc.
"The Democrats never wanted a deal. DACA is more valuable to Democrats as an election year issue."
A more accurate term for "Dreamers" is "foreigners". That's right, they are citizens of other countries and cannot legally vote in American elections.
buwaya said...
What China has is a great amount of foreign investment held hostage, in China, mainly in manufacturing plant.
There are a lot of foreign investors in Chinese manufacturing. These are a "fifth column" in a trade war.
4/7/18, 11:08 AM
Buwaya, I dream of the Chinese expropriationg Western assets. Burn their credibility for a thousand years. They have a golden goose and, if not outright setting out to kill it, are doggedly working it to death.
LLR Chuck still hasn't recovered from Trump exposing Chuckies pal Li'l Dickie Durbin's shenanigans regarding immigration.
The lashing out from LLR Chuck/lefties after that exposure was epic.
Epic.
Also please elaborate :
Unspoken (much) subtext of Chinese pressure vs its near neighbors concerns this manufacturing-export competition. Vietnam and the Philippines are the two most clearly in their sights and is a significant factor in limiting manufacturing growth.
ISTM the above can precisely be ameliorated by giving them trade. Do you seriously mean that China says to them, Do not authorize that semiconductor plant, or we'll blockade you or bomb you?
Explain please, for the rest of the class, the classic and modern forms of squeeze used by the Chinese. J. Farmer dismissed this long ago but I understand exactly what you mean.
“The Democrats never wanted a deal. DACA is more valuable to Democrats as an election year issue.”
I think it would be more accurate to say: “DACA WAS more valuable to the Democrats...” The Republicans are now in a position to argue that Trump offered them more than they were dreaming of, in wet dreams, and they turned him down flat. He was offering legal status, of sorts, to more people than the Dems were asking for. A lot more, probably at least double. All that he was really asking for were reasonable limits to chain migration, so that 1.5 million didn’t balloon to 10-20 million, when they brought their entire villages back home with them. Which, of course, was the Democrats’ game all along. Instead, they are mostly going to have to shut up every time one of their Dreamers is deported.
Lewis: "That's right, they are citizens of other countries and cannot legally vote in American elections."
The idea of only American citizens voting in our elections is such a quaint outdated notion.
The process is quite simple for LLR Chuck's lefty allies:
Sanctuary status for illegals.
No questions about citizenship/non-citizenship on census
Lawsuits to ensure that all "persons" residing in the state are counted for electoral college purposes
Motor voter registration which includes anyone, especially illegals, to ensure they are registered to vote
Make sure no actually checks to see if the illegals are voting
Lax border security to facilitate travel by illegals into the sanctuary states
Bingo. 3 or 4 blue states are all that are required to delivered a permanent democrat political majority leading inevitably to permanent dem control.
The dems are not hiding this intent any longer which is why LLR Chuck is spinning so furiously to keep the focus away from those obvious activities. LLR Chuck is just doing his part to ensure the republicans achieve permanent minority status from which they can return to "losing with dignity" across the board.
Transparent.
Paco Wové said...
"These friends wanted to talk about how horrible a person [Trump] is."
Most of the people I know who are fervently anti-Trump seem to be personally offended by him. It rarely seems to have much to do with policy. Indeed, they never articulate much beyond "what an asshole!!".
They pretend to be personally offended by him because they know his policies have 60-70% support among actual voters.
Lower taxes on Americans. Higher taxes on imports. Fewer/no illegal immigration.
No sane person would disagree with any of those.
And I will wait for any of the "free traders" out there to tell us why we should tax ourselves instead of imports.
Blogger mezzrow said...
re: Gary, Indiana (sigh)
the tune - it's not from Music Man. Instead it's from Bye Bye Birdie, which was produced in about the same time frame (a bit later IIRC)
I just watch a clip of Ron Howard singing the tune in The Music Man.
EDH,
I prefer a trade war with weakened China now to a future shooting war with a stronger China.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_5_October_1804
As fictionalized in Hornblower and the Hotspur:
'The treasure that is not sent to Bonaparte,' said Cornwallis, 'will largely go towards re-equipping the Spanish navy, which can be employed against England whenever Bonaparte chooses. So you can understand why it is desirable that the flota shall not reach Cadiz this year.'
'So it's war, sir?' asked Moore, but Cornwallis shook his head.
'No. I am sending a squadron to intercept the flota, and I expect you've already guessed that it is your ships that I'm sending, gentlemen. But it is not war. Captain Moore, the senior officer, will be instructed to request the Spaniards to alter course and enter an English port. There the treasure will be removed and the ships set free. The treasure will not be seized. It will be retained by His Majesty's Government as a pledge, to be returned to His Most Catholic Majesty on the conclusion of a general peace.'
'What ships are they, sir?'
'Frigates. Ships of war. Three frigates, sometimes four.'
'Commanded by Spanish naval officers, sir?'
'Yes.'
'They'll never agree, sir. They'll never violate their orders just because we tell 'em to.'
Cornwallis rolled his eyes up to the deck-beams above and then down again.
'You will have written orders to compel them.'
'Then we'll have to fight them, sir?'
'If they are so foolish as to resist.'
'And that will be war, sir.'
'Yes. His Majesty's Government is of the opinion that Spain without eight million dollars is less dangerous as an open enemy than she would be as a secret enemy with that money available. Is the situation perfectly clear now, gentlemen?'
I am slowly warming to the idea of replacing the income tax with tariff for revenue only. Essentially this would amount to a VAT on imported goods. I know, it is a terrible idea, but it is less terrible than an income tax. My God, we tax worker's wages but not investment income? Who came up with that stupid idea?
Speaking of feminine sides to men in movies, compare the pre-War roles played by Jimmy Stewart which cast Jimmy for his all lovey dovey, handsome and ideal young man persona.
In contrast , his post-War movies cast James in roles of the a flawed strong man with a hair trigger switch to attack and kill many bad men before they killed his friends.
In between those casting types he had flown 18 combat missions Piloting B-17s over Germany as a Group Commander. He watched helplessly while his men suffered severe loss rates to evil killers flying superior airplanes, until Stewart was temporarily grounded for severe combat fatigue. But Jimmy insisted on fighting . He had been raised a Calvinist Presbyterian (in Western Pennsylvania) and he went to Princeton as a Scottish Presbyterian must, much like Da Trump.
We can still choose to be citizens.
Citizenship is conferred at birth, you big dummy. There may be a choice on how much civic engagement to perform, but that's for those of us who actually passed our high school civics courses, are a part of civil society and aren't just indulging doomsday conspiracy scenarios in our basements like you are while you stock up the cellar pantry with canned goods, weaponry and other adult play items.
The call to become a serf is tantalizing to many
Speak for yourself.
Like I said, Achilles = empty head + injectable steroid bravado + cannabis-induced paranoia + a third drug that totally warps his thinking, either mescaline or methamphetamine, I'm not sure which. Basically when you mix testosterone into a vessel with paranoia and delusion you get Achilles. A totally blank slate mind with just enough t-rage and hallucinogenic delusion to accept any nonsense that a sufficiently motivated right-wing political salesman will peddle to him.
Now that China has threatened to place tariffs on 150 Billion in US imports the globalist felators in DC are worried they will place more tariffs on more US goods! Except they only import 150 Billion in US goods...
Welp!
Dear China,
Please don't sell our debt/bonds at a discount. It would be horrible if the total value on the debt went down.
=(
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
[a bunch of really stupid stuff]
If you want to pretend you are incapable of abstract thought and/or critical thinking go for it.
It is boring and I have things to do.
Paco Wové said...
"These friends wanted to talk about how horrible a person [Trump] is."
Most of the people I know who are fervently anti-Trump seem to be personally offended by him. It rarely seems to have much to do with policy. Indeed, they never articulate much beyond "what an asshole!!".
It's interesting but even in California, I met very few vocal Trump opponents. You see them in blog comments and newspaper comments but just not many real people. I know they are out there but they are very loud. I wonder if they are as many as they seem ?
They pretend to be personally offended by him because they know his policies have 60-70% support among actual voters.
What ARE his policies?!?
What is his "replacement" for Obamacare?
What is his solution for the cost curve with Medicare?
What is his plan for infrastructure spending; and most of all, how to pay for it?
What about DACA recipients? Is he going to deport them? Does he want to deport them? (Trump has said several times "No," and that he wants a plan "with love.")
He wants a wall. It might cost $70 billion. How will we pay for that?
We could go all day like this...
I am pretty hard core on free trade. Pretty much no restrictions whatever for reasons I've discussed here before.
I believe that in the past here I have discussed the possibility of the Chinese pulling their investments in us govt bonds if President Trump went through with the tariffs.
Drudge has been reporting in the past few days that they are threatening to do this.
Good.
McCain in08, Romney in 12, trump in 16 and others have complained about financing the deficit with Chinese money.
If tariffs and trade barriers can stop this, it seems like a small price to pay. The reason we have deficit spending is because the Chinese and others are willing to pay for it.
If we ca starve the beast, we can beat the deficit and begin to work on reducing the debt.
John Henry
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
[a bunch of really stupid stuff]
You take yourself more seriously than a heart attack.
Get over it. It's tedious.
If you want to pretend you are incapable of abstract thought and/or critical thinking go for it.
If I want to "pretend that I am incapable of abstract thought...?" Weird.
How about capable of clear thought? Are you capable of that? Actual facts over Red Dawn, for a change? Wouldn't that be nice?
It is boring and I have things to do.
Sorry, I forgot how many people were knocking down your door demanding the sort of high quality entertainment that only the great Achilles is talented and insightful enough to provide.
Blogger Michael K said:
It's interesting but even in California, I met very few vocal Trump opponents. You see them in blog comments and newspaper comments but just not many real people. I know they are out there but they are very loud. I wonder if they are as many as they seem ?
I believe that in certain professions (showbiz & journalism) ritualized denunciations of Trump & non-coastal voters is a necessary preface to both social & business discussions.
Speaking of marks
"Citizenship is conferred at birth, you big dummy."
Only for so-called "natural born citizens" and only in the US and a few other countries. Most developed countries do not recognize jus solis citizenship.
Have you ever noticed that some people have the strongest opinions about things they know the least about? That's the classic definition of bigotry.
The elites speak the Queen's English.
President Trump speaks Queens English.
(stolen from Mrs Maisel)
John Henry
“Sorry, I forgot how many people were knocking down your door demanding the sort of high quality entertainment that only the great Achilles is talented and insightful enough to provide.”
Ask Achilles about his raw egg diet. Salmonella colonized in his brain maybe?
“I know they are out there but they are very loud. I wonder if they are as many as they seem ?”
Oh my, you have no idea. How do you think Rebecca Dallet, a progressive Democrat, won a seat on the WI Supreme Court seat by 12 points?
mezzrow said...
re: Gary, Indiana (sigh)
the tune - it's not from Music Man. Instead it's from Bye Bye Birdie, which was produced in about the same time frame (a bit later IIRC)
Well, that's entirely wrong.
Gee. A leftist snob lecturing a bunch of hicks who refuse to see just how stupid they are.
That's a new one.
On methods of Chinese squeeze -
The direct ones are obvious, as when China barred Philippine fishermen from their own territorial shipping grounds.
This was the subject of negotiation in 2016.
But usually it is "soft power", as even if the principals in some investment someone in China objects to have no investments there to be held hostage, it's certain their necessary business partners do. It takes a word, to the effect that such a thing would be unlucky.
The permutations of such influence are vast.
As for foreign investments in China being held hostage - a lot of people have lost a lot of money in China, often to the whims of local officials and the like. In spite of that investment keeps increasing and the investors are careful to keep powerful Chinese happy. Also anyone who invests in an export-oriented manufacturing plant in China automatically shares in Chinese trade interests. They are on the Chinese side of any trade dispute.
Oh my, you have no idea. How do you think Rebecca Dallet, a progressive Democrat, won a seat on the WI Supreme Court seat by 12 points?
Because the totalitarian thugs in Dane County turned out at 80 percent.
That will win you a court seat. Not so much the White House.
The biggest general difference between progressives and everyone else, is that the former views intentions as what matters, while everyone else believes actions are ultimately what matters. The problem with the "intentions" route, is that it makes speech and thoughts paramount.
Progressives in the Arena
Does Von Drehle remember what the alternative was to Trump ? Even Inga wouldn't admit to voting for her. Trump did not occur in a vacuum.
“Tonight’s results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI,” Walker, who is up for re-election in November, tweeted.”
Dallet won many counties that Trump won in 2016.
“Dallet won 24 counties that Democrat Hillary Clinton lost to President Donald Trump in Wisconsin's 2016 presidential race.
She also ran up the numbers in Democratic strongholds, winning 81 percent of the vote in Dane County.
"It's a remarkable number," Franklin said. "We've seen the Dane County vote tilting more and more Democratic over the last four or five election cycles. Last night was sort of an extreme example of this."
Dane County's numbers contributed to Dallet's lopsided victory, but she would defeated Screnock even without them.
She won most of southwest Wisconsin, a block of central Wisconsin counties, and key Fox Valley counties that had been trending strongly Republican.
For example, Dallet received 55 percent of the vote in Brown County, which is slightly higher than President Barack Obama received in the 2008 Democratic wave election.”
Yeah, Trump is on the Clintons. First, selling out the blue collar midwest to the globalists, then by stealing the nomination from Bernie.
buwaya said...
As for foreign investments in China being held hostage - a lot of people have lost a lot of money in China, often to the whims of local officials and the like. In spite of that investment keeps increasing and the investors are careful to keep powerful Chinese happy. Also anyone who invests in an export-oriented manufacturing plant in China automatically shares in Chinese trade interests. They are on the Chinese side of any trade dispute.
This tactic will never hold up in the long run.
Corruption is a tax just like any other tax and it provides even fewer benefits than standard taxes.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Sorry, I forgot how many people were knocking down your door demanding the sort of high quality entertainment that only the great Achilles is talented and insightful enough to provide.
At least you posted one intelligent thing today.
It would be more fun if you engaged on any actual topic though. Here is a good one:
Parkland shooting hero blames sheriff and superintendent for failing to prevent massacre
"Runcie and Israel “failed us students, teachers and parents alike on so many levels,” Arreaza read for Borges, who sat next to his father, Roger. “I want all of us to move forward to end the environment that allowed people like Nikolas Cruz to fall through the cracks. You knew he was a problem years ago and you did nothing. He should have never been in school with us.”
Funny how all you leftists gushed over a bunch of shithead Red Guard wannabes.
Let me square the circle for the author, who clearly lacks a single mirror in his entire house.
I was asked this question by an L.A. black man, who did not understand why Fundamentalist Church folks were cleaving to Trump, a liar, a huckster and a serial adulterer.
It is very simple: Trump doesn't care about the culture war.
The Left clearly does.
So a Mid Westerner who does NOT want their kids taught gender fluidity...can go for Trump, who doesn't care...or Hillary, who will put her webbed fingers DEEP into the educational system just to get her fellow travelers off her back!
Gay Marriage? Trump doesn't care. The Left REALLY cares!
Gun rights? Ditto.
Here is the one place where Trump DOES care...and the Left ALSO cares: Immigration. Except that the Democrats can't deny their preference for open borders. Not when ANYTHING Trump does to limit illegal immigration is met with visceral shock and hatred by Democrats.
Well...the Midwest likes their value systems, culture and language, thanks a bunch and not a single country to the south of us is much better than a shithole, including Brazil.
Is that what we want in THIS country?
Not particularly.
So it isn't that Trump is so wonderful. It is that the Left is so fucking awful and intrusive.
Hogg hid in the corner like a good little Pajama boy and came out later trying to disarm law abiding Americans who wanted people like Cruz put in jail.
Borges took 5 gun shots holding a door open for his classmates as they escaped. He correctly blames leftist policies that allowed Cruz to remain free and legally purchase the weapons a felon should never have been able to buy.
He is also a legal immigrant from Venezuela. Looks like he has some experience with TTR's and Inga's ideological allies.
Guess who Inga and TTR think the real hero's are.
I see a presidential visit in Borges's future. That is going to be inconvenient.
I expect the leftists to start making calls to stop politicizing tragedies very soon.
You've gotta love language like this: --totalitarian thugs in Dane County ---because it does wonders to make folks get out the vote in the drift less areas to pull the lever for a Dem against the crass right.
It's a wonder the Democrats still believe their own bullshit.
"
Blogger Howard said...
Trump is like a girl, a princess to be more precise. Most male narcissists are."
You mean like Kerry and Obama ?
I agree.
So it isn't that Trump is so wonderful. It is that the Left is so fucking awful and intrusive.
This.
#StrongDemDefender Chuck: "What ARE his policies?!?"
LOL
Yeah, what are Trump's policies?
I mean, its inexplicable. Trump has just delivered the most conservative actual governance in 60 years and Chuck remains confused.
Of course, Chuck thinks very highly of all the NeverTrumpers who openly root for democrats to be elected as the "real conservatives"....because....shut up racist!
Eaglebeak
Not sure Trump is all that cagey about his views on gays. Remember his convention speech?
“As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” he said.
As the crowd applauded, Trump deviated from his prepared remarks to note the gravity of the reaction.
"As a Republican, I'm so happy to hear you cheering for what I just said," he said.
As for a feminine side--there's no man alive who doesn't have a feminine side; there's no woman alive who doesn't have a masculine side--in my view, that is.
But if we're comparing Trump, Kerry, and Obama--just to take three names out of a hat--Trump seems like way more of a mensch than the other two.
Achilles: "Guess who Inga and TTR think the real hero's are."
Well, we are talking about lefties who told us Bowe Bergdahl served honorably and was a hero.
Meanwhile, Inga called highly decorated 30+ year combat vet Michael Flynn a traitor.
The left also adored and defended Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs for decades. Some still do.
It's like there is a timeless pattern or something....
China trade war: China's hole card is not US bonds or any of the things mentioned so far, although they do play a factor. It is rare earths. When this comes into the tariff conversation you know there is something to worry about. Until we can find a way to produce our technology without them we will be held partially hostage.
buwaya is right about China policy being unified. It is an advantage in their political system when dealing internationally. Trump has to fight a rearguard action, which gives the Chinese leverage. Targeting Trump territory is a case in point.
The most important thing here is how the Chinese are aquiring IP. By outright theft, or coercion, they have moved from third world peasantry to a world technological power in just a few decades. If this is allowed to continue unabated...
For me (and by appearances the Trump administration) IP is the critical item. If we can negotiate more equitable trade practices too, all the better.
It's as if they've gone to the zoo to observe the great apes exhibit.
-sw
"For me (and by appearances the Trump administration) IP is the critical item"
Yes.
Maybe somebody should write a story about why all those people voted for Hillary, other than to vote against Trump.
Chuck said...
What ARE his policies?!?
What is his "replacement" for Obamacare?
What is his solution for the cost curve with Medicare?
What is his plan for infrastructure spending; and most of all, how to pay for it?
What about DACA recipients? Is he going to deport them? Does he want to deport them? (Trump has said several times "No," and that he wants a plan "with love.")
He wants a wall. It might cost $70 billion. How will we pay for that?
We could go all day like this...
And you do. You go on and on and on and on...
And nobody gives a shit about you anymore. You are useless to your democrat masters. You are reviled by the republican voters your goal was to betray.
The republican voters are no longer supporting open borders endless wars caving to democrats. The remnants of the GOPe will cling bitterly to power for a few more years and betray republican voters a few more times.
But your time is done.
I believe that in certain professions (showbiz & journalism) ritualized denunciations of Trump & non-coastal voters is a necessary preface to both social & business discussions.
It's frequently quite funny. Think of all the articles by somewhat sane journos that start like Of course Trump is an awful person and a moron, but actually what his advisors have him doing is pretty good in this respect...
Blogger FIDO said...
. . .
I was asked this question by an L.A. black man, who did not understand why Fundamentalist Church folks were cleaving to Trump, a liar, a huckster and a serial adulterer.
It is very simple: Trump doesn't care about the culture war.
The Left clearly does.
So a Mid Westerner who does NOT want their kids taught gender fluidity...can go for Trump, who doesn't care...or Hillary, who will put her webbed fingers DEEP into the educational system just to get her fellow travelers off her back!
Gay Marriage? Trump doesn't care. The Left REALLY cares!
Gun rights? Ditto.
Or, as Howie Carr has said, evangelicals voted for Trump because they weren't looking for a moral exemplar, they were looking for a bodyguard.
I live in the mid-west and I'm smart enough to recognize the difference between negotiation tactics and official policy. I don't expect Trump to be 100% truthful - I expect him to be effective at addressing a corrupt government that feeds off my hard work.
Our friend Chuck asks:
"What ARE his policies?!?"
There is an answer to this - here's a partial list of Trump policies adopted, as provided by the conservative Heritage Foundation:
Leaving the Paris Climate Accord: In August 2017, Trump announced the U.S. was ending its funding and membership in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Repealing Net Neutrality: In December 2017, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman proposed ending the 2015 network neutrality rules.
Reshaping National Monuments: Heritage’s recommendation to prohibit Land Acquisition (Cap and Reduce the Size of the Federal Estate) was adopted by Trump when he issued two executive orders effectively shrinking the size of national monuments in Utah.
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy: This executive order prevents taxpayer money from funding international groups involved in abortion and ending funding to the United Nations Population fund. On Jan. 23, 2017, in his first pro-life action, Trump signed an executive order today reinstating the Mexico City Policy.
Increasing Military Spending: Trump’s budget calls for a $54 billion increase in military spending to improve capacity, capability, and readiness of America’s armed forces.
Reforming Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF): The Trump administration adopted and is in favor of strengthening existing work requirements in order to receive benefits.
Allowing Development of Natural Resources: The Trump administration opened off-shore drilling and on federal lands. Executive Order 13783 directed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to commence federal land coal leasing activities.
Reforming Government Agencies: Trump tasked each of his Cabinet secretaries to prepare detailed plans on how they propose to reduce the scope and size of their respective departments while streamlining services and ensuring each department runs more efficiently and handles tax dollars appropriately.
Withdrawing from UNESCO: In October 2017, Trump announced he was putting an end to U.S. membership in the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In my mind, the tax cut law and stepped up efforts to stop illegal immigration have been excellent, along with the quality of his appointed federal judges.
Blogger Unknown said...
(quoting me) "I believe that in certain professions (showbiz & journalism) ritualized denunciations of Trump & non-coastal voters is a necessary preface to both social & business discussions."
It's frequently quite funny. Think of all the articles by somewhat sane journos that start like Of course Trump is an awful person and a moron, but actually what his advisors have him doing is pretty good in this respect...
4/7/18, 3:58 PM
It's worse than that. In the NYRB, for example, in an article that has nothing to do with politics or current events, there will be at least one sentence mocking Trump or expressing fear of him.
It's shocking and bizarre if you aren't steeped in irrational Trump hatred. He occupies a lot of the mental real estate of the elites.
From Kevin Williamson - #NoTrumper
About the fact that the current president of the United States of America is in the habit of saying astoundingly stupid things in public, there is no debate — how could there be? The debate on the right is mainly between Trump partisans who believe . . . that President Trump is in the habit of saying astoundingly stupid things in public as part of a grand political scheme (twelve-dimensional chess!) and those who believe that President Trump is in the habit of saying astoundingly stupid things in public because . . . of the more straightforward reason.
Jamie Kirchick of the Brookings Institution wryly observes: “Everything Trump says makes sense when you just preface it with, ‘Donald from Queens, you’re on the air.’” I do not know if Kirchick intended . . . but his joke actually splits the difference between the grand-design explanation of Trump’s ridiculousness and the he’s-just-an-ordinary-fool explanation.
Call it rational ignorance with a vengeance, rational ignorance with malice aforethought.
Donald Trump is clearly a creature of ignorance. No other sort of man would be capable of writing these sentences: “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. When we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore — we win big. It’s easy!” There isn’t a serious economist or businessman in these United States who really believes that.
Trump doesn’t know much, but he knows enough to know that that doesn’t much matter, at least as a question of the crude calculation of his own self-interest — the only subject to which he gives serious thought.
Trump doesn’t know much, but he knows enough to know that that doesn’t much matter, at least as a question of the crude calculation of his own self-interest — the only subject to which he gives serious thought.
It must really hurt to have been outsmarted by this ignoramus.
What ARE his policies?!?
This gets tedious, but being the moderate person I am I continue to believe your questions are in earnest and will answer them to the best of my ability and try to hold the snark to a minimum.
What is his "replacement" for Obamacare?
That was pretty well defined last year in the House. Trump was willing to sign it unaltered. Since he is not an iconoclast, he was willing accept modification in the Senate. I know you were paying attention to it. Or do you mean that since Trump didn't write the bill himself he is an idiot?
What is his solution for the cost curve with Medicare?
He was clear on this from this from the beginning. He has no intent on tackling the problem other than working around the edges. Faster FDA approvals and such. Same for SS and Medicare.
What is his plan for infrastructure spending; and most of all, how to pay for it?
Again, he laid this out in his campaign, and again later. It's the usual stuff. Bridges, roads and power grids. (I think he added the last at a later date). I always considered his offer of an infastructure plan as a sop to the dems. He plans to privatize much of the costs. Infrastructure has been a good investment in the past, so I'm assuming he is considering future payoffs as well.
What about DACA recipients? Is he going to deport them? Does he want to deport them? (Trump has said several times "No," and that he wants a plan "with love.")
He's been pretty clear on this and I'm suprised you ask. He will deport the ones that don't follow the rules. Give citizenship to the ones that do.
He wants a wall. It might cost $70 billion. How will we pay for that?
Taken as a part of his four point plan the wall will pay for itself in outlays of government services to illegals in less than a decade. But I assume you were trying to make a point about "Mexico will pay for the wall"?
We could go all day like this...
But I would much rather go on with a discussion of whether the policies he has laid out will be beneficial for the USA, or not, as well as how he can achieve his goals given the current political climate. Especially since you already knew the answers to your previous questions.
I was reading the 4chan /pol/ board the other day and someone used the phrase 'Rockefeller Republican'. I wasn't sure what that actually meant, so I looked it up and, yeah, it ended up kinda being what I thought it was. But that was back in the 70s, when shit was weird but not fully corrupt yet, like most of the Republicans are now. Don't even get me going on the Democrats.
And I was thinking about Rockefeller Republicans in relation to Trump, but then I saw that Rockefeller's son might've been eaten by cannibals, so I ended up reading that shit, because: cannibals, right?
I mean, a world where a rich spoiled kid gets eaten by people who probably had bones through their nose? Fuck, yeah, that's pretty cool. Because there are some rich people today who go on about diversity and saving the rainforest and shit, and I wouldn't mind a few cannibals making a meal out of them, I think I could get behind that kind of diversity. And I bet that footage of pygmies eating, like, Kim Kardashian's ass would be the biggest YouTube thing ever.
Anyway, that shit doesn't seem to happen now. I mean, Rockefeller's son gets eaten by a cannibal, but Trump's daughter is hot and only becomes a Jew, no big deal.
I'm gonna read more about cannibals.
Sometimes I post my shit here.
Call it rational ignorance with a vengeance, rational ignorance with malice aforethought.
Kevin Williamson has been spurned by his democrat masters and is reviled by republican voters. Just like all of the other DC "conservatives."
They are about as useful as tits on a bull.
He was looking in the mirror when he made this quote.
This is why only leftists think quotes of them are dispositive in discussions. They are tools too.
I'm so old, I can remember when there were Democrats in the Midwest. Guess they are all urban hipsters these days.
I'm so old, I can remember when there were Democrats in the Midwest. Guess they are all urban hipsters these days.
There still are, but they're in Chicago, Detroit, Madison, and other places like that, i.e., either large cities with urban populations who have been conditioned to vote for Democrats because Democrats "care"* or college towns where the students don't know any better.
___________________
* They actually care from a couple months before the election until the morning after. Not otherwise.
"Trump doesn’t know much... crude calculation of his own self-interest ... the only subject to which he gives serious thought"
Consider for just a moment the possibility that such a person, asshole!! though he be, might still be a better President than the offered alternatives.
Trump's recent spending bill and failure to cleanly repeal Obamacare (thanks Senator McCain) and failure to build the wall might be considered political demerits. But only a novice thinks like this. In politics you take the good with the bad. Most politicians (even the Sainted Ronald Reagan) do stupid things (first Amnesty law).
You take the good with the bad, hold your nose, and Thank God it isn't worse.
By this metric, on the whole, Trump has been a success.
he 4chan guy who reads Althouse said...
I mean, a world where a rich spoiled kid gets eaten by people who probably had bones through their nose?
Some good came of this (not restricted to the eating of the rich). The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing (in memoriam) at the Metropolitan Museum is the most interesting permanent exhibit in NYC. It is a long tour through the Id of humanity, as raw and weird as you always suspected.
How about Trump’s new Space Force to shoot down the Chinese Space weapons before they shoot ours. Or do we pretend it’s not happening. The Trade War is the way we will be able to pay for our Space Fleet.
Funny how all you leftists gushed over a bunch of shithead Red Guard wannabes.
Not sure what this is supposed to mean, Team Wolverine but how's your KGB guy Putin doing? Is he poisoning enough of his adversaries on NATO soil for your tastes or do you think he should be flouting alliance jurisdiction more brazenly?
Instead it's from Bye Bye Birdie
I'm kinda curious what song you're conflating it with. Put on a Happy Face? Kids? The Telephone Hour? Rosie?
Guess who Inga and TTR think the real hero's are.
What are you bitching about this time?
The fact that you think rule of law should be scrapped in favor of an allies and enemies/GOT game?
While you find new ways to proliferate human-hunting military-grade weapons throughout the society for menacing and massacring American schoolchildren?
While pretending that you're going to have a new pre-crime, mental health lockdown regime that magically keeps every lunatic from getting their hands on your doomsday arms?
Republicans can't even figure out how to fund prisons and healthcare and you shitheads actually believe that Trump will institute a mental health regime that has the resources to lock up anyone that could ever commit a mass shooting. Like I said, you're delusional. You live in a fantasy.
Go keep polishing your doomsday guns and fantasizing on having a government you can use them on while doing some upgrades to your large-scale weed grow operation. Write a letter to your boyfriend Jeff Sessions about what an upstanding citizen you are to grow all that weed and market all that HGH and inject all those steroids and do whatever else it is that's keeping your mind so fucking unhinged.
Repealing Net Neutrality: In December 2017, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman proposed ending the 2015 network neutrality rules.
Oh yeah - that's one hell of a genius policy right there. Going against massive consumer sentiment so that he can wrest control of the internet away from the millions of users and grant content access completely to the behest of the big telecoms. Corruption and Big Swamp in a nutshell. That's just what the internet was missing all this time: Not enough control over it and its download/upload speeds and access by the big corrupt telecoms. What a fucking farce.
Reshaping National Monuments: Heritage’s recommendation to prohibit Land Acquisition (Cap and Reduce the Size of the Federal Estate) was adopted by Trump when he issued two executive orders effectively shrinking the size of national monuments in Utah.
Oh yeah, there's a beautiful one. After Trump's done leaving the office in tatters and despoiling the landscape so that his big fossil fuel buddies can rape it at will, I'm sure there won't be much worth preserving or commemorating anyway. He must feel the urge to tear down the Grand Canyon and erect a glass box hotel in its place. What a fuckhead this guy is. His name sounds like something that lands from the distance into a toilet.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Funny how all you leftists gushed over a bunch of shithead Red Guard wannabes.
Not sure what this is supposed to mean, Team Wolverine but how's your KGB guy Putin doing? Is he poisoning enough of his adversaries on NATO soil for your tastes or do you think he should be flouting alliance jurisdiction more brazenly?
The 80's called and they want their foreign policy back.
Don't forget to let Putin know 2012 was Obama's last election and he will sign some orders to let Russia ship Uranium out of the country. But only after they pay Hillary 145$ million or so.
And hey you guys got any dirt on Trump? The DNC is paying millions of dollars for dirt on Trump. To Russians.
By the way your stupid fever dreams are having trouble with reality
You are just a fucking idiot.
Kevin Williamson........mnnnhhhh......
Oh, yeah!! That's the Kevin who is SO SMART that he got fired one week after joining the lefty-rag.
Yah. Kevin's three-dimensional chess lacked only a Queen, King, 2 rooks, and several pawns.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
While you find new ways to proliferate human-hunting military-grade weapons throughout the society for menacing and massacring American schoolchildren?
I want to end the Obama policies that caused the shooting. Cruz should have been in jail. Leftists in the Broward county police department put him back in school.
After the FBI had 2 specific tips within a month of Cruz aiming to become a school shooter.
This school shooting was 100% on leftist authorities and leftist policies.
The vast majority of Americans know this. We understand we need to have these weapons to protect ourselves from people like you. You don't give a shit about the kids or what actually happened. You want to disarm your political opponents and your side is openly talking about murdering the president and killing off his supporters.
You guys need to stop beating around the bush and just get on with it.
The 80's called and they want their foreign policy back.
It's actually 1945 policy, you ignorant slut. THat's what happens when the party you resent so much wins the global peace and international order by defeating the fascism that you dumb Republican cunts fomented all across Europe with that global depression your policies created with the crash of the markets in 1929.
And the only time the collective defense was invoked was after 9/11. To help US. In places YOU LOVE. Like Afghanistan. Where men fuck little boys.
Other than that, if you're in favor of breaking international law to poison a country's citizens on its own soil and despite that country being a NATO ally, then you are stupid, criminal and violent. And don't have any opinion to offer on how to competently run a country that isn't completely worthless. What a ridiculous bastard you are.
Leftists can't wait to get into power again so they can raise taxes on Americans.
They want cut production of Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal in the US to raise the price of fossil fuels so Russia can make more money and we can kill off some jobs in America.
And they are really pissed Trump isn't continuing Obama's war in Syria. That's a red line.
The vast majority of Americans know this. We understand we need to have these weapons to protect ourselves from people like you. You don't give a shit about the kids or what actually happened. You want to disarm your political opponents and your side is openly talking about murdering the president and killing off his supporters.
I'm willing to bet you your best weed crop that no one has ever threatened you, let alone your life - and never for political reasons. You just cling to a politicized paranoia because, well, because that's all Republicans have. That's all they had 60 years ago when they advocated wearing tinfoil hats and hanging out with the Birchers and nowadays when it comes to the Birchers' modern revival: Alex Jones. A guy who seems to have to lie and defame regularly enough to maintain any audience credulous willing to listen to him - no matter how many times it gets him sued.
Also - the militia called. They don't want you.
If you're so intent on disbanding the standing military then go call for it already, douchebag.
Just stop pretending that people who can't run a government without shitting their pants with paranoia and outsourcing it to billionaires, polluters and internet throttlers are going to figure out how to lock up every single last potential psychopath. These people can't even figure out how to keep Americans from getting priced out of comprehensive health coverage!
You don't care about those kids. Any one of them.
You care about being scared. Of anything and anyone.
No one trusts you, and you trust no one. So you put your faith in some metal device that any competent government can outgun in a nanosecond - guaranteed.
I don't even think you care about your government paranoia. I think you just want to see more kids get killed and then get a freedom hard-on over it. You really are that sick and messed up in the head.
They want cut production of Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal in the US to raise the price of fossil fuels so Russia can make more money and we can kill off some jobs in America.
The only way to make Russia powerful is to boost global demand and supply for the only markets they're competitive in: Fossil fuels. Luckily the rest of the world knows this is a joke. As it is a joke to continue putting nation over planet and warming the globe with carbon. Putin wants more AGW because all of his sea ports are frozen at some time during the year. Warming the planet gives him yearlong ocean seaport access. And he has scientifically ignorant dickheads like you to thank for getting him closer to this goal. Congratulations.
"I think you just want to see more kids get killed and then get a freedom hard-on over it"
Ah..there it is.
Rinse/repeat
Plexi up..and out.
Have fun!
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
"The 80's called and they want their foreign policy back."
What a ridiculous bastard you are.
I am consistent and my points are based on reality.
Anyone with a room temperature IQ can see that Russia in no way wanted an America First nationalist that is keeping the price of Oil down and wont take bribes like Clinton/Obama. I wonder how much the Clinton campaign/DNC ended up paying Russia for dirt on Trump? We get to find out soon.
Anyone who actually looks at what happened in the Florida school shooting will see it was leftists at fault. Leftist policies and leftist officials in leftist institutions.
And so here you are clinging to a moronic theory that Trump is a Russian puppet and the fever dream you get to disarm your political opponents and kill them all.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
They want cut production of Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal in the US to raise the price of fossil fuels so Russia can make more money and we can kill off some jobs in America.
The only way to make Russia powerful is to boost global demand and supply for the only markets they're competitive in: Fossil fuels. Luckily the rest of the world knows this is a joke. As it is a joke to continue putting nation over planet and warming the globe with carbon. Putin wants more AGW because all of his sea ports are frozen at some time during the year. Warming the planet gives him yearlong ocean seaport access. And he has scientifically ignorant dickheads like you to thank for getting him closer to this goal. Congratulations.
There it is everyone. Putin wants global warming and that is why he supported Trump in 2016.
You can't make this shit up. You are just really stupid.
TTR: "As it is a joke to continue putting nation over planet and warming the globe with carbon."
I expect a bit more from TTR than this drivel. He is in fact much better than that.
I'm inclined to give him a mulligan on that and chalk it up to perhaps a bit of early Saturday Night inebriation.
ARM: " It is a long tour through the Id of humanity, as raw and weird as you always suspected."
I can see the content of this exhibit is eating at you....
Achilles, you may want to engage with angry lefty trolls but life is too short.
“I am consistent...”
Why yes, yes you are.
“...and my points are based on reality.”
LMAO
sorry, was out fishing (and joy riding on US-61)
the Music Man EXPLICITLY states that Professor Hill knew nothing about Gary Ind. The town wasn't even founded at the time that he claims to have graduated. The whole thing is a lie
In Fact, it is the essential that allows Marian the Librarian to bust him. She PROVES that everything Donald Trump (sorry, Harold Hill ) was saying was Complete BULLSHIT.... But then, in a cruel plot twist; she causes the Professor to fall in love with iowa (and river city (and marian)).
So, she buries the damning evidence, and lets him get roped into having to Stay in River City. At which time; EVERYTHING THAT HE PROMISED CAME TRUE!
(except that the uniforms were tawdry, and the boys were VERY at playing. NONE of which made any difference to the iowans, 'cause they had succeeded in their plot to snag the professor into staying
JUST LIKE WE'RE GOING TO DO WITH TRUMP!!!
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