"... 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.
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258 comments:
1 – 200 of 258 Newer› Newest»Bret Stephens really has become a pathetic yet despicable person. I hope, for his family's sake, that is limited to only his reaction to the word "Trump," but in my observations such pathological behaviors do not stay in their original boxes.
"Joe Biden has the life experience to make Trump’s attacks seem petty."
Joe's a lifelong grifter, having never received a private paycheck. He's always sucked off the taxpayer, being such a good "public servant" that he's become incredibly wealthy on the meager amounts paid to "public servants."
"That's why these ideas about how to beat him feel like absolutely nothing."
That nail got hit on the head so hard the other nails are fearful and quivering.
I am Laslo.
The Democrat who can beat Trump doesn't exist.
Very sad about Bret Stephens. How can any serious person take Biden seriously? He’s totally corrupt.
"Joe's a lifelong grifter, having never received a private paycheck. He's always sucked off the taxpayer, being such a good "public servant" that he's become incredibly wealthy on the meager amounts paid to "public servants."
I think that is a line Trump is holding in reserve for a debate.
Any talk of wealth, tax returns, etc and the question of how a public employee's paycheck added up to his current wealth comes into play.
And then there are the paychecks Biden's son cashed...
Br'er Rabbit redux.
I am Laslo.
Election fraud. The democrat edge.
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.
There is a Donald Trump exception for every rule these days.
Because Hitler.
We will now be inundated with articles from conservative columnists telling Democrats how they can beat the Republican President.
That's how you know they can still be allowed to keep their jobs.
Just read an article about how it is likely to be Bernie.
"his fellow Democrats" are worried about this according to the article.
What "fellow Democrats" would that be? Last go-round he at least pretended to be a Democrat for a few mo this.
This time he is not even pretending.
I t makes a farce of the idea of political parties. A good thing IMHO but then I'm not a Democrat.
Too late to do anything now. That train sailed in July 2015.
Just sit back and enjoy the pickle the Dems are in.
John Henry
Shorter Bret Stephens: We have no idea how to beat Trump.
Bret Stephens... another NYC poser. not even worth the effort of an eyeroll.
Two good posts this morning, Professor, and I agree with you on every point.
I have no idea why anyone would read Bret Stephens. Thanks, so I don’t have to.
Amazing how mean these “Republicans” have become.
Good news is they keep on reducing their own credibility with their mean girl actions toward Trump.
I wonder if Trump is paying them to be such perfect foils?
It’s hard to imagine anyone would act this stupid intentionally, and so self defeating.
Just remember: Extremism in the defeat of Trump is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of removing him from office is no virtue.
In 2020, committing voter fraud won't be prosecuted in any blue, and many purple, areas.
Sanctuary status will be extended in the name of preventing "further atrocities".
It all begins with an important national election in 2016. The main issues in the election are border control, unrestrained immigration, control of the government by unelected bureaucrats and a promise to restore the country's greatness. The conservative Rightwing party has a decisive victory that comes as a surprise to the socialist Leftwing Party. The Leftwing party, and their allies in the media and popular culture, refuse to accept the outcome of the election, and immediately begin working to overturn the results. Today the party on the Left has lurched dramatically leftward, thanks to the leadership of an angry, aging Commie who looks back at the USSR fondly. The Leftwing party is dominated by identity politics and a promise to raise taxes on the wealthy and provide more governmental programs to the poor. The Rightwing party is lead by a blustering yellow-haired populist who promises to restore sovereignty to the people and pride in the nation.
Let's just hope our ending is as happy as the UK's.
Once upon a time, Bret Stephens had a working brain.
It's really sad to see how much he's lost it
1: Mike Bloomberg has the financial wherewithal to make Trump’s wealth seem nearly trivial.
Bloomberg made his money from selling information to globalizers. Trump made his money by building real things.
If there's ever a candidate to drive the WWC, and non-white working class, into Trump's arms, it's Bloomberg
2: Joe Biden has the life experience
Biden's life experience is one of plagiarism, lies, abusing girls and women, and getting his family rich off their political connection to him
3: Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have the rhetorical skills
Klobuchar is an utter non-entity whose only point of note is that she's apparently a raging bitch to her staff. The Democrat debates have been going for the last, what, 6 months? I've yet to hear of anything she's said going viral
PB? The only thing I've heard from him getting lots of play is him telling Christians that he'll destroy their churches if they disagree with him on religion
It's ratehr sad when one simply can't honestly asses the card one's been dealt
If size matters, Bloomberg is the one who will look small compared to Trump when we see them on the debate stage together.
Historically the taller of two POTUS candidates usually wins.
Oh ... you were referring to the size of his ... um ... hands.
The first debate is on Sept 29 at U of Notre Dame.
I really really hope it’s Hillary.
But no matter who, he’ll come out with that shit-eating grin on his face, and I’ll cheer loudly and happily as he fires up his chainsaw and circles his commie prey.
Only about 250 sleeps.
Voter intimidation and disenfranchisement. The Republican edge.
Trump has lanced a boil, and that vile and puss is gushing out.
Yes that is correct. The deplorables are the fetid pus.
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.
This person is not reality based. He is living in some world that does not exist.
Sssh, Prof. I think you're analysis is correct here on every point but one*, but I want Trump to win a second term, so I want the Dems to keep doing what they've been doing since Trump appeared on the scene. Bret Stephens is so brilliant and clear-eyed, Dems! You'd be fools not to take his totally original and brilliant advice!
*"Joe Biden has the life experience to make Trump’s attacks seem petty" isn't off the mark because of Biden's age; it's a ridiculous statement because Biden is a ridiculous puppet.
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?
It takes some serious narcissism to write an article telling other narcissists what to do and expecting them to do it.
Fuck the Left. Fuck the people who don't fight the Left. Fuck the people that won't acknowledge that there is a war going on. God Bless Donald Trump. Cast into Hell Satan and all the evil Democrats wandering throughout the US seeking the destruction of our republic.
Jersey Fled said...
The Democrat who can beat Trump doesn't exist.
Disagree.
What doesn't exist is the Democrat who can win the Democrat Primary, and then beat Trump.
My expectation is that Trump will win in 2020, Pence will win in 2024, and in 2025 the Democrats will put a muzzle on the "Progressives" and keep it on them until they win the Presidency in 2028.
However, I expect the Left to break free of their "DLC" shackles in 2029, and the GOP to have crushing victories in 2030.
Sadly, I also expect the DLC Democrat President to pull a (Bill) Clinton and win re-election in 2032.
We'll see how much of a replay of the 90s we get
Bret Stephens made Trump seem insignificant by mentioning him 19 times in his rant.
I know it’s not a good advertisement for my character, but every vile and hateful thing said about Trump pretty well describes my opinion of the lefties in general, a universally evil bunch of nasty little shits. And that includes the NeverTrumpers.
- Krumhorn
Howard: Remember when Black Panthers intimidated voters from their polling places in 2008 in Philadelphia? I do. Just a few miles from me.
Remember Eric Holder dropping the prosecutions AFTER the Panthers lost their case?
So yeah, "voter intimidation is a Republican thing", my ass. ALL the voter fraud and suppression is on the Dem side.
The Democrats big mistake if they think they can win bye debating and out rationalizing the troll president. But as every successful troll nose, that is exactly how a troll defeats his victims by ridiculing the earnestness and seriousness of the mark. Trust me, it works on you people everyday
See I just got Quinn to start chasing his tail
Howard said...
Yes that is correct. The deplorables are the fetid pus.
You're so cute, Howard
The Democrats keep complaining that there was foreign intervention during our last Presidential election which helped Trump get elected, but Democrats are not concerned one little bit that we have millions upon millions of foreigners in this country illegally, and the Democrats want all of them to be able to vote. Think about that.
Thank you Greg as everyone knows cute is beauty is truth
The problem for the Democrats is that Trump’s presidency has been remarkably optimistic and successful.
Thus, it’s difficult if not impossible to dismiss him as insignificant and pimply.
Reality intrudes.
That's all you people think about Allen, so keep it up maybe one day you'll get your wall
Stephens is not very self aware that his cry for ignoring Trump is precisely aimed at Trump's Populist Scum voters. The NYT readers have been using that trick on Deplorables for over a hundred years.
That argument carefully avoids that Trump and his family have showed themselves to be intelligent and loving people who want to help Americans succeed in life. But again, that is their actual sin.
Yeah in this case I have to agree with shouting Thomas. Trump isn't the problem. It's his deplorable cult-like supporters that need to be defeated
The pus needs to be sterilized and isolated from the healthy host
Trump’s greatest skill is revealing who is insecure about their place in refined society. Many pre-Trump “conservatives” clearly resent him for outing them as vulgarians. They worked so hard to separate themselves from the fundamentalists, the rednecks, and the angry old men on the porches. This group loved William F. Buckley because, “Look how smart he is! Listen to the music of those BIG WORDS. I’m smart too!”
They adore C. S. Lewis because “Oxford! And a Christian!”
Bret Stephens and Kevin Williamson and Jonah Goldberg don’t like this Trump clod reminding the Important People that, in the end, conservatives are more comfortable in the Creation Museum than the Smithsonian. And thus you get idiotic rants like this one from Stephens.
Howard,
Your posts get more people to vote Trump. Thank you!
Once again, “ya want more Trump, cause this is how you get more Trump”.
Good point M Jordan. What the Democrats need to do is exploit this divide within the Republican Party rather than focus on the troll which never works
Let's just hope our ending is as happy as the UK's.
You might regret this line. The end has not come yet, the beginning of the end is when the UK actually leaves the EU. The end will be if Johnson (who speaks well, is well educated, but it really very lazy and not so bright) can manage to to work out a new trade deal with the EU (not very likely). And remember to get Brexit done Johnson agreed to something May said would be a deal breaker (a border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
Humiliation and belittling seem to be a big part of Bret's tool kit. Long distance psychoanalysis: he grew up in Mexico and was bullied. He's said it was for anti-Semitism, but it may just have been anti-gringoism. I'd imagine he also felt alienated from Mexican culture. Maybe it wasn't so much that he was bullied, but that he despised his surroundings, I don't know. But he has a chip on his shoulder, a lot of aggression and the willingness and capacity to deploy it verbally. He seems like he's always on edge, impatient to crush someone or something.
People believe Americans care about wealth. And we do, to an extent. But as with all things we understand diminishing marginal returns. And at some point the added dollar is not worth what you give up to have it.
The author of the piece used by Althouse to express her views has not learned the concept. He believes just a little more of the same will diminish Trump. But that market is saturated. You have to wait for that ground to dry before you till it to get new crops.
The powers that be have seen to it that Joe Biden was rewarded for his services, but only to make him rich by "deplorables" standards; not "incredibly rich." He has never been anything but a hanger-on, not really of "the inner circle.".
I must be very hard to be these people, hanging around people like themselves, going to parties with people like themselves, talking about Trump incessantly, bobbing their heads in agreement with people like themselves, dining out, drinking, reading books and articles by people like themselves. Going to school with people like themselves. Cradling in the fetal position for 3+ years with people like themselves.
So much diversity.
I propose Howard as the leftie poster boy in the nasty little shit category. Frankly, there’s so many from which to choose, but Howard is conveniently at hand. I often suspect that he is a former colleague of our hostess in the Madison faculty librul cesspool in the style of the Oberlin idiot, Meredith Raimondo.
- Krumhorn
conservatives are more comfortable in the Creation Museum than the Smithsonian.
So conservatives actively ignore the truth and are more comfortable with myths? (Actually creationism is not a myth, it is merely a objectively false theory-and not a theory in the scientific sense).
I must be very hard to be these people, hanging around people like themselves, going to parties with people like themselves, talking about Trump incessantly, bobbing their heads in agreement with people like themselves, dining out, drinking, reading books and articles by people like themselves.
I bet you have a very diverse set of friends.
The democrats had their chance, and the republicans did too. The way to beat Trump (past tense) was to combat him on the issues.
On Border Enforcement they should have touted how Obama's deportations were all time highs and there was no more efficiencies left to ring from that system.
On Tariffs they should have said a 45% tariff on Chinese goods would lead to a global recession.
On defense they should have said that they need to keep the lid on Afghanistan to stop future Bin Laden style attacks.
On Healthcare they should have said that Obamacare was a good first step (insured 25 year olds, preexisting conditions, etc.) and that only they have the next step to make Healthcare workable.
Those things *MIGHT* have stopped trump. The problem is that in order to argue those things they would have had to viewed him as a worthy opponent. And they could not bring themselves to do that.
So, now the only thing they can do is attack him. They have no issues. Trump has managed (to the perception of the electorate) move the needle favorably on the issues of trade, jobs, healthcare, immigration, defense, and the economy. This is at the cost of very high levels of debt, but if you believe that is a winning issue I have a bridge to sell you. I suppose that the democrats have the issue of the federal judges, but for every democrat vote that adds it subtracts a republican one.
Trump has positioned himself to be able to say let me do more of each of these things and you can see some real gains. Right now Joe Biden has to promise to kill hundreds of thousands of fracking jobs. Unless the economy tanks, or the North Koreans nuke someone the playing field is tilted toward Trump in a big way.
Trump loves America.
Howard is in a troll frenzy today. The anger is sweet. Go Howard !
" Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!"
Howard's lamentations are music. Hunter Biden was not on the Biden family Christmas card. The dogs were but not the new grand baby. Nor the babymama and her lawyer.
The deplorables are the white blood cells that go out and defend the body against malevolent bacteria and viruses. This action causes howard to become inflamed.
That's the spirit JML
So, tell me, Howard, are you not worried about foreigners who are in this country illegally voting?
Freder Frederson will be surprised when Poland and other former Soviet bloc countries leave the EU because they recognize it for the authoritarian regime it is.
Conservatives can see around corners compared to these Leftist Collectivists.
High praise, Howard, thank you.
The hubris delusions of the Never-Trumpers.
The Democrats are in the Being Eaten By Your Children phase of eternal marxist revolution. I think they're mostly secretly hoping Trump wins.
Freder Frederson said...
You might regret this line. The end has not come yet, the beginning of the end is when the UK actually leaves the EU. The end will be if Johnson (who speaks well, is well educated, but it really very lazy and not so bright) can manage to to work out a new trade deal with the EU (not very likely). And remember to get Brexit done Johnson agreed to something May said would be a deal breaker (a border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
Are you really as stupid and ignorant as you're pretending to be?
There is no "border between NI and the rest of the UK" in the agreement. Which is why the agreement is really quite good for NI.
Businesses in NI can import from, and export to, all of the UK, and all of the EU, without customs duties or tariffs.
Residents of NI can travel to the UK, and the EU, without let or hinderance. Those in NI are fully part of the UK.
Businesses and residents of the Republic of Ireland can travel to, import from, and export to NI freely. However, they can NOT get to the rest of the UK any more than anyone else in the EU can.
So Johnson has cut a deal that the NI gov't can unilaterally pull out of, with consideration brought up every 4 years, but that gives the residents and businesses of Northern Ireland significant financial, business, and travel advantages, advantages that they'd lose if they ever joined with the RoI.
Given the constraints, it's an incredibly good deal.
As for negotiating a free trade deal with the EU, it's the EU that has the trade surplus with the UK. They need a deal more than the UK does.
As for BoJo being "stupid and lazy", you don't get to where BoJo is by being both. As lazy as he is, it's pretty clear he had to be very bright in order to pull this off.
OTOH, you do have to be pretty stupid to miss that
But those options arent viable, obamacare was designed to cripple the healthcare aysyem not save it.
I'm very impressed, Howard. I don't know any other three years olds who are as articulate as you are
You are very precocious
Brat Stevens makes a GOOD Point!
THE reason that I voted for Trump, was because he was RICH
Bloomberg is MUCH RICHER; so he's got my VOTE!
</sarc
The problem of debt politics, is with the bipartisan murder of the Tea Party, there is no effective force backing dealing with debt.
And with the House in Democratic Hands, it's even worse on the willingness to deal with the debt issue.
What Trump seems to be trying to do, is grow the economy, so the federal debt is not such an issue. And in a sneaky way, as he gets more people with jobs, that may reduce the demand for more taxes. People with jobs usually hate taxes.
Interesting statistics:
US National Debt by Year
>This is at the cost of very high levels of debt,
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Freder Frederson said...
I must be very hard to be these people, hanging around people like themselves, going to parties with people like themselves, talking about Trump incessantly, bobbing their heads in agreement with people like themselves, dining out, drinking, reading books and articles by people like themselves.
I bet you have a very diverse set of friends.
I have a very diverse set of acquaintances. Leftists are too bigoted and filled with hatred for the Other to have many of them as friends.
Friendship is a two way street. A class of people who refuse to accept that anyone who disagrees with them, has to right to do so? It's pretty much impossible to be friends with them
Let’s say you are part of a rather uncivil, broken apart conservative coalition (pro and anti Trump). I’m trying to think of reasons you would side with the opposing, tacking Left coalition in parts of academia, the media and politics:
-You write for money and your career interests depend on it (you’re in a very minority position within these domains)
-Your current ideological squabbles override your longer term alliances and interests. In house disputes are always more personal and heretical
??? I’m sure there are more reasons
Because Trump does have issues, a better solution might also lie in civic association on the ground, where private ownership, the first and second amendments are healthily promoted and voluntary, and religious liberty will be protected and modeled against the illiberal institutional capture which will only continue (academia, media, politics and the federal government). Voice your anti Trump sentiments but don’t side with your opponents against him just because you need the popularity and money, Support Trump when he does good for your principles.
Look what’s happened to the Boy Scouts.
Unless of course you aren’t that principled about those same principles....
The trolls, as Michael Moore has recently shown, are starved attention whores. Halitosis being better, in their opinion, than no breath at all.
Biden has been perpetually wrong for 45 years of his life, ill spare you the litant, the other candidates are even more wrong.
Ann Althouse said...Talking about a human being as filth or disease.
Yeah, it's funny: Vox - Bret Stephens' Bedbug Meltdown Explained
If you don't want to give Vox the clicks, Wikipedia has a short summary:
Wiki Bret Stephens - Controversy
Basically a GWU professor called Stephens a bedbug and sent a complaint to the university provost and wrote a full column on how comparing people to bugs is something Nazis do, etc.
When HE says someone is filth that should be washed away, though, it's different. Why? Well...it just is, and anyone who questions that is probably a Nazi!
Blogger My name goes here. said...
The democrats had their chance, and the republicans did too. The way to beat Trump (past tense) was to combat him on the issues.
On Border Enforcement they should have touted how Obama's deportations were all time highs and there was no more efficiencies left to ring from that system.
But that statement was false. Ending "catch and release", ending fake "asylum" claims, and deporting the DACAers were all efficiencies left to get.
And the serious drop in illegal immigration when Trump was sworn in, from criminals just giving up and not even trying to come, was more proof this was false.
On Tariffs they should have said a 45% tariff on Chinese goods would lead to a global recession.
Another false statement. Tariffs on Chinese goods have led to small economic drops, but big economic changes, and companies move away from our enemy (China), and to its neighbors.
On defense they should have said that they need to keep the lid on Afghanistan to stop future Bin Laden style attacks.
Except they haven't done that competently. So letting them continue to incompetently waste US lives, well, that's not a winning argument.
On Healthcare they should have said that Obamacare was a good first step (insured 25 year olds, preexisting conditions, etc.) and that only they have the next step to make Healthcare workable.
But that would be a flat out lie. And everyone who liked their doctor, knows that
Businesses and residents of the Republic of Ireland can travel to, import from, and export to NI freely. However, they can NOT get to the rest of the UK any more than anyone else in the EU can.
In other words there is a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The way you describe it, one could import something from the EU into NI, have it spend a couple hours in NI, and presto it can be exported to Great Britain without duty or border checks. If you can describe a mechanism where they don't have to check every person and shipment between NI and Great Britain, you are believing Boris Johnson's bullshit.
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.
i think Brat's column shows WHY folks like him hate Trump so much
When you had O'Bama, folks like Brat Stevens and Our Poor Chuck could pretend to be non democrats
They could 'support' losers like Romney and McCain; KNOWING that they were losers...
And, IF; through some fluke, Mittens Romeny had become President; they knew that he wouldn't even TRY to do Any of the things they 'said' they were for.
BUT TRUMP!
Not only did Trump WIN; he's performing. President Trump is DOING all the things that RINO's like Our Poor Chuck, or Brat Stevens spent their lives PRETENDING to want
President Trump hasn't drained the swamp (yet); but, he's turned on the lights; and all the cockroaches are exposed, in all their crap
Howard is the mirror image of a racist fopdoodle.
One pretends to be conservative but only says things that support Leftist Collectivists.
The other pretends to be a Leftist but says things that support the conservatives.
Discuss.
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."
I'm not sure there are going to be any debates.
If you are Trump, why have the debate? Audience? He's already the President. He can get audience whenever he wants. Hold a rally in Michigan or Missouri or wherever. Does he need to convince audience that he has good ideas? He's an incumbent. Like it or not he's running on his record as President. He's the star. Why elevate his opponent to stardom? How does he keep his opponent not on the same level as him? He runs against the amorphous "media".
If you are the democratic candidate why would YOU want the debate? You can't establish any rules that Trump will stick to. He's immune to "facts" and modern debate style. Even when you think you are winning you end up losing. And you think you can score points by having an empty chair you debate with your media allies feeding you softball questions.
Does Trump worry about the latter? Not in a minute.
So. One more item for Trump to drum up drama about. For him to "change the rules". To fight on different turf.
I give it a 50% chance that the first debate actually happens.
So many Cucks so easily trolled.
Another false statement. Tariffs on Chinese goods have led to small economic drops, but big economic changes, and companies move away from our enemy (China), and to its neighbors.
Actually, what Trump claimed is that tariffs would bring jobs home, not merely shift them from China to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Just like he promised 4, 5, or 6% (maybe even 7) GDP growth. It is chugging along at just under 3%, just like it was before he was elected.
Or that he would eliminate the federal debt in eight years. Three years in and he has dug himself a 68% bigger hole.
I could go on.
Trump did use his money in ways other candidates did not. He would fly into campaign stops and then give helicopter rides to kids. In short, he shared that money directly with potential voters. He didn't promise to give them money in the future from the government coffers. What's Bloomberg doing with his wealth at these county fairs and campaign stops?
The funny thing is is you people have f****** no earthly idea that Trump's main target for his trolling is you and your stupidity and your willingness to believe anything that he says and to justify anything that he does
To be fair, the claim that Trump has exploded the deficit is false.
Obama just claimed a little over 800 billion was "off the books" spending.
The debt went up by the full amount, however.
The Leftists don't understand that the first casualty of war is truth.
The main target of the Leftist Collectivist trolling is us too!
We are the veritable Belle of the ball.
’Three years in and he has dug himself a 68% bigger hole.’
Do you really think our national debt has increased 68% in the last three years, or are you just innumerate?
To keep Democrats out of power, I had to spend way more time justifying what Bush Sr. and W did than anything Trump has done. And I didn't get a third of the conservative policy I was promised by them.
Trump defends himself, unlike W, and with results good enough that they show the Leftist attacks for the desperate trolling that they are. I mean really desperate and pathetic. Howard is a great example. Look how giddy he gets when he gets the slightest bit of attention. He thinks that means he won something or proved a point. All he proves is that insects get swatted.
If you networked your way up through the "conservative movement" - summer schools, internships, cruises, columns and articles, think tanks, etc. - you might be angry about somebody from the outside coming in and poaching on your territory. If you live and work in a place where everybody hates Trump, you might not be singing his praises, especially if you ever want peace in the home or a date.
There's also a lot of high school civics rhetoric you can use to justify your position. Trump was the guy who, when the civics nerds were planning their trip to Washington DC, proposed going to a basketball game or a night club, rather than the Capitol, the White House and the Smithsonian. Ted Cruz was the guy who, when the other kids were planning the trip to Disneyland, suggested going to Sacramento instead to see state government in action.
There's a difference, though, between die-hard Never Trumpers, like Stephens, and people who maintain a distance and aren't 100% on board with Trump.
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
The LAST thing Bloomberg wants to do is minimize his stature.
Do you really think our national debt has increased 68% in the last three years, or are you just innumerate?
True, I misspoke. The deficit has increased 68%, the debt has only increased from 19 to 22 trillion, which is just over 20%
Beasts of England:
To be fair, Freder Frederson thinks the deficit is 68% bigger.
And Xim is innumerate.
The "off the books" spending Lie was believed by Leftist Collectivists.
Howard’s obsession with proclaiming that he has the biggest dick and that he’s conned us into letting him fuck our women is very stupid.
For some reason, this idiot thinks this posture portrays him as brilliant and incisive.
Howard, that shit is what I did with my high school men friends while we drove around drinking and trying to pick up girls.
Can’t this cretin do better than this dumb ass Biggus Dickus act? (The answer, I know, is that... he can’t.)
My 4 year old grandson running around yelling “Fart! Fart! Fart!” Is more interesting.
Freder Frederson doesn't even know what I mean about "off the books" spending.
Xe's willfully ignorant.
Brian said...
I'm not sure there are going to be any debates.
When one candidate is sure of a victory, that candidate can refuse to debate (Johnson 1964, Nixon 1972). In this case, neither candidate will be sure to win and the one seen as refusing to debate will be painted a coward. So there will be debates, as there have been since 1976.
Brian said...
I'm not sure there are going to be any debates.
If you are Trump, why have the debate?
someone here said that the 1st scheduled debate is at University of Notre Dame at South Bend
I can't see what Trump would get out of that? Especially if Mayor Pete Buttifuc was the nominee
However; I hardly ever see Trump's plans until hindsight, if ever. I suppose a Debate wouldn't LOSE him any votes (hell, NOTHING could LOSE him any votes... SHIT! he could say that he could shoot a man on park avenue and not LOSE any votes). AND a lot of people that weren't Trump voters last time would watch, so he'd have the potential to sway folks.
But I wouldn't debate a swarmy little shithead in his own town
Run the Biden-Hillary international money laundering machine. Don't double cross. There's impeachment, ruin, or death/suicide for you, if you do.
Freder Frederson said...
Businesses and residents of the Republic of Ireland can travel to, import from, and export to NI freely. However, they can NOT get to the rest of the UK any more than anyone else in the EU can.
In other words there is a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Not for residents of NI.
The WHOLE POINT of Brexit is that there is now a border between the UK and the EU.
For the people of NI, there is no border. For the residents of the rest of the UK, there's a border at the NI / RoI border, just like there should be. For the residents of the RoI, the border is on the other side of NI, rather than the RoI side.
To pretend that's a loss for NI is to tread the line between delusion, and outright dishonesty
The way you describe it, one could import something from the EU into NI, have it spend a couple hours in NI, and presto it can be exported to Great Britain without duty or border checks. If you can describe a mechanism where they don't have to check every person and shipment between NI and Great Britain, you are believing Boris Johnson's bullshit.
Nope. you can sell it to a business in NI. Which can then turn around and sell it into the UK, or, going the other way, can sell it into the EU.
So the big governments lose their cut, and the residents of NI get one instead,
Not seeing the tears in NI about this, either.
You would do well to stop believing all the Remoaner BS. But that would force you to pull your head out of your backside.
And apparently that's a pull too far for you
And to be fair to me, which of course you never are, I said he has dug himself a 68% deeper hole, not that the debt had increased by 68%. Before you can eliminate the debt you have to eliminate the deficit.
BRET STEPHENS:
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?
Obama treated Trump as a nonentity when he ridiculed and mocked him at the WHITE house Correspondents Dinner in April 2011.
See how that worked out.
TRUMP is the 45th President of the USA. Hardly a nonentity!
’So there will be debates, as there have been since 1976.’
Even if Trump were certain of victory, he wouldn’t pass up a chance to be on television for a few hours!!
Freder Frederson said...
"Johnson (is) not so bright..."
You reveal your ignorance of Boris. He was a child intellectual prodigy and is known to be of genius-level intellect.
Freder Frederson,
Can you explain Obama's "off the books" spending?
If you cannot, you do not understand why your comments about deficit/debt are really fucking stupid.
Stupid?
Liar?
Let's make a choice.
Nope. you can sell it to a business in NI. Which can then turn around and sell it into the UK, or, going the other way, can sell it into the EU.
So the big governments lose their cut, and the residents of NI get one instead,
This doesn't make any sense at all. What "cut" are you talking about? The whole point of the EU is that you don't have tariffs, duties, and border checks between members. And what I have not seen any mention of is what happens to UK residents living in Europe after January 31. Do they have to apply for Visas to continue to work in Dublin, Brussels, Paris or Frankfurt. If you are born in NI you are eligible for ROI citizenship. What about NI residents who were not born there and are only citizens of the UK? Can they move and work freely between the two countries?
Blogger Freder Frederson said...
Another false statement. Tariffs on Chinese goods have led to small economic drops, but big economic changes, and companies move away from our enemy (China), and to its neighbors.
Actually, what Trump claimed is that tariffs would bring jobs home, not merely shift them from China to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Yep, and we have significantly higher employment, increases in the labor participation rate, and the first significant wage increases for the non-college indoctrinated since the 1970s (see "wage disease").
So Trump's hurting our enemy (the Chinese Communists) AND helping American workers.
For more than Obama ever did.
Just like he promised 4, 5, or 6% (maybe even 7) GDP growth. It is chugging along at just under 3%, just like it was before he was elected.
No, it dropped below 2%, and was heading for a recession, when Trump took office.
Obama had crap economic growth, despite coming out from a big recession (absent the gov't deliberately screwing things up, you always have bigger economic growth after a bigger downfall). Trump has had awesome economic growth, and wage growth, despite coming in when Obama's anemic economy was falling apart
Reality check: Trump can't cut spending on his own. It takes a willing Congress to do that. And the "wonderful" Establishment GOP and Dems have been utterly unwilling
Greg the class traitor,
I apologize if I was not clear. I will try again. In 2016 Trump's opponents had the opportunity to fight him on the issues and they chose not to. I laid out what they could have said in 2016. Campaign speech is not always the truest speech, highlighting only the good parts of a current strategy is a pretty common thing to do when people run for office, be it President of Dog Catcher.
For example, we know *NOW* that the trade war with China has not been awful and had created HUGH beneficial changes but in 2016 all Right Thinking People(tm) could have been told by the Wizards of Smart(tm) that tariffs will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and it would have been believable by many many people. Maybe enough to keep Wisconsin and Pennsylvania blue.
And let me run up this hill one more time...in 2016 the Democrats had the opportunity to tell everyone how Trump's policies will be super bad. Now they are forced to tell people how is current policies offering low unemployment and a realignment of trading partners is bad. This is a much harder sell for them.
’And to be fair to me, which of course you never are, I said he has dug himself a 68% deeper hole, not that the debt had increased by 68%.’
You never used the term ‘deficit’ and in the preceding sentence had used ‘federal debt’, so the implication was obvious. I appreciated your first reply in which you admitted to a misstatement. We all make mistakes.
Can you explain Obama's "off the books" spending?
No, I can't explain where your delusions come from or why you believe outright lies.
Does it matter? Russia is already plotting to snatch our brains. Russia!
Obama et al created and saved more wars, was a first order-forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic immigration reform, debased capital in a raw new deal, progressed sociopolitical constructs, bigotry, and exclusion, spied on Americans using the apparatus of State, normalized exoneration and "cancellation", etc.
Man u people spinning
I like how shouting Thomas explains why he keeps getting hung up on the biggest dick troll. I knew there was some deep-seated inferiority complex that I was tapping into.
The FACT OF THE MATTER IS...
The economy is at its worst point in my lifetime! Do you realize that it is currently almost IMPOSSIBLE for a talentless cocaine addicted son of a former Vice President to find work?
And look that the funding for charitable foundations, like the Clinton Foundation!! Funding has completely evaporated. Do YOU REALIZE that if (WHEN!) there is another Haitian hurricane, there will NOT be ANY money to be skimmed?
DO YOU REALIZE, that because of Trump's mangling of the economy; there are now Tens of THOUSANDS of government foodstamp and unemployment personal, that have NOTHING to do! If they weren't in secure government featherbeds; they'd be on the street!
M Jordan: Bret Stephens and Kevin Williamson and Jonah Goldberg don’t like this Trump clod reminding the Important People that, in the end, conservatives are more comfortable in the Creation Museum than the Smithsonian.
Whuh? We are? Am I misreading this?
This sounds like something people like Stephens and Williamson and Goldberg as well as leftists want you to believe about all conservatives who vote for Trump. I don't personally know any creationist Trump voters, do you? But I don't personally socialize with any creationists, period. How many Trump voters posting here are creationists? Tradguy maybe? Anybody else? And my memory may be faulty here, but I have a vague recollection of an association between certain NeverTrumper types and the "intelligent design" brand of creationism, so I'm hesitant to buy your characterization here.
I'm not saying they're not out there, even out there in significant numbers. Progs are also dismayed to discover how many lower-SES solid Dem supporters share such beliefs. (When they're not refusing to think about it at all.) But this as a defining feature of contemporary American "conservatism"? Don't think so.
But, as with Stephen's advice, I wouldn't mind if anti-Trumpers go right on believing that about Trump voters.
They speak a different language
https://www.thenation.com/article/california-fires-urban-planning/
You can’t put the pus back in the boil. Trust me on this.
Freder Frederson said...
Can you explain Obama's "off the books" spending?
No, I can't explain where your delusions come from or why you believe outright lies.
The field marshal marched his little band right up the hill and then marched them back down. Nothing accomplished.
The trolls are well represented in the Bret Stephens thread.
The deficit will progress until the monopolies and practices sustained under Obamacare are resolved, the labor, environmental, regulatory, and monetary arbitrage games are ended, [catastrophic] [anthropogenic[ immigration reform (e.g. anti-nativism) is abated, and globalism and collateral damage are considered. But, first, the witch hunters, warlock judges, domestic spies, and planners ("cancel culture") need to be brought to heel.
"The funny thing is is you people have f****** no earthly idea that Trump's main target for his trolling is you and your stupidity and your willingness to believe anything that he says and to justify anything that he does"
I haven't attempted this in a while: try to figure out who your audience is and what you're trying to accomplish with them.
Freder Frederson said...
Nope. you can sell it to a business in NI. Which can then turn around and sell it into the UK, or, going the other way, can sell it into the EU.
So the big governments lose their cut, and the residents of NI get one instead,
This doesn't make any sense at all. What "cut" are you talking about? The whole point of the EU is that you don't have tariffs, duties, and border checks between members. And what I have not seen any mention of is what happens to UK residents living in Europe after January 31. Do they have to apply for Visas to continue to work in Dublin, Brussels, Paris or Frankfurt. If you are born in NI you are eligible for ROI citizenship. What about NI residents who were not born there and are only citizens of the UK? Can they move and work freely between the two countries?
Ok, so you really are just really stupid.
1: The POINT of Brexit was to re-create a border between the UK and the EU. To return to the people of the UK the right and power to determine their laws, their foreign policy, their domestic policy, and their control over immigration.
2: That means having a border, and having the possibility of customs and import duties.
3: Now, the UK does not yet have a free trade agreement with the EU. And there's no way the EU was going to give BoJo one in Sept - Oct of 2019.
4: The question before the bar was "what would happen WRT NI, the RoI, and the Good Friday Accords?"
5: One possibility was "No Deal". The GFA would be toast, NI and RoI would be completely separate. For whatever reason, BoJo didn't want that
6: May's "plan" was that NI would remain a permanent satrapy of the EU. That was a non-starter
7: BoJo's plan is that, until such time as the UK and EU come to an FTA, NI will have the right to maintain a trading and population exchange relationship with the RoI.
If any of this is news to you, you're too ignorant to be qualified to have a position on Brexit, and a moron for not realizing it
Now, to get back to your question: because there will be tariffs between the UK and the EU, but not between NI and either, the people of NI, assuming they can figure out how to transship goods for less than the cost of the tariffs, will have a nice little business getting goods tariff free for UK to EU, and vice versa. Win for NI
As for "what happens to those people who are living in the EU / UK, while having a UK / EU passport?" The short answer is "people who cared about that voted against Brexit."
Could you please explain the vast stupidity that makes it so you leftists simply can't understand that other people are allowed to disagree with you about what's important?
Are you all just a bunch of narcissists and sociopaths?
The man rooting for the liberal Democrats to win is Mr. Burt Stephens self-described "Conservative". He puts the CON in Conservative.
thenation.com/article/california-fires-urban-planning/
Planning or abortion... cancel culture. Clear the land of people... persons, flora, and fauna to make room for the Green blight and other raw deals.
Trump is President now with an economic record and numerous other accomplishments he can point to proudly. That can't be diminished. He can't be ignored. They have to offer someone and something better. People like Stephens think it's safe to assume all the other candidates would be better in office than Trump because to them, anyone is better than Trump. That's what they did last time. Wrong. That's not how most voters saw it when Trump had no record. They are even less likely to think that way about him now.
The problem is, Stephens has a battle plan to fight a Trump that doesn't even exist. The reason NeverTrumpers and Dems keep swinging and and missing is because they believe their own bullshit about who Trump is and about why people support him. The one thing they never question is their own brilliance and superiority. They've been looking in skinny mirrors their whole lives. Along comes Trump and holds up a true mirror and for the first time they see what repulsive slobs they have allowed themselves to become and they hate him for it. They scream, "Trump is mean for holding up that mirror! He's a bully! And he's a liar! That mirror isn't true! It's not true!" But it is true and they know it. Everyone knows it.
Blogger My name goes here. said...
I apologize if I was not clear. I will try again. In 2016 Trump's opponents had the opportunity to fight him on the issues and they chose not to. I laid out what they could have said in 2016. Campaign speech is not always the truest speech, highlighting only the good parts of a current strategy is a pretty common thing to do when people run for office, be it President of Dog Catcher.
...
And let me run up this hill one more time...in 2016 the Democrats had the opportunity to tell everyone how Trump's policies will be super bad. Now they are forced to tell people how is current policies offering low unemployment and a realignment of trading partners is bad. This is a much harder sell for them.
Ah, my bad. Thank you for clarifying so that even I can understand what you're saying
Yes, when Trump goes away, and Burt Stephens get over his TDS, he'll be a great Conservative Pundit again.
Hahahahahahaha
Stephens: “Okay, this is me, planting an idea in your mind. I say ‘don’t think about Trump.’ What are you thinking about?”
Public: “Trump?”
Which is what they did, and they cant give up their eloi klaxons now,
Klobblob is too bland and boring. Buttgag is a small town mayor. Bernie is a 78 y/o with a bad heart, Warren has to split her vote with Bernie.
It will be Joey Biden.
Bret Stephens makes Mitt Romney or Jeff Flake llook like a profile in courage.
These weak-ass Republicans need to go away.
Greg the CT: Ok, so you really are just really stupid.
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.
The left ignore their own bullshit.
It's been nothing but lies and Russian conspiracy since Her-> Thighness lost.
It's nothing but bullshit from the corrupt left.
Layer on top progressive threats to force us onto a government healthcare scheme + open borders and tax payer funded free stuff for illegal entrants... threats to destroy the Electoral College. Threats to let children and illegals get vote. and on and on...
Ignoring the corruption inside the Strozk-Clapper-Brennan deep state all while the progs set up funding sources for their favorite corrupt heroes.
Freder, please note that the sum of Obama's published deficits is $6.5 TRILLION less than the increase in debt for those eight years.
These numbers are publicly available.
They're not secret.
They're not conspiratorial.
It's arithmetic, not even difficult math.
With the success of his policies, a lot of which are actually left-of-center and/or continuations of Obama's actions, all they have as an argument is his personality. And how many people in the middle really care about that when the economy is doing as well as it is?
Trump is like a CT scan that has shown us the deep rot in our government, where Republicans spend money like water constraining our future freedoms and the Democrats cheer on the military industrial complex which seems to have a hold on our largest newspapers and media outlets.
I’m done. Done caring, done voting, done. Great nations have fallen before. It sucks, but they have won, just like Eisenhower warned us.
"...treat him as the nonentity he fundamentally is."
Media star, billionaire and entrepreneur. And that before becoming POTUS.
May my children and children's children become such non-entities.
Freder, please note that the sum of Obama's published deficits is $6.5 TRILLION less than the increase in debt for those eight years.
I don't know where you get these numbers. At worst (by comparing the debt when he took office to the debt when he left) the debt increased by 9 trillion under Obama. Total deficits in that period amounted to 6.79 trillion. So there is a just over a 2 trillion gap between the deficit and rise in debt. Apparently, you believe that interest does not accumulate on the debt.
Which left of center policies, there are certain moves toward devolution decentralization, i guess the ethanol mandate is not helpful.
This is the mindset and logic Trump has to beat. Trump must be terrified.
I'm really surprised that they can't even see how ridiculous this thinking is. Trump destroys the minds of these people like mad cow disease, often called Maddow disease.
These people were always mediocre minds. Trump didn’t destroy their minds.
This is how mediocre minds react to Trump.
3 quick points:
1) Greg (to Field Marshall Freder): "Now, to get back to your question: because there will be tariffs between the UK and the EU, but not between NI and either, the people of NI, assuming they can figure out how to transship goods for less than the cost of the tariffs, will have a nice little business getting goods tariff free for UK to EU, and vice versa. Win for NI"
Just watching 1 Prime Ministers Questions event with Boris would have disabused Freder's astonishing ignorance on the status of NI in Boris' plan.
2) Freder calls Johnson lazy and stupid?!!
Of course he did. Moron lefties like Freder in Britain are also saying Putin won the election for Boris and Boris is a russian asset and that Boris hates women.
Sound familiar?
Btw, you can pull up a very recent video of Boris Johnson reciting a large section of the Iliad..... from memory ....in ancient greek. Its really something.
3) It comes as no surprise that Freder appears blissfully ignorant of what obama and his pals kept "off the books".
Entirely predictable in fact.
"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."
You could, unless you are a prog fighting deplorables, who are filthy, cuz racist.
Anyway, Bret nicely illustrates the cluelessness of the left (yeah, yeah, I know he's supposed to be "conservative"). Their contempt is our strength.
Four More Years!!!
“Does Trump worry about the latter? Not in a minute.”
“So. One more item for Trump to drum up drama about. For him to "change the rules". To fight on different turf.”
“I give it a 50% chance that the first debate actually happens.”
Of course, he is going to change the rules. He spent his career negotiating for a living. That is what he does. There is likely nothing besides a bit of inertia giving whomever sets these debates up any power. If Trump doesn’t acknowledge their power, they have none, and they are back to square one. Last time around, the debates were essentially set up by Crooked Hillary and her campaign, the format was in her favor, most of the moderators may as well have been working directly for her, and one went so far as sending her (but not Trump) debate questions in advance.
Trump is in the driver’s seat here. He is the one living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If his opponent can’t get on stage with Trump, they have no real chance at appearing to be his superior. He will, no doubt, figure out how to belittle his opponent, and then cause it to go viral by replaying it night after night in his rallies. Like he was doing a month or two ago with his sexual rendition of the Strzok/Page text messages.
What this author doesn’t seem to understand is that Trump has the high ground, because he is the President, and has a very solid record of accomplishments. Why should anyone vote for his opponent, besides #OrangeManBad? Making things worse, most of his more popular opponents would reverse some of his biggest successes, just because they were successes. Warren and Sanders would raise taxes at least back up to where they were, mostly in order to reinstate unlimited SALT deductions, greatly important to their biggest donors, but ultimately costing millions of jobs. Why would anyone vote for a quicker and deeper recession? The economic boom, the record low unemployment, etc, are the high ground that his opponent is going to have to attack. Pretending that Trump doesn’t have the high ground this election will, I think, allow him to just inflict more casualties, more damage, on his opponent.
How do you pretend that the President of the United States is irrelevant? He flies into town on Air Force 1 (and yes, it is impressive), arrives in the Beast, with flags flying and a police escort. He leaves the White House with his usual Marine 1 press conferences, when the MSM have their best chance to ask him questions. If half the WH Press Corp refused to show up, he would have them replaced overnight. And then he is always meeting with foreign leaders and dignitaries. He is news. Everything he does is news. Probably more so than any recent predecessor.
It will be Joey Biden.
If the Democrats are going to lose why not go with Bernie? He will get Warren's people when she drops out.
Biden has always been a loser and he's crooked with cognitive impairment.
The wild card in all this is when Durham drops his bomb. All indications now are it will happen shortly before the election. But Barr may decide to hold off until after.
Unlike the Mueller report, Durham's will be a big deal. It will implicate some big names, almost certainly Comey and possibly Brennen. It will be a short jump to other key Obama deputies, including Lynch and Rice.
Those "right wing conspiracy theorists" here have been proven right all along. There's more to come. The Democrat brand will be tarnished for decades.
The article is so loony, it speaks for itself. I have nothing to add.
Freder Frederson rounds from 10TR to 9TR.
And lies about the cumulative deficits.
And still he finds (on bad numbers) that 2.21 TR was "off the books" and then thinks the concept of "off the books" spending is a conspiracy theory.
Righteous!
The only point of article is to make Democrats feel hopeful. Otherwise, they might get cranky and cancel their subscription.
Whoa! Ms. Howard must have let Howard have his balls yesterday. But just as log as he wears his Marmot hat.
I doubt there will be much vote fraud in Chicago and Cook County this year. The feds are taking an active interest in just how things get done in Chi-Town. It appears as if you can buy an alderman and / or a Cook County Board member. And strangely enough. The most corrupt city and county in these United States has been democrat for decades! Weird. huh.
I don't know where you get these numbers.
The essence of Freder. He attributes to "interest" ignoring ZIRP.
Three years of hysterical hyperventilating from people like Bret make it hard to paint Trump as forgettable and insignificant.
The EU is nothing more than Germany attempting to create a greater German Empire via Treaty rather than conquest with the multiple French governments doing everything to satisfy their German conquerors.
Every dire gloom and doom economic prediction nade by the remoaners and their Remain allies like Freder were made when Britain refused to join the common currency (Maastricht). How did those predictions pan out Freder?
LOL
And now with the Lisbon agreement designed to force a complete political union on member states (which would be completely dominated by the Germans in Brussels) as well as Merkel openly stating plans to create an EU Army which would be used to stand up to Russia (snort!), China and .......(wait for it)..... (wait for it)......the United States, it makes sense member states are looking around and saying hold on there hoss! That ain't what we thought we were signing up for!
Yes, you read that correctly.
At the very moment lefties/LLR-lefties are complaining about Trump and NATO (even though Trump has strengthened NATO) the Germans are out trying to build a separate EU wide force which would be used to stand against the US!!
The Germans are still the Germans of old and the mass importation of islamists into Germany only accelerates the inevitable.
I think Donald Trump was the only Republican candidate who could have lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016. With the strong economy, we may find out in 2020 that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who could have beat him. But it is a testament to Donald Trump's venality that he has any chance of losing in 2020. Sure, some Trump fans like that about him, but others merely tolerate it, and will at some point grow tired of it.
So the idea of talking past Trump, rather than taking on or responding to him, may be a great strategy. Once you are tired of Trump, you don't really want to hear anything more about him, positive or negative. I just don't think the Democrats can pull that off. It will be tit for tat to the very end.
This article is like listening to Wile E. Coyote's inner dialogue while he is recovering at home after yet another ACME product has blown up in his face for the 1,230,678th time. Why be so esoteric about solutions on how to beat Trump? Try something simple, like presenting policies and positions the MAJORITY of American's want for once. It's really not that complicated.
Howard,
Ad hominem is a sign of low intelligence. Congrats, you are a winner!
Left Bank: "I think Donald Trump was the only Republican candidate who could have lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016."
LOLOLOLOL
So much stupid.
We are 3+ years on now and these morons are still getting all the fundamentals wrong!!
Its very encouraging from a pro-Trump reelection perspective.
pimple
____&&&&&-----
Bret Stephens knows secret of His Orangeness - Clearasil
Bushman of the Kohlrabi: "Three years of hysterical hyperventilating from people like Bret make it hard to paint Trump as forgettable and insignificant."
Its far far worse for the left than that.
The lefties/LLR-lefties have argued for 3+ years the Trump has destroyed all social and Presidential norms, that Trump policies have murdered the entire American population about 7 times over, that Trump has completely destroyed our global network of alliances and treaties and that Trump has utterly destroyed our national and global environment.
The left/LLR-left have termed Trump an existential threat to our democracy and have called him the greatest threat ever to our Republic as well as a walking talking "crime in progress".
And not a bit of what I wrote above is exaggeration. The left/LLR-left has screamed these things to the heavens....
.....and it all failed so.......
.....now its time to say "nevermind", Trump doesnt matter.....
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Behold the "thinking" of our self-anointed "elite" "betters"!!!
So. Much. Winning.
So much.
Like, a lot!
Positions taken by some or all of the Democrat candidates:
FREE health care - for illegals.
Eliminate private health care.
No cars or airplanes in about 8 years (yes, the Green New Deal included that when the candidates all raised their hands).
Open borders.
Gun confiscation.
Empty the prisons.
Unisex showers/bathrooms for middle school.
Gender tags via Baskin Robbins, 31 (and counting) flavors with criminal penalties for mis-gendering.
Tax raising, yes, for the middle class too.
End fracking to let the Russians and middle eastern countries profit and gain power.
And more, so much more.
Trump doesn't stand a chance with his record.
“He is news. Everything he does is news. Probably more so than any recent predecessor.”
Part of what is impressive about Trump is how good he is at this. He is in the news every week, week in, and week out. He meets with foreign leaders, and they have a joint press conferences. They never refuse, because his popularity around the world and his power rubs off on them. The Trumps entertain, and his wife is the perfect hostess. He invites sports teams and groups of teenagers to the WH for having done something great, or goes to see them, if they physically can’t come to him. Week in and week out. Event after event. And, if he is getting a bit bored, he throws in one of his standing room only rallies in a swing state. He is a relentless self promoter, and always has been. I thought it significant that someone running Home Alone 2 this weekend on TV cut out his cameo appearance in the movie, which, of course, gained him more votes than airing the cameo would have.
Contrast this with Obama, who seemed to prefer just hanging out at the WH, shooting hoops with celebrities, figuring his brackets, and mostly just enjoying the lifestyle. Of course, a lot of stuff was going on in secret there, much of it illegal, such as spying on Republicans, running guns to Mexico, preventing TEA party groups from raising money, etc. But overall, it appeared to be a very laid back Administration. But the Bushes, Clinton, etc ran much quieter Presidencies. At some point, the country is likely going to hanker for less drama, for a less self promoting President. But give how much the Dems and the Deep State attacked him, and prevented him from having a normal Administration, I don’t think that is yet.
What's amusing is that the candidates or at least staff do look at these scribblings and think, is it right? would this work?
LOL
Freder Frederson (8:45am):
"True, I misspoke. The deficit has increased 68%, the debt has only increased from 19 to 22 trillion, which is just over 20%"
Still far from the truth. An increase from 19 to 22 is not "just over 20%" but just under 16%: 15.789%. Never trust content from FF, at least if it involves numbers.
Bloombergs own News division is already not reporting anything bad about him or Democrats. Want to keep the peasants dumbed down?? Vote for Bloomy!!!!
Here is the lazy moron Boris doing what any bright prog could do. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQKRAJTgEuo
Trump has not been insignificant for 35-40 years.
I agree with all Althouse wrote here. There is another problem with Stephens's analysis: Trump doesn’t matter but impeachment is fiercely urgent. Makes no sense.
Part of what is impressive about Trump is how good he is at this. He is in the news every week, week in, and week out.
That’s just his life.
But what were we saying when he first got elected? If they want to ignore him, they really shouldn’t report on him.
They chose poorly.
Blogger wendybar said...
Bloombergs own News division is already not reporting anything bad about him or Democrats. Want to keep the peasants dumbed down?? Vote for Bloomy!!!!
Many, if not most liberals still believe Trump is a Putin stooge. The dumbing down of the peasants is nearly complete. Intellectually lazy, incurious, and will believe the absurd is a common knowledge fact, beyond question.
Can liberals stop Putin from stealing the next election?
Doubtful.
The Dark Side of the Force is more powerful than you can imagine.
NYT piece claims "over 50% of the venom directed on Twitter at Rian Johnson, director of 'The Last Jedi,' came from the same sources as Russian election meddling."
If the Dems stop talking about Trump, what will they talk about? Will it be their ideas for fixing our weak economy, or how to avoid foreign wars, or stopping corruption and graft within the government? Hilarious!
Klobuchar has rhetorical skills? Crazy as a bedbug ...
Hey Freder, that deficit jump: did the President pass the budget by Executive Order, or did the Congress pass a bill creating it? Lots of Democrats voted for that deficit, in the Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies. It's hardly owned by PDJT.
Bruce Hayden and My name goes here are both right. The Democrats in 2016 and 2018 chose to run against Trump the Personality rather than on policy issues. Trump's been in office for 3 years and there have been no economic or foreign policy disasters. In fact, the country is doing pretty well, so whatever Trump's personality deficiencies may be, they haven't kept him from doing the job he was elected to do. That leaves the Democrats with really nothing to run on.
For at least 100 years now, American recessions have always been caused by Federal Reserve policy. If the Fed keeps nominal GDP growing at a reasonably steady pace, recessions don't happen. But the Fed can't do much to affect productivity growth, which is the real source of long run prosperity. Cutting regulations and appointing conservative judges are Trump positives here. Trump's immigration and trade policies would be negatives on this score, but since they have mostly been rhetoricical with few substantive changes actually put in place, they haven't done much harm. And Jerome Powell, Trump's man at the Fed, has quietly done a very good job.
So the Dems path to winning control of the White House is to make the greatest economy in history insignificant, to make the most important trade deals of our lifetimes insignificant, to make drastic beneficial changes in regulations and lowing taxes insignificant, to make the once thought impossible rise of American energy exports insignificant, to make a historic rise in the stock market, and American incomes insignificant, and to diminish all this while Americans enjoy it and prosper in it while our military is finally experiencing a relatively peaceful run. Yea, that's what we want to hear. None of this stuff that's great for us is important to them. That's a winning message for sure.
Trump doesn’t matter but impeachment is fiercely urgent. Makes no sense.
Exactly. They've shrieking for three years that they are The Resistance and Trump is Hitler, an existential threat.
Now he's a blemish? Now it doesn't matter all that much who is President?
Basically, Stephens is admitting they can't fight Trump on the issues or on substance. He want's to replace Trump with someone who will project an image more to his refined tastes. That's his can't miss strategy for 2020? Okay then.
The Dark Side of the Force is more powerful than you can imagine. NYT...
Embrace the blackface. The narratives, the lies, the innuendo, the close associations, the diversity, the whole ball of yarns.
If it wasn't for the unhinged Trump derangement suffered by so many of our fellow Americans, the 2020 election would be the biggest lopsided victory in history. It's just a shame so many can't enjoy what will certainly be seen by honest people in the future as the best of times for our country. It is usually the case that the best times in our lives are not experienced as such until they are long past and put in the context of all the rest.
Bret Stephens has lost the plot. He seems increasingly unhinged from reality. The real whopper in that pile of nonsense was his assertion that Joe Biden has the life skills to make Trump seem petty. Life skills like engaging in corruption through a coke head son? Life skills like skinny dipping in front of female Secret Service Agents assigned to protect his scrawny body? Life skills like plagiarism? Life skills like extorting the Ukrainian government---well Joe may have a point there--he did it first, and he bragged about it.
Bret Stephens appeared to be a reasonably sentient human being when he wrote op ed pieces for the Wall Street Journal. Now that he's been sheep dipped for three or four years in the cesspool of the New York Times editorial staff, he appears to have lost all intelligence.
Trump doesn’t matter but impeachment is fiercely urgent. Makes no sense.
A remake of [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] global cooling... warming... change. Buy carbon credits!
Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown.
What did Howard find so appealing about Hillary Clinton?
Still far from the truth. An increase from 19 to 22 is not "just over 20%" but just under 16%: 15.789%. Never trust content from FF, at least if it involves numbers.
You're right, I did the math wrong. I apologize.
BREAKING: Elizabeth Warren's campaign sounds the alarm as fundraising pace slows about 30% in fourth quarter.
Hmm.
The only 'viable' woman left in the race, and her donors suddenly cut her off. It seems like this could leave an opening for another "viable" woman.
Maybe the most viable..Ever!
The patriarchy cannot be resisted. Every blow makes it stronger.
Howard typed”. Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown.”
Windmills! Solandra! Cash for Clunkers!
You the man, Howard. The last man holding this idiotic idea. Congrats.
" I did the math wrong."
I think that's what's on Mao's headstone.
I'm with Michael at 11:34 am.....
Every recession has a recovery, it's the natural rhythm of macroeconomics. It's impossible to stop, but it can be slowed down. Obama, like FDR found a way. Obama's was the slowest recover since FDR's. That natural rhythm would usually have us back in a slowdown by now. Avoiding that and then producing unprecedented strength in the economy is exceptional. A President doesn't do that, but he can let it happen if he understand economics. This President does.
You need to rethink this until you are not 100% wrong.
Four years into Trump’s candidacy and presidency and you, and others, have no idea.
Over Christmas, Jill Biden took a camera crew down to Mexico and passed out free tamales to "refugees".
This kind of strategic electioneering is going to be hard to top. Bernie better up his game.
Jeff said...
Trump's immigration and trade policies would be negatives on this score
That appears to be incorrect.
"If standard economic theory were correct, ...." But it doesn't appear to be correct.
People who don't piss away a lot of time and money are, thanks to Trump's economic, immigration, and trade policies, finally getting raises, and some job security. The result is a growing economy, with less dead weight loss.
4 years ago, I agreed with you. I was wrong. So are you
Cutting down immigration, esp. low skilled immigration, is beneficial to the US as a whole.
It's not beneficial to the globalists who are losing their cheap nannies and gardeners. Tough luck. Guess you're going to have to pay a bit more, and maybe take one fewer trip a year to exotic foreign destinations (thus keeping the money spent here, and growing the US economy, rather than growing the Mexican economy with the remittances your illegals were previously sending home)
LOL - this was somehow left out of my comment:
Left Bank of the Charles said...
I think Donald Trump was the only Republican candidate who could have lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
bagoh20 said...
The patriarchy cannot be resisted. Every blow makes it stronger.
You are a bad, bad, man. No "job" for you
"People who don't piss away a lot of time and money are, thanks to Trump's economic, immigration, and trade policies, finally getting raises, and some job security. The result is a growing economy, with less dead weight loss."
That should be People who don't piss away a lot of time and money getting indoctrinated at a "higher education" institution are, thanks to Trump's economic, immigration, and trade policies, finally getting raises, and some job security. The result is a growing economy, with less dead weight loss.
By now our commenter Howard is easy to figure out. He works for Babylon Bee and only comments here when he is bored there. You have to see the sly wit that he pulls our legs with.
they dont teach taunting in schools anymore, so no.
Tank: "LOL - this was somehow left out of my comment:
Left Bank of the Charles said...
I think Donald Trump was the only Republican candidate who could have lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016."
Probably because your subconscious rejected the amazingly cringe-worthy and moronic offering that Left Bank lobbed out there.
“Trump is just barebacking on the Obama recovery after the Bush meltdown”
Wishful thinking there. Actually delusional. It was the slowest record very in recent hstory (longest since WW II brought us out of the Great Depression). And a good part of that slowness was abysmal policies set in place Obama’s first two years, with Dem majorities in the Senate and House, and perpetuated by Continuing Resolutions to fund the government. One big reason for the slowness was the Dems new found loved veg for long discredited Keynesian economics. The Dems saw using Keynesian economics to putatively work our way out of the recession as a honey pot. As a way to financially benefit its members and their biggest backers. For awhile, they seemed to be in a bidding war, promising ever higher Keynesian multipliers. Speaker Palsi probably won, claiming a 4x or 5x multiplier. Nope. Doesn’t work that way. If Keynesian economics has any legitimate use in fiscal economics, it is very very short duration, in order to dig out of a liquidity trap. Maybe 2-3 months - not 8 years. And even then, the empirically derived multiplier is less than one. The Dems forced us into eight years of excess government spending. A lot of Democrats got very rich, skimming the graft. But the economy wallowed in its recovery for his entire eight years in office. Palsi essentially claimed that since spending money was the goal, in order to supposedly work our way out of the recession, they might as well spend it on their wish list, which ended up being anything that would make them or their biggest backers money. Meanwhile they were trying to kill fracking, increase regulations, etc.
And also keep in mind that the 2008 crash was triggered by the collapse of the housing bubble, much of it caused by the Dems’ feckless housing policies (such as the CRA, as well as Clinton filling the boards of Fannie May and Freddie Mac with Dem operatives, who pushed their disastrous housing policies). Bush (43) sounded the alarm, seeing that we were headed off a financial cliff, but the Dems controlling Congress at the time, ignored him.
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