Writes Ezra Klein, in "Trump Has Overwhelmed Himself" (NYT).
But has Trump "overwhelmed himself"? Listen to last night's press gaggle — all the topics he crunched through in 15 minutes. Iran. Venezuela. Cuba. China and India. Crime in Minneapolis and Chicago. ICE protests. The 250-foot arch and the ballroom, the Epstein files, suing Michael Wolff, suing the FBI. Greenland. And that "sleazebag" Don Lemon.
He didn't seem overwhelmed at all, and that was at night, on a gruelingly noisy plane, grilled by reporters after an evening event where, as WaPo puts it, "Trump tries humor, gets some silence, at black-tie dinner with 'people I hate.'"He seemed to be up for all of it. But I'm pretty sure Klein wants to think otherwise: "This is a presidency that is, by any measure, failing. Trump is unpopular; his brutality and his tariffs have turned immigration and affordability, once among of his strongest issues, into liabilities. Trump’s opposition is increasingly united and mobilized; Democrats are besting Republicans in elections all across the country and disciplined, brave, beautiful protest movements have emerged in the cities ICE has sought to occupy."
By any measure? That can't be true. He's at least succeeding by that measure of "muzzle velocity" and the measure of courage and optimism in facing a hostile press. Ironically, Klein is exhibiting the same kind of optimism, energy, and boasting to which Trump is so deeply committed.
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66 comments:
Legitimate law enforcement is an “occupation?”
I thought the Democrats had given up the “defund the police” mindset, but apparently not. The problem isn’t the crime. It’s that law enforcement!
He's at least succeeding by that measure of "muzzle velocity"
Biden had the muzzle velocity of ketchup.
"Trump needs to stop overwhelming himself !", complained the Democrats panting heavily in the rear, behind the rest of the crowd.
I think we will find that many of those varied issues are intertwined in some way.
Writes Ezra Klein, in "Trump Has Overwhelmed Himself" (NYT).
Every day the NYT and WAPO must give hope to the Progressives that Trump's second term is about to implode. If they can just keep hating him for a few more days, they imply, his whole Administration is going to come tumbling down.
It all began with "Trump will never be President" in 2016, and they've fallen for it every day since.
Ezra is not clever in any way, the journolist worked when you didnt know the trick card
It's an incorrect use of the term "muzzle velocity". I think what he means is "rate of fire" : how many bullets come out over time, not how fast one bullet is moving. MAGA is happy with the rate of fire, but disappointed by the muzzle velocity and the targeting.
NYT is publishing Ezra Klein? Christ, Carlos Slim must be short for cash.
Klein is as astute as Dave Weigel, so his first clue is not within reach.
Writes Ezra Klein, in "Trump Has Overwhelmed Himself"
If anybody in the administration is getting overwhelmed it's Rubio. Love those memes. The Dems seem a bit overwhelmed though. I don't see how he is losing on immigration when 60% of the country wants ALL illegals, not just criminals, deported. If he has a point it's midterms, but that's crystal ball gazing.
The downside of this rapid rate of fire is that people forget what he's accomplished as the new targets are hit.
He destroyed Iran's nuclear program, discovered hundreds of billions in fraud and theft in our government, ended numerous wars, cut taxes, freed Venezuela, closed the border, convinced a lot of people disloyal to the U.S. to leave, saved endless thousands of lives by diminishing the influx of dangerous drugs, cleanup D.C., etc., etc in ONE YEAR.
If I was him, I'd have a hard time getting anything done knowing Melania is in the bedroom.
This is just trying to find a novel way of saying one more time that "the walls are closing in".
The most important issue is getting election integrity. I can accept it if my fellow citizens make a foolish choice, as long as it's really their choice. Without that, we have no idea who is really in charge and to what ends, and American tax payers become slaves.
bagoh20 said...
It's an incorrect use of the term "muzzle velocity". I think what he means is "rate of fire" : how many bullets come out over time, not how fast one bullet is moving.
You’re right, of course, but it’s Steve Bannon. He has an amazing knack for being right and wrong at the same time.
I don't see how he is losing on immigration when 60% of the country wants ALL illegals, not just criminals, deported. If he has a point it's midterms, but that's crystal ball gazing.
Do have any supporting data for your contention? Or is it just the monkeys flying out of your butt that are telling you this?
So much projection that you will be sick of all the projection.
"Do have any supporting data for your contention? Or is it just the monkeys flying out of your butt that are telling you this?"
Link
Sorry, I screwed up the link.
https://x.com/kylenabecker/status/2015976438638182622
Link
Try again: "Hmm...this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else."
And since when should anything posted on X be considered as a reputable source?
Bago makes a good point about the ra pid fire that seems to mask any accomplishments that Trump might be able to take credit for. This is how Ezra Klein is somewhat correct in his assessment. By flooding the zone he is masking his victories and highlighting his failures. It does look like the Democrats are going to make significant gains in the midterms.
But we shall see because the future is not written.
For Christ sake Freder, look at my next post. And it's CNN.
"And since when should anything posted on X be considered as a reputable source?"
It's a video clip from CNN.
I tried making an html link to make it easy for you, Freder, and I made a mistake. It happens.
You really are an asshole.
Well, Ezra is overwhelmed.
The polls are NYT, Marquette, CBS, and ABC. They all say the same thing.
If America did not want illegals deported, America would not have laws which make it illegal to be in this country without authorization.
If you don't like that, petition your lawmakers to change the laws.
Good luck with that, because your petition will fail.
Because America doesn't want people to be in this country without authorization.
Crickets.
J Severs said...
“So much projection that you will be sick of all the projection.”
It’s the muzzle velocity of all that projection.
"It does look like the Democrats are going to make significant gains in the midterms."
Then again the same people said Hillary had a 98% chance of being President.
I'm not letting Gell-Mann amnesia mess up my mind.
Why does Fredo hate CNN?
Good one, Kevin.
If Trump would just stop accomplishing stuff, the media could get caught up.
Klein has no constituency. As we saw at Sarah Lawrence, the activist left hates him because he's Jewish. The mainstream left mocks his abundance agenda. Who does he speak for?
I don't think most people inclined to vote think the protests are "beautiful." If people begin to believe they are "disciplined" as they attack law enforcement and destroy federal property they may be further inclined to vote for their suppression as they consider the society that these people want.
Gotta admire Freder's chutzpah in accusing anyone of monkeys flying out of their asses. Well done, sir!
“Biden had the muzzle velocity of ketchup.”
And not the squeeze bottle ketchup, either, but the old glass bottle ketchup.
Classic projection. Poor Ezra is the one overwhelmed.
Did Klein miss any talking points?
I was reading the megalopolis arc idea as someone with little or nothing to do. LoL
The weekly gatherings of knitters at Needle & Klein, a yarn store in NYC; typically filled with sadness and little hope.
Trump is a highly experienced successful project manager. In a previous life I was general project manager for a large industrial pant construction and startup in a heavy union environment. You learn to make million dollar decisions in minutes and when to stand on principle and when to give in. It’s a different world where success is measured in making the impossible possible. We have never had a president with that kind of background, perhaps Eisenhower.
Trump is managing his project and throwing out his ball rooms and arches is just static to keep the natives restless.
’We have never had a president with that kind of background, perhaps Eisenhower.’
That’s a good point, but I would give the edge to Ike since he made instant and unparalleled life and death decisions. He also dealt with multinational military and political egos of a magnitude rarely encountered, even today.
Liberals have a hard time simultaneously dealing with multiple issues
Basic military strategy is to fix the enemy one spot so all of his resources flow there and he cannot maneuver in the rest of the battlespace.
The traditional media fixed previous GOP admins in place when the GOP admin rolled out a single issue at a time. The media could put every resource against it and tear it apart.
Trump has too many things going on for the media to do that and they don’t know what to do.
The trick for the Democrats will be to sell the TDS delusion to enough voters that they can cheat the rest of the way to return to power. Then they can finish wrecking the country.
"He seemed to be up for all of it."... meanwhile Senile Biden would garble his words then shake hands with the air while shouting 'pony soldiers'. And Harris would give a word salad and then laugh like a hyena.
See the difference?
I wonder about those polls - as soon as I realize it’s a pollster, I hang up. I wonder how prevalent that is?
“The trick for the Democrats will be to sell the TDS delusion to enough voters that they can cheat the rest of the way to return to power. Then they can finish wrecking the country.”
Except where are they going to do it is bring shut down
Meet Harmeet Dhillon. AAG for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ. She earned her job, and came to Trump’s notice by being his head election integrity attorney for AZ. She was able to keep the fraud down there enough, that winning there was almost a cake walk for Trump. One of her early moves as AAG was to add an Election Integrity branch, in order to cut down on the election fraud that Dems typically use to keep power. And that is already bearing fruit. The FBI last week executed a search warrant for the 2020 election material for Fulton County, GA. That was where, after noticing that the Biden votes were light, the election officials shut down tallying votes, over a bogus water leak, threw everyone out, the started counting again with the Republican election judges locked out. They then went on to illegally certify their counts, absent the legally required signatures on their tapes. That meant that 350k ballots were illegally included in the GA counts - 30x Biden’s winning margin. That was also where they started recounting ballots, after running out of Biden ballots.
The relevant point here is that this all happened while everyone’s eyes were focused on ICE in Minneapolis, another carrier heading to the Middle East, to deal with Iran, moaning about Greenland, the arch, bigger than the French one, by Arlington, for our country’s 250th birthday, etc. Note that in the gaggle with Trump, on AF-1, the Fulton County election offices raid by the FBI Wasn’t even mentioned.
For the Democrats it pretty satisfying having all that stuff served up like a buffet for emotional expression every single day. It's like binge watching those videos of freezing pups tied to big chains to get you to donate to the dog rescue non-profit, except here you donate to the Democrats. They don't realize how much they need Trump too.
If people begin to believe they are "disciplined" as they attack law enforcement and destroy federal property they may be further inclined to vote for their suppression as they consider the society that these people want.
As Walter Kirn pointed out in the latest America This Week, Nixon was reelected - in a landslide - after Kent State.
Now, it is decidedly a different time. But the Democrat playbook is (and has long been, starting when? After Rodney King? I'm not sure) "vote for us or the small business store fronts get it!" The "discipline" Klein is talking about* is working pretty well so far; the looters haven't joined in yet (although the normies may already not want to venture into the protest areas because it's such a pain). Maybe it's because it's winter. But the point Kirn was making was that when the normies see riots in the streets, they don't tend to vote for the side doing the rioting - they tend to vote for the person who promises to quell the riots. Quell them - not bring them to an end because s/he is in cahoots with them. If he's right, then increasingly chaotic and disruptive protests carry within themselves the seeds of their own destruction, so to speak, and the click is ticking.
But I don't know if he's right. It's too easy to edit video selectively so that it appears that the chaos and disruption originates with law enforcement and not the protestors.
* The other downside for the protestors is that if the normies perceive their "discipline" as external organization designed to ruin everyday life for both law enforcement and the normies themselves so that they'll get their minds right, they might instead get suspicious and resentful.
But I am doing the opposite of counting my chickens, that's for sure.
Remember Baghdad Bob? a/k/a Comical Ali? "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
He now works for the New York Times.
I wonder about those polls - as soon as I realize it’s a pollster, I hang up. I wonder how prevalent that is?
Same. But the fact that this poll result was what it was - not what those particular news outlets could be expected to want it to be - gives me pause. What is their agenda in presenting that poll or those polls?
What occurs to me is that it's to drive turnout among the Democrat and low-info, news-watching independents: "Your neighbors are racist fascists! Only you can prevent the descent of fascism on our nation!"
I can't imagine that they had no agenda in reporting on this result. They always have an agenda; they are the agenda-setters and gatekeepers, just as they learned in J-school.
“It's an incorrect use of the term "muzzle velocity". I think what he means is "rate of fire" : how many bullets come out over time, not how fast one bullet is moving. MAGA is happy with the rate of fire, but disappointed by the muzzle velocity and the targeting.”
I agree. It isn’t the muzzle velocity that is the problem for Dems, but rather the rate of fire.
After the successful use by the Germans of their select fire Assault Rifles, during the waning years of WW II, the US decided to follow suit. Their first shot, the select fire M-14 hit hard enough, but was too heavy, and inaccurate during automatic fire (but was great shooting semi-automatic). It was quickly replaced by the M-16 (and M-4). That have been our main battle rifles and carbines for the last 60 years now. They don’t hit as hard, but are much more accurate in automatic (Rock and Roll) fire. And that is primarily what machine guns are used for these days - to keep enemy heads down, while your guys are free to maneuver. You don’t need a .50 M2 for that.
And not the squeeze bottle ketchup, either, but the old glass bottle ketchup.
Biden: Look, I'm from Scranton. Scranton never got the squeeze bottles. We had glass bottles and that's all we had. Corn Pop would come by and we'd roll the used bottles over his hairy legs. Sometimes we'd do it down by the pool. It's all we had!
Professional journolist hack Ezra Klein was just overwhelmed by his own paid agitators at Sarah Lawrence College.
Now that the chickens come home to roost, maybe he should look in the mirror before worrying about others, including Trump
I'm not seeing Trump overwhelmed. I see progressives overwhelmed. I see Trump voters wanting more and especially more from Congress. Whenever anyone mentions Trumps approval; they should also mention Congress. Both minority leaders enjoy only half the approval rating of Trump. The majority doesn't fair much better, and overall Congress approval is much lower than the President.
They cheated a lot and they had the lockdowns to ratify it
RobinGoodfellow said...
[“Biden had the muzzle velocity of ketchup.”]
"And not the squeeze bottle ketchup, either, but the old glass bottle ketchup."
Anticipation...
Josephbleau: "large industrial pant construction"
Is that a typo? Or did you really build large industrial pants?
If so, where are they sold?
Asking for a friend. CC, JSM
“This administration is a reflection of who the president is and what he wants. This White House is not beset by crises. This White House is the crisis.”
The stated aim of ICE operations before Minneapolis was to arrest the worst of the worst, focusing on targeted raids of illegal immigrants who had committed other crimes. Instead, the vast majority of arrests were of illegal immigrants that had committed no other crimes, Instead, the vast majority of arrests were of illegal immigrants that had including refugees here legally but without a green card as they await their court hearing. A half dozen native Americans were arrested as well, and many children who were targeted and arrested at school.
The list of ‘the worst of the worst’ criminal aliens that Trump and other administration officials cited as arrested in Minneapolis included mostly those arrested before Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis began at the end of November. and those already in prison. Indeed, most criminal aliens that have been deported across the U.S. were picked up in prison.
This malicious policy disaster was advocated by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, supported by vice president JD Vance, and also supported and carried out by DHS secretary Kristi Noem, her boyfriend/advisor Corey Lewandowski (Trump’s former campaign chair), and Greg Bovino, head of the ICE operation, and of course approved by Donald Trump.
In Minneapolis now, protests and marches continue and they have spread nationwide as a large majority of Americans are strongly opposed to ICE tactics in Minneapolis. The senate is now working on adding a series of provisions to rein in ICE in a DHS funding bill including banning roving patrols, no masks, more warrant requirements, and strict codes of conduct. Numerous court cases against ICE actions are also proceeding.
Meanwhile on Saturday, a special election in a Texas state senate race in a district Trump won by 17 points in 2024 elected a Democrat by a 57-43 (14 point) margin. That’s a 31-point swing toward Democrats, the largest yet since the 2024 election in normally deep red Texas.
A different president might theoretically be able to fine tune public appearances and utterances to reinforce the most important messages, but is flooding the zone or having too high a rate of fire really the source of Trump's problem?
Democrats are going to keep hammering away at Trump. Voters have short memories. For many, the cynicism about politicians also applies to Trump. They'll actually blame Trump for Bidenflation. More contented voters may just stay home.
Trump gets in his own way, but in a world where everyone has their own facts and their own truth, some people will never be ever convinced.
Muzzle Velocity = a measure of the amount of time it takes the MSMDNC media to suppress a story.
Joe Biden went for sundown at 10:30am. He arrived in the Oval at 09:50am, had his warm chocolate drink, then called it a lid.
Trump knows he only has 4 years…now 3 and with mid-terms coming up. There isn’t going to be another 4 years. He and his opponents know he has a very, very short window to make serious, lasting changes.
I just saw Melania. First it was sold out at 1:45. I enjoyed it very much. The attention to detail and the grandeur of the settings was stunning. The stamina she and Trump have is pretty unbelievable as well. Joe Bob says check it out.
If you create something like an armed paramilitary force with not very high recruitment standards, provide them with modest training and unleash them against a civilian population, people are going to be shot. That is inevitable and, so far, my only surprise is the relatively small number of casualties.
The debacle with ICE is all the more disturbing because of the needs for a credible and respected force capable of policing the border and enforcing our laws.
Trump has totally discredited ICE just as DOGE has discredited any future effort to examine the effectiveness and costs of the US governmental apparatus.
OODA loop, Trump inside the Dems. Nuf said.
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