"O.K., I don’t quite believe that. But going forward, it would be wise for all of his inveterate critics in the news media, including me, to treat it as our operating assumption. The alternative is to let him hand us our butts all over again, just as he did by winning the G.O.P. nomination and then the election, and then by presiding over years of robust economic growth. That should be the central lesson from the epic media fiasco of Russiagate."
Writes Bret Stephens in "Is Trump Keyser Söze — Or Inspector Clouseau?/Maybe the president brilliantly played the media. Or maybe we just played ourselves" (NYT).
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191 comments:
Poor Bret. He used to be well regarded as a Wall Street Journal columnist. Now he writes for the NY Times and is despised by half of the country.
Maybe not.
He didn’t hand them their butts. They did it to themselves because they’re out of touch, arrogant hateful condescending snobs.
They should road trip more.
Wow, is Trump burrowed far into the Media HiveBrain or what? They just don't know which way is up.
Here's a thought media: Leave the Bubble.
Self importance .. some can rightfully claim it.
Oh, Mr. Stephens, you folks just played yourselves. Keep on underestimating Trump. Puh-leez keep underestimating Donald Trump.
Inspector Clouseau is a good comp.
It also creates a neat pop-culture narrative.
President Obama was Chauncey Gardiner.
President Trump is Inspector Clouseau.
The next president, whoever it is, can be President Merkin Muffley.
Once again, for the record and all together now...
…It is not that Trump is necessarily so smart it is that these people are so absolutely god awful. As Glenn Reynolds likes to say, "We have the worst political class in American History," shot through with undeserved and possibly unearned privilege and expertise and NOT JUST NOW being revealed with his election, but replete with hundreds if not thousands of examples of this faux-elitism on both sides of the aisle for multiple decades.
Trump is not Alexander, and these people are not the 'Gordian Knot'. They have the complexity of a shoelace, and Trump is the zero-fucks-to-give 14 year old boy running around with it untied on a soccer field with zero opposition scoring goal after goal.
Einstein HE isn't. Dumb-and-dumber THEY are.
“Pace the president and his sycophants — the ones who spent nearly two years casting aspersions on Mueller’s integrity, only to now hail his conclusions as dispositive — the nature and extent of Trump’s ties to Russia required a thorough investigation. It got done. Barring some major discrepancy between the attorney general’s summary of Mueller’s report and the report itself, it’s time to say: Case closed. Thank God the president is not a Russian stooge.”
The alternative is to let him hand us our butts all over again, just as he did by winning the G.O.P. nomination and then the election, and then by presiding over years of robust economic growth.
Does this require comment?
They can’t do that, because that would require them to consider a reality outside of what some would call a bubble, and others would call their cult.
Bret Stephens
Trump does not possess the god-like wisdom of a Bret Stephens, but he has a better record of surviving in the asphalt jungle of today's U.S.A.
My wife worked with Donald Trump on NYC projects back in the 80's. She found him to be very generous and well-intentioned. She thinks that he is quite bright despite his clumsy presentation. The current depiction of him is ridiculous in her mind.
She believes that he is definitely a sexist, but in no way racist. She thinks he lies and tends to be narcissistic like most politicians.
She is a Democrat who voted for Hillary.
Bret says... all of his inveterate critics in the news media, including me
Maybe, they could/should go back to the idea that their job is to REPORT the news, not make it?
Maybe, being "inveterate critics" instead of impartial observers is the problem?
Just like Charging at a Judo artist is Asking to be thrown (using your own energy); Charging at Trump is Asking to be thrown. You have Admitted that you are "inveterate critics" who not just Will, but are Proud to boast that you Do Smear the President. Doing so helps him, and hurts You... But you're Too Stupid not to Keep On Doing it.
smear
[smir]
VERB
damage the reputation of (someone) by false accusations; slander.
Donald Trump won the election -- first the Republican primaries and then the general election -- because he promised to fix two problems.
1) Illegal immigration
2) Excessive loss of jobs in the USA because of foreign trade
He was the only candidate who effectively promised to fix both those problems.
A sufficient portion of the electorate understood that our county's political establishment -- encompassing the Republican and Democratic Parties -- did not consider either of those two problems to be a high priority.
------
What is the evidence that Russia meddled maliciously in the election?
Essentially, the only publicly known evidence is that James Clapper asserts that Russia meddled.
In Intelligence reports released to the public, the paragraphs that might contain such evidence are all redacted.
Facebook ads. Hillary Clinton arm-wrestling Jesus.
This is what our country's smart people have been peddling to us stupid peasants.
Maybe the president brilliantly played the media. Or maybe we just played ourselves"
Embrace the power of "and".
I've been saying for a long time that Trump's critics make the mistake of attacking the man they imagine him to be rather than the one he is. Secondarily, they attempt to use his tactics in their attacks against him - that is unnatural for them and so no surprise it is ineffective and fails.
Stephens is attempting to properly understand his political competitor and tailoring his counter strategy and tactics. I'll be shocked if the Democrats listen and follow his advice.
To the leftist media brilliance is measured by wokeness and adherence to lefty tropes. So ipso facto, Trump had to be a buffoon. They will continue to misuderestimate him. Trump seems to be brilliant in navigating very dynamic environments. Not all intelligence can be measured by academic criteria. Intelligence of other types generally manifests itself in ones success. In other words success often is the true IQ test.
The issue isn't that Trump thinks that he's smarter than he really is. The issue is that many people in the media think that they're smarter than they really are.
On January 20, 2025, the Times and the Post will run headlines trumpeting that they've gotten rid of Donald Trump at last.
(And they'll still be wrong.)
The name Bret is an English baby name.
"People with this name have a deep inner desire for travel and adventure, and want to set their own pace in life without being governed by tradition." SoulUrge Number: 5 (!)
"Step Hens" are handcrafted in Italy so they're overpriced.
An English baby wearing Italian shoes is one of the most unheard of things I've ever heard of.
No, I'm fine with the previous assumption: That Trump is not a genius, that he's not even all that competent, and yet he still stomped all over you because you in the media are just that goddamned dumb and buffoonish. Way, way more so than the president you look down on.
I vote for “they played themselves”. Trump’s pretty sharp, but it would take a magician to make the media act so foolish if they didn’t do it themselves.
God Emperor of the Known Universe no less.
Trump isn't some sort of 8th dimensional chess playing genius. He got smoked on the government shutdown, for example. But I think he is a reasonably bright guy who has decades of experience living and working in a world where CONSEQUENCES exist and that is what often puts him a step ahead of his enemies.
Mike
I can picture Trump as Sheriff Bart from Blazing Saddles. "Baby, you are so talented - and they are so dumb!"
Ugh. More NYT opinions? Why should I care?
... or as Chuck would say:
This isn’t even NEWS Althouse, it’s OPINION !!!!! Arghhhhh
Something more people should realize: You don't need any qualifications to work in the media. They'll hire any damned idiot off the street, and they do. You'll get a more thorough vetting to work as the security guard at a newspaper building than you will to be a reporter.
Years of economic growth. A very bad thing indeed. We need to put a stop to that!
How does presiding over robust economic growth equate to handing the media their butts? Is Stephens admitting that the media is the enemy of the people to that extent?
RE: "Maybe we just played ourselves."
DING! DING! DING! DING!
Bingo! Yahtzee!
Stopped clock... Blind squirrel...
JournoLists, Witches, and Warlock trials. It may have been sufficient that Trump stood his ground and acted proactively to unwind the yarns spun by the hunters.
How’s come I know more than all the pundits? Seriously, I deserve a slot on “Outnumbered.”
When I make an epic mistake like that, the first thing I think and say is "I'm such an idiot sometimes", becuase it's true. If you don't accept it, you can't avoid it. I do it a lot less now. For instance I rarely read the NYT, or watch CNN, or MSNBC, and when I do I first assume I'm being lied to. Also, now when Trump says something I don't believe, I first assume he's right somehow, and will eventually be proven so. It's not always true, but it usually is, even when it's counterintuitive to me. You just got to accept the facts. It's the only cure for TDS.
I'm fine with Stephens's (malign) Inspector Clouseau take.
I lot of smart people just spent the last two years swallowing lies for hours everyday. Will they learn anything? I read that Rachel Maddow lost 500,000 viewers the night after the Mueller Report was released. The real question is why people smart enough to realize they they were lied to didn't realize it earlier.
OMG, Trump has been exposed as genius with a rude demeanor. To the Dems, that alone should be an impeachable offense.
Trump's genius is not of the traditional, book-smarts kind... and I doubt that the majority of his decisions are based around a conscious analysis of all the various factors in play...
instead, I think Trump's gift is an unparalleled gut-instinct... a primal, animal intelligence that tells him where the danger is and how to best survive... kind of like how Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series always knows just what to do to get out of a particular jam...
in particular, Willian Brandt (Jeremy Renner) asks him at one point, when they were trapped under-water being pounded by machine-gun-fire from the bad guys along the river bank, how Ethan knew that attaching a flare to a dead body and letting the current take it downstream, would act as a decoy, drawing the bad-guys attention away so they could escape... and he says, "I don't know... just seemed like the right thing to do..."
That's the genius of Trump... also, surviving over 4 decades as a developer in one of the most corrupt cities in the world probably has a lot to do with it as well... Trump knows how slimy and corrupt the left is because he's had to deal with their shenanigans every day of his working life... and in him, we on the right who have been battered and abandoned by our so called "Representatives" finally have a Champion who is kicking the shit out of the other side and #WINNING!!!
I think what Trump meant by "I have a very good brain" was I have garnered a lot of knowledge.
That should be the central lesson from the epic media fiasco of Russiagate."
Try again. Consider this for your central lesson:
Trump isn't a genius, but you're just not that smart.
It's time for Never Trumpers like Bret Stephens to admit the damage they did to Trump with their stupid resistance tactics e.g. it was because the Never Trumpers thought they could stop Trump at the Republican Convention that Trump dumped Corey Lewandowski and hired Paul Manafort to hold Trump's delegates.
He is very smart, willing to defend against attacks, very good at identifying opponents vulnerabilities, is willing to attack those vulnerabilities, and also very adept at using media.
Typical REpublican pols aren't willing to attack the Democrat vulnerabilities, and are hesitant to defend against attacks.
That doesn't mean he's a genius (although it doesn't rule it out) - but it does make him effective.
Stephens writes: "The alternative is to let him hand us our butts all over again, just as he did by winning the G.O.P. nomination and then the election, and then by presiding over years of robust economic growth. That should be the central lesson from the epic media fiasco of Russiagate."
#NeverTrumper Stephens was part of the epic media fiasco of Russiagate. And he still can't get it right!
The issue isn't whether Trump is a genius. The issue is whether he has correctly identified problems in our country (illegal immigration, trade deals, excessive regulation, excessive taxes) and whether his policy prescriptions help fix these problems or make them worse.
Keep it simple, Stupid. Follow the Althouse model -- divest yourself of emotional attachments to political parties or personalities, report the facts, give the "other side" a fair shake, cite your sources, and write more humbly.
Hey, it's gotta work better than what these idiot journalists have been doing.
It's because his policies follow the same simple formulas that have worked for millennia to bring prosperity to humanity the world over. Perhaps he's not as arrogant as the academic and think tank pukes what believe they possess a 'very good brain' capable of reinventing the wheel.
At least for now, as we see here, one of the many addled Trump haters lists a few of Trump’s achievements hefore digging into the main course of smearing him as Stephens goes on to do in the linked piece. It’s not much. But it’s a start.
Bret Michaels? Is he a NeverTrumper like Bret Stephens?
I was certain he'd be out after NH; I was convinced he'd be destroyed on Super Tuesday; I was absolutely sure that Ted Cruz would beat him in the end. Then, I was sure he'd get utterly curb-stomped in the general. Since then, I won't bet against him. I thought he'd lost the wall fight, but I'm beginning to think he's going to win that one, too. It's just bizarre.
What he doesn't get is that he was played. Not by himself. Not by Trump. By Josef Stalin, who set out 80 years ago that the only true evils were capitalism in America and nationalism in Russia.
My favorite part was how Trump got Adam Schiff and John Brennan to go on TV proclaiming the mountain of evidence and the certainty of conviction!
We may never learn how he pulled that one off.
Yes.
Is the light slowly beginning to dawn?
How is it a “victory” to not be charged for a crime you did not commit? How is it a “victory” to be slandered and investigated for years over a crime you did not commit? Stevens’ thinks this was a contest., a fair fight. Leave it to a NYT writer to assume he and his readers are smarter than a billionaire developer who is POTUS. Mr Stevens, give some thought to what a preposterous theory it was that you believed, that your colleagues swallowed whole. Think about being the absurd gull that believed this absurd story, a story more stupid than Smollets, more plainly bullshit than the UVA hoax. Gullible. Asshole.
What in hell happened at the Helsinki meeting that was worse than the "flexibility" gaffe, the bowing, the Apology Tour etc?
Whatever it was, some people need to get over it.
But going forward, it would be wise for all of his inveterate critics in the news media, including me, to treat it as our operating assumption.
Here's a little lesson the smart people learn early in life: people don't win the race to the top of the mountain by being stupid.
They might be corrupt, unrefined, mean-spirited, self-centered, backstabbing, and a whole host of other adjectives, but they are not going to be stupid.
Assuming the other guy is dumb is always the first mistake. And the dumber they appear, the smarter you must assume they are.
If it seems that apparent to you, consider their supporters look at them and at first see a dimwitted imbecile. But they've also spent far more time with them. If there was someone more qualified to win the contest for their side, they would have definitely put them forward instead.
Trump was smart enough to beat 15 career Republicans for the nomination. And the media still kept calling him dumb.
Who's the dummy in that story?
Like the proverbial two guys and the bear, he just needs to be smarter than you, Bret, and the thousands other journalists, and that trump most certainly is.
The operative words are "our," "we." Stephens identifies with, and echoes the prejudices of, "us," the MSM and deep-state establishment.
Not only do they misunderestimate Trump, they misunderestimate so-called Trumpists. It's too bad Stephens is beginning to figure it out, though judging by the lefty ostriches around him, we don't have to worry just yet that they will judge us correctly. Their ignorance is our strength.
Not necessarily a genius, but very much blessed in his enemies. Let's face it, journalists aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, and he proves it to them every day.
Ooh, ooh, ooh. Both of the above!
"hand us our butts" by presiding over years of robust economic growth. Damn him for his successful policies that benefit all Americans, but make Democrat party members look bad.
Keep in mind that this guy is the resident conservative at NYT.
I question why it took Mueller so long to finish this investigation. It's clear now that there was never any evidence that could be verified, even at the beginning, so he just kept looking and looking without find any real string to pull. I if Trump was guilty it would be relatively easy to get something early that was substantial. You really just can't hide what he was accused of for long. I guess lawyers, being paid by the hour with expenses covered, don't have a lot of incentive to be efficient.
Here's the thing. Doesn't prove it, but if Trump WERE a genius and a practitioner of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, we would be seeing exactly what we ARE seeing.
The dude made $10 billion - of course he’s smart. He’s smart. He seems to be fearless. And he’s fighting for American workers when everyone hid behind free trade.
Oh, and it turns out he’s not a traitor - which was a huge reason for the #nevertrumpers that has now evaporated.
I run into more and more manufacturing, construction workers, and business leaders who are openly praising Trump.
He doesn't have to be Keyser Söze when so mnay of his critics are Inspector Clouseau.
It must really be painful to be constantly bested by some merely average rando. Poor, poor Wile E. Coyote Super Genius elites.
Like the Roadrunner, Trump doesn't have to be a Genius, Genius. He just has to be smarter than YOU.
embrace the healing power of "and"?
The most revealing sentence: Donald Trump has just won a major victory over his chosen political enemies, including this newspaper.
So Bret Stephens says Trump chose NYT as his enemy. BULLSHIT. Donald Trump chose to be the political enemy of the New York Times the same way Admiral Kimmel's fleet chose to become the enemy of Japan.
From the first second of DJT's NYT pounced on his candidacy, first to deride it as a mere publicity stunt calculated to inflate Trump's faltering media ratings, later to damn it as a racist, sexist, and homophobic plot of deplorable gun-toting hillbillies and their lecherous leader to spoil Queen Hillary's well-deserved coronation.
Stephens is playing the revisionist game rather poorly. From 16 June 2015 until last Thursday Stephens and the rest of colleagues at the Times were proudly the choosers and initiators of the enmity between their newspaper and the President, and they would accept nothing short of his immediate resignation from office to establish peace. Now they want to claim victimhood. By Sunday Stephens will claim that Trump orchestrated the Russiagate debâcle with Putin to ruin his reputation as a journalist and bankrupt the Times.
Most of Trump's critics are highly educated.
They have awesome credentials.
But like all government apparatchiks they haven't done anything. Journalists don't do anything. Most educators don't do anything.
They don't understand how the world actually works.
They don't understand doers. Trump is a doer. He knows more about the world than they do.
Ha-this is the media underestimating, once more, a Republican president (i.e. Ronald Reagan, the amiable dunce), and expressing utter surprise that anyone with an "R" could possibly outfox them. Yeah, Keyser Sose would have run rings around these 27 year old no nothing "journalists ".
He's the guy who also questioned if Obama was not very smart. But it took him several years to work up the nerve to write that. Yet he seems to have assumed, from the gitgo, that Trump is dumber than the media sooper geenyouses.
I am generally of the belief that the notion of billionaire idiot is an oxymoron. Many things Trump might be called credibly. But an idiot, he is not.
“us”. Fuck you Bret Stephens.
Reagan was simultaneously an "amiable dunce" and the most evil president ever.
W was derided as a doofus who couldn't pronounce "nuclear" and a criminal mastermind.
Why should Trump be treated any differently?
Well now, there's a whole boatload of "jurnolists" that he's smarter than. He met with Admiral Rodgers very early on. Yes, that's the guy who had ALL the communications of Hillary and the rest. Still, the schiff fer brains english majors at the media bet against him. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Bibi had the goods, and shared them as well.
"maybe"?
Really? There is doubt?
They took their best shot. What comes now should remove a y doubt about his genius.
I predict if will be epic. It will bring tears of pride and joy to Conan's eyes.
Not the TV Conan, either.
John Henry
embrace the healing power of "and".
Stephens is another useful idiot. Another guy who can’t remember which team he’s on. I mean God forbid we keep beating the Dems and have robust growth. And he thinks he’s really smart and sophisticated . A real LLR.
Inspector Clouseau was a genius too.
Well. he ain't stupid. Can't say as much for the democrats.
Both! They played themselves and he was able to magnify that.
I don't think Trump will be winning any Nobel Peace prizes.
As I've commented before here, I think Trump is like Queen Esther. The traps laid for him and his people (the Deplorables) keep capturing his enemies instead.
Or to quote the Psalms: "Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety." - Psalm 141:10.
Smarter than the average bear is a low bar to clear in the five acre wood.
With space force, for the win.
“Nah.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Here; hold my beer.”
Take your pick.
Dolt or genius.
We shall split the difference.
President Trump's intelligence I'll leave others to quantify.
On the Other hand.
Never Trumpers and the media are by orders of magnitude dumber than President Trump
Let's assume - as some commenters here fervently believe - that Trump is a moron who hasn't a clue as to what he's doing.
And yet he's still kicking your butts from here to Sunday.
What does that say about you?
these media people nowhere near as smart as they think they are. They are essentially the dunning-kruger effect come to life
We'll know the Trump Perception Cascade is well underway when SNL updates its classic Reagan skit.
I vote Keyser Soze. Though it's spelled wrong for the way they pronounce it in the movie.
Actually Trump's mostly like Brer Rabbit.
Henry said...
Inspector Clouseau is a good comp.
It also creates a neat pop-culture narrative.
President Obama was Chauncey Gardiner.
I came to say that the much superior comparison would have been Chance/Chauncey Gardiner. Obama doesn't work for that, though--Chance didn't believe himself to be anything other than what he was. Obama believed himself to be the smartest and wisest and was treated that way by the Media/country, which is why his various failures in office and naive actions had to be blamed on others (racist deplorables, sneaky Russians, whatever).
Trump isn't a perfect fit, either, and has at least as high an opinion of himself (as Obama), but Trump embraces his identity as a loudmouth carnival barker/bigshot businessman. Other than his personal vulgarity and buffoonery (of which we have too many examples!) his biggest missteps thus far have been due to his inexperience--his failure to fill out his campaign and administration staff with political veterans has probably caused most of his real problems.
Anyway Soze is a dumb comparison. If nothing else we should thank Trump for getting our Media elites to demonstrate just how intellectually (and morally/ethically) bankrupt they truly are. I mean I always knew that but it's bad enough now that even nice centrist people have no choice but to notice!
Bret Stephens is a sad case. I used to enjoy reading Stephens when he was writing over at the Wall Street Journal. But towards the end of his time there he took a whole bunch of Never Trump pills. The switch to the NYT was a natural for a guy who suffered from TDS.
These days I couldn't be bothered with reading Stephens---after all he admits that he now has two butts---the one God and his parents gave him--and the extra one Trump handed him.
And Inga--give it a rest. Those people who said that Mueller was on a witch hunt (or more likely like Inspector Javier in Les Miserables--show me the man and I'll find the crime) were almost pleasantly surprised when he admitted he couldn't find any collusion.
He has the best brain, because he's a very stable genius.
Inga...Allie Oop said...
“Pace the president and his sycophants — the ones who spent nearly two years casting aspersions on Mueller’s integrity, only to now hail his conclusions as dispositive
I keep seeing this argument--Jonah Goldberg and David French have both made it in the last couple of days and I think your quote is from David Frum (if not he's said something very similar). But it's stupid! It treats as a fundamental contradiction the ideas that Mueller's investigation and/or his methods (employing known partisans, going after bit players on inconsequential process crimes, touting meaningless indictments of foreigners, etc) can be questioned while the failure of that investigation to find any crimes can be accepted.
It's entirely possible for both to be true! I can think the investigation shouldn't have happened (due to there being insufficient evidence to begin it and it being essentially a political hit) and still say "even this biased investigation couldn't turn up anything!"
It's dumb, dumb, dumb. If someone is biased against me and even they can't find something bad to say about me it's perfectly rational for me to say "that guy's inability to get me just shows how clean I really am!"
Maybe one of you lawyers can analogize it to the hearsay rule about an admission against interest, I dunno.
If I said "Mueller's a crook--never trust anything he says" it'd be contradictory for me to now say "Mueller's report should be trusted!" Fine. But if I said, as Trump has said many times, "this whole investigation is a witch hunt" and the result of the investigation is to clear me it'd be perfectly sensible to then say "the results of the investigation are valid--even this witch hunt couldn't find anything to charge me with!"
Larsen E. Whipsnade
I keep seeing complex issues such as freedom of speech on campus or the china mess or terrorism or socialism where Trump comes out with a crystal clear analysis of the problem (not saying tariffs are a clear solution...). Since he doesn't listen to speech writers, I have to give him the credit. Sure sounds smart to me. I think it is like Reagan--his detractors called him a dummy but he was not.
In science, a hypothesis is tested by how well it predicts the outcome of repeated experiments. If experiments produce outcomes contrary to what the hypothesis predicts, it is falsified.
Our pundit class failed to predict the nomination and then the election of Trump, and they have been getting just about every Trump-related prediction wrong ever since. At some point, an intelligent and self-aware person would be prompted to step back and say: Hold on. None of this is adding up. Might my hypothesis be flawed?
I admit to not getting Trump for most of 2016 and before that. It was Althouse linking to Scott Adams that introduced me to an alternative hypothesis which, though not without its flaws, certainly explained the Trump phenomenon much better than the prevailing line. And as it turns out, it correctly predicted his win and correctly predicted various other things.
But this hypothesis was unacceptable on moral grounds, because it required the premise that Trump isn't dumb and might not even be evil. And the thing that seems to be true about today's left is that they have for so long relied on the cheap and easy tactic of smearing everyone they disagree with as racist, sexist, uncaring, greedy, evil, and stupid (among other things) that they lost the ability to frame an opponent in any other terms.
So they just got stuck in their initial failed hypothesis, and kept on making predictions and pronouncements based on it, and their predictions kept being totally wrong. But they can't change hypothesis, so they have to start inventing hidden secret knowledge (the way conspiracy theorists do) and then reinforce that as their reality and keep on going down the rabbit hole.
I expected Trump to hire good politicians to run the country while he fooled around and played golf.
Big builders and contractors don't hammer nails, solder pipes or pull wire.
But, Trump had limited political experience and connections. And his connections, bought and paid for through his donations over the years, turned on him and attacked his appointees and disrupted his attempts to get things rolling. So, Trump has been fighting an uphill battle pretty much on his own, losing time for over a year.
Still, he has managed to get things done, contrary to fanatics and liars claiming otherwise. I expect much of the wall to get built. Only because Trump said he would do it and he wants to keep his campaign promise.
Amazing how this guy can insult and troll the established Swamp and media, who are in control of the propaganda seen and heard by majority of populace.
No doubt many people who voted against Hillary will next time vote for Trump out of resentment of being disparaged by media and celebrities all this time.
I don't know if Trump is a genius or not. It hardly matters. What is important is that he and we should all be grateful for the quality of his enemies. The lefties cling to the unchallenged view that they have an absolute monopoly on virtue and intelligence. With that mindset, we immediately arrive at the doorstep of the epistemological difference between what the lefties know and what the rest of us know. Young Hegelian gave us an excellent discussion of this issue a few days ago.
What the lefties know as truth is precisely what they want to know, and if they can say it loudly enough and in unison...no matter how delusional....it is unassailable TRUTH.
What a shock it must then be for them when objective reality crosses the threshold and illuminates the premises. I say, step closer to me so that I may taste your tears.
- Krumhorn
"That should be the central lesson from the epic media fiasco of Russiagate."
Bret Stephens and everyone he admires just spent two years losing game after game after game of Three-Card Monte. Except that they never once actually saw a bean, 'cause there was none. They just kept slamming their money down and shouting, "There, it's under that one!".
Now he thinks that the guy who took all their money must be incredibly intelligent.
Trump bets that he is smarter than his opposition *think* they are. Key if you're a Casino owner.
Methink maybe Mr. Stephens finally MAGAs it.
They're just pandering to their audience, neither fooled nor outclassed.
As Scott Adams said today, people click on stuff that will make them feel good.
There's no hard news tough reporting anywhere because there's no market for it.
The trick will be separating this entertainment lust from voting. I mean morons are morons, independent of entertainment.
When Trump returns the USA to the moon during his administration, does anyone think that a dumbshit like Bret will understand?
Why should anyone listen to Stephens? He has an irratonial hared of Trump. You might as well ask David Duke about Obama. If you did that, you would learn far more about Duke than Obama, and I already know how the #nevertrump conservtives think. Trump is just not the sort of person the can accept. Trump is Rodney Dangerfield versus Ted Knight at the Bushwood Country Club.
Enter the Bargaining Stage.
It'd be interesting to survey the esteemed Commentariat here to see how the "marginal" Trump voter of 2016 now views him.
Example: In 2016, I didn't won't vote for Trump in the primaries, and only reluctantly voted for him in the General, because I hated Hillary.
In 2020, I will wait 10 hours in line to gladly and proudly vote for him.
I wonder how many "marginal" Trump voters are now fully in the Trump camp, or moved away from him since 2016.
Well, Trump doesn’t drink and never really has. That and decent genetics are a pretty good basis for a good brain.
I think what Trump meant by "I have a very good brain" was I have garnered a lot of knowledge.
Bagoh you’ve just provided the best use for garner and the only useful thing it can do better than get. Go past tense without sounding ignorant.
Sebastian is right about Stephens’ tells being “our” and “us.” Nice catch.
Q @ 2:47.
Thank you. That.
Trump said he has a very good brain.
He doesn’t have to be a genius, just smarter than them.
From my perch, some days it seems it’s really easy to be smarter than they are.
Re: HoodlumDoodlum:
his biggest missteps thus far have been due to his inexperience--his failure to fill out his campaign and administration staff with political veterans has probably caused most of his real problems.
The challenge he's faced -- and continues to face! -- is that very few of the bureaucratic political veterans support his key policies. They hate the idea of policing our borders and doing anything to deter illegal immigration, and tariffs give them nightmares about the "dear loaf." Someone in the administration even boasted to the New York Times (I think it was, might have have been Washington Post) about stealing draft orders off of the President's desk to prevent him from signing them. It's understandable that he occasionally resorts to speeches and twitter to announce major policy changes, because the civil service are adept at bogging down changes they don't like with an interminable review process. There's always some technicality to justify another round of internal review and comment. Always some desk you can park it for another few weeks that turn into months.
What political veterans is he supposed to be staffing up with? I think he's perfectly rational in concluding that leaving a seat empty is better than filling it with someone who can't be trusted to carry out his duties professionally. As our hostess sometimes says, "better than nothing is a high standard."
In the land of the morons, in other words, the press, the man with an IQ of 100 is king.
If Trump is such an idiot, what does that say about his opponents? Of course, Stephens doesn't quite want to say that.
I prefer the Lieutenant Columbo analogy.
Think of this way, Inga. (If your brain stings a bit while doing so, ignore it. Zipper sutures will do that.) Back in 1640s, there was this guy named Matthew Hopkins who was known as the Witch-finder General. He traveled from village to village looking for witches. Most of the accused women brought before his court he decided were guilty, but not all of them. Those few accused witches he acquitted had no bearing on whether there were ever any actual witches to found.
It’s 1:18 am in the morning where I am, waiting for the rally to start.
These threads will be fun go8ng forward:
Via Insty:
HERE’S THE INSIDE STORY OF THE PLOT TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP: The Epoch Times’ Jeff Carlson has done great investigative journalism in documenting the roots of the Obama administration’s clandestine campaign against The Donald and to protect Hillary.
Did you know 22 top officials have been fired, resigned or demoted so far for their actions in the campaign and that’s even before Sen. Lindsay Graham’s Senate Judiciary Committee mounts a real investigation and before Attorney General Bill Barr does the same thing from inside the Department of Justice.
(eaglebeak)
He can be very funny--intentionally so--that tells me he's smart.
His enemies are funny but they never mean to be. And when they DO mean to be (Stephen Colbert, Alec Baldwin), they aren't.
"There, it's under that one!".
The difference is.......the Bush family let them get away with that shit.
Another example ad infinitum of 'credentialed but not educated.' Bret graduated from both the london school of economics and the u of chicago.
Sad!
Mark Tapscott on Spygate: The Inside Story Behind the Alleged Plot to Take Down Trump
"THE INSIDE STORY OF THE PLOT TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP: The Epoch Times’ Jeff Carlson has done great investigative journalism in documenting the roots of the Obama administration’s clandestine campaign against The Donald and to protect Hillary.
Did you know 22 top officials have been fired, resigned or demoted so far for their actions in the campaign and that’s even before Sen. Lindsay Graham’s Senate Judiciary Committee mounts a real investigation and before Attorney General Bill Barr does the same thing from inside the Department of Justice."
Yes, Please.
"It's your bloody trade, go after it, and go after it correctly."
Some Brit woman in the documentary "Camp Hollywood."
Very great scene.
Clever people with unfashionable regional accents are happy let the city slickers think they're stupid, the better to eat their lunch.
Tonight in Grand Rapids, the President said, "I support the Great Lakes. Always have. They are beautiful. They are big. Very deep. Record deepness, right?"
The President is not only a genius, he's deep. Record deepness, right?
"It'd be interesting to survey the esteemed Commentariat here to see how the "marginal" Trump voter of 2016 now views him."
I didn't vote for Trump in the primary. If Clinton wasn't the opponent, there's almost no chance that I would have voted for him in the general.
It's very hard to separate out what I think about him. I have two family members who seeth toward him and can turn any subject into an insult toward him. I'm meanwhile left with things like the rule of law, orderly succession, respect for the people who voted for him. This all just bounces off - no weight at all given to it.
I think he's trying to do good for the country. I think he would love to get the economy humming and do a lot of stuff like get the kid who was being held in Korea back home. I think he'd like to be loved for that type of stuff. I think that would be enough for him - that he's not an aspiring autocrat.
"I wonder how many "marginal" Trump voters are now fully in the Trump camp, or moved away from him since 2016."
I am one of those guys, will vote for Trump in 2020, though because I live in MA it won't matter. Will feel good anyway.
Trump is obviously brilliant, he plays them like a fiddle. He uses a very simple vocabulary, which they look down upon.
The elites who think he is dumb say things like "some men have vaginas" and think it would help the environment to replace almost window, heating system and insulation in every business, without understanding the enormous amount of landfill this would create (some of which would be asbestos and lead laden) as well as the amount of energy involved in the gigantic manufacturing and transportation of windows, furnaces, ducting, insulation, electrical system and water heaters. Those same elites who believe Hillary was brilliant thought it was okay to keep a private server with emails marked confidential (because apparently she wasn't bright enough to know what all those markings meant), and they believed Benghazi was the result of a video. The same people think upping the number of people on unemployment boosts the economy and think Michelle Obama is beautiful.
Trump has the best brain, it is uuuuge, it is a beautiful brain, believe me.
Trump’s week just got better. From bbc.com:
“The BBC has apologised and agreed to pay damages to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.
The apology relates to an incorrect report claiming a payment was made to extend a meeting between Mr Poroshenko and US President Donald Trump.
An article, published last May but since removed from the BBC website, alleged $400,000 was paid to Mr Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.
The allegation, relating to a meeting in June 2017, was untrue.”
Brett Stephens:
"We must stop Trump before he earns another them and continues his reign of unparalleled prosperity, historically low unemployment, and rising wages!"
Can we stop pretending that NeverTrumpers are really good Americans who just have a different opinion and just admit they hate this country and its people? Every one of them has wished disaster on America because they're in a snit over Trump. Let's just take them at their word: they're not allies, they're not estranged friends. They're enemies.
Speaking of bad smells and full on corruption
Crony State: Obamas’ Chicago Fixer, Tina Tchen
I question why it took Mueller so long to finish this investigation.
You're right to do so. If Mueller had any integrity, he would have cleared Trump no later than August of 2017. Heck, if Comey had any integrity, he would have done so long before he was fired, and there never would have been a Special Counsel to begin with. Recall that Trump fired Comey because Comey was telling him in private that Trump was not a target, but refused to say so publicly.
So Comey and Mueller are both partisan hacks. Once you realize that, it's obvious why Mueller took so long. He wanted to help the Democrats do well in the 2018 elections. To make it a bit less obvious, he waited a decent interval after that election before clearing Trump.
The Columbo analogy is brilliant. Not only his persona as an obnoxious and bumbling fool, but how he gets under the skin of the elite, and it only dawns on them too late that he's outsmarted them. Trump's Twitter feed is the equivalent of, "Oh, there's just one more thing..."
I think Greenwald, and incidentally rhhardin and Noam Chomsky, have it right. This is a business model: find an audience that wants to be lied to and lie to it. The executives and top people certainly understand this. So do most of the reporters and writers and so on, though some of them might let themselves believe their own hype. And so it won’t change, though it might fail. Audiences dropped drastically since Friday for the worst of the worst, CNN, MSNBC, but that is because the stations can no longer deliver the daily fix. They need a new drug to peddle, but impeach-jail-jail-The-kids-humiliation was such a powerful drug they need a new one. I doubt a true story will do. So, as Adams predicts, a new hoax or hoaxes are coming. That will either be enough or not. If not a station folds. But in no case does a station reform. There is no path to honesty for either. Nor I suspect for most of the media like the Washington Post, or the NYT. They are not in the honesty business.
Bay Area Guy said...
It'd be interesting to survey the esteemed Commentariat here to see how the "marginal" Trump voter of 2016 now views him.
I voted against Trump in the primary -- voted for Rand Paul, even though he'd already dropped out, because damn it all, I'm voting for who I like -- and in the general I voted for Gary Johnson even though his campaign turned clownish and Weld basically started shilling for Hillary right near the end, because I was NOT voting for Trump, who I had very little confidence would be anything but a trainwreck as president.
Today, I am 50/50 on whether I can bring myself to vote for his re-election. I like many of the things he's done, but goddamn his style is grating and I still don't believe he has any real ideological core, except for his stupid love of tariffs and other economic protectionist policies. As in 2016, the mere fact I prefer him overall to the alternative isn't a good enough argument.
But, considering what we have seen in just over 2 years, another year and a half is a long time for him to do more stuff, or stuff he's already done to have a positive impact, and persuade me further.
“Trump is a genius”
I wouldn’t take that literally.
I would take that seriously.
People are saying that Trump is not really smart, the opposition is just so terrible...
Was Obama the first term really that amazing of a candidate? Yet McCain lost to him. I am thinking Trump could have won that race also, given how McCain folded when pressed on anything at all. The voters respect someone with spirit and real words, and it doesn't matter if you call it smart or something else, Trump has it and knows how to use it.
The truth is the Democrats have had terrible candidates for years, it's finally the case that the Republicans lucked into a candidate that is not terrible by a lot of measures...
Ok, so trump thinks in an unconventional style. His thinking is nonlinear, often intuitive, and sometimes circular. Its very interesting to me.
His rhetoric is also unconventional, not Aristotelian or Ciceronian, or even classical in the broad sense. He knows his audiences very well;
He uses colloquial or populist language, and he works off the crowd in a dialectical fashion. He creates big time cognitive dissonance
for lefties.
Record deepness, right?
@Rob, Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest, but if Trump said so he’d be accused of still being Putin’s puppet.
He KNOWS them
They make him a genius by comparison
They fall for
"Rope-A-Dope"
every time...
He says “years of economic growth “ like its a bad thing. He lumps it together with other things he regrets.
And, no, there was no need for an investigation. It was the result of lies and leaks, and it’s dishonest of him to pretend otherwise.
Stevew says his vote won’t matter because he lives in a solidly blue state.
It might matter, in Colorado! Trump voters in no hope states have an incentive to vote now: to snatch Colorado EC votes from the Democrats. Can you imagine the anguish if that tipped the scales? Some tears are sweeter than others!
I encourage other solidly blue states to make their EC votes hostage to the whims of voters of other states.
I question why it took Mueller so long to finish this investigation.
It takes a long time to ransack the lives of everyone even lightly attached to Trump in the hope of finding something to use to pressure one or more of them to turn on him in exchange for leniency.
What impresses me about Trump isn't his brain, but the loyalty he evidently inspires in his associates, even when they are being squeezed by a $30 million vise.
Probably came from nina burleigh book, trash like vicky wards most recent work.
I am thinking Trump is more like Michael Gallagher. I’m hoping that the AG turns out to be like Wilford Brimley ‘s character. The press and the corrupt DOJ/FBI get their just rewards
Ostensibly Stephens Is pro Israel, but he has made common cause with the enemies of that state, Qatar Turkey and Iran, against at least current allies Jordan the Emirates and the kingdom
At 3:07 I predicted:
I predict if will be epic. It will bring tears of pride and joy to Conan's eyes.
Not the TV Conan, either.
To clarify, I was thinking of Conan's opinion about what is best in life. I doubt I need to spell it out.
So I watched a few minutes of PRESIDENT Trump's Michigan rally just now. I'll listen to the whole thing tomorrow.
I was wrong. I think "epic" was too mild a word.
I like him calling Schiff "Little pencil neck Adam Schiff" "Not a long ball hitter"
To quote Judy Carne, "Sock it to them!"
John Henry
Meanwhile above the 48:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1106876/justin-trudeau-scandal-canada-prime-minister-approval-rating-donald-trump-bribery
Always remember this. There is one sure route to wealth: buy journalists for what they are really worth, and sell them for what they think they’re worth.
@ Skeptical Voter 4:20 PM
"Those people who said that Mueller was on a witch hunt (or more likely like Inspector Javier in Les Miserables--show me the man and I'll find the crime) were almost pleasantly surprised when he admitted he couldn't find any collusion."
Not Inspector Javier but Lavrentiy Beria:
May 9, 2018
"...“Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” was Beria’s infamous boast. He served as deputy premier from 1941 until Stalin’s death in 1953, supervising the expansion of the gulags and other secret detention facilities for political prisoners. He became part of a post-Stalin, short-lived ruling troika until he was executed for treason after Nikita Khrushchev’s coup d’etat in 1953.
Beria targeted “the man” first, then proceeded to find or fabricate a crime. Beria’s modus operandi was to presume the man guilty, and fill in the blanks later. By contrast, under the United States Constitution, there’s a presumption of innocence that emanates from the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments, as set forth in Coffin vs. U.S. (1895).
Unlike Beria’s paradigm, U.S. prosecutions start with the discovery of a crime. Then there’s an investigation to find or confirm the identity of the perpetrator and collect evidence to prove his or her guilt.
However, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment and subsequent investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign appear to follow the Beria model, not the U.S. Constitution model.
To call the Mueller probe a “witch hunt” is an insult to witches.
https://www.oxfordeagle.com/2018/05/09/show-me-the-man-and-ill-show-you-the-crime/
The fact that the Mueller investigation took so long and was so exhaustive only bolsters the fact it was a serious investigation of the most unserious charge.
Trump operates from a kind of shrewdness and a chosen stupidity. By the latter, I mean that, while having native intelligence, he chooses to be ignorant of facts: relying on "the shows" for guidance, disregarding intelligence briefings, and so on. He believes in his "gut," his "instincts." (In this, he reminds me of John Lennon. "My instincts are fine / I had to learn to use them in order to survive," he sang in 'Intuition.')
But when we rely on ourselves for counsel, our decisions are limited by our own experience, knowledge, and wisdom. That's dangerously limiting in whoever the decision-maker may be. And no matter one's politics, it's alarming in a president. I like the words of Proverbs 15:22: "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
Can we stop pretending that NeverTrumpers are really good Americans who just have a different opinion and just admit they hate this country and its people? Every one of them has wished disaster on America because they're in a snit over Trump. Let's just take them at their word: they're not allies, they're not estranged friends. They're enemies.
No, enemies deserve respect. These people are traitors. They championed at a soft coup against the American people.
"When we defeat an enemy, we tend to their wounded and treat captured soldiers humanely. But traitors? Traitors we hang."
Bay Area Guy: It'd be interesting to survey the esteemed Commentariat here to see how the "marginal" Trump voter of 2016 now views him. Example: In 2016, I didn't won't vote for Trump in the primaries, and only reluctantly voted for him in the General, because I hated Hillary. In 2020, I will wait 10 hours in line to gladly and proudly vote for him.
I wonder how many "marginal" Trump voters are now fully in the Trump camp...
Interesting question. In 2016 I was very much like you. Cruz was my guy. I voted Trump only to block Hillary. And if by some miracle he won, I was resigned to 4 years of Democrat-Lite policies, and hoped he wouldn't bumblefuck his was into a war. I was full of despair.
Today, I have to say he is the best President since Reagan. Maybe even (blasphemy) more effective domestically. He represents the American people, not the Establishment Elites, and he FIGHTS for us. I would take a bullet for him.
stevev: "I am one of those guys, will vote for Trump in 2020, though because I live in MA it won't matter. Will feel good anyway. "
I personally know several Republicans in Minnesota who did not vote in 2016 because they thought their votes didn't matter. Trump lost Minnesota by 10,000 votes. Minnesota hasn't gone red since Nixon 47 years ago. Don't every take anything for granted.
The real question is why people smart enough to realize they they were lied to didn't realize it earlier.
Human nature. People like listening to lies they wish were true, even if they know they are lies.
I recall this commercial from the 80's where these two women are sitting in a fancy restaurant, and the waiter brings them desserts (available in the frozen dessert section of your local grocery store) and tells them they are zero calories. And one of the women sincerely tells the waiter to lie to them some more. She doesn't believe him, but she wants to hear the lie that she wants to hear, so she can enjoy her dessert guilt free.
Lots of people want to hate Trump, and hate the people who voted for him, and they want to hate them, guilt free. They want to hate them, and gain stature among their piers. CNN and MSNBC are telling these fucking hateful losers the lies they desperately want to hear, day in, day out, year after year, so they can pat themselves on their backs for their ugly hatefulness.
The day of reckoning is here. Time to clean out the IRS for their targeting of the tea party. Time to clean out the FBI, DOJ, and State Department for their targeting of Hillary's opponent. Time to build the wall! Time to deport the illegal aliens. Time to clean the voter rolls. Time to jail the hate crime hoaxers. Time to jail the welfare frauds, the food stamp frauds, the earned-income tax frauds, and the medicare/medicate frauds.
Bay Area Guy: I was distinctly cool on Trump in 2016. I was wary enough of him that I had decided that it were not Hillary but Sanders who was the Democratic Party's candidate — despite my fear that he would do much to destroy this country as president — nevertheless I was going to vote for him in lieu of Trump. Hillary, however, was a bridge far, far too far — so with her as the Democratic candidate I voted, as planned, for Trump.
Now? I'm a firm Trump supporter, though not quite (perhaps) a “fan.”
Trump realized long ago it is politically useful to be smarter than he looks and acts, leading oppoments to underestimate him. He discovered the easiest method to do so is to look and act dumber than he is...
To be fair, the one person who comes out well with this investigation is Muller himself. He did a serious job he was legally appointed to do, and reached unpopular (among his colleagues) conclusion by looking at the evidence, He could probably have done so sooner / cheaper, but that is compratively unimportant.
No café thread? Well, I'll just leave this here, then...
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner. The sheep votes for the Wolf Party, because he agrees with them on social issues."
Can we stop pretending that NeverTrumpers are really good Americans who just have a different opinion and just admit they hate this country and its people?
I have not believed otherwise for nearly two years.
the democrats felt their way into this predicament
theres no way out of it without having to think their way through it
this hasnt ever been their forte
theyre well on the way to marginalizing themselves for a significant portion of the 21st century
remember when steve bannon said if they do this right the republicans could rule america for 50 to 100 years
that scenario is looking more and more plausible every day
I'd just like to say that I've liked Trump since I heard his election platform. I never thought he was dumb. I'm not a Yank but I want to say most of these comments are brilliant, thanks for all the good reading. (Good luck in 2020!)
But when we rely on ourselves for counsel, our decisions are limited by our own experience, knowledge, and wisdom. That's dangerously limiting in whoever the decision-maker may be. And no matter one's politics, it's alarming in a president
Don't worry about it. He is definitely receiving counsel. The fact that he takes ownership of it all is not vanity but the taking of responsibility-the buck stops here.
I don't know what he meant about the record deepness (and yes, he knows the word depth) of the Great Lakes, I'm sure someone does because he hasn't been attacked on it yet, but in fact not only is Lake Superior, at 1335 feet, not the deepest lake in the world, it's not even the deepest in the United States.
No doubt it has some relevant meaning but the thing is that Trump is not the guy to go out and say, oh, my staff misinformed me, if confronted with an error in this matter.
He's the one who made the claim publicly, and he's the one who's going to defend it. President Trump has very few Defenders. It's socially awkward to be a defender of the president. Many fine people are nervous about working for him because Robert Mueller has shown what happens to people who dare to work for this particular president.
Many people like a large blending, a diffusion of responsibility, but past a point it's only ass-covering.
You don’t need to be a genius to play the game. Particularly when Trump is making up the rules of the game, and the media is playing catch-up.
All of this is just a distraction. Reporting the latest trump tweet is a distraction. The dangerous part is there are far too many leftists who fall for the media centric cult and can’t think for themselves.
But when we rely on ourselves for counsel, our decisions are limited by our own experience, knowledge, and wisdom. That's dangerously limiting in whoever the decision-maker may be. And no matter one's politics, it's alarming in a president. I like the words of Proverbs 15:22: "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
Thanks. I don't care who you are. This is a truth that needs to become part of everyone's core tenets.
Some commenters note that Trump "grates" on them. I'm not sorry, I have 8 years of scar tissue build up to work through any "grating" on his part. Where have you been for those 8 years, that this "Trump grating" takes place? Mike Sylvester, narciso, Michael K and buyawa (and others) have produced piercing, verifiable facts for this blog to get you through the fog of obamaland. Althouse has parsed the NYT and Wapo bullshit "journalism" scathing the "ifluencers" of old. When Trump says the Great Lakes are Deepest, the audience gets the punchline. Like Rocky Horror's audience, we laugh along with him. Too many jobs? Who do you think is going to pay for this illegal invasion? Not Occasional's rich, their accountants got it figured. It will be the Remains of the middle class till their extinction.
"This is a business model: find an audience that wants to be lied to and lie to it. The executives and top people certainly understand this."
And it has to be an audience who can be separated from its money by advertisers. Dumbbells.
Remember the Trump tower meeting to discuss the alleged adoption of Russian children? Such a wonderful man we, with Russian help, elected president. We can't thank Putin enough for saving us from crooked Hillary. Lock her up! MAGA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_meeting
nevertheless I was going to vote for him[Sanders] in lieu of Trump. Hillary, however, was a bridge far, far too far — so with her as the Democratic candidate I voted, as planned, for Trump.
Now? I'm a firm Trump supporter
#METOO
Not sure if Trump is as smart as he thinks he is, but he certainly ain't as dumb as 'they' think he is.
The sheep votes for the Wolf Party, because he agrees with them on social issues.
you have described my mother (and her friends) more accurately than ever i could!
.
Blogger Avital Pilpel said...
To be fair, the one person who comes out well with this investigation is Muller himself. He did a serious job he was legally appointed to do, and reached unpopular (among his colleagues) conclusion by looking at the evidence, He could probably have done so sooner / cheaper, but that is compratively unimportant."
Why did Muller not completely exonerate Trump on obstruction?
Mueller prolonged the investigation as long as possible, and through midterms. He wanted the debate to last through the election of 2020 but public outcry cut his timetable. so he punted in a way that encouraged further
Democrat/Never Trumpers outrage.
I see The Atlantic has an anonymous source with the straight dirt telling them that Trump plans to use the Mueller Report against real scandals in the future. I am sure that they fully understand Trump’s thinking at all times.
Oh yeah, and how did they avoid Trump being questioned? They simply asked what evidence Mueller had to justify it. Since he had none, and was only hoping to create a perjury trap, no interview. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
were almost pleasantly surprised when he admitted he couldn't find any collusion."
That’s a pretty low bar, to be happy that he didn’t make up charges out of whole cloth. Though he has certainly worked on that with “obstruction.” Apparently it’s “obstruction” to protest your innocence when the press is proclaiming your guilt 27X7.
Still relying on Brennen and Clapper’s OPINION, the known partisan liars Brennen and Clapper, that the Russians favored the guy who wanted to open Keystone XL and DID NOT want to shut down fracking. The exact opposite of Hillary’s positions.
Whatever sanctions Trump could have theoretically lifted pale in comparison with the economic cost of those policies to Russia, the "petro-state with an army."
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Those who're trying to argue that Trump is not that smart, and that the media is just stupid are failing to ask themselves a critical question. Are there any Republican in political life today who could have done as well were these attacks leveled against them? And the answer is "No, not even close." Reagan might have done as well. He certainly endured attacks just as vicious. But we can't say the same about any other Republican and certainly not one of the Bushes. Indeed, the same is true of any Democrat, in the highly unlikely situation where the press would turn on one of them.
So, if you want to putdown Trump, you must add a disclaimer. "Trump isn't that smart," you must say, "He's just smarter than anyone else in political life today."
I suspect what we're seeing here illustrates the JFK syndrome. Throughout his life, JFK never demonstrated intelligence or leadership skill. He didn't write Profiles in Courage because he couldn't. During WWII, he was an utter failure commanding a mere PT boat. In Congress, he's only notable act was chickening out and refusing to vote to condemn Joe MaCarthy.
Any yet many think JFK was a highly intelligent, very gifted president. Why was that? Mostly because he inherited a lot of money and because he talked with a rich Bostonian accent that made him sound intelligent. Contrast that to Trump, who made his own money and talks like someone from Brooklyn.
Hunter,
You have seen, especially over the past three years, how the Democrats have corrupted our institutions. The CIA, the IRS, the FBI, the media, the education system. And then used those institutions as a weapon against half of the country. If you don't vote at all, or don't vote for Trump in 2020, you are demonstrating that you don't have a problem with that paradigm.
@BUMBLE BEE
The fact that Obama was/is also annoying is not a reason why I should not find Trump annoying. I get that many of his lines are not serious (the one about Russia finding Mrs. Clinton's lost emails, for example, which I often find myself explaining to certain thick-headed leftist friends) and that his Twitter is mostly trolling the media. It is often funny, too.
But I prefer serious articulation of ideas and I honestly do not like the president making jokes about foreign powers hacking the systems of American public figures, or about using the IRS to audit people who annoy him.
It's entirely possible that Scott Adams is right, that Trump's style is necessary because it works and a more serious style would not persuade the masses. It's entirely possible, too, that Trump is a much smarter policy theorist than he has ever let on, and the circus is entirely calculated -- but this feels like overcompensation.
Blogger Trumpit said...
Remember the Trump tower meeting to discuss the alleged adoption of Russian children? Such a wonderful man we, with Russian help, elected president. We can't thank Putin enough for saving us from crooked Hillary. Lock her up! MAGA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_meeting
You're a day late and a dollar short on that meme. and for the record my brother adopted two Russian orphans.
Hunter. I want my president unfiltered. The news organs have proved they can't be trusted to deliver an unbiased fact.
Why did Muller not completely exonerate Trump on obstruction?
Sowing dragon’s teeth. Just because he didn’t invent evidence of collusion doesn’t prove he wasn’t a partisan attack dog.
Bay Area Guy said...
It'd be interesting to survey the esteemed Commentariat here to see how the "marginal" Trump voter of 2016 now views him.
1) for a while I was very anti Trump. Voted for Cruz in the primary as the only real conservative left with enough steel to win.
2) Failing that and the thought of the most corrupt (and wobbly) individual to ever run for president, I hesitantly but firmly voted a Trump. I hoped he’d fulfill 25% to 33% of what I saw as important for this country. He has demonstrably exceeded this to my utter delight.
I will vote for him in 2020 with the gusto of a bear after food after hibernation.
3) I simply cannot overstate this enough. This isn’t aimed at democrats, this is at GOPe who have NEVER wanted to vote my way though they ALWAYS campaigned that way. The “build the dang wall” sad sacks. I’m looking at Bulwark types.
You will never be dead enough (metaphorically speaking) to me. I am embarrassed I ever voted for you ilk. I saw the evidence but wanted to believe they were legit. They are not. Their words and thoughts are forever to me like hummingbird farts in the storms on Jupiter.
Ace describes you best....Coup Cuck Clansters.
Rusty said...
Hunter. I want my president unfiltered.
There is a difference between unfiltered and crass. Milton Friedman was unfiltered; he was never crass.
Trumps far from smart in the book sense. But when it comes to making the calculations necessary to win and defeat his opponents he's a genius. There are all types of smarts. I'd rather have Trump's type of smarts as President over the bookish smarts any day.
Unknown said...
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Email: (jacksonwaltonloancompany@gmail.com)
Text or call: +1-586-331-5557.
Address is 68 Fremont Ave Penrose CO, 81240.
3/29/19, 7:13 AM
Emerita, I find I must request an explanation. Why would you be censoring the blog, and pass this?
One of W.C. Fields' best known lines is, "You can't cheat and honest man." Even made a movie with that title.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032152/
Trump has been trolling the media for over 2 years and they fall for it every time. And the reason they fall for it is that they are fundamentally dishonest, desperately looking for things to criticize and seeing openings that he dangles in front of them but are not real.
He couldn't troll an honest media. But luckily for him, he hasn't had to try.
If you want to get depressed, read the comments on the Stephens column at the NYT.
These people think they are intelligent and can't even connect two dots.
One might note that I voted for Trump in 2016 — seemingly uselessly from an electoral-vote point of view, since I live in California — specifically because I foresaw that the Democrats might come back after the election with yet more of this “lost the electoral college, but won the popular vote!” crap, and wanted to add +1 more to the Republican popular vote side as an ever-so-slight compensation.
Perhaps whole counties in California — some of which Trump took by more than 70% — did that.
Hunter said...
Rusty said...
Hunter. I want my president unfiltered.
"There is a difference between unfiltered and crass. Milton Friedman was unfiltered; he was never crass."
Agreed, but I'll accept his crassness as the price I pay to have him
do his good works. besides crass is a welcome change over the generations of smooth talking snake oil salesmen.
The religious based language police are supposedly mad about the President for saying bullshit. Talk about stupid. Bullshit is not saying the forbidden word shit. It is describing the quality of an opposing fake argument. The terrible Trump also calls structures holding back rivers to create lakes Dams. And they accuse him of using filthy speech.
Clouseau is a bad comparison. But, let's stay with detectives.
Columbo, the beloved TV detective played by Peter Falk would be far more apt. Neither character, the one played by Falk or the one played by Trump care if the opposition thinks him stupid or crazy or simply annoying. Obviously President Trump doesn't use the same set of distractions or off-putting diversions, he's got his own. The same principle applies, don't let on what you know, if you doubt you're playing enough moves ahead, trick the opponent into thinking you're behind.
He is that smart.
"The alternative is to let him hand us our butts all over again, just as he did by winning the G.O.P. nomination and then the election, and then by presiding over years of robust economic growth."
I don't quite understand the gist of that last remark. Was the press somehow supposed to prevent the years of robust economic growth? Do they feel it as a personal failure that they weren't able to?
Why is robust economic growth "handing them their butts" again?
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