Anyway... that's the headline, the bait.
The column itself is about Trump and Iran and Brooks isn't saying — even on that topic — that everyone is being stupid. Some people did the un-stupid thing and judged the killing of Soleimani in terms of risk and potential benefits. Others — he names Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — "pontificated on the easy question not actually on the table: Should we have a massive invasion of Iran?"
This was... fear-stoking apocalyptic language. By being so overwrought and exaggerated, the echo chamber drowned out any practical conversation.... This is Trump’s ultimate victory. Every argument on every topic is now all about him. Hating Trump together has become the ultimate bonding, attention-grabbing and profit-maximization mechanism for those of us in anti-Trump world...Sounds bleak, but Brooks ends with hope: "Maybe once the Inflammatory One is finally gone from the scene we can have an intelligent conversation about that." So you see, "Trump has made us all stupid," but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will regain the intelligence we lost.
Love or hate him, Trump has used military force less than any other president since Jimmy Carter. When it comes to foreign policy, he is not like recent Republicans. He is, as my colleague Ross Douthat put it, a Jacksonian figure, wanting to get America out of foreign entanglements while lobbing a few long-distance attacks to ensure the crazy foreigners stick to killing one another and not us.
And this is the final paradox. For all the Sturm und Drang that surrounds Trump, populist Republicans and Democrats are gravitating toward the same foreign policy... [A] populist left-right curtain is descending around America....
ADDED: "The Inflammatory One" strikes me as a silly epithet, but let's examine it. The OED defines "inflammatory" as "Tending to inflame with desire or passion; of a nature to rouse passion, anger, or animosity.... Characterized by excitement or passion.... That tends to heat or inflame the blood; exciting the brain or senses; stimulating." That does sound like Trump. And it sounds like what most politicians want to do when they are campaigning. The problem with Trump is that he's way too good at it, and it overshadows everyone else.
But another meaning of "inflammatory" has to do with things that inflame the body. Example:
1799 Lear Let. Presid. U.S. in Sir J. Sinclair's Corr. (1831) II. 32 His [General Washington's] disorder was an inflammatory sore throat, which proceeded from a cold.With that meaning of the word, "The Inflammatory One" is an infection, invading innocent bodies and causing redness and swelling. In that view, Brooks's epithet characterizes Trump as a disease. The symptom of this disease is stupidity, and when he departs, we'll be healthy again, our stupidity cured. That's a metaphor, but is it a stupid metaphor?
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89 comments:
He is admitting that he has been wrong about Trump all along. Which we all realize.
So you see, "Trump has made us all stupid," but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will be regain the intelligence we lost.
Surely you jest.
I was already stupid!
"Hating Trump together has become the ultimate bonding, attention-grabbing and profit-maximization mechanism for those of us in anti-Trump world"
So actually, it's the anti-Trumpers that have become stupid. But do we know for sure they were not stupid to begin with?
"Love or hate him, Trump has used military force less than any other president since Jimmy Carter. When it comes to foreign policy, he is not like recent Republicans."
So actually, Trump is at best a moderate Republican, conducting foreign policy (fair trade! less war! get out!) closer to what lefties have said they wanted.
"And this is the final paradox. For all the Sturm und Drang that surrounds Trump, populist Republicans and Democrats are gravitating toward the same foreign policy"
So actually, Trump is smartly representing an emerging consensus, the merits of which the anti-Trumpers don't even address.
"Maybe once the Inflammatory One is finally gone from the scene we can have an intelligent conversation about that."
So actually, even anti-Trumpers who call other anti-Trumpers on their stupidity are themselves acting stupidly.
Given the number of loons in academia and their progeny in the deep state, I don't see a return to rationality on the left anytime soon. It's not like the Obama crew were rational.
They know it isn’t working.
Yes, contemplate the possibility you were all stupid before...
...wanting to get America out of foreign entanglements while lobbing a few long-distance attacks to ensure the crazy foreigners stick to killing one another and not us...
I guess I agree with the sentiment but jeez it ain't hardcourt tennis, those JDAMs really hurt!
The problem is the smoke-filled rooms are filled with a different type of smoke these days.
Blame Cannabis.
For a bad guy in the ME it must feel like a cartoon anvil will fall on your head at any moment. That must alter your thinking a bit...
Brooks is upset because he expects a competent president [and Trump has been very competent] to also have a great pant crease.
Let me give you this analogy. Philadelphia Phillies fans did not warm up to the new manager, Charlie Manuel, at first because they felt he sounded like and probably was a country bumpkin. After he won a World Series, they all loved him.
Trump is not the pundity's idea of a president [think SCF Obama] and as someone has said they fear he will be a successful president more than they fear he will fail.
The one thing I have learned is never read any of the drivel written by pants-crease jack-off boi. He isn't even a token conservative.
I fail to see what is bleak about this.
"Trump has used military force less than any other president since Jimmy Carter."
Trump uses military force in an intelligent manner, only when necessary, but effectively. To most people not sending young Americans to foreign countries to get killed or maimed for no discernible reason is a positive.
Trump is going to win reelection in a landslide. Popular vote and electoral college. And that is when the real leftist violence will begin.
This is Trump’s ultimate victory. Every argument on every topic is now all about him.
I don't believe that it was ever Trump's intention to drive a large segment of the population insane or to reduce their capacity for critical thinking. The twin destroyers of the main stream media and social media are responsible for those outcomes.
So you see, "Trump has made us all stupid," but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will be regain the intelligence we lost.
Not even close. Trump exposed the stupidity that was always there, but hidden behind lofty rhetoric.
Says the man who famously got goosebumps in Obama's presence because of the notable crease in his slacks. A sign (I guess) of professionalism and detail.
We believe what we want to believe. We saw in Obama what we each of us wanted to see. We see in Trump what each of us wants to see. For New Yorkers especially, it has made them dumber, less intelligent sounding/acting. Maybe its brought out the real people they are, and despite the heady places of occupation and clusters of world level organizations they belong to, they are like everyone else, with the same frail human emotions driving irrational thinking and actions.
Unlike those of us looking forward to a simple sunset on a Friday evening with a good scotch in hand.
brooks has been stupid for a long time,
Once again, Trump is fortunate in his enemies.
By 2025, he will have changed the GOP unless we are really unlucky.
i have a cousin that's spent the last few days on facebook; going on and on (and on and on)
about how "trump promised he wouldn't get us into a Major war with Iran: he's a LIAR!"
She'd post quotes from Trump, being against starting wars, and say: LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!
now; she, like many, have decided that they'd never opened their mouths: it was all a dream
One well scripted campaign speech by Trump will be enough to provide proper context for his actions and make his critics look foolish.
I look forward to the Trump/Biden debates.
Stood up and viciously attacked that straw man.
All as is it leaking out that the action on Suleimani was carefully thought out, planned, and executed.
Brooks only speaks for his herd, the sort that felt they were in some strange, foreign land when they entered a Home Depot.
In their case, Trump has summoned forth the Inner Stupid that has always been there.
Brooks: Okay, the lady in that car over there said that Marco Polo was in the year 1275.
Kristoff: It's not just a water sport, I knew it!
Trump has made Democrats shoot down civilian airliners for three years.
Brooks is a cliche. He’s as thoughtful as a football interview.
It's so smart to admire a sharp pant crease and a pen and a phone... and secretary of state hires who use their office to pocket millions, and then bleach-bit any leftover evidence.
“ brooks has been stupid for a long time“
True, narciso, and he’s the world’s oldest man.
Temujin:
"We saw in Obama what we each of us wanted to see. "
I think I can safely say I *never* saw anything I wanted to see in Obama.
Okay, actually, his policy towards space exploration didn't completely suck. But that was about it.
Is the inflammatory Trump the ultimate realist? And why can’t we have that intelligent conversation now?
The problem with people like Brooks is that they never want to carry their half-baked ideas out. How about an intelligent, thoughtful, neutral interview with Trump?
Nah, wouldn’t be prudent.
in other news:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/miami-herald-julie-k-brown-abc-jeffrey-epstein
If only Trump would stop wearing those short skirts.
Doesn't he realize that his moral and intellectual superiors can't resist the temptation?
Driving the left insane was in fact just a short walk.
Thanks for posting this, Althouse. I don’t always agree with Brooks, but I do on this. I wouldn’t have been aware of this but for your blog post, since it is the New York Times. And so I grabbed a hard copy just now and read it all. (Incidentally, the whole op-ed page makes for interesting reading, with columns from Kristee Paschall, John Kerry and NPR’s Steve Inskeep, the latter writing about the election of 1856, the first real national election effort for the newly-formed Republican Party.)
I find it further interesting, how your previous blog post featuring Sen. Tom Cotton resonates in David Brooks’ column. Insofar as David Brooks —a card-carrying Trump critic — never wrote a word of praise or sympathy or understanding or acceptance of terror leaders like Suleimani, and seems not to be making any effort to criticize Trump’s targeting of Suleimani as illegal. There is, I think, a serious and worthwhile debate to be had about the wisdom and legality of killing Suleimani. But the people with whom Sen. Cotton should begin that discussion are Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Justin Amash, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.
Finally a truth.
He has made them all stupid, because I don’t read Brooks or live in that lifestyle bubble they live in.
I voted for Trump for better reasons than Romney and McCain, but hoping for a lot less than he's actually delivered. I say that he's making my decision look brilliant. But yeah, if you voted against Trump, then he's making that vote look stupid.
Better would be "Trump has revealed how stupid (and out of touch, and venal, and mindless, and cetera) WE (in the Media and as elites) in fact are."
All these "Trump has made X or Y crazy" arguments miss the key point: these people have always been crazy, have always been stupid, have always been full of shit.
Trump's function--and it may well be the most important thing he ever accomplishes--has been to make it wholly impossible to ignore just how terrible these people really are.
Jennifer Rubin didn't get hit on the head the day before Trump's election; neither did Max Boot, Tom Nicols, nor any of the rest of them. They've always been who you can today plainly see them to be. The same is true for our genius Media and poliitcal big wigs--they have always been as devoid of ideas, as inconsistent and unprincipled, as removed from or outright disdainful for the average American, and as just plain laughably incompetent as we can all see they now are.
I doubt it was Trump's design to make all of that incandescently apparent (since of course it exposes him, as well), but his doing so is nevertheless a true service to the American people.
It's indisputable that the American people are stupid, but for sheer dumb-ass stupidity compounded by incompetence, we're nowhere close to the Iranians. Americans have protested for and against Trump without causing dozens of deaths and hundreds of injured.....I'm glad Suleimani was killed, but there are so many in Iran who want to be the next Suleimani that you can't really count it as a definitive victory....All across the Middle East from Algiers to Yemen with stops in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the people there kill each other with ruthless abandon. We have tried different tactics with different leaders in different countries, but the killings go on. I don't think that there is any conciliatory gesture or act of war that we can perform that will bring these killings to a halt. Somewhere along the way someone in that part of the world will have to stop wanting to become the next Suleimani.
Trump isn't forcing anybody to be obsessed with him. That is on them.
The same people who cheered when "we" killed the Libyan head of state--never forget Hillary literally cackling as she bragged "we came, we saw he died"--want to say now that they're deeply concerned about Trump's order to kill a high ranking military official who was the acknowledged head of terrorist organizations.
It's just ridiculous on its face. People should be ashamed to be so transparently unprincipled. I thought hypocrisy was the one sin they still recognized!
but no one really confronts them
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/01/susan_rice_lies_again__obama_and_soleimani.html
of course she was the nsc point person when the warlords started to paint the congo blood red, when bin laden was allowed to return to Afghanistan,
It's a cry for help from Brooks on behalf of democrats everywhere. President Trump co-opted all the positive things that defined the democratic party like free speech, the middle class worker and a drawing down of middle east involvement (thank you fracking). What do they have left?
Let me give you this analogy. Philadelphia Phillies fans did not warm up to the new manager, Charlie Manuel, at first because they felt he sounded like and probably was a country bumpkin. After he won a World Series, they all loved him.
We still love Charlie!
"I thought hypocrisy was the one sin they still recognized!"
Oh, they still recognize *all* sins, but only if a Republican commits it. Hell, they now recognize sins that were never even previously considered sins before, if a Republican does it.
If a Democrat does it? There is literally nothing a Democrat can do anymore that won't be defended or excused. Nothing. At all. On any level.
Take stock of what Brooks just did. He surrendered to Trump, but then wishes that some day the Global World Governance run by Intelligence Agencies and owned Media brain washing specialists will return and Make America Destroyed Again.
Maybe once the Inflammatory One is finally gone from the scene we can have an intelligent conversation about that."
Who’s this “we” Kemosabe?
He’s only inflammatory if you want him to be. But the live by narcissism and die by the lack of attention.
But inquiring minds want to know: what does Brooks think of the crease in Trump's pants?
LLR-lefty Chuck: "Thanks for posting this, Althouse. I don’t always agree with Brooks, but I do on this. I wouldn’t have been aware of this but for your blog post, since it is the New York Times."
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
OMG, that IS funny!
LLR-lefty Chuck's pro-dem/FakeCon "eddie haskell--Good Afternoon Mrs Cleaver" hi-jinks are so ridiculously transparent its sometimes difficult to respond as I'm doubled over in laughter.
Big Mike said...
So you see, "Trump has made us all stupid," but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will be regain the intelligence we lost.
Not even close. Trump exposed the stupidity that was always there, but hidden behind lofty rhetoric.
1/10/20, 9:38 AM
THIS! So much THIS!
Many of us "others" were already quite skeptical of "the people who got inflamed by this one man" and rightfully so.
As has been pointed out, Trump's real superpower is getting these people to drop their masks so all can see what they really are.
When the dust settles and Trump is retired to history many will choose to close their now own eyes and go back to their drowsy stupors, happy to be once more ignorant of the inept puppet masters behind the tattered curtain but not everyone.
Whatever else one thinks of Trump, he is a plain speaker. I wonder if his style of speaking will be picked up by future American politicians, or will they revert to Obamaese: a series of words all wrapped up in pretty paper but "signifying nothing."
Lots of people, particularly Democrats, were stupid long before Trump’s ascension. Trump hasn’t “made” anyone stupid and the stupidity of that headline illustrates how Trump’s presence exposes the stupidity of his critics.
Take, for example, the Democrat presidential candidates or the AOC congressional crowd or the Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler gaggle, insane and corrupt may be more apt, but it is undeniable that stupidity figures in there somewhere. Look at the leftmedia.
Somehow, Trump’s Presidency has issued a license to these swamprats and others - some who comment here - to put their stupidity on display. It’s his gift to us.
IOW, Brooks likes the results of what Trump does, but still hates Trump because he's a Populist, doesn't know the right Italian salami to eat, and doesn't give David a thrill down his leg.
Never Trumper like Brooks, Jonah, Erickson, etc. always talk about how "We" are doing this, and "Us" are doing that, when they mean the Left/Liberal establishment and MSM. Cause the 47% who voted for trump are never part of their "We".
"Trump has made us all stupid,"
Objection - overbroad.
Trump has made Yuppie, creased-trouser, NY Times ninnies very stupid, but that's not us.
I forgot, is Brooksie still claiming to be a "Conservative" after Supporting Obama and Hillary? It seems to me that if you supported a liberal Democrat in 3 of the last 3 elections, your "Conservatism" is suspect.
rcocean: "IOW, Brooks likes the results of what Trump does,..."
No he doesn't.
Brooks doesn't like the Most Conservative President we've had in 60 years (according to the Heritage Foundation) nor his policies.
Brooks is a FakeCon leftist being paid by lefty activist billionaires to pretend to be conservative to attack Trump.
Soros/Reid Hoffman/Pierre Omidyar/Steyer et al very much approve of this.
"The Inflammatory One."
Aww, Brooks has a pet name for his hemorrhoid.
rcocean: "I forgot, is Brooksie still claiming to be a "Conservative" after Supporting Obama and Hillary? It seems to me that if you supported a liberal Democrat in 3 of the last 3 elections, your "Conservatism" is suspect."
ALL of LLR-lefty Chuck's favorite FakeCon "conservatives" openly campaign for and espouse voting for ALL democrats at ALL levels!
In other words, "Saving Conservatism by letting communist/socialist Democrats take complete control of the nation at all levels"
This is literally what these FakeCon's are advocating.
Literally.
Not figuratively.
Literally.
"I forgot, is Brooksie still claiming to be a "Conservative" after Supporting Obama and Hillary?" Andrew Sullivan has been running this same scam going back to GW Bush. You see because he is such a true conservative he could not in good conscience because of "reasons" so he's voted for Kerry, Obama and Hillary. I mean what else could a real conservative do?
I see this type of writing from Rod Dreher too. He wants to attack the Liberal/Left and MSM for behaving wrongly and/or stupidly but he'll phrase it so he's criticizing EVERYONE. Why are *we* engaging in deplatforming people? What is wrong with US? Why are *we* driving Christianity out of the public square? Etc. Or he'll criticize the media and then throw in FOX News and say "Both sides are doing X". As if Fox News, 1 TV network out of 7 represents 50% of the media.
Drago, I loved your analogy of Chuck being the equivalent of Eddie Haskell, with his familiar "Good Afternoon Mrs Cleaver", .so as to try and suck-up to our esteemed blogress. TKO!!
I'm waiting for the deluge of "The Conservative Case for Bernie Sanders/Liz Warren/Joe Biden" columns in April.
’There is, I think, a serious and worthwhile debate to be had about the wisdom and legality of killing Suleimani.’
Providing comfort to the enemy seems worthwhile to you?
Somehow Trump is able to cause his opponents to take stupid positions. This latest Iranian conflict is a good example. I just heard on the radio one Dem say that the US is responsible for the airliner being shot down.
There have been many postings here that recognize this ability:
Big Mike said...
(Brooks wrote:) So you see, "Trump has made us all stupid," but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will be regain the intelligence we lost.
Not even close. Trump exposed the stupidity that was always there, but hidden behind lofty rhetoric.
and:
rhhardin said...
Trump has made Democrats shoot down civilian airliners for three years.
Danno: "Drago, I loved your analogy of Chuck being the equivalent of Eddie Haskell, with his familiar "Good Afternoon Mrs Cleaver", .so as to try and suck-up to our esteemed blogress. TKO!!"
This tactic of LLR-lefty Chuck was most prevalent (and hilarious) in the immediate aftermath of LLR-lefty Chuck's deserved banning from this blog for racist, vicious (against women and children) and patently dishonest and disingenuous posting.
Right after that banning LLR-lefty Chuck began posting the most astonishingly treacly, sickly-sweet insincere sucking-uppery one has ever seen. It was truly weird to witness, particularly after how vicious Chuck was in his attacks on Althouse.
Attacks that were mimicked by LLR-lefty Chuck's other Mini-me, Admiral Inga (along with The Poor Man's LLR-lefty Chuck, the Pathetic gadfly). Which, naturally, resulted in Inga's deserved banning as well.
Such are the comings and goings of rabid leftists Inga and LLR-lefty Chuck in that rich and warm blogging environment known as Althouseblog.
"LLR-lefty Chuck's pro-dem/FakeCon "eddie haskell--Good Afternoon Mrs Cleaver" hi-jinks are so ridiculously transparent its sometimes difficult to respond as I'm doubled over in laughter."
Yeah, but in the next post he'll be the "bad boy."
He's pathological. If I were Althouse, I would worry.
To be fair, Obama did look good in his tailored suits. Being tall (6-1) and of slender build will do that.
It was a non-insignificant part of his appeal in 2008.
"We fight viciously about Trump, but underneath, a populist left-right curtain is descending around America, separating us from the Mideast, China, even Europe."
Oh ffs, no it isn't. There is no "populist curtain descending". Millions of moderately observant people (in America, the Mideast, China, and even Europe!), left to right, looked around and noticed that the great globalist project wasn't working out in the real world quite as predicted by its rah-rah-sis-boom-bah theory. Cracks here, fraying there, surely some re-evaluations and change in course are in order.
But apparently people heavily invested in the "consensus" decided that the existing system could be maintained with bullying propaganda and (where they could) heavy-handed state suppression of democracy in the name of democracy. For whatever reason they hit upon non-stop invocation of the 1930s ("populism!" "fascism!") as just the ticket for shutting people up and getting them to fall in line. (I kinda prefer my elites to have read more broadly and deeply in history than ours apparently have.)
The real high-risk move is the one both parties are making together: that if we ignore the world it will ignore us. (It won’t.)
It must be really hard to write propaganda for your globalist pay-masters these days without sounding like an idiot. I mean, is there an intelligent, subtle way to say "Everything was going smoothly until guys like Trump came along and started stoking the populist flame by planting and then appealing to your entirely irrational and mistaken perceptions, people!".
I don't think so. So to be fair to Brooks, it probably *is* close to impossible to write from the official "everybody who disagrees with me is Hitler" style manual, while peddling a past-its-best-by product, without coming across as either an idiot or a total whore-bag. Props to him for managing to rise to the appearance of "confused floundering hack".
Maybe once the Inflammatory One is finally gone from the scene we can have an intelligent conversation about that.
And by "intelligent conversation", he means the same conversations (with the same assumptions, and the same "expert" approved views) that we best-and-brightest types used to have, before all these "populist demagogues" showed up out of nowhere, and started messing with a perfectly well-functioning system.
now about 20 some years ago, there was an opportunity to hit bin laden, at tarnak farms, a stationary target, yet Clinton failed to pull the trigger, and the embassy bombings the cole and ultimately 9/11 were the result,
rcocean: "I'm waiting for the deluge of "The Conservative Case for Bernie Sanders/Liz Warren/Joe Biden" columns in April."
"conservatives" George Will and Bill Kristol and Charlie "deadbeat dad" Sykes and Rick "I love me some Qatari cash baby!" Wilson and Egg McMuffin and the all the rest long ago came out for all dems winning at all levels everywhere for the next 20 years!
George Will specifically said he would support ANY Dem candidate, including communist ones, in order to "save conservatism" from Trump!!!
LOL
In this regard, LLR-lefty Chuck was way ahead of his moron co-lefties (in terms of FakeCon-nery).
Recall that in 2015 and 2016 LLR-lefty Chuck was calling on all republicans to simply give up and accept total dem dominance! At that time, LLR-lefty Chuck was really giddy transmitting such a defeatist message about Trump's prospects, thereby cementing his stated real purposes: Smear Trump and drive a wedge between Althouse and her readers...along with pushing the Dem "demoralize republican" strategy.
LLR-lefty Chuck assured everyone, (and he was gleeful as he did it), that once Hillary and the dems had totally destroyed the republican party we could all then, as "good conservatives" (LOL-snort) begin to work together to "impeach" and remove Hillary.
I fell off my chair laughing at that one.
It was the absolute most transparent demoralization tactic I've seen employed yet in a western democracy.
And all that explains LLR-lefty Chuck's spittle-flecked out of control rage on election night when Donald J Trump obliterated ALL of LLR-lefty Chuck's dem control dreams on election night.
This led to months of LLR-lefty Chuck posting links to claims of Melania being in the US illegally, bizarre accusations of Melania being a prostitute, vicious rumors about Trump's underage son, and on and on and on.
And this is also when LLR-lefty Chuck began his vicious attacks against any and all conservative republicans with distinguished military records who go after dems.
In just the last 2 days LLR-lefty Chuck has directly attacked Tom Cotton and Doug Collins.
In particular, Doug Collins was a 4-fer for LLR-lefty Chuck attacks. Collins represents 4 specific things that Chuck despises: Republican conservative, attacks democrats, served honorably in the military as a Chaplain, Christian conservative.
Any one of those reasons is enough to set Chuck off completely (and probably back into therapy). But all 4 in combination?!!
Yikes!!
"Every argument on every topic is now all about him. Hating Trump together has become the ultimate bonding, attention-grabbing and profit-maximization mechanism for those of us in anti-Trump world"
Well put. So how much are they paying you?
Above it all, a part of it all.
That's our Brooksie.
Blogger Wilbur said...To be fair, Obama did look good in his tailored suits. Being tall (6-1) and of slender build will do that. It was a non-insignificant part of his appeal in 2008.
I hope you are not impressed with an empty suit.
Trump didn't make anti-Trumpers stupid, but he does bring it out in them.
Jack Klompus:
"We still love Charlie"
Me too! I was not one of those who disliked him because he had an accent.
Crease Boy's new trophy wife doesn't want to get excluded from more New York parties, so don't expect him to celebrate when Trump wins reelection.
I think this is just a JPG now, but if it were a real product would sell well and cause massiveProgressive Stupid-Suckers head explosions.
Brooks - ’There is, I think, a serious and worthwhile debate to be had about the wisdom and legality of killing Suleimani.’
=====
What he meant
’There is, I think, a serious and worthwhile debate to be had about the wisdom and legality of angels dancing on pinheads like me.’
I am sure I am late to the party with this, but Brooks errs right here:
"but when he leaves we, the people who got inflamed by this one man, will regain the intelligence we lost."
There is now no evidence whatsoever that it was intelligence lost, but that Brooks and other never had it to begin with. Prove me wrong.
Trump has not made us stupid, he's just pulled back the curtain so we can see the reality of how stupid we are
From the guy who judges a man not "...by the content of their character" but by the crease in their pants.
To be fair, Obama did look good in his tailored suits. Being tall (6-1) and of slender build will do that.
2016 is where style met substance.
But apparently people heavily invested in the "consensus" decided that the existing system could be maintained with bullying propaganda and (where they could) heavy-handed state suppression of democracy in the name of democracy. For whatever reason they hit upon non-stop invocation of the 1930s ("populism!" "fascism!") as just the ticket for shutting people up and getting them to fall in line. (I kinda prefer my elites to have read more broadly and deeply in history than ours apparently have.)
It's not just ours. Look at BREXIT and Orban in Hungary. Hong Kong seems to be figuring out things about the Chicoms. My Chinese medical student I had ten years ago had some interesting things to say about China. Her mother was a professor at Beijing U so they were semi-elites. She came to the US to go to medical school so that she would be able to care for her parents. She said China had no effective pension system.
"Somehow Trump is able to cause his opponents to take stupid positions."
I think it's more along the lines of "When your enemy is making a mistake don't interrupt him"
Love or hate him, Trump has used military force less than any other president since Jimmy Carter. When it comes to foreign policy, he is not like recent Republicans. He is, as my colleague Ross Douthat put it, a Jacksonian figure, wanting to get America out of foreign entanglements while lobbing a few long-distance attacks to ensure the crazy foreigners stick to killing one another and not us.
From Ross Douthat’s Andrew Jackson in the Persian Gulf:
“The phrase ‘Jacksonian’ belongs to the foreign policy scholar Walter Russell Mead, part of a famous typology in which he divides American foreign policy tendencies into four worldviews: Hamiltonian, Wilsonian, Jacksonian and Jeffersonian.
“The Hamiltonians are the business-minded internationalists, cold-eyed and stability-oriented and wary of wars that seem idealistic rather than self-interested.
“The Wilsonians are the idealists, whether neoconservative or liberal-humanitarian, who regard the United States military as a force for spreading democracy and protecting human rights.
“The Jeffersonian impulse, more common on the left than on the right, is toward a ‘come home, America’ retreat from empire that regards global hegemony as a corrupting folly and America’s wars as mostly unwise and unjust.
“The Jacksonian tendency, more common on the right than on the left, is toward a pugilistic nationalism that’s wary of all international entanglements but ready for war whenever threats arise. (‘More rubble, less trouble’ is the essential Jacksonian credo.)”
File Brooksie's column under "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then"--but add, "and then he spits it out".
There are inflammatory people after all--back in my long ago college days we called them "flaming A-holes". Now, they are just "flamers". And the left and the press (not to mention academia) has more than its fair share of flamers.
I expect (or at least hope) that this load of flamers will be bitterly disappointed come November 2020.
Interesting:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1215600795602837505
Earnest Prole:
The problem with that division is that all four of them are presumed to be acting in good faith for America's interests.
I'd say at least 30% of the nation right now is acting in bad faith in hopes of undermining American interests. And pretty much every elected Democrat is among those 30%.
Last I checked, the "conservative" Brooks was still a statist. So in his case, Trump succeeded.
Nonapod said...
This is Trump’s ultimate victory. Every argument on every topic is now all about him.
I don't believe that it was ever Trump's intention to drive a large segment of the population insane or to reduce their capacity for critical thinking.
The response to that is this:
Blogger HoodlumDoodlum said...
Better would be "Trump has revealed how stupid (and out of touch, and venal, and mindless, and cetera) WE (in the Media and as elites) in fact are."
All these "Trump has made X or Y crazy" arguments miss the key point: these people have always been crazy, have always been stupid, have always been full of shit.
Trump's function--and it may well be the most important thing he ever accomplishes--has been to make it wholly impossible to ignore just how terrible these people really are.
Exposing your enemies as empty suits is great. Getting you enemies to expose themselves? Priceless
Brooks and the rest dream ("think" if far too positive a word to use to describe their thought processes) that once Trump is gone, the American voters will "wake from their doze", and start listening to those idiots again.
We won't. Because Trump didn't make them stupid, Trump just pulled back the curtain and made us realize that they are stupid. And venal. And not on our side.
Several commenters have already stated it, but I've been saying for about two years now that Trump doesn't make people crazy or stupid, he just somehow manages to incite them to openly display their insanity and stupidity.
Chuck: "Thanks for posting this, Althouse. I don’t always agree with Brooks, but I do on this."
For Christ's sake, Chuck, would you just stay on subject and not jump all over the place? What has Brooks' column got to do with your areas of expertise, i.e., fake pecan pies , Shit hole vs shit house debates or hurricane forecasts? We count on you to hammer home the really important stuff, not free lance on mundane topics.
the thing about fusion fight club, is they let you repeat the same rumors over and over,
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1215370335337549832?s=20
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