September 20, 2020

"Trump wasn’t elected because Clinton was cordially detested. What American presidential candidate since George Washington hasn’t been?"

"She was dull on the stump. But if dullness were politically fatal, the entire American political system would have been in the cemetery with President Harrison since 1841. (He gave a two-hour inaugural address in freezing rain, then caught a cold and died a month later.) Clinton’s 'popular vote' victory was and is inconsequential. America, since its founding, has had a devolved system of voting for the president that eschews nationwide first-past-the-post to give more obscure regions (our Scotlands) a greater say than weight of population would allow. She and Trump knew the rules. The cheating would have been different in a different game. Russian electoral interference was doubtless factual but doubtfully culpable. I’ve spent time in Russia. The idea that the Russians could fine-tune America’s enormously complex machinery of election is … I’ve driven Russian cars. And there’s no use blaming Trump’s election on the rise of populism. 'Populism' is an epithetic catch-all in use whenever the ideas popular with the good and the great aren’t popular.... America is what you get when you turn a random horde of people loose in a vast and various space. Some came here on the make, some on the run, some were dragged here involuntarily as slaves, some were chased here by poverty, oppression or bigotry and some were here already and were defeated by disease and demographics until they became foreigners in their own country. The bunch of us have never got along...."

From "Trump v Biden: PJ O’Rourke on why this US election is the craziest yet/Why on earth isn’t Joe Biden set for a landslide? The inimitable political commentator takes a ringside seat at the election circus" by (obviously) P.J. O'Rourke writing in the Times of London.

96 comments:

chickelit said...

Ugh. I can't scroll past the first page but that looks like the kind of garbage writing I'd never pay to read.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Clinton won the popular vote in ONE state. The most populated state in our union is CA, and she won it by around 4 million votes.

Her win in CA proves WHY we NEED the fairness of the EC.

otherwise- CA would pick our pres every time. Is that what we want?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

paywall. ack.

I adore PJ ORourke.

Any chance someone can posts the rest of it?

traditionalguy said...

After 28 years of being lied to by uniparty crooks in DC, a fearless truth teller was going to win if one popped up. The miracle is that the GOP half of lying crooks got themselves hijacked by a by a Queens New York street wise fighter.As soon as voters trusted Trump, he has been rewarded as he has kept his promises. That way maybe an impeachable offense in DC, but come election time it still rolls over the media and the crooks every time. Peace and prosperity is a collateral reward.

whitney said...

I can't take anyone seriously talking about 'our political system' who wants to elect a dementia patient as president so Harris can be installed. And for white people there really only two choices

Vote D - I hate white people, including myself, I hate the country, I want to burn it all to the ground

Vote R - no, that's insane

tcrosse said...

"Biden’s mind is sharp — in first-rate shape for second-rate thinking, as it’s always been."

So says P.J. O'Rourke, one-time Republican.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hillary and her money whores scattered and woven in our government and media, concocted the "Russians did it" lie.

Everyone forgets how hard Obama and Hillary attempted to smooge and entice the Russians with normalized relations. Everyone forgets that the Russians made the Clitnons rich.



West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

PJ was once funny and clever and occasionally insightful. Read "Parliament of Whores"- it's worth a few hours and a window into recent history.
PJ is now afflicted with TDS. Anyone who really believes that Russia (or China) would favor Trump over any alternative candidate, of either party, is delusional. Trump favors policies, such as fracking and decoupling, that destroy the economies of these adversaries. Even worse (for them), he is successful in carrying out these policies, as opposed to just talking about them and issuing position papers.
The link requires free registration, but then a 10 pound/month commitment. No thanks, to either the Sunday Times or modern-day PJ O'Rourke.

rcocean said...

wow, is PJ still alive? Amazing. He reminds me in a way of Hunter Thompson, I liked his gonzo, off-the-wall brand of conservatism when I was younger, and got several of this books. Tried to re-read them 10 years ago, and couldn't make it. Donated them to the library. He was good in the Cold War and railing against out-of-control spending. His sneers at "Populism" seem puzzling until you remember that he went to Harvard.

rcocean said...

BTW, Hillary wasn't dull - she was abrasive and annoying. Thank God trump won and spared us having to listen to her screechy voice. Harris is even worse, and we'll end up with her as President if Biden wins. He won't last more than one year.

madAsHell said...

Presidential replacement, Presidential installment, and now "Clinton was cordially detested."

I had to look up cordially. The first definition was "polite and respectful". The second definition was "with intense feeling".

It's always about my lying eyes.

tim in vermont said...

All I could read was your except and the introduction, but I am pretty sure that O’Rourke wrote a piece for National Lampoon that had the poor whites and poor blacks join forces to overthrow their oppressors. “Ain’t no *** ever repossessed my pickup truck!” was one line from it, IIRC, written in a freer age.

It’s a rebellion against the “New World Order.” At first I thought that this was just a rebellion against the infra-government that tried to shove Hillery down our throats as a conduit for their graft, and of course as a way to keep the war money flowing, but it’s pretty clear now that this is a transnational movement. Biden has promised to all but reverse Brexit by trying to force the UK to accept terms from the EU which the people of the UK soundly rejected in an election. Impeachment was all about asserting the power of this infra-government to run foreign policy no matter what a particular president may have promised the people in the election. We even had Freder here explaining to us that the President has no power to make foreign policy if it is rejected by this infra-government.

Incidentally, i got that term “infra-government” from a pretty good spy novel, “Shibumi” written in 1979, that I heard about here. It shows that nothing has changed. Some of you may wonder why I like to read old novels and take them seriously. Think of it as an archeology of ideas. Reading the “great philosophers” is one way to examine the history of ideas, but that’s like looking at texts in archeology, not totally to be trusted. The ideas embedded in novels often reflect the thinking of the culture as a whole at the time the novel was written.

MadisonMan said...

Why isn't Joe Biden 50 points ahead!!

Wince said...

'Populism' is an epithetic catch-all in use whenever the ideas popular with the good and the great aren’t popular.

Does O'Rourke specify who comprises his vision of the "good and great"?

From what's visible around the paywall, it seems like Colin Powell and John Kasich.

Now, that's the kind of blind sentimentality the previous, actually funny PJ O'Rourke could mock.

Temujin said...

I always enjoy reading PJ O'Rourke, however, I am not subscribing to read the article. But the clip you offered with his line on populism and what America is made up of, is perfect.

"A random horde of people loose in a vast and various space." We are a bastard mix of a nation if ever there was one. The mix of the world. And eventually, we all learn to get along in small groups of us. But the larger random horde? It's never been smooth.

Limited blogger said...

More expert analysis by someone who doesn't have a clue what is going on in America.

Marshall Rose said...

Clinton was the penultimate corrupt insider.

Trump was the ultimate outsider.

The electorate went with a hail mary, and it worked.

Game. Changed.

They all hate him, and us, plan accordingly.

tim in vermont said...

The dreamy prime minister to the north tweeted twice yesterday about our supreme court. What fucking business is it of his? It’s a transnational “world order” owned outright by the unrooted in nation hyper wealthy.

LilyBart said...

They keep talking about Hillary winning the popular vote. We don't have a 'national popular vote'. Each state has different rule, different procedures, etc. So there is no consistency - we don't know what the "national" vote would have been if we had one standard for voting.

Aggie said...

It's a little hard to read an opinion piece by someone who thinks of themselves as being clever, when their views now are the same as they were 4 years ago. Poor PJ, reduced to writing witty tomes for a foreign rag. He used to be both witty and relevant.

campy said...

"Why on earth isn’t Joe Biden set for a landslide?"

He is. It'll be a fraudulent landslide, but that won't matter.

J Melcher said...

P.J. is a great writer. Funny and wise and sensible.

It's been interesting to see him and listen to him talk. Not great. Not particularly funny. Sometimes sensible. But...

He did some of the "60 Minutes" TV show *Point/Counter-point* segments with Texas treasure the late Molly Ivins. (Ivins ALSO a great writer. Funny and wise and sensible. ) Neither of them worth listening to, and not particularly engaging of each other. This, I attribute to the fact that neither LISTENED to the other to engage. They each had a script, then boiled that script down to an outline of bullet points. Not stylish or funny nor, when so reduced, wise.

P.J. also appears with other minor celebrities such as Paula Poundstone on the NPR radio show "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me". Poundstone is like the antithesis. She is always listening hard for some gaffe or illogic, or pun, to go riffing on. P.J. again, seems terribly scripted. Not listening to the other panelists, nor particularly able to sell or deliver his own lines. Even the best jokes have to be told well. It's interesting, as I say, to listen hard, remember his material, and re-tell it later --- upselling it in the vocal delivery. It can be MADE funny.

I think each of us reads in a silent "voice" or two in our imaginations, with characteristic abilities tailored to our own sense of humor. So Dickens or Twain tickles us exactly where we are ticklish. P.J. -- just slightly less so -- does the same in his writing.

But he should never try to fill in for Rush Limbaugh, or do a Podcast, or get time at CPAC...

Tommy Duncan said...

This part is great:

"America is what you get when you turn a random horde of people loose in a vast and various space. Some came here on the make, some on the run, some were dragged here involuntarily as slaves, some were chased here by poverty, oppression or bigotry and some were here already and were defeated by disease and demographics until they became foreigners in their own country."

This is just wrong:

"The bunch of us have never got along...."

Michael K said...

O'Rourke is a humorist writing for people who don't like us much and especially don't like Trump.

John Borell said...

Paywalled. But I like the comment, we are what you get when you turn a horde loose in a vast space.

I don’t think any other country is like us. I don’t think any of them can truly understand us.

Fernandinande said...

I'm so old I can remember when P.J. O'Rourke was funny.

Drago said...

Reposted from another thread:

Unbelievable.

Now the democraticals are talking about impeaching Trump and/or Barr to stop the republicans from comfirming another SC justice!

Gaming this out, this impeachment gambit represents desperation on a scale not before seen which can mean only 1 thing: The democraticals are executing their mass mailing/ballot harvesting ploy with the clear understanding that Roberts was in their corner and would vote to give the democraticals what they needed to cheat Trump out of office.

But RBG's untimely passing has now thrown that plan, which is all the democraticals have left before open insurrection, into chaos.

Drago said...

PJ ain't PJ anymore.

He's just Peggy Noonan with a cocktail.

Vonnegan said...

O'Rourke used to be wonderful to read - irreverent and hilarious at his best. Now he's been reduced to shilling for the likes of Joe Biden. Did some investments go bad, PJ? Worried you don't have enough in the bank for your dotage? "Joe Biden is kind!" "Joe Biden is smart!" "Orange Man bad!" What a pathetic, irrelevant, unfunny hack. Blech.

Bay Area Guy said...

PJ was wonderful 30 years ago. Haven't heard much from him since. Not sure he has the current pulse of American politics in his grasp.

Narayanan said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
Clinton won the popular vote in ONE state. The most populated state in our union is CA, and she won it by around 4 million votes.

Her win in CA proves WHY we NEED the fairness of the EC.

otherwise- CA would pick our pres every time. Is that what we want?
-------------===============
I would Make it simple(r) >>>> CA Governor is also US President with Treasury disbursal at his pleasure.

Q: Could Hillary have won (still win before she dies) CA Gov

narciso said...

so do I, I remember when o'rourke was at his peak in 'holidays in hell' he described a filipino militia commander. 'compact like an attack hamsters' now he's gone respectable curmudgeon, a contradiction in terms,

the world of shibumi, is what we see now with the panopticon that snowden revealed, it would be hard for a nicholas hel, to hide out in the modern era, even in the basque highlands,

Big Mike said...

Americans have had their fun electing a clown flapping around in huge shoes he can’t fill, honking incessantly on his Twitter horn, the little car of his administration spilling forth far too many buffoons, zanies and felony indictments.

It is seldom that reading just the first sentence of an article so enrages me that I would like to grab the author and start pounding him (or her) until the worthless creature is crippled for life. A clown? That "clown" gave us the lowest black unemployment, lowest Hispanic unemployment, and lowest overall unemployment in, what, at least a half a century. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for two different accomplishments. And Hillary Clinton was not "cordially" despised -- she was hands down the most corrupt presidential candidate since James Blaine in the 19th century.

NCMoss said...

P.J. shared Hillary's scorn for the basket of deplorables and it shows.

SGT Ted said...

Actually, Hillary was detested. Her positive ratings always went down when she made more public appearances, because it reminded people of what a horrid person she is.

Which is why she made fewer public appearances as time went on and tried to turn the focus on how awful Trump is.

Add in the obvious health issues that she thought she could hide with an assist with complicit media support. She was a trainwreck and her supporters have always been in denial. A similar thing is happening with Joe Biden right now.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The dreamy prime minister to the north tweeted twice yesterday about our supreme court. What fucking business is it of his? It’s a transnational “world order” owned outright by the unrooted in nation hyper wealthy.

Indeed.

The largest story of all time circa now is Hunter Biden's wealth and HOW he acquired it. He's a know-nothing little prick who admits he's a know-nothing little prick and he lives large off the backs of tax payers thru washed the corrupt transnational money whore chain.

MEDIA. SILENT.

Sebastian said...

"America is what you get when you turn a random horde of people loose in a vast and various space."

But they weren't set loose randomly.

"The bunch of us have never got along...."

But most of us have, most of the time, helped by that vast space, economic growth that benefitted all, and belief in the country.

"Why on earth isn’t Joe Biden set for a landslide?"

And that's how you get more populism. Or was it meant to be like, you know, a joke?

Big Mike said...

I don’t think any other country is like us. I don’t think any of them can truly understand us.

@John Borell, agreed. In fact, having lived in or around Washington, DC, for nearly a half century before I retired, I would venture to say that the people who make up the regulatory establishment in the federal government do not truly understand people living west of the Blue Ridge.

Mrs. X said...

If you want to get around the paywall, go here

web archive

Paste the url for the web page with the O’Rourke article into the first box, then click save.

Skeptical Voter said...

Thinking of Hillary "ah aint now ways tahrred of waking up each morning and realizing that Hillary is Nacho Presidente today".

Good Lord she's a person who sort of grates on you. Dull on the stump doesn't begin to describe her. And as a fellow commenter pointed out, if you leave California out, Trump won the popular vote in the rest of the county by three million votes in 2016. But then California (where I live) has given the rest of the country Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Kamala Harris and the truly loathesome Adam Schiff. That's not the place you want making decisions for the rest of the country.

narciso said...

prime minister zoolander, lol, now he's writing in the anti brexit times, which is sporadically useful but often full of globalist claptrap,

Mike Petrik said...

It astonishes me that such an erudite group of readers cannot detect that O'Rourke's reference to the "great and good" was indeed mockery.

Yancey Ward said...

Wow, how far the mighty O'Rourke has fallen! Good grief- the things he is spouting in this essay are exactly the sort of things he used to mock with withering intensity and wit.

narciso said...

I think settler states (walter russell meads locution) like israel and australia, are closest to america, the uk is quite nearly lost, the comments in that link, are indicative of their attitude,

Amexpat said...

Would have like to have read the piece but couldn't get past the pay wall. P.O. O'Rourke has written some humorous and insightful books. He's also wrote a very good, non-humorous, book on Adam Smith's Wealth of the Nations.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Fernandinande said...
I'm so old I can remember when P.J. O'Rourke was funny.

+ THATS IT

tim maguire said...

P.J.’s right about Russia and “populism,” but he barely touches on why “popular vote winner” is bunk. It’s not just the candidates that campaign based on the electoral college system, voters vote based on it too. It is sheer stupidity to assume that you can determine who would have won a national vote by adding up all the state votes. Millions of people whose votes currently don’t count would change their behaviour if their vote suddenly did. Nobody has any idea what would have been the outcome of a vote that’s never been taken.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

"Trump wasn’t elected because Clinton was cordially detested."

I tend to think it was because she made it clear how much she detested a large section of the American people.

tim maguire said...

rcocean said...BTW, Hillary wasn't dull - she was abrasive and annoying.

O’Rourke was a Hillary supporter in 2016, so he pretty well has to pull his punches.

Spiros said...

Pelosi and the Democrats want to court pack. We look like a banana republic with politicians changing the rules in the middle of the game. Consider this:

In 2015, the outgoing socialists in Hugo Chávez’s party appointed an additional 13 justices to Venezuela's Supreme Court. The Court, now with 45 justices, then annulled the election of three deputies of the incoming conservative government. The new government was deprived of its super-majority and unable to shorten Nicolas Maduro's term in office.

Same bullsh*t here... We already have an overly politicized judiciary. Imitating Venezuela and Pelosi and Schumer's bully tactics will make it worse.

Darrell said...

Russia's interference was trivial, barely an inconvenience. Mush less than the UK's, or even Australia if you are up on the facts.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

DJT was elected in 2016 because:
..he was NOT a career politician;
..more particularly he was NOT Hillary Clinton - the epitome of D.C. political corruption and abuse of power.

Hint: in 2020 Joe Biden epitomizes
..candidate selection by career political seniority;
..DC corruption and abuse of power.

The only important disappointment with DJT is that he has not limited Federal spending.

eddie willers said...

But he should never try to fill in for Rush Limbaugh, or do a Podcast,

Dennis Miller's back with a podcast (Dennis Miller Option) and last night's was an hour with Victor Davis Hanson.

Well worth the time. Miller is still quick and makes references only learned people know.

Phil 314 said...

Smart, witty people will always write pejoratively of the dull, venial masses. And when they exercise their power they’re always blindly following a dark force.

“For the people, by the people, of the people....yeah but not THOSE people”

Static Ping said...

Unfortunately, I cannot get more than what I assume is halfway through the first paragraph.

The thing that jumped out at me was using Colin Powell as a notable Republican. Colin supported Obama's election both times, and that was against McCain and Romney, neither of which were extremist rabble rousers by any definition. (Ironically, in some ways Trump is actually more moderate than both of them.) At some point when a person continually supports one political party over another over a decade, you have to assume that their political affiliation has changed. Colin Powell is a Republican only in the sense that he is useful to use as a prop every election for voters who are not paying attention. It's like Max Boot writing the same column about why he is leaving the Republican party for the hundredth time. Maybe after the third piece you might have taken his word for it.

tim in vermont said...

"O'Rourke is a humorist writing for people who don't like us much and especially don't like Trump.”

What really turned me off to Bill Bryson was seeing him on TV in the UK mocking Americans for the enjoyment of the Brits.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Some of you may wonder why I like to read old novels and take them seriously. Think of it as an archeology of ideas. Reading the “great philosophers” is one way to examine the history of ideas, but that’s like looking at texts in archeology, not totally to be trusted. The ideas embedded in novels often reflect the thinking of the culture as a whole at the time the novel was written.”

Watched a Zoom podcast Friday that included Eugene Volokh, Mark Lemley, David Brin, PhD, and several others on the subject of micropayments. Brin, an astrophysicist, has written a number of thought provoking science fiction novels. During the podcast, he must have referenced his own books 3-4 times, stuff that he wrote 20-30 years ago. But then Heinlein, Asimov, etc are similarly quoted for stuff they wrote many decades ago. Even Tom Clancy- reread a book of his recently probably written during the Clinton Administration that seemingly predicted what we are seeing today.

Joe Smith said...

As stated (by me) before...Bill gave Hillary and road map to the White House and she spit on it...we all know how that turned out.

Smartest, most qualified person ever...

Gk1 said...

"PJ was once funny and clever and occasionally insightful" Yeah, those days are long gone unfortunately. I am not even sure he has authentic TDS other than needs to pose to get anything published any more.

Christopher Buckley struck me the same way. Voted for Obama then Hillary but I don't know how you pretend either was conservative in any way. They aren't strong or popular enough to buck the trend so they go with the path of least resistance.

rehajm said...

I recommend Eat the Rich...but mow he sounds like just another asshole from Hanover, NH

J. Farmer said...

His sneers at "Populism" seem puzzling until you remember that he went to Harvard.

Ha. P.J. O'Rourke most certainly did not go to Harvard.

I was a big fan of his writing when I was younger, especially his collection of foreign reporting Holidays in Hell. However, I don't recall reading anything new of his for the past decade. I wasn't even sure if he was still writing anywhere regularly. O'Rourke's schtick was always the drug-taking hippie leftist has seen the error of his ways and become a buttoned-up Republican. Unfortunately, time has passed P.J. by. His libertarian, live-and-let-live worldview has nothing useful to say about the challenges the US currently faces.

Big Mike said...

Farmer’s right (for a change?). P. J. O’Rourke got his bachelor’s degree from Miami of Ohio, and M. A. from Johns Hopkins.

eddie willers said...

Millions of people whose votes currently don’t count would change their behaviour if their vote suddenly did. Nobody has any idea what would have been the outcome of a vote that’s never been taken.

Same argument I have when confronted with the "Hillary won the popular vote".

The county I live in went for Trump with 87%. I didn't feel they needed my vote so I stayed home for my first election since 1972. If "popular" ruled, I'd have gotten my ass out of bed.

Amexpat said...

@J. Farmer
Unfortunately, time has passed P.J. by. His libertarian, live-and-let-live worldview has nothing useful to say about the challenges the US currently faces.

Why's that? Because it's not politically feasible in today's political climate or it's a bad worldview?

GingerBeer said...

rcocean: P.J .O'Rourke did not attend Harvard. He attended Miami University (Ohio). He was raised by a single mother on Public Assistance. One of my favorite quotes from O'Rourkes addressed his family's tight financial situation while growing up: "I didn't know we were poor, I just thought we were broke." Of course, this is 2020, so I can see how that would easily translate into "White Privilege."

Jamie said...

"Cordially despised"...

Maybe it's just because I myself really did despise Clinton as a politician (I kind of ignored her personal life except insofar as she made her personal life political, i.e., by blatantly riding her husband's cousins into office). But my strong recollection of that campaign year was that she was celebrated, she was going to be historic, she was brilliant, she was uniquely well qualified for the presidency by dint of eight years' residence in the White House and accompanying familiarity with all that the job entails, a bit of time in the Senate, and leading State during the Obama administration. I don't remember any #SettleForHer movement - quite the contrary. And, too, I remember the pervasive sense of glee from the media and the Left (but I re- well, you know how it goes) when Trump became the nominee.

But I was on the opposite side. Maybe her "supporters" were already disillusioned and disenchanted before Trump was seen to have even a prayer. What do I know?

hstad said...

"...She was dull on the stump..." Just another political B.S. statement. She could've won the Presidency but refused to outwork Mr. Trump. It showed in key states. When as a candidate you start believing your own propoganda I don't want you as leader of anything, let along the leader of the USA. The Clintons are 'Elitists' who believe they're entitled to whatever. If you don't believe me, look at their daughter, who they taught, she oozes with 'Elitism' and arrogance. I like Thomas Sowell's comments about 'Elites' - "...The confusion between 'Cosmic' injustices and 'Social' injustices is a crucial confusion, which enables many 'Elites' to see issue after issue as opportunities to be on the 'side of the angels' against the forces of evil..." The Clintons and Pelosis of the World remind me of Adam Smith's comments, "...I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good..."

Joe Smith said...

"Ha. P.J. O'Rourke most certainly did not go to Harvard."

I think people assume the Harvard connection because he wrote for 'National Lampoon' which was a Harvard Lampoon spin-off...

Amadeus 48 said...

Think about the Boston Massacre, and then substitute Antifa for Sons of Liberty and frozen water bottles for snowballs and rocks. The Sons of Liberty even came with clubs. (or was that baseball bats?). We were born rioting—but in a good cause. No taxation without representation and get your bloody lobsterbacks out of our city. Oh yeah, and we ruled ourselves just fine for 150 years from 1620–or 1630–without your help. And let me tell you about Crispus Attucks...a Son of Liberty who was both Black and Native American.

So, everything old is new again.

The leadup to the American Revolution shows why civil order is important.

Nancy Pelosi throws around impeachment like she is ordering ice cream. “I’ll have a pint of impeachment. And Mr. Schiff wants a gallon of Fudge Sludge.”

John henry said...


Obama, perhapsy
Carter was seen as not competent but not detested
Ford
Kennedy
Eisenhower
Coolidge
T roosevelt

That's since 1900. I don't think is fair to say they were detested.

Some people did didn't like some of their policies but we didn't see the loud noisy bullshit. Against the. Not like Bush, Reagan, nixon, lbj. And pdjt is in a class by himself.

John Henry

bagoh20 said...

If you took Trump's record both before and after election and put it into a Democrat, he would be a national hero and unbeatable by anybody.

First truly pro-gay and pro-gay marriage President who was so long before running. In other words, the first authentically so.

A man with extensive friendships and business relationships with powerful African Americans who made their own way, also long before it mattered to politics.

A man who created thousands of job before running. A man with extensive experience and success within the American free-market.

All that's before the unprecedented first term successes both domestic and foreign that are record-setting in national economic strength, the advancement of peace, avoidance of war, and strengthening of our foreign political positions around the world.

There is a Trump cult overpowering our nation's intellect, but it's an anti-Trump cult.

Rabel said...

Thanks to Mrs. X at 11:02 I was able to read the article.

1. His assessment of Biden's mental condition is dishonest.

2. If he believes what he wrote about America and Americans then then O'Rourke can kiss my ass.

3. Let me be clear - Fuck this motherfucker. Don't come around my place, brother.

bagoh20 said...

""Why on earth isn’t Joe Biden set for a landslide?"

Oh, he is. It just isn't going to slide the way he wants.

narciso said...

yes jack ryan was an outsider, even though he had been at the top ranks of the intelligence community, but he wasn't part of official washington, some reporters try to blackmail him with info about the families of his soldiers in clear and present danger in the next story,

Steve Pitment said...

P.J. voted for Hillary. All that razor wit he entertained us with all those years was an act to make a buck. He was alway one of those he skewered.

Robert Cook said...

"After 28 years of being lied to by uniparty crooks in DC, a fearless truth teller was going to win if one popped up."

And, as there was no fearless truth teller running, as usual, (the closest one to to it being Bernie Sanders), a pandering facsimile of one won the election. There's nothing Americans love more or will fall for faster than a shameless liar.

Robert Cook said...

"Russia's interference was trivial, barely an inconvenience. Mush less than the UK's, or even Australia if you are up on the facts."

And much, much less than has been America's interference--often violent--in the elections and internal politics of many other nations for at least the whole of living memory.

Rory said...

"Russia's interference was trivial, barely an inconvenience. Mush less than the UK's, or even Australia if you are up on the facts."

Russia's interference was of less impact than the Democrat interference in the Republican primaries.

tcrosse said...

"Why on earth is Joe Biden not set for a landslide?"

Answers to questions no-one is asking, pace Taranto.

FullMoon said...

Bypass paywalls. It works.




https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/master/README.md

Joe Smith said...

"Nancy Pelosi throws around impeachment like she is ordering ice cream."

The Republican house should already have basic articles of impeachment drafted should they ever take back the house and any Democrat president is in office.

Then, just fill in the blanks, hold secret hearings with secret 'whistleblowers,' and make shit up from there.

The fact that they don't and wouldn't tells you all you need to know about the Republican party.

They are soft. That's why they always lose.

Luke Lea said...

A great piece of satirical prose, with lots of funny/true bits everywhere. Even subsried to Times to read it! I don't no what commenters are talking about when they say he can't write. (But then I'm a literary snob!)

Krumhorn said...

Mrs. X, thank you!!

- Krumhorn

bagoh20 said...

"The fact that they don't and wouldn't tells you all you need to know about the Republican party.

They are soft. That's why they always lose."


Before I read your final sentence, I was thinking, "yea, the Republicans have some values, are Constitution-respecting, and adults, who handle their power much better than Democrats.

I'm not a Republican, and I was a Democrat my whole life until 2 years ago. I respect the Republicans for being far more lawful and in the truest sense, more American compared to the Democrats who have almost no American values left they have not soiled in just the last decade, and especially this year. That may leave the Republicans at a tactical disadvantage, but strategically there is a reason they currently have the Presidency, the Senate, and more governorships around the country than the Dems, despite the headwind from the media, Hollywood, and academia' I don't think joining the Democrats with their debased tactics would improve the Republican's appeal, much of which is exactly that difference. In short, the truth and relative lawfulness of the Republicans is their greatest strength.

bagoh20 said...

"And, as there was no fearless truth teller running, as usual, (the closest one to to it being Bernie Sanders)..."

I was watching a 60 minutes episode about Oymyakon, Russia, the coldest inhabited town in the world. The road there was built by Stalin using slave labor of political prisoners to connect the gulags. The prisoners were worked to death in the frozen wilderness. 60 Minutes said that they lost one man for every meter of the road amounting to 1 million murdered political prisoners (Wikipedia says 250,000), and that they would simply incorporate the bodies right into the road as they fell - "The Road of Bones".

As I thought about how any government could do such a thing to it's own people, I was reminded of Bernie Sanders and his love and admiration for the Soviet Union.

Joe Smith said...

@bagoh20

To a certain extent I agree with you, but the way things are headed may require street-fighters and not diplomats.

Democrats push every issue 2 steps in the liberal direction, and then the Republicans spend huge amounts of capital to pull things 1 step back and call it a 'win.'

They forget to notice that things have moved a step in the liberal direction.

Long-term, that is what's known as 'losing.'

Joe Smith said...

P.S.

I am a Republican, but am seriously considering registering independent.

Republicans don't stick together and they don't fight (other than Trump).

Michael K said...

There's nothing Americans love more or will fall for faster than a shameless liar.

Why Trump will not be re-elected in a landslide. Thank you, Cook. Good explanation.

Amexpat said...

Thanks Mrs. X (at 11:02) for the info that enabled me to read the article. P.J., unlike the subject of the article, still has his full wits intact. And formidable they are.

John henry said...

Joe Smith,

This is a bit off topic but I've never understood why anyone would register as anything, including independent.

It may be the dem/rep/lib party's business if I am a member. It is none of the state's business.

One more reason I would likely never register to vote if I lived up north in the land of sketchy elections.

John Henry

John henry said...

Big Mike, Narciso,

When Mike mentioned Shibumi, I was looking for something to read. 2 minutes later I had the sample on my phone. 20 minutes later I shelled out $14 for the book

Seems pretty good so far

Thank you

John Henry

John henry said...

Narciso, I'm working on the other book

John Henry

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

OK, so I read the entire article by going around the paywall (thank you, Mrs. X!)

O'Rourke used to be on target 99.9 percent of the time. Now he's like a worn-out relief pitcher who throws more balls than strikes, but can still throw a good pitch from time to time. He got some things right and quite a bit wrong in this piece. The things he got wrong have already been pointed out by various commenters. The worst one was accusing Trump voters of being xenophobic. O'Rourke deliberately conflates dislike of illegal immigration with hatred of foreigners, but then O'Rourke cheerfully accepted open borders a long time ago.

Here's what he gets right:

"Ever since 1999, when Trump announced he was forming a “presidential exploratory committee” to take baby steps into the unmapped wilderness of politics, every pollster, pundit, analyst, expert, practised insider and savvy outside observer has been completely wrong about the future of Trump. No amount of research, reason, deep thinking, far seeing, checking the public pulse and taking the electoral temperature made them anything other than wrong. Anybody who wasn’t wrong about Trump wasn’t paying attention."

Indeed. They were ALL wrong about him. And O'Rourke worries that he too is wrong about Trump and that all the experts are still wrong about Trump.

You're right, P.J. You are still wrong. So are the "experts."

Bunkypotatohead said...

His best article was " How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed And Not Spill Your Drink "

Joe Smith said...

"This is a bit off topic but I've never understood why anyone would register as anything, including independent."

As for independent I think you're right...it doesn't get you anything.

Being registered as a Dem or Rep would allow you to vote in the primaries for that party...

Nichevo said...

If "popular" ruled, I'd have gotten my ass out of bed.


Eddie, please get up Nov 3 and motivate. The public insanity makes it desirable to have every round of ammunition at hand for the oncoming battles. If popular vote is mere propaganda, and it is, why surrender the propaganda war?