Said J.D. Vance, at the GOP convention last night.
Here's the whole thing:
ADDED:
When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico.
When I was a sophomore in high school, that same career politician named Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good American middle-class manufacturing jobs.
When I was a senior in high school, that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq.
And at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan, in other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war.....
And somehow, a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues while Biden was wrong. President Trump knew, even then, that we needed leaders who would put America first....
Joe Biden screwed up, and my community paid the price. Now, I was lucky. Despite the closing factories and the growing addiction in towns like mine, in my life, I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely walk but she was tough as nails.
I called her “Mamaw,” the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers....
Posts
107 comments:
Beautiful. Add to the pile of evidence that hopefully will give the holdouts pause when the cadaver ‘wins’ it…
The best part? He seems like an ordinary and regular American guy.
Trump should be re-elected for a number of reasons, but his tariff idea is not one of them. Who pays the tariffs?
Trump should be re-elected for a number of reasons, but his tariff idea is not one of them. Who pays the tariffs
Truth. The US shouldn’t be in the jobs protection racket either but that’s just me I suspect…
The deification continues.
It's kind of fun, actually, Donald Trump of all people being hailed as the new Messiah. This must have been what it was like for the Democrats in 2008 with Barack Obama, the light bringer.
"I am your redeemer. It is by my hand that you will rise from the ashes of this world."
Not that I think Donald Trump is like Immortan Joe, the quote just came to mind.
JD Vance could be a character out of "Justified" (one of my favorite shows!)...and there's nothing more American than reinventing yourself. He reminds me of Bill Clinton in a way. But with a more appealing wife.
The new BlueAnon dream is that Kamala has a devastating debate against this man. You know, the way Trump had one against Biden.
It's actually kind of funny the way the left is losing all of its hope at once.
He is brilliant, affable, extremely well spoken. Likable. His background story is an American story and gives him ties to the hard working people of this country, particularly of the Midwest. Note how many times he said Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin. He talked about both the union and non-union workers (this convention has had multiple union leaders speaking).
This is a very strong candidate. Dems will be boosting Kamala to President within a week. This way they can avoid her having to use her canned talk against a JD Vance. She may not even have to do a debate with Trump- who knows? But she won't be facing Vance. It would not be pretty.
JD delivered.
We need an American Hero who will stand up tall for everyone. Dion sings of one below.
https://youtu.be/tBngYKf3TKg
Amadeus 48 said...
Trump should be re-elected for a number of reasons, but his tariff idea is not one of them. Who pays the tariffs?
Completely wrong question which gives a wrong answer. American trade policy for the last 80 years has had little to do with economics and everything to do with security and foreign policy. Mutually beneficial trade can and will still happen. Tariffs will be imposed on countries that artificially manipulate their economies.
Sally327 said...
The deification continues.
Seriously? Trump is far from the only one who recognized the pattern that Vance laid out. Even during the NAFTA time period the Democrats were all about protecting American labor from the effects of subsidized foreign competition. They were for the Iraq before they were against it (and then for it again). Trump's not being made out to be a genius, just a guy who recognizes reality and adapts to it.
Like Bill Clinton, another barefoot boy from Yale Law.
Temujin:
News reports last night that the Dems are in the final negotiations with the Bidens on the amount of the bribe. The replacement will be Michelle Obama. She’s their only chance to win. Harris will stay at VP.
Too many bad ideas that are accepted as truths. Presumably he knows better, there are two sides, but trades on your ignorance.
Biden on the other side doesn't know better and is only interested in trading on the ignorant, good or bad.
Dave Begley said...
Temujin:
News reports last night that the Dems are in the final negotiations with the Bidens on the amount of the bribe. The replacement will be Michelle Obama. She’s their only chance to win. Harris will stay at VP.
7/18/24, 6:53 AM
Haha, at the same time as Kamala Harris? I'd love to see that. DMV ticket. But this is more Con Inc. fearmongering. If Michelle Obama simply disliked the idea before, she'll hate it now. She has a much better chance of pressuring the oligarchs than they can manage against her.
The replacement will be Michelle Obama. She’s their only chance to win. Harris will stay at VP.
I don't know anything about Democrat plans, I'm not in that loop, but I doubt that Michelle Obama is going to give up her very cushy life, cruising around the Mediterranean on a yacht with Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson for example, for the completely thankless and soul-crushing job of being the American President.
And why should Kamala Harris agree to that anyway.
Tariffs will be imposed on countries that artificially manipulate their economies.
Central planning of economies is always a failure. The myriad of trade restrictions resulting from central planning makes everyone poorer. Tariffs are bad.
My favorite part was when they showed his mother — the former drug addict — and the crowd chanted "JD's mom, JD's mom."
First the crowd chanted "Mamaw, Mamaw." They were a lively bunch having a great time.
JD was an entertaining speaker who brought it back regularly to Trump. Great job.
He seemed to be having a good time. I think my favorite part was the crowd chanting "Mamaw!".
Dave Begley said...
Temujin:
News reports last night that the Dems are in the final negotiations with the Bidens on the amount of the bribe. The replacement will be Michelle Obama. She’s their only chance to win. Harris will stay at VP.
If Harris stays at VP that means one of the two things. Either Joe admits he's not capable of serving as President but the Democrats will leave him in office for six more months, or the Democrats forcibly eject him from the ticket during the convention. I can't see a situation where Harris would agree to take over from now until 20 January 2025 and then step down.
I think that's going to be a tough sell, and a potential for a real disaster at the convention and afterwards.
And Michelle? The ultimate DEI hire with no previous political or business experience against the guy who was President for four years? The Officially Unofficial third (or fourth) term for Barack, one of the only Presidents to get fewer votes in his re-election than election? She might be the Democrats best hope but that's a pretty low bar to clear.
Amadeaus wrote: "Trump should be re-elected for a number of reasons ..."
I would submit that Donald Trump should be re-elected for JUST ONE reason: Joe Biden cannot be allowed to profit from an assassination attempt carried out on his opponent after he called for it to be done.
Joe Biden told his supporters: "It is time to put Donald Trump in a bullseye." One of them did just that.
We cannot allow his election as Americans after this event, or our country is finished.
He did seem to be having a good time, giggling at points. I also loved the crowd chanting, "JD's mom, JD's mom". Hilarious. The crowd was so into it.
Beautiful and brilliant wife as well. They are a strong duo. A look at the new GOP coming up. It's about time. What a difference from Pence.
A guy from Queens born into wealth and a guy from Middleton, OH born into poverty, together at the top of the ticket. Quite a story.
rehajm said...
Tariffs will be imposed on countries that artificially manipulate their economies.
Central planning of economies is always a failure. The myriad of trade restrictions resulting from central planning makes everyone poorer. Tariffs are bad.
You're making a huge leap to a conclusion there. The focus of the tariffs is not picking winners and losers in our own economy (which the Democrats are doing already by other means) but equalizing the playing field when faced with a government run economy.
As we've seen with China, attempting to trade with a government run economy on the same terms as a generally capitalist one may bring short-term benefits to us but over the longer term it's a disaster as that government will always manipulate trade for their own internal political purposes. It even happens with generally democratic and capitalist countries as in the EU.
JD is the same age as my youngest daughter. Good to see a new generation come up on the top of the republican ticket. And I sure liked what I saw. Increased my enthusiasm for sure.
It’s not a leap. Impose one trade restriction you incentivize more trade restrictions. There’s always another actor who wants to micro manage the ‘fairness’- we don’t sell enough in their market, their companies don’t impose our work rules, their government gives subsidies, on and on. You end up with ever more restrictions and taxes, less choice, competition and higher costs.
Tariffs are bad…
"We need an American Hero...."
Why? Why do you guys want or need heroes?! Fuck heroes! Only children yearn for heroes. That's fantasy! We need skilled and knowledgeable public servants who know policy and policy-making, who can work with and listen to others, who refer to and confer with others who have experience and expertise in the varied fields of science, politics, economics, public administration, and so on that are necessary to maintain modern societies, and who seek to solve problems in a methodological manner to improve the quality and safety of work and life for everyone, putting the well being of the polity above his or her own aggrandizement and glory.
Those who want or need heroes are suckers for demagogues...as history shows over and over.
Amadeus 48 said...
Trump should be re-elected for a number of reasons, but his tariff idea is not one of them. Who pays the tariffs?
Tariffs and Taxes are exactly the same thing. The only difference is who you are taking money from.
If you tax things that are produced inside your country at a higher level than you put tariffs that you import on things that are produced outside your country you are committing economic suicide.
It is always "educated" laptop Republicans that defend "free trade."
I admit I was sucked into the "free trade" argument for a few years. All of the "smart" people believed in "free trade." But I figured it out when Perot ran.
Dave Begley, I followed your link to the Dion and Carlene Carter youtube video of An American Hero. Struck me as interesting (coincidental) that it ended with Dion raising his arm with the clenched fist like Trump right after the bullet grazed his ear. I know the song isn't deliberately about the Trump/Vance ticket but it was hard not to think of them.
Except for a brief period following the Civil War, when a flat tax was imposed on annual incomes over $800, America basically ran our government on tariffs until 1913. Yes the domestic consumer pays for foreign tariffs if substitute domestic products are not available. But tariffs encourage domestic resilience and manufacturing, something America needs to build back up.
The dirty truth is the rest of the world imposes huge tariffs on goods we export or close their markets to our goods altogether. Tariffs, import duties, quotas, taxes and subsidies are all part of the general toolkit for managing international trade. The idea we now or ever had completely "free" trade is laughable, but singling out tariffs as the worst of those options ignores how successful they have been when properly applied. The goal of trade policy should be to look out for the domestic interests of the USA first and foremost, including maintaining the capacity to mount a strong and vigorous defense.
Do you want to end up like the UK without even one domestic steel mill operating in the entire country, completely dependent on foreigners (like Germany, S Korea and China) who are also making bad decisions and losing their ability to fill the gap? Vance makes far more sense than the "all tariffs bad" reactions.
Those who want or need heroes are suckers for demagogues...as history shows over and over.
Robert Cook is one of the most hilariously foolish suckers for demagogues on the planet.
He even bought into the Soviet show trials against Trump. Robert Cook is one of the most gullible old Soviet style commie dupes I’ve ever encountered.
We'll see (I am just now giving myself permission to date to hope) how the economic policy works out. I'm also skeptical about tariffs, though that's against China seemed to have some good effects last time...?
But I'm pretty dang confident that student loans will not be forgiven, that there will not be nationwide rent control, that the concept of "wealth taxes" on unrealized gains will go the way of the dodo, that inroads will again be made against superfluous regulations, that originalist judges and justices will be put forward, that illegal immigration will be curbed, that American energy reserves will be allowed to reach a higher potential, that Saudi Arabia will again be invited to the table of the Abraham Accords, that Iran will be cut off.
I hope that police departments will regain confidence and be able to form alliances with the law-abiding majorities in the communities they serve. I hope for a reinvigoration of the family in the lower two economic quintiles, and open acknowledgement up the economic ladder that the stable families they work to build for themselves are just as important and beneficial for those down that ladder. I hope that union workers will look around at the un-unionized and their workplaces and reach some new conclusions about what type of economy best benefits everyone. I hope that all universities wake up from woke and go back to teaching and research without regard to ideology. I hope that HBCUs will continue to be proud of their heritage and their historical accomplishments while recommitting to providing an excellent education to all their students. I hope that Californians come to their senses about Newsome, among other things, as they see how things are going elsewhere. I hope the talent and wealth that are fleeing the West Coast find congenial homes among the normies and open their minds to normie ways.
So, for me, I'm willing to risk the tariffs.
Robert Cook said...
"We need an American Hero...."
Why? Why do you guys want or need heroes?!
Look in the mirror.
Fuck heroes! Only children yearn for heroes. That's fantasy!
You need to ask a question of yourself Cook. You need to do some self reflection. Why are you so angry right now?
We need skilled and knowledgeable public servants who know policy and policy-making, who can work with and listen to others, who refer to and confer with others who have experience and expertise in the varied fields of science, politics, economics, public administration, and so on that are necessary to maintain modern societies, and who seek to solve problems in a methodological manner to improve the quality and safety of work and life for everyone, putting the well being of the polity above his or her own aggrandizement and glory.
If you were not an evil person with an 80 IQ and his head shoved so far up his ass he would choke on it you would notice what is happening right now.
Those who want or need heroes are suckers for demagogues...as history shows over and over.
You are the last person in the world who should complain about people ignoring history. The absolute fucking last person in the entire world.
That is the most ridiculous obvious example of zero self awareness I have seen in a long long time and that is my peeve.
Sounds like a campaign speech from 19q0. The myth of the selfless technocrats. I, for one, don't need a nanny.
rehajm said...
Tariffs will be imposed on countries that artificially manipulate their economies.
Central planning of economies is always a failure. The myriad of trade restrictions resulting from central planning makes everyone poorer. Tariffs are bad.
Please explain the difference between tariffs and taxes for me.
who seek to solve problems in a methodological manner to improve the quality and safety of work and life for everyone,
It seems to me that "seeking to solve problems in a methodological manner" ought to preclude turning to socialism to solve any problem. Given the evidence.
And certainly it ought to mean being willing to change course when what you've tried doesn't have the effect you say you want, or has bad knock-on effects that outweigh any benefit, such as the disastrous breakdown of the black family thanks to the War on Poverty - a breakdown that appears to be contagious. (Of course, I can't rule out the cynical possibility that that was the desired effect.)
Hey, 'chilles, dude! Sorry about your peeve. Maybe there's an ointment that can help with that.
I heard Trump on the 10% tariffs. Like many of trump's statements I suspect it's partly red meat and partly a warning shot for (future) negotiations.
In any event I find it infinitely preferable to a guy who spends, literally, trillions of money specifically as a means to end inflation.
Not to mention wealth taxes, rent controls and more.
I can think of a couple of heroes that we desperately needed, and were very fortunate to be blessed with, Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Trump might be our only hope for survival, to escape the trajectory toward nuclear war with Russia that the permanent war machine has been lusting for.
Musk has single-handedly preserved one social media platform as an oasis of free speech. He’s being subjected to a lawfare campaign similar to that aimed at Trump, and it’s escalating. Musk has now taken the incredibly heroic, desperately needed step of whole heartedly endorsing Trump. This is going to destroy the “Only dumb yokels in flyover country support Trump” idiocy. It’s already leading to a cascade of tech VIPs endorsing Trump, out of sheer exasperation with the stupidity and incompetence of Biden and the democrats.
Who else was going to have the courage and the determination to do this, Stalinist Cook?
There’s tariffs and then there’s tariffs. Tariffs as an important source of regular government revenue are bad, largely because tariffs should not be set according how much money politicians think the government should have. Tariffs (and the threat thereof) as a bargaining chip to influence foreign governments’ non-economic behavior are bad and resemble extortion. But temporary retaliatory tariffs targeted to offset unfair trade practices are not bad, and are often the best way to address anti-competitive practices in the short run. Yes, the anti-competitive practices of centrally planned economies are unsustainable in the long run, but people want to be protected from them in the short run.
"...but equalizing the playing field when faced with a government run economy."
Who pays the tariffs?
Back when Bush43 got talked in to putting tariffs on imported steel, in following years more jobs were lost in domestic steel fabrication than were saved in domestic steel production.
Winners and losers. Always winners and losers.
I have to throw in with Robert Cook on this one point - all he was getting at, ISTM, was that a "hero," generically, isn't necessarily equipped to govern, and substituting a hero who isn't properly equipped (say, Obama) for a plodder who is (say, ?Coolidge? Don't quote me) would be foolish. That's true, and doesn't seem to me to call for that level of invective.
Now, as I hope I make clear pretty much everywhere, I disagree with RC about why one would support Trump (I gave some of my reasons above), whether Trump himself is equipped to govern, and how the United States should be governed.
PJ said...
There’s tariffs and then there’s tariffs. Tariffs as an important source of regular government revenue are bad, largely because tariffs should not be set according how much money politicians think the government should have. Tariffs (and the threat thereof) as a bargaining chip to influence foreign governments’ non-economic behavior are bad and resemble extortion. But temporary retaliatory tariffs targeted to offset unfair trade practices are not bad, and are often the best way to address anti-competitive practices in the short run. Yes, the anti-competitive practices of centrally planned economies are unsustainable in the long run, but people want to be protected from them in the short run.
Absolutely wrong. Tariffs and Taxes are exactly the same thing.
If you want domestic production you will not derive government funding solely from taxing your people and domestic production. You will derive revenue from things people produce outside your country too.
Tariffs are a tax on imports. Nothing more or less. If your economic policy is built on free trade and 100% of revenue derived from crushing domestic production you are very stupid or you are a traitor/tyrant.
Shouting Thomas said...
He even bought into the Soviet show trials against Trump. Robert Cook is one of the most gullible old Soviet style commie dupes I’ve ever encountered.
7/18/24, 7:35 AM
Mmhmm. I'm proud of coining the phrase "unicorn leftism," but the fact is that Cook is cracking up as his dream turns into Starmerism in Britain and total chaos in France and America. The constant refrain is "this time we'll do it right," but the actual left has never been further away from real power.
The right admittedly has similar problems, but the difference is that much of the GOP base absolutely hates Mitt Romney, Michael Steele, Paul Ryan, and the rest of the traitors who have historically filled up the party. Purging them is something we should all thank Donald Trump for, and it is an ongoing process.
Obama was an infection upon the body politic, he left us weak and divided he wasted trillions on the stimulus program that didnt build anything
How many hollywood stars made pledges to obama showtime celebrated a man who renamed himself obama and decorated himself with iconography
As others have noted, we're seeing the post-Mitt post-Pence Trump Purge. It's clarifying. It's also risky: Trump still needs some of the old guard to vote for him.
Mr Cook asserted: "Those who want or need heroes are suckers for demagogues...as history shows over and over."
Are you referring to the god-like Obama?
I do not want or need a hero, I want leadership!!!!!
If you want to talk about qualifications, a Harris/Michelle Obama ticket could be the least experienced ticket in our history. Not just politically speaking, but in life. Unless being a First Lady is adequate life experience for leading. They bring only their respective vaginas and skin color to the table. Try negotiating with Xi or Putin with your skin color. The vagina thing has been an effective negotiating tool throughout history, but I'm not going there at this time. Although Kamala has already proven herself adequate in that department....whoa! I said I wasn't going there.
Anyway...I think it's a bizarre pipe dream. I doubt the Dems truly think Michelle Obama is Presidential. But she does bring Barack and his team along. That's what they want. It's a dream. It's not reality.
Reality is that they're going to lose. So who do they want to front for the loss? To give some exposure, some notoriety? I've heard Josh Shapiro, Gov of Pennsylvania. Or the other way of looking at it is, whoever is on this ticket will have this as an albatross around their neck forever. They'll always be a part of the ticket that was humiliating for the party and the nation. So...who do they sacrifice, along with Kamala?
Robert Cook, I don't think it's a coincidence that your self-chosen icon for this blog looks like a spitting image of Biden during the debate. But I don't begrudge you your choice of heroes. We all need heroes. As for me, I'm relishing the thought of an actual United States Marine as our Commander in Chief someday.
Joe Biden screwed up, and my country paid the price.
Fixed it for you, you are welcome...
Jamie said...
I have to throw in with Robert Cook on this one point - all he was getting at, ISTM, was that a "hero," generically, isn't necessarily equipped to govern, and substituting a hero who isn't properly equipped (say, Obama) for a plodder who is (say, ?Coolidge? Don't quote me) would be foolish. That's true, and doesn't seem to me to call for that level of invective.
Now, as I hope I make clear pretty much everywhere, I disagree with RC about why one would support Trump (I gave some of my reasons above), whether Trump himself is equipped to govern, and how the United States should be governed.
Under normal circumstances this is absolutely true. But these are not normal circumstances. The Federal Government and the Largest Corporations in the world have allied themselves to create a massive leviathan in the United States that is evil and oppressive.
An interesting aside to that is that Cook himself has been railing about this constantly ever since I have seen him on this blog.
A coalition of technocrats has formed. The largest corporations have been consolidating power for the last 80 years and they have taken over our government turning it into a massive tool of violence and repression.
There are several massive corporations that specialize in war and they are directing our US government to keep war going all over the world.
In addition on this thread the main topic is tariffs. Our government has implemented a taxation regime that crushes domestic manufacturing and benefits giant corporations that produce things in foreign countries with cheap labor. Our government has explicitly been at war with the working class on behalf of the giant corporations for a long time.
And you cannot have this discussion without talking about how both parties in our government take turns opening the border and granting amnesty to illegals to keep working class wages down.
I'm enjoying the phrase "their respective vaginas."
Sebastian said...
As others have noted, we're seeing the post-Mitt post-Pence Trump Purge. It's clarifying. It's also risky: Trump still needs some of the old guard to vote for him.
What do we need from those people?
Be specific.
I agree that tariffs are nothing more nor less than taxes on imports, and I agree that if your goal is to protect/increase domestic production a general import tariff is one way to do that. But I don’t think those points refute anything I said above.
“JD’s mom.” Best part of the speech for me. But I rate the speech only so-so, because I think )D’s role is not to win rural whites, but urban populations as well. Partner the idea of securing th border to reduce fentanyl with the idea of the local community taking responsibility to address substance abuse. Use the line “My mom won. And if we secure the border and address substance abuse, we will win so much, all across this great nation, from Kentucky to Portland, from San Diego to Boston, we will get tired of winning.”
Did Mamaw have high cheekbones?
Michelle another America hating woman who was made rich by bertelsman what she has any other virtue the garden contaminated with poison the horriblf school lunch program the cheap signaling around boko haram
Anyone floating Michelle Obama's name for POTUS is even more in fantasy land that the typical lefty though with the quality of lefty voters these days it is difficult to rule it out.
Michelle has even LESS experience than KH and HC. I brought this up in another thread weeks ago; It amazes me to no end that those on the left believe that the spouse of a politician is naturally able to step into that job, like they picked up the skills and experience via osmosis.
I had high hopes that the entire country would have learned its lesson with HC. She consistently failed up. Was an endless source of bad/wrong decisions, criminal activity, self enrichment, and least we forget - a down right nasty person to be around.
So sure, let us throw Michelle Obama's hat into the ring. I am positive there are enough idiots in this country (and let us NOT forget the cheating) for her to make a good showing if she is on the ticket but hells bells that is a 4Chan prank to be avoided at all costs.
Slightly different take on Robert Cook's comment on heroes. I assumed he did not watch the music video, just responded to the title. The music and video was an encouragement for people to step up their personal life, do their best, and become an "ordinary" hero.
Achilles wrote:
“What do we need from those people?
Be specific”
Sebastian answered you - we need their votes.
Let’s put away past grievances and unite in our vote for Trump.
Trump/Vance 2024
PJ said...
I agree that tariffs are nothing more nor less than taxes on imports, and I agree that if your goal is to protect/increase domestic production a general import tariff is one way to do that. But I don’t think those points refute anything I said above.
You will have to be more specific. You need to steel man your argument.
I believe more than half of your government revenue should come from a comprehensive permanent tariff regime and less than half of government revenue should come from taxing your people.
There should be nothing temporary or punitive about tariffs except in egregious situations with bad actors like China. Everything imported into the country that is not produced here should be taxed at least at the same level in order to make manufacturing things domestically competitive.
The general principle is that we should protect and serve our working class and put our working class citizens first.
Eva Marie said...
Achilles wrote:
“What do we need from those people?
Be specific”
Sebastian answered you - we need their votes.
Let’s put away past grievances and unite in our vote for Trump.
Trump/Vance 2024
When you build a political coalition there are always trade offs.
If you adopt a policy that one group likes and another group doesn't you gain some voters and lose other voters.
What policies should we adopt from the Romney Republican wing of the democrat party? How should we mollify those people?
I still see people on the Free Trade wagon on this thread. Should we continue to crush the working class in this country for the benefit of the Giant corporations and the Chamber of Commerce?
Do you think we will gain more votes than we lose by trying to keep Romney Republicans around?
Have they learned anything from their temper tantrum a shattered border wars on three four fronts
Trying to get back on topic.
I thought JD got off to a choppy start because he seemed to stop after every sentence for an applause line. But he took off about half way through his speech and was brilliant. I was especially impressed with the way he layed out Trump’s and his vision for the next four years. Makes me wonder what Trump has left to talk about in his acceptance speach.
JD looks so much more presidential than Kamala. But I guess that’s a given.
I’m wondering how women reacted to JD as a person. He’s a young, good looking man with a great voice. Will he bring any AWLF’s over to our side? I mean, to those that aren’t lesbians? (Editorial comment: That was a joke. Some people don’t get my humor.)
As a side note, I am totally impressed with the way the Republicans have organized and staged this convention. Is this the work of Lara Trump? The Democrats have a high bar to meet.
Achilles responded and said...
Trump still needs some of the old guard to vote for him.
What do we need from those people?
here's a Serious Question..
Of the "Old Guard".. the "Life Long Republicans" that won't vote for Trump..
WHAT would it take, to get them "to vote for him"?
Can ANY ONE think of ANY THING that could EVER sway them?
I don't think there is any reason to spend one minute trying.. it's NOT going to happen
For good or for bad.. The Mitten Romney's and Lizard Cheney's are going to vote,
like they have ALWAYS voted: for the democrat party candidate. It's who they work for
“Do you think we will gain more votes than we lose by trying to keep Romney Republicans around?“
Yes.
Trump/Vance 2024
Seems like most people are missing the point of Vance as VP. Maybe not as much as cook, but thats a low bar
Salena Zito has written about Vance, and Trump, and the forgotten and despised deplorables for decades.
the people who believe in hard work, military service, and patriotism. In other words, the people held in contempt by most university types, most coastal types, and all of DC. Include the south, and most of our military comes from these areas.
She wrote recently that Trumps rise, after the 2020 defeat, began the day he and Vance came to East Palestine Ohio.
these people got screwed, first by trade policies, then by the war, then by drugs. and no one gave a shit. DC got rich, the elites making munitions got rich.
trump and Vance realized that if America was to turn around, it must begin in places like that.
Not one politician, tech leader, or anyone, gave a damn about those people. Except Trump, and then Vance.
this country became a world power because of small towns and villages like East Palestine. these places exist all over America, and have been not just forgotten, but treated with contempt by both parties.
Robert Cook said...
"Why? Why do you guys want or need heroes?!”
The Mariah Carey “Along comes a hero” meme hardest hit.
Jersey Fled: "As a side note, I am totally impressed with the way the Republicans have organized and staged this convention. Is this the work of Lara Trump?"
It's brilliant. Bringing in ordinary people as speakers with great stories and genuine emotion (plus Babydog) is pure genius. My skepticism about Lara Trump as a nepotism hire has been laid to rest. This is easily the most substantive and joyously united political convention in memory.
“Those who want or need heroes are suckers for demagogues...as history shows over and over.”
History shows again and again how Democrats precipitate the folly of man
Cookzilla!!!
Cook - stick with your corrupt democratic party. the party of war, lies, deceit, personal gifting, crime, Liz Cheney, & open borders.
"Obama was an infection upon the body politic,"
I agree but it should be re-written using the present tense
Temujin:
The thing that you are discounting is the Dem vote manufacturing and election stealing techniques in key states like WI, PA, MI and GA. I worried about TX and millions of illegals voting.
I was a free trade supporter when I was young. Then I figured out there are countries in the world who are not our friends. I mean really not our friends. Our enemies. So you "free-trade" with China and all your production of steel, pharmaceuticals, etc. migrates to China, and then we go to war with China…
Economic theories about efficiency of production miss a very big aspect of the world we live in. There are much worse things than paying more than you theoretically might for a drug, or a car, or a blender. Like not being able to get a life saving drug at any price. Like not being able to build weapons because you no longer have the means. Purely economic arguments are dangerously short sighted.
I’m a little late to the party here, but it seems Cookie might be experiencing a little bit of penis envy. I mean, how do make a hero out of Joe Biden?
Mayor Pete will be on the Dem ticket.
For the Dems, it's all about identity politics and tribalism. Forget about merit and competency. The Dems want the guy who can't build EV charging stations simply because he's glib and gay.
Vance’s speech totally won me over. I’d read “Hillbilly Elegy” and identified with lots of it since I’m Scots-Irish, western Pa. stock (my dad was born and raised in Butler), but I wasn’t totally convinced of the inner core of Vance. Until last night. The most important part of the speech was the line about Americans won’t fight for an abstraction but they will for their home. Hugely important ideological shift there for the GOP. But the most striking part to me was the part where he spoke about where he hoped to be laid to rest on that eastern Kentucky family gravesite. That struck a chord within me.
The delivery was flawless. This was a speech Mike Pence could never have given and an introduction Pence’s angry wife never could have delivered.
I think I may have figured out what Cook wants. It's the old Progressive theme of "Rule by Experts." Woodrow Wilson, who lied us into WWI, then introduced Fascism to the US. He even imprisoned his political enemies. What a model !
"I think I may have figured out what Cook wants. It's the old Progressive theme of "Rule by Experts.""
That's always been his thing. If only the good people were in charge.
Kinda like 'True Communism has never been tried'.
I found Vance's speech to be pedestrian. I've never gone in for the personal story stuff. Tell me how your going to improve the country.
“we’re done catering to Wall Street,” ~ JD Vance
As he caters to Wall Street.
In perhaps his most important line of the night, Vance said, “we have a big tent in this party, on everything from national security to economic policy.”
The key point missed here is who is the "we"? Vance sounds like he's campaigning for President, not Vice President. I would agree with that this does represent a shift by the Vance campaign to more traditional Conservative values — if there was a Vance campaign.
But alas, this is still the Trump campaign. For now. Or it was, until Elon Musk committed $45M a month to fund Trump, as long as Trump picked up Peter Thiel's guy JD Vance. Thus, there's only one thing standing in the way of this being a breath of life back into traditional Conservative politics, and the MAGA statue co-opting the raised fist (very concerning) called Trump who is actually the guy on the GOP ticket in the top job.
Unless I've missed something, Vance has done an amazing backflip right around Donald Trump. Whether that is wishful thinking (concerning) or a prognostication (more concerning), this piece seems completely irrelevant given Trump's history of marginalizing his running mate. JD Vance so far is there, seemingly, to deliver Musk's $45M a month. What relevance he has beyond that is anyone's guess... unless there's some open secret I'm not aware of.
I don't recall traditional conservative policy being the tacit approval of imperialistic authoritarians in China and Russia. He might be the worst sort of social conservative, but he is not a free market capitalist and highly protectionist. He seems to collect all the worst possible views from across the spectrum, which is some achievement.
Robert Cook: Could you please provide an example of a person you consider to be a hero, and why?
Not a Trump hero worshipper - but I liked what he did with his 4 years, in spite of an implacable, coordinated, sustained attach on each and every facet of his personal and administrative life.
Replace Joe with Jill!
She is the only First Lady with any experience running the admin. Don't even have to reprint the signage.
I am Genius!
This speech was written for Vance based on a number of bots working out exactly which words engage the average Joe who doesn’t know any better.
He’s not rethinking conservative policy, he’s playing to a crowd that has been reduced to a set of psychological rules by an algorithm.
A mother "clean and sober for 10 years".
Yikes.
Kids named Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, Yale Law, Marines, talks like a real person. Central casting really delivered.
When she died Mamaw had 18 loaded hand guns stashed around her house. Too bad she’s deceased because she’d make a good Secretary of Defense.
"This speech was written for Vance based on a number of bots working out exactly which words engage the average Joe who doesn’t know any better."
So, you're saying you really liked it.
The reason James David Vance is the key to midwestern votes is that he is not ashamed to be an American. He restores hope to others similarly situated. And here’s my mother as proof.
Add his story to good looks and an excellent education you see the weapon that has always won Americas fights. It’s called courage to fight to the end.
The question has always been where does America get such men.
Jamie at 7:36am:
Jamie for President!
Original Mike said...
I found Vance's speech to be pedestrian. I've never gone in for the personal story stuff. Tell me how your going to improve the country.
Ask which demographics are more interested in personal stories?
Which demographics are more interested in systemic approach?
Then ask which demographic the Trump campaign needs to improve with.
I caught the tail end of Vance's speech while waiting for Gutfeld! and thought it was OK. He's certainly a more serious human being than Harris (which is barely even a low bar).
Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can't make the same mistake this time
We are the children
The last generation (the last generation, generation)
We are the ones they left behind
And, I wonder when we are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear, 'til nothing else remains
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome
Looking for something, we can rely on
There's gotta be something better out there
Ooh, love and compassion
Their day is coming (coming)
All else are castles built in the air
And, I wonder when we are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear, 'til nothing else remains
All the children say
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome
So, what do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light or end in the dark?
Give it all or nothing
We don't need another hero (hero, hero)
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome
All the children say
We don't need another hero (we don't need another hero)
We don't need to know the way home, ooh
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome
Dave Begley said...
Temujin:
The thing that you are discounting is the Dem vote manufacturing and election stealing techniques in key states like WI, PA, MI and GA. I worried about TX and millions of illegals voting.
Paxton has the Bush Democrats on the run in Texas.
If the Bush idiot scion beat Paxton in the primary I agree they would have 100% tried to deliver Texas to the Democrats just like Republicans in Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia delivered for the party.
But most of their vote fraud shenanigans require the AG office be occupied by a traitor.
"Then ask which demographic the Trump campaign needs to improve with."
I'm not criticizing them. As you say, I'm already sold.
"the average Joe who doesn’t know any better."
Since "basket of deplorables" didn't go as expected, no doubt.
"I have to throw in with Robert Cook on this one point - all he was getting at, ISTM, was that a "hero," generically, isn't necessarily equipped to govern...."
Well, as far as that goes, yes, (more or less). More to the point: there are really no "heroes" running for elective office, or so few that we can't expect usually them to turn up in electoral contests. (And how do we know who are the heroes until they perform heroic acts?) There are only flawed human beings, varying in their courage, intelligence, good will, ambitions, and intentions. In rare occasions, circumstances are such that persons can and do act "heroically," but that is a fluke of circumstance.
Even more to the point, our representatives, including POTUS, are representatives of we, the, people. They work for us, and we should be directing their governance of our affairs. Pining for a hero is childish. It is the letting go of responsibility, the desire for someone else to come in and save us, to fix all that needs fixing, getting rid of all that needs getting rid of, etc. That's our job, through our local, regional, state, and national representatives. Leaving it to others to be our "heroes" is our license given to those we elect to do as they will, to enrich themselves (politically and/or monetarily) by serving the powerful economic entities who fund them, rather than we who they allegedly serve.
We must be our own "heroes," which is to say, we must be the ones responsible for identifying the ills around us, and for hiring (electing) those we believe are capable of working for us and rendering our will, and we must hold these hired representatives strictly to their service to our priorities, and quick to dispose of them when they fail.
This is all very idealistic and unrealistic, of course, and won't happen, (for many reasons), except in rare and limited and localized circumstances, but that's what's required.
"Robert Cook: Could you please provide an example of a person you consider to be a hero, and why?"
Whistleblowers. Because they reveal the criminal doings the powerful are doing to aggrandize their power and/or wealth, often in our name, without our knowledge or approval.
Here is one list of American whistleblowers, many I had been unaware of. There are others around the world, and these real heroes are typically punished for their good deeds. (Julian Assange, of course, is a hero, but is not included in this list as he is not American.)
Also, those working to aid the ill and homeless and betrodden and forgotten among our fellow human beings. Those who have truly "heroic" impulses are working far away from the public eye and from offices of power.
The general principle is that we should protect and serve our working class and put our working class citizens first.
I don’t disagree with this; we’re talking about means, not ends. And I would have no objection at all to increasing domestic production in the most direct way possible, by reducing domestic taxes on domestic production. That’s a win-win for the working class because it would lead to more and better jobs for American workers as well as lower-priced domestically-produced goods. The lower-priced goods would contribute to a higher domestic standard of living and make American-made products more competitive in foreign markets. Increasing tariffs, especially to the degree you’re talking about, would lead to more and better jobs for American workers, at least in the short run, but in my opinion it would tend to lower American families’ standard of living (by raising the cost of foreign-produced goods they still elect to buy while leaving the cost of domestic goods at best unchanged). As I implied above, there might be some relatively low sweet spot where a general tariff could raise domestic production without appreciably raising the cost of middle-class living, but I do not trust Congress (or state legislatures, for that matter) to cap the revenue stream at the sweet spot. And in the long run, I think a policy of financing a government as big as ours principally with import tariffs would create a spiral in which the tariffs would lead to lower imports, which would lead to less revenue, which would lead to higher tariffs, and so on. But I am not an economist, so I am prepared to be schooled.
With a purposeful shuffle and a terrible sound
He pulls Dems’ chances of election down
Helpless people in “flyover land”
Had more than enough, they want to see him canned
He picks up his stool and he throws it back down
As he wades through the voters, leaves a trail of brown
Oh no, they say, he's got to go
Go go Joebiden, yeah
Oh no, Hunter’s doin’ blow
Go go Joebiden, yeah
Oh no, they say he's got to go
Go go Joebiden, yeah
Oh no, watch Kamala go
Go go Joebiden, yeah
h/t BOC
PJ said...
And in the long run, I think a policy of financing a government as big as ours principally with import tariffs would create a spiral in which the tariffs would lead to lower imports, which would lead to less revenue, which would lead to higher tariffs, and so on. But I am not an economist, so I am prepared to be schooled.
This is all correct.
You have to fund your government somehow. You have to tax something. And I am sure you would agree that government is generally a bad investment beyond providing basic infrastructure and enforcement of contract.
So any tax regime that you set up is going to have a balance of tariffs and taxes and you have to determine what you want the result of your policy to be.
All tariffs and no taxes you end up with expensive stuff and hyper inflation.
All taxes no tariffs and you end up with a rich technocracy and a permanent underclass of serfs and beggars.
Baseline balance has to be 50/50 and you can adjust from there.
I think the analysis may be simpler.
America’s political system is corrupt irrespective of parties and at so many levels. Even the Supreme Court, once the bastion of credibility, is trusted by less than 30% of voters. Trust goes down to less than 20% for congress, which means there’s no buyin among 8o% of citizens. (Imagine a football stadium and a close outcome where 80% of the fans don’t believe the referees.) How can a political system of the worlds wealthiest most powerful nation produce a choice so few want?
It’s impossible for government to govern without legitimacy. Regaining legitimacy requires restoring civic trust, and moving beyond zero-sum thinking in America.
This won’t happen so the next best thing is to join, motivated by protest if we’re honest, a kind of anti-christ, even gangster. The phenomenon was not much different for Hitler, Mussolini, et al. His JD Vance appointment ordaines « The Hillbilly Elegy » as the bible of MAGA. Heaving coals into and stoking the fire.
Our only hope, but it’s really no more than a prayer, is that Trump turns out much better than advertised. But we should not forget that the system is broken so we’ll be facing similar risks in the foreseeable future.
tcrosse said...
"Like Bill Clinton, another barefoot boy from Yale Law."
Wait! It was Bill's FEET that were bare? (not the way I remember it)
Iman, that song is great! I would add, in lieu of the Japanese newscaster voiceover, a track of Joe’s gibberish: “Trenzalipur, trenzalipur! Joebiden paratibi hrpufinstuf! Anyway….” etc.
Buck Dharma would find it a lot harder to memorize for small-venue concerts, though…
JSM
I admit I was sucked into the "free trade" argument for a few years. All of the "smart" people believed in "free trade." But I figured it out when Perot ran.
Me too. I was Libertarian for a very long time, as much for disgust at the Republicans as anything else. Still firmly on the libertarian end of the scale. But my dislike of tariffs is over. I no longer believe that tariffs caused or prolonged the Great Depression, and I thought they worked a treat when Trump was in office the first time. I don't want to make them so high that they are nothing more than naked protectionism, but we can do a lot better at making sure our own manufacturers and their employees are not victimized by foreign countries that subsidize their industries.
👍 John Mosby!
I used to be one of those "free trade ALWAYS and INVARIABLY makes EVERYONE better off" people. Then I went back and read some of the foundational arguments and realized that they were all very much "assume a spherical cow on a frictionless surface." Like, let's assume you can just convert all the wine presses to spinning jennys. And I looked up pictures of spinning jennys and realized that to turn a wine press into one, if it was even possible, required more labor then just building one from scratch. And then I noticed that all the arguments for free trade assumed that the freed-up labor would just do other things, and didn't account for the costs of moving the labor around the country (particularly if that meant the laborers had to sell their houses and pull their kids out of school), and it didn't account for the cost of converting a factory that made one thing into a factory that made a totally different thing (I don't see how you cheaply convert a steel mill to a biotech lab, or vice versa). I as I learned a little bit about business, I realized that most of the models that "proved" free trade had things like "assume 10% for adjustment costs," and these were numbers just pulled out of someone's butt.
The self-evident superiority of free trade operates only in an imaginary world of spherical cows, universal and perfect price information, and interchangeable labor that doesn't live anywhere or have any human relationships. But that's not the world we live in.
It's not even that China acts in bad faith. Even if they did act in good faith, it would still be a problem, because the cow isn't spherical and the surface isn't frictionless, and the people who were harmed by free-trade were entirely different people than those who benefited from it.
Theoretically we're all better off is our plastic lawn furniture is 25% cheaper--we can use that money to buy other things we value more!* But that "all" somehow fails to account for our neighbors who lose their job in the injection-mold plant, and who, because they AREN'T just interchangeable parts that can be shipped to a different factory in New Mexico or Kentucky, now don't have ANY job that pays comparable to what they were getting, but their mortgage payments and electric bills don't suddenly disappear.
And so I had the epiphany (and I'm ashamed of how long it took to have it), that I'm happy to pay 25% more for my plastic lawn furniture because that means my next door neighbors are employed and happy instead of my town being turned into Meth-ville.
And incredibly, amazingly, against all hope, that is where the REPUBLICAN party is right now (I know, wtf? but just enjoy it while it lasts!).
*I has NEVER made sense to me that it is supposedly so much cheaper to get manufactured goods from China when shipping them across the goddamned Pacific Ocean should be part of the cost. I'm sorry, it does NOT add up not matter how much you invoke ISO-containers and "efficiencies of scale." Shipping something from Bloomington to Chicago should be massively cheaper than shipping it from Beijing to Chicago. Some day we will learn how much subsidy has been going on--and not all of it from China--to hide the real costs so that American manufacturing could be gutted.
"I has NEVER made sense to me that it is supposedly so much cheaper to get manufactured goods from China..."
How much does it add to a product's cost if you provide the workers with benefits like vacation time and health care? Or even just paying them instead of using slave labor? How about workplace safety, ensuring that workers don't lose a limb or their life on the job? That stuff has a cost, too. How much of that does China require of their manufacturing facilities?
Besides, even if everything was equal everywhere, there are still the issues you noted above. And everything will never be equal everywhere.
We've saved the environment here to ruin it in China.
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