David Brooks slogs along, ahead of his crowd, which is moving even more slowly, pondering the mystery, "Why Is There Still No Strategy to Defeat Donald Trump?" (NYT).
The needed "effective strategy" against Trump is "to show by word and deed" that it's "a gross exaggeration" to think that "a radical left putsch... is out to take over the government and undermine the culture." I'm not even persuaded that Brooks believes it's all that much of an exaggeration to think there's a "radical left putsch... out to take over the government and undermine the culture." He just wants Trump defeated and hopes anti-Trumpsters execute a good strategy to take him out.
What would work on these "conservative people" who live everywhere but where everyone who needs to think up the strategy lives? Brooks doesn't know! He doesn't even know why all these millions of people love Trump. Does he think it's because they haven't yet been cajoled out of believing the "gross exaggeration"? If they haven't abandoned this belief yet, why would it happen now or in the next 2 years?
I saw that Brooks column yesterday and passed on it, but I gave it another look this morning after Meade texted it to me, which he did because I'd posed the question, in real life here at Meadhouse, "Do you think Trump will run and win?" Meade said the column answered my question. I take it that means the answer is yes.
ADDED: The fact that Brooks talks about a "gross exaggeration" reveals that he thinks there is something true. If there weren't something true, you'd call it a lie, not an exaggeration.
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177 comments:
When Trump-hate becomes a religion... and that religion blinds swaths of people to the horrors of Biden, Biden family corruption, and the destruction done by Biden and his party.
Brooks can go pound sand. Freak.
The real Cult is the Trump-hate Cult. The radical religion-as-politik left.
They won't be satisfied until Trump's bloody severed head is held up in public by a bad comedian.
"Why Is There Still No Strategy to Defeat Donald Trump?" I'll posit a better question which appears to elude Brooks: why is there so little humility on both 'sides'?
Its the hubris what's dun us in.
People like Brooks are protected from the concerns of the normals, like inflation, energy shortages, Food shortages, terrible public schools and crime. They have no idea what a normal life is like under Democrat rule.
"Do you think Trump will run and win?"
Yes, he will run. And I'm not sure he will win. Zuckerberg will redouble his "fortifying democracy" campaign and hand out another $500 million plus. He will really be motivated to do so as Sheryl Sandberg will be the nominee.
Who else do the Dems have? Biden isn't running.
The Fake News will go hard for Sheryl. Woman! Accomplished! Former widow! Ivy League! No baggage!
My biggest concern is that the core Dem cheating in the big cities hasn't been fixed.
Brooks does not mention two issues:
1) Immigration
2) US jobs being shipped abroad
More generally, Brooks does not discuss any real issues at all.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture. The core challenge now is to show by word and deed that this is a gross exaggeration."
Or, you know, you could paint the walls blood red, place yourself next to armed Marines, bring back Hitler and accuse half the country of being a "clear and present danger" to the United States.
Which is the path the fucking idiot thief Joe Biden took.
Fuck him. And fuck anybody who supports him and his. You're all dead to me.
He's literally stealing the US Treasury and handing the money to his supporters and it's time we put this fucking guy in jail.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture. The core challenge now is to show by word and deed that this is a gross exaggeration."
Or, you know, you could paint the walls blood red, place yourself next to armed Marines, bring back Hitler and accuse half the country of being a "clear and present danger" to the United States.
Which is the path the fucking idiot thief Joe Biden took.
Fuck him. And fuck anybody who supports him and his. You're all dead to me.
He's literally stealing the US Treasury and handing the money to his supporters and it's time we put this fucking guy in jail.
Short term the TRUMP MUST DIE crowd are furiously trying to change the narrative of the 2020 elections. Anything to make the focus to a vote against Trump rather than for Biden democrats.
Mid term it's to preclude Trump running in 2024. As the what-everyone-knows about Trump stack up, particularly the lies, the divide grows. LIVs of both parties will be made to recoil in horror about the BAD orange man.
Long term we are Jews in 1933.
David Brooks and Mo Dowd and all the others just keep writing the same column week after week, month after month, year after year.
Brooks' column is a cry for help on all levels. He doesn't understand what happened in the past, he doesn't understand what is happening now and he is semi-aware of his complete ignorance which explains this plea for someone, anyone, anywhere, to come up with a "plan" to remove all the uncomfortable truths poor David is forced to confront.
And deep down, Brooks knows perfectly well what his fellow leftists are up to. And he clearly approves of it based on his "hot takes"....but apparently doesn't want to be seen as too-approving of the stasi tactics.
Why oh why can't we just have a vast New Soviet Democratical majority with a completely tamed, and very small, "republican" minority that knows its place, and a populace that is happy to await their destruction while David attends the best of the best parties on Manhattan or in the Hamptons where no difficult questions are ever asked of the FakeCon "republican" on the Times staff?
. Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture.
Isn't It? Prove me wrong? The REAL Problem, is that half the country doesn't want to be led to slaughter
Let's start with the immigration issue.
Most people would say that immigration has been Trump's primary issue.
Brooks should explain why Biden's immigration policy is better than Trump's immigration policy.
Wouldn't such an argument be a key part of a strategy to defeat Trump?
David Brooks and the Left need to ask themselves WHY we hate them, and amend their ways so we don't. Our hatred is valid. Or better yet, listen to us explain to them why we hate them, and learn from it what things they should not do. Or better yet, just stop doing everything they are doing until they understand why they shouldn't do that.
How exactly is Donald Trump supposed to run for President when they're going to have him in a prison cell with no bond until he "doesn't kill himself" like Epstein didn't?
What is it about murderous shit-stains who literally live and die politically on the backs of killing children and ripping them out of their mothers' wombs don't ya'll understand?
Donald Trump is a dead man. They're going to murder him. That's their final solution to the Trump problem.
Surging crime in the cities. They can’t recruit enough police officers. The military can’t recruit enough soldiers. More Americans buying firearms.
Progressives closed the schools for a year. They closed businesses. Progressives mandated useless masks and oversold the efficacy of vaccines.
And Brooks talks about Trump.
Biden isn’t going to run for re-election. Trump will lose to DeSantis if Trump runs. DeSantis is smarter than Trump. He’s more competent than Trump. He is younger than Trump. He is not limited to one term as president. And he doesn’t rely on his worthless Son-In-Law to tell him what to do.
Trump’s function at this point is to serve as a lightning rod for useless ideologues like Brooks.
Turn on the "news"... It's all TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP.... TRUMP HATE, TRUMP THIS, TRUMP THAT, NEVER ENDING TRUMP OBSESSION.
Nothing negative about Dear Leader... ever.
We live in creepy times.
btw - why won't delicate rich white leftists on Martha's Vineyard not LOVE and CARE for the illegal entrants? They are seeking sanctuary. Why is Biden melting down over it?
To lead the right in this war, Trump doesn’t have to be honest, moral or competent...
Rank bigotry and ignorance. Projection probably. I bet Brooks voted for Biden. Is Biden honest, moral or competent? Is Brooks?
"We are in the middle of a cultural/economic/partisan/identity war between more progressive people in the metro areas and more conservative people everywhere else."
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
So what the 'Trumpists' are telling themselves is.....correct.
"he just has to be seen taking the fight to the 'elites"
Better than nothing is a high standard, but Trump is better than nothing. Fighting "the elites" is a start but not a strategy.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
They "tell themselves"? They hear with their own ears and see with their own eyes. Biden sneers at semi-fascist ultra-MAGA Republicans, teachers push CRT and trans ideology, BLM runs rampant and George Floyd is made a saint, Kendi and the 1619 project declare the country systemically racist, all of academia and much of the MSM is run by progs. Putsch is wrong only because prog hegemony is already secure.
"The core challenge now is to show by word and deed that this is a gross exaggeration."
Because why? The right has SCOTUS and a few state governments, maybe Fox News on a good day, as its remaining bulwark. Anything else? Show, don't tell, Brooks.
"I'm not even persuaded that Brooks believes it's all that much of an exaggeration"
Correct. But he does think the left needs a better wool-pulling propaganda strategy. For some reason, in-your-face is counterproductive with the yahoos.
"He doesn't even know why all these millions of people love Trump."
Well, many of us don't "love" Trump and would love for someone else to take his place. But it's hard. We anti-anti-Trumpers despise the left more.
The war as described by Brooks, and this column itself, serves prog interests. Trump's prominence enables the deep state and its political persecutions. It mobilizes prog troops and weakens the right. Of course, without him the right could be weaker still. So here we are.
I bet Brooks has a back kitchen.
Heck, I bet he has a back bathroom.
The Democrats' single minded focus on putting Trump in jail is a strategy, just not an effective strategy.
This prig is so tiresome.
Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally.
The problem with framing it as a "Strategy to Defeat Donald Trump" is that the following that Trump has was born before he ran for President and will continue to exist and grow after he's left the political stage. It's full of Conservatives, classical Liberals, former Democratic voters, men, women, Blacks and Whites, Asians and Native Americans. These are people who prefer a saner America where children are allowed to be children. Where you can walk down a street or go for an early morning jog without being assaulted, raped, or murdered. Where you can speak your mind, write something, say something, think something- without the FBI coming at your door, or a university tossing you out or canceling your speech, or your employer asking you to leave. Where the schools are the place young people get educated, not indoctrinated.
There are many who prefer an economy rich in energy production that is the economic engine for the rest of the world. There are those who prefer a country based on equality of opportunity, not a forced race-based comeuppance under the pseudonym of 'Equity' that penalizes people today for something done by people in years past. There are many who see clearly who the racists are by their actions, by the very destruction of the people they claim to represent (Black Americans) and the cities they reside in. There are those who prefer our Big Tech companies were not in bed with our Government to censor views that oppose the sitting party. After all, there are those of us who believe we live in the USA, not Venezuela.
David Brooks cannot see any of this from the 21st floor apartment on the Upper East Side, sight of tonight's cocktail party full of Those Who Know Better. None of his friends and associates can see much from there either. But there are 330,000,000 + people in this country and more every day are understanding just what direction this country is headed and are ready to stop it.
So stopping Trump is the least of their worries. But as usual, they'll be the last to realize this.
JAORE: "Mid term it's to preclude Trump running in 2024."
Correct.
And the New Soviet Democraticals and their GOPe allies know that if the republicans capture both the House and Senate, they won't be able to use the committees to continue their coordinated efforts (DOJ/FBI/NSA + corrupted judiciary + corrupted media) to keep Trump off the ballot.
With the House looking "R" in 2022, McConnell and team are re-doubling their efforts to keep the Senate in democratical hands.
BTW, isn't is strange how the New Soviet Democraticals and their GOPe allies keep telling us that Trump is a sure loser in 2024 yet they must do everything possible to keep Trump off the ballot?
"Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally."
I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process. I don't like the demonization and the stirring up of emotion against a supposed enemy within. And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
"Tell themselves?" Crikey!
This is written for the chumps who believe the NYT has some relevance other than as a herald for the left. It is akin to, and supportive of, Democrat projection.
Brooks is evidently oblivious to the detrimental impact of open borders, rampant crime accompanied by Soros criminal justice reform, inflation, Covid hysteria and the rest. He has a net worth estimated at $20 million and spends his time in the company of journalistic pinheads and other leftcoasters. What does he know about America and its culture?
Trump may be flawed, but he shares our disdain for leftists and their destructive policies. Lefties hate us, the Constitution, sound economic and energy policy, crime free streets and, apparently, secure borders. They offer up amoral, geriatric grifters as their flag bearers. Small wonder there are Trumpists!
Sebastian: "The right has SCOTUS and a few state governments, maybe Fox News on a good day, as its remaining bulwark. Anything else? Show, don't tell, Brooks."
It is inappropriate to use the words "the right" and "bulwark" in the same sentence.
It's true. GOP grassroots never had so much fun before. RNC was always trying to fire them up about this and that hobby horse cranked out by Conservatism, Inc but nobody cared.
Sen Burns' organized a "women's day" event to, you know, cover that female vote. So lame. Typical GOP shit. And he lost to Jon Tester.
Now the Trumpers self organize MAGA truck parades and set up sidewalk booths selling unlicensed Trump swag. Lots of events and socializing. It's all the GOP can do to piggyback on the enthusiasm to help down ticket candidates.
Good luck putting out this fire!
"Brooks should explain why Biden's immigration policy is better than Trump's"
If your immigration strategy is good for the country, good for America and good for Americans, then why is Joe Biden shipping Mexican bodies around the country in the dead of night? Under cover of darkness? Hiding where he's putting them?
The Democrats are human trafficking for their drug cartel funders and we should put them in prison until we can build enough lampposts to hang them all properly.
Yes, he will run. And I'm not sure he will win. Zuckerberg will redouble his "fortifying democracy" campaign and hand out another $500 million plus
We’re in a new era of elections where the candidates don’t matter. What does matter is Moneyballing the map, expanding the definition of ‘vote’, controlling the counting process, lawfare, and pushing the Too Soon to Tell/Too Late to Stop/Let’s Move On narrative…
…the cut of a candidates jib aint got nothing to do with it anymore.
Readering: "Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally."
readering remains confused and upset that people can't help but notice how stupid and contradictory and mendacious and harmful the "arguments" and policies of the leftists happen to be.
BTW, Brooks is no "anti-Trumpist". He is a leftist. From way back. Attempting to hide Brooks' leftism behind a facade of "anti-trumpism" is simply par for the course for the New Soviet Democraticals.
You can not square Brooks' claim that a 'radical left putsch' is not real with both Biden's blood-red rant, and the DCCC and others backing GOP primary candidates they perceive to be unelectable as extremists. You can either believe the threat against our institutions is real, or you can just be posturing as the party that defends democracy. The Democrats have suffered the delusion that they are the natural majority party in the United States for decades. If they want conservatives to repudiate Trump then they need to start losing elections graciously and repudiating the candidates that keep claiming their own losses were due to fraud.
Former widow!
Her husband came back to life?
McCullough wrote: Biden isn’t going to run for re-election. Trump will lose to DeSantis if Trump runs. DeSantis is smarter than Trump. He’s more competent than Trump. He is younger than Trump. He is not limited to one term as president. And he doesn’t rely on his worthless Son-In-Law to tell him what to do.
This is the most astute comment written so far.
I don't even like Donald Trump. He's weak. He is a weak, self-absorbed man who has no idea how to run a country or deal with the enemies within. He wants to be President for Donald Trump ... not for America and not for American cities. It makes him look big. It makes his ego grow. And that's it. His failure to deal with Hillary Clinton is proof positive of it.
He is a weak horse.
DeSantis is a strong horse - or at least so far appears to be. We'll see if he has the stamina to finish the race and end the Democrat Party forever.
When people see a strong horse, next to a weak horse, they prefer the strong horse.
They can kill Trump, but they will never kill what Trump represents, which is opposition to those tearing our country ashred.
For the elite corrupt left- they don't want to defeat Trump honestly - they want to destroy him and his supporters. Destroy even - his supporters who may not be enthralled with personality Trump, but like what he did for our nation.
McCullough wrote: Biden isn’t going to run for re-election. Trump will lose to DeSantis if Trump runs. DeSantis is smarter than Trump. He’s more competent than Trump. He is younger than Trump. He is not limited to one term as president. And he doesn’t rely on his worthless Son-In-Law to tell him what to do.
This is the most astute comment written so far.
I don't even like Donald Trump. He's weak. He is a weak, self-absorbed man who has no idea how to run a country or deal with the enemies within. He wants to be President for Donald Trump ... not for America and not for American cities. It makes him look big. It makes his ego grow. And that's it. His failure to deal with Hillary Clinton is proof positive of it.
He is a weak horse.
DeSantis is a strong horse - or at least so far appears to be. We'll see if he has the stamina to finish the race and end the Democrat Party forever.
When people see a strong horse, next to a weak horse, they prefer the strong horse.
They can kill Trump, but they will never kill what Trump represents, which is opposition to those tearing our country ashred.
It's amazing the way that Trump triggers such stupidity in his enemies. They did everything possible to not only defeat him but to repudiate him, and the result may be to set him up for the greatest political comeback in history.
Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture.
Yo! Dave! Funny you say that because the truth of the matter is, America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture.
To the David Brooks' of the nation, Trump is a persistent voice in the back of their minds - the one they can't silence but wish they could. He has everything they desire: success, money, the freedom to speak freely without caring about reproach. They can't be Trump because they care too much about being loved by everyone. Trump is Tristan in Legends of the Fall: the rock they're breaking themselves against.
2015 called and wants its column back.
The question for Brooks is what has happened since then.
The effective "strategy" against Trump was for the Democrats to run the country competently and for the benefit of the American people.
They have neither the ability nor the intention of doing that.
Brooks should explain why Biden's immigration policy is better than Trump's immigration policy.
The sad fact is, all of this political corruption, all of this demonization, all of this electoral fraud is precisely because the Left cannot win an honest debate. It's not just that their ideas are bad, it's that they cannot engage in honest debate.
“I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process. I don't like the demonization and the stirring up of emotion against a supposed enemy within. And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome.”
I’m offended by the daily disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are liberals and Democrats. It’s been a daIly assault here and in the right wing world. Democrats and liberals are painted to be anti children, anti marriage, anti military, unpatriotic, have been called communists or fascist almost daily by certain commenters here, with no pushback. Liberals have been demonized in the comments sections here for years and years. When I said I have children or have a daughter in the military, I’ve been called a liar, as if I was making up my own family. It was more than unwholesome, it was almost evil.
Biden's biggest card in 2020 was the supposed "return to normalcy" his Administration would bring.
He doesn't hold that card in 2024.
Michael K noted above that "People like Brooks are protected from the concerns of the normals, like inflation, energy shortages, Food shortages, terrible public schools and crime. They have no idea what a normal life is like under Democrat rule."
This is exactly the problem. Earlier this week I was at a family funeral and had a discussion with a brother who lives in the Washington suburbs less than 35 miles from my home in a "nice" part of Baltimore. He had absolutely no clue about the level of violent crime in our immediate neighborhood (murders, carjackings, armed robberies, etc.) and the absolute fear that many suburbanites feel driving into the city because of the beggars and "squeegee boys" running shakedown operations under police protection at every major intersection. Even most of my neighbors are still in total denial. Our sister is terrified driving into the downtown Baltimore to her hospital job. She has commented that the liberals have no idea that their lives depend on older women like her mastering their daily fears to staff the city's hospitals. Two of her immediate co-workers have had family members murdered. Yet even in that department, she must keep her mouth shut and never contradict the worldview of her liberal co-workers with any evidence that breaks the narrative.
I know a lot of you don't like Peggy Noonan. I disagree with her in some things, but I still think she can be very insightful. And I really like this, from a few years back:
"I don’t know about you but when people look down on me I want them to be distinguished or outstanding in some way—towering minds, people of exquisite sensibility or learning [...].
"It’s the big fact of American life now, isn’t it? That we are patronized by our inferiors."
A strategy to defeat Trump will tend to strengthen him, because the people most appalled by him have zero clue how and why his message can resonate with any decent person. Therefore, no Trump supporter is decent; so to hell with them, and anyone trying to win their support is suspect.
To render Trump irrelevant, and leave people with no need to turn to him, would require our political class, left and right, to be competent and not self-serving. I suggest they try it for awhile. Might sell, if only for the novelty of it.
Yo! Dave! Funny you say that because the truth of the matter is, America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture.
What's infuriating about the gas lighting coming from Brooks is that the Left itself doesn't deny it. They openly speak of their desire for power and their goal to fundamentally change America.
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Althouse said...And I think the elite are over-respected.
I think your statement is true for half the country. The left half that worship false prophets like Fauci, Pelosi, Biden...Bruce Springsteen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah...Don Lemon, David Brooks, George Snuffleupagus...Zelinsky, Trudeau, Macron...McCain, Romney, Liz Cheney...
The worst of the worshiped false prophets are the behind the curtain "experts" and "fact checkers".
It's sad. Once you see through the lies, fog, and confusion promoted by these people, and the change in the demeanor of their followers it's actually heart breaking. For former friends and estranged relatives I feel like..."they know not what they do".
At one time they were Old Yeller. Today, they are Old Yeller after he was bitten by the rabid wolf.
The republican challenge is women voters, not Brooks.
Brooks offers no policy solutions nor proposes a viable candidate better than Trump and he can point to not one tiny thing democrats and Joe have done to improve America or take on the actual non-Trump problems that confront our Republic.
“How do we stop Trump?” is the wrong question they need to ask themselves.
To lead the right in this war, Trump doesn’t have to be honest, moral or competent; he just has to be seen taking the fight to the 'elites.'...
You certainly didn't need to be honest, moral, and competent to beat Trump. Biden wasn't, though his team kept telling us that he was.
Over and over and over again, we get told about the Trump cult. Trump would have miniscule support if hadn't delivered when he was in office. It's Anti-Trump that is more like a cult.
Brooks is too hypnotized by right and left. Biden is messing up. If he were capable of governing competently and beneficially for the country and the average American, he could be as leftwing as he would like. If Trump had failed to make America prosperous and secure during his (pre-COVID) presidency, Brooks wouldn't have to worry about him, no matter how far right he supposedly was.
If Trump runs, I won't be voting for him because he's some champion of the right wing -- he never really was that -- but because I think he'll be better for the country.
" And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome."
Yes, ma'am. And for too long.
Brooks want's a healthy debate. On his terms. We're done with that. If the last six years have shown us anything it's how morally depraved the progressive left is. And they will do anything to grab and maintain power over you.
"Those of us in this establishment correctly identified Trump as a grave threat to American democracy."
They do have a strategy to defeat Trump. There's Brooks putting it to work right there.
"Convince the rubes that no, Democrats are not trying to radically transform America into a Soviet Socialist radical leftist dictatorship!"
If that's the plan then... maybe stop trying to be a Soviet Socialist radical leftist dictatorship? This idea that "no, all we have to do is say we are not dictators and commies means we aren't! Who are they gonna believe, their own lying eyes?"
I harken back to that BYU racism hoax the other day; since I live in Utah. Rather astonishingly, there has been a large pushback against the "BYU and all its students are racist! REEEE!" going on. People aren't blind. We saw what happened, and BYUtv which broadcast the game is as good a quality if not better than a prime time ESPN broadcast. Total smear, and the left is still pushing the "BYU needs canceling and all its sports and players labeled as irredeemable racists forever! Just because we say so!" But the WCC conference backed up BYU, and now South Carolina's legislature is pushing hard against the actual, literal, canceling of BYU by the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The left is pushing racist bilge that's a lie in an attempt to rule, and everyone but David Brooks knows it.
Shorter Readering and like minded lefties:
'Trump hate is the natural state of things. His supporters deserve non-stop harassment and disrespect.'
Drago: "It is inappropriate to use the words "the right" and "bulwark" in the same sentence."
Ouch, yes. Mea culpa.
Next is the now daily revelations of the Biden administration being the actual fascist group they shriek about --openly colluding with Massive Big Tech to censor and ban and spread misinformation.
If you don't want the Rubes to think that Biden and the left are fascists, then maybe don't ape a Adolf speech and stop being fascist.
Just sayin.
yeah yeah- Trump destroyed democracy by exposing the corrupt left, and making life better for most every American citizen.
He must be punished!
More generally, Brooks does not discuss any real issues at all.
Just like the lefties on this blog and or any other left of center site. No engagement on policy at all. Everything is politics and culture. The outcomes of their policies are so horrendous they have no choice to make every discussion about culture. Look. Squirrel! It's almost like it's a cult or something.
Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker: "yeah yeah- Trump destroyed democracy by exposing the corrupt left, and making life better for most every American citizen."
yeah yeah- Trump destroyed democracy by exposing the corrupt left and their GOPe allies, and making life better for most every American citizen.
I just saw this post at Instapundit: FBI Agents Accuse Biden of Pressuring FBI to Fabricate ‘Extremist’ and ‘White Supremacist’ Cases.
If there is an aim to convince rational Trump supporters that Trump is a danger; then the first thing is not to show as that this has been pre-determined to be true and harass Trump Supporters (actual financial backers). The case against My Pillow guy is absurd. If discussing elector slates is now Insurrection and somehow against the law; then why didn't the FBI prosecute this in 2016, when there were open discussions in the media about intimidating electors at the electoral college? Show us there is not a double standard here. Otherwise, yes you are making it easier for Trump simply to show he is being oppressed by a cabal of enemies within the bureaucracy and Biden Administration. It is a rather easy observation to make.
Personally, I rather we discuss the effective strategy Democrats have for our country, rather than Trump at all. Why is it, David Brooks, that the issue is whether Trump should be President or not, rather than US Foreign Policy, US Economic Policy, US Energy Policy, and US Immigration Policy? Are not those things more important for the upcoming election than whether Trump runs for office in the next election? When you are writing editorials about Trump in 2022 instead of celebrating Biden's doing something about inflation (seems he caused it to raise 8.3% huzzah!), then I don't think you have any strategy against Trump beyond undemocratically calling him a criminal unable to run for any office. So, while you worry about Trump and destroy our Judicial institutions, the rest of the United States must deal with the outcome of failed foreign wars, a collapsing supply chain and increasing inflation, blackouts, and housing illegal immigrants. I can understand why you prefer to talk about Trump than Democrats record over the last 2 years, but talk isn't going to provide baby food formula on the shelves or keep us warm and safe this winter.
To lead the right in this war, Trump doesn’t have to be honest, moral or competent; he just has to be seen taking the fight to the 'elites.'...
We have Joe F**king Biden sitting in the Oval Office and he complains about honesty, morality, or competence?
Sebastian: "Ouch, yes. Mea culpa."
It's a venial sin, not a mortal one.
The invert correlation of rhhardin's postulate is the Dims have to Garner more men votes.
If you don't think the radical left is weaponizing government, you're either Hirono dumb or not paying attention...
Readering said...
Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally.
Well, you are a stupid fascist, so you would have trouble with that.
I keep reading 'Trumpist.'
Like everything else the left does, it's just juvenile.
Al Hirt does not approve...
Dave Begley said Yes, he will run. And I'm not sure he will win. Zuckerberg will redouble his "fortifying democracy" campaign and hand out another $500 million plus.
The City of Milwaukee has already openly announced its absentee ballot harvesting effort funded by an outside group. They're calling is "canvassing". They just want to help people "participate".
This uses government resources controlled by Democrats to harvest and forge absentee ballots. Liberal Counties in Wisconsin have mastered it. The red counties are to busy working, and still vote on election day. Democrats who legitimately fill out an absentee ballot and participate in absentee voting do it to help confuse the system. They know its a strategy.
I don't think Trump can win.
In 2022 DeSantis can win in FL. But I fully expect the fraud machines to put Democrat candidates over the top in the upcoming midterms. Same states that were corrupted in 2020 in the exact same areas. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona.
Inga said...
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Well, they are groomers...
So not sure what you are pushing back against.
Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture.
I haven't read all the comments yet- but I see several have focused on this statement of truth. True in two ways. One- Trumpists tell themselves that. Two- It's true. And lots of us who aren't Trumpists but voted for him twice agree. For two reasons. One: Hillary was and is a corrupt criminal. Two: Joe Biden was very obviously suffering from dementia or Alzheinmers- and is a corrupt politician.
6 solid years of investigation and the FBU and their allies the MSM have failed to uncover a crime against Trump or any of his family. Hunter and Hilary, with an honest DoJ, could be indicted and prosecuted tomorrow. Along with all of the Crossfire Hurricane investigators. Not some, all of them. All were aware their investigation was based on false and untrue statements.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
And the kittie has escaped the confines of the carrying-sack with the very first word in Brooks' sentence. What words, one wonders, suggest themselves to those in Brooks' world to describe Biden/Democrat candidate supporters? Does he refer to them as Bidenists? Clintonistas? Warreneers??
My best friend is a reflexively "progressive" lesbian who accepts (tolerates?) me and most members of her family even if we are on different sides of political issues. Yet she didn't understand at all when I bristled at her casual reference to others as "Trumpsters." I asked if it would ever occur to her to refer to "Bidensters." That did give her pause.
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Inga, I highly doubt as a mother and grandmother that you are a sexual predator of young children. But I have yet to see any "pushback" from you on what is happening in our educational system. Policy?? Any thoughts?
mccullough said...
Surging crime in the cities. They can’t recruit enough police officers. The military can’t recruit enough soldiers. More Americans buying firearms.
Progressives closed the schools for a year. They closed businesses. Progressives mandated useless masks and oversold the efficacy of vaccines.
And Brooks talks about Trump.
Biden isn’t going to run for re-election. Trump will lose to DeSantis if Trump runs. DeSantis is smarter than Trump. He’s more competent than Trump. He is younger than Trump. He is not limited to one term as president. And he doesn’t rely on his worthless Son-In-Law to tell him what to do.
Trump’s function at this point is to serve as a lightning rod for useless ideologues like Brooks.
You keep spewing this stupidity with nothing to support it.
Trump will get more votes in the general than Desantis. He will get more votes in the primary than Desantis.
Your only hope is that the Biden administration removes Trump from the race which will make him more popular.
Desantis has said he will not run against Trump.
If he does he is a liar.
And Trump is a lot smarter than Desantis. He is also a lot smarter than you.
I’m offended by the daily disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are liberals and Democrats. It’s been a daIly assault here and in the right wing world. Democrats and liberals are painted to be anti children, anti marriage, anti military, unpatriotic, have been called communists or fascist almost daily by certain commenters here, with no pushback.
If the shoe fits ...
Sebastian @ 10:15: Bingo.
I am projecting wildly here from my own (obviously limited) self-knowledge. Which is, there is no better way to ensure my lasting enmity than to slander me and not repent. I think of the tens of millions of decent people wrongly smeared by the Prog elites, Brooks included, and I think of the quiet and growing resentment they must feel. And then, oddly enough, I think of pitchforks.
Compromise isn't possible, because the radical left is unwilling to give up their push for radical Social justice Warrior agenda, including pushing transexism that denies the reality of biological sex and the overt protection/encouragement of pushing the creepy gay groomer agenda on elementary school children.
There can be no compromise with that agenda.
HBTPFH asked "btw - why won't delicate rich white leftists on Martha's Vineyard not LOVE and CARE for the illegal entrants?"
I KNOW! Especially since their houses display all kinds of signs that let me know I can trust them to have hearts full of tolerance and love. Like "Love has no sex" and "No person is illegal" and "Fetuses aren't persons and are illegal colonizers and can be evicted with extreme prejudice." Signs like those make me feel like I'm in a warm, safe place, like a baby in its mother's arms.
Blogger Inga said...
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Public Schools, School Boards, and Teachers Unions in certain areas of the country are clearly engaging in grooming children for more than just political indoctrination. They have crossed the line into sexual indoctrination. They are sponsoring tranny drag shows for young children and much more. That's grooming. That's Democrat.
These liberals are grooming young children to defy the authority and influence of their parents and the nuclear family. Destruction of the nuclear family has been a goal of liberalism since Johnson's Great Society was implemented. Look what it has done to the African-American community in America. They suffer because of it...and liberals don't care.
Injecting the unneeded and dangerous mRNA into these innocent kids is another subject, but it fits in conjunction with the grooming efforts. So does making them wear masks.
All of it is basically child abuse.
If you support it...own it. Be proud of it. But don't pretend it's not happening.
Oh, when I say I voted for Trump twice- I mean I voted for him twice. In the 2016 and 2020 general election. I voted for Cruz in the NY primary. He would have lost. Early supporters of Trump, the ones who stand in line for his rallies, people like that, could possibly be labelled Trumpists.
Democrats supported Trump in the primaries because Hillary thought Trump would be the easiest to beat. She was wrong- as she is on almost everything. If the anti-Trumpers in the Republicn and Democrat parties had truly understood what was going on with the Trump phenomenon- they would have united early behind another candidate. They didn't. And thus- Trump.
TBH- I thought Trump was a stealth candidate who would govern as a liberal. And he may have been but for a few key issues. But he's a businessman and a showman, not mututally exclusive, not a politician. Democrats missed their chance to work with him and set out to destroy him. If they had been reasonable and offered compromises and ratcheted their leftist ideas slowly- he would have been the nightmare I imagined he might be, Hillary light without the corruption.
I'd say Brooks is more of an Establishmentarian than a leftist. He did come out of a liberal or progressive or Democrat background and was taken up by the neoconservatives, in part because William F. Buckley liked one of his satirical columns in the UChicago newspaper. For Brooks and for others neoconservatism looked like a promising ruling class ideology. It didn't work out that way, and now that he's back in New York at the Times, he more or less falls in with the prevailing ideology.
For me, Trump was a respite from politics as usual, both from the consensus politics that seems to be more interested in ignoring or creating problems than in solving them, and from the static ideological trench warfare. I didn't find him to be an especially divisive figure either. Even people who didn't like or vote for him were doing well before the global pandemic. Maybe DeSantis is the future, but he may just get bogged down in the usual Washington torpor. He also won't be as much fun.
Inga cannot deny her obsessive Trump hate and card carrying loyalist membership to the Official Trump-Hate Cult...
*change of subject to... groomers *no fair*
Ok Groomer. OK Boomer.
She's excited about Bill and Hillary - the rapist and the rapist-supporter and THE grifters return to their rightful place on the grifter throne.
"The core challenge now is to show by word and deed that this is a gross exaggeration."
In April, 2015, the Clinton campaign and DNC launched a strategy of promoting Donald Trump as a presidential candidate to sow chaos in the Republican primaries. Trump hadn't even announced as a candidate yet. If the Dems want to prove that they're sincere that Trump was bad for the country, all they have to do is purge the 400 members of the DNC who were advised of that plan and did nothing to stop it from being implemented. No legislation, no legal action, no action by Republicans needed. Just purge those people.*
Otherwise, it's only sensible for others conclude that bringing Trump front and center is precisely what the Dems and their fellow travelers wanted - and still want.
Blogger Inga said...
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
I also find the whole "groomers" thing to be annoying, but here is what you seem not to understand Inga: this blog is not about you and how you are treated by other commentators. It is largely about (if I may presume to say so) mainstream media. What Drago thinks of you or Howard may interest you, but the rest of us couldn't care less, and if Althouse started posting about it I think I would depart.
Sheesh...
'This uses government resources controlled by Democrats to harvest and forge absentee ballots.'
Lefties are constantly talking about how voting and 'democracy' are 'sacred,' and how elections are the most important thing in our lives.
I wouldn't go so far as sacred, but legally voting is the only way to properly run a country.
I am on record here calling for the death penalty if convicted of voter fraud.
Who is with me?
Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened
Every word and phrase is propaganda:
"Trumpists" (rhymes with fascists yo u know!) is a term of derision that shows his extreme bias in one word. Say no more, David!
"tell themselves" is a phrase used exclusively to signal that the speaker is more enlightened than those icky lowlifes who lie to themselves to soothe their souls or, in Brooks' telling, rile themselves up. It's not just a smear of Trump voters but an insinuation we have these lies like their "fine people hoax" and their "pee pee tape hoax" that we repeat like a mantra when it is the "mainstream" democratic lazy and repetitive media that buries us in repetition: if they ever listened to conservatives and libertarians the phrase most uttered is "LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!"
"that America is being threatened" is anodyne as it stands. Without context I can say that most Americans feel the country as a whole or a specific segment is indeed under attack. Hell that's what Adolph Brandon's big NAZI speech at Liberty Hall (irony alert) was all about: America is under MAGA attack! But taken in light of Brooks' premise that evil Trumpers are doing the self-talking here he betrays just how callous Liberals and Progressives are to the human suffering they cause, and brooks is proud that he's not just indifferent to the abuses of power and economic damage he's mocking us for giving voice these issues and signaling to his fellow travelers that they can ignore us because we are just "talking to ourselves" when we notice that:
-For the first time in history voting laws were changed in almost every state using "emergency powers" and challenges to these undemocratic changes were denied even though many state laws were violated in the process
- In 2020 we were energy independent and had transformed to a net exporter of natural gas and oil; two years later we have shortages, doubled prices and chaos caused by Joe following through on his promise to "kill the oil industry"
- We suffer 9/11 scale death totals every ten days from Fentanyl overdoses supplied by China and Joe's partners in border chaos the Cartels ("10% for the big guy!")
- DOJ and FBI are rounding up Trump allies and supporters based on anonymous sources that say the people might have been in DC on J6; actual known participants in the BLM-Antifa riots of 2020-2021 have not been arrested or charged even though deaths and property damage and injured cops and burned precincts and courthouses from the Floyd Funeral Riots dwarf any account of the Capitol Stroll
- After defending the Podesta brothers' child porn paintings and mocking anyone who was curious about all the pedophiles in the democrat party (Epstein Island, remember?) the Progressives have done a complete 180 and now demand the right for teachers to discuss sex and gender and transitioning with kindergartners AND to keep all of it secret from parents and use the FBI to stop to any parents who might complain about strange men teaching their babies to suck dick during Drag Queen Story Hour
- The president of the United States of America gave a NAZI themed speech where he called all Trump voters fascists; his weak walk-backs since do not erase what he already said
David Brooks approves of all the above and wants you to stop complaining and help him find a way to end Trump's rent-free stay in Brooks' head. But you know what David really needs? Do you?
MORE FUCKING PRESIDENT TRUMP IS WHAT HE NEEDS! Congrats democrats. You've now convinced me to vote for him a third time when I didn't even want him to run the first time.
“I’m offended by the daily disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are liberals and Democrats”
Let me know when you are called out as an enemy and subverter of the state. Until then, please stop whining.
“If the shoe fits ...”
Same goes for Trumpists, the biggest whiners,”victims” and perpetually aggrieved.
Blogger Inga said...
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Inga, seeing the evidence how can you complain about the groomers in the Democrat Party?
Here.
Here.
You may doubt the political affiliation but Democrats support this stuff.
Brooks come across as someone who knows the truth, knows that if he says the truth he is finished, and so it sliding in something subversive that cannot be readily be seen as subversive in the hope that someone gets the message.
Personally, I think that is giving him too much credit. He probably believes his own BS.
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Yes because you guys defend teachers who do that?
When someone man or woman without my permission wants to talk to my child aged 5 to 9 about the child's sexual organs and desires and asks the child to keep it from their parents, what do you call that, Inga?
It is grooming, straight up. It has nothing to do with the childish chant "don't say gay" and everything to do with corrupting children and separating them from their parents. Their is no educational imperative to talk about penises with kindergartners: NONE. To be fair, I'm open to ANY example you may offer up of a prominent currently incumbent democrat who has joined with Republicans to push back on the sexualization of young children in schools. Is there even one other than Tulsi Gabbard?
Ann Althouse said...
"Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally."
I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process. I don't like the demonization and the stirring up of emotion against a supposed enemy within. And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome.
9/16/22, 10:26 AM
Hear!! Hear!!!
Maynard said...
I’m offended by the daily disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are liberals and Democrats. It’s been a daIly assault here and in the right wing world. Democrats and liberals are painted to be anti children, anti marriage, anti military, unpatriotic, have been called communists or fascist almost daily by certain commenters here, with no pushback.
If the shoe fits ...
9/16/22, 11:19 AM
And HEAR!! HEAR!! Again!!
The pustule Howard analyzes rhhardin's postulate.
"The Democrats are human trafficking for their drug cartel funders...."
But for the exclusion of "drug trafficking", the statement above offers a plausible explanation for Biden's otherwise inexplicable border policy.
Democrat chumps and grifters will dismiss it as a conspiracy theory, but why would anyone accept that? Because Democrats occupy the moral high ground? Bwahahahaha!
What, no civility bullshit tag?
Ann at 10:26 "...It's unwholesome."
Yep
They think that we can't manage our self interest. Unwholesome indeed.
AA please read the comments about me on this post (or most any other political post on which I happen to comment). You have cultivated a highly disrespectful stable of Trumpist commenters. Not that it matters much. Dogs on the internet and all that. (But things were more pleasant in the brief period you went back to gatekeeping.)
I'm starting to Zone-out when it comes to people like Brooks, and the never-trumpers. Trump was POTUS for 4 years. What did he do that makes Brooks and others so hysterically opposed to him? What makes him beyond the pale?
I thought the concern in 2016 was based on fear and ignorance, but after 4 years of Trump giving us peace and prosperity they are STILL full of hate, and scheming to stop him.
The only conclusion is they are simply lying about their motivations. Is it because Trump is the only one they think will stop the Leftwing takeover? Or is it, they can't stand he opposes (however mildly) globalism? OR are they open borders freaks?
The only reason I read Brooks or care about him is that Althouse does posts on him. Its somewhat scary that this clown is considered "wicked smart" by our power elite. But then you can say the same of Michelle Goldberg or the whole NYT Op-ed page.
"I’m offended by the daily disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are liberals and Democrats."
Get serious, Igna! The subjects of our disrespect are no longer real liberals or real Democrats. They are anti-Constitutional leftist seditionists. Their enablers are chumps.
Open borders, support for the cartels, inflation, weakened military, energy dependence, crime and Soros DAs, grifting, anti-First and Second Amendment, 60 million dead babies.
What's to respect?
...this blog is not about you and how you are treated by other commentators. It is largely about (if I may presume to say so) mainstream media.- Old and slow
Not much mention of Fox News or any other right wing media. It's often what's not said that's most interesting.
Russia Collusion Truther an Hillary/FBI Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback."
That's because you support the groomers, support policies that enable the groomers, and on top it all you call fathers who shower with their adolescent daughters "perfectly normal".
You are absolutely groomer enablers. And you demented ideas about adults and children in schools should be called out each day and every day.
And they will be, until you stop or the FBI decides its time to completely shut down all "resistance" the New Soviet Democratical Party.
So, the ball is in your court. Stop with your groomer enabling policies and defense of actual groomers, and we'll stop labeling you what you properly are.
"Trump doesn’t have to be honest, moral or competent"
And David Brooks is jealous!
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
What are we so upset about? They just want to arrest our leaders, put the rest of us in camps, seize our property, and sterilize our children. Nothing they haven't done before in other countries. Well, maybe the sterilizing children part.
Don't suppose DeSantis would be treated differently than Trump. Remember the Tea Parties. The lefty Democrats are all in now. The DOJ/FBI/IRS/leftmedia corruption is and has been out in front for all to see.
We can't even imagine - because it has been unthinkable - how the rest of the deep state can be manipulated to destroy the integrity of elections and smash conservatives. For example, who could foresee Zuckbucks and 2000 Mules?
If that sleaze doesn't prevail, there are always the F-15s. Don't expect the CRT/woke miltary to come down on the side of the Constitution. This is not your father's service.
We have it all wrong on the Martha Vineyards thing. I read this tweet on another blog today:
Jon Cooper
@joncoopertweets
·
15h
Ron DeSantis claimed Martha's Vineyard residents would "go berserk" when they saw the migrants arrive. Boy, was he WRONG! In fact, so many locals rushed in to offer their support to the asylum seekers that many of them had to be turned away.
THAT’S why I’m proud to be a liberal!
"I'm not even persuaded that Brooks believes it's all that much of an exaggeration to think there's a "radical left putsch... out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
Brooks has lived under Leftist rule at NYT long enough that he no longer regards it as "radical". They pay him well, and they gave him a young woman to replace his badly worn-out wife. He loves his Left masters, and wants to serve them.
The effective strategy will be to punch through the Trump facade.
“I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process.”
Mostly is a pretty big qualification. You are acknowledging that they are at least somewhat insincere. The general level of meanest is what has really earned the disrespect.
“I don't like the demonization and the stirring up of emotion against a supposed enemy within.”
Like Trump, the right-wing media, and most of your commenters have been demonizing those of us on the left.
“And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome.”
Trump is the pinnacle of the country club elite.
@Inga,
My take on why Althouse is concerned about vilification in one instance and not another is related to two issues: One is the power and influence of the people doing the vilification, and two is the desire to allow the commenters the chance to express themselves, within broad limits. Thus, some level of name-calling might be allowed on the blog because the person doing it is not in a position of national influence, and the subject of the name-calling is free to respond on a peer level. She's not here to fight your battles for you. Now, I can't say if she has been fair or not in the handling of this since I am neither a perpetrator or victim in this activity, and I don't have time to analyze the back and forth and judge the consistency of the judgements.
As for whether you deserve some of the vilification, it depends on what positions you take on certain matters. It might be that you feel, given the imbalance of commenters that skews right, that you cannot cede any ground and thus must carry the banner for your side in all cases. In the case of Althouse, what endears me to her postings is that I see her as an honest liberal. I know that on certain key issues we are very far apart, and she let's me tell her so without sanction. But more importantly she is pretty good about calling balls and strikes against her own side. She understands the difference between ideology and principle, and she stands on principle in many issues even if she supports the ideology. In other words, she respects the people who disagree with her, and she wants the policies of America to be honestly debated and decided (As I understand her.) She is not the type to say she would accept a rapist as president just because he supports abortion.
If you want to carve out a position of "honest liberal" in my book, you might want to take a stand against your own team and distance yourself from things they do that are clearly bad for people and bad for the country. If you don't want to be associated as a groomer (a la Aesop's birds of a feather), you could denounce kiddie tranny shows, sexual indoctrination of kindergarteners, easy access in school libraries of porn, etc. To defend or excuse such activities might mean you approve of grooming and might earn you the moniker. I don't know if you have, or have not done something in the specific, for each and every topic, so don't read this as an accusation. All I can say is that, having read Althouse for 15 years or so, I get a pretty good feel for the regular contributors. I am comfortable saying that I don't see you as an "honest liberal" but rather a strong defender of "team left", and unwilling to allow that your side could be wrong in action, despite being right in intent.
There are those on the right that are similar, but also plenty who stand on principle vs ideology. I've said many times that Althouse needs better Liberals - more people willing to argue merits of issues rather than than just root for team blue.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture."
Out to? Seems to me that already happened.
I agree with Althouse and Wendybar about disrespect, but then we have Inga:
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
I agree with Mike (sorry, not clicking links Drago), but what is being done is grooming. Even if you want to deny that the grooming is actually about pedophilia, there is still a level of grooming. The reason LGBTetc. want to teach about multiple genders at such a young age is to groom them into accepting multiple genders before they become too familiar with the basic biology of male and female. This isn't in dispute. You may not like the label, but the word accurately describes the act. So really the dislike about the label is its effectiveness.
It is the same situation with trying to silence "Libs of TikTok", when that person accurately presents the real arguments being made by progressives. You want pushback (your word for silencing or at least criticizing fair debate) for people accurately describing your behavior. Whether Althouse agrees with "accurate description" or not, she has made clear she opposes silencing debate and prefers more debate. That's why YOU are allowed to pushback, Inga, but it is ineffective (as David Brooks notes). You don't have to like it, but you sure as hell are not upping your game. Seriously, I think Althouse would agree more with you than me on abortion, and you aren't even upping your debate game on that topic despite her showing you and other progressives how to do it. Whining for a thumb to be placed on the scales of free speech isn't upping your debate game. It is a beacon for the weakness of your argument.
Oh, and don't call yourself "liberal" and demand pushback to free speech. There is nothing liberal about opposition to free and open debate. "Groomer" is a much more accurate term for the purpose its being deployed than "liberal" in this case.
Blogger Inga said...
“If the shoe fits ...”
Same goes for Trumpists, the biggest whiners,”victims” and perpetually aggrieved.
Yeah, those Congressmen and pillow makers having interactions with the FBI and having their phones seized are sure "whiners." No warrants, just like the Stasi. Your fuhrer gave a fine speech in Philly.
Achilles,
Get over your hero worship. The graveyard is filled with indispensable men.
A smart man doesn’t listen to a worthless Son-In-Law.
I prefer DeSantis to Kushner, who called the shots for Trump. Jared said “do what Fauci says” and Trump does it.
Trump has the attention span of a meth tweaker.
Trump is useful as a foil. What he’s doing these days is what he did as president. Jared was a better president than Biden.
Biden isn’t going to run for re-election.
And Trump isn’t smarter than DeSantis. And he’s certainly not as effective at governing because he didn’t govern. Jared governed.
Let's go back to, say, 1938; 1939 Germany. Go ask a proud member of the National Socialist Party of Germany if they are evil and support evil things.
I am pretty sure, just like Inga, they would be offended at the very idea. Despite the fact that they were, in fact supporting evil and were pretty evil themselves.
Inga's Democrats are in fact grooming children, defending grooming, they are acting the fascist with censorship and demonizing all people who vote against them. Democrats are openly using the FBI as a Gestapo to harass
Inga. How many illegals YOU taking in?
none at all
all talk, all BS
All the handwringing from our Media Elite and this administration makes me think they know Trump won 2020. They don't believe their guy won the most votes ever! Interesting how this knowledge seeps through all of actions and columns.
The only conclusion is they are simply lying about their motivations. Is it because Trump is the only one they think will stop the Leftwing takeover? Or is it, they can't stand he opposes (however mildly) globalism? OR are they open borders freaks
---------
Trump was a rejection of the global Mansfield class and the assumption that they were entitled to lead based solely on having the correct credentials. That's why they were hysterical about his victory over Clinton (who is the platonic ideal of the over credentialed, incompetent bureaucrat).
It wasn't enough for Trump to lose in 2020, he had to be repudiated as well, so that no one else would try to do what he did, or think that they could win with his platform. That didn't happen. He lost, but remained a force in the right. Now every attack seems to only strengthen his position with the gop base.
" And I think the elite are over-respected. It's unwholesome."
Yes, ma'am. And for too long.
Brooks want's a healthy debate. On his terms. We're done with that. If the last six years have shown us anything it's how morally depraved the progressive left is. And they will do anything to grab and maintain power over you.
+1 Wa St Blogger
including this "There are those on the right that are similar," because it is true that both sides get into slogans and epithets rather than supporting their ideas with sound arguments. I dislike David Brooks, but he is making the right point to progressives that the strategy they are currently employing is ineffective (though he seems too afraid to admit the truth that it is backfiring). Just the other day, Althouse pointed out dumb and ineffective comments by Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. I agree with Althouse on both of those comments.
If Brooksie had any conservative principles at all, he would be writing 24/7 about what a gross outrage the MAL raid was (and is), and be demanding that his fellow memebrs of the press cry out against this abomnation, until the perpretators are exposed and deposed.
The fact that the Biden Regime is not being pilloried like Nixon is a horrible indictment of our supposedly "liberal" press.
Everything else is just toadying to the Regime.
Why Is There Still No Strategy to Defeat Donald Trump?
Pure hate is not a strategy.
I would distinguish between those who simply voted for another candidate and those who insult and spread rumors, whichever side they are on, but for some people believing and spreading rumors and insulting is an integral part of their worldview and essential for their functioning in the world.
Before Trump took the national political stage there was Rush Limbaugh. Liberals and the old-school "Rockefeller" Republicans scorned Limbaugh. But Limbaugh has died.
And Joe Rogan and Dan Bongino and Tucker Carlson and James Golden and Steven Crowder (not so much at all Sean Hannity) and Mark Steyn and "Sargon of Akkad" talkers and video bloggers and TV personalities and those still on the local conservative radio ... The AUDIENCE and the movement is still there and still has the same concerns since Reagan was president. Russians, with nukes. Inflation and dependence on oil imported from unfriendly nations. Schools that don't teach fundamentals but DO get political. Sexually transmitted plagues. Government interference with doctors and pharmacies. Being asked to accomodate those who, seemingly, refuse to assimilate. Taxes that are too high, too complicated, and seem to favor those with lawyers and sneaky accountants.
Prisons that can neither rehabilitate the guilty, nor execute them. Cities that don't work, with big-dig projects that take forever, don't work, and cost way too much.
There may be no solution. Certainly the GOP has not put forward much. But it seems the Democrats deny the problems entirely, and would rather talk about nebulous ivory tower first-world elitist issues like climate change and income inequality or race theory ...
"I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process."
"Mostly is a pretty big qualification. You are acknowledging that they are at least somewhat insincere. The general level of meanest is what has really earned the disrespect."
What we have here is "failure to communicate."
Mostly.
Readering said...
Still don't understand what AA has against Brooks--and anti-Trumpists generally
Professor Althouse has a low tolerance for bullshit and hypocrisy. If she used her Bullshit tag on all of these sorts of stories it would be the #1 tag on her blog.
The elite David Brooks, writing opinion for The New York Times, makes vast generalizations about Trump’s followers. Why doesn’t he climb down from his perch and go out to Trump Country - he doesn’t even have to go far - talk to people and get to a point where he truly understands their angst about what is going on in our country.
He really needs to stop being so clueless.
"Wilbur said...
We have it all wrong on the Martha Vineyards thing. I read this tweet on another blog today:
Jon Cooper
@joncoopertweets
·
15h
Ron DeSantis claimed Martha's Vineyard residents would "go berserk" when they saw the migrants arrive. Boy, was he WRONG! In fact, so many locals rushed in to offer their support to the asylum seekers that many of them had to be turned away.
THAT’S why I’m proud to be a liberal!"
Then why did the people of Martha's Vineyard order up buses to ship the migrants to Massachusetts?
mccullough said...
Achilles,
Get over your hero worship. The graveyard is filled with indispensable men.
A smart man doesn’t listen to a worthless Son-In-Law.
Yeah. You are full of wisdom.
Trump accomplished more in his time in DC than Desantis has in Florida.
And Trump was betrayed constantly by the "Republicans" in DC.
Desantis opened up his state, kicked Disney out and talks a lot.
Trump will get 75-80 million votes in the general.
Desantis is Romney 2.0. 65 million tops.
You just aren't a serious thinker.
Heywood Rice: "Not much mention of Fox News or any other right wing media. It's often what's not said that's most interesting."
"right wing media" is about 5% of the media landscape.
I'm sorry that upsets you. What can we do to help you cope?
Readering said...
AA please read the comments about me on this post (or most any other political post on which I happen to comment). You have cultivated a highly disrespectful stable of Trumpist commenters. Not that it matters much. Dogs on the internet and all that. (But things were more pleasant in the brief period you went back to gatekeeping.)
Fascist supports censoring political opponents.
Fascist supports jailing and persecuting political opponents.
Fascist accused political opponents of murdering Brian Sicknick.
Fascist supported Russian Collusion hoax. Numerous other government lies.
Fascist gets mad when other people point out she is a fascist.
Asks Ann to censor her political opponents..
Cry more fascist.
Maybe there isn't a radical left putsch against the Constitution and morality. I don't know. I don't listen at keyholes, so I've never heard a radical leftist plotting a putsch. So it might be more than a gross exaggeration. Maybe it's just a falsehood.
Maybe the radical left is just grossly incompetent and downright stupid. I mean flea-picking simian stupid and savage, like a temple monkey that likes to steal cameras -- something it can never understand or operate but lusts for anyway so it can smash it against a tree, the way Joe Biden lusts for power that he has no talent for using to anyone's benefit, only to befoul, corrupt, and destroy anything fine and good.
A glance at the menu of one's favorite eatery where one has dined at least weekly since time immemorial ought to convince a reasonable person that Democrats should never be allowed anywhere near the levers of power. The price of veal marsala in the third quarter of 2022 is all the wake-up call a voter needs to choose Trump, Trumpism, and Trump-endorsed candidates over any Democrat or socialist on the political horizon.
Maybe Trump streams bullshit every time he holds one of his rallies. Who the fuck in his right mind cares what Trump thinks, says, or believes. He knows how to foster prosperity, how to avoid absurdly costly wars without victories, and how to charm nutcases like Kim Jung Un without gifting him with planeloads of Jacksons and Franklins à la the Obama Doctrine (i.e. Bribe your enemy with untraceable cash without any expectation of a concomitant and favorable change in his policies or behaviors.) And he sagely warned those simian-stupid Euro-trash socialists about reliance on Russia for energy. Yeah, and they laughed at him, so knowing and superior. Now they face freezing to death in Germany for the first time since the Berlin Airlift. Serves 'em right, the cocksure morons.
@mccullough,
Please put aside your DeSantis cheerleading and consider that there are many of us who agree with his administration of Florid's government, but still have concerns over his populist bona fides.
He is a career government guy who has spent his professional life living off of a government paycheck - unlike Trump, he's never had to deal with the challenges of meeting a private sector payroll. Second, most of his campaign contributions have come in big chunks from establishment power brokers whose interests do not align with the new Republican base. If anything, those interests are more consistent with those of the GOPe; you know, the guys like Cocaine Mitch who hate Trump and the America First principles he respresents, and who throttled the Taxpayer revolt in its infancy.
Finally, and most concerning, he went completely radio silent over the DOJ/FBI gestapo-like raid of Trump's Florida home, and only came out with an anodyne statement of concern days later after being bombarded with questions about his silence. It's one thing to calculate the possibilities in a political situation, but this was, in my opinion, an unwarranted gross (and possibly unconstitutional) overreach.
If the corrupt DOJ/FBI and the rest of the administrative deep state are so concerned about Trump that they would let the mask slip in trying to cancel him (and us, by extension), he must be doing something right.
Thanks, Achilles. Tried to guess which of my dogged followers would respond to my comment like that. You were in my top 3.
Inga said...
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Inga, I have no idea what your position is on any of the following topics. However, I'm committed to the following propositions:
If you support puberty blocking drugs, you're a groomer.
If you support surgically removing primary or secondary sexual organs from minors, you're a groomer.
If you support 'family friendly' drag shows, you're a groomer.
If you support distributing sexually explicit literature to minors, you're a groomer.
Again, I have no idea if you support those behaviors or not. But there is a disturbingly large number of people who do; they're all liberals; and they're fucking groomers.
Have a nice weekend.
Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback.
Maybe if you stopped defending and enabling groomers - and their behaviors - the label wouldn't stick.
Your choice.
What Leland said at 11:09am
"gross exaggeration" - really nice catch! Your close readings are great.
Wilbur said...
We have it all wrong on the Martha Vineyards thing. I read this tweet on another blog today:
Jon Cooper
@joncoopertweets
·
15h
Ron DeSantis claimed Martha's Vineyard residents would "go berserk" when they saw the migrants arrive. Boy, was he WRONG! In fact, so many locals rushed in to offer their support to the asylum seekers that many of them had to be turned away.
THAT’S why I’m proud to be a liberal!
9/16/22, 12:42 PM
They literally just got shipped, by the National Guard, to a military base that you would describe as a "concentration camp" within 48 hours because rich, white progressives couldn't stand having their pescatarian brunches interrupted, but yea, they totally showed the Rs.
"right wing media" is about 5% of the media landscape.
How's Truth Social doing?
Pretty simple for a lot of Trump voters. Being irrationally ,constantlyhcalled racist, stupid, agole, sexist, Nazi etc. tends to get one angry at the accusers. Voting for Trump available retaliation without getting doxxed, fired, censored or assaulted.
Ann Althouse said...
"I am offended by the disrespect shown to fellow citizens who are mostly sincere participants in the democratic process."
Althouse voted "present" on election day so i guess she can't be included as " asincere participant in the democratic process." 0 for 63 in litigation- how "sincere" is that?
There is immense frustration out here about things that nobody voted for that seem to be forced on us by the government. Homeless encampments, no bail laws, encouragement of gender ideology in schools, dishwashers that don't clean, bike paths, unlimited illegal immigration. Trump and DeSantis are the most visible people fighting against.
Readering said...
"AA please read the comments about me on this post (or most any other political post on which I happen to comment). You have cultivated a highly disrespectful stable of Trumpist commenters."
Then post your position in an intelligent way. Snark begets snark.
DeSantis is a strong horse - or at least so far appears to be. We'll see if he has the stamina to finish the race and end the Democrat Party forever.
When people see a strong horse, next to a weak horse, they prefer the strong horse.
They can kill Trump, but they will never kill what Trump represents, which is opposition to those tearing our country ashred.
=============
why is DeSantis being trotted out without figuring where and what is his base on the national scene?
Inga: Thanks for posting. Look at how happy all the boomers are. Finally, they have someone to play Crossfire with.
I would love it if they showed by "word and deed" that they hadn't corrupted our justice system, but they can't do it, they are in so deep that the are terrified of losing an election'
"If that man wins, we'll all hang from nooses!" - HRC
"Your close readings are great."
Close reading? LOL, it could just as well have been bolded and highlighted in international orange and it wouldn't have stuck out more.
Hate is not a strategy, but it is a resource, which is why politicians work so hard to create so much of it.
"You were in my top 3."
Achilles risked his life to serve this country and you want him silenced. Grow a set readering. People say mean things to me all the time, I still read their comments if they show effort and insight, whether I agree with them or not. I always read Achilles comments, and not to see if he said any more mean things about me.
"Also liberals here are accused of and actually called “groomers” of children by certain commenters. No pushback."
If you stop supporting the grooming of children, we will stop calling you a groomer, Inga. Pretty fucking simple.
As for Brooks, he enjoys being the Progressive's Conservative Poodle, so who am I to argue with him- it apparently pays very well, even if it garners less respect than a crack whore.
Brook's column can be answered with a punchline.
"The dogs don't like the dogfod."
TiV. You call me a eunuch. Achilles calls me a woman. Effort and insight. Huh.
I don't think it's called a Putsch when the Putschers are already in charge.
gilbar,
You're actually wrong, but not in the way that Brooks suggests.
Rather, he poses this as something that is at risk of happening, but in fact it is a fait that is very largely accompli.
“I bet Brooks has a back kitchen.
Heck, I bet he has a back bathroom”.
He knows his way around a Grand Central Station glory hole also.
readering: "TiV. You call me a eunuch. Achilles calls me a woman. Effort and insight. Huh."
Sounds like a multi-step process.
I hope that Trump is blessed with a long life and peaceful demise. Having said that, our country's history is stained by blood of a lot of important political leaders who were shot to death. Considering the intense coordinated vilification we now see of Trump by people and institutions in this country, wouldn't his assassin be regarded by tens of millions of Democrats as a folk hero?
I believe:
1. The 2020 election was stolen.
2. EVERY election is stolen; that is, there are irregularities that favor one party over the other. In most cases, the stealing doesn't change the outcome of the election, but in a close election it can do.
3. In 2020, because of changes in procedures supposedly to respond to the Covid crisis, the opportunities for stealing were particularly ripe and the Democrats in several swing States plucked them.
4. Trump and his administration weren't prepared to prevent/reduce the steal in 2020. And they wasted efforts on pointless challenges to particular cases of irregularities in particular States.
5. The 2024 election will also be fraught. I would prefer a Republican candidate who may have the capacity to deal with the reality of a close election.
6. That's not Trump.
It looks like Ann in the doghouse with the lefties.
The nice thing about being retired is that you cannot be canceled.
The sad thing is that liberals who do not toe the party line are on the firing line. Ask people like Jonathon Turley, Tulsi Gabbard, Alan Dershowitz, Jordan Peterson and our own estimable hostess.
We must work to make Brooksies cocktail circuit rounds more comfy. If only Trump..or Desantis could crease their pamts to his discerning satisfaction.
Wilbur: I have more illegal immigrants on my street than were sent to Martha's Vineyard. And I feed and house and school and provide medical care I can't afford for myself to them every day with my tax dollars.
There are no self-serving virtue-signalling signs lining our yards. I imagine there are some in the pricey exurbs south of here, and the serfs they hire under the table have to mow around them. Meanwhile, hard-working young American families who do everything right and pay their own way can't afford to buy trailers in the rural neighborhoods they grew up in.
I'm a conservative because I live in the real world, not in denial.
Our self proclaimed betters, are idiots.
President Trump is a marketer. That's his Super Power He is marketing his political agenda. He is just doing it way better than "professional" highly paid political consultants.
Trump is better connecting with voters than professional politicians. He has to be destroyed or 100 of losers that could never get elected to any office, become homeless.
Cant change history. Trump's 4 years are the best the US has had for a long time.
I can't believe there hasn't been a reference to the crease in one's pants yet.
"If the shoe fits" was about as close as it got.
Trump probably doesn't look like a representative of the creased pants crowd.
The "strategy" to defeat Trump would be to co-opt some of his issues. That was part of the American way of politics, but it doesn't seem to be practiced much lately. Rather than take energy, immigration, or inflation off the table by dealing with those issues the Democrats are doubling down and pursuing policies which increase public discontent, rather than lessen it.
Brooks has an inkling of this, but he doesn't quite see it because he's hung up on the right-left thing (and the Trump thing), as apparently the country is. Diversity and disunity are so profound that there isn't one sense of what "the people" want or "the country" needs.
Right now the strategy for the Democrats is to get as much as they can while they can for themselves and their base. If there is a "strategy" to defeat Trump in 2024, it's to deny what's happening (the border is secure) or to do a verbal u-turn (don't defund the police -- fund the police), and hope that Trump (or Biden) isn't around two years from now.
tim in vermont said...
"Hate is not a strategy, but it is a resource, which is why politicians work so hard to create so much of it."
Brilliant. I'm stealing this.
Boy, was he WRONG! In fact, so many locals rushed in to offer their support to the asylum seekers that many of them had to be turned away.
That would be all of them. All of them were turned away. Now if only you proud "liberals"
would do this at the border instead of just letting them into Texas, Arizona, or flying them to Florida.
What was done by Abbott and DeSantis is such an effective response because 1) it was already done by Obama and Biden, 2) illegal immigrants were made political pawns by Democrats border policy, 3) you can complain about moving the pawns on the board, but you better be ready to deal with how the pawns got on the board, and 4) if you claim to be a sanctuary then you can't complain when you get what you wanted. Except proud "liberals" are complaining and just move the pawns again, because proud "liberals" are morally inferior.
I got your strategy right here.
Do not end the Trump practices that were helping. Don't do (oh so many) stupid, counter productive stuff.
5. The 2024 election will also be fraught. I would prefer a Republican candidate who may have the capacity to deal with the reality of a close election.
6. That's not Trump.
But who?
Everyone has to play a little game of 'what if'
Pick you favorite Republican. One who has Trumps message, but no mean tweets. What if that person is the one running against the Dems, DC pick. Just like the DC Dems picked Biden AND Harris. Those were not the peoples picks, DC made sure they were the only ones lefts
Now you have the perfect Republican.
The DC machine attacks them. Exactly like they attacked Trump. If elected, DC will force them to resign in 6 months. Think Jeff Sessions. That's the model.
Trump is the only person, proven to be able to stand up to unified attack of the media, DoJ, FBI, State Dept, Intelligence Community.(the IC turned Carter Page from a Patriot as defined by his past, working for the IC, into a Russian spy)
Does your pick have what it takes to operate under a relentless onslaught of fake 'news'?
Readering said...
Thanks, Achilles. Tried to guess which of my dogged followers would respond to my comment like that. You were in my top 3.
You have every opportunity here to disagree with what I said.
But you can't.
You are no different in any fundamental sense at this point than the Germans who supported Hitler.
All you can do is whine about people who point out what you are doing and what you support.
"Trumpists tell themselves that America is being threatened by a radical left putsch that is out to take over the government and undermine the culture. The core challenge now is to show by word and deed that this is a gross exaggeration."
(1) The comments above are pure gold.
(2) If America is *not* currently experiencing a radical left putsch to take over the government and undermine the culture how would it look any different? That's the question that keeps hammering us when we pay attention to the news. No sane semi-informed person knows what else we could be witnessing.
We are way past the point of merely being "threatened".
Buckwheathikes said:
I don't even like Donald Trump. He's weak. He is a weak, self-absorbed man who has no idea how to run a country or deal with the enemies within.
Weak? Name any other Republican leader who could have withstood the onslaught of shit from the left and his own party elite and still manage to get important things done. And he still gets it every single day!
All of his policies were beneficial to the whole of America, you'd do well to remember that.
First off, I and most of the people I know, all of whom have every intention of VOTING for Trump, do NOT love Trump. I do not even like him very much. He is a New York Yankee with all the baggage that implies. And despite that I will walk barefoot through broken glass to vote for him. He keeps his promises, and as near as I can tell, he has the best interests of the US at heart....which I cannot honestly say I believe of ANY of the other national Democrats, with the possible exception of Tulsi Gabbard, who I disagree with on most policy issues, but who I believe to also have the best interests of the country at heart.
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