But the Trumpian propaganda turns what is an unfortunate social chasm into venomous conspiracy theory. It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
If only Trump were careful and merely posited a hypothesis.
Ironically, Brooks is simply assuming that. It doesn't ring true to me. When does Trump do that? All the time? Everyone the regime attacks he presumes is virtuous? That's an overbroad assumption about overbroad assumptions.
Trump’s political career has been kept afloat by elite scorn. The more elites scorn him, the more Republicans love him.
Republicans? A lot of Republicans hate him. I don't think the word you want there is "Republicans." Maybe: Republicans minus the self-enclosed Brahmin Republicans, plus a lot of untouchables Democrats think are supposed to be Democrats.
The key criterion for leadership in the Republican Party today is having the right enemies.
The only key criterion Trump had was appeal to outsiders. His enemies were people with leadership in the Republican Party.
Into this situation walks the F.B.I. There’s a lot we don’t know about the search at Mar-a-Lago. But we do know how the Republican Party reacted. The right side of my Twitter feed was ecstatic. See! We really are persecuted!... The investigation into Trump was seen purely as a heinous Regime plot.
Purely? I've about had it with Brooks and his "simply"s and "purely"s. The Trump side is always about just one thing — no complexity, no nuance. That's the mindset of Brooks's self-enclosed Brahmin class. They are sophisticated and multi-faceted. Those other people are shallow dolts.
At least for now, the search has shaken the Republican political landscape. Several weeks ago, about half of Republican voters were ready to move on from Trump, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll....
He's talking about a poll that asked who Republican voters would vote for if the presidential primary were held today. 49% said Trump. That means they picked him over everyone else as the candidate. Coming in second was Ron DeSantis, with 25%. Trump was still blowing DeSantis away, and DeSantis is offering to carry on the Trump tradition (without all the extra baggage).
I wouldn't say that's Republicans "ready to move on." It's more like Trump triumphant.
Why was the trigger pulled on the search? Wasn't it about a fear that Trump's 2024 momentum was getting out of control? They just misjudged how people would react to the Mar-a-Lago raid. Now, I suppose they need to try to say, the raid was entirely nonpolitical, just following normal procedure, without any thought for whether it would increase Trump's power, which, unfortunately, it did.
In a normal society, when politicians get investigated or charged, it hurts them politically....
"Normal." Who made it abnormal? Brooks is too self-enclosed to self-examine. "Normal" is another one of his unacknowledged simple assumptions.
What happens if a prosecutor charges Trump and he is convicted just as he is cruising to the G.O.P. nomination or maybe even the presidency? What happens if the legal system, using its criteria, decides Trump should go to prison at the very moment that the electoral system, using its criteria, decides he should go to the White House? I presume in those circumstances Trump would be arrested and imprisoned.
Here you go with those presumptions again. Brooks is still holding out hope of containing the Trump monster. The man must be put in a cage! It's the only way. But it's this overreach that puts you and your highly educated metropolitan elites in an ever-worse position to do the one thing that you need to do: Be better than him and win the contest!
I also presume we would see widespread political violence from incensed Trump voters who would conclude that the Regime has stolen the country.
And there's your knee-jerk accusation — talk about simple assumptions! — that Trump supporters will be violent. I guess that's the last desperate hope: violence. From the other side. Those maniacs will lose their mind!
In my view, this is the most likely path to a complete democratic breakdown.... ... America absolutely needs to make sure that Trump does not get another term as president....
Are you for or against democratic breakdown? To say "America absolutely needs to make sure that Trump does not get another term as president" is to say there's a higher priority than having a democratic election and seeing who gets chosen by the people. You're saying we can't trust the people. They are deluded and stupid.
My impression is that the F.B.I. had legitimate reasons to do what it did. My guess is it will find some damning documents that will do nothing to weaken Trump’s support.
What are you picturing that's "damning"? You guess it won't weaken Trump’s support, but it will nevertheless be "damning." I can't think what this material would be. Something in the documents — not just that he took some documents that, under a statute, he wasn't supposed to take — but there's something revealed in these documents that we don't already know? What would it be? Dear Diary, I know I lost the election, but I'm just too ashamed to admit it....
Brooks concludes:
I’m also convinced that, at least for now, it has unintentionally improved Trump’s re-election chances. It has unintentionally made life harder for Trump’s potential primary challengers and motivated his base.
Unintentionally?! Brooks seems to be admitting what Trump supporters think: The raid was intended to hurt Trump's political chances. I don't think that's what Brooks intended to say. I think he wanted to portray the raid as neutrally principled FBI professionalism grounded in devotion to the rule of law.
It feels as though we’re walking toward some sort of storm and there’s no honorable way to alter our course.
No honorable way but we absolutely need to make sure that the enemy is defeated? If Trump wafted those 2 ideas, the self-enclosed Brahmin class would be accusing him of fomenting insurrection.
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130 comments:
And this is the miscalculation that the Feds made in this ridiculous stunt.
Many people who have mocked Trump supporters for believing he has been wrongfully pursed by the "Deep State" for the past six years (initial crime was beating HRC), are starting to think, "Hey, they may have a point there".
"Trump’s political career has been kept afloat by elite scorn."
The majestic sweep of toxic smug.
"venomous conspiracy theory"
Does anybody have any more of these? Seriously I'm in super short supply...
...all mine are coming true.
Control-F:
"Ted Stevens"
"Tom Delay"
"Rick Perry"
"Curt Weldon"
This was never simply about Trump. We've been watching the DoJ pull this shit for decades.
assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
I'd like to see/hear/read some of this evidence that they aren't.
Anyone? Anyone at all? Freder? (see, i'm not being an asshole, i'm asking for your help!)
Just wait till Brooks reads the Bee article they're sure to release soon and it turns from conspiracy fiction into conspiracy fact in the span of 6 months.
Boy, won't he have egg on his face!
It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
I see you took off after Brook's for denying any nuance to Trump/GOP arguments but I feel like pointing this one out as well. Few people who view the founding of this country in a positive light would make the claim that our leading institutions were corrupt from the start. That's a 1619 Project-style claim. The truer claim is our institutions *have been corrupted* by the inevitable growth, like weeds in a garden, of malfeasance that attends when people are attracted to those instructions by the prospect of personal advancement.
I'd also like to see what evidence Brooks has that this *doesn't* happen periodically.
What an asshole that Brooks is! So many ass-umptions! We should observe Trumpists and how they react and behave to anything they consider an affront to Trump and then we will get a better picture of what to expect from them in the future and not just assume they will react violently.
Thanks for the fisking, Althouse. It's what you do best. WSJ should print it.
"But the Trumpian propaganda turns what is an unfortunate social chasm into venomous conspiracy theory."
How so? Russia collusion was an actual hoax. The Steele dossier was an actual fabrication. The persecution of Flynn et al. was real.
"It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith."
What evidence? Name one thing the "leading institutions" do that isn't "partisan." Comey, Wray, Brennan, all the agency heads, all university presidents, all MSMers--all Dems, all partisan, all the time.
The problem is not that the Brahmin class is "self-enclosed." It is that they presume to rule over us.
Trump is middle America's middle finger to the ruling class. Even those of us who think he's a clown support him just for that. It's not enough and we need better, but for now, it's what we've got.
Obama's 60 million presidential documents could not be reached in Chicago for comment.
A very thorough fisking of Brooks! No wonder you get quoted in the WSJ…
The problem that Brooks completely ignores in that essay is the Mueller Russian Hoax investigation. This raid by the FBI and DoJ didn't happen outside that history of Trump investigations. None of the accusations for the last 7 years have held water- not a single one. Trump is the most investigated president in US history- investigated in jurisdictions that had zero operational difficulty in obtaining a grand jury indictment and conviction- this should tell a person with a triple digit IQ that there is nothing there with which to charge and convict him, at least not outside of a kangeroo court proceding and Stalin-like show trial. I personally believe the Democrats are now fully prepared to do the kangeroo court/Stalin show trial, and will do so in the next 2 months, and if that doesn't get Trump, they will assassinate him if it looks like he is going to win in 2024.
Ann writes: "I can't think what this material would be. Something in the documents, not just that he took documents that, under a statute, he wasn't supposed to take, but there's something revealed in these documents that we don't already know?" This is a key point.
Documents are "classified" because they contain information which, if the "wrong" people or parties know the information, could result in injury to the interests of the country (which in a democracy means the common interests of the people.)
But Trump already knew or could easily have known, all the information that was classified. So what is the risk that the DoJ and FBI are attempting to mitigate? That Trump might hand over the classified documents to the "wrong" person or party? Let's look at this more closely:
1. If the documents contain highly technical information, not capable of being remembered or memorized, Trump already could have turned over the documents to the "wrong" people or parties while he was President. If he didn't do it then, why exactly would he be more inclined to do it now?
1.a. In any event, he could certainly have already scanned and disseminated copies of the documents digitally. So how does getting the documents fix that?
2. If the documents contained the kinds of information that Trump could have remembered or memorized, what does getting the documents from him actually accomplish? He can still just tell someone else the information.
One other note: almost 50% of the country trusted Trump with the Countries most vital secrets. How is it that the Department of Justice now concludes that Trumps handling of or knowledge of those vital secrets is a wrong that must be corrected.
The entire story being told doesn't seem to hold water. I'm not saying I do know what exactly is going on, but I am saying that the story or stories being propagated, don't seem to make any sense.
Conservatives have all the evidence they need to suspect that this is a continuing witch hunt. Kid glove FBI investigation of Clinton e-mails versus aggressive prosecution of Flynn; public and humiliating arrests of Trump supporters; FISA abuse; incompetent investigation of Alfa Bank allegations, etc.
The FBI deserves no presumption of innocence.
"In my view, this is the most likely path to a complete democratic breakdown.... ... America absolutely needs to make sure that Trump does not get another term as president...."
When he wrote this, no little voice in Brook's head cleared its throat and said "Ahh, buddy…"?
Trump’s political career has been kept afloat by elite scorn.
Brook's got that right but of course goes on to ignore the implications.
Trump's primary effort was sustained by endless in-kind contributions from elite media, and the feckless belief on the part of the GOPe that he could be used to wound their opponents (like Ted Cruz in Iowa) before his campaign would self-immolate. The Democrats then doubled-down on the belief that Trump was no match for the unstoppable machine behind Hillary!, and sleepwalked their way to an defeat that left them enraged. Trump's hunger for attention and flashy deal making very well could have been turned against the GOP but the rage from seeing Her Highness thwarted turned the entire elite establishment against Trump. I wish I had a dollar for every comment that started "I didn't vote for Trump but since the Democrats hate him so much..." Even out of office he seems to burn in their minds like a spectre, and they just can't get him out of their thoughts.
It feels as though we’re walking toward some sort of storm and there’s no honorable way to alter our course.
Honorable has nothing to do with it. You all could fairly easily simply ignore Trump and if that initial statement was accurate, he'd fade away. But you all don't want to be honorable. You want to see Trump disgraced and humiliated, and his supporters hanging their heads in shame, and it just burns that every time you try to do that he not only survives but thrives and his supporters not only get louder but more numerous as well.
My local paper is claiming that, according the WaPo, Trump had documents on our Nuclear programs--top secret "How-to" stuff -- and was selling them.
All the leftists are shrieking about it in comments because of course the charge is proof of guilt and we need to execute Trump Right. Now.
And there's your knee-jerk accusation — talk about simple assumptions! — that Trump supporters will be violent. I guess that's the last desperate hope: violence. From the other side. Those maniacs will lose their mind!
Violence in response to tyranny is perfectly rational though. Do we think George Washington was a kook? That's the problem with the election fraud hoax. Once enough people believe it, there will be violence. And, if the conspiracy theories were true--it would be the proper response of last resort.
Speaking of which. It's curious that Trump is never taken to task for ordering the January 6 protesters to leave the capitol. If the conspiracy theories were true--TRUMP should have personally been at the capitol leading the charge. If the consequence of his cowardice is that the ChiComs have a puppet in charge of the government, how was Trump NOT a traitor to tell the brave patriots to just swim back to the other side of the Delaware?
To me its just more evidence that Trump doesn't really believe his own bullshit.
As they say, it is not paranoia if they are really out to get you.
You would think that someone like Brooks, who is paid to provide well-informed opinions, would actually know what has happened over the past seven years or so. You know the entire Russiagate conspiracy that revealed the corruption of the deep state, the corruption of the FISA warrant process, the overt and semi-covert attempts by the bureaucracy to undermine Trump, the constant leaking, the impeachment over something Biden did, the kangaroo court that is the 1/6 commission, and so many other events that I do not deign to list. Mr. Brooks, do you think any of this is normal? Is this acceptable to you? If so, why?
Furthermore, do you think it normal for the FBI to perform an armed raid on a former President of the United States, followed by no explanation for 72 hours? This is unprecedented in multiple ways. Is this what you want to be the standard operating procedure going forward, or is this only because of Trump, for which all things are forgiven?
Mr. Brooks, you are a fool.
Good analysis. Brooks must have been in a coma for the last 6 years if he still trusts the FBI when it comes to Trump (and a lot of other things as well). This raid was intended to divert attention from the issues, from the condition of the country, from Biden's corruption and incompetence. The purpose was to make it all about Trump, so that the great necessity becomes keeping Trump out of office, rather than fixing the things that Biden broke.
Althouse wrote: Republicans? A lot of Republicans hate him. I don't think the word you want there is "Republicans." Maybe: Republicans minus the self-enclosed Brahmin Republicans, plus a lot of untouchables Democrats think are supposed to be Democrats.
Now you’re talking Althouse. That’s exactly it. From “deplorables” to “untouchables” and soon to be heretics. Funny how Democrats hate working class people they once claimed to represent. In their arrogant delusion, they feel betrayed. Brooks is still delusional. Betrayal is very hard to forget and get over. It’s why the untouchables abandoned the establishment and don’t trust them at all.
My compliments Ann. This is your best “how the elite don’t understand Trump support” ever.
As Scott Adams predicted, Republicans will “hunted”. At the moment, Trump is being hunted. I don’t see the MAGA movement becoming violent. We’re too busy working and digging the ditches. J6 was NOTHING compared to 2020 BLM and ANTIFA ongoing violence. To the elite, it doesn’t matter if you’re violent, it matters why you’re violent.
Can you even imagine if they somehow manage to throw Trump in prison? It does make you understand how the French peasants stormed the Bastille.
Yeah, David. They did.
"Ann writes: "I can't think what this material would be. Something in the documents, not just that he took documents that, under a statute, he wasn't supposed to take, but there's something revealed in these documents that we don't already know?" "
I'm going with they stepped on their dicks again. The real questions you should be asking yourself is; why and why now. You're looking for a reasonable legal reason, Althouse. There isn't one. This is political. That man cannot be re-elected. The elite class depend on graft.
David Brooks organizes his bookshelf by color. He admits he began to hero-worship Obama because of his fine pants crease. Does anyone think Brooks has the self-awareness to reliably explain his own Brahimin class?
I would not mind being ruled by people who are better than me, but I would like them to be observably better than me if they're going to get that authority. Brooks and his set are just shallow strivers.
David Brooks wrote: America absolutely needs to make sure that Trump does not get another term as president....
In that sentence Brooks admitted he knows the 2020 voter fraud was real, and is in full support of the same operation in 2022, and 2024.
And the arrogant asshole uses “AMERICA absolutely needs to” as if the half of the country that supports Trump isn’t even part of the franchise anymore.
I’m tellin’ ya. They are in the process of creating a heretic class of outlaws.
"Highly educated" means having good credentials. What is really usually means is (1) going to either a private or wealthy suburban high school, (2) graduating from a prestigious college -- which is easy to do if you went to a feeder high school, and (3) possibly going to graduate school -- which, again, is easy to do, as most of your classmates will have backgrounds similar to yours. None of this makes you smart or well-informed. It, does, however, tend to make you affluent and/or wealthy. As Michael Sandel points out in The Tyranny of Merit, a big problem with American society is that people who do well financially believe that they not only deserve their success but that they are better than those who are less fortunate -- that is, the Deplorables. I am guessing that Brooks holds this view.
Trumpian propaganda ... simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
President Trump had the authority to declassify the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane documents, and he ordered that they be declassified. However, the Deep State (aka "the leading institutions of society") slow-walked the process to the very last days of his Presidency.
He was given the declassification file on January 19, 2021, but was told that there still was one more step to accomplish in the declassification process. Some names might have to be redacted in accordance with The Privacy Act. So, on his Presidency's last morning, Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, signed a memorandum to the US Attorney General saying, essentially, OK, redact those names and then complete the declassification.
Now we are in August 2022, and the Crossfire Hurricane documents remain declassified. The Privacy Act gambit was just a bogus pretext to delay the declassification past the morning of January 20, 2021. After that morning, the declassification never would happen.
This is how President Trump was treated by "the leading institutions of society", which indeed are corrupt, malevolent and partisan and indeed act in bad faith toward Trump.
It's likely that Trump still has a copy of that file, and that is the main thing that the FBI is trying to take away from him.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland is lying to the public when he claims publicly that he himself authorized the raid on Trump's home. The raid was an FBI operation, done in order to get those FBI Crossfire Hurricane documents back from Trump.
======
Beyond the Crossfire Hurricane documents, I figure that Trump has FBI documents proving that the FBI began investigating him on Russian-collusion suspicions in 2012, when he raised a stink about President Obama's birth certificate.
FBI Director James Comey lied to President Trump twice -- and also lied to Congress and public -- denying that the FBI was investigating Trump. The FBI wants to take from Trump those FBI documents that prove that Comey indeed did lie about that.
See my blog article Was President Trump Told About the FBI Investigation of Him?
"My local paper is claiming that, according the WaPo, Trump had documents on our Nuclear programs--top secret "How-to" stuff -- and was selling them."
And did the FBI confiscate these nuclear program documents that Drudge and others are reporting were "stolen"?
Or did Trump just set and spring a huge trap on the current administration and DoJ?
I don't know, but it all seems a bit fishy - on both sides. Some game is being played by the two parties, and we're the uninformed public necessary to those games, apparently.
Congratulations, Professor! You're finally beginning to see the lies and manipulations of the uni-party regarding Trump. My favorite is how they claim to read his mind and posit Trump doing horrible things that he has NEVER done.
Things I would have been inclined to say before the 2016 campaign and Trump's presidency that I can no longer say now:
- The FBI/DoJ must have had a really good reason for a move like this. They would not play politics. The cost to their institutional reputation would be too high otherwise.
- A judge wouldn't sign off on a warrant like this unless the evidence were ironclad.
- The Washington Post may be liberal, but they're not going to run highly inflammatory stuff from one anonymous source who could just be making things up. The cost to their credibility would be too high.
Trump has to be "taken care of" because he has exposed the grifters among both parties as well as the so-called conservative writers.
He reminds me a bit of William Wallace. I have no doubt that the grifters would like to see him wind up that way.
Huh. I thought that the most likely path to democratic breakdown was Hillary Clinton's use of a tin-can server to hide her Clinton Global Initiative organization corruption.
This was a poorly thought article, even by David Brooks' low standards.
To be fair, armchair revolutionaries on the right are always predicting redneck violence too.
Oh won't our gun totin' MAGAats pleeze act out our fantasy for us?
Then the dummies actually did it.
My impression is that the F.B.I. had legitimate reasons to do what it did. My guess is it will find some damning documents that will do nothing to weaken Trump’s support.
It's not sufficient to find "damning documents." Given Trump's previously cooperative posture, they need to show a good, persuasive reason why they believed following up with counsel wouldn't work, or would take too much time to address some imminent risk, if they want to have any hope of salvaging their reputation. It's not at all unusual for the government to request documents, for you to turn over what you think they're asking for, and them to come back and say "hey, we think there should be something like A and B; could you go check again?" Or there's a category missing, like "we think there should be text messages from this time period," or "did you pull the personnel files?" And it may be a little embarrassing, but you go back and pull them or tell them you checked and it doesn't exist. It's unusual, at least in white collar cases, for them to conduct a raid after counsel have been cooperating for months. That said, I suppose they might think Trump has been lying to his counsel and wanted to go behind their backs as a result, but there had better be a solid basis for that.
"I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter."
There's a lot of space between that exceedingly careful statement and the actual raid on Trump's home.
It feels as though we’re walking toward some sort of storm and there’s no honorable way to alter our course.
Yeah. "We fucked up but up, but we're not about to admit it. Admitting it is to painful to contemplate."
The same attitude you see from the resident lefties here.
When I tell my liberal friends that in a properly functioning democracy Donald Trump would never have been elected they always smile and agree. They assume I mean that our democracy must be broken because Trump was able to be elected. But that's not what I'm saying. If our political system was functioning correctly then Trump would never have ran because one of the political parties would be championing the agenda he proposed, a quite reasonable agenda that, until the uniparty sold the US out to the CCP under the Clintons, was the standard Democrat Party position, look out for the middle and working classes' interests. Trump would not have ran because if one of the parties was looking out for the middle and working classes' interest then he would have no agenda to run on.
If I want to see their heads explode I point out that in an honest election Trump could have beaten Hillary! for the Democrat nomination and would then have gone on to win the presidency.
Interestingly, the destroy evidence and alter testimony skills of our FBI done on command have been exposed. The TWA 800 FBI tour de force under the Clinton command is detailed corruption. And the US NAVY sailors who shot the passenger jet down are finally telling what happened. The FBI spent years concealing evidence and slandering truth tellers back in 1996-98.
'It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.'
Does he moonlight as a comedy writer?
Most of the FISA warrant against Carter Page already is available to the public. What President Trump intended to declassify is much more than that.
The FBI's effort to get a FISA warrant targeting Donald Trump's campaign staff began no later than June 2016. In that month, the FBI submitted a proposed warrant targeting four staff members -- Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos -- and also two Alfa Banks.
When did Christopher Steele deliver his first Dossier reports to FBI official Michael Gaeta? He did so on July 5, 2016 -- in the month after that FISA application.
However, that first FISA application was rejected by the FISA judge, and so the FBI had to revise the application several times before it was approved on October 15, 2016 -- just a couple weeks before the Presidential election. By that time, only Page remained in the FISA warrant. Manafort, Flynn, Papadopoulos and the two Alfa banks had been removed, at the stubborn insistence of the FISA judge.
Trump intended to declassify all this history. He wanted the public to understand there was a longer, earlier history of the FBI's anti-Trump investigation. The FBI intends to keep that entire history secret. That is why the FBI raided Trump's home, trying to find and confiscate those FBI documents about its investigation of Trump.
The FISA Warrants Against Two Russian Banks
Thanks for the brilliant analysis! Frankly, I get so tired of the NYT Op-ed page writers and their views, I stopped reading them years ago. But you manage to do it.
What puzzles me about the Elite hatred of Trump, is he was POTUS for 4 years. The sky didn't fall, in fact the country was at peace and prosperous. All Trump tried to do was get better trade deals, secure the border, and the usual Republican economic stuff. Oh, and tried to reach an accomadation with NK and Russia and get our troops out of Afghanistan.
But here we are 1.5 years after Jan 6th, and the elite is still having a temper tantrum and refusing to give us an understandable, valid reason for their Trump hate. This is how conspiracy theories start. Powerful, elite people start behaving in crazy ways and abusing their power, and everyone starts scratching their heads and going "What the hell is the REAL reason for all this?"
It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt..
Um, no, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that our 'leading institutions' HAVE become corrupt and politized. I think its obvious to anyone paying attention.
nicely done, Althouse. The unwritten part of Brooks' effort is what lurks beneath.
"who will rid us of this troublesome beast?"
Words are violence, even when unwritten. There is the scent of "by any means necessary" from those who rule us. Today's news is a stark reminder.
My working assumption is they want Trump to be the GOP candidate in 2024 because they think he will be the easiest to beat.
I believe that Trump does have those docs that have been the subject of the declassification discussion for a few years now - documents that further expose the Intelligence community for what it has become - a corrupt self-serving menace to our country’s norms and values. In that sense, these docs are nuclear in scope, in the swamp’s view. Exposure will force the reckoning long needed.
It was just a few weeks ago, at one of his rallies, that Trump vowed to root out the Deep State, right? And now look what’s happened after he made that assertion. All evidence must be destroyed.
What about they let you grab them by the pussy.
"What happens if a prosecutor charges Trump and he is convicted just as he is cruising to the G.O.P. nomination or maybe even the presidency?” I guess we’d have to assume he didn’t get what Hillary Clinton got: “Can’t investigate the candidate's criminal behavior during the campaign (because democratic process)."
But what if a huge bolus of evidence reveals Joe Biden's collusion with Hunter in selling influence to foreign countries? Oh, I forgot: we wouldn’t know because neither the mainstream press nor internet media would report this “potential Russian disinformation campaign: Our Ministry of Truth will stuff it down the oubliette.
“My impression is that the F.B.I. had legitimate reasons to do what it did.” Does he not recognize that he already has such a huge hate-Trump bias that he should know enough not to trust his intuition on this? Or is he so convinced of his intellectual purity that he just knows his obvious bias would not, could not influence his “impression”?
So, we’re left with an article that’s supposedly about Trump, yet, one that surely reveals far more about its author than it reveals about Trump.
'The problem that Brooks completely ignores in that essay is the Mueller Russian Hoax investigation.'
When Mueller testified, he said he didn't know who/what Fusion GPS even was. He was more mentally compromised than Biden. Weissman was running the show.
traditionalguy said...
Interestingly, the destroy evidence and alter testimony skills of our FBI done on command have been exposed. The TWA 800 FBI tour de force under the Clinton command is detailed corruption. And the US NAVY sailors who shot the passenger jet down are finally telling what happened. The FBI spent years concealing evidence and slandering truth tellers back in 1996-98.
8/12/22, 11:27 AM
The books by Jack Cashill, and his articles in American Thinker tell it all with high placed witnesses. But Clinton had to be protected. There was an election coming up as you know. This was WAGGING THE DOG.
Meanwhile, Hillary is making bank selling "but her emails" merch.
Investigations don't necessarily hurt the target politically, but it is better (for Hillary, Hunter and the others) when the investigations aren't seriously investigated.
Ron Winkeheimer,
"If our political system was functioning correctly then Trump would never have ran because one of the political parties would be championing the agenda he proposed, a quite reasonable agenda that, until the uniparty sold the US out...."
This is the American parallel to something Mark Steyn described in 2004:
"In much of western Europe, on all the issues that matter, competitive politics decayed to a rotation of arrogant co-regents of an insular elite, with predictable consequences: if the political culture forbids respectable politicians from raising certain issues, then the electorate will turn to unrespectable ones."
Carol said...Oh won't our gun totin' MAGAats pleeze act out our fantasy for us?
Another open Freudian wish for violence from Carol here. There is a large faction on the left like Carol, and that Jim guy from yesterday, that would like to see the FBI, Military, or whoever give MAGA/America First what they believe is deserved. Voter fraud is one way to control it. 87K IRS agents is another. What Carol wants something completely different.
Irony is in the "gun totin', pick up truck" MAGA towns, there isn't much violence at all. I live in Waukesha County, WI. Barney Fife could police where I live and keep the bullet in his pocket. In my suburb, with the deer hunters and sportsmen, I'd figure there are at least 5000 guns in town (population 10K). I've been back here since 2014. Never heard ONE gunshot. Not even some hillbilly taking out a wild turkey or a rabbit chewing up a garden. Even the drunk drivers do the speed limit in our little MAGA island of peace and sanity.
But Carol speaks the truth regarding how many liberals now see their fellow Americans. The propaganda is working. "MAGAats" is what she wrote. Just like how the Germans labeled the Jews as rats. Something to be stamped out and exterminated. Carol just speaks for the direction we are heading. She recognizes it and supports it. It's happened before.
If there any God fearing people remaining on the Left, unlike Carol, pray that this country never sees another Lexington and Concord, or Fort Sumter moment.
Hey, @Carol. Would you please change your comment handle please? My mom's name is Carol. She's generous, smart, moral, and awesome. She's also MAGA. Pick any other name. You can still wish for violence.
Carol: "Oh won't our gun totin' MAGAats pleeze act out our fantasy for us?
Then the dummies actually did it."
Could you provide some stats on the "gun totin'" for us?
Thanks in advance.
They made up this term “whataboutism” to denigrate equal justice under the law, but that will never fix letting Hilary, or her husband for that matter, skate despite mountains of evidence that would have gotten Trump life imprisonment.
My guess is that someone with some credibility to a reporter said that the only way they should have done that raid is if… and the reporter ran with it, and when CNN tried to confirm, which they couldn’t, he rolled his eyes and laughed.
"The more elites scorn him, the more Republicans love him."
So Brooks is equating "Republicans" with the non-elite.
Interesting, given the recent sorting of the parties with Democrats becoming the party of the college-credentialed, increasingly indoctrinated, knowledgeable but impeded from becoming educated. The Democrats' problem is that education comes after the professors are done with you. Prepped or impeded by the professors, learning to deal with reality is what causes people to take up education though many simply remain credentialed.
"[G]etting educated is getting an inkling of the immensity of our ignorance."
---Karl Popper (1969)
Brilliant analysis by Althouse!
It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
How can anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of the history of the 20th C not understand that the above scenario happened again & again in the course of 100 years?
Let's just take the prelude to WWI as an example. This was a sterling example of how the ruling classes of Europe simply blundered themselves into an incredibly destructive & bloody war.
And that's just an example of the stupidity of the ruling classes. Think of all the examples (the Fascism regimes, the Marxist-Leninist/Maoist regimes) where the "leading institutions" were "inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith" and ended up taking their countries to disastrous ends while murdering tens of millions of their citizens along the way!
Liberals and Lefties like to make fun of Conservatives for believing in an American Exceptionalism of a virtuous regime, "A Shining City on a Hill". But the Liberals & Lefties, too, believe in an American Exceptionalism and you can see it in Brooks' article here: "Oh, no, the American regime will never be like the Soviet Union. Why not? Because it's people LIKE ME who are running it & we're virtuous and would NEVER do anything like that!".
Our elite class is more trained than educated, you know, like you train a vine to go exactly where you want it to go.
Building on Christopher B: it would be hard to find any large group of Americans who think the country's institutions have been corrupt from the beginning. Trump speaks for people who think leaders in the welfare state, lobbyists/big business, and academics/pundits who feed off of these things, focus on their own profit more than the public good. There were no such institutions for the country's first hundred years, and John D. Rockefeller trying to build a monopoly in the 1800s was tinker-toys compared to what happens now.
To explain FBI/DOJ: do we need to bring in stupidity along with partisanship and corruption (hoping a Dem administration will throw money around more than Trump?)? Yes. In their somewhat controlled "leaking" after the fact, deciding whom to cover up for, whom to throw overboard, they are saying some in DC thought it was clever to carry out the raid when Trump wasn't there. Imagine people who claim to be well-informed, with college educations, saying: don't worry, we can count on Trump to keep his mouth shut.
Congratulations, Professor! You're finally beginning to see the lies and manipulations of the uni-party regarding Trump. My favorite is how they claim to read his mind and posit Trump doing horrible things that he has NEVER done.
The question here is "why now?" We have a midterm coming with a lot of Trump backed candidates on the ticket. If they can discredit Trump, they can use that to go after all of the Trump backed candidates. This isn't about Trump (at least not right now), it is about control of the House and Senate. They will 'find' incriminating documents that will be talked about by the press for the next 3 months and they will use it as a hammer on any candidate endorsed by Trump. Once the election is over, the documents will get 'lost' and it becomes 'false but true' all over again.
"It feels as though we’re walking toward some sort of storm and there’s no honorable way to alter our course."
C'mon, Dave. Remember when you ditched your first wife, after your boss at the Times got you that hot young "research assistant" to sleep with? What was that, if not honorably altering your course?
And yet I saw poll on the local news last night that showing 51 percent support the unprecedented raid.
I want a divorce.
'I believe that Trump does have those docs that have been the subject of the declassification discussion for a few years now - documents that further expose the Intelligence community for what it has become - a corrupt self-serving menace to our country’s norms and values.'
I hope he did have those documents.
I also hope he has copies...
Blogger rcocean said..."What puzzles me about the Elite hatred of Trump, is he was POTUS for 4 years. The sky didn't fall, in fact the country was at peace and prosperous. All Trump tried to do was get better trade deals, secure the border, and the usual Republican economic stuff. Oh, and tried to reach an accomadation with NK and Russia and get our troops out of Afghanistan."
Yes. Their justification that Trump is a unique threat just doesn't square with the facts. I really think they are nuts.
The fisking of David Brooks by Ann Althouse.
Instant classic.
“Did the F.B.I. Just Re-Elect Donald Trump?"
The answer to all questions asked in newspaper headlines is No. It’s an iron rule. But I will point out that the FBI elected him the first time, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they did it again. I’m still not convinced that this search was meant to gather evidence for a prosecution. I think they just wanted the documents back. I predict that there will be no prosecution.
Given Trump's previously cooperative posture
Contrary to self-serving statements by anonymous members of his team, Trump has not and is not cooperative. Heck, he was willing to pay hundreds of thousands in fines to New York, and when he finally did allow the deposition, he stonewalled and took the Fifth.
AA's political analysis has been completely warped by her apparent need to stay on the right side of her crazy commenters. Brooks cites and links to bonkers reactions from important Republicans to the search warrant. Does she comment on those? No, instead goes over Brooks's column like it was a passage for close reading in a graduate English seminar. Cruel neutrality indeed.
To be fair, armchair revolutionaries on the right are always predicting redneck violence too.
You mean like shooting up a Congressional baseball practice? Attempting to assassinate three SCOTUS judges? Burning, looting and murdering people for six months over the self-induced death of a career criminal?
Those armchair revolutionaries?
In a "normal" political landscape people involved in knowingly spending millions on investigations, including wiretapping Trump based off the Steele Dossier and altered documents to obtain warrants, which they all knew to be false would face consequences.
In a "normal" political landscape, Hunter's laptop, the evidence therein and the association to Joe enriching his family would be investigated, including testimony by his business partner that indicated Joe was the big guy.
In a "normal" political landscape we wouldn't be pouring BILLIONS of dollars into a country the president was accused of corrupt dealings in by the former president, with exactly zero accounting of where those tax dollars go, or whose pockets they line.
In a "normal" political landscape, Hilary would have gotten in deep trouble for having an unsecured server, she might as well have posted all her correspondence, including classified documents on reddit.
In a "normal" landscape, Democrat operatives would have been investigated for refusing to verify signatures, accepting tens of thousands of ballots that were not submitted in accordance with state laws, and covering windows or sending observers away. The 1000s of affidavits alleging fraud would have been investigated.
In a "normal" political landscape people who questioned the Official COVID narrative, Dr. Fauci's past performance and money trail, including the origins of the virus and legitimate scientific objections about lack of early treatment, and universal vaccine into a pandemic with product with zero long-term efficacy/safety data wouldn't have been fired, and silenced.
In a "normal" political landscape, BLM riots would have resulted in outrage, especially because they destroyed inner city areas.
In a "normal" political landscape, Joe Biden's cognitive decline would start removal proceedings.
In a "normal" political landscape the DOJ wouldn't be investigating parents who speak up at school boards, because they disagree with radical curriculum, and are angry at how poorly the schools are performing, or people who have a gadsden flag.
In a "normal" political landscape the FBI's Wittmer kidnapping would be front page.
I could go on and on. It isn't Republicans poisoning the landscape.
Who (else) remembers a time before adverbs and “without evidence” in [so-called] journalism?
This is what passes as a “conservative opinion”/writer in the NYT leadership (and readership) mindset. Good luck with that.
Those other people — the shallow dolts that Brooks is supposed to represent/understand to the nuanced and genteel NYT reader — no longer come within 200 miles of reading Brooks or his employer.
They go from collusion with Putin to steal the 2016 election to Trump selling nuclear weapons secrets and we’re supposed to say oh well, I guess they finally got the smoking gun… in Trumps puny hands… in the middle of fifth Ave. 🙄 oh please
"It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith."
The evidence is astonishing in its breadth and depth: The leading institutions of US society are inherently corrupt, malevolent, partisan and are always acting in bad faith against the citizens of this country.
Democrats, liberals, socialists, their armed and dangerous activists ... they're assholes, but more than that they're simply evil and dangerous people who need to be removed from our society permanently. Viciously. We have no requirement in our national laws or constitution to allow these scumbags to operate freely in our country.
LOCK. THEM. UP. Starting with David Brooks. Maybe even give a few a trial to make it look all official and stuff. Then throw away the keys.
Problem solved. National unity at last.
People disagreeing on all just about everything, yeah
Makes you stop and all wonder why
Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street
Who just couldn't help but cry
Oh, this ol' river keeps on rollin', though
No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow
And as long as it does I'll just sit here
And watch the river flow
Insular progress is the insidious baby... uh, burden, of the minority elite.
In a normal society, when politicians get investigated or charged, it hurts them politically....
This hasn't been true for urban Democrats for quite some time. Does Brooks really not know that?
In 2003, the Democratic Mayor of Philadelphia, John Street, was in a tight race with Republican Sam Katz. News broke that the feds were investigating City Hall corruption. Democrats, including a local congressman, thundered it was Bush's Attorney General, the hated John Ashcroft, going after a black mayor. The media carried and amplified that message.
Street shot up in the polls and won easily. Some of his employees went to prison for corruption.
Have David Brooks' "elite" amigos at the NYT/DOJ/FBI leaked photos from the FBI raid on MAL which shows the sharks with laser beams yet? The piranha tank? The fully functional and operational nuclear Death Star?
At the rate these cats are moving, we'll have all of those accusations within 2 weeks.
Thank you AA for an incisive expose on the lies of our self-appointed 'Elites'. In this case, Mr. Brooks and his propoganda. "Static Ping's" comment at 10:52am "...do you think it normal for the FBI to perform an armed raid on a former President of the United States.." makes me believe that our Elites have 'jumped the shark'. Similar to former Senator Harry Reid and his 'nuclear option", when a Senate Democratic majority, led by Harry Reid, used the procedure to eliminate the 60-vote rule. A wholesale abandonment of the 'Law and Rules'. The FBI's raid on a former presidents home crossed another Rubicon. Mr. Brooks is naïve to believe that sometime in the future the Republicans or Democrats won't repeat such an action. Contrary to Mr. Brooks memes the people of the USA are not dumb. I believe their patience is running out with politicians actions for short-term gains with their minuscule power grabs. Mr. Brooks and like minded 'Elites' are wishing for violence. Pray they are proved wrong. Some commenters on your blog start with examples of historical good violence [Washington] by the founders. That I'm not worried about. However, maybe the population will elect someone worst given peoples desire for normalcy or security. It has happened many times in history and the consequences - people lost their lives by the 100s of millions. This raid was purely political. If you believe otherwise, the only other reason was the complete incompetence of our ruling 'Elites' and their disregard for the consequences of their actions. Similar to Mr. Brooks' words.
Fisking. The "Socratic Dialog" of the 21st century.
Very well done, Professor.
Still the bottom line is you people are basically complaining about being subjugated by a class of people you call soy boy Lily livered commie pinko sissified lame limp wristed feminized socialists who out work out think and out compete you in business government and the arts within our free market capitalist system.
It's the one thing you guys are absolutely correct about: you are being bitch slapped and manhandled by dweebs.
" I really think they are nuts."
Let me amend that. I think the democrats have used their media allies to stir up Trump hatred and the rank and file have swallowed it all like the sheep they are.
"It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith."
With a couple of small changes we can wordsmith this into total accuracy:
It simply observes, with a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
Problem solved. National unity at last.
And your ideal society (where everyone who disagrees with you is locked up for life) is different than fascism exactly how?
traditionalguy said:
"And the US NAVY sailors who shot the passenger jet down are finally telling what happened."
***********
Citations, please.
Sailors on the ship that actually fired the alleged missile. Their names. Who they told. What they were told they were shooting at. Was it an accident?
If you are implying that Trump knows the facts, why did he not release the docs proving a cover-up?
Terrific post Ann. This is why your blog is my most essential read every day. Thank you for such excellent work.
Sebastian: best comment so far: "The problem is not that the Brahmin class is "self-enclosed." It is that they presume to rule over us.
Trump is middle America's middle finger to the ruling class."
"Contrary to self-serving statements by anonymous members of his team, Trump has not and is not cooperative. Heck, he was willing to pay hundreds of thousands in fines to New York, and when he finally did allow the deposition, he stonewalled and took the Fifth."
Contrary to the lies of the local anti-American Fascist Left, Trump has been cooperating with the National Archives' attempts to claw back declassified documents that the GSA had sent to MAL.
The NY deposition is a complete different, unconnected, just as corrupt fishing expedition of his private businesses.
Two different things, conflated by the usual dishonesty of an America hater.
The Very Forgetful Left Bank of the Charles: "But I will point out that the FBI elected him the first time,....."
LOL
No, no, no. It was Vladimir Putin, and no one else. As all of you screeching morons shouted to the moon for 6 years.
Did you think we could possibly forget 6 years of your screeching?
But wait, I need to ask because after awhile the lefty conspiracies get so incredibly twisted and deep: Did Vladimir Putin ORDER James Comey to usurp DOJ power to pronounce Hillary innocent before the election? Or did Putin simply "imply" it might be a good thing for Hillary to get a "get out of jail free" card before the election?
And did Putin do his communicating with Comey thru Trump Tower's Secret Squirrel Server with Alpha Bank's Secret Squirrel Server?
It's Friday afternoon in August. Watch for the walkback announcement that no, really, they weren't looking for nuclear secrets. This way the DOJ can say "we squashed that misinformation" but the media won't pick it up and pass it on, leaving the public consciousness full of "Trump had nuclear secrets!"
Sorta like the way the media hid all of the revelations that Trump-Russia was a hoax concocted by the Clinton campaign.
Shorter Brooks: the only way to save democracy is to ensure the people can’t re-elect Trump.
Being attacked by the FBI is not a sign of sure virtue, but it IS a sign that you are a conservative. For example, Hilary 33000 emails on a private server in a bathroom including top secret: nothing. Obama dispute with Nat Archives and he refused to turn over 33,000,000 records (or some huge number): nothing. Trump associates (a dozen at least including Gen Flynn, Stone, Manafort) entrapped and raided with a swat team. J6 defendents kept in jail for months and then convicted of trespassing (or nothing). j6 was so scary that pelosi called out nat guard. 80 protesters went in capitol but 700 have been arrested. It is over the top, lies, and over-reaction 24/7/365. It is calling parents at a school board meeting terrorists. Instead of simply requesting the documents of interest, they had to stage an outrageous raid, not leave a list of what was taken, kept lawyers out, told them to turn off video. Illegal and heavy handed. Oh and used a low-level magistrate with an axe to grind.
Excellent, but oh so cruel to that tiresome epigone of the self-enclosed Brahmin class, or better, the self-satisfied windbag class.
Freder is demanding to know what is on Hunter Biden's laptop and Hillary Clinon's private server. Who kills a guy -Seth Rich- and only steals his laptop? Right Freder.
Elitists, not elites.
"We've been watching the DoJ pull this shit for decades."
* Richard Nixon
* Ray Donovan
* Ronald Reagan
They were well on their way to making George W. Bush the next leader of the Nazi Party in America before 9-11 made him untouchable.
The reason they keep doing this for decades is because we don't do anything about it.
So, the DOJ, using its armed enforcers the FBI, will continue to take down any Republican leader who threatens the Democrat Party's thievery operations in the United States.
Trump deserves this, though. He promised to perp-walk them then didn't have the balls to do it. So now that everyone knows Trump doesn't possess a working scrotum, Joe Biden is going to run him out, sniffing his wife's panties all the way to the jailhouse.
Ann’s takedown of David Brooks reminds me of the time in 1986 when young David Brooks, a self-described social democrat, appeared on Milton Friedman’s “Free to Choose” PBS show. Brooks advocated for government-paid college for everyone. When Milton Friedman pointed out that David Brooks was proposing a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, Brooks was speechless.
A classic Althouse post!
- Krumhorn
>> I think they just wanted the documents back.
Trump wouldn't think to have copies?
I heard some talking heads claiming that after the raid lots of right-wing extremists were talking violence. True. But there has been not a single instance of violence. Just blowing off (justified) steam. In contrast, the Left is full of actual violence. BLM riots caused billions in damage, destroyed some neighborhoods completely, and killed I think 40 people. Very few went to jail. They would love to lock up conservatives based on their fever dreams that they are violent racist red-necks.
But I will point out that the FBI elected him the first time,
It boggles the mind how some people not only have these insane thoughts, but put them out there for everybody else to see.
JLT said...
Ann’s takedown of David Brooks reminds me of the time in 1986 when young David Brooks, a self-described social democrat, appeared on Milton Friedman’s “Free to Choose” PBS show.
OMG. We watched Free to Choose in college but I don't remember that. I'll have to see if I can find it...
Does PBS still claim credit for the series? I reckon not...
Sean Davis
@seanmdav
Under “Attachment B” of the FBI raid document, Garland demanded the seizure of literally any record Trump ever saw, read, or created over the entire 4-year term of his presidency: “Any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021
Sean Davis
@seanmdav
This fishing expedition is so insane that under the federal legal definition of “Presidential Records,” a McDonald’s menu that Trump scrawled his lunch order on during a meeting in the Oval would be included (44 U.S.C. 2201).
The FBI raided Trump’s house for that. INSANE
You're saying we can't trust the people. They are deluded and stupid.
As usual, they want the legislature to dissolve the people and elect another one.
Drago, I forget nothing about how Trump won in 2016 First, Comey delivered his damaging non-exoneration exoneration. Then BLM and Putin undermined the Democratic base. Finally, Comey administered his October coup de grace.
As far as conspiracy theories, I have for a long time subscribed to the theory that the French are behind everything. Which brings us to item 1A on the Mar-a-Lago search inventory, “Info re: President of France”.
Freder Frederson said...
Problem solved. National unity at last.
And your ideal society (where everyone who disagrees with you is locked up for life) is different than fascism exactly how?
How many liberals did we lock up, precisely? Was it more than 1? Can you name them? Want a list of the Jan 6 protesters in solitary that your heroes looked up? Are you ever right about anything? Any independent proof of that?
Readering said...
AA's political analysis has been completely warped by her apparent need to stay on the right side of her crazy commenters. Brooks cites and links to bonkers reactions from important Republicans to the search warrant. Does she comment on those? No, instead goes over Brooks's column like it was a passage for close reading in a graduate English seminar. Cruel neutrality indeed.
You leftists should take note.
Ann has been following the NYT's and WAPO for years. She has been clamoring for a return to "normal" for years.
She has been desperate to return to a time when all the people she lives around in Madison and all the people she has ever worked with are the good guys again.
But it is so embarrassing and depressing to be associated with the Regime and you leftists that she is finally leveling some actual criticism.
You are supporting blatant obvious fascism.
You are supporting obvious corruption.
You are supporting censorship.
You are supporting political violence and murder.
You are supporting endless corrupt wars.
You are supporting massive inflation.
You are supporting 87,000 new IRS agents.
You are supporting higher taxes on the middle class.
You are supporting open borders.
You are support blatant state propaganda.
Howard said...
Still the bottom line is you people are basically complaining about being subjugated by a class of people you call soy boy Lily livered commie pinko sissified lame limp wristed feminized socialists who out work out think and out compete you in business government and the arts within our free market capitalist system.
It's the one thing you guys are absolutely correct about: you are being bitch slapped and manhandled by dweebs.
Notice how Howard isn't even denying it anymore.
This regime and it's supporters are disgusting, repulsive, evil fascists.
Even Ann is embarrassed and revolted by you.
So much certainty in Brooks' column...and by certainty, I mean insanity.
The Disillusionment of the Deplorables
Blogger Left Bank of the Charles said..."Drago, I forget nothing about how Trump won in 2016 First, Comey delivered his damaging non-exoneration exoneration. Then BLM and Putin undermined the Democratic base." (emphasis added)
If you're referring to the Jesus-arm-wrestles-Hillary and their like on Facebook, you are not a serious person.
As to the "non-exoneration exoneration", she was freakin' guilty! Comey gave her a gift.
Oh, gee, Democrats are so sad they helped Trump.
They want to run against him.
This is a way to put him back in the news.
Its wasn't an "overstep" by the FBI
They want Trump as a news stories for the mid-term...
and they want Trump to run in 2024.
So they are doing this stuff.
It doesn't occur to Brooks, the befuddled Brahmin, that Trump can advance his "They're out to get me" narrative because for the last six years they have been out to get him, on many fronts, and we have all watched it play out in real time.
Drago, I forget nothing about how Trump won in 2016 First, Comey delivered his damaging non-exoneration exoneration. Then BLM and Putin undermined the Democratic base. Finally, Comey administered his October coup de grace.
See what I mean? This is insane.
So you're basically arguing that by not throwing that vicious bitch in jail for breaking the law, it ensured Trump's victory?
Got any words about the person, you know, who actually put herself in that spot? Or are you simply angry at the people who let her get away with it?
FBI charges Hillary with crimes FBI elected Trump.
FBI doesn't charge Hillary with crimes. FBI elected Trump.
Left Bank of the Charles: "Drago, I forget nothing about how Trump won in 2016 First, Comey delivered his damaging non-exoneration exoneration. Then BLM and Putin undermined the Democratic base. Finally, Comey administered his October coup de grace."
LOL
BLM undermined Hillary and the democratical base? In 2016? Did Putin order Hillary to never travel to Wisconsin with his $100k in Facebook memes? (those Facebook Memes are Campaign Killers!!)
You know, I'm starting to worry that Left Bank isn't writing that stuff for a laugh, but that, like, uh, yeah, he might be actually serious.
Like, serious serious.
Brooks was, is and always will be an entitled twit. He's a legend in his own mind and a sucker for a sharply creased pair of pants. Brooks is full of sneering snobbery for and condescension to the Deplorables. He admits that there is "an unfortunate social chasm", by which he means to say that those slobs just can't rise to his level. And then the Deplorables, bless their pea picking, chicken choking, cousin poking, corncob smoking hearts have the temerity to turn that sneering into a venomous conspiracy! How dare they! Don't they know those peasants know their place?
I hate to break it to Buckwheat (or Brooksy) but the serfs have stopped tugging their forelock for you.
Rehajm, I think you can find that on the YouTube link below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wRXEk7su62w
It simply assumes, against a lot of evidence, that the leading institutions of society are inherently corrupt, malevolent and partisan and are acting in bad faith.
Hunter Biden's laptop
Hillary Clinton's illegal email server, that shared every single one of her emails as Sec of State with the Chinese and the Russians
Jeffery Epstein's client list
Did Brooks provide any of this "a lot of evidence"? Of course not
Because it doesn't exist
Left Bank of the Charles:
"Drago, I forget nothing about how Trump won in 2016 First, Comey delivered his damaging non-exoneration exoneration. Then BLM and Putin undermined the Democratic base. Finally, Comey administered his October coup de grace."
WTF?
1: Hillary massively violated the law. If Come and the Obama DoJ had not been entirely corrupt, she would have been in jail, not running for President
2: The NY FBI agents who found Hillary's emails on Weiner's laptop, and reported it up the chain of command, were reportedly getting very pissed off that FBI "leadership" was suppressing their discovery
Come made his announcement about the laptop because THAT gave him the power to lie a week later, and say the laptop had been thoroughly examined, and nothing was found
The reality was that the laptop was never examined
3: If Putin had had ANY desire to see Hillary defeated, he would have released selected corrupt emails from her server in October.
Heck, he could just have released emails sent between the Sec of State and the President. Nothing juicy needed, just the fact that her corruption had shared those emails with the Russians would have nuked Hillary
Putin did do it, because Hillary was his preferred candidate
Seriously. Get a life, and pull your head out of your ass. The entirety of the corruption in the 2016 election involved the Hillary Campaign
Howard said...
Still the bottom line is you people are basically complaining about being subjugated by a class of people you call soy boy Lily livered commie pinko sissified lame limp wristed feminized socialists who out work out think and out compete you in business government and the arts within our free market capitalist system.
Yes, I call them, and you, "keyboard commandos." Your people have never built anything and whose "accomplishments" are Facebook and Google. Business, like Elizabeth Holmes. Government like Jake Sullivan who looks like a POW photo. "The arts" you can have as they are not worth the gasoline to burn them up.
Congratulations, Howard. Boston Childrens is celebrating gender change surgery for 10 year olds.
"Congratulations, Howard. Boston Childrens is celebrating gender change surgery for 10 year olds."
Howard is just salty because he couldn't change his gender when he was 10.
The more the government tries to avoid letting Trump compete on a even playing field, the more I feel I need to support him. The idea that the Brahmins have the right to decide who runs the country is repellent.
My gosh, do you listen to yourself? You are making up as you go to attack who you perceive to be your better (I kid), trump-style. Paranoid and unstable.
For instance, "He's enemies were people with leadership in the Republican party." Which ones? McConnell? McCarthy? Certainly that is not the impression that I get, especially according to Trump supporters. To them Democrats are always the enemy by default, and the next enemy is anyone who is disloyal to Trump TODAY, no matter how loyal he or she was until yesterday.
The thing that the people in the bubble miss is that Trump wasn't elected in 2016 because "Trump", at all. Most of the people who voted for him did not do so because they liked him, they voted for him because the alternatives offered up by the bubble class were so horrid and because they sense that those alternatives were intrinsically and irretrievably against their own interests. Trump was considered by many a bombastic fool, likely a put-up job by the DemoRepublican Establishment Party, and nobody expected anything other than "Well, he's better than Hillary(tm)..."
They got a pleasant surprise when Trump actually didn't do that bad a job as President.
The thing here is that the reaction to Trump by the same self-appointed "elites" is what's set the rest of the electorate off, and they just keep right on doubling-down on the stupid. It would have been one thing had the response to Trump meant frauding some Democrat apparatchik with no major vices into office, or at least, not rubbing everyone's face in their ability to do what they did by putting BidenCo. into that position and then doing massively egregiously stupid things like add 87,000 IRS agents. Which, I suspect, they're gonna have trouble even finding, let alone putting out on the street. Ain't nobody wants to be an IRS agent, honeychile... Felching idiots think that people don't know what the hell they're going to be signing up for, with that job. Which ain't quite the case, I'm afraid.
Trump was a warning shot across the bow, fired by "normal America", and he should have been seen not as what they're ideating him as, which is this aberrational and unique thing, "DONALD TRUMP". These are the same idiots that think people own guns because "NRA", which ain't the truth. They don't grasp the reality that people own guns for their own reasons and support the NRA for similar reasons--But, because these "elites" live in a world where every social movement is an astroturf creation of political consultants, they think that the NRA and Trump are things they can defeat and destroy by going after them as entities, rather than recognize the reality that both entities are more accurately expressions of the beliefs and aspirations of the body politic itself.
(cont.)
I predict that even if Trump is in jail on election day in 2024, there's going to be a landslide victory for him that they won't be able to contain or fraud themselves out of. I further predict that they're not going to be able to recruit 87,000 IRS agents, and that what few they manage will probably be very interested in sabotaging the entire effort.
These "bubble people" are actually functional morons, somewhere along the autistic scale, and entirely incapable of comprehending "normal people". Or, what those "normal people" are going to do to them, once they succeed in convincing enough of them that they're not actually representing those "normies" or acting in their interests to the slightest degree.
I blame the academics that have been so influential in this country since Woodrow Wilson. Academic types are like clergy; they've got a role, but that role should be far, far away from the levers of power. Mostly because they possess not one whit of common sense or empathy for the average person, especially the way we've selected and trained them these last many generations since 1900. They really have no damn clue what they're storing up, or how much wrath they're building up out in the general population, as they go about their supposedly untouchable lives managing the lives of everyone else.
If I could say one thing to the collective set of idiot luvvies "managing" things, these days, it would be this: Trump was a warning, not a phenomenon named Trump. You think you're "fighting Trump", but the reality is that you're fighting a false projection of your own idiot imagination--It isn't Trump that is the problem, but your own acts, and the anger you're building up out in the rest of the country where they just don't care about your degree from Princeton or Harvard. News flash, for those that think those things matter: They really, truly DO NOT. The "rest of us" are now using your vaunted degrees as discriminators for "Should I listen to this fool...?", and the fact that you have one of them really means "Oh, hell no..." out in what you so charmingly term "flyover country" in your snide little scribblings.
Inga, I said I would never attack what you say again, and I won't. But please listen: I have spent thousands of hours with Trump supporters, and they were, to a person decent, law-abiding, good citizens, the types who step up to volunteer in community improvement, tutor poor kids (see:the Villages), and give money and time to purely charitable causes (such as sewing adaptable clothes for paralyzed soldiers). They are considerably more community minded and fiscally ethical than any political cohort I have worked with. Many are not Republicans but centrists: about half were engaging in politics for the first time.
The very few loud troublemaking libertarians and operatives were paid off Koch astroturfers, but they were still far fewer in number and movement percentage than the paid off Soros troublemakers on the left, who led people to violently assault thousands of police, murder several, seriously injure hundreds, destroy and loot and set fires, seriously injure and kill innocent passers-by, and blockade and terrorize residents and drivers for months at a time.
I have also spent hundreds of hours monitoring ANTIFA and insinuating myself into Occupy camps and anti-Trump rioters, and they loudly espoused violence and murder, threw frozen water bottles and bricks at the heads of innocent police, destroyed and befouled public property and entire cities, left elderly residents in Tampa's minority community afraid to leave their houses, dragged people from their cars, terrorized families with small children while rioting for hours outside a Trump speech in Atlanta, broke repeatedly into private and government events, and, at the top, commiserate with brutal foreign dictators.
All political groups have a few crazy outliers, but the left has a thousand times more of them, a thousand times the blood and intimidation and destruction on their hands, and both leftists and big-D Democrats have cheered them, protected them from legal consequences, and endorsed their violent words and actions.
There's no comparison of scale.
PenguinBelly: "For instance, "He's enemies were people with leadership in the Republican party." Which ones? McConnell? McCarthy? Certainly that is not the impression that I get,..."
Learn to listen better. Expand your reading portfolio. Because this comment exposes you as someone who has missed the most important and largest political realignment in 60 years and what is driving that and which new coalitions are forming and which old coalitions have collapsed.
Brooks is, of course, more full of shit than the turkey which becomes Christmas dinner.
In the early 1960's, Americans had immense confidence in their national government. Why not? The Great Depression was long over, victory in World War II made the US insanely powerful, and the enormous boom of the 1950's made the US insanely rich. Who wouldn't trust the government to end poverty, control the weather, colonize the moon, manage the peace, and win a silly little war in Southeast Asia?
Late in 1960's, the disillusion began to set in. Nothing was going right (except we did pull off the moon landing). In the 1970's, the country just seemed to be going down the tubes, and confidence in the burgeoning government was gone, never to fully return.
Three-and-a-half decades later, Donald Trump found an audience in people furious that the "Brahmin" class had let things sink so low. And how so many grifters got into government solely to make a good living.
Brooks and legions like him are just butthurt the "sheeple" have turned against their Brahmin "shepherds", wise folks like Brooks. They understand why.
I haven't read all the comments, so apologies if something like this has been said.
I used to read David Brooks regularly. Including his books. Bobos in Paradise, for example. He was a good writer, with an authentic voice, and significant insights
But now, I look at him, and other writers I used to respect - people like George Will and Peggy Noonan - and think, "You just don't get it at all. It's not the 80s anymore. Do you even have the slightest idea what we are up against?"
They may be decent people, and good writers. But their ability to respond to the issues of the day is gone. And Trump, with all his peculiarities, has far more clarity and discernment about the age we live in now.
I hope Brooks is right. I hope Trump is re-elected because of federal overreach. But the domestic enemies we are up against have nothing to fear from Brooks, or most of the "conservative" intelligentsia. I'll vote for the flawed general, and ignore the critics who don't even realize that we are in a war.
I don't know about all y'all, but I have been getting tired of being a Deplorable, so I think I'll shift my voting preference to "Shallow dolt". It sounds like less work for me.
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