Althouse: "[T]he winning Democrat will need to make Trump’s presidency seem insignificant rather than monumental — an unsightly pimple on our long republican experiment..."

December 27, 2019

"[T]he winning Democrat will need to make Trump’s presidency seem insignificant rather than monumental — an unsightly pimple on our long republican experiment..."

"... not a fatal cancer within it. Mike Bloomberg has the financial wherewithal to make Trump’s wealth seem nearly trivial. Joe Biden has the life experience to make Trump’s attacks seem petty. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have the rhetorical skills to turn Trump’s taunts against him. As with most bullies, the key to beating Trump is to treat him as the nonentity he fundamentally is. Wouldn’t it be something if his political opponents and obsessed media critics resolved, for 2020, to talk about him a little less and past him a lot more? When your goal is to wash your hands of something bad, you don’t need a sword. Soap will do."

From "What Will It Take to Beat Donald Trump?/It’s not what the progressive left is talking about" by Bret Stephens (NYT).

1. Isn't this how they tried to defeat Trump the last time around? Diminish him. Insist that everything about him is small — hands, penis, brain, worldview. Donald Trump can't possibly be President! Isn't that less likely to work when Trump actually is President?

2. Biden can run by standing in place, embodying "life experience"?! He's "experienced" to the point of old age, and we're wondering if he currently has what it takes.

3. Who cares if Bloomberg is richer than Trump? I don't think Trump won because people simply admired him for his wealth. Bloomberg might be able to use his wealth to run ads that work to some extent, but those ads are likely to minimize the significance of his stature as a very rich man, not vaunt his wealth in comparison to Trump's — my pile of money is bigger than yours. If size matters, Bloomberg is the one who will look small compared to Trump when we see them on the debate stage together.

4. I find it very hard to believe that anyone could — in real time, on a debate stage — best Trump in a game of trading taunts, and it just seems silly to posit that Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar could do it because they have "rhetorical skills."

5. Talking about a human being as filth or disease... I thought we weren't doing that anymore. I thought you could get canceled for that. But Donald Trump can take it. He can take everything dished out against him. That's why these ideas about how to beat him feel like absolutely nothing.

258 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 258 of 258

Bruce Hayden said...: New Page?; 12/27/19, 11:59 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “New Page.”

Score!!!; 12/27/19, 11:59 AM
Drago said...: Howard: "Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown."

LOL

Howard doesn't even realize that the entire democratics field is arguing the economy is NOT working out for American workers!! That is literally the pitch every dem candidate moron is making!!

Howard never fails to be far behind the talking points of the dems.

Howard, whenever you can't figure out what the ever-changing idiotic democratics talking points of the day happen to be, just send an email to your pal and ally LLR-lefty Chuck for an update. LLR-lefty Chuck is always fully up to speed on whatever nonsense the dems are spewing that day.

You're welcome.; 12/27/19, 12:01 PM
DavidUW said...: All the Dem ideas have been proved wrong.
1) Communism
2) Obamacare
3) illegal immigration is a good thing
4) unemployment can't go under 6% without inflation
5) All the jobs are gone and never coming back
6) can't drill our way to energy independence
7) trade wars are unfun and hard to win
8) everything about foreign policy.

I mean seriously, what do they have to run on? They can't even trade insults with Trump because as AA notes, they have no one who can beat him. He really might be the best in America on that.
No winning ideas no winning personal attacks and no good candidates.
Trump is definitely vulnerable in the 2020 election. Definitely.; 12/27/19, 12:08 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Cutting down immigration, esp. low skilled immigration, is beneficial to the US as a whole.”

What is often missed here is that most of the illegal immigrants are ignorant peasants, often with maybe a grade school education. They really cannot contribute much to the economy, due to their education levels, esp in our increasingly technological society. Most don’t speak English, and many don’t even speak Spanish very well. Operating a cash register, or even a computer, are often well beyond their abilities. Meanwhile, they cost money because of their demands on social services, ranging from medical treatment through police and fire, as well as school systems. They cannot cover their social services costs, because their value added to the economy is so low, because of their education levels.; 12/27/19, 12:08 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: mockturtle said...
I think they're mostly secretly hoping Trump wins.

I think so, too, Tina. Hate is such a unifying force as well as grist for the media mill. What would the news pundits talk about without Trump? Actual news? Not bloody likely.

12/27/19, 8:22 AM

I must disagree with you two. A Trump win will only underscore just how much their power and influence has decreased. The media elites are remarkably dense, but if Trump wins they will finally have to face the fact that their pompous editorials and cries of outrage mainly serve the purpose of virtue-signaling to the other buffoons in their bubble. Edward R. Murrow they are not.; 12/27/19, 12:09 PM
Lurker21 said...: Trump may have been the only Republican who could have beaten Hillary Clinton. Ted Cruz? John Kasich? Marco Rubio? Jeb Bush? Does anyone seriously think they could have won? That's turning the usual complaint on its head. You know, how there was some wonderful conservative candidate out there who could have easily beaten Obama in 2008 or 2016. There wasn't. And it's not likely that there was some ideal mainstream candidate who could have defeated Clinton last time.

A candidate who really excites primary voters gets the nomination and maybe wins the election, but if you can't excite people enough to get the nomination how much hope are you going to have to win the general election? As weak as Romney or McCain were, I can't see Huckabee or Gingrich getting to the White House. Same thing with Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and Bush.; 12/27/19, 12:19 PM
mockturtle said...: Exiled asserts: A Trump win will only underscore just how much their power and influence has decreased.

But has it, really? Isn't the Deep State still in control of global politics and economics? Another Trump win will make us happy but it won't defeat the PTB.; 12/27/19, 12:19 PM
Drago said...: DavidUW: "All the Dem ideas have been proved wrong."

All the Dem/FakeCon LLR-lefty ideas have been proved wrong.

FIFY; 12/27/19, 12:19 PM
Bill Peschel said...: This thread is a perfect encapsulation of politics in the internet age.

Ignoring the insult posts, I see posts that lay out specific and detailed arguments about the Democratic candidates, about how much the U.S. debt has grown (with adjustments as posters correct each other's figures), and even a bit about the causes of the 2008 meltdown.

You couldn't have had this before the Internet. Newspapers and TV commentators could say what they want, pretty much unchallenged. Oh, a newspaper could print a letter or two to give you the impression of fairness, but nowhere could you get this kind of back-and-forth discussion.; 12/27/19, 12:21 PM
MBunge said...: "Bush (43) sounded the alarm, seeing that we were headed off a financial cliff, but the Dems controlling Congress at the time, ignored him."

Uh, George W. Bush was elected in 2000. Republicans controlled the House for six of the next eight years. Republicans controlled the Senate for four of the next eight years and it was essentially split 50/50 the other four.

The "Bush and the GOP are blameless for the 2008 financial crash" lie isn't as annoying as the people who still try and pretend there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's pretty close.

Mike; 12/27/19, 12:34 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: But has it, really? Isn't the Deep State still in control of global politics and economics? Another Trump win will make us happy but it won't defeat the PTB.

12/27/19, 12:19 PM

I was thinking of the media's ability to sway public opinion.

The Deep State - the huge and powerful unelected bureaucracy - is certainly still in place and in control and if it is ever dislodged it will take more than a few years to do it. The media cheerleads for and serves the Deep State but I don't think of the two entities as being the same thing.; 12/27/19, 12:36 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "So many Cucks so easily trolled."

Howard wins the Maureen Dowd/Molly Ivins Award... given for those who use words because they sound 'cute', without the slightest idea of their meaning.

Greg the class traitor,

"Are you all just a bunch of narcissists and sociopaths?"

Hmmm, what's with all the rhetorical questions today?; 12/27/19, 12:49 PM
walter said...: Wait. "Hitler!", an "expodential" threat is insignificant?
Whew.; 12/27/19, 12:50 PM
SGT Ted said...: It never occurs to those who support Democrats that if their candidates are not popular enough to beat Trump, maybe it's because their party and policies are shit.; 12/27/19, 1:16 PM
Michael K said...: What is often missed here is that most of the illegal immigrants are ignorant peasants, often with maybe a grade school education.

I used to review Workers Comp claims in CA. About 1/2 were Hispanics and half of those were illegals. Most claimed a second grade education and many did not speak Spanish, let alone English. They were so common in the claims because all they could do were dangerous occupations like roofing and tree trimming. A guy I knew from sailing was a SCIF (state comp insurance fund) investigator and he said that many were not even given basic safety equipment.

The "Bush and the GOP are blameless for the 2008 financial crash" lie isn't as annoying as the people who still try and pretend there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's pretty close.

There were Bush admin guys testifying in front of Maxine and Barney's committees in the D Congress in 2007 about the risks. I remember clearly Barney saying "Let's keep it rolling a while longer." I used to have the video on my blog but YouTube deleted it. The GOP Congress did not control spending. I give you that but the 2008 collapse was born and raised by Democrats like Raines and Johnson.; 12/27/19, 1:19 PM
SGT Ted said...: Asshole, pussy-grabbing Trump wins and the lefties and GOPe Inc. cannot fathom that it directly because of the shitty career politicians and the shitty policies they support. It just HAS to be that people are dumb.; 12/27/19, 1:19 PM
Brian said...: [Trump] is news. Everything he does is news. Probably more so than any recent predecessor.

Right so why does he need the debates? The old traditional wisdom is that you run the risk of an empty chair being up there representing your side as your opponent pummels you, which makes you look scared and weak.

But do you think anybody would actually tune in to that show? Trump is the Tiger Woods of politics. He drives eyeballs to the screen. Nobody is going to tune in to Biden debating an empty chair with sycophants from the Washington Press Corps. Unless it's to laugh at them. Nobody watched the last debates to see Hillary. She was a known quantity. Everybody wanted to see Trump. Love him or hate him. He drives eyeballs to the screen.

Meanwhile, on the Trump2020 website there will be Trump in front of Air Force one with 10,000 people in an airplane hangar with him debating an empty chair. With questions asked by "Joe the Plumber" types.

Trump doesn't need the media, they need him.

So send up the rhetorical skill of Klobuchar, she'll be fighting the last battle on last cycles turf.; 12/27/19, 1:27 PM
TJM said...: Bruce Hayden,

Accurate history means nothing to folks like Inga, Chuck, and Howard. It's all about feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings; 12/27/19, 1:30 PM
Jim at said...: Yes, he really is that stupid, which is why it's a waste of time to attempt to engage with him, as most commenters who've been around here for a while have learned.

Yep. Freder was a stupid, dishonest hack way back at John Hawkin's place (RWN) during the Bush Administration. Yet he considers himself the smartest person in the room.; 12/27/19, 1:41 PM
Michael K said...: If you want more on the 2008 collapse, read Nicole Gelinas' book. "After the Fall.; 12/27/19, 1:45 PM
Howard said...: Who knew Kirk would volunteer for cuckolding? Self selection is the best; 12/27/19, 1:49 PM
Howard said...: Exactly Sgt Ted.; 12/27/19, 1:50 PM
Greg the class traitor said...: Brian said...
[Trump] is news. Everything he does is news. Probably more so than any recent predecessor.

Right so why does he need the debates? The old traditional wisdom is that you run the risk of an empty chair being up there representing your side as your opponent pummels you, which makes you look scared and weak.

He wants the debates, because it will give him a chance to crush the Democrat nominee.

Because he's hoping to declare victory before the polls close on the West Coast; 12/27/19, 1:52 PM
MBunge said...: "There were Bush admin guys testifying in front of Maxine and Barney's committees in the D Congress in 2007"

Funny thing about 2007, that's AFTER Democrats won control of the House and the Senate wound up split 49-49 with two independents in the 2006 election. Where were these Bush guys testifying about the problem in 2006? Or 2005? Or 2004?

I'm not trying to deny the role government played in pumping up the housing bubble but I'm pretty darn sure the government did NOTHING to force Wall Street to take all those bad home loans, bundle them into financial instruments, then divide up those instruments into so many pieces that it was hard for anyone to know who owed what to whom.

The 2008 financial crisis is NOT an argument for socialism but neither is it an argument for laissez-faire capitalism.

Mike; 12/27/19, 1:54 PM
Howard said...: Bill P extolls the internet triumph of rumor, innuendo, fake news, conspiracy theories tied together by motivated reasoning by Dunning Krueger.; 12/27/19, 1:55 PM
Howard said...: Thanks for the compliment Drago. You should try not repeating talking points fed to you by Mark Levin, Ace of Spades, and Mark Tapscott; 12/27/19, 1:58 PM
Howard said...: Nicole calling for more regulations, doc. Are you taking Bernie Sanders and pokahauntous seriously now?; 12/27/19, 2:03 PM
Jeff said...: The housing crash was not the cause of the 2008 recession. The Fed was. I could write a detailed explanation why this is true, but Scott Sumner has been writing about this stuff since it was happening, and he's a better writer than I am. If you really want to understand why the recession happened, and why it dragged on so long, start there. In particular, read what he says in his February 2009 intro, and follow the links he suggests. If you're not willing to spend a few minutes doing that, it's most likely because you think you already know everything that's important to know about the recession and it's causes. Take it from someone with a doctoral degree and thirty years of work in the profession -- you don't.; 12/27/19, 2:16 PM
Jeff said...: Arghh, I can't believe I just committed the "its --> it's" sin.; 12/27/19, 2:18 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Howard, I don't frequent this site as often as I used to. You sound absolutely nutty these days. The change is noticeable. You didn't used to sound like Ritmo.

Or perhaps you're just bitter, angry, and at a loss as to what to do with your time.; 12/27/19, 2:18 PM
Francisco D said...: The "Bush and the GOP are blameless for the 2008 financial crash" lie isn't as annoying as the people who still try and pretend there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's pretty close.

The corrupt Clinton Democrat party (led by Franklin Raines) is the primary cause of the housing crash. Bankers made it worse by combining terrible mortgages (e.g., people with no income) with good ones, making all the packages toxic.

Bush could have ameliorated the problem, but he and his people were feckless.; 12/27/19, 2:26 PM
walter said...: Supposed Pa. Trump voter with buyer’s remorse didn’t vote for him, it turns out; 12/27/19, 2:32 PM
bagoh20 said...: " I'm pretty darn sure the government did NOTHING to force Wall Street to take all those bad home loans, bundle them into financial instruments, then divide up those instruments into so many pieces that it was hard for anyone to know who owed what to whom.

The 2008 financial crisis is NOT an argument for socialism but neither is it an argument for laissez-faire capitalism."

That was after the die was cast. The crash was caused by too many unqualified people getting loans they should not have gotten, and that is directly attributable to policies from both parties, but especially under Clinton. The Republicans went along with much of it, becuase it politically impossible to run against while values were rising and it was being touted as helping minorities and the poor through banking regulations that put home and business loans into a kind of affirmative action system forcing banks to loan to people they should not have. After years of that and millions of such loans, nothing was going to prevent a crash when property values inevitably reverted back toward the mean.

Therefore is was exactly the opposite of laissez-faire capitalism that caused that simple correction to become a crash. We have never had anything like laissez-faire capitalism, and never will until a zombie apocalypse blesses us with a re-focusing of priorities.; 12/27/19, 2:37 PM
Michael said...: This much we do know. If the people who borrowed had kept their promises to pay interest on time and principal when due there would have been no financial calamity.; 12/27/19, 3:11 PM
Seeing Red said...: Howard typed”. Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown.”

The best part is Obama’s “The New Normal” was his own doing. He would have had better results if he wasn’t so gung ho on “change we can believe in.”; 12/27/19, 3:28 PM
Seeing Red said...: Uh, George W. Bush was elected in 2000. Republicans controlled the House for six of the next eight years. Republicans controlled the Senate for four of the next eight years and it was essentially split 50/50 the other four.

The WSJ was warning about Freddie and Fannie and W was, too, IIRC.; 12/27/19, 3:35 PM
Seeing Red said...: W wanted to put 2%? Tariff on Chinese Imported Steel and the smart ones had a cow and it couldn’t be done.

Trump puts double digits on and......; 12/27/19, 3:36 PM
Seeing Red said...: I'm pretty darn sure the government did NOTHING to force Wall Street to take all those bad home loans, bundle them into financial instruments, then divide up those instruments into so many pieces that it was hard for anyone to know who owed what to whom.

Someone changed the rules.; 12/27/19, 3:38 PM
Seeing Red said...: Just like student loans.; 12/27/19, 3:38 PM
Seeing Red said...: The government forces and the government FORCES.

Some times it’s just a letter.; 12/27/19, 3:43 PM
DavidD said...: Howard, Howard, Howard.

It was not Republicans standing outside Philly polling places with billy clubs in 2008 and it was not a Republican administration who declined to prosecute this obvious intimidation.

And as for disenfranchisement, you do realize that every illegal vote cancels out a legitimate vote for the other side. Yes, of course you do. That's the point, isn't it?

You're sick, Howard; get help before you hurt yourself.; 12/27/19, 4:29 PM
DavidD said...: Darrell said...
"Cast into Hell Satan and all the evil Democrats wandering throughout the US seeking the destruction of our republic."

Is that the St. Donald prayer? :); 12/27/19, 4:32 PM
n.n said...: The "Bush and the GOP are blameless for the 2008 financial crash" lie isn't as annoying as the people who still try and pretend there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's pretty close.

Bush and some Republicans actually made an effort to address liberal debt shifting through Fannie, Freddie, and other Democrat-controlled outlets that precipitated the loss of liquidity. The precursors and equipment for development of WMD were two of the criteria cited for ending the Iraq war, which started with Bush I, persisted with Clinton, then was recycled and progressed under Obama in a greater Middle East War. Trump saved the economy from Obama's recovery.; 12/27/19, 5:58 PM
Seeing Red said...: Jamie Gorelick.

Wasn’t she involved?; 12/27/19, 6:03 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: Yes, Seeing Red, just like student loans. Selling debt to people that can't afford to pay it with the promise that it will pay for itself for you later. So we wind up with a million Starbucks Barristers making $10/hour $100,000 in debt. And "free college for everyone" just makes it worse. Not for individuals, but for the debt and the taxpayers. I'm of the opinion and have been for decades that the only people that should go to college are those that can graduate with a professional title, Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, Chemists, etc. The rest need to go to Vo-Tech or make due with their HS diploma, or pay for it themselves without loans.; 12/27/19, 6:16 PM
mockturtle said...: Rt1Rebel, I agree with you except maybe for accountants. Accounting can probably be learned without a university education.; 12/27/19, 7:35 PM
mockturtle said...: You're sick, Howard; get help before you hurt yourself.

Reverse it.; 12/27/19, 7:37 PM
David said...: You know what they say, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insane. And they are.; 12/27/19, 8:10 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: I heard Stephens interviewed on Bridget Phetasy's "Walk ins welcome" podcast.
He comes off as a person with little or no identity as an American. He seems to primarily identify as A) a Jew and B) a member of the educated class. He seemed to have as many issues with Trump voters, all 60 million of them, as he has with trump himself.; 12/27/19, 8:28 PM
Liam said...: When someone writes something as dumb as what Bret Stephens just wrote, it is useful to wonder what psychological torment so obscured normal sensibility that it became possible to be stupid as well as very blind to one's own stupidity.

In Bret Stephens's case, from what he wrote it now becomes clear that he is unbearably jealous of Trump, of his influence, power, and political success. And I suppose the same jealousy is a good explanation for the rage of all the never-Trumpers, like Bill Kristol, Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and it is what joins them and makes them seem similar to those who are so enraged on the left, like the furious and often stupid Paul Krugman. They can't stand that Trump is better at everything than they are.; 12/27/19, 9:02 PM
TJM said...: The "Bush and the GOP are blameless for the 2008 financial crash" lie isn't as annoying as the people who still try and pretend there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's pretty close.

Mike

Mike,

The only problem with your narrative is that the fudgepacker from Massachusetts, Bawney Fwank, went on national television two weeks before the financial meltdown occurred and asserted that President Bush was wrong, that there was "no problem with Fannie an Freddie."

Likewise, there were WMD in Iraq. The Israelis told us that and the New York Slimes finally admitted that a few years ago. Thus it is a matter of public record. FYI, President Trump, then citizen Trump, was opposed to the Iraq War. Does that impact your thinking about President Trump, at all? Have you noticed, that during the Trump years there have been no new hot wars that occurred when Bush and Obama were president?; 12/27/19, 10:06 PM
n.n said...: Insurance Companies Tell Supreme Court of Government Bait and Switch
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that the government is not obligated to pay $12 billion to insurance companies that knowingly took a business risk and lost money by participating in the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridors” program.

Shades of Fannie, Freddie, and progressive leverage.

Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae
H.R. 2575—THE SECONDARY
MORTGAGE MARKET ENTERPRISES
REGULATORY IMPROVEMENT ACT
Thursday, September 25, 2003
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services

After Obama spied, Clinton colluded, Biden obstructed, and diverse quid pro Joes, let's see if Republicans can mitigate progressive prices and restore market function to ensure affordable and available medical care, and exonerate the single greatest forcing of public deficits.; 12/27/19, 10:30 PM
n.n said...: Bawney Fwank, went on national television two weeks before the financial meltdown

Huh, as late as two weeks prior. How very monotonic.; 12/27/19, 10:32 PM
Nagarajan Sivakumar said...: Bret Stephens is symbolic of what Trump supporters have always loathed. Credentialed, Beltway Brahmin snobs who wouldn't be able to change a light bulb if their lives depended on it..and yet they constantly sneer at the unwashed masses who are far more capable than they will ever be and honestly much better and fairer human beings than them.; 12/27/19, 11:44 PM
Paul said...: Brett is feeling frustrated, powerless and dejected. These symptoms are breaking out all across the MSM as the size of the looming landslide reelection of the The Donald grows.

The Donald is very effective puncturing the delusions of the left. That's why they hate him so.; 12/28/19, 3:21 AM
Jim at said...: Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown.

Yep. Because everybody knows a President's economic policies don't really start kicking in until 9, 10 and 11 years after he takes office.; 12/28/19, 1:07 PM
Greg the class traitor said...: Insurance Companies Tell Supreme Court of Government Bait and Switch
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that the government is not obligated to pay $12 billion to insurance companies that knowingly took a business risk and lost money by participating in the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridors” program.

It's a very important lesson: Hey Insurance Companies: you ganged up with the Democrats to force ObamaCare on the country, over unanimous Republican opposition.

So, when the Republicans got power, they screwed you over in return.

This is what happens when you decide to tie your fate to one Party

All yo other businesses: remember this when the Democrats want you to join up with them: they won't protect you later, and we will make you pay for screwing us; 12/29/19, 11:30 AM