tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post7782043308567996167..comments2024-03-29T00:04:32.434-05:00Comments on Althouse: "We’re told by many wise and well-meaning people that it is a huge and even fatal mistake for liberals (and for constitutional conservatives) to respond negatively to every Trump initiative, every Trump policy, and every Trump idea."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65769127510379963472017-04-22T22:14:57.782-05:002017-04-22T22:14:57.782-05:00After Barack Obama took office I observed that he ...After Barack Obama took office I observed that he could announce his support of the Republican platform verbatim and the Republicans would denounce it as socialism and opposed it.<br /><br />The same is true of Trump for many liberals. As the Trump cabinet was being announce I thought that Mr. Trump should have nominated Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to his cabinet and see how long until Liberals decided there must be something wrong with them.<br /><br />But based on some left wing web sites they demand that their readers (followers?) oppose anything Donald Trump does just because he's doing it.Thomas Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701283200252131890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12304227306776812972017-04-22T18:00:26.917-05:002017-04-22T18:00:26.917-05:00Trump is going to have to deliver on one of his pr...Trump is going to have to deliver on one of his promises. Which one remains to be seen. The Republicans in Congress also have the same situation. Which one also remains to be seen. I suspect the Republicans in Congress and Trump will find one in common if only to get reelected. cubanbobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03746305669005611456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69656707753101420412017-04-22T13:48:17.784-05:002017-04-22T13:48:17.784-05:00The author's beef with Trump is his pragmatism...<i>The author's beef with Trump is his pragmatism.</i><br /><br />Exactly. Exactly. People on both left and right have the hardest time with this. "What are his principles? What's his ideology?" I keep saying that Trump is result-oriented and reasons backward from the desired end result, rather than forward from basic principles.<br /><br />And so he doesn't try to convince people by showing how his policies flow from principles they share. Instead, he explains the desired result, expecting the results to eventually show the wisdom of the policies.jaedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03328666344764784829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66923853499578599292017-04-22T09:45:27.262-05:002017-04-22T09:45:27.262-05:00Ruling by fiat and bluster is one way to get thing...Ruling by fiat and bluster is one way to get things done, but if Trump wants to drain the swamp, he's going to need to pass laws, and that requires the GOP's help in Congress. <br /><br />He won't get that. The money people who fund Congress won't let him.<br /><br />When candidates and lawmakers have to spend more than half their time fundraising, they're not going to care what Trump says about them. They're bought and paid for.<br /><br />I wish I could say that was cynical of me, but it's been borne out by reality. The Democrats had a two-year window to institute the single-payer health plan they've been raving about for decades. Instead, they preserved the system and gave insurers buckets of money.<br /><br />The Republicans passed repeated bills to kill Obamacare, until the moment came when they could actually do it. Now they're covering their junk and muttering like they were caught masturbating out behind the barn.<br />Bill Peschelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15257587479467531187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-77411847262425141412017-04-22T08:26:43.584-05:002017-04-22T08:26:43.584-05:00Trump is the same way, No leverage exists. He is n...<i>Trump is the same way, No leverage exists. He is not a politician, political leverage does not exist. Money? Reputation? He already has power. All the media leverage, that has always worked before, is worthless.</i><br /><br />Perhaps. But I for one would not be surprised to see Trump bending quite a bit and getting a "strange new respect" in Washington.Roger Sweenyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734128265493099062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-39587320487734308972017-04-22T06:54:05.212-05:002017-04-22T06:54:05.212-05:00Trump is an example of something I learned as a yo...Trump is an example of something I learned as a young man. You cant control a person that does not fear for his own well being. Leverage, in short. <br /><br />I learned that working with The head of a State govt agency. He ruled by fiat. Tangled with political movers and shakers in the state, and always walked away unscathed. Because he told the Governor he would talk and listen, but must likely not moderate his decisions, The governors could fire him, he would not resign. Many politically powerful people attempted to over rule him, they all failed.<br /><br />Trump is the same way, No leverage exists. He is not a politician, political leverage does not exist. Money? Reputation? He already has power. All the media leverage, that has always worked before, is worthless. <br /><br />The media has yet to figure it out, so it just doubles down on last weeks failed attempts. Rinse and repeat.iowan2https://www.blogger.com/profile/14716635412314020236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-46253431950335412522017-04-22T05:57:08.478-05:002017-04-22T05:57:08.478-05:00That was fascinating; thank you. It's the link...That was fascinating; thank you. It's the links like that which keep me coming back and back so faithfully. That was a real insight into a type of thinking I have not understood. The Chief and I were discussing this type of attitude this week, and we could not grasp the underlying philosophy. <br /><br />The author's beef with Trump is his pragmatism. Trump does have an ideology - it is success in the real world rather than his ego. Because Trump has dealt with real world problems so much, it is automatic and instinctive in Trump to look at the bottom line, and discard any approaches which are very unlikely to lead to success or incur more risk of failure than rewards. <br /><br />When Gopnik writes:<br /><i>People who have acts and actions that add up to some coherent plan—or even to an evil scheme—tend to have an ideology. It possesses them, or they are possessed by it. With Trump, it is perfectly clear that he only has a series of episodic wounds and reactions—it’s all fears and fits.</i><br /><br />Trump has goals rather than an ideology. Because they are real-world goals, they are necessarily more modest in construction than purely ideological or philosophical goals. <br /><br /><br /><br />MaxedOutMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08011469804162511617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-73277868820803691382017-04-22T05:49:55.276-05:002017-04-22T05:49:55.276-05:00I have to wonder if these psychiatrists -- who poo...I have to wonder if these psychiatrists -- who pooh-pooh the necessity of a face-to-face psychiatric exam before diagnosing Trump as mentally ill -- can also diagnose Trump Derangement Syndrome from afar? But maybe that's asking too much of them, since they seem to have TDS themselves.<br /><br />http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-dangerous-mental-illness-yale-psychiatrist-conference-us-president-unfit-james-gartner-a7694316.html<br /><br />Pro tip: More dentists prefer Crest.Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00074081381907271145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54638071462949376872017-04-21T23:48:03.137-05:002017-04-21T23:48:03.137-05:00YH, spot on.YH, spot on.Paddy Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10442537362540160512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-17037332904463436762017-04-21T23:35:20.263-05:002017-04-21T23:35:20.263-05:00Part of the problem is that Trump is not actually ...Part of the problem is that Trump is not actually all that conservative. Dems who'd want to work with him could. Of course, the "derangement" looks insane to us on the right, and to the occasional self-aware lefty. But they are not really crazy: they are just in fight mode all the time, evaluating everything strictly on whether it advances their position in the culture war and in the pursuit of power. Nothing else matters anymore.Sebastianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00505631054204611033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25798953566101236542017-04-21T22:59:05.764-05:002017-04-21T22:59:05.764-05:00There is a good chance most of these people pictur...There is a good chance most of these people pictured here have it.<br /><br />https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton<br /><br />The young seem most at risk.<br />Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-325704927479061412017-04-21T22:56:53.527-05:002017-04-21T22:56:53.527-05:00Blogger YoungHegelian said...
The problem with the...<i>Blogger YoungHegelian said...<br />The problem with the liberal chatterati like Gopnik isn't just their reflexive distrust of Trump, it's also their naive & child-like faith in the standard bearers of their side. If the new book on the Hillary campaign shows anything, it's that, as one far-lefty friend of mine put it, "she had more baggage than the Titanic". The campaign was fucked-up. Hillary's coterie was fucked-up. Gopnik & his crew knew that these people were fucked up, but they deliberately hid this information so as not to give the Republicans ammo.</i><br /><br /><b><br />With all of this information gathered in one place, WND then compiled a list gleaned from Attkisson’s timeline of all those whom the Obama administration is suspected of targeting either by spying, or investigating and/or prosecuting using intelligence information.<br /><br />And the list is impressive.<br /><br />Former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.<br />Pro-Israel lobbyists<br />FBI contractor and whistleblower Shamai Leibowitz<br />Tea-party groups<br />WikiLeaks<br />New York Times reporter James Risen<br />NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake<br />Fox News reporter James Rosen<br />CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson<br />Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio<br />Fox News reporter Mike Levine<br />ATF Special Agent John Dodson<br />Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus<br />Associated Press reporters<br />Benghazi whistleblowers<br />President Obama’s vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Cartwright<br />Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning<br />CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou<br />NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden<br />Reporter Audrey Hudson<br />FBI agent and contractor Donald Sachtleben<br />Former state department contractor Stephen Jin-Woo Kim<br />The Senate Intelligence Committee<br />Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<br />Former CIA employee Jeffrey Alexander Sterling<br />Unspecified members of Congress<br />American-Jewish groups<br />Trump adviser Carter Page<br />Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn<br />Candidate Donald Trump’s campaign<br />President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team<br /></b><br />http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/the-big-amazing-list-of-people-obama-spied-on/<br /><br />Personally, I am amazed at the people who voted for Hillary and claim that they did so because of "Trump's authoritarian tendencies."Lewis Wetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01200232293505119133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65537861585537733232017-04-21T22:55:24.906-05:002017-04-21T22:55:24.906-05:00Is TDS contagious? Are people infected? Which demo...<i>Is TDS contagious? Are people infected? Which demographic is most at risk?</i><br /><br />You have to get them talking, if you hear/see words like #resistance there is 50/50 chance they've succumb to the illness.<br /><br />Rachel Maddow saying Venezuelans were protesting Maduro's donation to Trump's inauguration is a particularly comical symptom of the airborne disease. It's marvelously unpredictable. <br /><br />You should not burst out laughing when confronting sufferers.Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4598384477124494732017-04-21T22:42:36.565-05:002017-04-21T22:42:36.565-05:00Lem wrote: If you think you have TDS, you probably...Lem wrote: <i>If you think you have TDS, you probably don't. </i><br /><br />Is TDS contagious? Are people infected? Which demographic is most at risk? chickelithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10773887469972534979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-17261150155425815202017-04-21T22:31:37.494-05:002017-04-21T22:31:37.494-05:00If you think you have TDS, you probably don't....If you think you have TDS, you probably don't.Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19784151090318102752017-04-21T22:21:22.573-05:002017-04-21T22:21:22.573-05:00@Roy Lofquist: Praise be unto Bob.@Roy Lofquist: Praise be unto Bob.chickelithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10773887469972534979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-89547273692249915472017-04-21T22:19:57.874-05:002017-04-21T22:19:57.874-05:00Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails ...Praise be to Nero's Neptune<br />The Titanic sails at dawn<br />Everybody's shouting<br />"Which side are you on?"<br />And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot<br />Fighting in the captain's tower<br />While calypso singers laugh at them<br />And fishermen hold flowers<br />Between the windows of the sea<br />Where lovely mermaids flow<br />And nobody has to think too much<br />About Desolation Row.Roy Lofquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16536815900678298041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-87663725512797962562017-04-21T22:08:19.395-05:002017-04-21T22:08:19.395-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5876426415533402712017-04-21T21:40:53.063-05:002017-04-21T21:40:53.063-05:00The problem with the liberal chatterati like Gopni...The problem with the liberal chatterati like Gopnik isn't just their reflexive distrust of Trump, it's also their naive & child-like faith in the standard bearers of their side. If the new book on the Hillary campaign shows anything, it's that, as one far-lefty friend of mine put it, "she had more baggage than the Titanic". The campaign was fucked-up. Hillary's coterie was fucked-up. Gopnik & his crew knew that these people were fucked up, but they deliberately hid this information so as not to give the Republicans ammo.<br /><br />The same with the Obama administration. I'm sure that once the historical dust settles, the Obama years will be seen as the nadir of government malfeasance, up there with the Grant administration. Where was Gopnik & his crew? On their knees performing unnatural acts to the powers that were, that's where.YoungHegelianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723316130501823658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-34519114844918335452017-04-21T21:38:35.703-05:002017-04-21T21:38:35.703-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.YoungHegelianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723316130501823658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10199025711517172392017-04-21T21:31:20.236-05:002017-04-21T21:31:20.236-05:00eric said...
The media is infected and there is on...<i>eric said...<br />The media is infected and there is only one cure.</i><br /><br />As Yoda would say, "No, there is another."<br /><br />But up several media outlets. Clean house. Sort of Fox News under the under Murdochs, but in reverse.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424384180201600935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-7105866408203145872017-04-21T21:30:57.829-05:002017-04-21T21:30:57.829-05:00That article was bonkers. I couldn't finish it...That article was bonkers. I couldn't finish it.Bircheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00045640752795693223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-76187801061789790092017-04-21T21:27:55.869-05:002017-04-21T21:27:55.869-05:00Chuck, that was a good comment.
Some advice for a...Chuck, that was a good comment.<br /><br />Some advice for anyone worried about TDS: if your comment sounds like it might have been written by Louise Mensch or Evan McMullin, you have TDS.<br />Bircheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00045640752795693223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-86629400706329335932017-04-21T21:27:54.721-05:002017-04-21T21:27:54.721-05:00We could get a vaccine quickly if Trump would refo...We could get a vaccine quickly if Trump would reform the FDA.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424384180201600935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-71728391192761927342017-04-21T21:23:07.561-05:002017-04-21T21:23:07.561-05:00Some are urging Dems to "get a grip". Bu...Some are urging Dems to "get a grip". But Adam Gopnik endeavors to round up the straying cattle who are showing dangerous signs of independent thought just at the moment when the Dems want to roll out Chelsea Clinton as savior. Those completely in the grip of TDS will see Chelsea as a political leader - it will be form of mad cow disease where TDS eats away brain cells till you become so fogged that you end up thinking Chelsea Clinton is clever, feisty and has 1.5 million real followers on Twitter. <br /><br />But if you can't make sense of Trump, here's a way to understand him and to avoid worshipping Chelsea in a few years. Trump was in construction (building hotels and so on) which used to be the #1 US employer until 2008; it is now #12. So he was aware of the difficulties in an economic group which NYT-Wapo disregards. In the same years, manufacturing slipped from #2 to #8 and this was the climax of a long decline caused by shipping jobs overseas through trade deals. Trump did more than notice these problems; he ran for President on the promise of doing something about these situations. The affected groups voted for him in enormous numbers, especially in the upper Midwest. And now as President, Trump is working to fulfill his promise to act on the problems, to help the American workers. And the Dems are not able, are just not able to acknowledge that they turned their backs on the American worker because, in the Dems' own value system, turning on the worker would be wrong. And so then the Dems aren't able to see that Trump ran on a promise - to help the American worker - a promise he is working to fulfill. He has gotten 35,000 jobs back in coal country. And he has reduced immigration which means more jobs for those in the country. And he has protected fracking and authorized pipelines because cheap energy will lead to more manufacturing and more jobs. And he's told Mnuchin to overhaul the tax system. And he's urging companies and companies to commit capital to US manufacturing which will be a better deal with tax reform and cheap energy. It all hangs together. <br /><br />It all hangs together - unless you hate the American worker but can't bring yourself to say so even to yourself in secret. Then you have TDS which really means you can't let yourself know what you think or what is happening in an important political arena, i.e., you hate the workers; Trump doesn't. And there is worse to come. If you don't overcome your TDS, you will end up supporting Chelsea Clinton and thinking that's smart. <br /><br />But far be it from me to criticize or judge. Long Live Chelsea the Ffeisty? Be my guest.wildswanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11975129877750876072noreply@blogger.com