"They see the midterms as an existential moment for the party. They are acutely aware that if the candidates he endorsed do well, the feeling of inevitability that he will be the party’s nominee in 2024 increases, annihilating any hope of reconstituting a political coalition around anything other than fealty to Mr. Trump.... He has remade the Republican Party in his image.... In his endorsements, Mr. Trump appears to be hedging against any narrative failures by placing his chips all over the table. So far, in 2022, he has endorsed over 150 candidates. Generally speaking, Mr. Trump has made two kinds of endorsements. Standard incumbent endorsements are the first... On the national level, some of Mr. Trump’s marquee endorsements seem risky. Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.... [I]n Georgia... the former football star Herschel Walker... Many people in Georgia love Mr. Walker without reservation and will forgive him any indiscretion. When I raised the issue of Russian roulette, a Georgia man responded, 'He keeps winning.'... Whether Mr. Trump’s handpicked candidates win or not, the Republican field that will emerge from these primary battles will be overwhelmingly Trumpy.... [T]o blunt Mr. Trump’s wholesale takeover of the party... scores of candidates endorsed by Mr. Trump who win their primaries will need to lose in the general election...."
Writes Sarah Longwell, "the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project and the publisher of The Bulwark," in "J.D. Vance Is More Proof That Trump Is King of the Republican Party" (NYT).
I haven't been reading enough about Herschel Walker to have seen, until now, that he's talked about playing Russian roulette more than 6 times! Is that anything but crazy?
The oldest use of the term "Russian roulette" — according to the OED — is a 1937 short story by George Surdez. Here's a passage from that story, quoted in the Wikipedia article "Russian roulette":
"Did you ever hear of Russian Roulette"' When I said I had not, he told me all about it. When he was with the Russian army in Rumania, around 1917, and things were cracking up, so that their officers felt that they were not only losing prestige, money, family, and country, but were being also dishonored before their colleagues of the Allied armies, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, anywhere, at the table, in a café, at a gathering of friends, remove a cartridge from the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head and pull the trigger. There were five chances to one that the hammer would set off a live cartridge and blow his brains all over the place.
Ooh! That's playing with very different odds. I thought you only put one bullet in, but they took only one bullet out. I'm sure Walker, who survived 6 times, must have had only one bullet in.
I just recently watched a movie with a Russian roulette scene. No, not "The Deer Hunter." "Unfaithfully Yours":
Here's something else from the Wikipedia article, something that might have inspired Walker:
In The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X recalls an incident during his burglary career when he once played Russian roulette, pulling the trigger three times in a row to convince his partners in crime that he was not afraid to die. In the epilogue to the book, Alex Haley states that Malcolm X revealed to him that he palmed the round. The incident is portrayed in the 1992 film adaptation of the autobiography.
In assessing Walker's fitness for the Senate, would he be a better candidate if he palmed the round 6 times and tricked onlookers or if he played real Russian roulette 6 times and lucked into survival?
The "Russian roulette" article links to "Counterphobic attitude." If Walker was not palming the round, then we might ascribe this attitude to him as we consider whether he'd make a good Senator:
Counterphobic attitude is a response to anxiety that, instead of fleeing the source of fear in the manner of a phobia, actively seeks it out, in the hope of overcoming the original anxiousness. Contrary to the avoidant personality disorder, the counterphobic represents the less usual, but not totally uncommon, response of seeking out what is feared....
Acting out in general may have a counterphobic source, reflecting a false self over-concerned with compulsive doing to preserve a sense of power and control. Sex is a key area for counterphobic activity, sometimes powering hypersexuality in people who are actually afraid of the objects they believe they love....
Oh, but you came here to talk about J.D. Vance!
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70 comments:
Malcolm X pulled off the first Russia Hoax
Trump’s grip on the party is slipping."
22-0, ain't he? Oh, that's right; he IS
Clean Sweep: All 22 Trump-Backed Candidates Win Primaries in Ohio, Indiana
That’s not competition:
That’s gambling…
Damn.
If Trump runs he is going to be the nominee.
Desantis has said clearly and unambiguously if Trump runs he believes the 2020 election was stolen and that he will not oppose Trump in the primary.
2 years is a long time but the likelihood Trump runs and wins in 2024 is over 50%.
And of course Ann starts from the never Trump fake republican position pushed by the corporate media.
Ann feels it is her duty to support the state media propaganda outlets.
’…the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project and the publisher of The Bulwark’
The Surrender Caucus.
No one understands- those across the aisle divide- that it’s not really about Trump, do they.
It’s not about Trump, for me, anyway…
Trump-endorsed candidates went 55-0 in Ohio and Indiana yesterday.
For people who judge Vance’s candidacy on its merit, not much is at stake. If you make him into a proxy for Trump, then you have to take your lumps if he wins.
A gay friend in college back in the 90s once talked about bare backing with casual hookups. Called it Sexual Russian Roulette....intensifies the moment of orgasm knowing this could also be the end. Same as pulling the trigger knowing this could be the end.
BTW: He's still alive and healthy, just like Herschel
Trump's "grip on the party" is that he won the party's primary election races in 2016 and 2020.
22-0, not 55-0. Please forgive my irrational exuberance…
I'd be interested to know what Vance's brilliant wife really thinks about all this.
Ronald Reagan (in the form of "Reagan Democrat" voters, anyway), Ross Perot, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump. The signposts were there. The realignment of the Republican party from the elitist, coastal, big money scum currently at the Bulwark to a populist, heartland party of the working class, small business owners, and the self employed, has been in the works for a long time. It only seems sudden because the smug entitled bastards weren't paying attention. Hopefully the transformation will stick. The tiny appendage of "conserving conservatism" twits are not a significant voting block and they're welcome to go join their billionaire donors over in the Blue party: the party of government employees (i.e. parasites), the unemployed, the overeducated, and the rich. The Republicans will just be the party of people who actually work for a living.
What the DC Rinos don't get, is that we are sick and tired of them CAVING every single time to Progressives, just so they can say they get along and are bi-partisan, whilst the left rams everything down our throats. Trump got it. J.D. gets it. The Bubble crowd don't.
So, it comes from a short story about events of 20 years before, and everyone treats it as fact, through sheer repetition. It does make a good movie fodder though. That scene from Unfaithfully yours points up its flaw. Every scene in the movie goes on a little too long and is a little too verbose. Compare it to Sullivan's travels or Palm Beach where the jokes come fast and furious.
I like the movie, but its a cut below Sturges best work.
Walker said he played Russian Roulette when he was home alone and did it because he "loved competition" so much.
Russian Roulette at home alone isn't competition, it's gambling.
Any article from the NYT/Wapo is misleading. If the "never trumpers" and "DC Republicans" thought Trump was losing his grip and they were back in charge, they're even dumber than I thought. We I didn't think was possible.
The left talks about Republicans as controlled by Trump through some sort of personal spell that Trump has put on them. The reality is that Americans find that an America first set of policies match their personal views on immigration, law and order, bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, family, education without political indoctrination, and avoidance of foreign wars that are not in America’s national interest.
But the left can’t face the fact that Elon Musk was right in his stick figure depiction endorsement. The Progressive wing of the Democrat party is hollowing out it’s moderate base. We’ll see the results in the midterms.
If one votes for democrats and RINOs, then the odds of the public getting poorer and politicians getting richer are much higher than if one plays Russian Roulette.
The Bulwark ???
Is that Still a thing?
I thought they'd all gotten cirrhosis of the liver, or some other alcoholic disease?
you're talking like Trump taking over the Republican party is a bad thing
I already have election and abortion fatigue. How's my summer shaping up?
No one understands- those across the aisle divide- that it’s not really about Trump, do they.
Nope. They believe their own bullshit. It's like the cartoon Musk tweeted the other day.
I was glad that JD won, but I am NOT a fan of the people Trump has picked in Georgia. Walker is a ridiculous, unserious candidate. He is inadequate to the job at a time that we truly. need serious people who know their stuff. Kemp did a terrific job leading us through the "experiment in human sacrifice." It feels like Trump is just picking fights with that race.
Not ONE penny while McConnell is in leadership. He is the poster child for a cowardly losing America.
If it's insightful analysis you're after, stay far, far away from The Bulwark.
'nuf said.
What the DC rinos ( including my excretable senator Cornyn ) is that we want no more selling of industry overseas, a secure border, vouchers ( in my opinion ) and no more corrupt doj/fbi/cia/irs.
Period.
Not one penny while McConnell is in leadership.
When I first learned of the concept of Russian roulette, having one bullet in the six-chamber revolver was regular Russian roulette; having five bullets in the gun was Russian Russian roulette.
For me, I live in Seattle, and the progressive politics here is insane. Wasteful, authoritarian/totalitarian, and disconnected from reality. I don't expect it to change too much too soon. Reality and human nature catch up, though.
Election night with Trump was a relief for me, because of the economy, and the values I still value being somewhat represented against the postmodern move and the drift inexorably Leftward (especially by the academy/media). I want for those I love and myself more opportunities and lower prices.
But Trump is kind of a huckster, and a narcissistic shithead (like Hilary). Our establishment is calcified and has systemic challenges.
I don't really respect the Never Trumpers too much (establishment vs populist), though I agree with many of their points. Progs and the prog adjacent aren't your friends. Some on the Old New Left (Greenwald/Weinsteins/Harris/Taibbi) might agree on speech, but you'll split eventually. Some classical liberals have a lot of alignment with Never Trumpers, but they too will likely split.
If you want to keep selling your wares, figure out a way to stick to your principles, unite the base and the establishment, and tame some of those worse passions. Unite on speech/old school liberal values where you can, but keep reality in mind. That's quite enough of a task.
But in the academy/media, such folks are a tiny minority.
My two cents.
farmgirl said...
"No one understands- those across the aisle divide- that it’s not really about Trump, do they.
It’s not about Trump, for me, anyway"
They've never understood. in fact. They work very hard not to understand.
It's illegal to say so - but Trump really won in 2020. The left cheated - with their corrupt vote counting and paid mules & dark of night drop-box/Facebook dark money schemes. IN Targeted blue precincts.
love or hate Trump - everyone understands that life was good under Trump. Life was good until Chinese Communist lab virus/ Get insider democrats with ties to global insider deal money laundering installed.
yeah- I said it. SMBBD.
In the race for Governor in Nebraska, Trump has endorsed Charles W. Herbster. Big rally for him last Sunday.
New poll released today, shows Herbster a distant second but with 19% undecided.
I say Herbster loses in a much closer race; it won't be a blowout.
Herbster was charged by a Nebraska state senator with reaching up her dress at a big GOP party. Other women have said he grabbed their butts. One came out in public; seven are unnamed.
This Herbster guy is just a goofball. A goofball who spent more than $6m of his own money on this race.
Who do you think would be best able to untangle the supply chain mess?
And who will be best at getting food to the starving in the oncoming Green Famine caused by the Greenie's forcing an unworkable transition to renewables on us?
And who will get gas and furnace oil back on line for the American people?
Questions which will be asked before 2024 and which will determine the election.
"Republican Accountability Project"
Would that be the project to make Republicans accountable to actual voters?
The Bulwark types would rather lose gracefully and fastidiously than win, which inevitably involves a little "kickin' and gougin' in the blood and the mud and the beer." Basta! to that.
Vance could well be running a con on his voters given his written history, but here is the thing- Mandel or Gibbons would have simply been another D.C. Republican, and the party's voters are looking outside D.C. for leadership. A roll of the dice is what you have to do sometimes to make progress.
Herschel Walker is beloved in Georgia.
He wrote extensively about his mental health problems a long time ago. Today he has been through treatment and is not ashamed to say so.
I wonder now many of the people in that room have prescriptions for adderal, see shrinks, and otherwise avail themselves of addiction or psychiatric care or need to do so? And how many would write openly about it?
Rafael Warnock has financial skeletons in his closet, but nobody dare discuss them, least of all whiny GOPe puppies who are supposed to be supporting our chosen candidates.
This is why the Georgia GOP has fewer friends among GOP voters than any state I've looked into.
The Bulwark is a joke. The GOP's move towards populism is healthy and popular. It may heal the patient.
I wrote this last night in the cafe, but I'll repeat it here:
"I live in Ohio. I'm genuinely surprised that J.D. Vance won. He was dead in the water not too long ago. His campaign was kind of pathetic. I know sometimes Trump's endorsements have gone south, but this is one case where a Trump endorsement decided the primary. In case anyone was wondering, Trump has proven that he's still the kingmaker in the party."
Vance doesn't come across as all that sincere. Nevertheless, he's made his commitment, and we'll see if he sticks with it.
I've been told that declaring a fair election unjust is crazy. Stacey Abrams is running unopposed in the Democrat primary for Georgia. Whomever wins, looks like Georgia is good with Russian Roulette. How did Atlanta's CNN+ do in its game? oh...
Surely Trump’s power over Republican voters is grossly exaggerated if he can’t even bring down the Georgia Republican governor who stole the election from him.
The Establishment have to support the Narrative that Trump (and hence all who vote and support him) are evil, not on the other side. To admit otherwise is to confess that their policies (open borders, green energy, climate change mitigation, shipping manufacturing overseas and now judicial "reform" and defunding the police) might be considered wrong.
Even though they clearly are to anyone paying attention.
These people can't organize a two-car funeral, but they're great at lining their pockets, and they'll fight to your death any attempt at reforming the system.
Of course we know it isn't about Trump. It's about your butt hurt feewings because nowadays you have to have a working knowledge of differential equations or some other valuable technical skilz for a man to support a family and buy a home for his stay at home wife.
Howard, even the guy who defined who defined the Emerging Democrat Majority recognizes that attitude isn't selling.
In the other racial groups, it was working class voters who drove their decline in Democratic margin. This was particularly striking among Hispanics where Democratic margins dropped 18 points among working class voters but only 2 points among college voters.
Thus, it would appear that Democrats’ fate in Pennsylvania in 2022 depends heavily on holding their modest gains among white working class voters and stopping the bleeding among nonwhite working class voters.
So how are they doing? Not well, not well at all.
In the most recent Pennsylvania poll from Franklin and Marshall College, just 33 percent of voters view Biden’s job performance positively (excellent/good) vs. 67 percent who term it only fair or poor. From the standpoint of the Democrats’ Pennsylvania problem, the results are even worse. A meager 26 percent of white working class voters view Biden’s performance positively. That does not auger well for keeping the Democrats’ modest white working class gains from 2020.
But yeah, you got yours, so just keep stomping on the fingers of the people trying to climb the ladder after you.
If Trump is the GOP nominee in 2024, I will vote for every GOP candidate on the ticket except for president. I’ll probably vote third party for president. In other words, I’ll be voting for divided government, which is an excellent second best solution to a problem where there is no first best solution.
Howard. You voted for Biden. So this mess is on you. Do you need help finding where you parked your car?
Every election of my life has been described as existential at some point during campaigns. Sort of like Earth juuuuuust being missed by a meteor every two years.
Sort of like BS spewed forth by election campaigns.
And Trump, with a small entourage of administration and family, is coming to Austin in 10 days for a rally. Why? Who knows, except that it will be hyuuuuuge. Radio adverts have him saying it is a Save America rally, because the country is going straight to Hell. So perhaps a little saltier than his election rallies.
I'd go just for the fun of it, but a traumatic experience at a '68 Nixon rally leaves me unwilling to attend political functions. (Shakes fist at sky, yells, "NIXXXXXOOOON!")
Trump is not a cause, he is a symptom. We had the Tea Party. They were slandered by their opposition, and they had no leadership cadre. They were picked clean and shunted aside.
Along came Trump, running for POTUS as a Republican after seven or eight party switches. Trump, a classic promotor, saw an opportunity to run as the ultimate outsider, first against Jeb! and then against HRC, the ultimate insider. Remember those tea partiers, lying bent and bleeding by the roadside? He connected with them by feeling their pain at having been used and then ignored. And much to his own surprise, he won. And then, after a remarkably successful presidency (everything is relative) he lost.
Now Trump is out for validation and vindication. Look out, here comes the Outer Borough Express. J D Vance played this like a pro. Yale Law School? What is that? J D once said mean things about Trump? Did he? Well, he didn’t know what he was talking about, and he is more than willing to admit it. JD saw the light and now he is in the finals.
It doesn’t take much to win Trump’s favor. Just be nice to him in thought, word, and deed. And always be loyal. If you have criticisms, keep them to yourself. Everything is great, and he will make you part of the Greatest Comeback the World Has Ever Seen.
If Trump runs again, he gets my vote. He earned it with his actions. His mouth I can do without, but to be honest, he is not that bad for a New Yorker. But that is a low bar. What I hope is that he decides he has given enough, and stands aside for Desantis, who I think would be a fine President.
Blogger Howard said...
Of course we know it isn't about Trump. It's about your butt hurt feewings because nowadays you have to have a working knowledge of differential equations or some other valuable technical skilz for a man to support a family and buy a home for his stay at home wife.
Please take your meds, Howard. The RINOs around Dewine sponsored two candidates to split the vote and defeat Vance. Didn't work. All your whining, Howard, will not make a difference. The Republican Party is changing. The "clerisy class" joined the Dims and mostly about abortion. That is why they (you) are having a hissy fit about the leaked draft opinion. The left brought this on itself. Late term abortion has swung public opinion away from "safe, legal and rare." Bill Clinton is a master politician. You people should have stuck to his advice.
Christopher is one of those chaps whom whiles away enjoyably aggravating his butt hurt.
“If Trump runs he is going to be the nominee.
“Desantis has said clearly and unambiguously if Trump runs he believes the 2020 election was stolen and that he will not oppose Trump in the primary.”
Which is why the two of them together are the dream ticket.
I don't know much about Herschel Walker. But anyone who has watched Deer Hunter, or a host of other films with Russian Roulette scenes, has thought about, and probably talked about, Russian Roulette. If he's advocating it, it certainly would be a sign of a mental disorder.
Herschel has been very open about his life-long struggles with mental illness--his 2008 autobiography Breaking Free talks about having auditory hallucinations and multiple personality disorder.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3346240
It's funny that the same people who demand we all be exquisitely sensitive to mental health concerns with respect to their pet causes (transgenderism, whatever) will laugh, jeer, and call people crazy when the object is someone they've decided it's ok to hate.
Anyway, go Dawgs.
Perhaps Republicans just agree with Trump's policies and prescriptions. It seems like only yesterday, the US economy was rocking, lower SE classes were actually benefitting from it for the first time in a long while, and the country became energy independent. Then something happened to undermine all that.
I, for one, couldn't care less about some non-statesman like tweets.
They still don't understand why Trump is popular. And most likely never will.
Trump is no Svengali.
He simply does to the best of his ability what he promises voters he'll do.
I got a BFO about bi-partisanship: In the times leading up through the Clinton administration, bi-partisanship was not unusual. Now there is no such thing because of lack of balance. The closest we get today is maybe, Dems want some Big Thing type of change and they might "compromise" with Reps by scaling back their Big Thing to a Medium Thing.
That's OK as far as it goes, BUT, when the Reps want a Big Thing kind of change, or a Medium or even Small Thing, the Dems refuse outright. The ratchet only goes one way.
DJT fights to win. That makes him very dangerous to the Chinese owned American politicians. It took a carefully planed Wuhan virus pandemic developed by by Gates and Fauci to open our 2020 election vote counters to be rigged.
So if we want to survive this century, then we need fighters like DJT and VANCE. Many women don’t want such rude fighters who are actually mean to the China/Dems. But we have no other hope unless Chinese rule over us is our preferred option.
Commenter Andrew reports: "I'm genuinely surprised that J.D. Vance won. He was dead in the water not too long ago. His campaign was kind of pathetic." This is a reply to that.
I want to give one explanation/perspective. I was in the kitchen and turned on C-SPAN radio, and it was in the midst of a long interview between an interviewer (journalist) and candidate. I didn't know who the candidate was, though it became clear from context that it was an Ohio race. I was impressed that the candidate answered questions as they were asked, and didn't try to reinterpret the questions (ala " I'm glad you asked about abortion, because babies grow up to be school children and my education plan....." I don't think I always agreed with the politician, but I was impressed that he understood the questions and answered them in a relatively straight-forward way. You've guessed by now that the politician was JDVance. (and you might know this was part of a series of one-on-one interview with candidates. And no I didn't listen to the entire program.)
I do think there is a hunger for politicians who will answer honestly, and not "like politicians". I think this was part of the attractiveness of DJT (though don't reply he was far from perfect). I think Vance has th is attractive quality and that people who disagree with him will vote for him because of this quality.
Trump has not, never has, and never will, have a grip on the Republican Party.
Amazing that after all this time, people still have no idea why he was elected.
"What the DC Rinos don't get, is that we are sick and tired of them CAVING every single time to Progressives, just so they can say they get along and are bi-partisan, whilst the left rams everything down our throats."
Some examples, please, of "DC Rinos...CAVING every single time to Progresives..." and of "...the left ram(ming) everything down our throats."
The idea that support for Trump is about his personality, or that him being a prick is a negative, is wrong and stupid. Trump's supporters know that his policies favor them at the expense of the people who hate them. He wants to secure the border, get our energy here in America, out of our own ground, not engage in stupid wars in other people's countries, and he wants the government to be in the business of making life more secure and jobs more available for Americans. He has zero interest in the whatever faddish depravity is the current obsessive kink among leftists. He will never take guns away from Americans. He wants the streets safe. He wants a strong military to deter enemies, not to spread democracy and the rainbow flag among foreigners who don't want either. This is all simply sanity. But our country is so mentally and morally sick, that he is the only guy who can be trusted to try to do any of it, though Ron DeSantis looks promising. And to do those things he has to fight the entire world. If he was a nice guy they would destroy him in a matter of seconds. They tried all day, every day, to destroy him already. He never backed down and he got part of what he wanted accomplished. But for Covid, he'd be President now. Plenty of people will happily vote for Trump again, and if the GOP insiders don't like him, too bad. We all look forward to a third opportunity to tell the Democrats and the Republicans ... insert profanity here, I will maintain civility since the proprietor is a lady.
The kennedy honors is honoring a ballot harvestor that was on video tape all over the internet with A Profile in Courage award. Now they are rewarding the cheaters. What a farce and a joke our country has become under regressive progressives. How embarrassing, and SHAME on the Kennedy Center for rewarding cheating. Shaye Moss should be in prison along with her mother Ruby.....not collecting elite regressive progressive awards. https://drt.cmc.edu/2022/04/21/profiles-in-courage/
Jim at said...
They still don't understand why Trump is popular. And most likely never will.
You get that right. It's really pretty simple. He says what he will do and then he does it. I know that's tough for lefties and rinos to understand but it is basic.
To give you one example, John McCain said "Build the damn wall" then voted against it. Then he said to repeal Obamacare, then voted against repeal.
https://www.wcax.com/2022/03/17/vt-lawmakers-approve-measure-thermal-energy-bill/
https://www.wcax.com/2022/04/06/two-hunting-bills-advance-out-vt-senate/
Here are 2bills affecting Vermont, led by Liberals.
People moving in from other states are already voicing their opinion on “our” ways of life. Changing a less controlled space into where they just left. Another bill Federaly passed is going to make it illegal to house livestock in tiestall barns- instead, all new buildings will be loose housing. Amish members of our Co-op will be phased out of a market, if I surmise correctly. No more little red VT barns…
Of course, these bills being rammed down our throats are probably laudable in your eyes, Mr Cook.
“Of course we know it isn't about Trump. It's about your butt hurt feewings because nowadays you have to have a working knowledge of differential equations or some other valuable technical skilz for a man to support a family and buy a home for his stay at home wife.”
Wth does this even mean?
Maybe the Democrats can't organize a two car funeral when it comes to governing but they hit it out of the park in suppressing alternate narratives. Today a lady in my neighborhood posted on Next Door about a letter she received from the local elementary school principal regarding the content of health and sexuality class. Her post was popular enough to be included in an email of top posts that I received which included a legible image of part of the letter which included descriptions of the enlargement of pubic areas and involuntary emissions which seemed odd for a school that only goes through 4th grade. When I followed the link, the post was gone. I sent her a message asking what had happened. She said she was attacked by people calling her a liar and other names and she didn't have time for dealing with it so she deleted her post. I'm thinking about this happening all over America and I am steaming.
I guess people are entitle to their own facts these days.
in the political roulette ===
Trump and Walker <> which one bullet taken out or bullet put in
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