The press needs to be much tougher on Trump

One thing that bugs me about the media is that they are way too soft on Trump. Yes, they point out some of his lies and also his corruption, but for some reason they are reluctant to come right out and say what many Americans know to be true—the man is a complete idiot.

Indeed a recent poll that asked people to characterize Trump in one word, the term ‘idiot’ came first, with 39%.

The Economist recently interviewed Trump and asked him about his proposal to abolish the estate tax.  Here’s how Trump responded:

I get more deductions, I mean I can tell you this, I get more deductions, they have deductions for birds flying across America, they have deductions for everything. There are more deductions … now you’re going to get an interest deduction, and a charitable deduction. But we’re not going to have all this nonsense that they have right now that complicates things and makes it … you know when we put out that one page, I said, we should really put out a, you know, a big thing, and then I looked at the one page, honestly it’s pretty well covered. Hard to believe.

Yes, hard to believe.  There are three things that one can say about that answer.

1.  Parts of it are utter gobbletygoop, which make no sense.

2.  The random comments are not accurate–he’s not proposing the elimination of the interest or charity deductions.

2.  It’s not even a response to the question; the rambling comments have nothing to do with the estate tax.

Given his appalling views on so many issues, I’m kind of glad that he’s incompetent.  Maybe that’s why the stock market was not impacted by the recent Comey fiasco.  Here’s what I said 5 weeks ago:

Trump is like one of those kings/sultans/emperors in the history books who assumed power as a child and had various ministers conduct governance while they spent time in their harem or engaged in falconry.

And here’s Matt Yglesias:

So the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada call Trump up, one immediately after the other, raising identical points. They get him to agree to a renegotiation rather than a withdrawal. And then it turns out that lots of technical legal details mean that the actual renegotiating has to be delayed for a while.

Trump, somehow, does not see that the upshot of this story is that he has been manipulated. Indeed, according to reports in the Canadian press, the reason the manipulation was so effective was that members of the White House staff reached out to Trudeau to tell his team how to talk Trump out of withdrawing from NAFTA.

It’s hard to know what to say about this beyond the obvious: Regardless of the topic, the president has basically no idea what’s going on. And his staff has given up on trying to bring him up to speed. Instead, they take advantage of his ignorance to try to sell him on selective misinformation — or flattery from foreign leaders — to park policy outcomes where they would like to see them.

I love it.  Maybe Trump is not President.  Perhaps we should be referring to “President Goldman Sachs”.

Yglesias points out that in the Economist interview Trump spews out one “fact” after another that is a complete lie.  It’s all just made up.

PS.  Here’s the poll that named Trump an idiot.  Why is “buffoon” down at 7%? That term seems perfect.


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65 Responses to “The press needs to be much tougher on Trump”

  1. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    13. May 2017 at 18:42

    It does seem that Trump is being absorbed, and becoming GOP-standard issue, rather than an outsider.

    He occasionally shows a non-policy issue Trumpism—the firing of James Comey for example—but the GOP still has control over defense, healthcare, tax, trade and immigration policy. That is why Trump will not get impeached.

    It is too bad Trump has proved so hollow. Many ideas he expressed during his admittedly chaotic, jumbled and sometimes offensive campaign were good ones, especially leaving the Middle East, or paying down debts through QE, or cutting taxes on the middle class.

    Even his much-loathed southern wall might be a good idea, if it limits illegal immigration—I suspect the wall would be somewhat effective, which is why establishment elements of GOP will not build it. They want cheap labor.

    So now we are left with Trump in the White House, but the GOP-Congressional establishment calling the shots on anything serious.

    The hypocrisy continues.

    Obamacare, in which participants pay for some of their coverage (and was originally a Heritage Foundation idea) might be on the chopping block.

    The distilled healthcare communism of the VA–federal hospitals, staffed by federal employees, providing free care to former federal employees, all 100% at taxpayer expense—is not on the chopping block.

    Real wages for young men are below 1969 levels, and house prices exploding.

    So? Let’s gut Obamacare.

  2. Gravatar of Lorenzo from Oz Lorenzo from Oz
    13. May 2017 at 19:11

    The mainstream media may not be in an ideal position to do as you want. If they took a deep breath, and concentrated on “facticity”, so to speak, yes. But they remain a little too addicted to various forms of signalling.

    A case in point: https://milo.yiannopoulos.net/2017/05/christian-persecution/

  3. Gravatar of Don Don
    13. May 2017 at 19:44

    I recommend that everyone read the entire interview for themselves. I think Trump gets it.

    This blog post takes a chunk of interview to show he is dumb with an answer about deductions to an estate question, but in the context it seems the interviewer tried to cut off an answer on deductions with a new topic (estate taxes) and Trump just continued with the original topic (deductions).

    Trump Derangement Syndrome has infected this site.

  4. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. May 2017 at 19:56

    Thanks for the link, Lorenzo. Dowd is, even by the standards of broadcast news, exceptionally dense. The truth is that Trump needs to be tougher on the press. They’re a big juicy, and deserving target.

  5. Gravatar of Jose Jose
    13. May 2017 at 20:31

    What Yglesias describes happens in every corporation, everyday, hundreds of times. It is not a Trump privilege.

  6. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:37

    The media is definitely not too soft on Trump. As is almost always the case with “analyses” of Trump on this blog, the truth is the opposite.

    The media in this country is more anti-President than any other time in US history. The fact that they are not so bad as to suffer from Trump derangement syndrome, by calling him childish names, is not evidence they are too soft.

    “Indeed a recent poll that asked people to characterize Trump in one word, the term ‘idiot’ came first, with 39%.”

    Oh wow, a northwestern university, democrat country “poll” was conducted, probably asking mostly other democrats, and we’re supposed to take that as something true about Trump. So credible.

    Perhaps this is lost on you, but polls of this kind are just measuring the cognition of the respondents, not Trump’s performance or effectiveness.

    “Maybe that’s why the stock market was not impacted by the recent Comey fiasco.”

    No, it was because the market does not consider one person versus another in charge of the FBI to have a significant impact on corporate earnings. It is not because the market has Trump derangement syndrome.

    The stock indexes went up and up after Trump was elected, one announcement after another and one uptick after another. You may not like Trump, but the market judges Trump to be having a positive impact, or at least not a negative one. The market test has rewarded Trump more than it has you as well.

    “And here’s Matt Yglesias”

    Who cares what that left wing nutjob has to say about anything related to republicans or conservatives? His opinion is not credible.

    This blogpost was a joke

    Come on people, as an anarchist I want to have good quality arguments against statism, against Trump. These self-aggrandising therapy sessions are pathetic.

  7. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:38

    northeastern, typo

  8. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:49

    “Indeed, according to reports in the Canadian press, the reason the manipulation was so effective was that members of the White House staff reached out to Trudeau to tell his team how to talk Trump out of withdrawing from NAFTA.”

    Hahaha, that settles it on who got the upper hand on who doesn’t it.

    The way Trump negotiates is that he first makes an extreme proposition, and then once the actual more moderate agreement occurs, it will appear as a compromise, when in reality it was what was wanted all along

    Trump wasn’t played, he was the one who played the Canadians and Mexicans about renegotiating NAFTA

    This pattern keeps repeating, so Yglesias has no excuse, he’s clueless

  9. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:52

    James Comey’s brother works for the law firm that handles the Clinton Foundation’s taxes.

    Can anyone say conflict of interest? Red flag?

  10. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:52

    Comey just so happened to have joined the board of the British bank HSBC Holdings in 2013, which just so happens to be a Clinton Foundation partner.

  11. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 21:54

    Trump according to Envious Sumner is incompetent.

    Trump according to Envious Sumner ran a conspiracy with the Russians so deep that even a year of investigation by every US intelligence agency couldn’t find a single piece of evidence.

    Hahahaha

  12. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    13. May 2017 at 22:01

    24% of those polled in the Qpoll were Republicans

    Hahahaha

  13. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    14. May 2017 at 00:17

    Did ‘Washington’ block an investigation?

    ‘Washington has imposed sanctions on 271 employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center for, in Washington’s lying words, responsibility “for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the means to deliver them.”
    In order to make this false charge stick, Washington prevented any investigation whatsoever into the facts of the alleged chemical weapon associated by Western propaganda, not by any known fact, with a Syrian air attack on ISIS. If Washington is so certain that Syria is responsible, why does Washington block an investigation? If Washington is right, an investigation would prove Washington’s case. But as Washington is again lying through its teeth, an investigation would prove the contrary. And that is what Washington fears and is the reason Washington blocked an investigation. ‘
    http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/04/26/trump-now-captive-deep-state/

  14. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    14. May 2017 at 00:48

    ” . . . but for some reason ‘they’ are reluctant to come right out and say what many Americans know to be true . . . ”

    “Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

  15. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    14. May 2017 at 02:00

    Trump’s ‘friends’ influenced Brexit?

    “A shadowy global operation involving big data, billionaire friends of Trump and the disparate forces of the Leave campaign influenced the result of the EU referendum.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

  16. Gravatar of E. Harding E. Harding
    14. May 2017 at 06:35

    I have nothing to add to the excellent comments by Major Freedom except to say Scott Sumner is lying about the press being reluctant to call Trump an idiot (which he is not; he just knows exactly when there’s no point in knowing things):
    https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anytimes.com+trump+idiot&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&ie=&oe=

  17. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    14. May 2017 at 06:37

    One good function of Scott’s liberal comment policy is allowing Trumpistas to be fully seen for what they really are.

  18. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    14. May 2017 at 07:24

    Lorenzo, I just want the press to point out what an idiot he is. Is that too much to ask?

    Don, Trump comes off like a 4th grader in that interview. Even Mnuchin treats him like a child. I just roll my eyes when I read people trying to defend him.

  19. Gravatar of Steve J Steve J
    14. May 2017 at 07:48

    Major Freedom – Not long ago I believed Trump must be smart because how else could he have become a billionaire right? But he is constantly trying to make me reevaluate that assumption. Why does he say things like “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated”, “i thought it would be easier”, “mexico will pay for the wall”? I cannot think of any good explanations for saying stuff like this other than the person saying them is an idiot. The trade policy is the worst of them all. He wants me to pay more for stuff so he can give welfare to the workers he likes.

  20. Gravatar of Mike D Mike D
    14. May 2017 at 08:17

    This has been my complaint for a long time with regard to the media’s criticism of Trump, as well as with Clinton’s approach throughout the campaign. Far too much energy has been spent trying to portray Trump as a deeply evil racist (which he probably isn’t) and not nearly enough focus is put on the painfully obvious fact that he has a child like intellect and a completely incoherent view of the world.

    I wish more time was spent actually talking with credible experts about policy implications of things like stealing Iraq’s oil, deporting 12 million people, building a giant wall, or any of the other ridiculous things he has proposed.

  21. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    14. May 2017 at 09:06

    Mike D,

    If Trump isn’t an evil racist, then who is? What does an evil racist look like who doesn’t come right out and say he’s an evil racist?

    Why would a non-evil person run a scam like Trump University, or brag about sexually assaulting women? Why would a non-racist want people like Bannon and Sessions as part of an administration?

    How did people in this country become so blind?

  22. Gravatar of Max Max
    14. May 2017 at 09:48

    For those who get the reference, Trump is Zapp Brannigan.

  23. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    14. May 2017 at 09:57

    @Max
    “Donald Trump quotes said by Zapp Brannigan. Part 2!” is my favorite so far.

  24. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 10:15

    Steve J:

    “Why does he say things like “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated”, “i thought it would be easier”, “mexico will pay for the wall”?”

    Negotiating tactics

  25. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 10:15

    And bloviating bluster, shooting from the hip

  26. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 10:17

    This about sums up the left after Trump’s election:

    https://imgur.com/RDLe01x

    That “F U” bit is by the way also accepted by resident commie Michael Moore

  27. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:05

    Steve J:

    “The trade policy is the worst of them all. He wants me to pay more for stuff so he can give welfare to the workers he likes.”

    It isn’t welfare, it is turning unemployed welfare collecting people into employed tax paying people

    It will be like you paying $1000 less a year because of reduced welfare and increased employment, but paying $500 higher prices, kind of like inflation.

    If you actually read the EOs:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders

    I have yet to find one that is worse than what that order is addressing and trying to fix.

    Now of course, mercantilism makes everyone worse off, but what Trump is doing is not subsidizing weak small firms so that they can compete with the big world players, he is removing socialist inspired regulations of them, and getting other countries to agree to buy more US goods and services, and getting more goods and services produced here rather than abroad.

    To the extent his actions would INCREASE STATE INTERFERENCE in the market, by increased taxes and increased regulations of domestic producers and laborers, he would be essentially doing what the last 8 years of government has done, which Sumner for some creepy reason never blew a gasket over like he’s doing now, and yet reducing regulations and taxes on US companies which is what Trump is doing, and Sumner is attacking this every day – why? Because as I have been saying for years, Sumner is actually an advocate of left wing socialism, by way of selective silence and vocalization, seeking out fake news from left wing sources to find sanction.

    We’re supposed to be believe that Trump is both the greatest threat to world peace since Hitler, and that Presidents don’t have any real influence in the world. No amount of rhetoric can square that circle.

    I do not believe for one second anything written on this blog is for the sake of random Joe Sixpack on the street to protect them from being oppressed and exploited by the state coercion. Sumner insults his reader’s intelligence, on purpose (if you read his post from years ago saying he purposefully lies on his blog, for the “greater good”, but claims to no longer do so, because “he couldn’t get away with it”.

    The only reason he wouldn’t lie, is if he believed he would get caught, and not because lying is literally the antithesis of what it is to be an academic.

    If it were truly the case that Joe Sixpack’s interests were in mind, there would be post after post spreading information about the greatest threat to liberty in the world, which is anti-libertarian ideas (of which “pragmatism” is an attack) and the deep state. We would see information about deep state spying, of good people being found murdered after challenging it, we would see posts on pedogate, the arrests of elitist pedophiles, all of this which has verified, proved sources and is information easily found. This is greatest threat to peace and prosperity, not Trump’s mean tweets or his interviews to biased journalists.

    Unfortunately, as all socialists are want to do, since these nefarious activities go right to the heart of the true nature of state power, what happens is that by way of psychological reaction formation and cognitive dissonance, they are dismissed as “conspiracy theories”. Same way the central bank and deep state are criticized on this blog. Criticize it in a way that is designed to help it and ultimately sanction it.

    The Soviets called this “glasnost”.

  28. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:22

    This is an example of the bloviating bluster, which is actually a negotiating tactic:

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/598324947140902912

    “The ONLY one to Fix the Infrastructure of our Country is ME – roads, airports, bridges. I know how to build, others only know how to talk!”

    He says this to anger and frustrate his political opponents into proving him wrong….which has them making an effort to fix the roads, airports, and bridges themselves.

    This will go over the blockheads in the MSM and blogosphere, who will take it so literally that they will actually convince themselves that Trump never hired or convinced anyone to build anything, that he really believes he can put on a hard hat and drive a John Deere 870G LC himself and build a skyscraper.

  29. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:26

    Rand Paul: Another Senator Told Me He Was Surveilled by Obama Admin

    http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/05/11/sen-rand-paul-another-senator-told-him-he-was-surveilled-obama-admin

  30. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:49

    White House Counsel part of chats regarding Clinton email release since 2015. Obama knew everything & FBI James Comey helped “conceal” it.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/goppollanalyst/status/863824509803036672

  31. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:53

    If you didn’t know there is a class action lawsuit against the DNC for rigging the primaries, if you didn’t know there is a class action lawsuit against CNN for racism, then you are reading fake news.

  32. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 11:57

    Liberals all over social media are attacking Mother’s Day for “not being inclusive” enough.

    Totally unrelated and in no way connected whatsoever:

    Sharia law prohibits Muslims from celebrating Mother’s Day because doing so would be an “act resembling the enemies of Allah.”

  33. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 12:19

    Did James Comey Deliberately Throw The Hillary Clinton Investigation?

    Report: Comey Plotted To Avoid Charges Against Hillary BEFORE The FBI Interviewed Her

    http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2017/05/13/james-comey-deliberately-throw-hillary-clinton-investigation/

  34. Gravatar of Ben J Ben J
    14. May 2017 at 16:50

    Major Freedom has gone completely through the looking glass – now so rabidly in love with Trump that he’s defending the anti-free-trade crowd! No doubt Rothbard weeps that his prodigal son has strayed so far…

  35. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 18:49

    Ben J:

    Your reading comprehension needs work, nowhere did I “defend anti-free trade”, ideas, people or crowd.

    You are just so rabidly anti-Trump that you perceive anti-anti-Trump as being pro-Trump.

    I am anti Trump, but I am anti-anti-Trump even more.

    Just because I don’t have a trump derangement syndrome, that does not mean I am anti-free trade.

  36. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    14. May 2017 at 18:52

    China has come up with a term for SJWs:

    白左 (literally “white left”)

    >白左 is used generally to describe those who “only care about topics such as immigration, minorities, LGBT and the environment” and “have no sense of real problems in the real world”; they are hypocritical humanitarians who advocate for peace and equality only to “satisfy their own feeling of moral superiority”; they are “obsessed with political correctness” to the extent that they “tolerate backwards Islamic values for the sake of multiculturalism”; they believe in the welfare state that “benefits only the idle and the free riders”; they are the “ignorant and arrogant westerners” who “pity the rest of the world and think they are saviours”.

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/digitaliberties/chenchen-zhang/curious-rise-of-white-left-as-chinese-internet-insult

  37. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    14. May 2017 at 21:08

    Major.Freedom is one of many “libertarians” that liberals always suspected were never truly libertarian at all. And yet, these so-called libertarians will be critical of the Friedman/Sumner utilitarian libertarians on the basis of supposed principle.

  38. Gravatar of Larry Larry
    14. May 2017 at 22:15

    I have a theory of Trump. It’s not that he’s an idiot. Idiots don’t win national elections. It’s that he demands the spotlight. Firing Comey had nothing to do with Russia. He was following Rosenstein’s recommendation. But when Rosenstein started to get attention, Trump said ” nope” and came up with a way to take charge again. That’s the only constant about Trump. It has to be about him.

    Unfortunately, nothing about his approach means that he will be consistent or coherent or strategic. Can anybody point to a Trump move that violates this model?

  39. Gravatar of Andy Andy
    14. May 2017 at 22:39

    This is a classic: “James Comey’s brother works for the law firm that handles the Clinton Foundation’s taxes”.

    Is there a Random Right Wing Conspiracy Theory Generator somewhere? You can feed it some inputs, like “Clinton foundation” and “James Comey”, and it returns a random conspiracy theory relating those two. Then the theory starts circulating in right-wing blogs and twitter, and eventually it becomes an alternative fact. A one that the mainstream media just won’t report on.

  40. Gravatar of dtoh dtoh
    15. May 2017 at 00:28

    Scott, you obviously didn’t read the transcript about estate taxes because there is no way an honest reader could parse it as being a response to the estate tax question.

    Or maybe you’re just having fun trying to provoke your more gullible readers.

  41. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    15. May 2017 at 00:48

    Is this ‘suggestion’ feasible?

    “Trump’s Deep Ties To Russian Mob
    Documentary By Zembla
    Dutch TV did what no American TV network dares, suggesting Trump’s past includes illegal racketeering.
    Powerful billionaires suspected of money laundering and fraud, and of having contacts in Moscow and with the mafia. What do these relationships say about Trump and why does he deny them?
    Zembla is a Dutch television documentary programme by VARA and NPS. The documentaries are based on in-depth research. The program often deals with controversial topics.”
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47043.htm

  42. Gravatar of Scott Sumner Scott Sumner
    15. May 2017 at 05:40

    Larry, I agree. But how can you read the Economist interview and not think he’s an idiot?

    dtoh, Of course it was not a response to the estate tax question, that was exactly my point. He never answered the question! If you think he did, then tell me where. I read the entire transcript twice, even though it makes my brain hurt.

  43. Gravatar of Philip Crawford Philip Crawford
    15. May 2017 at 05:55

    Perhaps more incredible than the idiocy of Trump are the relatively smart folks who seemingly have no capacity to think clearly about his incompetence. This will not end well for the GOP or “conservatives”.

    HDS is much stronger than I had thought.

  44. Gravatar of Tom Brown Tom Brown
    15. May 2017 at 06:08

    “Idiots don’t win national elections.”

    Not exactly a rule of nature.

  45. Gravatar of Don Don
    15. May 2017 at 06:54

    My conclusion of this thread is that a written summary of a discussion is inadequate for some people to follow the discussion. The Economist truly failed their readers by not adding context and non-verbal elements in bracketed text. A lesson to all bloggers.

  46. Gravatar of FXKLM FXKLM
    15. May 2017 at 08:13

    The media isn’t too soft on Trump. They’re just unfocused and not particularly effective in attacking him. Also, I think a lot of his opponents were hesitant to attack Trump for his personal shortcomings because they wanted Trump to be seen as the embodiment of the entire Republican party. They figured that Trump’s loss was a foregone conclusion and they hoped that the whole party could collapse with him. I think that’s a major reason why he was attacked so much more heavily for his supposed racism than his idiocy, even though his racism was questionable while his idiocy was obvious. They wanted him to fail for reasons that were more easily imputed to the right as a whole.

    You’re absolutely correct that the real issues with Trump are his stupidity, ignorance, laziness and poor impulse control. But I don’t think the failure to focus on those issues was a result of anyone being soft on Trump. It was just a terrible strategic miscalculation. The press clearly sincerely hates him.

  47. Gravatar of justsomeguy justsomeguy
    15. May 2017 at 11:42

    Not just too easy on Trump (although they have been remarkably so).
    Heck, when was the last time any major media reported that the policies, lack of interest in facts, and policies based on hate, fear, resentment and lack of empathy are NOT unique to Trump but have dominated Republicanism for an entire generation ?

    In fact they are too easy on any entity with money or power.
    You could just as easily say “too easy on corporations”, “too easy on Wall street”, “too easy on the military”, “too easy on pro-success bias on scientific studies”, “too easy on incompetence and lack of science in much of medicine”, “too easy on fraud in .

    The individuals know who owns the corporations that they work for, and the media corporations know where their revenue stream comes from.

  48. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    15. May 2017 at 11:57

    Idiots win elections all the time. Look at the Chavismos in Venezuela or Duterte in the Philippines. Look at George W. Bush, even though he’s better than the former two.

  49. Gravatar of John John
    15. May 2017 at 12:43

    Trump’s interviews are fundamentally indistinguishable from a random sentence generator. If you lurch from one thing to another on a weekly basis, then the civil servants get confused and the government gets run on autopilot. Overall, America’s institutions are quite strong, so the default is still fairly OK. I shudder to think what would happen if a Wilders or LePen were elected as a competent populist leader. That would be truly frightening.

  50. Gravatar of FXKLM FXKLM
    15. May 2017 at 12:50

    justsomeguy: Huh, that’s almost precisely the opposite of my comment immediately above yours. I definitely disagree with you on that. Curious to hear what others think.

  51. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    15. May 2017 at 16:42

    Scott Freelander,

    Being called an anti-libertarian by liberals has been a big part of the job of being libertarian since at least the 1960s, and less so since the early 20th century when left wing socialists of the democratic mob rule bent appropriated the term liberal from the classical liberals

    It is obvious that Trump is anti-libertarian, you can consider this post as the final final final post that I believe deep down that the entire Presidency is anti-libertarian, that the state should be abolished, and that the only system consistent with libertarian principles is an individualist private law society.

    The thing is that many of the so-called “utilitarian libertarians” around the blogosphere, including this one, are actually less libertarian than Trump. The deep state is a bigger threat, but Sumner defends the deep state, and he attacks Trump when attacking the deep state. That’s the subtlety lost on many of you folks on the pretend right but really left. It is not that I am defending what Trump is doing, it is that I am putting the focus on the biggest threat to liberty there is today, namely liberal/democrat ideology, and the deep state that is the political expression of it.

    The right in this country is what the left was under Bush. The left has become a totalitarian mix of communism and anti-westernism, which has made all the moderates “lean right”, and all the libertarians “far right”.

    There are sheep on this blog who are living in a bubble, who don’t read the non-fake news, who actually believe that if something is not reported in CNN or ABC or NBC, stations which are essentially CIA agitprop fronts, that the facts they ignore become “alternative facts”.

    —————————————–

    Andy:

    Go back to sleep, given your comments about the news networks you are obviously not in a position to think you are informed enough about what is going on. I read the leaks, you clearly do not. It is a tragic twist of fate isn’t it. Leakers are now publishing the news, and the news are trying to cover it up.

    The fact that Comey’s brother does the Clinton Foundation’s taxes may be over your head and a nothingburger, but for those of us who have studied what has occurred with respect to the foundation, know this is a huge revealing detail. I don’t care of that pisses you off, if that makes you scared, if that makes you have to accept dark facts about powerful institutions in the country and world, but the only way you’ll learn is by drinking from the proverbial firehouse

  52. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    15. May 2017 at 16:47

    Report: Justice Scalia believed Supreme Court was being surveilled by Obama (VIDEO)

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/05/report-justice-scalia-believed-supreme-court-surveilled-obama-video/

    Take that news, and Scalia’s pro-2nd amendment stance, and Scalia knowing the Obama admin strong-armed Roberts by blackmail on the Obamacare ruling, and you have a motive for murder.

  53. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    15. May 2017 at 16:56

    In an email John Podesta sent to a lobbyist, a few days before Scalia’s death:

    https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6008

    “Didn’t think they meant pool parties when they said wet works at the vineyard”

    The vineyard was where Scalia was staying in Texas, Cibolo Creek Ranch.

    Pool parties is code for escorts/prostitutes.

    Wet works is code for assassination.

    What Podesta was saying is that he didn’t expect Scalia would be murdered at a ranch with prostitutes.

    FBIAnon: “The common assumption is Scalia was murdered to help bring about gun control via another justice. But then any justice could have been sacked. What was Scalia doing before he died? What topic was he interested in?”

  54. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    15. May 2017 at 17:07

    https://i.imgur.com/dCz26VL.jpg

  55. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    15. May 2017 at 18:06

    Major.Freedom,

    The train of your thinking has derailed. You’re consumed with conspiracy theories.

  56. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    16. May 2017 at 01:56

    An idiot in my book is somebody who is incompetent to achieve anything. I have difficulties calling somebody who won an election against all odds an idiot. I don’t see the point. By that standard 99,99% of all people are idiots.

    In most cases I see people fundamentally disagree with the political views of person A, which automatically makes person A an “idiot” in their book. The media is well-advised to refrain from that childish ad-hominem-behavior. It leads to nothing except more polarisation, a process that got Trump elected in the first place.

  57. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    16. May 2017 at 02:52

    5/9 Comey gets fired.

    5/9 Julian Assange on Twitter: FBI source says the FBI will now start leaking leaking like Niagara. But please FBI friends full docs or you know the press will spin it!

    5/15: Seth Rich story re-surfaces

    5/15: Fake WashingtonPost story (who hired John Podesta, campaign chairman for Hillary) comes out as a distraction.

    John Podesta’s WikiLeaks’ email cable: “I’m definitely for making an example of a suspected leaker whether or not we have any real basis for it.”

    Rod Wheeler also told us,
    “I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘Rod, we were told to stand down on this case and I can’t share any information with you.’

    Wheeler held on to releasing this information for 10 months after the murder of Seth Rich. What this really means is that Wheeler was told WHICH elites had the content and there was nothing he could do.

    With Comey getting sacked, Wheeler knows now is the best chance to have this case re-open. Whether Wheeler was alerted that he can now do something about it (with Comey getting fired) or if he did this by sheer will remains to be seen. However, don’t think he would have made this play without knowing who the stumbling block was.

    AVENGE SETH RICH

  58. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    16. May 2017 at 03:00

    Seth Rich’s Family’s private investigator: There is evidence Seth Rich had contact with WikiLeaks prior to his death

  59. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    16. May 2017 at 03:04

    Summer says the press needs to be tougher on Trump. That is hilarious, given how many press institutions attack and lie. Just yesterday the fake news from the WaPo about classified information being dislodged by Trump to the Russians. Fake because no US official was contacted by the WaPo prior to publishing, fake because even the article itself is structured in a way to say an attention grabbing headline, then if you actually read it further, they say no laws were broken and the whole thing probably didn’t happen.

    All this right as Seth Rich is back in the news.

  60. Gravatar of Philip Crawford Philip Crawford
    16. May 2017 at 04:16

    Hey, uh, Major Freedom, you might want to keep off the interwebs today. And whatever you do, do NOT read Trump’s twitter timeline. Your head might splode.

    Or not.

  61. Gravatar of Philip Crawford Philip Crawford
    16. May 2017 at 04:21

    @christian

    I mostly agree with you here. The same goes for calling someone a racist (and probably other terms.)

    There is a big difference in saying “Behavior X, of person Y is racist” and saying “Y is a racist.” So I think it is OK to say a particular act of Trump is idiotic (or perhaps, several acts of idiocy in his case), that’s different than saying “Trump is an idiot”, which is simply not true.

  62. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    16. May 2017 at 12:39

    Christian, OK, he’s not an idiot, he just acts like one.

  63. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    16. May 2017 at 16:14

    Scott Freelander:

    Everything I wrote has evidence

    There is no evidence of Trump colluding with Russia

    You’re the conspiracy theorist, not me

  64. Gravatar of Major.Freedom Major.Freedom
    16. May 2017 at 16:16

    Philip Crawford:

    “Hey, uh, Major Freedom, you might want to keep off the interwebs today. And whatever you do, do NOT read Trump’s twitter timeline. Your head might splode.”

    I’m just getting warmed up buddy!

    Trump’s twitter? Amazing at how such an innocuous communication method is making your heads splode, to me it’s just comedy and entertainment, because for some reason it is making communists and fake libertarians have meltdowns

  65. Gravatar of Larry Larry
    17. May 2017 at 21:38

    I think the recent rumor about firing key staffers is them playing a game on Trump. If they say he will, then he won’t, just to show them that he’s in charge.

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