October 7, 2019

Ridiculous! Trump doesn't save face. He spends face!

I'm seeing this headline at Drudge: "Former Trump Exec Predicts Trump Will Resign Over Impeachment Threat ‘To Save Face.'" The link goes to Mediaite, and I didn't read whatever it is that's there. I'm only blogging that to scoff at the idea that Trump is motivated by a desire to "save face" and to show off my invention of the notion of spending face.

48 comments:

Nonapod said...

Trump resign? Over this? I very seriously doubt it.

As far as I know, his support among actual voters has yet to be really negatively effected by this. In fact he seems to have actually gone up in certain polls. Among Republicans voters I think all this has only strengthened their resolve.

narayanan said...

He negotiates in such a way that he keeps his face and the other guy does not lose face.

cosmetic surgeons need not apply

Michael K said...

Drudge following Little Green Footballs into never never land.

Darrell said...

Lefties make up shit and Trump is supposed to go away.
Right.
Joker is more sane than these fuckers.

Robert Cook said...

No, he won't. He learned Roy Cohn's lesson well: never apologize, never back down.

Virgil Hilts said...

For about 18 years Drudge has been my home page. It seems the best way to get a balanced over-view of what's going on (that and maybe realclearpolitics.com). But boy has he turned against DT. I remember at some point when Hillary and Obama were neck and neck, Drudge decided he preferred Obama. The coverage, almost overnight, started to feature much more anti-HC stuff. I've always thought Drudge worked pretty hard to be fair/balanced to Trump w/o pulling punches. But the last 3 weeks - I don't think Drudge wants a Democratic elected (given that the Dems would ultimately like to shut down his web site).
But I would like to know where Drudge thinks this train he just nudged on to a different track is going to end up. And yes, I think Matt Drudge is easily the most powerful journalist this country (maybe the word has ever seen). Drudge is smarter than me and I really, really want to know what he's thinking.

Milo Minderbinder said...

Wot? A NY real estate developer back down and resign?

Mary Beth said...

Looking at the bios of Barbara Res that are online, it looks like she began her career as an engineer and lawyer and then quit that to write articles and do interviews about Trump. Talking about him seems to be her main gig now.

bagoh20 said...

Trump would never consider quitting to be a way to save face; just the opposite. Some people who claim to have inside knowledge just throw shit out there to get attention, and this is exactly the kind of shit to get it.

tim maguire said...

Robert Cook said...No, he won't. He learned Roy Cohn's lesson well: never apologize, never back down.

Yes, but it's not just Roy Cohn's lesson. Everyone who watches how our outrage culture operates knows that if you want to survive, you don't apologize.

JPS said...

And if Trump were the guy they wish he were, instead of the guy he is, he would.

Spends face. I like that.

etbass said...

He didn't become a billionaire by giving up.

stevew said...

Trump doesn't need Drudge, or any of the other media, to get the word out, so Drudge, the news aggregator, hates him, he's bad for business. That's my theory, anyway.

Resign? To save face? I will only accept that as plausible if you can point to one time in Trump's life when he backed away from a fight, was cowed by a difficult situation, or otherwise scared off.

rehajm said...

We saw this early in Impeachment v 1.0 (Beta) where wishes were made into headlines so they might come true.
Meh.

narciso said...

trump took a chance on her, when female real estate executives were a rarity,

rehajm said...

I’m shorting spending face. Nice try though...

Temujin said...

Seriously. Trump is looking to save face? Heh.

Robert Cook said...

"He didn't become a billionaire by giving up."

He also didn't do it by honest work. (And this is assuming he actually is a billionaire.)

Kevin said...

Sasse: Okay Donald, can we just let Biden’s pillaging go?

Romney: Mr. President, please. You've gone too far. You’re going to be impeached.

Trump: A: You can never go too far. B: If I'm gonna get impeached, it is not gonna be by a guy like Schiff.

tim maguire said...

Robert Cook said...
"He didn't become a billionaire by giving up."

He also didn't do it by honest work. (And this is assuming he actually is a billionaire.)


But he did do it according to the rules of the game he was playing.

Larry J said...

Virgil Hilts said...

For about 18 years Drudge has been my home page. It seems the best way to get a balanced over-view of what's going on (that and maybe realclearpolitics.com). But boy has he turned against DT.


I saw online today that someone said Matt Drudge is Charles Johnson II. If you remember the blog "Little Green Footballs" after 9/11, that was Charles Johnson. At some point, he completely flipped. It seems Drudge has done the same.

As for Trump resigning to "save face", that sounds like wishful thinking. What Trump is doing is exposing something the entire political class wants to remain hidden - the hiring of politician family members as a form of bribery. Slow Joe Biden's son wasn't hired because of his abilities, he was hired because his father was the VP. It's illegal to directly bribe a politician, but giving the family members of politicians high salary do-nothing jobs is a common thing, as is buying real estate from politicians at vastly inflated prices.

somewhy said...

On 'spending face': "Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face." - John Updike.

Drago said...

Robert Cook: "No, he won't. He learned Roy Cohn's lesson well: never apologize, never back down."

Yeah, Roy Cohn invented that......uh huh.

Nobody else ever thought of doing that.

Hey Cookie, much more recent and relevant examples of that include Hillary & Bill and li'l baracky.

But no, to a marxist it's time for a Roy Cohn subreference.

How....predictable.

ga6 said...


"Nobody else ever thought of doing that."

Wm T Sherman comes to mind..

Drago said...

Larry J: "Slow Joe Biden's son wasn't hired because of his abilities, he was hired because his father was the VP."

Don't forget Pelosi's son got a piece of that sweet sweet Ukrainian energy action. And so did Romney's son!!

Gee, it's almost like you could use a list of politician's with family members sucking at the teet of Ukrainian/russian energy interests to determine who supports Trump and who attacks Trump......

Michael K said...


Blogger Robert Cook said...
"He didn't become a billionaire by giving up."

He also didn't do it by honest work. (And this is assuming he actually is a billionaire.)


Marxist don't like rich people, unless they are also Marxists in rhetoric.

Jim at said...

At some point, he completely flipped.

Charles Johnson was always a lefty. It took 9/11 for him to 'flip' but once he got over that, he reverted to form.

Ipso Fatso said...

Althouse, you get a Gold Star. Nice job.

madAsHell said...

I loved how Trump moved to upstage Hillary, and stepping into her camera angles during the debates. I call that sharing face.

Sucking face was expected on the first date.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Is this face saving or face spending: "I won't be tried in the corrupt club that is the United States Senate, I'm taking my case to the American people."

This is a scenario in which Trump might resign without quitting. Let's say it's clear he's going to be convicted and the Republican have sent their delegation asking him to resign. Trump could declare the whole thing a farce and resign, but continue his 2020 campaign.

Why would he resign? A conviction could bar him from office but a resignation would deprive Congress of its impeachment jurisdiction and leave him free to run and be reelected in 2020. Plus, he's got that argument that his first term was spoiled and doesn't count under the two term limit.

h said...

It doesn't seem to me that is useful to try to understand Trump in terms of past historical figures. He is not Roy Cohn. He is not Bill Clinton. If someone can make an argument that begins: "In 1977, when such and so threatened the entire Trump empire, here is how he reacted," I will be interested and listen. But don't say "Trump is like George Washington and here's how George Washington acted at Valley Forge." I just don't find that argument convincing.

narciso said...

fifth columns are the same the world over


https://www.wsj.com/articles/france-rocked-by-security-breach-that-saw-extremist-work-in-counterterrorism-11570446866?mod=hp_lead_pos11

Maillard Reactionary said...

I like your new expression, Emerita, though I don't know if it will catch on. Trump doesn't "do" face: by that I mean in the Asian sense of losing social status by not following the norms of one's peer group.

Trump never had, or long ago ran out of, any fucks to give about what other people think of him. The "face" notion has no more claim on him than e.g. the horror of eating pork does for my kaffir/goyische self.

That right there is a good part of his appeal to normal working people": We hate snobs, and Trump shows that a rich guy doesn't have to be a snob.

"Snob": Come to think of it, how often do you encounter that word in the MSM outlets in any context?

I agree with Nonapod that those who supported Trump in the last election still do. That is also my sense from the people that I meet going about my business here in the South Jersey burbs.

You know, people who have other things to do with their lives instead of think about politics all the time.

Separately, I chased Cook off the property the last time, it's somebody else's turn this time.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

maybe he leverages face, or uses Other People's Face

FullMoon said...

tim maguire said... [hush]​[hide comment]

Robert Cook said...
"He didn't become a billionaire by giving up."

He also didn't do it by honest work. (And this is assuming he actually is a billionaire.)

But he did do it according to the rules of the game he was playing.javascript:void(0)


One of the amazing things to me is that with all the construction work with unions, regulations, inspectors and governments to deal with, the people Cook admires who are attempting to destroy Trump have not been able to come up with a single instance of him breaking the law.

They want to get his taxes in order to nit- pic them and insinuate Trump did not pay his fair share. Or, as Cook acknowledges, to prove he is not a billionaire,so as to embarrass Trump as if that makes any difference at all.

Interesting also is how so many of the politicians and celebrities admired Trump before he ran for President. Now they insult him and his family, calling Ivanka cunt, chopping off Trumps head as a joke, pretend assassinations.

Cook and his ilk can be proud to be a part of these "elites". Just be careful, send a wrong tweet or forward a joke without thinking and your world may change forever.







Michael K said...

Why would he resign? A conviction could bar him from office but a resignation would deprive Congress of its impeachment jurisdiction and leave him free to run and be reelected in 2020.

Good thought but, if they were going to political hari kari like that, why not impeach him anyway ?

Michael K said...

I loved how Trump moved to upstage Hillary, and stepping into her camera angles during the debates. I call that sharing face.

Actually, if you were watching she did it first, trying to intimidate him. One thing about Trump; he does not intimidate,

wildswan said...

Why would he save Pelosi's face?

Nichevo said...

h said...
It doesn't seem to me that is useful to try to understand Trump in terms of past historical figures. He is not Roy Cohn. He is not Bill Clinton.

Robert Cook isn't comfortable judging or treating people as individuals based on their own merits. That would make it harder to hate and hurt and rob and kill people and groups of people that way. Much faster his way. More efficient. And no risk of any guilt or other human feelings, second thoughts, or any independent thoughts at all, the whole while preening oneself as above the herd.

Jaylat said...

Trump doesn't save face, he's in your face.

Josephbleau said...

"He didn't become a billionaire by giving up."

Billionaires get there by finding an angle, the 5th or 6th time. "A" students work for "C" students. Forcing something to happen thru contacts, mothers on the board of IBM, etc. takes primordial instinctive power. You fall and climb again, higher. More like a Marine than an Ivy grad. Safe sinecure is anathema. Don't write briefs, don't lust for full professorship, have an attention deficit approach to your single dream. Buffet, Patton (war billionaire), Washington, Sorros, Carnegie, Ford, Orville Wright (or would it be Glenn Curtis).

revenant said...

What I’d like to hear is Republicans come out good and hard for 1. the rule of law, 2. the legitimacy of an election, and 3. 63 million Americans who are being treated with absolute contempt. They would have to make the case and coordinate - you know, like the Democrats do. (When are Republicans ever going to not suck at politics?) I want them to find every possible media outlet, no matter how small, and expose what the Democrats are doing. A massive coordinated effort to impeach a president for any reason or no reason, and lying and scheming to do it. There are 100 million voters who pay only cursory attention 47 months of every cycle. A lot of them would be mad as hell if they were aware of what is being done right in our faces. It makes no difference at all who is president. If Romney were president, they would concoct a pretense to impeach him. If Trump is impeached - convicted or not - and then loses even 10 states in 2020, then this is no longer a liberal republic but a war zone.

DavidUW said...

Trump is a 70+ year old man. Who has never quit anything that I’m aware of and certainly hasn’t quit in an admission of defeat.

How many 70+ year old men suddenly change their personalities, absent a grave medical issue? None.

Mark said...

never apologize, never back down

Well, first you need something to apologize for. And Trump has none.

Bruce Hayden said...

“This is a scenario in which Trump might resign without quitting. Let's say it's clear he's going to be convicted and the Republican have sent their delegation asking him to resign. Trump could declare the whole thing a farce and resign, but continue his 2020 campaign”

“Why would he resign? A conviction could bar him from office but a resignation would deprive Congress of its impeachment jurisdiction and leave him free to run and be reelected in 2020. Plus, he's got that argument that his first term was spoiled and doesn't count under the two term limit.”

Why would he be convicted (by the Senate)? You see to be forgetting that that would be political suicide for many of the Senate Republicans who would have to vote for him. The Dems have nothing. Many, if not most, Republicans know this. The “Impeachment” investigation is a farce.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Trump aside, the reasoning behind “resigning to save face” is so...female. You save face by fighting tooth and nail. And, win or lose, your opponents will remember you until the end of their lives. That’s face.

Sam L. said...

Drudge is dredging it's own swamp.

Brian said...

Trump: A: You can never go too far. B: If I'm gonna get impeached, it is not gonna be by a guy like Schiff.

Trump as Ferris Bueller. I love it. A perfect illustration of the 2 movies filter. The kids thought Ferris was the greatest, the adults (elite?) and Jeannie though Ferris was the worst.