Back before Donald Trump’s wing of the party took over the establishment, one of the issues that provoked the anti-establishment conservatives to back Trump’s coup of the party was the non-stop promise-making of the establishment that the establishment never intended to keep.
Just put Normal Finkelstein's new book "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom" on my list to read. Finkelstein, I think, helps shed light on one big glaring pile of brokenness (among many) in the old Republican establishment in their tacit approval of so much anti-Israel foreign policy direction. Bashing Israel is good virtue signaling cocktail party stuff of the uppity class. However, this new book, I think, sheds light on the biggest pile of establishment Republican brokenness, and it seems to be a similar virtue signaling uppity cocktail party attraction, and that is the failure to definitively and purposely defend and attack the left in their radical destructive identity politics movement that the establishment Democrats have fully embraced because otherwise the general publics hates the establishment Democrats almost as much as they hate the establishment Republicans.
From his new book, Finkelstein writes:
"“The cancel culture of my childhood targeted, in the name of anti-communism, popular leftist movements rooted primarily in class politics. The new cancel culture still targets class politics but this time round in the pseudo-radical name of identity politics."
"Whereas class politics has historically focused on a massive redistribution of wealth from the haves to the have nots, identify politics (racial, sexual, etc.) in the uppermost tier of a social structure left largely intact in all its steep gradations.” he writes. “The primary vehicle of this politics is the Democratic Party, the mass base of which was once the white working class, but which is now in transition to becoming an identify-based party, in which identity displaces class as its organizing principle and base constituency."
The telling thing here is that the people pushing this crap to replace class struggle with identity political wars are in fact the upper class, headed by the Ivy League managerial class dominating government and Wall Street, that are responsible for destroying working class economic opportunity and looting the country to an empty shell. As the money and status growth opportunities diminish in this country the upper class call home, they find fewer reasons to protect it and set their sights on the WEF globalist agenda... were the US is only an ATM for the world, and American workers can be central-controlled in a new collectivist model and placated by Universal Basic Income and "free" healthcare.
Any Republican that does not aggressively and actively combat this woke "progress" by the elite upper class has no business calling themself a Republican. Liberty, freedom to pursue self-interest, national pride and focus and God-given rights as embodied by our Constitution, equality of opportunity, etc. These are the bedrock principles of Republicanism that are being threatened by the march of progressive politics. If you are not with us in the war to defeat the managerial class woke destruction, then you are against us.
Eff establishment Republicans. The only thing they are good for today is losing to Democrats. Nobody likes establishment Republicans except Establishment Republicans. It is a big circle-jerk and circular firing squad. The basic problem is that they have zero constituent groups but cannot get past their class dislike of the working class. They hate Trump both because of his personality, but also because they are embarrassed by the people that support him. Here come Vivek, really the only other candidate that can attract the working class, and the old Republican guard mounts attacks on him as being too like Trump.
News flash… there is no path to Republicans winning without the working class. Either get over your hypersensitivity to personality, or leave the party to register as the Democrat you really are.
"It’s like the people demanding Governor Brian Kemp do something when there is no provision in the Georgia Constitution or laws that give him the power to just do something." He has a mouth, doesn't he? Is he too timid to speak up? Is he unable to provide any leadership at all? If he has NO power, does he have NO influence? I don't know, but I can imagine that Kemp knows exactly how he helped steal the 2020 election for the sake of the RINO's, the "Establishment".
That is quite the accusation James. Please provide or link to any evidence at all that you have to support this statement: "but I can imagine that Kemp knows exactly how he helped steal the 2020 election for the sake of the RINO's"
I "imagine" that Kemp's silence on the matter is because he very well knows that there is significant evidence that Trump illegally attempted to interfere with the election in Georgia to turn it in his favor and finds that behavior reprehensible. Kemp cant come out and say that though because our party is still largely populated by people who probably think how I "imagine" you think - (reflexively defending Trump's conduct no matter what, supporting him at this point as a form of tribal identity, only consuming media from sources that make money telling a narrative about Trump that their audience wants to hear, etc.) So in a quasi performative act of political expedience he stays silent on this point or gives a vague message about Fani Willis not having committed any crime yet.
Once again I am reminded why I moved from Republican to Independent. I was more of a Blue Dog Democrat in my younger years, moving to being a Republican under Reagan. With no truly strong conservative leader at the helm the Republican's have become rudderless. Empty promises used to pacify their base and to keep themselves in office for their own self serving agenda, which is to just stay in office. This is why people move from the party to Independent. People do not generally move to the Republican party unless it is some self serving Democrat pol who is in jeopardy of losing their seat to a Republican. I do miss the days of the honest Blue Dog Democrat. I would take a Sam Nunn over all of our current Republican party. Of course, Sam could no longer be in the Democratic Party since their seismic shift to the hard left.
There is a list of Trump accomplishments that blow a hole in this essay. If he had not been constantly harassed and attacked by the real establishment many more of these promises would have been accomplished. Trump in fact went about doing what he said after saying what he meant… and that was so threatening to the Ivy League plastic actors on the media stage that they just couldn’t accept the getting things done part.
Where is the wall / money from Mexico to pay for it? Why isn't Hillary in jail? Why is DACA still in effect? why does North Korea still have a nuclear program? where is the better Iran nuclear deal? Where is the better alternative to Obamacare? the list goes on and on and on. I don't remember a lot of caveats or weak sauce excuses about how hard it would be and that he'll just give it the ol college try. No i just remember the applause that all of this will get done on either day one or very shortly there after.
Like I said I don't recall Trump promising to try to do all of those things I listed unless he faced obstacles - just that they would happen "day-one".
Also regarding this line: Trump makes those against him appear to be pathetic chumps." Does that really seem true to you now? -
I assume you believe the election was stolen from him. This would make him arguably the most pathetic weak sauce victim of the modern political era for allowing Democrats / a geriatric near vegetable to steal power from him while (1) he was a sitting president with(2) his own hand picked DoJ head, (3) VP, and (4)plurality of self appointed supreme court justices. The initial supposed strongman / tough guy, winner persona we supported who rode down the escalator has over the years become no more than an impotent, pathetic, crybaby victim. Are we now the party that celebrates victimhood and whoever is the biggest victim can be our leader?
"They promised to repeal Obamacare. They did not."
This just drives me crazy, because it really is a lie in the context. The Obamacare repeal passed the House easily, with everyone who promised to do so voting for it. Then it went to the Senate, where it lost by one vote when John McCain came off his death bed to vote against because he wanted to stick it to Trump. HE promised and broke, not the GOP, not the establishment, not some bogeyman. Just one made who because very small over the decades in DC. But because of either laziness or lies, all Republicans are sleazed with this line by every conservative with a microphone. Erick is so much better than this.
Once the embrace of immoral has occurred—regardless of the end they hope to accomplish—it will be the means which will end of destroying them. “Hoisted by their own petard” applies… unfortunately for everyone.
Unfortunately this is how I imagine it would go if the topic were ever raised - (1)Trump says that he has gained many millions of voters since 2020 based on him claiming that the crowds are larger at his rallies (btw they are actually smaller). (2) Newsmax and OAN talk endlessly about how large the new rally crowds are and how much new support Trump has as they essentially make money by telling people (their audience which is comprised of Trumpsters) what they want to hear (3) Trumpsters confidently proclaim that Trump has picked up many millions of supporters since 2020 and not lost anyone. (4) No amount of facts or logic can persuade the Trumpster otherwise because if you say anything different from what they want to believe you have TDS, and are a RINO socialist listening to NPR in your Prius.
Unfortunately, as Erick has repeatedly said, "You cannot change, with logic and facts, the minds of those whose positions have been developed emotionally."
Every time I see Trump neck-and-neck with Biden in the polls, I think, "Look at the states, people!" Trump needs to win Georgia and Arizona. Maybe going after Governor Kemp wasn't that wise, then. Or pissing off McCain voters, both personally and through Kari Lake.
The GOP has hung onto this radical postmodern loon and his loser sycophants until the very last minute when it suddenly became obvious they're no longer useful. So LOL and good riddance, GOP.
Its definitely a difficult situation that we have created in politics and media where so much of the messaging and tactics are performative vs. genuine. Even in your article, you don't address the "elephant in the room" - that maybe Donald Trump needs to be held criminally accountable for trying to illegally end democracy from the white house. I understand why you cant say that, whether you believe it or not. Seeing someone like Kristin Fisher fired for reporting to much truth and not "respecting our audience" at Fox News is an ominous example of what having to much courage to tell people truths they don't want to hear leads to. I think the inability of politicians or members of the media to tell their viewers / constituents the really hard truths is one of the biggest risks to our nation.
Liberal Professors Jonathan Turley and Alan Dershowitz do not agree with this your concluded assessment " that maybe Donald Trump needs to be held criminally accountable for trying to illegally end democracy from the white house". That is a hoot. But like many; that is tunnel visioned channel locked mentality for the DT haters. The primary reason Obamacare exists is John Roberts wrote the law and did not just do his job of interrupting the Law, when he changed the word Penalty to a Tax. Did SCJ Roberts have that prerogative to do that? NO
The reason Hillary is not in prison is primarily this> From the day DT became Repub candidate 2015 2016 I will allege that from HBO, Biden, the DOJ, FBI, NSA, NIA, CIA, et als attempted a coup against DT. From Jan 20th 2017 until Jan 20th, 2020, not one day did the House work with DT for the betterment of America.
Democrat Congress people stood on the floor of the House and waved papers that they declared to be evidence that DT committed Russia Collusion of which the DOJ and FBI knew at that time was lies. DT was impeached and removal trial was held in the Senate on those lies. Now I would say as a DT hater you are not too distressed. But much distress will be forthcoming soon. Now I will make a prediction. Joe and Kam will be removed from their positions before 12-31-2023 via more forthcoming disclosures of lies, and corruption reports. Prepare for big shakings. One can poo poo and maw maw til collapse. Selah
My personal opinion is that we're flawed to believe the GOP is good and the Dems are evil. The GOP didn't earn the moniker "Dems Light" or "Libs Light" for nothing. With the possible exception of the Freedom Caucus - about 1/10th the total number of US Representatives - I think they're all scum-sucking pigs. DC is the WWE of the global stage; they all put on a good show, then throw their arms around each other at night, have a beer together, and laugh because we think it's real.
Sadly, yes. Most of them work in sound bytes trying to figure out the best angle on any subject so they can bank it away for their re-election or fund raising. Few are actually looking out for America which is why the Tree of Liberty will likely need to be watered this century.
Greene is attacking him because she believes he may offer a her a primary challenge. If her husband could not trust her, why should her constituents. I'll be glad when Marjorie Traitor Greene is known as "former Congressman".
Actual conversation at a Publix checkout in Georgia yesterday...
Me: How are you today?
Elderly Man Bagging Groceries: I'm good, but I'm tired of going in and out of the rain.
Me: I won't make you go outside! (with a smile)
Man: I feel bad for the people in Florida with the hurricane.
Me: I know. Did you hear a 100-year-old tree fell on the governor's mansion?
Cashier: Maybe he needed it!
I was actually too stunned to say anything. I had moved past the checkout at that point. Seriously, Trump supporters, this hatred you're projecting on DeSantis, Kemp, Pence, and others is one of the reasons people like me, who voted for Trump twice, don't want him back in the White House. Your irrational vitriol is all over the internet, and it's making me sick. Having a tree fall on your house isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. Please check your soul and your supposed Christianity, and treat others the way you would want to be treated.
100% this. All of this. Yes. Those of you who love Trump and want him as the candidate, feel free to fight tooth and nail for him in the primary, but when America de-selects him for someone else, please lick your wounds and help us oust Biden and his ilk from Washington DC. Otherwise, you will get ALL the blame for the fall of America over the next four years.
I've been compiling a list of the reasons I won't vote for Trump a third time, because I know what the backlash will be from my friends and family on the right. I'm already hearing the arguments.
Even though I've been a political junkie since I cut my teeth during the Clinton administration, I was going through a busy period in my life in the first few years of the Trump administration, and I was largely checked out. I had voted for Ben Carson in the primary and Trump in the general. My world was going along swimmingly, the economy was good, we weren't starting new wars, the Supreme Court was getting stacked with good judges, and I was ignoring the mean tweets and pissy comments. Trump started to lose me during the 2020 campaign. Running against a corpse, the election was Trump's to lose, and he did a damn fine job losing it. His first debate with Biden was embarrassingly bad. Shutting down the country and then going after Kemp and DeSantis for reopening their states was shameful. Nevertheless, I voted for Trump again in 2020. Post November 2020, Trump has set out to destroy my state, Georgia, and the Republican party as a whole. He's the reason we lost the Senate and many gubernatorial races, barely squeaking by with the House. For me now, though, it's the lies, lies, lies. It's the excuses made by his supporters for his despicable, likely criminal (in the classified docs case), behavior. It's the comparisons between the prosecution of Trump and the persecution of Jesus Christ. It's the betrayal of so many loyal supporters. Most of all, it was Trump taking a dump on the Constitution on January 6. I don't blame him for the riots; I blame him, as the chief executive of our country, for ignoring the right of the states to certify their own elections and the right of our legislature to count the electoral votes. No president who tries to undermine another branch of government should hold office. On January 7, I called my elected representatives, asking them to impeach Trump, not for the incursion of the Capitol, but for his betrayal of his oath to support and defend the Constitution.
I'm with you on not voting for Trump and I'm open to any of the candidates on the GOP slate with the exceptions of Hutchinson, Christie, and now potentially Ramaswamy. I really, really liked what he had to say at The Gathering but now that I'm digging into his background I don't like his prior positions. Know them by their fruits and I do not like the taste of what I am finding.
I get where you're coming from on Ramaswamy. I watched a Ben Shapiro interview with him before he entered the race, and I honestly don't think Vivek was planning to run for office until just before he made that decision. If anything, he was quite disconnected from, or disillusioned by, the political process, rarely even voting. I'm willing to grant him some grace and some space in which to evolve his positions. I'm 44, and I've changed my mind pretty substantively over the years on some core issues. If someone were to go back and look at what I believed in my twenties (when I knew everything!), they may not recognize me today.
I'm genuinely curious, though, which prior positions of Vivek's you don't like.
So what were the establishment conservatives doing before the anti-establishment came along? Precious little, I think. This kind of talk just drives home my frustration with BOTH parties. Neither really listen to the people. Neither truly get much done. Establishment or not, the Republican party has only served to be the one in charge when everyone gets tired of the Left's shenanigans. The Left is too ambitious and drive this country down like a bull in a china shop. The Right just sits there and allows it until the people say 'ENOUGH'. Then they step up and calm things down a bit, but that's all. Do they make things better? No. They just smile and try to be nice guys. Then the Left pokes mercilessly at Right to show their lack of action and point out their dullness and ignorance. On and on and on. The Right still does very little and the people get tired of it. It is a vicious cycle of escalating insanity. Both sides are complacent in their beliefs and worthless in serving the people. Both sides are totally unconnected to the people. We're very small in their estimation. Ironic, right? Tired of it all.
You should listen to Glenn Greenwald's System Update podcast from last night. He made a brilliant point: Both establishment parties would rather lose than have an anti-establishment candidate lead their party. We saw this with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in 2016. Unfortunately, Trump in 2024 barely resembles Trump in 2016. If anything, Vivek and RFK, Jr. are the best anti-establishment candidates in this race.
You haven't listened to DeSantis or Haley much then. They are substantive about change where Vivek is inputting questions into ChatGPT and regurgitating the answers as memorized pablum. RFK is a progressive who can make some noises progressive libertarians like and those libertarians know how to talk to Conservatives. That's the only reason RFK has or should have any appeal to anyone how claims to like freedom or the Constitution.
I would gladly vote for DeSantis or Haley over Trump. I've watched/listened to dozens of their interviews, and I like them both. I don't think Vivek should be underestimated, though. There are few things he's set out to do that he hasn't accomplished. I'm still openminded to anyone who isn't Trump or Biden.
Just put Normal Finkelstein's new book "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom" on my list to read. Finkelstein, I think, helps shed light on one big glaring pile of brokenness (among many) in the old Republican establishment in their tacit approval of so much anti-Israel foreign policy direction. Bashing Israel is good virtue signaling cocktail party stuff of the uppity class. However, this new book, I think, sheds light on the biggest pile of establishment Republican brokenness, and it seems to be a similar virtue signaling uppity cocktail party attraction, and that is the failure to definitively and purposely defend and attack the left in their radical destructive identity politics movement that the establishment Democrats have fully embraced because otherwise the general publics hates the establishment Democrats almost as much as they hate the establishment Republicans.
From his new book, Finkelstein writes:
"“The cancel culture of my childhood targeted, in the name of anti-communism, popular leftist movements rooted primarily in class politics. The new cancel culture still targets class politics but this time round in the pseudo-radical name of identity politics."
"Whereas class politics has historically focused on a massive redistribution of wealth from the haves to the have nots, identify politics (racial, sexual, etc.) in the uppermost tier of a social structure left largely intact in all its steep gradations.” he writes. “The primary vehicle of this politics is the Democratic Party, the mass base of which was once the white working class, but which is now in transition to becoming an identify-based party, in which identity displaces class as its organizing principle and base constituency."
The telling thing here is that the people pushing this crap to replace class struggle with identity political wars are in fact the upper class, headed by the Ivy League managerial class dominating government and Wall Street, that are responsible for destroying working class economic opportunity and looting the country to an empty shell. As the money and status growth opportunities diminish in this country the upper class call home, they find fewer reasons to protect it and set their sights on the WEF globalist agenda... were the US is only an ATM for the world, and American workers can be central-controlled in a new collectivist model and placated by Universal Basic Income and "free" healthcare.
Any Republican that does not aggressively and actively combat this woke "progress" by the elite upper class has no business calling themself a Republican. Liberty, freedom to pursue self-interest, national pride and focus and God-given rights as embodied by our Constitution, equality of opportunity, etc. These are the bedrock principles of Republicanism that are being threatened by the march of progressive politics. If you are not with us in the war to defeat the managerial class woke destruction, then you are against us.
Eff establishment Republicans. The only thing they are good for today is losing to Democrats. Nobody likes establishment Republicans except Establishment Republicans. It is a big circle-jerk and circular firing squad. The basic problem is that they have zero constituent groups but cannot get past their class dislike of the working class. They hate Trump both because of his personality, but also because they are embarrassed by the people that support him. Here come Vivek, really the only other candidate that can attract the working class, and the old Republican guard mounts attacks on him as being too like Trump.
News flash… there is no path to Republicans winning without the working class. Either get over your hypersensitivity to personality, or leave the party to register as the Democrat you really are.
"It’s like the people demanding Governor Brian Kemp do something when there is no provision in the Georgia Constitution or laws that give him the power to just do something." He has a mouth, doesn't he? Is he too timid to speak up? Is he unable to provide any leadership at all? If he has NO power, does he have NO influence? I don't know, but I can imagine that Kemp knows exactly how he helped steal the 2020 election for the sake of the RINO's, the "Establishment".
That is quite the accusation James. Please provide or link to any evidence at all that you have to support this statement: "but I can imagine that Kemp knows exactly how he helped steal the 2020 election for the sake of the RINO's"
You'll have to take my word regarding the things that "I can imagine." But Kemp's lack of voice, his lack of action speak volumes.
I "imagine" that Kemp's silence on the matter is because he very well knows that there is significant evidence that Trump illegally attempted to interfere with the election in Georgia to turn it in his favor and finds that behavior reprehensible. Kemp cant come out and say that though because our party is still largely populated by people who probably think how I "imagine" you think - (reflexively defending Trump's conduct no matter what, supporting him at this point as a form of tribal identity, only consuming media from sources that make money telling a narrative about Trump that their audience wants to hear, etc.) So in a quasi performative act of political expedience he stays silent on this point or gives a vague message about Fani Willis not having committed any crime yet.
Once again I am reminded why I moved from Republican to Independent. I was more of a Blue Dog Democrat in my younger years, moving to being a Republican under Reagan. With no truly strong conservative leader at the helm the Republican's have become rudderless. Empty promises used to pacify their base and to keep themselves in office for their own self serving agenda, which is to just stay in office. This is why people move from the party to Independent. People do not generally move to the Republican party unless it is some self serving Democrat pol who is in jeopardy of losing their seat to a Republican. I do miss the days of the honest Blue Dog Democrat. I would take a Sam Nunn over all of our current Republican party. Of course, Sam could no longer be in the Democratic Party since their seismic shift to the hard left.
There is a list of Trump accomplishments that blow a hole in this essay. If he had not been constantly harassed and attacked by the real establishment many more of these promises would have been accomplished. Trump in fact went about doing what he said after saying what he meant… and that was so threatening to the Ivy League plastic actors on the media stage that they just couldn’t accept the getting things done part.
Where is the wall / money from Mexico to pay for it? Why isn't Hillary in jail? Why is DACA still in effect? why does North Korea still have a nuclear program? where is the better Iran nuclear deal? Where is the better alternative to Obamacare? the list goes on and on and on. I don't remember a lot of caveats or weak sauce excuses about how hard it would be and that he'll just give it the ol college try. No i just remember the applause that all of this will get done on either day one or very shortly there after.
He built miles of wall that he was not prevented from building by McCain "Republicans". He got Mexico to keep asylum seekers in Mexico.
Hillary is not in jail because of the McCain "Republicans" that failed to support prosecuting her.
We had a better Iran deal under Trump (scrapping the bad Obama deal).
Obamacare changes were thwarted by the McCain "Republicans" and fake conservative John Roberts.
Reductions in illegal immigration.
Trade agreement fixes with China.
Trade agreement fixes of NAFTA.
US embassy in Jerusalem.
Regulatory reduction.
Real SCOTUS jurists instead of activists.
A roaring economy with 2% inflation.
And all this while the attempting coup from the elite class with the biggest lies in the world... a coup that is still continuing today.
Trump makes those against him appear to be pathetic chumps.
Like I said I don't recall Trump promising to try to do all of those things I listed unless he faced obstacles - just that they would happen "day-one".
Also regarding this line: Trump makes those against him appear to be pathetic chumps." Does that really seem true to you now? -
I assume you believe the election was stolen from him. This would make him arguably the most pathetic weak sauce victim of the modern political era for allowing Democrats / a geriatric near vegetable to steal power from him while (1) he was a sitting president with(2) his own hand picked DoJ head, (3) VP, and (4)plurality of self appointed supreme court justices. The initial supposed strongman / tough guy, winner persona we supported who rode down the escalator has over the years become no more than an impotent, pathetic, crybaby victim. Are we now the party that celebrates victimhood and whoever is the biggest victim can be our leader?
"They promised to repeal Obamacare. They did not."
This just drives me crazy, because it really is a lie in the context. The Obamacare repeal passed the House easily, with everyone who promised to do so voting for it. Then it went to the Senate, where it lost by one vote when John McCain came off his death bed to vote against because he wanted to stick it to Trump. HE promised and broke, not the GOP, not the establishment, not some bogeyman. Just one made who because very small over the decades in DC. But because of either laziness or lies, all Republicans are sleazed with this line by every conservative with a microphone. Erick is so much better than this.
Thanks for the reminder. We also have another McCain type to thank in Chief Justice John Roberts.
Once the embrace of immoral has occurred—regardless of the end they hope to accomplish—it will be the means which will end of destroying them. “Hoisted by their own petard” applies… unfortunately for everyone.
As you've said before, Erick... Democrats are in it to win it. Republicans are in it to get paid.
Erick, I wish you would ask the Trumpsters how many new voters Trump has picked up since 2020? And how many has he lost?
Unfortunately this is how I imagine it would go if the topic were ever raised - (1)Trump says that he has gained many millions of voters since 2020 based on him claiming that the crowds are larger at his rallies (btw they are actually smaller). (2) Newsmax and OAN talk endlessly about how large the new rally crowds are and how much new support Trump has as they essentially make money by telling people (their audience which is comprised of Trumpsters) what they want to hear (3) Trumpsters confidently proclaim that Trump has picked up many millions of supporters since 2020 and not lost anyone. (4) No amount of facts or logic can persuade the Trumpster otherwise because if you say anything different from what they want to believe you have TDS, and are a RINO socialist listening to NPR in your Prius.
If you tell them you voted for Trump twice but no longer support him, you're a liar.
Unfortunately, as Erick has repeatedly said, "You cannot change, with logic and facts, the minds of those whose positions have been developed emotionally."
{hand raised} He's lost me. And others I know.
Me, too. That's my point. Thanks.
Every time I see Trump neck-and-neck with Biden in the polls, I think, "Look at the states, people!" Trump needs to win Georgia and Arizona. Maybe going after Governor Kemp wasn't that wise, then. Or pissing off McCain voters, both personally and through Kari Lake.
Indeed. Gov. Chis Christy said the exact same thing yesterday about this.
I've never been Christie's biggest fan, but he said some things during the debate that absolutely needed to be said.
Yes, he did.
The GOP has hung onto this radical postmodern loon and his loser sycophants until the very last minute when it suddenly became obvious they're no longer useful. So LOL and good riddance, GOP.
Its definitely a difficult situation that we have created in politics and media where so much of the messaging and tactics are performative vs. genuine. Even in your article, you don't address the "elephant in the room" - that maybe Donald Trump needs to be held criminally accountable for trying to illegally end democracy from the white house. I understand why you cant say that, whether you believe it or not. Seeing someone like Kristin Fisher fired for reporting to much truth and not "respecting our audience" at Fox News is an ominous example of what having to much courage to tell people truths they don't want to hear leads to. I think the inability of politicians or members of the media to tell their viewers / constituents the really hard truths is one of the biggest risks to our nation.
Liberal Professors Jonathan Turley and Alan Dershowitz do not agree with this your concluded assessment " that maybe Donald Trump needs to be held criminally accountable for trying to illegally end democracy from the white house". That is a hoot. But like many; that is tunnel visioned channel locked mentality for the DT haters. The primary reason Obamacare exists is John Roberts wrote the law and did not just do his job of interrupting the Law, when he changed the word Penalty to a Tax. Did SCJ Roberts have that prerogative to do that? NO
The reason Hillary is not in prison is primarily this> From the day DT became Repub candidate 2015 2016 I will allege that from HBO, Biden, the DOJ, FBI, NSA, NIA, CIA, et als attempted a coup against DT. From Jan 20th 2017 until Jan 20th, 2020, not one day did the House work with DT for the betterment of America.
Democrat Congress people stood on the floor of the House and waved papers that they declared to be evidence that DT committed Russia Collusion of which the DOJ and FBI knew at that time was lies. DT was impeached and removal trial was held in the Senate on those lies. Now I would say as a DT hater you are not too distressed. But much distress will be forthcoming soon. Now I will make a prediction. Joe and Kam will be removed from their positions before 12-31-2023 via more forthcoming disclosures of lies, and corruption reports. Prepare for big shakings. One can poo poo and maw maw til collapse. Selah
My personal opinion is that we're flawed to believe the GOP is good and the Dems are evil. The GOP didn't earn the moniker "Dems Light" or "Libs Light" for nothing. With the possible exception of the Freedom Caucus - about 1/10th the total number of US Representatives - I think they're all scum-sucking pigs. DC is the WWE of the global stage; they all put on a good show, then throw their arms around each other at night, have a beer together, and laugh because we think it's real.
Sadly, yes. Most of them work in sound bytes trying to figure out the best angle on any subject so they can bank it away for their re-election or fund raising. Few are actually looking out for America which is why the Tree of Liberty will likely need to be watered this century.
Greene is attacking him because she believes he may offer a her a primary challenge. If her husband could not trust her, why should her constituents. I'll be glad when Marjorie Traitor Greene is known as "former Congressman".
Which practice is exactly why now, more than ever, so many of us do not trust politicians.
Actual conversation at a Publix checkout in Georgia yesterday...
Me: How are you today?
Elderly Man Bagging Groceries: I'm good, but I'm tired of going in and out of the rain.
Me: I won't make you go outside! (with a smile)
Man: I feel bad for the people in Florida with the hurricane.
Me: I know. Did you hear a 100-year-old tree fell on the governor's mansion?
Cashier: Maybe he needed it!
I was actually too stunned to say anything. I had moved past the checkout at that point. Seriously, Trump supporters, this hatred you're projecting on DeSantis, Kemp, Pence, and others is one of the reasons people like me, who voted for Trump twice, don't want him back in the White House. Your irrational vitriol is all over the internet, and it's making me sick. Having a tree fall on your house isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. Please check your soul and your supposed Christianity, and treat others the way you would want to be treated.
100% this. All of this. Yes. Those of you who love Trump and want him as the candidate, feel free to fight tooth and nail for him in the primary, but when America de-selects him for someone else, please lick your wounds and help us oust Biden and his ilk from Washington DC. Otherwise, you will get ALL the blame for the fall of America over the next four years.
I've been compiling a list of the reasons I won't vote for Trump a third time, because I know what the backlash will be from my friends and family on the right. I'm already hearing the arguments.
Even though I've been a political junkie since I cut my teeth during the Clinton administration, I was going through a busy period in my life in the first few years of the Trump administration, and I was largely checked out. I had voted for Ben Carson in the primary and Trump in the general. My world was going along swimmingly, the economy was good, we weren't starting new wars, the Supreme Court was getting stacked with good judges, and I was ignoring the mean tweets and pissy comments. Trump started to lose me during the 2020 campaign. Running against a corpse, the election was Trump's to lose, and he did a damn fine job losing it. His first debate with Biden was embarrassingly bad. Shutting down the country and then going after Kemp and DeSantis for reopening their states was shameful. Nevertheless, I voted for Trump again in 2020. Post November 2020, Trump has set out to destroy my state, Georgia, and the Republican party as a whole. He's the reason we lost the Senate and many gubernatorial races, barely squeaking by with the House. For me now, though, it's the lies, lies, lies. It's the excuses made by his supporters for his despicable, likely criminal (in the classified docs case), behavior. It's the comparisons between the prosecution of Trump and the persecution of Jesus Christ. It's the betrayal of so many loyal supporters. Most of all, it was Trump taking a dump on the Constitution on January 6. I don't blame him for the riots; I blame him, as the chief executive of our country, for ignoring the right of the states to certify their own elections and the right of our legislature to count the electoral votes. No president who tries to undermine another branch of government should hold office. On January 7, I called my elected representatives, asking them to impeach Trump, not for the incursion of the Capitol, but for his betrayal of his oath to support and defend the Constitution.
I'm with you on not voting for Trump and I'm open to any of the candidates on the GOP slate with the exceptions of Hutchinson, Christie, and now potentially Ramaswamy. I really, really liked what he had to say at The Gathering but now that I'm digging into his background I don't like his prior positions. Know them by their fruits and I do not like the taste of what I am finding.
I get where you're coming from on Ramaswamy. I watched a Ben Shapiro interview with him before he entered the race, and I honestly don't think Vivek was planning to run for office until just before he made that decision. If anything, he was quite disconnected from, or disillusioned by, the political process, rarely even voting. I'm willing to grant him some grace and some space in which to evolve his positions. I'm 44, and I've changed my mind pretty substantively over the years on some core issues. If someone were to go back and look at what I believed in my twenties (when I knew everything!), they may not recognize me today.
I'm genuinely curious, though, which prior positions of Vivek's you don't like.
Mmmm...I can see me wishing a tree to fall on the house of my worst enemy. Not HURTING them, but falling on their house?? Yeah, maybe ;)
So what were the establishment conservatives doing before the anti-establishment came along? Precious little, I think. This kind of talk just drives home my frustration with BOTH parties. Neither really listen to the people. Neither truly get much done. Establishment or not, the Republican party has only served to be the one in charge when everyone gets tired of the Left's shenanigans. The Left is too ambitious and drive this country down like a bull in a china shop. The Right just sits there and allows it until the people say 'ENOUGH'. Then they step up and calm things down a bit, but that's all. Do they make things better? No. They just smile and try to be nice guys. Then the Left pokes mercilessly at Right to show their lack of action and point out their dullness and ignorance. On and on and on. The Right still does very little and the people get tired of it. It is a vicious cycle of escalating insanity. Both sides are complacent in their beliefs and worthless in serving the people. Both sides are totally unconnected to the people. We're very small in their estimation. Ironic, right? Tired of it all.
You should listen to Glenn Greenwald's System Update podcast from last night. He made a brilliant point: Both establishment parties would rather lose than have an anti-establishment candidate lead their party. We saw this with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in 2016. Unfortunately, Trump in 2024 barely resembles Trump in 2016. If anything, Vivek and RFK, Jr. are the best anti-establishment candidates in this race.
You haven't listened to DeSantis or Haley much then. They are substantive about change where Vivek is inputting questions into ChatGPT and regurgitating the answers as memorized pablum. RFK is a progressive who can make some noises progressive libertarians like and those libertarians know how to talk to Conservatives. That's the only reason RFK has or should have any appeal to anyone how claims to like freedom or the Constitution.
I would gladly vote for DeSantis or Haley over Trump. I've watched/listened to dozens of their interviews, and I like them both. I don't think Vivek should be underestimated, though. There are few things he's set out to do that he hasn't accomplished. I'm still openminded to anyone who isn't Trump or Biden.
DeSantis, Haley, or Scott. Any of them, or 2 of them in any order.