September 15, 2019

"The president of the United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he’s getting worse by the day."

Getting worse? Really? Seems to me things have calmed way down. But here comes Robert Reich (in The Guardian) to rile people back up into the hysteria we're supposed to maintain even though not much has happened. He leads with Sharpiegate, though Sharpiegate is a monument to how little can be found to throw at Trump these days.
What to do? We can vote him out of office in 14 months’ time. But he could end the world in seven and a half seconds. There’s also the question of whether he’ll willingly leave. Can you imagine the lengths he will go to win? Will he get Russia to do more dirty work? Instruct the justice department to arrest his opponent? Issue an executive order banning anyone not born in the US from voting? Start another war?
Reich's imaginationland is pretty weird. But I guess articles like this need to be written. There's a market for it. I wonder how big, though. Personally, I've never liked Trump (other than that I enjoy his humor and jolliness), but the Trumpophobes are worse — more "seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable." They'd do better to settle down and work on getting a Democratic Party candidate who isn't scarier than Trump.

Meanwhile, I feel like withdrawing. Maybe go play some records.

154 comments:

Howard said...

More crying wolf. My TDS wife now thinks Trump will become re-elect.

Meade said...

"make sure the television—excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night"

So their eyes don't bleed.

The Godfather said...

In the end Reich recommends prayer. I can’t object to that.

dreams said...

It's the Dems who wouldn't leave peacefully, after the 2000 election and in 2016. The liberals are always projecting.

Ambrose said...

The repeated claims from leftists that Trump won't leave office if defeated are interesting. I think it is Democrat battlefield prep for "We can't play fair because we just know he won't play fair if we win"

JML said...

We bring social workers into homes and show them how to raise kids. MAGABBISWIH&STHTRK!

Someone needs a bigger pussy hat.

cubanbob said...

To think that deranged midget Communist was a cabinet officer of the United States. And he's calling Trump crazy? Is there a Democrat running for president that isn't a Communist or crazy?

alanc709 said...

Put Robert Reich in a room with Elizabeth Warren and what would you get? Deranged midget socialists.

Hagar said...

I think "Sharpiegate" was the result of people being behind on fast-breaking news.
The original speculation had about a third of the models showing hurricane Dorian going across Florida (and Democrats salivating at the possible devastation of Trump's Mar-A-Lago!), then just before its reaching the coast all the models agreed on a sudden sharp 90 degrees turn to the north up along the seaboard.
So, first Trump's chart was behind, then NOAA hurried to say, Hey, this isn't right!, then Secretary Ross moving (too) quickly to tamp down what looked to him like insurrection in the ranks.
Thus, a storm, not just in a teacup, but in a teaspoon!

Mary Beth said...

Personally, I've never liked Trump (other than that I enjoy his humor and jolliness)

Same. Almost. I liked him well enough before his first divorce, then I didn't care much for him. Now I like his humor and positive attitude. I also like how he annoys politicians of all parties and political leanings. Both major parties were too comfortable and needed afflicting.

Meade said...

"My TDS wife now thinks Trump will become re-elect."

She has a point. Then we can re-not-impeach him for re-not-obstructing and re-not-colluding.

Lucien said...

Why is the Guardian giving Reich a platform? He’s a privileged old white man who isn’ t a real political scientist. Isn’t there some autistic trans Islamic lesbian from Ghana who could have provided a more diverse expression of gratuitous hatred of our President?

Dan in Philly said...

I like Trump for how well he knows politicians, and how clear his disdain for them is, and how much pleasure he seems to get from manipulating them to expose their own shallow character. His presidency is sort of like his boardroom scenes from his TV show, where he easily played these ivy league pretentious lawyers and MBAs against each other because they couldn't run a lemonade stand.

narciso said...

Well rushdie was just as hysterical in 1983:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/americas_exclusive_mathchallenged_party.html

Mr. O. Possum said...

"Government doesn't "intrude" on the 'free market,' " Reich writes in his 2018 book "The Common Good." "It creates (ital) the market."

That's all you need to know.

Back in the 1980s when Japan was riding high and Reich wrote scholarly article after op-ed after scholarly article calling for the creation of a Ministry of Industry, ala Japan's MITI, Ministry of Industry and Technology, to pick winners and losers in the economy. Imagine having federal bureaucrats, beholden to big business donors, picking winners and losers.

Meade said...

"Isn’t there some autistic trans Islamic lesbian from Ghana who could have provided a more diverse expression of gratuitous hatred of our President?"

Yes, but he's busy moving into his new place on Martha's Vineyard.

Matt Sablan said...

How can he have gotten worse? Remember the: "Trump will talk us into a nuclear war!" and "Trump's market will never recover!" nonsense. We were set at such a low bar of utter, world-wide level destruction that there's no WORSE he can go (unless he is so bad now he is causing destruction outside of the Earth.)

The ridiculous over-the-topness of post election means he CAN'T get worse.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

If Trump continues being president, as he has so far, there’s no reason to believe he’ll ever quit.

Kay said...

Biden is clearly speaking to Park Slope-type urban hipsters, who collect vinyl records and dress their kids in punk t-shirts.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

We enter week two of the Great Trump Awakening. Even within our own small community it has already claimed one poor soul, the recently cancelled Fen. The CDC now reports that this disorder represents a broad threat to the mental health of almost one half of the nation. Once restricted to condo buyers, attendees at real estate seminars, and the odd hooker or two, Trump Awakenings are now occurring with increasing regularity across our great nation.

In these difficult times I have returned to provide support and guidance. I will be conducting a series of practical seminars in the art of moderation, including several guided visualizations.

In our first lesson we will consider the possibility that someone (a purely theoretical construct at this point) could, in good faith, find Trump’s obvious sociopathy to be, by itself, disqualifying for someone holding the office of President of the United States. At first this will feel very foreign and you will be inclined to reject the entire premise of the visualization, but slowly, with steady practice, this will prove to be an attainable goal.

As we proceed we will begin to touch on some more difficult topics including the concept of empathy.* In role play work we will imagine ourselves as a principled Republican utterly repelled by Trump’s lack of normal human qualities and consider how this could drive a decent man to madness as his former allies take on the role of torturers.

In more advanced lessons we will imagine ourselves as a once highly respected law blogger now desperately trying to extricate themselves from three years in a cult of Trump apologists. How to resolve this difficult scenario will will test your abilities to their absolute limit.

Finally, in a consolidatory exercise, we will imagine ourselves as a reasonable man (or woman) in a world gone mad with partisanship. We will reflect on the pathos of his (or her) condition as we watch him (or her) circling a courtyard, aimlessly repeating a few barely remembered lines: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”. We will learn to see in him (or her) a beloved everyman (or woman), where once we could only see a hated liberal (or conservative).

Let the healing begin.


*Note: Engineering graduates are exempted from this section of the course due to the lack of some prerequisites.

Oso Negro said...

Oh, gosh. The Establishment never gives up. Peggy Noonan has a sobbing-moderate column out justifying her future vote for Elizabeth Warren. Summary "everyone knows she will become more moderate after the primary". It is pathetic. I detested Trump as a candidate (didn't vote at all) and denounced him in this forum. But I will CHEERFULLY vote for him in 2020, just for the incremental joy in tormenting the people who are always throwing goodness at you. I don't care if he IS deranged. He is against THEM.

Sebastian said...

"Will he get Russia to do more dirty work?"

You mean, like, put some "divisive" posts on Facebook?

"Instruct the justice department to arrest his opponent?"

You mean, like, the way the FBI and CIA tried to frame him?

In a way I can understand the Trump hatred: he is uncouth, he belongs to the other party, and his very election is an insult to progressive self-regard. But this stuff is, as you say, weird.

The question is why. Sure, there is an audience for it, but that only raises the question why the audience wants weird. Do they think weird works? Are they desperate? Has Trump in fact driven them crazy?

Strategically it doesn't seems wise. Nice moderately liberal women are a target audience for Dems, they think of Trump as weird and uncouth, so the obvious thing to do is to appear not-weird. He crazy and racist, we sensible and nice. But no, so far. Taking Althouse as a leading indicator, their insanity is our strength.

Fernandinande said...

Can you imagine the lengths he will go to win?

No. That is what I cannot do.

Will he get Russia to do more dirty work?

Please Mr. Russian mans whatever you do just don't post any moar Bernie Bro coloring books!

Matt Sablan said...

See, I don't like Trump. But, I was expecting kill squads moving through the streets shooting people of color and taking their stuff to enrich Trump's family while he wages nuclear war on Russia, China and maybe Europe, all while the economy drops worse than the Great Depression and Great Recession combined forcing people to eat out of trash cans worse than Venezuela.

I got... a relatively stable-ish market and no new foreign wars, with a checked Russia and China.

So... while I'm not exactly a Trump fan, we're nowhere near the levels of failure I was told to expect. Which is unfortunate for the left (and for moderate right-leaning people like me), who are now going to have to honestly record Trump's presidency as "exceeded expectations."

dreams said...

Robert Reich should grow up, he should have grown up a long time ago but that didn't happen and never will.

BarrySanders20 said...

I liked Reich better when he represented the Lollipop Guild.

Ralph L said...

Trump should use samples of TDS in campaign ads.

Matt Sablan said...

I was told Trump would silence the media; instead I got some mean tweets, but thus far, no illegal wire tapping of journalists or whatever happened to Atkinson, all while journalists have been openly hostile to the administration. Journalists who received illegal leaks haven't been jailed, as under the previous administration. The worst that has happened is some individuals lost access while their parent organization was allowed to replace them.

So, again -- Trump has allowed for a more free press than I was told he would, and in fact, measures rather favorably to the previous administration. Except he does mean tweet them more frequently, so, we've got a more free press that is occasionally mocked. Again: If the expectation hadn't been set that he'd be rounding up journalists for political imprisonment, I might be able to get on board that Trump is terrible. But... he's actually just kind of a dick. Which, well, again, I don't like the man, so that's what I was expecting.

Francisco D said...

Reich's imaginationland is pretty weird.

Not at all. That is standard daily fare among the Democrat left.

Maybe Althouse needs to read more Breitbart and less NYT.

rehajm said...

His presidency is sort of like his boardroom scenes from his TV show, where he easily played these ivy league pretentious lawyers and MBAs against each other because they couldn't run a lemonade stand

This is a fun observation. Remember the kid he fired on that show? He was one of the better pedigreed as I recall. His rant in the limo after he was fired is as ridiculous as the rants from the current Trump deranged.

Ann Althouse said...

"Put Robert Reich in a room with Elizabeth Warren and what would you get? Deranged midget socialists."

Warren is 5'8"

Reich is 4'11"

Jupiter said...

"In the end Reich recommends prayer. I can’t object to that."

Actually, he ends by recommending doing nothing;

"Pray that we make it through the next 14 months. Then do everything in your power to remove this man from office."

Ann Althouse said...

"Maybe Althouse needs to read more Breitbart and less NYT."

I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me. It's like reading an uninteresting blog. The NYT is at least a real newspaper. If there were something equivalent on the right, I would probably read it, but I can't stand the presentation in Breitbart and The Daily Caller.

I'm not that interested in putting my efforts into reacting to right-wingers. I don't like either wing. I just haven't been too interested in watching right-wingers make their usual arguments.

narciso said...

No its not its a prog broadsheet, more to the point its a viral vector, how many times can they libel walker palin cavanaugh zimmerman sandmann et al. Before you loose faith in what they are selling

JAORE said...

The view from where RR stands is pretty limited.

Gahrie said...

I bet he said the same shit about George Bush. Other Democrats certainly did.

Matt Sablan said...

"I would probably read it, but I can't stand the presentation in Breitbart and The Daily Caller."

-- There's the WSJ, but I think they're pay walled.

narciso said...

Miguelito lovelace, bangs on the table.

rehajm said...

All the best ideas go right over his head.

Bill Owens said...

It is almost like the left and never-Trumpers are having their previously permanent payola sinecures upended by Trump's mere presence at the top of the political scene.
And dear, dear Peggy Noonan is at the top ("bottom"?) of that stinky heap...
Trump is a wrecking ball arrived not a moment too soon.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Reich is a Clinton flunky. Corruption excusing found in his diaper each morning.

sykes.1 said...

The fact that a lunatic like Robert Reich held a high position in American government shows how dangerous that government is. But then, every candidate for the Democrat presidential nomination is plainly insane. Third World status might descend on the US much sooner than people think. It's already here in California and parts of Minnesota and Illinois.

Here's a video of feral blacks attacking and beating a white man in Minneapolis:

https://nypost.com/2019/09/13/shocking-video-shows-mob-pummel-man-outside-minnesotas-target-field/

What famous Squad member comes from there?

Oso Negro said...

@Sykes - My hat is off to the dedication of the Russian troll mills. But I must ask why? Why? Russia has so much more upside from getting along with us.

Francisco D said...

I just haven't been too interested in watching right-wingers make their usual arguments.

Of course. You don't want to burst that bubble.

Insty has a link to Newneo's article on George Packer. It might improve your self-awareness.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Getting worse? Really? Seems to me things have calmed way down.

You might have missed how much neglected coordination and work behind-the-scenes is required for the U.S. government to work properly without catastrophes happening at every turn. Bush probably had the same attitude when planes were being flown into buildings.

He leads with Sharpiegate, though Sharpiegate is a monument to how little can be found to throw at Trump these days.

Other than how openly, brazenly and incompetently he lies, manipulates and seeks to deceive others. I guess that's not much of a problem in the minds of some people - even when it comes to the leader of the most powerful democracy and open society in the world?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Cal-Care loses 38 billion a year in fraud. That's tax dollar waste.

But if an actual insurance company makes a profit? OH NO! Warren and Bernie, (who are indeed the same person) preach how bad that is, to the economic dim-wits who clap at their rallies.

These same D candidates want to flood the border with masses of illegal entrants and roll out the welcome matt.

But Trump is evil.

dreams said...

"Put Robert Reich in a room with Elizabeth Warren and what would you get? Deranged midget socialists."

"Warren is 5'8"

Reich is 4'11""

If they had married and had a boy and a girl, the girl would now be about 5'10" and the boy would be taller than his dad, at 5'1".

Oso Negro said...

@ Althouse - Your refusal to read Breitbart is very interesting. When you say "presentation" I imagine you like the look and feel of an old-style newspaper, and dislike the graphics of Breitbart. Is it this? You are much more attuned to visual style than most of us. As for the content, the NYT is DEDICATED at present to the 1619 project. How can you not view this as pernicious and intellectually corrupt? To my knowledge, Breitbart has no particular mission other than deviling the left. Do you prefer not to be influenced by conservative writing? James Delingpole is literate, sharpish in tone, and eviscerates the establishment on the Great Warming Hoax AND Brexit. If you tried him, you might like him. Do you fear this possibility?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Recall the hivemind-left threw out the same absurdities about GWB. Remember when the hivemind insisted GWB would never step down... and then... evil Nazi GWB would install.... THEOCRACY!

Yeah.

bleh said...

I’m so tired of all the outrageous rhetoric about Trump shattering norms, outlawing the Constitution, blowing up the world, etc. Particularly since more often than not it comes from people who’ve spun wildly out of control since November 2016, who believe debunked conspiracy theories about Russia, who state against all evidence that Georgia’s gubernatorial election was stolen, who conspired with gutter rats like Avenatti to smear Kavanaugh, who rail against the electoral college because they lost. They don’t care one bit about our institutions or democratic legitimacy or anything of the sort. All they care about is power.

Temujin said...

"Imaginationland" is the perfect description of Robert Reich's world. He's one of those classic academic elitists who you know is well educated, and smart, yet seems stupid and unstable (himself). He's never had a proper grip on economics. Or capitalism. Always approached economics with the eye of someone who is simultaneously seeking unicorns.

Over the years, I've often thought Reich was actually a crazy man. Then I'd hear him do an interview where he'd sound so normal- even if I disagreed with what he was putting out. Then I'd hear him again, or read something he wrote, and it would be unicorns and craziness.

I know he got to teach a lot of young minds. That worries me much more than Trump in the White House.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The Russian lie must be repeated over an over. Poor Hillary - she lost because the Russians tricked our brains with bad facebook ads.

Andrew said...

That Biden clip gets funnier every time I watch it.

"I'm married to a teacher. My deceased wife is a teacher."

"SCHOOL! SCHOOL! Not daycare. SCHOOL!"

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

We must destroy fossil fuels and move to rare earth mineral mining.

So the left can propel on a giant battery.

Sebastian said...

"I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me."

Is there a right-wing "press"? Where? Anyway, Breitbart is just the counteroffensive. Which is uncouth and "trashy."

"the NYT is DEDICATED at present to the 1619 project."

Yeah, but trashing the country is not as bad as being trashy.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Taki’s Mag is the best site on the right, if you value well written, well reasoned commentary with a dash of sharp humor. Taki writers take on the left, of course, but also the alt-right, the traditional right, and Trump, without straying from their ideological stance, or stupidly taking a Mad Magazine-style “we take shots at all sides equally” pretend-objectivity stance.

narciso said...

Thats true:

https://mobile.twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1172100940343783425

bgates said...

I got... a relatively stable-ish market

The Dow and NASDAQ are each up over 40% since Trump was elected.

bagoh20 said...

How many claims have been made about the coming danger of the Trump administration?
How many have come to pass?
How many times do you have to be completely wrong before people stop listening to you?

Michael K said...

I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me. It's like reading an uninteresting blog.

You might try watching Bannon in his Oxford Union debate.

Or his his News 4 interview on the European right.

The NYT is not a normal newspaper. It is a propaganda outlet for the white radical left.

Paul said...

Trump unstable? Then by that standard all the Democrat wannabe candidates are bananas. Especially Biden.

bagoh20 said...

Maybe it's just a myth, but didn't Reich invent the soapbox? Necessity is the mother of invention.

rcocean said...

Its all projection. Its what the liberal want to do. They've never accepted their 2016 loss, and tried to get rid of Trump every way they could short of assassination. So, of course they imagine Trump thinks like them, and will hang on to power by unconstitutional means. This also how liberals/Dems talk when they work themselves up to do something unethical or against the rules. "Trump will stop at nothing to stay in power, we have to behave the same way".

Larry J said...

“Blogger Oso Negro said...
@Sykes - My hat is off to the dedication of the Russian troll mills. But I must ask why? Why? Russia has so much more upside from getting along with us.”.

Perhaps it’s part of Russian nature to spend more effort on tearing down others than in lifting themselves. I recall reading how on the Russian equivalent of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, contestants quickly learned not to ask for help from the audience. It turned out the audiences would deliberately give the contestants the wrong answer so they’d lose. It also reminds me of an old Russian joke. There was a poor peasant who envied his neighbor for having a goat when he didn’t. The poor peasant somehow found a lamp with a genie who promised to grant him one wish. The peasant thought about what his wish should be, then told the genie, “Kill my neighbor’s goat!””

tcrosse said...

Get Biden an eight-track.

Ken B said...

My take pretty much matches Ann's. It’s disconcerting how seamlessly the same people moved from “Trump is a Nazi” to “Trump is a tool of Israel”, from “Trump'smouth is Putin's cockholster” to “Trump might start a war with Russia”, from the grand conspiracy of collusion to ranting about sharpies.

chickelit said...

I saved all my vinyl records too but haven't listened to them in years. I recently reacquired just a turntable and hooked two preamps in series and fed that signal into my old Bose Wave radio. It sounds pretty good.

I'm Full of Soup said...

When the Swamp invites the 4'8" Robert Reich to a dinner party, is he seated at the kids' table? Is that why he is so f-ing nuts?

Kevin said...

Their problem with Trump is he afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted.

Kevin said...

I just haven't been too interested in watching right-wingers make their usual arguments.

True, it’s been much more interesting watching the Dems expand their usual arguments into, “we really do want your guns, your health insurance, your wealth, and your Jews to walk our recently-remodeled shower facilities.”

Anonymous said...

AA: I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me. It's like reading an uninteresting blog. The NYT is at least a real newspaper. If there were something equivalent on the right, I would probably read it, but I can't stand the presentation in Breitbart and The Daily Caller.

There's trashy style and there's trashy substance. A great deal of the substance of the NYT and WaPo has become very trashy indeed in these latter days. Not only trashy, but crazier than the most out-there right-wing conspiracy-theorist sites.

I understand your aesthetic revulsion from the design of most (all?) right-wing sites (revolt me, too), and agree that a lot of what you'll find there is repetitive, pandering output of low quality. But the same is certainly true of venues you do read, just as it is certainly true that your insistence on sticking to the "prestige" press leaves lacunae in your information banks. Perhaps this explains the oddly naïve character of some of your discussion. If you avoid the "right-wing" web, you simply don't get any info about a lot of events and issues that matter enormously in the political realignment going on under the noses (and way outside the understanding) of the people running your preferred venues.

I'm not that interested in putting my efforts into reacting to right-wingers. I don't like either wing. I just haven't been too interested in watching right-wingers make their usual arguments.

Yet the "usual arguments" of left-wingers, some of them very trite and tired indeed, maintain your interest. (I'm at a loss, for example, why you continue to take people like Dowd and Goldberg seriously.)

Lucien said...

Daammmn Narciso: First Skorzeny, then Hessler and now Miguelito (“Dr.”). Old school!

Charlie Eklund said...

“...I can’t stand the presentation in Breitbart and The Daily Caller.”

In politics, journalism and life in general, Style will win over Substance 9 times out of 10.

A little clunky, but with apologies to the dearly departed, perhaps this should be called Obama’s Law.

MountainMan said...

"The NYT is at least a real newspaper."

This would be the same NYT that published the unsubstantiated smear against Brett Kavanaugh this weekend. Do real newspapers do that kind of stuff?

daskol said...

It's a shame the New York Sun revival failed. It would be nice to have a real newspaper that wasn't left-wing propaganda (ASK publishes diverse opinion, but it's news is just as slanted as other papers, sinning by omission and comission). The undernews is way more interesting anyway, though, even if it lacks style.

Mr. Forward said...

"Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich warns savvy and observant investors not to overindulge in the celebration over the Dow Jones Industrial Average cracking the 20,000 milestone.

In essence, he’s warning that it’s last call for this bull market. And President Donald Trump is officially the market’s party-pooper, he claimed.

For now, the bull market may continue to charge forward, but give it a few months, Reich warned. By then, all of Trump’s recent policy mandates will have had a chilling effect on stocks."
F McGuire | Wednesday, 25 January 2017 05:17 PM Newsmax

"Robert Reich said that the odds of a recession are now over 50% and that Donald Trump is skating on very thin ice."
WED, AUG 14TH, 2019 BY JASON EASLEY Politicus USA

Skeptical Voter said...

The Guardian newspaper--purveyor of pablum for progressive nit wits. Robert Reich's piece is straight from the Guardian's wheelhouse.

As for Joe's "keep the record player on" comment, all I can say is Poor Old Slow Joe. He's got the germ of a good idea. Parents need to talk to their young children, have reading material available, have good music available etc. He's screwed up the delivery of the parenting advice (just as he screws up most other things) but the advice was good.

Hillary infamously opined "It Takes A Village To Raise A Child". Well there's a bit of truth in that, but the two most important people in that village are the child's mother and father. And Daddy is all too frequently not there.

Jack Klompus said...

I guess ARM is having a sad since nobody gives a shit what he thinks.

LA_Bob said...

bagoh20 said, "Maybe it's just a myth, but didn't Reich invent the soapbox? Necessity is the mother of invention."

It's a myth. Just build a bigger soapbox, and Robert Reich will beat a path to your door.

Quaestor said...

Make sure you have the record player on at night...

That's how Hunter Biden became such a high-powered wheeler-dealer. Unfortunately, Jill Biden lost a lot of sleep keeping the victrola wound up.

doctrev said...

For all Prof. Althouse makes fun of Maureen Dowd, looking at what she reads is instructive. Lots of articles from the Washington Post and NYT, nothing from Breitbart, Babylon Bee, Federalist, and American Thinker. This is interesting because to me there are gradients of American nationalism, which can be summarized like so:

4- Very high. You probably read VDARE, Vox Day, and Steve Sailer. You think the Russian and even Chinese governments pose far less threat to your nation than the American government does. You're not going to protest if people insist Washington is Zionist occupied. If you aren't a white nationalist, you're pretty aggressive about removing legal immigrants, and the only question is what date you think should be the cutoff point for repatriation. You know your policy is never going to be enacted, and you're quite sure America will devolve into civil war. You'll probably be shooting before anyone else does, and honestly you're a bit scary. Chill out, my friend.

3- High. Sailer's a bit edgy, but it's worth a shot, as are American Thinker, Ace of Spades, The_Donald, Rush Limbaugh, and the more aggressive parts of the Gamergate movement. You think of yourself as a civic nationalist but demand that whites be celebrated as much as any American, and probably want an immigration moratorium. You're not the tip of the spear, unlike the hardcore nats, but you are in the vanguard of Trump supporters. You'd be open to Bernie Sanders if his attacks were on the corporate enemies of nationalism, as opposed to all corporations generally. You might find yourself using socialist rhetoric to persecute converged corporations. You're increasingly good with dissolving the FBI and CIA.

2- Normal. You read Powerline, Babylon Bee, Instapundit, and most of the standard right wing media. You're a bit disgusted with shades of white nationalism, but you do love to own the libs and you love the Donald. As time goes on, you're probably shifting in reading material when your friends either keep insisting that Trump is a racist, or when they keep sending you posts from the harder parts of the blogosphere. You probably have a lot to lose in case of civil war, and trust that the American system is strong enough to endure the all out attack from the Democrats. You're definitely very friendly to all American Jews.

1- Weak. At this stage, you're probably a fan of Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, and similar approved intellectuals. This late in the game, you're probably not growing out of this phase. To you, conservatism and libertarianism are still viable projects, and you have zero desire to engage with the broader strokes of the American nationalist movement, much less be ready to fight about it. You'll still be looking at "approved" media like the NYT long after most nationalists have condemned them as the enemy of the people, and acted accordingly. Alternatively, you're a college student who can go from 1 to 4 very quickly if you keep fetching up against liberal violence on campus.

0- NeverTrump. There's a very thin sliver of Americans involved with this movement, and as we see from the revelations of the DNC trying to control Rush Limbaugh's comments the odds are good that it's entirely made up of the cottage industry that accepts money from shady America hating billionaires like Soros and Omidyar. You read Resurgent, Hot Air, and Bulwark unironically. You hope Mark Sanford will rescue the GOP from Trump. You suck.

Drago said...

Having failed miserably with 3 straight years of serial lies about Donald Trump involving russian collusion lies, treasonous activities lies, emoluments lies, corruption lies, racism lies, white supremacy lies, immigration brutality lies, pecan pie lies, feeding goldfish lies, exposing US intel asset lies, wanting to start wars lies, will crash the economy lies, RECESSION!!! lies, etc etc etc etc, we have once again circled back to the only remaining game in town for the lefties/LLR-lefties: a 25th Amendment bastardization gambit.

It's all they have left.

Drago said...

And how could I forget the latest: DJT isn't Barron's father!!

You just knew they couldn't leave the Sarah Palin tactics in mothballs forever, didn't you?

Michael said...

Taki’s mag is indeed a good read. As is the U.K. Spectator which offers superior thinking on the parallel nuttiness underway on the other side of the Atlantic.
The NYT, to which I subscribe, is to me as the “right wing” press is to our hostess. I find it useful to know the other side’s point of view.

rcocean said...

Peggy Noonan:

Shall we be rude? Oh, let’s. Everyone knows Donald Trump is a mental case, including I believe Donald Trump. Why else does he keep insisting he is an “extremely stable genius”? It’s as if he knows a lot of people are certain he’s neither.

Noonan then cries about how the D's aren't acting Moderately and are ignoring the Big Center (aka People like her).

What a waste of space she is. She's your silly, but rich old Aunt, who inherited $millions but can't tell the difference between a stock option and livestock. She has political opinions, but they all boil down to "Why can't we all get along?" and "We need leaders with grace and dignity". Sometimes she'll sigh, and say we'd be better off with a King and Queen.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I love the Sharpie thing. Do they not realize that when you’re reduced to yammering about something like that you’re a wafer’s width from waving the white flag? Politicians used to be much smarter, especially the corrupt ones. Now they’re all Maxine Waters.

n.n said...

The left-wing press working diligently to keep things merry and gay hunts witches and holds warlock trials.

iowan2 said...

It's hard to accept the notion, that the NYT is a real news source, when today we are subjected to the rehashed Kavanaugh baseless accusations. Nothing in the story is new. Nothing has changed. Supposedly the NYT has integrity, yet we are subjected to yellow journalism at its most degrading bottom. The only purpose is as fodder for the rest of the media to re-smear, a sitting Supreme Court Justice.

Sickening

Drago said...

It seems like only yesterday the lefties/LLR-left/"Blog Forum Initiative" fake conservatives were telling us Russia collusion and facebook ads were the equivalent of Pearl Harbor!!!eleventy1!!1!111!

Of course, that one didn't last long either.

And notice how the lefties/LLR-left are also circling back to the Kavanaugh lies!!

The barrel must be getting mighty empty....

Bruce Hayden said...

“It is almost like the left and never-Trumpers are having their previously permanent payola sinecures upended by Trump's mere presence at the top of the political scene.”

Of corse that is part of the problem. How else do they et so filthy rich in politics, or as a political hanger on?

Bu I think that the bigger sin is that Trump gets much of the country laughing at them.

Birkel said...

Imagine avoiding the "right wing press" so you have learned nothing of the scandal and corruption of the Big Government Deep State. Imagine aesthetics overwhelming your thirst for information. So you never read Conservative Tree House. And you purposefully avoid getting any of the ugliness of Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, the SSCI, the Awan brothers, or any of the others onto your nice neat world view.

The people working at the NYT and WaPo are complicit in your efforts toward ignorance. And you reward them? That's weird. Stockholm Syndrome?

Nichevo said...


Oso Negro said...
@Sykes - My hat is off to the dedication of the Russian troll mills. But I must ask why? Why? Russia has so much more upside from getting along with us.

9/15/19, 9:01 AM



You know how I always describes atheism as she hates God and wants Him to die? Russia hates itself and wants to die. That's the only answer I can see.

Jim at said...

I like Trump because he pisses off all the right people.
The fact he's been a successful President is icing on the cake.

Nichevo said...


Sebastian said...
"I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me."

Says Mrs. I-grew-up-in-a-home-with-Playboy-on-the-coffee-table.

narciso said...

Evidence the houthis are lying:
https://mobile.twitter.com/falsubaie86/status/1172827881979953152/video/1

Original Mike said...

Althouse's "real" newspaper:


NEW YORK TIMES PUBLISHES NEW UNCORROBORATED ALLEGATION AGAINST BRETT KAVANAUGH BY FORMER CLASSMATE.
There’s also a crucial bit of information in the book not included in the article, “The book notes, quietly, that the woman Max Stier named as having been supposedly victimized by Kavanaugh and friends denies any memory of the alleged event.


Blogger Angle-Dyne, Samurai Buzzard said..."just as it is certainly true that your insistence on sticking to the "prestige" press leaves lacunae in your information banks. Perhaps this explains the oddly naïve character of some of your discussion."

The left-wing press actively suppresses news that does not advance their narrative. Althouse does not know what she does not know.

Birkel said...

As for Trump and any other politician, why would anybody care if they like one of them? What good has liking a president done for anybody? I will answer. Nothing. Liking a politician has never helped a single person.

Politics is a bunch of power hungry people competing in a system designed to restrict the execution of that power. Competing interests keep the parties busy fighting each other. And I would 'like' any of these people? No.

We should care about policies. And Trump's policies are working. 3.4% wage growth and 1.7% inflation. A growing economy in search of additional workers. Reworking NAFTA to keep China from gaming the system. Pushing China directly and indirectly toward reciprocal agreements with enforcement provisions.

Why would anybody care about liking a politician? What great things did the well-liked Obama accomplish? Paging rhhardin! This liking of politicians is a soap opera thing. Matt Sablan must watch "his stories" every afternoon. Sheesh!

Nichevo said...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
We enter week two of the Great Trump Awakening.


Curious, why have you returned? I mean obviously to plague us, but why were you gone and why did you come back?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"It's hard to accept the notion, that the NYT is a real news source..."

Did anyone call it that? Althouse called it a "real newspaper", which I suppose means that it actually still engages in deforestation, depleting our natural resources, and polluting our air and water to litter our streets with fish wrap.

Nichevo said...

You know how I always describe Althouse's atheism as she hates God and wants Him to die? Russia hates itself and wants to die. That's the only answer I can see.

FIFM.

RMc said...

But (Trump) could end the world in seven and a half seconds.

So could've your old boss, Bob. (In fact, it's amazing he didn't accidentally hit the red button whilst getting serviced by Monica.)

Gospace said...

I don't read Breitbart for an entirely different reason. It frequently locks up my browser. The air is loaded wit ads and pop ups and autoplays.

Taki's mag has interesting stuff, well written interesting stuff, but I only peruse it on days when one of the blogs I read daily link it, or a Facebook post links it.

Breakfast isn't the only site loaded with crap. There are several conservative sites that suffer from it that I avoid.

etbass said...

I think, in her heart of hearts, Althouse loves being liberal. It makes her feel among the elite. She is smart enough to know, on some level, the left have completely lost their minds, but harbors hope that somewhere, somehow, something sensible will come out of the left. And reading conservative material, she knows, will completely torpedo her latent sentiment for being....a liberal.

Birkel said...

I hope somebody is willing to attempt an answer to my question, posed above:

When has "liking" a politician ever produced a better result?

Bilwick said...

"Liberals" always think you're crazy if you don't fall in lockstep with the Hive.

Bilwick said...

"Althouse called it [the NYT] a 'real newspaper', which I suppose means that it actually still engages in deforestation, depleting our natural resources, and polluting our air and water to litter our streets with fish wrap."

I like when Andrew Klavan, on his vlogs, always sarcastically refers to "the New York Times, a former newspaper."

Leland said...

This is battlefield preparation for the coming release of the DOJ IG report. Reich, et al; are hoping to get the numbers back up for those that believe the Russian collusion. And like what started this BS of Russian collusion, you have a Clinton paid hack colluding with Brits to publish this trash.

rehajm said...

We must destroy fossil fuels and move to rare earth mineral mining.

Rare earth mineral mining is a carbon intensive process. Joke's on them...

Crazy World said...

That video of Joe is scary!

YoungHegelian said...

Althouse don't need no stinkin' Right-wing press!

She's got us commenters!

Jim Sweeney said...

Ms. Althouse has admitted her non-interest in reading the "other side". Why bother with her anymore either? It's tough to get a balanced picture from a one-side view.

Ave atque vale.

Big Mike said...

If one is foolish enough to trust anything written in the New York Times then one is probably foolish enough to pay attention to what s President says. Barack Obama spent eight years training me to ignore what is the President says and look at what the President does. Trump the man may not be someone I’d encourage my sons to emulate, but his policies have made life better for millions of people, including large numbers who aren’t in his base and are not likely to vote for him. I unhesitatingly place him among the all-time great Presidents, while Obama, Carter, and Lyndon Johnson are equally clearly among the all-time worst.

Bruce Hayden said...

Blogger Birkel said...
“Imagine avoiding the "right wing press" so you have learned nothing of the scandal and corruption of the Big Government Deep State. Imagine aesthetics overwhelming your thirst for information. So you never read Conservative Tree House. And you purposefully avoid getting any of the ugliness of Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, the SSCI, the Awan brothers, or any of the others onto your nice neat world view.”

That is my view too. We have just come through 3 years of the Dems working with the Deep State, and loyally abetting by elite media, like the NYT, working to destroy Trump’s candidacy, then his Presidency. It has literally probably been the greatest threat to our Republican form of government in probably a century and a half. Yet, most NYT subscribers and readers don’t have a clue about the rampant criminality involved. Simply because their Paper of Record spent those 3 years as part of the conspiracy against the American people trying to pull this off. The NYT was at the forefront the entire time flogging the bogus Trump/Russia Collusion hoax, and studiously ignoring Birkel’s list of criminals and ner do wells.

BTW - what ever happened to the Awan brothers. Last I know, they had managed to siphon off terabytes of information from much of the Dems’ House Caucus, apparently shipping it home to their native Pakistan, and very likely its intelligence service. Some, at least was apparently classified. They were, of course, well protected by House Dems, led by former DNC chair Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, who didn’t fire them until one was actually arrested. But what was never made public was: how did they get so many Dem Congressional office contracts, given their relatively modest credentials?; why didn’t the Obama DoJ arrest the lot of them, and try them for a number of very obvious federal felonies?; were any of the Dems in Congress, who hired them, being blackmailed?; and where, in particular, did they ship their information?

Roy Lofquist said...

Blogger Kay said...
Biden is clearly speaking to Park Slope-type urban hipsters, who collect vinyl records and dress their kids in punk t-shirts.

9/15/19, 8:11 AM
----
"Sales of vinyl in 2016 reached a 25-year high as consumers young and old have once again embraced physical formats of music.

More than 3.2m LPs were sold last year, a rise of 53% on last year and the highest number since 1991 when Simply Red’s Stars was the bestselling album. This was also the first year that spending on vinyl outstripped that spent on digital downloads."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/03/record-sales-vinyl-hits-25-year-high-and-outstrips-streaming

Gk1 said...

The Trump-o-phobes have driven many independent voters like me straight into the arms of La Orange' one and they are too self-absorbed and insular to notice. Listening to liberals cry into their beer the other night and listening to their delusional rage, I am far more worried about those loony toons taking back the country than this uncouth, reality star.

bagoh20 said...

When someone repeatedly lies to you, and gets important stories completely wrong, and always in the same direction, I don't think you call that "a real newspaper". I know a number of terms that fit a person who keeps falling for that kind of thing, especially if they refuses to look at the alternatives.

Sam L. said...

Robert Reich, or as our favorite radio commentator says, "Reissssssssssssssssssssssssch"
is past his "sell-by" date

William said...

And Reich has relevance why?

narciso said...

not surprising they would throw this out there;


https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/13/three-questions-everyone-should-be-asking-about-the-israeli-spying-allegations/

bbkingfish said...

"When has "liking" a politician ever produced a better result?"

This is an excellent question. I would say that liking a politician is pretty much irrelevant to whether he will be or is good at his job. Further, how can a person "like" someone he does not personally know? Liking a politician is an exercise in self-deception, I think.

gilbar said...

Serious question
HOW could he end the world, in 7 and a half seconds?
He'd need to get to the football
Enter the the code for Destroy Everything
Wait for SacCom to tell him
" we don't pre aim MISSILES anymore,
Then he'd have to tell them

Just Launch, damn it, I don't care where

If, we assume this could happen
AND
We assume all that took 1 second
IT WOULD STILL TAKE 20 MINUTES FOR THE MISSILES TO FLY
Plus 55 seconds to launch the minute men
(Get it? Ignoring orders, targets and flight time....
You STILL need 55 seconds to clear the silos

narciso said...

well there are envisioning some scene from dead zone, with martin sheen as stillson, the series took forever to reach the denoument with sean Patrick flannery,

Narayanan said...

Serious question
HOW could he end the world, in 7 and a half seconds?

To follow up with *** will there be any "world" left to retaliate against USA ****

narciso said...

this was why there was a focus on Maduro,


https://babalublog.com/2019/09/15/colombia-ready-to-accuse-cuba-of-sponsoring-terrorism-at-u-n/#comments

Francisco D said...

We have just come through 3 years of the Dems working with the Deep State, and loyally abetting by elite media, like the NYT, working to destroy Trump’s candidacy, then his Presidency. It has literally probably been the greatest threat to our Republican form of government in probably a century and a half. Yet, most NYT subscribers and readers don’t have a clue about the rampant criminality involved. Simply because their Paper of Record spent those 3 years as part of the conspiracy against the American people trying to pull this off.

Bruce,

You must appreciate that despite her self-imposed liberal bubble, AA does not ban conservatives or non-leftists for "hate speech." That's a helluva lot from someone who spent their life in academia where non-leftist speech is often severely restricted.

The NYT provides Communion Mass for the liberal religion and it foresees thing up in the most proper and dignified way. You have to go to communion to affirm your faith. Us pagans will never understand that.

Francisco D said...

Foresees = dresses

Original Mike said...

Althouse reads her own comment section, so there's that.

daskol said...

For higher brow/middlebrow right/nationalist perspective and often very good writing I recommend The New Criterion and for more arts focus the Claremont Review. They read the under news and then wrote about it so that you don’t have to deal with the atridency and pop up advertisements. But I wish more people read The Conservative Treehouse. That’s an amazing site that’s done real service throughout the Russia hoax.

daskol said...

I do prefer Roger Kimball as an editor rather than an editorialist, though.

Jon Ericson said...

So many new words.

ken in tx said...

I read that the Trump 2020 campaign is not only selling Trump branded plastic straws, but also personalized Trump Sharpies (guaranteed to drive CNN crazy). Trump is the most entertaining president in my lifetime. I didn't even vote for him.

Earnest Prole said...

Those ridiculing Biden as an oldster for mentioning a record player are betraying their own age: Nothing is hipper than vinyl today.

Birkel said...

Defend your ideology, Earnest Prole.
And all the pols on your team.

I prefer results.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me

Deplorable?

is the 'sophistication' of the NYT acquired by being more accurate and incisive, or just plain snobbery?

Known Unknown said...

"Those ridiculing Biden as an oldster for mentioning a record player are betraying their own age: Nothing is hipper than vinyl today."

You know Slow Joe loves dropping 2Chainz on the tables and going HAM on the wheelz.

Qwinn said...

The NY Times was once a respectable institution.
The Far Left identified it.
The Far Left killed it.
The Far Left gutted it.
The Far Left wears it like a skin suit while demanding respect.

They do this to institution after institution, because it works. Mostly on women.

narciso said...

When were they, whitewashing the holocaust, giving fidel his audition, getting vietnam fundamentally wrong?

Birkel said...

narciso,
It's not very sporting of you to point out Leftist Collectivist ideology does not square with reality.
How very trashy of you.

/sarc

Qwinn said...

narciso: Yeah, I think that all happened around the 1920s, figured I'd rubbed it in enogh though.

narciso said...

I do read enough of it, like inigo montoya drank the ibogaine, but every decade they print bew outrages

narciso said...

Like they are still trying to bring life into 'life of skywalker' even the lazarus pit wont save it

Lucien said...

Dammit Narciso, ibogaine is Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72 — Princess Bride is Iocane.

Pull it together man.

narciso said...

You get the meaning, the ap draft is much the same

Birkel said...

Too funny!
Thanks for the laughs.

Earnest Prole said...

Defend your ideology, Earnest Prole. And all the pols on your team.

My ideology is that I'm allergic to dopiness, so it can't be a coincidence that you make me sneeze.

rehajm said...

Nothing is hipper than vinyl today

Figured it was only a matter of time before someone defended him this way. I fortunately he meant it in the it’s the mid 20th century way, not the hipster digital is too cold way.

Chris of Rights said...

"They'd do better to settle down and work on getting a Democratic Party candidate who isn't scarier than Trump."

This has always been the problem for Democrats since Trump was elected. They hate him and refuse to treat him like any other President, because they don't want to "normalize" him. However, if they did treat him like any other President, they'd probably be winning, or at least winning more often. Looking like crazed pathetic whiners typically puts your peak support at somewhat less than 50%.

P.S. I will state once again how much I hate having to prove I'm not a robot. I don't really care which squares have storefronts, or trucks, or even fire hydrants.

Birkel said...

No, Earnest Prole. You do your dead level best to pretend at what you are. And it's bull shit.

But here you stay. Pretending. Unconvincingly.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"I can't bear to read the right-wing press. It just looks completely trashy to me. It's like reading an uninteresting blog. The NYT is at least a real newspaper. If there were something equivalent on the right"

When on earth are you going to get off of your high-horse and pick up a copy of the Wall Street Journal? It is the opposite of trashy, well written and a real newspaper. I and others have suggested this to you for at least a year now, but for some reason, you seem unable to do so. I have come to suspect it is because you know that it will shatter the illusion in which you live.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"-- There's the WSJ, but I think they're pay walled."

So is the NYT. Althouse actually pays to read that shit.

Kirk Parker said...

chickelit,

"I recently reacquired just a turntable and hooked two preamps in series and fed that signal into my old Bose Wave radio. It sounds pretty good."

There's something very wrong with your statement, though of course at this distance I can't figure out whether it's "two", "preamp", "in series", or "sounds good".

chickelit said...

There's something very wrong with your statement, though of course at this distance I can't figure out whether it's "two", "preamp", "in series", or "sounds good".

Why? Old turntables need pre-amps and the old receivers used to have them built-in. I like the sound and looks of my old Bose Wave and it has auxiliary input jacks. I bought one preamp and found that the gain was insufficient (when switching from CD to "phono" there was drop in amplification). I decided to amplify the pre-amp with a second pre-amp and get additional gain.

Kirk Parker said...

Why? Because phono preamps don't just amplify, they also equalize. Putting two in series is not going to get you what you should get.

chickelit said...

Putting two in series is not going to get you what you should get.

Don’t assume that I’m interested in audiophile excellence. This won’t be set up permanently and is only for a holiday get together in a few months. I tested it, and it’s just fine for what I need.

But thanks for your comment!