I'm thinking this is a real turning point in Trump-hating, a recognition that the portrayal of Trump as small isn't working anymore. The man with the tiny hands and tiny penis, the child of man, who bumbled into the White House and is throwing tantrums, watching TV, writing the teeny-tiny missives called tweets, eating kid's food, and ordering befuddled adults into acting out his random impulses — this template won't do anymore. The new template is: He's HUGE!
That's my hypothesis. I'll follow it with a new tag, "Trump Is Epic." And let me give you some highlights from the Collins-and-Stephens dialogue. The first observation isn't that Trump is epic, but that Trump is tiny:
Gail Collins: [G]iven the man’s general disorganization, I find it hard to imagine the [Muller] report picking him out as the sinister, canny leader who was orchestrating everything behind the scenes.That's the familiar little child-man. The old template.
Anticipating a fizzle of a Muller report, Collins searches her feelings to find something that could be big: "Still feeling that the real disaster for Trump is going to come with the investigations into his business practices in New York." Stephens says that his "guess" too. He expresses concern about Trump's inauguration committee and campaign-finance violations, but he thinks they won't amount to much if the Russian collusion story doesn't stick. So instead of concentrating on "what Trump might have done behind people’s backs," we should shift our concern to "what he does every day in plain sight."
So Collins poses the question, "Which horrible things the president has done lately seem most appalling to you?" Stephens indicates he's ready to go — "Well, that list is long" — but then he chooses to "start by praising Trump on a couple of fronts":
I think he’s shown moral leadership on Venezuela, by getting much of the world to recognize Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president and drawing attention to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding under the Maduro regime. And I’m also glad he’s partially reversed course and will keep at least some troops in Syria....That's all big and presidential, and so is the first appalling thing Stephens comes up with —the declaration of a national emergency over border security. Second is calling the NYT "a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE" (the caps are Trump's). And then "hankering for a deal" with North Korea, the "desire to start another trade war with Europe," and "lies and exaggerations and demagoguery about the purported evils of illegal immigration." And then there's just his "overall comportment" — you mean like this? — "his overall comportment continues to be a foul stain on the office of the presidency."
Collins joins in with reproductive rights, domestic violence, and guns, and it seems obvious that the main problem is what I've thought it's been all along for Trump haters — they wanted the other candidate to win the last election. And they get around to (almost) admitting it:
Gail: When he was running against Hillary Clinton I thought he was terrible, but not nearly as terrible as he turned out to be. Kind of amazing. Did you foresee all of this?They never declare "Trump Is Epic." That's just in the headline, so it's a bit of a puzzle. I'll leave my hypothesis as it is. Trump-haters are pivoting. Trump is now presidential — mega-presidential. But it's bad horrible terrible presidential.
Bret: Partly. I wrote more than a dozen columns for The Wall Street Journal during the last presidential campaign, denouncing his bigotry, lawlessness, ignorance and demagoguery. He vindicates my first impression with his every foul tweet....
ADDED: Bret Stephens reveals his propensity for disgust with his repetition of the word "foul": "his overall comportment continues to be a foul stain on the office of the presidency" and "He vindicates my first impression with his every foul tweet." The one I would edit out is "foul tweet." It's not just the repetition but also the accidentally funny homophone, "fowl tweet." You've got that bird image already there with "tweet."
Stephens uses an old-fashioned locution for some reason. He sounds like the straight man in a 1930s comedy. Your overall comportment continues to be a foul stain on the office of the presidency sounds like a line that would have been delivered to the President of Freedonia in "Duck Soup." Hey, there's that fowl again!
Posts
150 comments:
Our press is the national embarrassment, not our president.
The never-Trumpers are an epic fail.
Those guys are gonna have a tough six years....
-XC
Meanwhile, the Oregon governor has just signed https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/08/16/oregon-gov-signs-most-progressive-abortion-legislation-in-history-n2369207, which MANDATES abortions for any person (man or woman) that is found to be pregnant
Which horrible things the president has done lately seem most appalling to you?
How many superlatives does she need? You're only allowed one per sentence.
a foul stain on the office of the presidency
Wipe it up with a blue dress, asshole.
When is The Times going to replace Collins and Stephens with Illegal Alien Columnists?
And when is Stephens going to fight in one of the Neo-Con adventures he supports?
He is a despicable coward.
Gilbar, did you mean to say MANDATES payment, rather than MANDATES abortions?
These people are mental infants, wearing straight-jackets of denial while pacing the walls in a padded cell of their own biases.
They are completely unable or unwilling to ask the question 'why' they really hate the president, Republicans in general or these policies he and his voters support. The are unable to ask the same about their own policy desires.
They are 10th graders parroting talking points about the giant orange doody head. They are non-player characters. No agency, none.
well, i meant to Strongly imply REQUIRES, but currently the law allows people to opt out of their abortion (well, okay! it just provides Free Abortions For All; but it's just a first step)
Regarding Althouse hypothesis, they keep flailing wildly for some new 'angle' to attack him and his approval rating without asking - once again 'why' - they are failing and why their angles fall flat.
No journalists. The truth 'is not out there' you dummies. The next angle is not just around the corner like the holy grail of Trump hatred. You won't look in the frickin' mirror.
Their lack of self-awareness is epic.
When you consider the Brain Trust that Is the Democratic party; how long will it be before AOC starts telling people that they shouldn't have babies because of climate change: oh wait!
Trump is succeeding. That's now the complaint.
He's succeeding, however, the wrong way. His success is pragmatic. Things work. The economy is doing great. We're at peace and withdrawing from foreign conflicts.
According to the NYT, he should be on a moral crusade to eradicate bigotry. The anti-bigotry crusade must go on!
The anti-bigotry crusade took a big hit over the past few weeks. So little bigotry around that it has to be manufactured.
But, we must stamp out every last bigot or else...
"'Which horrible things the president has done lately seem most appalling to you?'
Oh, I don't know. A strong economy? Record unemployment for minorities? Troop withdrawals in Syria and Afghanistan? Talks with North Korea on denuclearization? Better trade deals with Mexico and Canada?
Hard to decide.
"'Which horrible things the president has done lately seem most appalling to you?'
"Oh, I don't know. A strong economy? Record unemployment for minorities? Troop withdrawals in Syria and Afghanistan? Talks with North Korea on denuclearization? Better trade deals with Mexico and Canada?"
Add in making NATO pay their fair share. This just makes me angry. How dare he? (sarc)
It’s fun to read between the lines of what’s written in the New York Times, just the way Kremlinologists used to read between the lines of what was printed in Pravda. As one must with propaganda.
Oh but that comportment.
The comportment!!!
And then "hankering for a deal" with North Korea...
What the fuck? What is wrong with these people?
The only scenario I can envision in which the left relents and allows that we might junk the crusade and enjoy pragmatic success is if a quota specimen (woman, black, gay, etc.) is the one leading that success.
Disgust is handy because it defeats analysis. It's an origin term.
in my text “Economimesis,” I have tried to show how a concept of economy acquired from digestion governs the view of the beautiful in Kantian aesthetics. While the beautiful is a name for the balanced and harmonious metabolism, the closed economy remains threatened from within by disgust, and this analytic of the beautiful falls apart when it reaches the point of disgust and vomiting—a point at which the economy reaches its limit in terms of what is absolutely inassimilable.
(Derrida interview)
There's a foul owl on the prowl tonight
Hey, little lark, get outta the dark
Foul owl on the prowl
Hey little jay, stay out of his way
Foul owl on the prowl
You just might be the quail he'll tail
Foul owl on the prowl
You just might be the swallow he'll follow
Foul owl on the prowl
Wait , it is going to be worse by magnitudes after the Cohen congressional testimony - tax fraud , racism, foul language, etc.
Thank you for reading their childish diatribe. I couldn't do it. It seems like such a waste of time for their readers.
As opinion writers, Collins and Stephens have given up any pretense of persuasion.
They are reduced to hoping events unfold that will convince those who do not already share their feelings that they were rights all along about Trump's unfitness.
Warner Wolf argues that the foul pole ought to be called the fair pole, in baseball. A ball that hits it is fair.
Thank gosh for Trump, who is getting shit done. These dopes can't even write a proper hit piece.
Bret Stephens is a foul stain on the underpants of journalism.
Limbaugh predicted this a week ago. Althouse has articulated with her usual clarity and acuity.
Acuity!
OED that, Ann.
" Hey, there's that fowl again! "
I give up, why a duck?
That's about the only thing that makes sense here.
A cutie's acuity.
"The New York Times ... printed weekday circulation dropped by 50 percent to 540,000 copies from 2005 to 2017."
That's almost enough copies for everyone in the Des Moines metro area to have a fresh birdcage liner every weekday.
It all comes down to the same simple thing: the sound of stale, smelly air slowly escaping from the Trump-Russia collusion blimp. Certainly headed more toward a final whimper than a bang.
What are they going to say when Trump ends the war with North Korea?
These two remind me of kids in the gifted-and-talented class, smart enough to make the cut, dumb enough not to realize their fifth-grade “Utopia” project has a few “kinks” in it, if by a few kinks I mean the whole damn thing is idiotic and I do.
Shorter:
Collins / Stephens: He's Terrible!
Me: Terrible how?
Collins / Stephens: Wicked Terrible!
Times Subscriber: Oh, yes, I see that now.
Clearly I am not the intended audience for this column. The analysis by our host is quite good.
Got in a long Twitter argument yesterday with an old friend (crazy-Inga style Trump-hater) and some other progressives joined in. Yet none of them could articulate even one overtly racist thing Trump has done. It finally boiled down to a partial Trump phrase (because you have to edit carefully to construct a racist-sounding "quote" from him) during Charlottesville where he had said there were "good people, fine people on both sides" and the flip-side semi-quote from afterwards where he condemned hate and racism and "violence on many sides," which they didn't like for its imprecision.
[Imagine even having an expectation of a precise statement from Trump! What dopes, right?]
So I pulled out the longer first quote about good people and showed that the "both sides" Trump referred to clearly means the issue of toppling statues, which was the predicate for people gathering in Charlottesville and there ARE people on both sides of that issue now who are good.
Almost as if Chuck was on the other side, they immediately brought up the 1975 consent decree for housing (nope that's Fred Trump, who admitted no guilt); then the Central Park 5 (so what, a lot of people thought they were guilty and private citizen Trump didn't have any power to harm those falsely accused); then how black employees had to clear the casino in NJ when high rollers came in, which was an anecdote from Chuck's favorite source the bitter fired employee. Again I countered, "So what?" He hired black people! So what if he had an attitude or wanted Jews to count his money. Those things are slightly discriminatory but not evidence to me of a man who hates others, as he is so often smeared.
They didn't give up. They came back with a HuffPo article about the "16 Most Racist Things" about Trump. It was laughable. Not only were the same items recycled from above but they stretched it to include the taco salad selfie, the birth certificate, and the main complaint all simpering progressives (and LLRs) have: Trump didn't condemn X in terms I feel were strong enough. Yes, half of what Trump is accused of DOING is actually what people think he should have done, which is a shitty and underhanded way to insinuate racism. Especially because they ignore every call for unity and love and being one with our fellow citizens. They cry "racism" because he didn't condemn the Klan hard enough (which was lie itself since I found quotes from him in August 2017 after Charlottesville specifically condemning white supremacists and NAZIs) in their opinion.
So just like Brett and Gail and Maggie and other Timesmen who can't quite articulate WTF their complaint is with Trump, I found that even people I love and admire off Twitter could not really name any racist action Trump has taken. [Don't say "Muslim ban" to me either because he was upheld by the court for his decidedly even-handed country-banning.]
Therefore my conclusion is Trump might be the LEAST racist president we've had in my lifetime. The fact that Hispanics are flocking to the Trump train bears out that thesis. Unless the Ds find a supercandidate they will lose bigly again.
During the 2016 election race, Bret Stephens was writing a column for The Wall Street Journal. He was so sure so that Donald Trump would lose that he wrote a column, published on the morning following the election, blaming Trump's loss on the Republicans who foolishly had supported him.
The fool in this situation was Stephens himself.
Needs a TDS tag.
Less is more. If they really want to subvert the President, they shouldn't be so appallingly negative. Trump has had many visible and undeniable successes. Their depiction of him as the worst ever just doesn't jibe with reality. It's like the Sandmann/Phillips confrontation. They keep banging the drum in his face and claiming that such banging is a brave act and that his reaction to their banging is oppressive........The stridency of media criticism is one of the reasons why people bond with Trump.
In other words, he hasn't actually done anything bad at all.
"'Which horrible things the president has done lately seem most appalling to you?' Gail Collins asks."
Knowing Gail Collins, I'm guessing a dog and a car roof are somehow involved.
He rocks in the treetops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song
All the little birds on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet-tweet-tweet
Rockin' robin, (tweet-tweet-tweet)
Rock-rock-rockin' robin' (tweet-tweedilly-tweet)
Trends arent trends, they are the result of instructions.
A "propaganda line" is more than just a dismissal of some blatant political advertising. It means something, it is an actual directive, a guideline along which media under control is instructed to organize their creative efforts, themes and arguments, often with specific phrases to use.
Excellent story Mike.
"The fact that Hispanics are flocking to the Trump train bears out that thesis. "
Maybe the repeated and increasingly shrill accusations of Trump's racism are intended to slow or retard the movement of Hispanics (and to a lesser degree blacks) to the Trump train.
Unless the Ds find a supercandidate they will lose bigly again.
And what’s wrong with Democrats loosing “bigly”? Will anything other than losing bigly case them to re-examine their collective hatred for people who work for a living?
It's said that Bret Stephens hated growing up in Mexico. It may have had much to do with why the way he is now - so uptight and defensive and condescending. So why is he so keen on mass immigration now?
Burt Stephens is a an awful person. An anti-American globalist who pretended to be some sort of "Conservative" for years, then switched teams and rooted for Hillary to win in 2016, because of his hatred of native born Americans.
But then what else is new? Its the NYT Op-ed page. They used to be pompous and boring with "Jonnny" Apple, "Scottie" Reston, and Lewis to simply embarrassing. That our power elite reads and listens to them, is simply foul.
Bill Peschel said...
I give up, why a duck?
"Why a Duck?" is Chico's Italinate mispronunciation of "viaduct" in Cocoanuts which became a running gag and Groucho's mascot on "You Bet Your Life".
Sounds like the Times has been tipped that the Mueller report is a lame duck.
BTW- "The Groucho Letters: Letters From and To Groucho Marx", by Grouch Marx is a terrific read...you'll be chuckling and reading bits out loud to others. I had to buy a second copy as my spouse kept stealing off with it.
Haven't all the Trump haters made themselves unimportant? I think Jonah Goldberg is a smart fella. He's not nearly as nasty towards Trump as Stephens is, but he is still a Trump hater. I'm not sure what his purpose is anymore. There is no Republican party, or conservative party, where Goldberg has a home. Ditto Stephens. Their side has lost, and deservedly so.
Maybe the hatred for Trump comes from the idea -- the Trump haters must know this -- that half of America not only does not care what they think, half of America thinks that they are no better than Trump is.
Forget Collins, she is just a dunderhead. Stephens is kind of special. He doesn't like America very much, but he is known for his hawkish stance on the military. How does that work?
Thanks, Stevew.
Yes I think so too. One of the "indictments" against Trump was his tendency to say "the Blacks" or "the Hispanics" and "the Jews" instead of a more modern phrasing without the "the" in front. The had to reach that far and they weren't convincing at all.
Face it, Progs, Trump is a lover not a hater. He's trying so much harder than Obama ever did to actually heal the rifts and bring people together. That's what scares you. Unity. Your worst fears as progressives is not having sects to play off eachother any longer. That's YOUR worst nightmare and why you kick against the Trump so hard over nothing. He is succeeding. And his success diminishes the power of identity politics to gain traction. It's an existential battle for race warriors like... every Democrat running.
Oregon is a scary place. On the other side of life, that is if you are not first murdered by abortionists or antifa, they have an estate tax that kicks in at 10% of every dollar you leave (excepting spouse) above $1 million.
One odd thing about the #nevertrumprs is they always sound like hysterical drama queens. Everyone they dislike is "Nasty" "disgusting" "wretched" "Nazis" or my favorite "garbage".
"Trump Is Epic."
I think that this meme is deadly for the Dems. I had been thinking along these lines a couple minutes before I found this comment thread, but hadn’t quite come up with “epic” yet. I was trying to put together “successful”, “productive”, “consequential”, and maybe “ energetic”. “Epic” does a pretty good job putting it all together. I would not be surprised if he picked this up in his tweets, maybe even attributing authorship. His Presidency is epic because he is the first in a long time to actually fill the position. The contrast with Obama, who couldn’t do more than go through the motions, as a dilettante, picking his brackets, playing golf and hoops, and spying on his enemies, and not much more, couldn’t be more stark.
The thing that worried me a bit when I was thinking along those lines, is that the American people, or at least Trump’s base, might be too exhausted by all that winning, by election time next year, and not come out to vote. Luckily, for us, and for the country, the Dems, at least so far, seem bound and determined to nominate a liberal whack job. I think that they would have a much better chance of success if they were to nominate one of their more sane members, for example a low key purple, or even red state governor. Definitely not one of the pack of blue state Senators who are most visibly running so far (who are likely going to be voting in favor of AOL’s Green New Deal in the next several weeks). Maybe someone like former CO governor Hickendooper. Should be interesting.
Without a doubt the most horrible thing Trump has done lately (besides continuing to breath) is simply keeping his word to the citizens who elected him. It’s dastardly I tell you.
It's come down to Trump is Winning, and Winning, and then Winning, and Winning some more... there ought to be a law against the SOB winning. We, the self destructive, hate filled and suicidal idiots, demand equal wins.
"I think what I really want to get across to my readers each week, when you boil it down, is that Trump offends my delicate sensibilities."
"SO offensive."
"And of course I'm not oblivious to the fact that millions of people who were struggling for years are working now, getting higher wages, they're lives are better and all that, but from where I'm sitting, I have to question whether it's worth it, do you know what I mean?"
"I know exactly what you mean. But those jobs people? Look, I think it shows your fundamental decency as a human being that you voice a concern for them and I love you for that, but don't forget, these are the very people who voted for Trump in the first place. Why would I want to help them? Why would you? Did they care about us when they were pulling the lever for Trump? Did they stop, even for moment, to think about what people like us would have to go through emotionally if that buffoon became President? No they did not."
"That's a really good point."
"Besides, my sensibilities are getting more delicate by the day. Don't you feel that way?"
"Well, that's a good thing. Isn't it?"
"I think so, yeah, sure, of course, it's what I like most about myself. But it also makes it hard to come to work every day and write about Trump."
"It only goes to show how tough we truly are. I mean I'm proud of myself. And I'm proud of you. Look at what we do! We're amazing when you think about it. We're like the Navy Seals of..."
"Opining."
"Exactly! I was going to say the Resistance, but I like that better. I think it's particularly apt."
"The only easy column was yesterday's col...Ow! Shit!"
"What?"
"Oh this fucking sheet of paper. It's really sharp. Look."
"Ouch."
"We were supposed to be paperless like fucking 5 years ago. I mean, doubleyou tee eff, people!"
Why a duck? Why not a Ford?
I'll tell you viaduct, its deep water.
Now look...I'm gonna take you down and show you our cemetery. I've got a waiting list of fifty people down at that cemetery just dying to get in it, but I like you.
Blogger David Begley said...What are they going to say when Trump ends the war with North Korea?
You can be sure as shit they will say Putin ordered him to do it.
"they have an estate tax that kicks in at 10% of every dollar you leave (excepting spouse) above $1 million."
10% OMG. That means if you leave $5million your estate only gets $4.5 million. Who can live on that chickenfeed?
"10% OMG. That means if you leave $5million your estate only gets $4.5 million. Who can live on that chickenfeed?" Kind of a backwards approach. These guys are rich, so let's take their stuff. Doesn't have to stay at 10%, right? You can live on $2.5 million as well.
And why wait till they die? Because now you have an excuse? Skip that!
It's okay to rob from the rich. You don't even need to give to the poor.
Propaganda is effective. It works, though to an opponent it may seem absurd.
Its not difficult to sell an absurdity if it works on an emotional need, or a general tribal interest.
Propaganda usually fails not because the propaganda itself fails, there need not be merely a mismatch between observed reality and the propaganda line. People can rationalize anything if it costs them nothing. Propaganda fails when its controllers fail, when there is a genuine material consequence to the people of the policies implemented by the government operating the propaganda system. When the emperor loses the mandate of heaven, people stop listening.
In this model the propaganda system already suffered a partial failure long before Trump, during the great recession. The length and depth of that alienated much of the US population from the powers that be, and their MSM. Trump understood that much better than his opponents.
Another point about propaganda is that if you react against it, it was probably not meant for you. These propagandists aren't stupid people, and they work hard. They know perfectly well what works on different groups. You see this in every flavor of wartime propaganda, what was meant for people on your side, what was meant for neutrals, and what was meant for enemies. So it is today.
A last point - you do not fight propaganda by arguing against it, that is useless other than in processing ones own feelings of being upset by it, but by an equal or better opposite propaganda.
How many Blacks or Hispanics or Blue Color Workers read the New York Times? This article by Collins and Stephens was meant for the people who are already convinced that Trump is Satan.
“I think that this meme is deadly for the Dems.”
The problem for the Dems is that Epic can be good or bad. Probably more good than bad. For example, Vail Resorts has their “Epic” season passes, indirectly suggesting that skiing their mountains is epically good. Making things worse, for the Dems in CO (the center of Vail Resorts) is that the demographic that they peeled off the Republicans in 2016, the college educated, are precisely the demographic that has been getting the Vail Resorts sales pitch about the Epic skiing on their Epic mountains. Unfortunately, this is my third season without one of their Epic ski passes, as I find myself wintering in the desert of AZ, instead of near the ski resorts of CO and Tahoe in NV.
Think of it like the warhammer series, that the Europeans glommed on to. There is a lesser degree of it with Netanyahu, ignore his sayat Matkal training his advanced degrees he still is considered to have leapfrogged the competition in the likud.
Spanish language news is similarly myopic as I imagine is urban media, then again they pic up their talking points from the ap.
It's the porn star hush money that is the problem. Except that's not impeachable, because of Bill Clinton.
Then in Colombia you have Uribe, the doctor who drove the guerillas to ground, with some us support (plan Colombia) and even made some headway with the cartels. Despite that?? There is Uribe derangement among the intelligentsia. They preferred Santos who gave the cartels most everything they eanted.
Blogger buwaya said...
. . .
In this model the propaganda system already suffered a partial failure long before Trump, during the great recession. The length and depth of that alienated much of the US population from the powers that be, and their MSM. Trump understood that much better than his opponents.
. . .
The post cold war economic system of expertly guided economies was supposed to prevent things like the crash of 2008 from happening. They really know nothing, and yet they demand that people kowtow to their expertise.
And there is some similarity with Berlusconi the baron of Italian politics for 20 years, the ond who forged an alliance between the populists of the league the alliance and the commercial class. Il estado profundo chased him for about that long.
The Warhammer thing I thought worked on a particular limited demographic.
I was very surprised by the several manifestations in that Italian festival (there were smaller ones also).
It could be that the "God Emperor" memes penetrated further than the Warhammer universe itself.
The meme is not unambiguous. The God Emperor is of course awesome, but the circumstances are terrible, and the Imperial methods are only somewhat less horrible than those of their enemies. That is likely lost, though, on those who see the memes without a connection to Warhammer.
In the limited meme-verse, Trump depicted as the God-Emperor is an acknowledgement both of awesomeness and absurdity, being so over the top. There is also a degree of affection I think. A lot of Italians are on a bloody minded anti-establishment kick.
Kathleen Turner: l've thought about this a lot.
l really don't want to be married to you any more.
Michael Douglas: Why do you want a divorce?
Did... did l do something?
Did l... did l not do something?
Turner: l can't give you specifics, Oliver.
Douglas: Well, try!
Turner: l don't want to try!
Douglas: ls there somebody else? Another man?
Turner: No.
Douglas: A woman?
Turner: You wish.
Douglas: l should be the one asking for a divorce!
l was rushed to hospital
suffering from severe...
Turner: lndigestion.
Douglas: Oh, you're such an expert at making me look like a jerk.
Turner: OK, OK, OK. l'm sorry.
l'm the bad person.
Let's just blame me for this.
Douglas: No! No. l think l need...
l think you owe me, after this many pretty goddamn good years of marriage, a solid reason.
l worked my ass off to make enough money to provide you with a good life,
and you owe me a reason that makes sense.
So let's hear it.
Come on. Let's hear it. Let's hear it!
Turner: Because...
when l watch you eat,
when l see you asleep,
when l look at you lately,
l just wanna smash your face in.
-- War of the Roses
Now Berlusconi did represent certain faction of that apparat, as his membership in p2 would attest, but he was up against others notably the anti American sisde re the pro American sismi, camillieri clearly evokes this in montalbanos footnotes although the TV series is vett entertaining a d bipartisan
"not nearly as terrible as he turned out to be."
You mean, like, low unemployment, high growth, stocks doing well? No crazy wars, pressure on China and Russia, NAFTA replacement? Deregulation, solid GOP judges, other top-notch appointments like Pompeo and Mulvaney? Going after the killing of gays in s**hole countries? Terrible!
"He vindicates my first impression with his every foul tweet...."
True TDS. Most of Trump's tweets are hardly "foul." They call BS on MSM BS, they provoke the left, they tout his record, they boast, they set his agenda.
Yes the construct of God emperor seems impossible, inside a galactic bureaucracy
"When he was running against Hillary Clinton I thought he was terrible, but not nearly as terrible as he turned out to be."
It's kind of frightening how genuinely, sincerely, legitimately, in-need-of-psychiatric-assistance deranged our elite have become over Trump. How can you POSSIBLY have a worse opinion of Trump now than you did during the campaign? You get this from Rod Dreher as well, who compulsively refers to Trump as a failure as President.
By any possible standard, Trump has done a much better job as President than ANY of his critics expected. Even if you hate everything he's done, the undisputed fact remains that the economy is doing well, he hasn't gotten us into any stupid wars, and nobody's been thrown into a concentration camp.
It's one thing to think Trump was going to be an epic disaster. It's another thing to cling to that belief when it is disproven by reality. If these people think they're going to be able to indulge in this kind of irrationality because it feels good and then put it aside when Trump is gone, they're going to learn the same lesson addicts have been learning since the first swig of caveman wine.
Mike
Good point about Berlusconi. He survived that long because he appealed to the rebellious mood among many Italians, sick of their own underperforming leadership caste. Who succeeded him? Much more of the same, as the reasons for disaffection have only grown.
Trump is not unique, he is just a consequence of broader causes. There have been many Trumps everywhere. The US MEM propaganda focus on Trump the person is for effect, as a symbol.
And there are further analogs with Sarkozy the man on a citroen who held the reins of the gaullist but was reckless in some of this policies notably engaging in the Libyan debacle.
The comportment!!!
The penmanship department's deportment is deplorable.
Couch RI - Home of the Indians! - provides helpful suggestions:
Presidential and Homework Rules
- Listen carefully and follow directions from the NYT
- Tweet quietly and do not disturb others who are twittering on the journalist.
- Do your work neatly and carefully. Sloppy work is unacceptable.
- Keep your Executive Orders in a safe place and turn them in on time.
- Ask for help if you need it, but do the work yourself.
- All homework evaluated by the New York Times will be given a zero.
Yes salvini has inherited that crown along with the 5 star which is somewhat schizophrenic. Berlusconi forgets to get off the stage
"Stephens ...expresses concern about Trump's inauguration committee and campaign-finance violations, but he thinks they won't amount to much if the Russian collusion story doesn't stick."
Stephens used to be thoughtful and reasonably well-informed. It is appalling to see him referring to "the Russian collusion story" as if it had not been thoroughly discredited almost before it was unveiled. Collins has always been a chucklehead, but I have to wonder what happened to Stephens.
A note for various commenters -
When you see a talking head spout, or read the ventings of a columnist, do not assume sincerity. These are well paid professionals. They are in their positions for a reason, else they would be on the street. What they do serves someones interests.
Buwaya has some good points.
There is obviously a community / group that discusses and suggests best ways to attack trump, tag lines, spin to cover current events, what not to cover, and promote their values (progressive). Journolist was exposed, but there are newer groups of reporters. I find it strange I now accept this as truth, and the fact most of the media is Very Deliberately Biased in their coverage, and are most democratic activists with bylines, as instapundit puts it.
What is surprising is their methods are losing their power. What used to work, is no longer as effective, or at least against Trump. It worked against Roy Moore (Al Senate race) and Ed Gellespy (va governor race).
Trump is the boy who continually points out when the emperor has no clothes. Others don’t do this, either since it’s for the cause, or they are afraid they will be slimed / publically shamed / pilloried in public.
Not tired of winning!
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair:"
Well, yeah, Stephens is mad. Us normals look at the things they want to pin on Trump -- payoffs to hookers, campaign finance violations, cheating business partners -- and we know that the Trump haters are up to their own necks in the same crap. The difference is, they hate us, and Trump doesn't.
Stephens' father was an executive working for a company in Mexico. You think that his hands are clean?
I don’t think it’s someone’s interest, but rather for The Cause, the Greater Good. To fight the good fight, against the Deplorables, against the true enemies of the people as they have been brainwashed by the establishment, in school, by the media, Hollywood, and the uniparty. This way they will force our nation to be more enlightened and guided by our betters. It’s all for the greater good. It’s not for one person, unless they are seen as a public representative / symbol for the cause.
>What they do serves someones interests.
I love the link at "overall comportment"! Anne, you are brilliant, and very funny.
Trump isn't epic. It's his critics that got small.
For Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, Trump hatred is not so much about what he's done but about who he is. Their bottom line remains, "I just don't like that man!" Or (in 1930's style), "Your overall comportment continues to be a foul stain on the office of the presidency."
The emotion, the "I don't like that man" is the driver, the prime mover. All else remains rationalization to justify and cover those primary emotions: they are by him, and therefore he must be a very bad man indeed. And shortly they will come up with reasons why that's so, but, it is the emotion that comes first.
Of course, as New York Times writers they can't very well just say they're mostly driven by their emotions, and the reasons offered to justify those emotions are just that, after-the-fact rationalizations and justifications.
And, truly, I don't so much like the man so much either. But that doesn't matter, I don't have to get along with him, he's not a personal friend or a relative or otherwise someone I must at least pretend to like.
But, I do like a good deal of what he's accomplished.
Lawlessness?
Anyone in the hack press care about actual lawlessness ?
If so - Hillary Clinton would have been yanked from her position as a candidate.
Pocketing actual Russian money during your tenure at the State Dept is A-OK!
Talking about building a building - because as a businessman - that's what you do. why - that's criminal!
The left never consider that Hillary Clinton is why Trump is president.
Sarkozy was the maverick, his is the party of the protagonist in marseilles, got involved in some skulduggery re arms deal to Pakistan, when he was associated with balladur the respectable enarque (an alum of their Harvard yale princeton) much like Macron is the foolish one.
"10% OMG. That means if you leave $5million your estate only gets $4.5 million. Who can live on that chickenfeed?"
I'd say something about double taxation, but I'm sure that might be lost on some people here.
At least they have reached the proverbial 5th stage of grief: Acceptance. They are not happy with who our president is, but they accept that he is president.
Of course it is for someones interests.
The context here is that -
a. These people, and much more so the infrastructure that backs them, are very expensive. CNN alone has some 3000 employees, and I image a great many more contractors.
b. The MSM is not profitable. TV news has been a loss leader since the 1960s. Even if newspapers claim profits it is due largely to major corporation "image" ads, not notably different from corporate sponsorships of PBS. Newspapers used to be hugely profitable till the 1980s btw. Its a different world now. Cable services are likewise loss leaders for cable providers.
c. So why do their owners, and channel-owners like Viacom bother? Why aren't these people like Stephens nattering away on Youtube like their opponents, and living hand to mouth off of the proceeds of oft-demonetized videos and Patreon begging?
Connect the dots.
Now what ties this movement in and out of power, is Bannon the self imagined crimwell who worked with Berlusconi and prince talal chronicler of the populists like Hearst. One time?? Advisor to trump now to salvini and Brexit brigade.
"When you see a talking head spout, or read the ventings of a columnist, do not assume sincerity. These are well paid professionals. They are in their positions for a reason, else they would be on the street. What they do serves someones interests."
The Edgelord Times?
Emotions are often engineered. These are easy to create.
Do not assume that your own emotions are your own.
It is most likely that at least some of your feelings were deliberately put there by someone else.
Yes I know thats can be an upsetting concept.
Remember, the Wall Street Journal was the home of the leadership of Fusion GPS.
The WSJ is no fan of conservatives.
They want eGOP lap dogs for big monied interests.
Good "Duck Soup" reference.
A key to Groucho's comedic success was that his characters would say quite plainly what someone else in the same situation would think but not dare to voice in polite society. Trump the politician? Hmmm....
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...The left never consider that Hillary Clinton is why Trump is president.
Well worth repeating. And the guilty ones still cannot admit that they were CRYING the night she lost.
In this model the propaganda system already suffered a partial failure long before Trump, during the great recession. The length and depth of that alienated much of the US population from the powers that be, and their MSM. Trump understood that much better than his opponents.
That was the "emperor has no clothes" moment. It is the focus of Angelo Codevilla's essay, "The Ruling Class."
As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors’ “toxic assets” was the only alternative to the U.S. economy’s “systemic collapse.” In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Many, if not most, people around them also agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars in ways unprecedented in America. They explained neither the difference between the assets’ nominal and real values, nor precisely why letting the market find the latter would collapse America. The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one.
We were ignored and Trump came to pass.
Only a few like morgenstern (then at forbes) and wallison, noted the government policy driver notably the cra and Fannie and Freddie which embodied the embodiment of the uniparty take Robert zoellick, the 'respectable' world bank choice, who gave the oligarchs and warlords free rein.
It is real fun to see two giants of the NYT gas factory play "Ain't It Awful." There is nothing much they can fix, but there sure is a lot to complain about. And foul! So much about Trump is foul.
I particularly like the passage that Althouse pointed out where Bret Stephens manages to sound like a stuffed shirt in a Marx Brothers film. We can't have that sort of foul nonsense at St. Cakes School!
"Your overall comportment continues to be a foul stain on the office of the presidency"
Gee, how about getting blow-jobs from interns in the Oval Office?
How about renting out nights in the Lincoln Bedroom in exchange for campaign contributions?
How about lying to the American people "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"?
How about declaring American people to be your "enemies", but murderous foreign dictators are "opponents", or "negotiating partners"?
How about shipping hundreds of millions of dollars, in pallets of cash, to terrorist supporting regime? And then lying about it?
How about Abusing the FISA process in order to spy on domestic political opponents?
There is nothing that Trump has done that comes even CLOSE to matching the foul stains the last two Democrat Presidents have inflicted on the American Presidency.
Blogger Bill Peschel said...
" Hey, there's that fowl again! "
I give up, why a duck?
Poetry. Rhymes.
Gail Collins is still on the NYT payroll? No wonder they are in financial trouble.
Thats right, Mike.
Codevilla is an interesting fellow and his frame makes great sense in fitting known facts. He has a historical perspective. If he were saying the similar things about the 18th century Dutch Republic (see Schama) or ancient Rome, as in Gibbon, he would be uncontroversial. But he is not a professor emeritus at some East Coast school.
Humor and ridicule are the most effective counterpropaganda.
"10% OMG. That means if you leave $5million your estate only gets $4.5 million. Who can live on that chickenfeed?"
A city sprawls toward farmland. The farmer dies. Heirs see $5 million in capital gains and a $500,000 tax bill. This will be paid how?
So two NYT columnists and Ann Althouse get to form my opinion about Trump's size? Hell no - because Trump even lies about his size by requiring his fake annual physicals to report weight at 244 lbs and height at 6'3" because this pathological narcissist thinks we care about his obesity.
First of all, Trump 6'1" tall at best but more likely 6'0" as was proved by the many photographs snapped next to 6'3" JEB Bush in the Presidential Primaries. And his weight at minimum is 265 as evidenced by his girth and obvious muscles displayed when he drives a golf ball.
So the President physically large but he is a mental midget with the vocabulary and thought patterns of a juvenile - largely related to his sub-100 IQ and pathetic self-love. If it ain't about DJT or DJT's money (real or imagined) there is no reality in his mind.
Final thought. Why do rabid Trump supporters feel the need to defend his every action. I have browsed a half dozen articles criticizing Amy Klobuchar for treating her staff badly but when Trump screams at his staff or has them fired, Trumpsters raise the barricades (um ... walls) to protect him?
And $5 million in this case is chicken feed (fowl reference intended). The farmers from whom I used to get milk (omg! unpasteurized!) retired by selling their farm to a developer for $41 million. Good thing their kids didn't want to farm.
I truly believe that Schlump is Hitler, but not as quite as evil, and f*cked up - unless he gets us into WWIII and kills us all. Do you right-wing fools want to wait and see if that happens? The damage to future generation is also in the works. You won't know when the nuclear *Shoah on your head happens, which is the saving grace of an instantaneous death, as lovely Angie Dickerson reminded me in a recent interview at her Beverly Hills home speaking wistfully about death in general. In Schlump's case evil, arrogance, infantilism, and foolishness are hard to untangle, but we must try for everyone's sake. He must be called to account for his bad actions. Schlump is a loser of truly epic proportions. He is also disgusting and insufferable - a blight on our nation. He makes America stink again. He's gotta go!
*The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , [c] was a genocide in which Nazi Germany , aided by its collaborators , systematically murdered some six million European Jews —around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe—between 1941 and 1945, during World War II . [a] [d] Jews were targeted for extermination as part of a larger event during the Holocaust era, in which Germany and its collaborators persecuted and murdered other groups, including Slavs (chiefly ethnic Poles , Soviet prisoners of war , and Soviet citizens); the Roma ; the "incurably sick" ; political and religious dissenters such as communists and Jehovah's Witnesses ; and gay men , resulting in up to 17 million deaths overall.
gadfly and Trumpit fail to register a single complaint beyond what the NYT propaganda people manage.
Each has decided for whatever personal reasons to believe their feelings beyond objective reality.
They fail even to be decent Green Grocers.
All of which just proves that the Trump-haters hate Trump for reasons they cannot admit, so they look for a legitimate reason they can use (like collusion) and when that doesn't work, just move on to another one that they had never mentioned until ten minutes ago. They will just go from one fake reason to another until they have their way, like a child who really, really wants something and comes up with one bogus reason after another as to why they should have it.
And the most interesting thing is they keep trying this impeachment strategy rather than developing a political program and candidate(s) to can take him out in 2020. So, if they don't impeach him out of office they will be weaker in 2020 than they might have been.
"Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered." Pigs would recognize that impeachment and removal is an incredible long shot, but beating him at the polls in 2020 should be very doable. Hogs want him out via impeachment before Jan. 2021, and take no notice of the long odds against it.
These people are so lame and pathetic, it is just amazing. And they think they can run the country.
Codevilla is an interesting fellow and his frame makes great sense in fitting known facts.
What is most interesting to me is the fact that a proposal was made quite early to auction some of the assets that were stranded to see what the actual market price would be. It might have been 25% of face value. From my review of Gelinas book, "After the Fall"
An opportunity was missed in the summer of 2008 when Merrill Lynch sold some mortgage backed assets at 22 cents on the dollar. The price was low but nobody knew what the right price was. Allowing these fire sales to proceed would begin to establish a market for these securities. The TARP plan put a stop to this as no one would sell to private bidders when the government would pay a higher price.
The review and book are here.
Blogger Unknown said...
And $5 million in this case is chicken feed (fowl reference intended). The farmers from whom I used to get milk (omg! unpasteurized!) retired by selling their farm to a developer for $41 million. Good thing their kids didn't want to farm.
Wow, so someone retired and sold their business.
Guess what: that's not an inheritance tax issue. "Retired" != "died"
Now, let's consider the actual issue: Family owns a business. Family wants to continue owning the business. Dad dies. Family has to sell business to pay the inheritance taxes.
You are a bitter, hate-filled monster, who resents that members of that family were successful building a business, and are happy to see their family business destroyed.
Decent human beings don't agree with you on that,
Shorter New York Times: blah blah blah.
gadfly said...a mental midget with the vocabulary and thought patterns of a juvenile - largely related to his sub-100 IQ and pathetic self-love.
Wait, what? Are you saying IQ exists, and is measurable? And not completely a consequence of family income? And it manifests itself in behavior?
Dangerous thoughts, comrade. Very dangerous indeed.
David Begley said..."Althouse has articulated with her usual clarity and acuity. Acuity! OED that, Ann."
I'm not Ann, but, according to the OED...
"Sharpness or keenness of thought, understanding, or feeling; perceptiveness, shrewdness...
?1549 J. Hooper Declar. 10 Commandm. i. p. ii There is no acuite nor excellencie of witt..that can comprehend or compasse the doctrine."
Interestingly, the earliest meaning of "acuity" (ca 1400) is the "capacity of a substance to cut, pierce, or corrode; acidity, caustic quality."
Does Pepperidge Farm even remember when Trumpit was funny?
I miss America's Politico.
And remember, Stephens was supposed to be a righty voice in the NYT.
I guess for them he is.
But what does that make us deplorables?
gadfly and Trumpit fail to register a single complaint beyond what the NYT propaganda people manage.
Each has decided for whatever personal reasons to believe their feelings beyond objective reality.
They fail even to be decent Green Grocers.
One is a true believer.
The Dems' minds are BOGGLED. Their cunning plan...FAILED. That'd NOT RIGHT. Only CHEATING could trash their plan. (I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO not bummed.)
Lefties want Trump to voluntarily give up Tweeting and social media so that they can control his message.
Fuck them with a post-hole auger.
If you are worried about the next election, and what the Democrats will likely try to do if they win, you might want to download the Zipped file at this link:
https://mega.nz/#!6YdRmIBK!qKFOLkmQGDBHTLVe6AdJOjBNyO7G0HMoPtzmyx06VO8
It didn't work with Firefox, but I was successful with Win 8.1 IE.
Hint - The NJ AG was attempting to keep this information off of the Internet.
This is a very interesting insight from AA.
I wasn't a fan of his when he was seeking the nomination, but the "liberal" Hive's position seem to have morphed from "Trump as Hitler," to "Trump: Not statist enough for us State-fuckers," This--besides the fact that Trump blocked the Alinskyite Witch from seizing the reins of power--makes me doubly glad that Trump won and Queen Cacklepanrs lost.
"a mental midget . . . ." If you're a "liberal" (by which I mean of course "tax-happy, coercion-addicted, power-tripping State fellator") you have no business impugning Trump's intelligence. If--despite all the evidence of history--you're stupid enough to think that a massive expansion of the State is going to bring about Utopia, you're own intelligence is very much in question.
Interesting twist:
https://heavy.com/news/2019/02/john-fry-irs-michael-cohen/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwiYtqKCptrgAhUrq1kKHWkJCCwQyM8BCB0wAA&usg=AOvVaw3CwYUa8uYESKN2W3DLGEpm&cf=1
Hes a 54 year IRS employee and beto o'Rourke support.
I find the kvetchings of many of Trump's opponents dishonest because they make it seem as if Trump is some special kind of horror when in reality they'd be just as appalled if some milquetoast Republican such as a President Romney were implementing the very same policies (which, he probably wouldn't, but we can hope...).
Well, I think Trump's critics are in for a rough ride. Think about it: So far, has any part of the coalition that elected Trump shown any sign of deserting him? It seems to me that Trump's coalition has only grown stronger, especially his hold on the registered Republican "faithful". Many of them voted for him out of loathing for HRC, but now have grown to actually liking the guy. If he can keep a goodly chunk of the independents, he'll win the second time the same way he did the first time.
Known Unknown said...
"10% OMG. That means if you leave $5million your estate only gets $4.5 million. Who can live on that chickenfeed?"
I'd say something about double taxation, but I'm sure that might be lost on some people here.
2/26/19, 9:33 AM
Howie, why shouldn't you or your wife give up some ass to the gang at the biker bar? She'll still have plenty left for you and vice versa...and in your case at least, you can't even get pregnant.
"Still feeling that the real disaster for Trump is going to come with the investigations into his business practices in New York."
The problem with this attack is that whatever illegal business practices they imagine would have likely have to have been done with the active participation of NY City/State government officials. And they ain't republicans.
Blogger Brian said...
"Still feeling that the real disaster for Trump is going to come with the investigations into his business practices in New York."
The problem with this attack is that whatever illegal business practices they imagine would have likely have to have been done with the active participation of NY City/State government officials. And they ain't republicans.
2/26/19, 4:51 PM
1. The likes of Donald Trump was given no special treatment in NY. That is, he paid for whatever he got. You want to dine out on his taxes do you? Howsabout a bunch of canceled checks for an appetizer? Ah, suddenly you can't read. The apotheosis of Donald Trump, even as much as his amazing past and future achievements as President, would be a broad massacre of the deeply embedded corruption in our fair city and great state. Even were he enmeshed, it would be as Samson bringing down the Temple. Not just the boodlers and racketeers but every goombah, rat and panderer. Blow the lid off. Send a big wave.
Ah yes, the Stupid Idiot Incompetent/Evil Genius dichotomy since at least Reagan.
At least they were funnier on SNL about it with Reagan.
2. Thank you, Bruce. Do you have more of this? Other useful information of a like nature? You are correct, his base is a stone wall, you shall not pass, ni shagu nazad. All he's done is produce as best he could.
His short deliverables have never been self-caused but entirely in the teeth of opposition not known in our times. The price of his opposition is the cost of ripping off the masks-Strom Thurmond is LBJ would have had that wall up in ninety days-our true adversaries, TWANLOC, and the gooks inside the wire like Chuck, are not only rabid and venomous but also feckless. It is truly an army of Lilliputians trying to rope him down. Slobbering low-grade Lilliputians, the leadership obscured, certainly no one we see.
I think that the Trump hatred displayed here and other places is a form of class bigotry. Trump is too boujee. He likes professional wrestling, beauty contests, casinos, and he talks like a construction worker from Queens. Despite his money, every starving adjunct professor feels that Trump is beneath him or her, and it's just not fair for Trump to be president. It doesn't matter if he does a good job as president. He's bad.
Trump is big. It's the Times that got small.
I get that Trump is terrible, but I don't see the proof of it. They should have a meeting and actually write down some stuff that matters to them and also to most of the rest of us. They may have a hard time with the last part.
I see this dialogue, more as a “come hither” from Gail — the siren song that always results in moves in one direction. The idea is that about 35% are die-hard supporters the reamsin 10% are mostly never Trumpers who value style over substance. They had rather lose but not give up their pedigree.
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buwaya,
"You see this in every flavor of wartime propaganda, what was meant for people on your side, what was meant for neutrals, and what was meant for enemies. So it is today.
"A last point - you do not fight propaganda by arguing against it, that is useless other than in processing ones own feelings of being upset by it, but by an equal or better opposite propaganda."
Well, in our current moment that's not completely the case. Despite narrowcasting there's still a global spillover of channels and lots of lurkers listening to each brand of propaganda, not just the target audience.
And huh? Codevilla is emeritus at an East Coast school--Boston University.
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