Althouse: "Is he a doofus or is he an evil genius? You've got to pick one."

July 1, 2018

"Is he a doofus or is he an evil genius? You've got to pick one."

160 comments:

Mary Beth said...: Maher says Shapiro is wrong, you don't have to pick one. I also didn't think you could be a doofus and a genius, but even though that's what Maher says he thinks, he may be persuading me that it's possible. I listened to some of his opinions on Trump here and I think he's a doofus. On the other hand, he's convinced HBO to pay him to talk about his dumb ideas, so maybe he's also a genius.; 7/1/18, 9:38 AM
traditionalguy said...: Neither. It is far worse. DJT is a reformed Calvinist warrior chief.; 7/1/18, 9:53 AM
mockturtle said...: He may be a genius but he's not evil. What a ridiculous choice.; 7/1/18, 9:53 AM
mockturtle said...: Bill Maher is evil.; 7/1/18, 9:54 AM
Gunner said...: Mahers main problem with Trump seems to be that he thinks Trump will declare himself President for Life even if he loses in 2020 or his terms end in 2025. Does anyone really believe the little runt will apologize when Trump does leave?; 7/1/18, 9:56 AM
Derek Kite said...: Maher is still going on about this russian nonsense? I think we found the doofus.

Calling Shapiro a traitor is ok now? So all americans who voted for and support Trump are traitors?

All the Democrats need to do is not be insane. They can't.; 7/1/18, 9:57 AM
stevew said...: Maher refutes Shapiro's assertion that one must decide: is Trump a doofus or an evil genius. Maher says we don't have to choose, that Trump can be both. He offers as proof that Hitler was insane and an evil genius. Then implies Trump possesses the same qualities. Doofus is not part of his answer, unless he's saying insane and doofus are synonymous.

I don't watch Maher often - usually just when someone like Althouse points me to a link she finds interesting - and this episode is a perfect example why. I find it hard to believe he believes what he says. Much more likely that he is pandering to his audience of Democrat idiots. Good for him, probably very wealthy as a result.

-sw; 7/1/18, 10:01 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Good discussion. But Shapiro is now the second really smart conservative (after Ted Cruz), with the worst, whiny, Beta Male voice. What's up with that?

Both need elocution and enunciation and projection skills before they taint the entire conservative movement!; 7/1/18, 10:02 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/1/18, 10:04 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Most leftists run around in circles screaming - President for life! dictator! theocracy! (nazi!/Just like Hitler!) It's the left's go-to paranoia.

Remember the left's insanity over GWB?; 7/1/18, 10:05 AM
Freder Frederson said...: Calling Shapiro a traitor is ok now? So all americans who voted for and support Trump are traitors?

Maybe if supporters of the Iraq war and GW Bush hadn't thrown the terms treason and traitor around so freely, I could feel some empathy. I can't count the number of times I was called a traitor on this blog. And whenever the subject of torture comes up someone will inevitably call me a traitor for merely believing in the accepted definition of torture and having the temerity to suggest that the U.S. should follow its own laws and international treaties to which it is a party.

That being said, calling Shapiro a traitor is beyond the pale. Calling him a plagiarizing hack is a statement of fact though.; 7/1/18, 10:06 AM
Freder Frederson said...: President for life! dictator! theocracy! (nazi!/Just like Hitler!) It's the left's go-to paranoia.

I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

The hypocrisy here is incredible.; 7/1/18, 10:08 AM
Fernandinande said...: he's saying insane and doofus are synonymous

Are you marginalizing those unfortunate people who have been declared clinically doofy because of their recurrent spazz attacks?; 7/1/18, 10:12 AM
Browndog said...: Conservative social media is afire with people trying to out "Shapiro is a traitor" each other. Everyone has the right to be wrong, including conservatives.

Conservative ideological purists are no different than marxist in that they do not account for the human condition. People have different experiences, emotions, and values that can lead to different conclusions when analyzing the same set of facts.

The terms "evil" and "traitor" should not be applied when "wrong" will suffice.; 7/1/18, 10:14 AM
Sebastian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/1/18, 10:15 AM
Sebastian said...: Billionaire developer with three trophy wives, skated away from lawsuits and bankruptcy, won presidency on first try with minimal staff: not a doofus.

Higher growth, lower unemployment, conservative appointments and deregulation, America-first foreign policy: not evil.

Trolling Dems, driving up MSM insanity, breaking through prog hegemony in culture and media like no other GOPer could, stirring far-left Dem reinvention, making progs play on his illegal immigration ground: genius.

But it can still break the GOP and cause a true blue wave, which would be evilish.; 7/1/18, 10:16 AM
rhhardin said...: Shapiro's not as smart as he thinks. Mr. talking point.

Maher has more insights, being a commedian. Not great political insights, but they're not all talking points at least.; 7/1/18, 10:21 AM
Michael said...: Love the fact that Mayer and his audience deeply believe the Trump collusion story. Stunningly stupid. Convinced.; 7/1/18, 10:22 AM
Sam L. said...: Ain't NOBODY can make me pick just one!!; 7/1/18, 10:24 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Maher's Russia! Russia! Russia! is as embarrassing as would be a Flat Earther or a 9-11 or Holocaust Denier mindset. He has no standing to determine who is or isn't a 'dufus'.; 7/1/18, 10:26 AM
Saint Croix said...: Why a nice Jewish boy like you wants to be on team treason, I have no idea.

One of the many ways Maher can be annoying is that he uses his not serious persona to make absurd and ridiculous (and yet very serious) allegations about other people.

Calling somebody a traitor to our country for voting for Trump is an ugly accusation. It's unhinged to say or suggest that Trump is conspiring with Putin. Obama was the guy who was caught conspiring with the Russians. Trump says some stupid or flippant thing about Putin, and it makes the left insane. And then they start accusing not just Trump, but every Republican, of being a traitor to our country. And this is particularly unhinged as the left has no love for the American flag or American nationalism.; 7/1/18, 10:26 AM
Michael K said...: Maher is pushing the Russia conspiracy meme.

Good to see. The Democrats show no sign of sanity seven months before the election.

OK with me. Shapiro is one of those Never Trumpers who have collapsed.

With the death last week of Charles Krauthammer, the revered neocon commentator and prominent Trump skeptic, the eclipse of the neocon intellectuals is complete.

One thing’s for sure: it wasn’t really a war so much as a rout. The Never Trump intellectual crowd has no momentum and no popular following these days. Consider the trajectory of their would-be leader Kristol, who appears to be indulging in a personal fantasy by putting himself forward as a candidate, as his rapport with GOP voters includes trying to run Evan McMullin in Utah to throw the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton.

Shapiro is a twerp with a whiny voice.; 7/1/18, 10:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Ben Shapiro and Bill Maher, you say? If you put up a video with Kathy Griffin and Cher chatting, I might be slightly more tempted to click play. The voices would be less irritatingly whiny and effeminiate, anyway.; 7/1/18, 10:28 AM
pacwest said...: I thought that being an evil genius required at least some degree of duffocity. At least that is the movie sterotype. And real life always follows the movies. Trump is Goldfinger. All else follows.; 7/1/18, 10:30 AM
bgates said...: I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

Can you link to one, sport?; 7/1/18, 10:31 AM
Mary Beth said...: Although it seems more intense with Trump, the Left has used alternating attacks of calling Republican presidents either a idiot or an evil mastermind for as long as I've been paying attention to politics. It has never made any sense. Instead of arguing against this policy or that one, they spend their effort caricaturizing them as both buffoons and the head of the Illuminati.; 7/1/18, 10:31 AM
buwaya said...: Maher has his shtick. Who knows what is going on behind his eyeballs.
Shapiro is poorly educated. Granted, he started out complaining about that, but he hasn't yet fixed his problem.

Trump is one of histories "great men", who show up periodically to turn things upside down, for better or worse. They are always a great surprise, and baffle the powers of the day. They exhibit seemingly superhuman abilities and get results, using ordinary resources, that nobody expects. Some are indeed "evil geniuses", and some are a bit insane, but none are doofuses.; 7/1/18, 10:33 AM
stevew said...: Full disclosure: I was totally #DumpTrump, until he won the nomination. I was never #NeverTrump, especially after the nomination, because the alternative was HRC. Leave it to the intellectuals to allow personal animosity to drive them to create esoteric and tortured arguments against Trump. They were wrong then and even more wrong now that he's actually, you know, done stuff. I give Shapiro a little bit of credit for at least acknowledging that he was wrong.

-sw; 7/1/18, 10:34 AM
buwaya said...: I doubt Maher believes anything.
You may need to waterboard him to get anything like sincerity.; 7/1/18, 10:35 AM
stevew said...: @Mary Beth: yes, goes back, in my memory, to President Ford. Chevy Chase's fame came in part from his playing the part of Gerald Ford as a bumbling fool. A doofus, perhaps. Reagan was also derided as just a B movie actor. HW Bush was the befuddled grandfather. And so on.

It's what they do.

-sw; 7/1/18, 10:38 AM
MikeR said...: "I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life." Yeah, because I'm _personally_ responsible for whichever doofus said that. I'm a hypocrite for not being consistent with every doofus who posts here.; 7/1/18, 10:39 AM
Etienne said...: Obama and Bush had $1 trillion annual deficits.

Trump spending $1 trillion in a growing GDP is not the same as the last two presidents spending $16 trillion over budget in a shrinking GDP.; 7/1/18, 10:40 AM
Kate said...: Surprised to see Maher such a Russian conspiracist. Thought he was more savvy than that.

Also, I just realized that "racist" is a component of "conspiracist".; 7/1/18, 10:42 AM
Wendybar said...: Freder Frederson said...
President for life! dictator! theocracy! (nazi!/Just like Hitler!) It's the left's go-to paranoia.

I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

The hypocrisy here is incredible.
7/1/18, 10:08 AM

How this for Hypocrisy....it just happened....https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dnc-chairman-calls-obama-e2-80-98the-real-president-of-the-united-states-e2-80-99/ar-AAzobUs; 7/1/18, 10:46 AM
readering said...: The first Mrs Trump, an older divorcee, not a trophy wife.; 7/1/18, 10:47 AM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

Gee, Ben Shapiro sounds just as crabby and immature as he did back in March 2016 with the Michelle Fields incident. Time to become a mensch already.; 7/1/18, 10:49 AM
Rusty said...: Why in the world should I listen to two beta males.; 7/1/18, 10:49 AM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

Gee, Ben Shapiro sounds just as crabby and immature as he did back in March 2016 with the Michelle Fields incident. Time to become a mensch already.; 7/1/18, 10:50 AM
mockturtle said...: Keep it up, lefties. Please.; 7/1/18, 10:50 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: “I doubt Maher believes anything.
You may need to waterboard him to get anything like sincerity.”

Yes, human nature insists that there has to be at least a handful of reasonably intelligent opportunists who look at the Fields O’ Leftist Gullibility and see a playground and a cash hose. Obama was of these opportunists. Maher strikes me as another.; 7/1/18, 10:52 AM
tim maguire said...: I see Maher is still shamelessly playing to his ignorant audience. The most interesting part of the interview was when Maher said he'd always been a Democrat and he admired the courage of conservatives who came on his show. I clearly recall years of him peddling himself as a libertarian and posing as a courageous truth teller.

Too bad Shapiro chose not to challenge Maher on some of his BS. Like claiming "lock her up!" Is a violation of civility rather than what it really is--an insistence that no one is above the law.; 7/1/18, 10:53 AM
dreams said...: I couldn't watch the entire video, liberal behavior makes me sick. And I don't really care for Ben Shapiro either.; 7/1/18, 10:53 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Not me, Freder - so what is your point? I don't recall such conversations. I'm not denying that some on the "right" ever said Obama would crown himself glorious dictator forever, but it wasn't me.

The left do from the top down. Most leftist celebrities do it. Maher is doing it.
Just like Hitler! You can time your watch to it.; 7/1/18, 10:54 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Too bad Shapiro chose not to challenge Maher on some of his BS. Like claiming "lock her up!" Is a violation of civility rather than what it really is--an insistence that no one is above the law.

worth a big hearty repeat; 7/1/18, 10:55 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: 100% Saint Croix; 7/1/18, 10:59 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: I would go with Maher as the Evil Doofus; 7/1/18, 11:03 AM
Sebastian said...: OK, so Hill calls us deplorable, Dems call us racist, and Maher calls us traitors. Anything else?

Progs are doubling down on pure tribalism, not even trying to appeal to people who once voted the wrong way.; 7/1/18, 11:04 AM
Jupiter said...: "I'm not denying that some on the "right" ever said Obama would crown himself glorious dictator forever, but it wasn't me."

I thought it was a possibility at first, but in his second term you could tell he was getting bored. When he said that at some point you have made enough money, he was talking about himself. Isn't it amazing how much money Obama has? All that hard work paid off! Same with the Clintons. Came to do good, and did right well.; 7/1/18, 11:05 AM
Tom said...: I remember hearing how dumb George W Bush was. I know someone in the the GWB White House who's very very smart. He made a good point - he said that Bush always asked the most insightful questions. He said Obama was the same way. The point he made is that we're all calling someone dumb who's far smarter than us. What does that make us?; 7/1/18, 11:06 AM
Big Mike said...: I can't count the number of times I was called a traitor on this blog.

Sure you can. You have five fingers on each hand.; 7/1/18, 11:08 AM
Carol said...: Surprised to see Maher such a Russian conspiracist. Thought he was more savvy than that.

Ehh, who knows. I think they count on the optics to do the work for them.

Anyway, why is the comparison only to Hitler? Why not Mussolini? Or Bismarck? Or Napoleon III? Or Louis XIV? Or Charlemagne? Or Theodoric? Or Nero? Or etc; 7/1/18, 11:08 AM
William said...: None dare call it treason. I believe the way that that trope works is that if treason works, then none dare call it treason. The fact that a late nite comic can make allusions to Trump's Hitlerian qualities is itself proof that Trump is not very much like Hitler........The Republicans chant "lock her up" but it is Trump's campaign manager who got looked up. And for complicated offenses that are years old and cannot be explained in a single sentence.......If a group of Republican volunteers surrounded Hillary in a restaurant and chanted "lock her up", I would be in favor of locking those volunteers up. This kind of harassment is a quantum jump ahead of a pep rally.; 7/1/18, 11:10 AM
Achilles said...: If I did what Hillary did I would be in jail forever.

The only reason she is not in jail is she is a wealthy powerful democrat.

It is entirely civil to demand she be locked up.; 7/1/18, 11:33 AM
Roy Lofquist said...: ""Is he a doofus or is he an evil genius? You've got to pick one.""

Which of the two doofusseses is the implied subject?; 7/1/18, 11:34 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The most hideous dynamic of the modern left is their complete denial that Hillary is a crooked liar who set up and used a Private Server while head of the State Dept, and she did so in order to hide her real dealings. Dealings that included millions pouring into her private coffers from Russian interests.; 7/1/18, 11:35 AM
Unknown said...: Has Ben Shapiro lowered my taxes or cut regulations? He's been continuously wrong about Trump. Why would I care what he thinks?; 7/1/18, 11:37 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The same leftwing hivemind that came out the gate with pre-determined lies created to smear Trump and Milo- insisting that criticizing a press machine that is in the tank for one political party is a call to violence -(and oops NOT)-- these are the same people who push the Russia-Trump stole the election from poor wonderful Hillary bullshit.; 7/1/18, 11:40 AM
mccullough said...: A couple of Jewish guys who don’t understand Trump and can’t understand themselves.; 7/1/18, 11:40 AM
Narayanan said...: Hillary would have had pardon power ... The Q to ask and have asked is would she pardon those locked up for equal indiscretions.

Compare to Trump asking for suggestions for pardon candidates; 7/1/18, 11:43 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "I give Shapiro a little bit of credit for at least acknowledging that he was wrong."

I like Shapiro, although I disagree with many of his criticisms of Trump, because he is honest enough to give Trump credit where he thinks credit is due. He's not in the same category as a Jen Rubin or Bill Kristol, who have reversed themselves on positions they held during the Obama years because they are unable to give Trump credit for anything.

Buwaya, Shapiro graduated from Yeshiva High School at age 16 andd went to UCLA. He graduated summa cum laude at age 20. Now, admittedly, one can certainly graduate from American universities these days and be poorly educated, but he is not dumb. A Jewish kid would not have been an affirmative action admission. I've listened to many of his podcasts and he does not strike me as ignorant of history.

I think he suffers from the same myopia as other NeverTrumpers from upper-middle class backgrounds. He's embarrassed by Trump's crassness and can't appreciate Trump's ability to connect with blue collar people, because he doesn't know any blue collar people.

But Shapiro certainly has been exposed to the insanity of the Left. He has enough guts to go to Berkeley and other universities where he is called a "Nazi" and shouted down and threatened and he gets points for that.

I'm not going to play the game of the left and declare Shapiro a traitor because I think he got it wrong in 2016. I think he's genuinely trying to be honest.

As it is he is now drawing the ire of both sides - Trump voters and leftists. The Daily Beast just called him a "far right troll" and a "delusive dim wit." That's a badge of honor as far as I'm concerned.; 7/1/18, 11:44 AM
Michael K said...: The Cubans know what the right answer is

they know that non-state agricultural workers, co-op members and those who work independently on leased state lands – and not copies of the USSR’s sovjoses – produce almost 90% of what the population consumes; this, according to the National Statistics Office (ONEI).

Private agricultural laborers, according to the ANAP, produce 70% of the milk, 85% of the pork, and 68% of the country’s foodstuffs. And they harvest 92% of its tobacco, one of the country’s four main exports.

Bill Maher most clueless.; 7/1/18, 11:45 AM
Narayanan said...: If Shapiro were smart he would have complimented Maher for great trolling of his audience.
Meme worth inflecting into Dem DNA.; 7/1/18, 11:48 AM
Matt Sablan said...: We had the same doofus/evil genius dichotomy with Reagan and Bush and Bush. It's... like the go-to confusion with Republican presidents.; 7/1/18, 11:50 AM
bleh said...: I love how Maher prattles on about civility and then moments later is talking about GOP treason with Putin. And Hitler.; 7/1/18, 11:51 AM
Narayanan said...: A genius not aware of his evil is a doofus ...

Which fits Maher; 7/1/18, 11:54 AM
rehajm said...: This is recycled from the W era. At 7:05 on the today show would be a talking head with proof about what a blithering idiot W was. At 7:15 would be a talking head woth proof of what an evil scheming genius W was. At least they’re recycling.; 7/1/18, 12:01 PM
Diogenes of Sinope said...: As evidenced by their opinions and predictions durung the election, Maher and the professional pundits have little or no understanding of Trump or the people who voted for him.; 7/1/18, 12:01 PM
Freder Frederson said...: The Cubans know what the right answer is

I don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse or are just stupid. The Cuban reference was to Hurricane response, not agricultural output.; 7/1/18, 12:14 PM
Freder Frederson said...: Sure you can. You have five fingers on each hand.

I bet I have been called a traitor more than ten times in one thread. I would need a lot more fingers and toes to keep track of all the times I was called a traitor. Heck, Cedarford even said he wished I would be lynched because of my treason.; 7/1/18, 12:19 PM
Loren W Laurent said...: Modern young conservatives rarely make good opiners.

Conservatism comes from bumping up against real life and seeing how good intentions are often the prelude to failure.

Young conservatives generally have not had the life experience to articulate past an abstract, second-hand manner: they are still students, not teachers, aptitude rather than fortitude. In this way Shapiro is trying on an adult's wardrobe, and comes off looking like a child in his father's clothes.

The context of the old Churchill quote comes to mind: "...anyone who was not a liberal at 20 years of age had no heart, while anyone who was still a liberal at 40 had no head..."

Shapiro (and those like him) want the gravitas of maturity but have yet to grow into it: they are skipping a step or three.

In essence: I have a hard time taking seriously a person who seems intent on being perceived as a young George Will. This is fully said with the understanding of Will's current mutterings.

Here is a recent quote from another once-young conservative, grown older: "I have a little announcement to make ... I'm voting for Hillary. I am endorsing Hillary," noted conservative author P.J. O'Rourke said on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. "I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises," O'Rourke continued. "It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters..."

Maybe the corollary to Churchill's quote is something along the lines of: if you weren't liberal when you were younger, you will become liberal when you're older.

See and discuss: McCain. Also: the Bush Family.

--LWL; 7/1/18, 12:20 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: Not Shapiro at his best but anyone who doesn't think he is razor-sharp has not watched him enough. I disagree with BS on a lot of things, but I find him effective because he has thought out his positions and the best arguments to defend them. He is much better debating issues than which side is worse on the "civility bullshit" (though I thought he made some good elephant elephant arguments). When I saw Ben Shapiro debate Piers Morgan in 2013 on guns (my first exposure to him) I was floored.; 7/1/18, 12:21 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Shapiro is very sharp - razor sharp. He just needs a little more life experience to round out his mental acuity. I'd suggest Marine Corps boot camp, a handful of street first-fights and eating pussy.; 7/1/18, 12:30 PM
Achilles said...: If you think the leftist bleating is bad now, just wait.

On August 28th it will be worse.

They know this is going to destroy them in the midterms.

But they know they have to keep the FBI/DOJ investigation criminality out of the news.

If the general American public finds out what the Obama administration did there will be hundreds of democrats going to jail.; 7/1/18, 12:32 PM
Otto said...: The real story her is the mind set of the neo-conservatives. Maher in doing his usual sthick and is no surprise.
Shapiro didn't vote for him '16 because he feared the damage to the 'social fabric of the nation". Shapiro says is in general agreement with all of Trump's policies and will vote for him in 2018. He says the social fabric is is being ruined far worse by the Democrats. He finally got "woke" after his experience at Berkley.

So the "never Trump" movement is losing it's steam.
Trump wins again.; 7/1/18, 12:33 PM
Achilles said...: And not a few "republicans."; 7/1/18, 12:33 PM
Achilles said...: A new Trump supporter.

"Put on some rap music, maybe it will be OK."

This is as close as they will get to surrendering. They are just trying to stay out of jail now.; 7/1/18, 12:36 PM
rcocean said...: "I clearly recall years of him peddling himself as a libertarian and posing as a courageous truth teller."

Yes, he did that for years, when he first started. Always claimed to be "Politically incorrect". Of course, it was all BS, and obvious to anyone who listened to him.

That was when he was on Network TV, and it was considered bad taste to pose as an outright partisan Democrat. Unlike today, where its expected.; 7/1/18, 12:37 PM
rcocean said...: There's nothing wrong with Sharpiro, he's just no smarter than 20 other conservatives who don't get his financial backing and publicity.

If you look into it, he's hooked up with National Review, Bill Kristol and J. Podhorertz. which accounts for the "Never trumper" attitude.; 7/1/18, 12:39 PM
rcocean said...: P.J. O'Rourke was always a libertarian - not a conservative.

He didn't like Palin either.

Just like David Frum, David brooks, George will, Red State, Erick Erickson, and J. Podhertz, Burt Stephens and Peggy Noonan.; 7/1/18, 12:43 PM
langford peel said...: Ben Shapiro is a Neocon piece of shit who is going to late his mind during the God Emperors upcoming trip to NATO.

The God Emperor is going to read the riot act to the NATO freeloaders like Germany who do not meet their defense commitments. He is going to talk about taking our troops and money out of anger any and moving them to Poland where they have offered to foot the bill for their defense. If Russia is truly the adversary than that totally makes sense.

Hopefully a bunch of Obama appointed Deep State Ambassadors will resign in protest.

Ben Shapiro is known to many by his title of the Littlest Chicken Hawk. He never saw a war he didn't want to start. A nation he didn't want to build. An American Soldier he gave half a shit about.

The God Emperor is about peace. Peace with Korea. Peace with Russia. Peace with Iran as the Mullahs are deposed by the people.

Why can't you ignore the chickenhawks and give peace a chance.; 7/1/18, 12:48 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: When I saw Ben Shapiro debate Piers Morgan in 2013 on guns (my first exposure to him) I was floored.

7/1/18, 12:21 PM

Yes, he really made Morgan look like a dishonest fool.

"I'd suggest Marine Corps boot camp, a handful of street first-fights and eating pussy."

Given that he's about 5'7" I doubt he'd fare well in street fist-fights. Also, he is married and has 2 kids, so I'm assuming he has some experience with p, although I have no idea about the details of that experience, nor do I care.; 7/1/18, 12:49 PM
Rabel said...: "I will never vote for Donald Trump because I stand with certain principles. I stand with small government and free markets and religious freedom and personal responsibility. Donald Trump stands against all of these things. He stands for Planned Parenthood and trade restrictions and targeting of political enemies and an anti-morality foreign policy and government domination of religion and nastiness toward women and tacit appeals to racism and unbounded personal power. I stand with the Constitution of the United States, and its embedded protection of my God-given rights through governmental checks and balances. Donald Trump does not. I stand with conservatism. Donald Trump stands against it.
I stand with #NeverTrump."

- Ben Shapiro.

He was right about "trade restrictions and targeting of political enemies" (and thank goodness for that), otherwise he was wrong about everything. Not a good look for a wunderkind.; 7/1/18, 12:55 PM
Jim at said...: Maybe if supporters of the Iraq war and GW Bush hadn't thrown the terms treason and traitor around so freely, I could feel some empathy. - Freder

One, as if we need your empathy.

And two, there's just a slight difference between openly cheering against US troops - as hundreds of thousands of you leftists did during the Iraq war - and not voting for Hillary. Traitor.; 7/1/18, 12:58 PM
Achilles said...: Loren W Laurent said...

rn young conservatives rarely make good opiners.

Conservatism comes from bumping up against real life and seeing how good intentions are often the prelude to failure.

Young people spend their school years marinated in socialist propaganda and treated like shit in our education system.

They see the reality of the left first hand for 16 years.

Many like Shapiro however are not confident enough to go through life without approbation from peers.

He is a "Yeah But..." Trump supporter. He has to say "Yeah Trump is doing really good thing But..." because he wants to look smart to his peers.

He will only be happy when he realizes the truth about the left.; 7/1/18, 1:01 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Achilles, have you seen this video? I linked to it last night (and found it courtesy of Michael K.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pjs7uoOkag&t=6s

This dude cried on election night 2016. Now he has created an Internet campaign for ex-Dems who have become utterly disgusted by the behavior of the Left, urging decent Dems to #walkAway. Twitter and FB are doing their best to suppress it, but it shows people are waking up.

"They gather at his two Facebook groups, “The Unsilent Minority” and “WalkAway Campaign.” Those who have the courage post their own video testimonials about the moment when the abuse, rage, and ugliness of the Democrats caused them to finally leave the party and “walk away.”

“This is so much more than a hashtag on Twitter,” he said. “This is a testimonial campaign, a grassroots movement that is going to change the political landscape of this country.”

And that’s the astonishing twist here: If these people have been driven into the arms of Donald Trump, who’s left on the left?"

https://www.theepochtimes.com/viral-walk-away-videos-highlight-growing-movement-of-democrats-leaving-the-party_2578446.html/; 7/1/18, 1:03 PM
Achilles said...: Rabel said...

He was right about "trade restrictions and targeting of political enemies" (and thank goodness for that), otherwise he was wrong about everything. Not a good look for a wunderkind.

Trump has proposed free trade and would prefer to have free trade. A real free trade agreement would take one page. Saying Trump is protectionist is completely dishonest.

Trump is just honest about free trade unlike Shapiro.

Shapiro is arguing for crony trade, not free trade.; 7/1/18, 1:05 PM
langford peel said...: The God Emperor is governing with the attitudes, prejudices and plain spoken blunt speech of a typical New York white guy of the 1960's. That is why the neocons, the establishment Rhino Republicans and the loony left Democrats have lost their shit.

It is a billionaire Archie Bunker. Their worst nightmare. A kid from Queens is kicking ass and taking names by imposing common sense solutions that the pointy headed elitists find intractable.

As a scion of the Trotskyite Intellectuals who hijacked Republican foreign policy the Littlest Chickenhawk is stuck protesting the implementation of the policies that he has called for. The God Emperor will be viewed as the most conservative President since Calvin Coolidge by simple following a simple rule.

What would Archie do?; 7/1/18, 1:20 PM
Clyde said...: If Mueller and his gang of Democrat operatives had ANYTHING on so-called Trump-Russia "collusion", we'd already know, because they would have leaked it six ways to Sunday. The dog did not bark. There's no there there. Maher and his audience are in for a big disappointment.

And Maher obviously has no problem with believing two contradictory things. Cognitive dissonance, as well as TDS.; 7/1/18, 1:22 PM
Drago said...: Field Marshall Freder: "I don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse or are just stupid. The Cuban reference was to Hurricane response, not agricultural output."

It is very wise indeed for leftists to keep their yaps shut regarding agricultural output, lest someone start asking why leftist control always leads to mass shortages, starvation, mass murder and environmental ruin.; 7/1/18, 1:24 PM
langford peel said...: If you imagine Trump as Archie, Hillary as Maude and Obama as George Jefferson you have it all figured out.

Norman Lear's Hebrew name is Nostradamus.; 7/1/18, 1:24 PM
Henry said...: Remember when the exact same question was posed about Bush derangement syndrome?; 7/1/18, 1:25 PM
langford peel said...: I do admit that the analogy is not perfect.

Because Michelle is no Weezy. I knew Weezy. I grew up with Weezy. Weezy was a favorite character of mine. You Mooshelle are no Weezy.; 7/1/18, 1:26 PM
Henry said...: Then with Obama the choice was "doofus or cool genius"; 7/1/18, 1:27 PM
langford peel said...: Remember the episode when Sammy Davis Jr visited Archies house.

I bet it was exactly the same when Kayne came to call at Trump Tower.; 7/1/18, 1:27 PM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

Bill Maher is not Jewish. He is half-Jewish, half-Catholic. Raised a Catholic, didn't know he was part Jewish till he was in his teens.

His hostility to religion, as exemplified in Religulous, is characteristic of lapsed-into-liberalism Catholics, seems to me.; 7/1/18, 1:29 PM
langford peel said...: I just want to ask the most important vital question of all.

Who is the Adrienne Barbeau of the Trump Administration?

I nominate Kimberly Guilfolye as I hear she is banging Don Jr.

Although Ivanka does have a nice rack too so she is also acceptable.; 7/1/18, 1:30 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Freder Frederson said...
The Cubans know what the right answer is

I don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse or are just stupid. The Cuban reference was to Hurricane response, not agricultural output.

Field Marshall Freder thinks capitalism is the solution to hurricanes ?

Is there nothing that capitalism can't do ?

Let's try again for the dull normal among us.

A few days ago Raúl Castro’s regime revealed that the private sector on the island already employs 1.3 million workers, and that of 4.47 million people employed in the country, more than three million have state jobs.

In other words, today workers not tied to the state already represent 29% of the nation’s active work force. The country’s working physiognomy has moved in the right direction, despite absurd obstacles, legal prohibitions, exorbitant taxes and fines, physical repression and even jail time.

The mistreated Cuban private sector consists of almost 600,000 people with permits to work on their own, who, in turn, employ another 700,000 people.

What Díaz-Canel’s government should do is conduct a study of how much more efficient and productive these private workers are compared to those in the state sector, and to include in this study private agricultural workers in comparison with state ones. Then it should present the results, with proposals for more economic freedom, at meetings of the Political Bureau, Council of Ministers and the Council of State.

Were you dropped on your head at birth ?; 7/1/18, 1:31 PM
Howard said...: Blogger buwaya said...... Shapiro is poorly educated.

No, he's over educated and inexperienced. He came out of Harvard Law as a commentator and writer. He has done nothing to work on objective real world problems. There is no there there; 7/1/18, 1:37 PM
Henry said...: Maher: "What about Russia? They used to be the enemy."

How do you even respond to perfect misinformation? Good for Shapiro for countering with facts.

Maher: "Trump tweeted."

Shapiro: "Our soldiers killed their soldiers."; 7/1/18, 1:39 PM
Rick said...: Freder Frederson said...
I can't count the number of times I was called a traitor on this blog.

In leftist-speak this means someone told him he was wrong.; 7/1/18, 1:43 PM
Rick said...: Freder Frederson said...
I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

Apparently Freder can't distinguish between fantasies and memories. That explain so much.; 7/1/18, 1:46 PM
Derek Kite said...: Freder Frederson re treason. I agree with everything you say. Treason has a specific implication of not having the interests of your country and citizenry at heart.

It is a desire to place the interests of your opponent as beyond the pale.

Take any issue. Coal vs. global warming. Gay marriage vs. baking cakes. Trade negotiations. Immigration. There are different opinions, different interests. Sometimes they can be both met; a well functioning immigration policy would likely keep most people happy. Sometimes they can't at all. But the interests remain, so someone smart will come up with a solution that keeps the majority happy and doesn't strive to humiliate the minority.

The solution to your opposition to the Iraq war isn't to call you a traitor. The project requires support of the majority, and if someone asking questions, even vigorously, throws the whole thing into a muddle, then you have larger problems than the opponent. Same with gay marriage; if some guy somewhere doesn't want to bake a cake, is that a threat to the whole idea, the whole enterprise? If it is, then that whole thing is going to collapse into the same heap as the Iraq war project.

Make it work, make sure there are more supporters than strong opponents by success. I am profoundly annoyed by the global warming movement because their inability to first recognize the scope of the problem and second come up with solutions that actually address the issue is going to doom the whole thing. The tide is already turning. The collapse of the Liberals in Ontario hinged on two issues; their mishandling of energy and their mishandling of the sexual rights movement. No matter what you think of those issues, their incompetence took a difficult problem and made it much worse.

But I think we can agree that all sides of these issues, no matter what we think of them specifically, have interests that are held seriously. Even if we think they are wrong.; 7/1/18, 1:48 PM
Achilles said...: exiledonmainstreet said...

Achilles, have you seen this video? I linked to it last night (and found it courtesy of Michael K.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pjs7uoOkag&t=6s

I hadn't.

He said things that I mostly agree with. He is also photogenic and would probably make a decent politician when his hair turns grey.

The video was well produced. Time and money were spent on it. The choreography was good.

This leads me to believe it is part of an organized effort.

I wonder if someone is making a bid to take over the democrat party. I would help them if their goals are honest.

I wish he didn't say walk away from liberalism.

Classic liberalism is what the founders institutionalized in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is the power and primacy of the individual that is the core of why the United States is a unique force in history.

Is the actor in the video known/popular? He was clearly chosen as he has communication skills. Unlikely this video was all his idea given what I think is behind it.

He must be gay too. It took me a minute to figure out the shoulder shakes and the eye brow lifting and the chin twist stuff. At first I thought it was acting/communication training.; 7/1/18, 1:49 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: Civility to a leftist means that they get to call us Nazis and bigots and Russian sycophants and traitors, but we don't get to call them out on their lies while slinging fake news. Fuck that.; 7/1/18, 1:51 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Good discussion. But Shapiro is now the second really smart conservative (after Ted Cruz), with the worst, whiny, Beta Male voice. What's up with that?

Both need elocution and enunciation and projection skills before they taint the entire conservative movement!

Toastmasters is an underappreciated organization. Everyone can benefit from developing better speaking skills.; 7/1/18, 2:01 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I would also give a hearty shout-out to Bill Maher:

1. He invites conservatives on his show to engage.
2. He's good on 1st Amendment issues
3. He doesn't get Republicans, but at least he rips Dems on 2 important issues: (1) Free speech and (2) the radical violence of Islam.

Hey considering how unhinged the Left is, if we grade on a curve, Maher gets decent marks.; 7/1/18, 2:20 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "I wish he didn't say walk away from liberalism. "

If you check his Twitter feed, it's pretty clear that he has walked away from liberalism.

He's telling people to walk away from the Democrat Party because it has become toxic. I think that's a good first move. Most people are not going to completely flip their political beliefs overnight - I didn't. But pointing out the insanity of the left is a good start.; 7/1/18, 2:24 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Maher refutes Shapiro's assertion that one must decide: is Trump a doofus or an evil genius. Maher says we don't have to choose, that Trump can be both. He offers as proof that Hitler was insane and an evil genius. Then implies Trump possesses the same qualities. Doofus is not part of his answer, unless he's saying insane and doofus are synonymous.

This. Maher changed the nature of the question to make the Hitler comparison. Hitler was certainly evil, but he wasn't a doofus, at least not in the common usage of the word.; 7/1/18, 2:30 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: " He was clearly chosen as he has communication skills. Unlikely this video was all his idea given what I think is behind it. "

I can see why you think it was organized by someone else. But there is an interview with the guy on You Tube and he says it was entirely his idea. According to him, he was a fervent leftist until he got a text message from a conservative woman in his hometown. She sent him a link to a You Tube clip disproving the media line that Trump had mocked a reporter's disability. He watched it and realized the media was lying to him. He started to research other media stories about Trump and discovered they were lies. He was increasingly repulsed by the violence on the left. He felt he had to speak out.

Unless his story is disproved, I see no reason to doubt him. I think we should do everything we can to help him and others like him. If this is truly a growing phenomenon it will put a nail in the Democrat Party coffin. They'll be left with the loons and haters.; 7/1/18, 2:34 PM
Achilles said...: exiledonmainstreet said...

"I wish he didn't say walk away from liberalism. "

If you check his Twitter feed, it's pretty clear that he has walked away from liberalism.

This is the problem.

People are not distinguishing between liberal and progressive.

I am a liberal.

Progressives are the ones acting like animals and embracing socialism. Like they always do.

Liberalism and progrssivism/socialism are antithetical.

Classical liberalism is the foundation of our nation. We cannot cede it to a bunch of animals.; 7/1/18, 2:35 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Mahers main problem with Trump seems to be that he thinks Trump will declare himself President for Life even if he loses in 2020 or his terms end in 2025. Does anyone really believe the little runt will apologize when Trump does leave?

The idea Trump would declare himself president for life is insane, and the idea he would actually pull it off successfully were he to do so is also insane.

We hear these kind of overblown hysterics from Democrats every time a Republican is president. Several prominent people in entertainment and political circles said the same thing about George W. Bush, who was, IMO, the least likely president to do that since Ike. I think this kind of thing is off-putting to people who don't follow politics on a daily basis, and it damages the credibility of the speaker.; 7/1/18, 2:37 PM
Achilles said...: exiledonmainstreet said...

Unless his story is disproved, I see no reason to doubt him. I think we should do everything we can to help him and others like him. If this is truly a growing phenomenon it will put a nail in the Democrat Party coffin. They'll be left with the loons and haters.

I do not doubt his sincerity.

I would even be happy to join his cause. We need 2 sane parties to make the republic work.

But.

He could be a trained actor and a trained digital production artist and a trained choreographer. He could have spent a few hundred hours doing all of the cuts, edits, and video work himself.

Or he had help.; 7/1/18, 2:41 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: People are not distinguishing between liberal and progressive.

Leftists in the US co-opted the term "liberalism" back in the '70s. In the US the term is synonymous with "leftist", which is not the case in the rest of the English speaking world. I don't like it either, but that's the way most people understand the label.; 7/1/18, 2:42 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Look at some of the #WalkAway tweets:

Susie M
@SusieM97111274
I grew up in California. I decided to #WalkAway A few weeks ago while discussing immigration with a friend and was called a Nazi sympathizer for stating facts. I'm hispanic and my parents immigrated to the US from Mexico. How did this happen?

2:33 PM - Jun 29, 2018
18.5K
9,144 people are talking about this

Return of Us
@muhlibertas
As a bi-curious Black male, I'd always assumed that the Democratic party had my best interests at hand. When I started reading more about politics, though, I came to the realization that Dems only support minorities as an election strategy. That's why I #WalkAway.

12:47 PM - Jun 29, 2018
3,785
1,298 people are talking about this

Chris Groves
@Chrispy_Groves
Supported Obama for 2 terms. Sad that the extreme left doesn't permit any free thought. Voting Trump 2020 #WalkAway

11:43 AM - Jun 29, 2018
2,474
820 people are talking about this

Shouldn't we be encouraging this?

The Leftists are saying this is fake - because if it's a real movement, it will be absolutely devastating for them.; 7/1/18, 2:43 PM
Achilles said...: exiledonmainstreet said...

Shouldn't we be encouraging this?

The Leftists are saying this is fake - because if it's a real movement, it will be absolutely devastating for them.

This preference cascade started over a year ago. We are just watching the fallout. We have been on a path to complete republican domination on the national level since Trump won. It will be a generation before there are less than 50 republican senators. Over under will be 60 for a decade.

Your first obvious sign was Trump winning. But since then there have been other obvious signs including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian etc.

Kim Kardashian posing on her twitter account with Trump with that pardon was an absolute master stroke. When social media's affect on politics is soberly analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms in 10 years there will be a hashtag analysis done before Kanye/Kim and after.

That will be a historical event that will be lists on the first bullet after the Trump victory in November 2016.

At some point in every totalitarian system people lose fear of the oppressor and start openly stating their disagreement.

Make no mistake the leftists have been acting like totalitarians. They have been ruining careers and persecuting political opponents for years. This fell on liberals who weren't zealous enough.

In the past the first people leftists fed to the ovens were the liberals and intellectuals that didn't realize what their fellow travelers were until it was too late.

Again the US is unique because the progressives are being defeated. The liberals are going to be spared for once.

This is late in the game.

The question is what will come out of it. I am curious about the video because stuff like that almost never happens in a vacuum. A lot of smart people are looking at this just like I am.

I am wondering if someone sees an opportunity to have a real center right party that believes in colorblindness, gay equality, an end to the drug war, economic freedom, and freedom in the absolute sense. I would join that party.

The democrats are going to go hard left progressive for the midterms and get absolutely annihilated. The democrat party will fall apart completely when the national leadership is outed for their inherent corruption.

I am just looking for the movement that takes over after.; 7/1/18, 3:28 PM
langford peel said...: Russia was our ally when we destroyed the Germans. We held our nose and let them suffer to end an existential threat. They lost millions of soldiers. They were brave and steadfast even though they were commmies.

They can be our ally once again when we destroy the Muslims. Which is what we need to do to rescue the West. We can hold our nose and do it again.

Stalin makes Putin look like a piker.

President Donald J Trump. The new FDR.; 7/1/18, 3:31 PM
walter said...: Shapiro swallowed Maher's narrative and failed to mention the many reasons to be concerned with the "investigation". Maher led him to commit to idea of impeachment and then ended it.
Bongino has done a good job pushing back on Shapiro's blindness on this.
In fact, it would be reaaaallly fun to see Bongino bounce Maher around...mentally, of course.; 7/1/18, 3:35 PM
walter said...: And..shhhhhh...nothing is happening with our economy either due to Trump either...especially those crumb-y tax cuts.; 7/1/18, 3:37 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: The most hideous dynamic of the modern left is their complete denial that Hillary is a crooked liar who set up and used a Private Server while head of the State Dept, and she did so in order to hide her real dealings.

Truth! You don't accidentally hire a contractor to configure an email server. You don't accidentally register a domain name. You don't accidentally configure the DNS entry for your domain name to point to your IP address. You don't accidentally configure your router to port-forward email traffic to your email server. You don't accidentally insist that your fellow employees at the State Department use your personal @clintonemail.com email address rather than your secured State Department email address.

You don't accidentally stay completely mum while your emails are under congressional subpoena. You don't accidentally print out (losing ALL of the routing information in the process) the emails YOU believe are pertinent, and accidentally delete the rest. You don't accidentally instruct your lawyer to instruct the previously hired contractor to WIPE the hard drive with bleachbit, making it's contents unrecoverable.

None of these steps can be an accident. The culmination of all of them together can be nothing other than intent, and given the contents of these emails, gross and willful disregard for national security.

FURTHERMORE!!! Why delete the emails she claimed were about yoga and her daughter's wedding? What's to hide?

She's a crook and a liar. She's been on the take since her "cattle futures" trading miracle.; 7/1/18, 3:50 PM
Michael K said...: Again the US is unique because the progressives are being defeated. The liberals are going to be spared for once.

This is late in the game.

I think you are correct. Bart Stupak might have been the first glimmer that all was not well with Democrats.

When former nine-term Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) first took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993, he brought two unshakable principles with him — a firm belief in the sanctity of human life, and a conviction that health care should be a right for all Americans, not just a privilege for the fortunate few.

Then he voted for Obamacare with a fake promise by Obama to stop funding abortion.

In March 2010, President Obama and Stupak reached an understanding whereby the President promised to sign an Executive Order barring federal funding of abortion through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and Stupak and several of his allies promised to withdraw their opposition to the bill.[19] The Pro-life movement accused Stupak of betraying the pro-life movement,[20][21] and the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List revoked an award it had planned to give to him and instead ran $150,000 worth of radio advertisements against him.[20][22] Stupak was targeted by the Tea Party movement in the wake of his compromise.[23] In April 2010, Stupak announced his intention to retire from Congress,[24] leading conservative groups to point to the political consequences of his compromise as a possible reason for his decision

"If you like your doctor...."; 7/1/18, 3:51 PM
Fabi said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/1/18, 3:51 PM
Fabi said...: RIP, Blue Wave. It lived a very brief but enthusiastic life and had a host of manic friends online and in the media. It was preceded in death by its parents Mr. and Mrs. No Path to 270 and a sister Hope and Change. The cause of death was severe cranial trauma, likely from a blunt reality. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the #WalkAway Foundation.; 7/1/18, 3:54 PM
Martin said...: It was the same with Reagan and Bush-43, both were idiots and evil geniuses-- but the liberals never actually had to choose. This time won't be different.; 7/1/18, 3:54 PM
walter said...: "Why delete the emails she claimed were about yoga"
Imagining for a moment that's what they were, for humanity's sake..; 7/1/18, 3:57 PM
FullMoon said...: Your first obvious sign was Trump winning. But since then there have been other obvious signs including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian etc.

Kim Kardashian posing on her twitter account with Trump with that pardon was an absolute master stroke. When social media's affect on politics is soberly analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms in 10 years there will be a hashtag analysis done before Kanye/Kim and after.

When the left attacked Kanye and Kim for not hating Trump, they attacked fans of K&K. Just like attacking anyone who voted Trump as being a Nazi, etc.
The attack puts people on defensive, whether a 100% fan or not. Rather than defending K&K, or Trump, people end up defending themselves for voting for Trump or following K&K.

Independents and some loosely Democratic voters say, Fuck You for dis respecting me., I'll vote Republican next time.; 7/1/18, 3:59 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: I've followed a lot of what Ben Shapiro says. I get that people are upset with him, but trying to excommunicate him from the right seems a really silly response. Ben Shapiro does strive to be intellectually honest, and if you present him with facts that go against his original claims, he will reevaluate his position. I recently saw him admit this about Tommy Robinson in the UK, who I believe originally he had categorized him as just a racist, bigot. But he has since downgraded his negative position on him. Ben is still kind of young and so is may misread situations. His biggest fault is that he views the world and people too cereberally. He underestimates just how much emotions control peoples responses to situations.; 7/1/18, 4:03 PM
Fabi said...: It's not necessary for the offended or disillusioned to vote for republican candidates. They can stay at home on Election Day and be very effective.; 7/1/18, 4:07 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: If Mueller and his gang of Democrat operatives had ANYTHING on so-called Trump-Russia "collusion", we'd already know, because they would have leaked it six ways to Sunday.

And more truth. See how many FBI leakers there are. It's inconceivable that not one of them leaked the smoking gun evidence of Trump colluding with Russia. Which means, no smoking gun exists.

And how can it be, with at least one informant planted in the campaign / adminstration, and the FISA court granting wiretaps on nearly everyone in the campaign / adminstration, that there not be a smoking gun?

Ladies and gentleman, this is the dog that didn't bark (leak to the press). And the dog didn't bark because there is no evidence of collusion to leak.; 7/1/18, 4:09 PM
Achilles said...: langford peel said...

President Donald J Trump. The new FDR.

FDR was a piece of shit.

There was no redeeming value to him as a president or a leader.

Our only saving grace as a country was by the time war came he was too senile to interfere with the industrialists who organized our country and the generals that made the calls in the field and the Germans who stupidly attacked Russia.; 7/1/18, 4:11 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "I get that people are upset with him, but trying to excommunicate him from the right seems a really silly response. Ben Shapiro does strive to be intellectually honest, and if you present him with facts that go against his original claims, he will reevaluate his position. "

Vault Dweller, I agree!

"His biggest fault is that he views the world and people too cereberally. He underestimates just how much emotions control peoples responses to situations"

I think it's more that, like many in the pundit class, he has little contact with flyover types. (He's a life-long LA resident.) It's why he doesn't get Trump or people who like Trump.; 7/1/18, 4:18 PM
langford peel said...: Achilles please look up irony in the dictionary.

Not the pillow dictionary.

Thank you.; 7/1/18, 4:22 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Who is the Adrienne Barbeau of the Trump Administration?”

Trooper York.; 7/1/18, 4:32 PM
mandrewa said...: I like Ben Shapiro. I frequently listen to his monologues. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he says. One of the things I disagree with him about is the trade issue.

Over the last ten years we have had a cumulative 3.1 trillion dollar trade deficit with China. That means that we bought $3.1 trillion more of Chinese goods and services than they bought of ours. It also means that China was sold a combined net of $3.1 trillion dollars of American land, businesses, and debt. By net I mean $3.1 trillion more than whatever Americans bought of Chinese land, businesses, and debt.

So the effect of our trade with China over the last ten years is that China now owns an additional $3.1 trillion of the American economy. Oh, and there is another effect. This is much harder to measure but the usual consequence of one country running a trade deficit with another, is that jobs move from the country running the trade deficit to the one running a trade surplus.

This is a disaster. It doesn't matter whether China won $3.1 trillion of American assets fairly or not, it is still a disaster, and it's absolutely something we need to stop. (Although of course I don't think there is anything at all fair about the trade between the United States and China, since China puts so many barriers in the way of Americans trying to sell things to the Chinese.)

This is why I like Trump. On the big things he seems to be getting it right. I don't care about his tweets and his questionable statements. Those are minor things in comparison. And I had despaired of seeing an American president address this issue. Bush didn't. Obama didn't. And the bought and paid for Hillary Clinton would never have addressed the issue in any substantial way.

I think we should have automatic tariffs imposed on any country with which we have a trade deficit that goes over a certain amount, and further that those tariffs should automatically increase month by month as long as the trade deficit persists. So what if they respond by imposing their own tariffs? That just means we stop trading with them. We don't need the bastards.

Of course given the huge amount of American business and production that have been transferred to China over the last 25 years, this will cause a great deal of economic disruption, but note the disruption and the trade deficit would never have occurred if we had been doing automatic tariffs triggered by trade imbalances all along.

We have to correct the problem at some point, and it just gets worse and worse the longer it is allowed to go on.; 7/1/18, 4:43 PM
walter said...: "trying to excommunicate him from the right seems a really silly response. Ben Shapiro does strive to be intellectually honest, and if you present him with facts that go against his original claims, he will reevaluate his position'
--
Not sure folks are trying to excommunicate him from the right.
But he seems to be very reluctant to modify his view wrt the growing number of concerning facts regarding the players and process of the the "investigation".
And it sounds like he chose Gadfly's "hands clean!" approach to hedge his bets.; 7/1/18, 4:44 PM
Birkel said...: Is langford peel a reincarnation of cedarford?

Or just a moby?; 7/1/18, 4:47 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I think something to bear in mind with Ben Shapiro & why he may sometimes seem a little out of the blue is that the cultural/political path to conservatism is different for an American Jew than it is for an American gentile, Christian or not.

A Jewish Conservative often either comes from an Orthodox background, in which case he's about as embedded in an ethnic community as is possible in modern America, or he comes from an affluent & educated Liberal community that sees he's turn to conservatism as a literal "Turn to the Dark Side of the Force", a turn that is seen as a turn towards ignorance, antisemitism, religious intolerance, & low-class behavior in general.

A e.g. Christian conservative can look across the American heartland & see oodles of Red counties filled with folks just like him. He can feel himself part of a long cultural, religious, & political tradition, one member of the great majority. For a Jewish conservative, it's the lonely position of being a minority in a minority.; 7/1/18, 4:51 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: Not sure folks are trying to excommunicate him from the right.
But he seems to be very reluctant to modify his view wrt the growing number of concerning facts regarding the players and process of the the "investigation".

I'm not trying to suggest every person who dislikes something Shapiro says is trying to excommunicate him. But there are those who tend to be very supportive of Donald Trump who seem to view anyone on the right who says something negative about Trump as heresy. I suspect that is a very vocal minority. I also agree that Mr. Shapiro could stand to develop some healthy skepticism about the motivations and biases of Mr. Mueller, those conducting the investigation and those in the FBI and DOJ who lead the Trump investigation.; 7/1/18, 4:58 PM
walter said...: "For a Jewish conservative, it's the lonely position of being a minority in a minority."
A bit like black conservatives..especially black conservative women.; 7/1/18, 5:11 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @walter,

A bit like black conservatives..especially black conservative women.

Probably so. But, for a black or an Hispanic, there are the shared bonds of faith, which is not there for a Jew. This is still in so many ways a Christian country, many of them not apparent to those who aren't (and I consider many atheists raised in Christian communities to still be blind to those Christian foundations of the culture).

My mother's caretakers in Alabama are a group of very Christian women, Protestant Christians like only the South can crank out. They often watch the Christian channels on cable, & I, too, watch when I visit. There are very popular black preachers preaching to mixed congregations, & among the congregations run by white preachers many a black face among the congregants. It's always important to remember that while politics may divide black Protestantism from white, theologically, there's not a dime's bit of difference between them. The same with the ever growing number of Protestant Latinos. As for the white, Latino, & black Catholics, it's all the same church for them, too, except on an even larger scale.; 7/1/18, 5:44 PM
walter said...: "politics may divide black Protestantism from white, theologically, there's not a dime's bit of difference between them."
Case in point.; 7/1/18, 5:48 PM
AZ Bob said...: Trump is more like a doofus genius.; 7/1/18, 6:15 PM
Drago said...: AZ Bob: "Trump is more like a doofus genius."

A very #winning stable doofus genius.

Unfortunately for the dems and their LLR allies the dems are simply lunatics with malicious intent....and now everyone knows it as LLR Chucks beloved MSM-ers are unable to effectively cover for them.; 7/1/18, 7:01 PM
AZ Bob said...: I'm not tired of winning.; 7/1/18, 7:08 PM
Birkel said...: AZ Bob just called Trump a liar!
Excommunicate the heretic!

/Chuck*s wildest dreams

*fopdoodle extraordinaire; 7/1/18, 7:14 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: The problem with #NeverTrumpers (the conservative ones) is twofold:

1. His tax cuts are good for the country and the economy
2. His judges are good for the country and the judiciary.

So opposing him after he's accomplished 1 and 2, at this point, become ludicrous.

I would also argue he's done several other good things too, but the above 2 should suffice.

As for Liberals who don't like Trump, well, that's a separate problem.; 7/1/18, 7:31 PM
Drago said...: AZ Bob: "I'm not tired of winning"

Oh yeah?!

Well, I am even MORE Not Tired Of Winning!; 7/1/18, 7:31 PM
I Callahan said...: I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

I don't remember any such thing. Care to point to a link?; 7/1/18, 7:32 PM
narciso said...: Just another day ending in y

https://pjmedia.com/trending/suspect-in-boise-stabbing; 7/1/18, 7:50 PM
Drago said...: IC: "I don't remember any such thing. Care to point to a link?"

Freder is lying and rewriting history again to justify his lefty pals insanity.; 7/1/18, 8:13 PM
narciso said...: So now that it appears at least this first summit was unsuccessful, what will liberals demand now?; 7/1/18, 8:18 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

I can't claim to have read every comment on Althouse since 2008, but it's more likely you're not remembering things correctly.; 7/1/18, 8:25 PM
Sebastian said...: "I can remember discussions on this very blog that centered around the fear of Obama declaring himself president for life.

I don't remember any such thing. Care to point to a link?"

Casual smears are the prog MO.

Anyway, back to the post: of course, many of us don't quite agree with Shapiro, and he got a bunch of things wrong, but was there a lefty speaker in the O years who would speak as forthrightly about O, pro and con, and face righty questioners the way Ben does?

So far, we've got the bigger tent.; 7/1/18, 8:56 PM
Gretchen said...: Can someone tell me what the collusion evidence is?

Don Jr agreed to a meeting to get dirt on Hillary, realized he wasn't getting any and left.

Hillary hired a foreign operative to write a BS dossier on Trump, which was from Russian sources, then then Comey met with Trump to show him so they could give the papers a basis for publishing the fake information. The dossier was leaked to other media as well.

This points to Hillary, the FBI and media colluding using false information from British and Russian operative.; 7/1/18, 9:12 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: Hillary hired a foreign operative to write a BS dossier on Trump, which was from Russian sources...

Donations to the Clinton Foundation, and a Russian Uranium Takeover

When Bill Clinton Was Paid $500,000 to Speak in Russia, Hillary Opposed State Dept. Sanctions

Which makes at least THREE times the Clinton's colluded with Russia, in exchange for some serious cash. But none of that matters because shut up.; 7/1/18, 9:53 PM
rightguy said...: They called Ronald Reagan a "doofus".

BTW, President Trump has placed ABM's on Putin's doorstep (in Poland & Hungary), and DT's promotion of the US petroleum industry has the potential to cripple Russia's economy. (To add to the Putin-butt-kicking actions that Shapiro mentioned.) So who is who's bitch, eh?; 7/1/18, 10:09 PM
Alex said...: It's easier for the left to think of Trump as a doofus, because it fits their narrative better. Except on other days when he's 'evil' because he moved the embassy to Jerusalem. Whatever works for the Dhimmicrats.; 7/2/18, 12:14 AM
Alex said...: I still chant 'lock her up' every night at the local pub for a pint of lager. Everyone else joins me!; 7/2/18, 12:15 AM
Michael The Magnificent said...: So who is who's bitch, eh?

I'm so old, I remember when Putin marched into Crimea and shot down a passenger jet killing hundreds. Anyone recall what Sec State Hillary Clinton and CIC Obama did in response? Because Putin is STILL in Crimea.

I'm so old, I remember when Bashar al-Assad crossed CIC Obama's "red line" with the use of chemical weapons. Anyone recall what Sec State Hillary Clinton and CIC Obama did in response? Because Putin is now aiding Bashar al-Assad in causing an international refugee crisis.

So who's Putin's bitch? Who has Putin's dick in their mouth?; 7/2/18, 12:27 AM
donald said...: Ain’t one testicle between the two of em.; 7/2/18, 5:15 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Maher makes a mistake when he compares R & L examples of incivility.
Rhetoric is just words. Trump echoing "lock her up" is not the same as hounding a person out of a restaurant. This is easy to illustrate with a counter eample: if Hillary had said in a speech that Trump belonged in prison, it would not be tit-for-tat if Trump supporters used that as an excuse to hound Hillary out of a restaurant.
Rhetoric is not action. Saying that you would like to kill someone is not the same thing as murdering them.; 7/3/18, 8:17 AM