So many deranged and unhinged conservative commentators
I’m not the only one who has become deranged and unhinged. Here’s Howard Kurtz some other mental cases:
David Brooks unloaded in the New York Times:
“With each passing week he displays the classic symptoms of medium-grade mania in more disturbing forms: inflated self-esteem, sleeplessness, impulsivity, aggression and a compulsion to offer advice on subjects he knows nothing about.
“His speech patterns are like something straight out of a psychiatric textbook.”
Wow.
“He also cannot be contained because he lacks the inner equipment that makes decent behavior possible. So many of our daily social interactions depend on a basic capacity for empathy. But Trump displays an absence of this quality…He is a slave to his own pride, compelled by a childlike impulse to lash out at anything that threatens his fragile identity.”
Charles Krauthammer, perhaps Trump’s most prominent critic on Fox, seemingly uses his training as a psychiatrist to diagnose the candidate:
“It’s that he can’t help himself. His governing rule in life is to strike back when attacked, disrespected or even slighted. To understand Trump, you have to grasp the General Theory: He judges every action, every pronouncement, every person by a single criterion — whether or not it/he is ‘nice’ to Trump.
“This is beyond narcissism…His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value — indeed exists — only insofar as it sustains and inflates him.”
Some of Krauthammer’s words on Fox are being used in a Hillary ad.
The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan has jumped on the crazy train:
“Here is a truth of life. When you act as if you’re insane, people are liable to think you’re insane. That’s what happened this week. People started to become convinced he was nuts, a total flake.”
George Will, who took the step of leaving the Republican Party, accuses Trump of practicing “post-factual politics”:
“He seems to understand that if you produce a steady stream of sufficiently stupefying statements, there will be no time to dwell on any one of them, and the net effect on the public will be numbness and ennui. So, for example, while the nation has been considering his interesting decision to try to expand his appeal by attacking Gold Star parents, little attention has been paid to this: Vladimir Putin’s occupation of Crimea has escaped Trump’s notice.
Will says politics is “being poisoned by the injection into its bloodstream of the cynicism required of those Republicans who persist in pretending that although Trump lies constantly and knows nothing, these blemishes do not disqualify him from being president.
If you’d polled conservatives a few years ago, and asked which commentators are the best, these four would probably have made the list. And note that there are not employed by the media because of their knowledge of the nuances of DSGE models of the economy, they are regarded as shrewd observers of society.
[BTW, isn’t Krauthammer a great name for an austere conservative?]
But now (we are to believe) these four wise, distinguished commentators have all, simultaneously, become as deranged and unhinged as yours truly. Is there some sort of virus going around, causing mass hysteria?
Actually there is, but the people being infected are not the ones who see Trump for what he is.
Tags:
10. August 2016 at 08:17
A few more recent ones:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/08/10/the-anti-trump-gop-stampede-begins/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/08/10/the-anti-trump-gop-stampede-begins/
https://twitter.com/BenHowe?lang=en
https://twitter.com/ReaganBattalion/status/762306033649852420?lang=en
10. August 2016 at 08:19
Lost one in moderation, but here’s the important bits:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/08/10/the-anti-trump-gop-stampede-begins/
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/rick-wilson-beat-trump-drum-article-1.2739979
https://twitter.com/ReaganBattalion/status/762306033649852420?lang=en
10. August 2016 at 08:20
Kraut + hammer = Krauthammer
10. August 2016 at 08:22
https://twitter.com/BenHowe/status/756251219283312641?lang=en
10. August 2016 at 08:24
More of the unhinged:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/politics/donald-trump-republican-opposition/
10. August 2016 at 08:31
Which is more important, electing a sane and competent president or preserving the possibility of large tax cuts for the best off?
10. August 2016 at 08:34
And Scott, you & your readers will appreciate this because it makes a Nazi comparison (in the banner illustration as well) =)
http://theresurgent.com/trying-to-make-your-movement-sound-like-nazism-isnt-the-way-to-win/
That’s all. Enjoy!
10. August 2016 at 08:41
I’m so lost as to how people don’t realize just how corrupt, deranged, unprincipled, and dangerous Trump is. I am constantly arguing with people who believe they must vote for Trump in order to stop Hillary, but this man is thousands of times worse.
He’d also be horrendous for foreign policy and national security, the one area people seem to actually think he’d be good with, considering he continues to threaten our NATO allies with membership fees and stating he won’t protect all of them.
It’s like we’re living in a different world from the ~40% who support Trump.
10. August 2016 at 08:47
Krauthammer is horrified by Trump. He’s horrified by Hillary too. Google “Krauthammer Hillary” and he’s vicious.
I read Krauthammer’s last book. I agreed with mostly everything he wrote. But he’s been majorly wrong on the big things, notably, he was a major proponent of the Iraq war. This article explains it well:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/2/21/1365882/-Why-is-Charles-Krauthammer-so-respected-when-he-s-been-wrong-about-everything
Or, my favorite commentator,
http://barelyablog.com/curse-of-chucky-krauthammer/
10. August 2016 at 08:47
No one can know for sure what goes on in someone’s mind of course, but Trump is a pretty easy guy to analyze. He’s not a complex man of layers and contradictions.
It seems pretty obvious that this run started with him having no intention or belief that he could win (in fact there was a leaked memo where he said he wanted to get maybe 15% of the primary vote and come in 2nd to build his brand). Then he, like the rest of us, was surprised to see he could win the nomination, so he then said “OK I’m going to win this!”
Now he, like the rest of us, is seeing that he has the smallest of chances to win. So what will he do? Losing is worse than death to this guy, especially in a very public manner that he can’t cover up with lies (like he does when he says he’s a good businessman but really he’s a bankruptcy fee generator). He may decide it’s better to withdraw “for the good of the country” so he doesn’t have to take the loss. He gets out on ‘his terms’.
Definitely possible. And depending on who takes his place on the ticket it might be enough to beat Clinton. Perhaps if Paul Ryan stepped in.
10. August 2016 at 09:04
OK, one for the Hillary haters too:
https://twitter.com/ADMGinger/status/762779345236611072?lang=en
I’ve been wondering when someone would do one like that.
10. August 2016 at 09:24
Thanks Tom, A plethora of good news today.
msgkings, You said:
“Perhaps if Paul Ryan stepped in.”
Don’t get my hopes up. I think it would be Pence, and the GOP would be such a mess that even Pence would lose to Hillary. But who knows this year, anything is possible.
Waiting for Harding to explain to us how the Hillary death threats are all part of the plan . . .
10. August 2016 at 09:34
Wouldn’t there be one non war mongering Republicans fit for the presidency? I would vote for him/her.
10. August 2016 at 10:26
If we can look past Trump’s obvious failings and examine his core message, there’s a regular overture to blue-collar workers that the democrats and mainstream republicans have both failed to deliver. This blog mentions regularly that the unemployment rate has reached very low levels but only rarely stoops to discuss what the demographics of the unemployed look like. That unemployment rate is made up almost entirely of uneducated workers who often lack to means to move, go back to school, or otherwise improve their stations in life. We sit in our offices with our suits and ties and and talk about different cogs in the economy but have very little visceral empathy for the cogs themselves.
In my home town, the local economy used to focus around lumber, paper, and aluminum all funneled through the local port. Over the past couple decades, the aluminum plant shut down and the lumber/paper industry has mildly contracted while the population has grown. The result is a population of older people who had good jobs and can’t understand why their *lazy* kids don’t get good jobs too. For the kids, it’s a lottery for who gets a good union job and who lives in squalor. If, for example, the port hires a new longshoreman, a thousand people will apply for a single job and the winner is literally drawn from a hat.
This is the reality for millions of people across the nation; a bleak present with bleak prospects. It should be no wonder that many of them latch on to Trump and hope (against all science) that his policies will reopen the local manufacturing and bring back the good old days. Instead of talking about this, the media has done a remarkable job of selling papers with headlines about all the crazy stuff he says and lamenting that his supporters must be crazy too. The racists and fascists aside, his constituents aren’t crazy. They just care about improving their own situations and the Hillary Clinton and the democrats have offered no compelling alternatives to do so.
10. August 2016 at 10:41
@Randomize: this is all very true. But Trump, unfortunately, is the worst person in the world to deliver the message. You don’t think he gives one iota of shit for those people, do you?
The optimistic hope is that when he goes down in flames, the Reps and perhaps the Dems too will at least listen to that group more, knowing that they can affect the ballot so strongly. The pessimistic case is that when Trump goes down the Reps and Dems will just say ‘see that whole populist thing for uneducated middle aged flyover people was all a Trumpian mirage, let’s get back to business as usual’.
I’m not sure which case will turn out to be true.
10. August 2016 at 10:41
“I’m so lost as to how people don’t realize just how corrupt, deranged, unprincipled, and dangerous Trump is.”
Words are cheap. Measure how much of this indignant outrage is Trump is real by how much the opposition is willing to compromise on policy and join forces with lesser evils.
In France, the left wing literally threw elections and joined forces with the classic right wing party and made policy compromises to thwart the rise of FN. That isn’t just talk and clutching of pearls, that’s real.
Do US Democrats really think Trump is so bad they are willing to make large compromises? Apparently not! They are going more far left than ever.
Were senior Republicans willing to make even minor compromises to prevent the rise of Trump? Absolutely not! They knew, really, really knew, that mass immigration was unpopular with their voters, but they sure didn’t back down on featuring amnesty candidate Rubio or Spanish speaking Jeb!. Most Republicans expressed more horror at Ted Cruz than Trump. If they really believed that Trump was awful, they sure weren’t willing to make any compromises to stop him.
Jimmy Carter said he’d pick Trump over Cruz. Nobel Prize Winner, senior NYT editor Paul Krugman, said on foreign policy that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz was far more terrifying than Trump.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/05/how-paul-krugman-made-donald-trump-possible.html
Also, while you say how “corrupt, deranged, unprincipled, and dangerous Trump is”, remember that top Democrats said that John McCain in ’08 and Romney in ’12 were far, far worse.
This crowd is actually convincing me that Trump is the most honest and principled Republican nominee since before W Bush.
10. August 2016 at 10:42
‘If, for example, the port hires a new longshoreman, a thousand people will apply for a single job and the winner is literally drawn from a hat.’
Oh, no. That’s NOT how those jobs get doled out. They’re distributed to those who have performed a service for the power holders. Very much like a crime family operates.
10. August 2016 at 10:44
“I am constantly arguing with people who believe they must vote for Trump in order to stop Hillary, but this man is thousands of times worse.”
-No, Her is 10x worse. Name five reasons Trump would make a worse President than Her.
“He’d also be horrendous for foreign policy and national security, the one area people seem to actually think he’d be good with, considering he continues to threaten our NATO allies with membership fees and stating he won’t protect all of them.”
-I’m not a fan of Latvia First, America Last foreign policy. Name one good thing about starting WWIII over Latvia (where Russia has no interest in, in any case).
Trump is the best foreign policy candidate out there, sadly. But people don’t realize this, preferring the disastrous Hillary Rotten to Trump in this area by 14 points. Yet, Trump wins on the economy against Her in every poll.
“Which is more important, electing a sane and competent president or preserving the possibility of large tax cuts for the best off?”
-Electing a sane and competent president, of course. Which is why I voted Trump in the primary and why I will do so in the general election.
“I would vote for him/her.”
-Sadly, Trump comes the closest to this vision.
“Now he, like the rest of us, is seeing that he has the smallest of chances to win.”
-Mitt Rmoney in FiveThirtyEight NowCast this point of the campaign: 5.6%
Donald Trump in the FiveThirtyEight NowCast today: 13.4%
“He may decide it’s better to withdraw “for the good of the country” so he doesn’t have to take the loss.”
-Everything everyone knows about Trump points to Trump staying in until at least November, and probably winning. Candidates with less of a chance (McSame, Goldwater, Rmoney, McGovern) have done the same.
“Waiting for Harding to explain to us how the Hillary death threats are all part of the plan”
-They’re not death threats, you idiot! Listen to what he said! Nothing in what he said could even remotely be construed as a death threat, except by a wicked hack!
You disgust me, Sumner! Lying about what Trump says just so you can feel a boner of superiority! Yesterday made me lose all confidence in the MSM! Now, I’m losing all confidence in you!
Make America Great Again!
10. August 2016 at 10:56
“If you’d polled conservatives a few years ago, and asked which commentators are the best, these four would probably have made the list.”
-There is no party but the Uniparty. These people would love their taxes to be raised if they could have more Islamic terrorism, crime, and failed states. They are nothing more than parasites.
I’ll let Art Deco expound on the details.
10. August 2016 at 10:58
“You disgust me, Sumner! Lying about what Trump says just so you can feel a boner of superiority! Yesterday made me lose all confidence in the MSM! Now, I’m losing all confidence in you!”
If only that meant you would stop posting here. If only.
This comment section is for people with IQs above 100, sorry bro.
10. August 2016 at 11:28
All Trump had to do was act sane and have some semblance of dignity about him and he probably could have won. But he could not do that because he is neither….and it is going to be a blood bath…
When the cold war ended, I wondered if the political parties would return to their pre-cold war positions in terms of international trade and relations. Republicans were the party of tariffs and isolationism. I was surprised that nothing really changed, the republican party remained a bastion of neoconservative thinking. If anything, the Democrats joined the Republicans such that there has been little difference. I think all that changed with the Iraq war and the decline of manufacturing. Trump was the only non-neoconservative in the primary, that along with blaming China for the decline in manufacturing employment, and the entertainment factor and he was a winner. I suppose if Trump fails large enough and that wing of the party is forever humiliated, then the party could recover, otherwise, I don’t see it as surviving.
10. August 2016 at 12:21
@Scott, your welcome.
@engineer, you gotta be careful with “neoconservative.” That’s a trigger word for Deco. I use “warmonger” as an inexact replacement so as not to set off any lectures. What about Ron Paul? Wasn’t he a non-warmonger?
My theory is that now that the Alt-Reich (I credit Rick Wilson for that) is out from under their rocks, they’re not going back anytime soon.
That doesn’t mean a more traditional conservative party can’t form. Maybe it will just be swollen ranks of Libertarians. It may be small at first, but it might grow quickly, sucking in Democrats who are only Democrats because they look like the best of two options currently. Or maybe I’m off my rocker.
I’m hoping the core of the Alt-Reich remains a fringe party, even if they do take over the rump GOP for good. Nothing about them I like.
10. August 2016 at 12:37
Randomize, You said:
“It should be no wonder that many of them latch on to Trump and hope (against all science) that his policies will reopen the local manufacturing and bring back the good old days. Instead of talking about this,”
Actually I’ve talked a lot about this. I did a post on the steel industry. His ideas are utter nonsense. Sorry, but getting rid of the estate tax won’t bring back steel jobs to West Virginia. His protectionist policies could cause a global recession, which would push unemployment even higher. It’s not enough to talk about helping the downtrodden, you need specific answers. Why do you think Trump polls 1 or 2% among blacks? Do they not know that he plans to help the downtrodden? Even Romney did better than that, and he wrote off “the 47%”.
Trump is not speaking to the downtrodden, he’s speaking to the white tribe. He’ll win white voters in Orange County, and get blown out in Hispanic neighborhoods. Guess which group is the lower income?
And it’s not true that almost all unemployed are uneducated. A disproportionate number are, but most uneducated people are working. And don’t forget that some educated people are also unemployed. Many firms have trouble finding any workers, including uneducated workers.
Harding: You said “except by a wicked hack!”
Or the mainstream news media. Of course you Trumpistas say the media don’t matter, that Trump’s a genius who has found a way around the gatekeepers. 🙂
10. August 2016 at 12:45
“But he could not do that because he is neither….and it is going to be a blood bath…”
-There’s not gonna be a bloodbath. Trump is gonna win New Hampshire, likely gonna win Pennsylvania, and likely going to TRiUMPh in the electoral college.
10. August 2016 at 13:09
“His protectionist policies could cause a global recession,”
-No, they won’t. I know that, and you know that, too. Did Reagan’s protectionism cause a “global recession”? Did Harding’s? Lincoln’s? Quincy Adams’s? Name just one example of protectionist policies by any one country causing a “global recession”.
“Trump is not speaking to the downtrodden, he’s speaking to the white tribe.”
-I boldly predict Trump will lose Vermont, one of the Whitest states in the Union. There is no White Tribe. There is a Red Tribe.
“Why do you think Trump polls 1 or 2% among blacks?”
-Flawed polls and Clintonian propaganda. Black politics is weird and incomprehensible. Why did they vote for Clinton instead of Sanders? A total mystery.
“Do they not know that he plans to help the downtrodden?”
-Probably not.
“Or the mainstream news media.”
-Wicked hacks, all.
“Of course you Trumpistas say the media don’t matter, that Trump’s a genius who has found a way around the gatekeepers.”
-He has. But the media, ever since yesterday, is simply an arm of the Democratic National Committee. Trump should call it out. I note Republicans are less manipulable by the MSM than Dems.
“Guess which group is the lower income?”
-Trump actually wins with 2nd generation English-speaking Hispanics.
10. August 2016 at 13:37
If you are trying to understand Trump’s appeal, I’m not a good data point.
I’m the tiny minority that would have voted for Paul Nehlen or Ron Paul.
10. August 2016 at 14:08
Imagine an elderly, less literate, less informed, less curious, less experienced, less honest, less hardworking, more arrogant, more juvenile, brain damaged L. Ron Hubbard with a bad case of “speech immodulation syndrome” when reading from his teleprompter, with a whiny spoiled social justice warrior’s sense of personal victimization.
Now imagine putting that man in the white house.
As an alternative, imagine putting a normal, traditional, experienced career politician of either party in.
I accept that I may not be wholly accurate in my assessment of both persons, but that’s my evaluation.
I don’t want to take a chance on the outlier. That’s what it boils down to for me.
10. August 2016 at 14:18
Fox News Decision Team electoral map:
http://therightscoop.com/okay-its-definitely-time-for-the-gop-to-panic/
Clinton starts with 273 electoral votes by their estimation, prior to folding in any wins in battleground states. I guess they didn’t ask for input from Dick Morris or Breitbart.
10. August 2016 at 14:23
This probably won’t go anywhere, but GOP senator is now asking the RNC to invoke “Rule 9”:
http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/08/10/never-trump-senator-invokes-rule-9-gop-national-rules-opportunity-dump-trump/
10. August 2016 at 14:25
@ssumner, you’re looking for an argument when we agree. My comment on lack of discussion was aimed at the news media rather than your blog. It was actually your comments about the steel industry that got me thinking about the poor hoping “against all science” that Trump’s policies would help them.
10. August 2016 at 14:42
… and BTW, my impression of Trump was essentially established during his embarrassing (for him) birther debacle in 2012. I have an extremely low opinion of grandstanding conspiracy theorists (e.g. Alex Jones) right out of the gate. About on par with faith healers, but even lower. Add to that the dark racial and fear mongering xenophobic undertones of birtherism. At least faith healers are all about optimism. But he’s managed to further erode whatever respect I had remaining for him since then.
10. August 2016 at 14:54
“As an alternative, imagine putting a normal, traditional, experienced career politician of either party in.”
-Translation: “All I care about is style. Substance? Not really my thing. If the MSM says a politician is “normal”, it really doesn’t matter how many people he kills, what burdensome programs he creates, what liberties he destroys, or what wars he starts. At least he won’t try to Make America Great Again!”
George. W. Bush.
James. Buchanan.
Lyndon. Johnson.
How’d those establishment pols work out in the White House?
Scott, what makes you so optimistic about Ryan? I never liked him. “Biggest brown-noser” describes him well.
“Add to that the dark racial and fear mongering xenophobic undertones of birtherism.”
-OMG!!! Darkness!!! Mommy, I’m afraid of the dark!
Well, I’m not.
Make America Great Again!
10. August 2016 at 14:57
LIVE VIDEO of Man Attempting to Climb Trump Tower Using Trump’s Own Superpower: Sucking
10. August 2016 at 15:04
I remember in 2008 when conservatives criticized Obama for having little political experience but a lot of star power and being merely the celebrity president. Now look at them defend Trump the literal embodiment of those qualms. Good stuff.
The more people complain about Trump on non-policy issues like calling him a fascist the more feverent the Trumpeters become.
He’s a bigger flip flopper than Kerry. A bigger empty headed celebrity than Obama. And he hasn’t proved he is any good at business. But whatever, these people made up their minds and there is no changing it.
10. August 2016 at 15:05
POLL: American Voters Hate Trump Almost as Much as ISIS
…voters were asked to identify what they perceived as threats to their personal way of life.
61% ISIS
54% Trump administration
43% (tie) Clinton administration / Republican policies
39% Democratic policies
28% Illegal immigrants from Mexico
10. August 2016 at 15:20
No, we have records to go on. From Trump I see a record of broken promises and outrageous lies to get attention without concern for any collateral damage to anyone else. Someone who’s first instinct is to file or threaten to file a lawsuit when something doesn’t got his way. With Clinton I see the record of a normal more or less successful career politician: some wins, some losses, some experience working with other people and not always getting what she wants, and modulating her words so as not to alarm vast swaths of humanity… as politicians are wont to do.
Trump seems like the least likely person to “Make America Great Again” that I can imagine. If you want me to take the side of the bomb throwers who want to burn it all down and build something better, how about somebody with an actual track record of doing something like that in his life? Trump appears to be a mediocre real-estate hustler, attempting to covering for his weakness and failures with crude obnoxious bluster. How about an actual innovative captain of industry? Something in Tech perhaps? Then if I thought the country was in such dire straights that I felt we needed a Hail Mary, I might well be inclined to take the plunge. But I neither feel the country is in dire straights nor do I have any inclination to put any trust in Mr. Trump as a good choice for an agent of change.
10. August 2016 at 15:26
His protectionist policies could cause a global recession,
You think he’ll persuade Congress to re-impose Smoot-Hawley?
The only global recession since the war occurred in 2009.
Don’t bet the mortgage payment on this idea.
10. August 2016 at 15:31
Yes, the Alt-Reich does seem to have a flare for a certain kind of darkness. =)
10. August 2016 at 15:32
Yes, Trump seems a bit nutty.
The GOP establishment got the United States into two counter-productive wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, at cost of $6 trillion to $ 8 trillion and horrid human costs, and still does not admit that those efforts were a mistake. For that matter, Obama has prosecuted the war in Afghanistan for another eight years.
50 GOP warmongers, architects of the Iraqistan catastrophe, say Trump is a threat to national security.
So who is nuts?
10. August 2016 at 15:50
If you’d polled conservatives a few years ago, and asked which commentators are the best, these four would probably have made the list.
Krauthammer and Will, yes. Noonan and Brooks, no.
Brooks had at one time wrote some interesting observational pieces (that is, half a generation ago). He has no constituency among Republicans who care enough to comment on such things in loci like this one; the modal opinion of him is that he’s a New York Times employee whose function there is to assume various guises and poses to sell the NYT editorial line. He’s much better at it than Conor Friedersdorf or Kathleen Parker, who have a similar book.
Noonan was a CBS Radio functionary who landed a job on the speechwriting staff in Ronald Reagan’s public relations apparat. She can turn in copy on time. That’s her talent. Otherwise, she doesn’t know much, and she’s overrated as a wordsmith by the people who publish her.
Krauthammer hasn’t been a working psychiatrist in 40 years. He ought to know better than that. You’ll notice that his assessment of Trump is entirely superficial.
Neither Krauthammer nor Will bother to assess the dilemma which faces ordinary voters. Ordinary voters do not take stances for a living and do not associate with other journalists.
10. August 2016 at 16:12
@Benjamin Cole,
Why even consider someone who seems a bit nutty? If I felt compelled to go with out outsider, nutty is not what I’d be looking for at all. And nuttiness and bluster is all Mr. Trump offers. It’s like being dissatisfied with your mediocre long time city mayor and taking a chance with an eccentric slumlord who runs a popular public access cable show interviewing strippers and drug dealers but with no business partners who’ll vouch for his integrity, and who’s constantly involved in lawsuits and unpleasant clownish publicity stunts. Why not chose a less nutty, more reputable outsider if you’re determined to take a chance with something new? Perhaps the guy who owns a chain of successful restaurants and organizes a community charity beach volleyball tournament (that raises money that he actually donates w/o being hounded by the press)? Someone with lots of satisfied business partners, etc, that will vouch for his integrity?
Who really vouches for Trump’s integrity that has any credibility? Most of the politicians backing him now were telling us he was “a cancer” a “lying sociopath” and that he “shouldn’t be near our nuclear codes” not that long ago. I’d say that’s singularly bad! Where are his many happy business partners? Why don’t we see that kind of person coming forward? Instead we know Mr. Trump is a stickler for NDAs. The few that dealt with him prior to his NDA fetish (like his ghost author for The Art of the Deal) have almost nothing nice to say about him. We have family and employees and a few D-list celebrities. If you’re stuck on a businessman how about a Mark Cuban or an Elon Musk? Maybe not the best choices, I don’t know really, but damn it seems we could do near infinitely better than Mr. Trump by just choosing a CEO at random. Shoot the president of my small company (~120 employees) would make a better choice IMO. Way more right wing than I am, but I know him well. I sit right next door, and he’s a man of integrity who gives you confidence through his words and deeds that he actually knows what he’s talking about, is honest about what he doesn’t know (but knows who to turn to) and isn’t just all hollow bluster. I’d vouch for him in a heartbeat, even if I didn’t work there any longer. Sure, other choices might not give the Alt-Reich as big hardons as Mr. Trump does, but how exactly is that a positive?
10. August 2016 at 16:31
“I’m not the only one who has become deranged and unhinged.” – + 1 to Sumner for his self-awareness.
10. August 2016 at 19:50
Tom Brown:
You always make a lot of good points and your commentary is always smart and civil.
Yes, there are many better candidates for US President than Trump or Clinton, and if only they were running and had some sort of name recognition, then maybe….
I suspect Tom Brown, for one, would make a better US President that either major party choice. Heck, maybe even Ray Lopez would be better.
But when 50 GOP warmongers basically sign into the Clinton camp, I get very uneasy. The globalist-warmongers are happy with Clinton. Is there no end to overseas occupations, always at fantastic expense, but counter-productive? Hillary wants to prevail in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, and Libya, and Yemen and who knows where else.
People say this or that US infrastructure program is too expensive. The US spent or incurred liabilities of $6 trillion to $8 trillion in Iraqistan, but Trump’s $600 billion infrastructure program is a waste?
We spend $1 trillion a year on “national security” (DoD, DHS, VA, black budget, debt). And we have no military adversaries.
No, I probably won’t vote for Trump.
But there can be orthodox insanity too. Ponder the conventional, orthodox mid-level German bureaucrat or soldier in WWII.
I am not comparing Hillary or GOP establishment to Nazis. I am saying that orthodoxy can become insane too, and there are examples in many societies of that.
Our foreign-policy military orthodoxy is insane now. Perhaps our monetary policy too.
An I should vote for the most orthodox of the orthodox, Hillary?
10. August 2016 at 21:26
@Benjamin Cole,
I nominate you. =)
Thanks for kind words and trust me, I’m not your best choice. However, I get your point. Warmongers in Bush Admin were the whole reason I left GOP, but honestly I *think* (of course I can’t know for sure) that Mr. Trump might be worse. I think he may actually want to pull back and put America first (I don’t know how far is good), however, if a situation happens where he feels he has to save face, I’m not sure he’ll listen to advisors. Saving face might be his obsession. He takes stuff personally. Recall, Bush admin (top people) didn’t listen either. Remember Bush canned the general that told him it’d take 500,000 troops to do Iraq right (Shinsheki was it?). That wasn’t the answer they wanted. They wanted to do it on the cheap, so they canned him. I think Bush admin ignored the experts. I followed Iraq a long time. I had friends from Iran who fled to avoid the Iran / Iraq war and we talked about 1st Gulf war. They convinced me it’s not a place to trifle with: can of worms. Remember the no fly zones? So when they said they’d go into Iraq, right away that sounded dumb to me. I have no special knowledge other than I followed Iraq in the news for years (even when it was dull). I knew Saddam hated Al Queda. I didn’t know if he had WMDs, but I was inclined to believe inspectors. What was in it for Saddam? He must have thought we were nuts. Then there were others: the “realists” remember? From Bush 41’s admin who were against it? Colin Powell soured eventually. Also Lawrence Wilkerson. Valerie Plame and hubby. There were people left that tried to put the brakes on. Honestly I don’t think Bush 41 would be that stupid. I thought it was a bluff, but when he did it I quit GOP that day. (I came back to vote in 2012 primary, but not really in GOP.) But it was like you were a traitor for pointing out emperor had no clothes. VERY disappointed in Congress including Dems (who I’d opposed). I thought they would do their duty and put brakes on. Ron Paul was the ONLY Republican who voted against authorization. They had the chance and they didn’t go there. It’s like the whole country went crazy to invade the obviously wrong country… or at least stupid and willing to believe anything so they could “get revenge” for 9/11. Stupid stupid stupid! I voted for W and couldn’t bear to hear him speak in debates: too stupid sounding. I figured he had good advisors. Lol! I did not yet know what a “neocon” was (OK, so sue me Deco! It’s a descriptive word and it distinguishes from “realist”) in 2000. Soon became my enemies. But Trump I fear more. I don’t know the 50 men on that list. Do they all have blood on their hands? Are some career people who were directed by loons like Cheney? I don’t know. Worth a look, no?
On that subject, Cheney is supporting Trump! He’s the worst of all IMO! Don Rumsfeld too!!! Dude, that’s the heart of darkness! … OK, true, Kristol is #NeverTrump. So, it’s not so clear, but in gov, Cheney / Rummy were the axis of evil. Lol. Poor dumb W didn’t stand a chance… at least 1st term.
Just looked up John Bolton: he too is a Trump supporter!!! Says he’d be honored to serve a president Trump. Can you imagine anything worse… except maybe bringing back the whole crew at the top that W had? Scooter Libby, Bolton, Rummy, Cheney (in charge of torture methods), Wolfowitz… my god, how can those 50 people be worse? Mind you I haven’t looked at the list, so for all I know Wolfy is on there, but still, the sickness there was a top down affair IMO.
Look at it this way: GOP wanted to continue w/ McCain, America had enough of neocons warmongers, and inept economy crashers, so Obama took office. McCain at least probably wouldn’t have fucked up Iraq in 2003 as bad if he’s been in charge: maybe he’d have left Shinseky in. At least we’d know up front: “Damn, this is serious!” But W’s admin sold us a bill of goods. “Cakewalk” Kristol said, remember? I never believed any of it. I’m not a super bright guy, but I was opposed to all things Iraq from day 1.
Thus they (GOP warmongers) were set to hate Obama. And they did. Read Jennifer Rubin at WaPo some years back… “Jenghazi” people called her. Tough year for her, this one… Clinton and Obama looking good to her in comparison to Trump! Lol. But she thinks both Obama and Clinton pulled back from Middle East and she doesn’t like it.
But however much they hated Obama, you didn’t see 50 people coming out saying “He’ll be a disaster” like this. 50 from his own party no less (and there are people from Bill’s admin around, right).
So are those 50 men really worse that Cheney, Rummy and Bolton?
Can you tell I discovered twitter and write in broken English now? Lol.
10. August 2016 at 21:33
Scott,
Looks like Trump’s been reading Harding’s blog: he thinks Obama is ISIS founder now and Clinton 2nd founder. Lol
11. August 2016 at 02:13
Is there some sort of virus going around, causing mass hysteria?
Fine observation. Mass hysteria is indeed behaving similar to a virus going around. That’s why it’s called mass hysteria in the first place. And indeed, Trumpophobia might be described with mass hysteria pretty well. It happend to Goldwater, Reagan, Bush and Romney also, but it might get worse with every election.
11. August 2016 at 03:55
Scott, this article details Trump’s being forced to confront his incessant lies during a deposition under oath. It’s kind of interesting. He’s asked things like “So you said you received $X but you actually received $Y” Trump: “Yes, but in my mind it was $X” … no shit, he just flat out says things like that.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/trump-lies/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumplies-11a-top%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
11. August 2016 at 04:03
however, if a situation happens where he feels he has to save face, I’m not sure he’ll listen to advisors.
This doesn’t even matter. I read recently that Nixon was so drunk and deranged several times that his Cabinet made sure that every important instruction during those times went over the desks of two secretaries (Kissinger and someone I forgot). And they told the military: Don’t take any orders from Nixon right now, he’s out of his mind.
Remember Bush canned the general that told him it’d take 500,000 troops to do Iraq right. That wasn’t the answer they wanted. They wanted to do it on the cheap, so they canned him. I think Bush admin ignored the experts.
I think with Obama it was even funnier. He appointed his very own black General and this very General insisted that at least 10,000 (better 30,000) US soldiers need to remain in Iraq to prevent a power vacuum for the next years. And what did Obama do? He withdrew them all. What a joke.
The funny thing is that Trump is right when he says that IS is basically a product of Obama’s failed policy. That’s more true than most of the other stuff you hear about this topic. But of course Trump is the crazy one again. Like Romney in 2012 when he said that Putin is the #1 foe of the Western world. And Obama kept on mumbling how great things are going with Russia. Yes, they are going great. And year after year since Obama it got better and the world got saver and Garden Eden is near.
11. August 2016 at 04:44
@Christian List,
It’s strange you should bring up Romney’s statements on Putin being the biggest threat, and Romney being right about that, when Trump seems to think Putin is a great guy. A strong leader, and someone he could get along with. So which is it? Is Romney correct or Trump? What’s Romney’s view of Trump?
Obama stuck to Bush’s plan to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. Yes, that was a mistake. He’d run on the idea of getting us out of there, and that was a failure to stick to that in light of a worsening situation. Iraq itself is a giant failure. Trump claims that Bush knew there were never any WMDs in Iraq and that Bush purposely lied to the public to get us into the war, costing us $2T and 1000s of US dead (not to mention maimed for life and Iraqi civilians). I don’t know if I’d go that far, but that’s Trump’s claim.
Iraq is the original sin that will keep bearing rotten fruit for future administrations to come. Would a president Trump get us out of there? Maybe he can sell the Iraqi government nukes so they can take care of themselves. He seems to think nuclear proliferation is a good thing.
Or maybe he’ll just start using them. That would be a good precedent to set. He keeps asking questions about why we make them if we’re not going to use them.
11. August 2016 at 04:47
… yeah, so what Trump says, especially about nukes, actually does sound crazy to me. Crazier than Obama, Romney, McCain and even Bush.
11. August 2016 at 05:16
RedState’s Susan Wright:
http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/08/11/trump-doubles-week-dumb-statements-deems-president-obama-founder-isis/
Not to the Alt-Reich! For them it’s personal. How dare HE and his kind be in their WH. An unforgivable sin.
11. August 2016 at 05:18
More from RedState:
11. August 2016 at 05:46
Jonah Goldberg is becoming increasingly deranged, by this standard.
Favorite bits:
“The battered-spouse establishment can’t come to grips with the fact that they’re being played for suckers or that they are actually enabling Trump. I half expect Reince to come out with a black eye and tell everyone that he walked into a door at Trump tower. “I shouldn’t have been so clumsy.”
“Every principle used to defend Trump is subjective, graded on a curve. Trump is like a cat trained to piss in a human toilet. It’s amazing! It’s remarkable! Yes, yes, it is: for a cat. But we don’t judge humans by the same standard.”
“Trumpism is a radiation leak threatening to destroy the GOP, not just in 2016 but for a generation. The half-life of Trumponium-90 is very long. The Republican nominee is the fourth choice of voters 18-29, after Clinton, Johnson, and the Bolshevik Jill Stein. Trump has 1 percent support among African Americans. He’s doing worse among married women and Hispanics than any modern GOP candidate. I cite these numbers not just to point out that he is very likely to be a loser in the fall, but to call attention to the fact that he is destroying the reputation of the Republican party in the process.”
11. August 2016 at 06:19
Harding, I give you credit for knowing he must win one of those two states, where he trials by 10 points.
11. August 2016 at 08:32
It’s been asked many times before, but is Trump just trolling the GOP?:
11. August 2016 at 10:16
“Trumpism is a radiation leak threatening to destroy the GOP, not just in 2016 but for a generation. The half-life of Trumponium-90 is very long. The Republican nominee is the fourth choice of voters 18-29, after Clinton, Johnson, and the Bolshevik Jill Stein. Trump has 1 percent support among African Americans. He’s doing worse among married women and Hispanics than any modern GOP candidate. I cite these numbers not just to point out that he is very likely to be a loser in the fall, but to call attention to the fact that he is destroying the reputation of the Republican party in the process.”
Aside from trafficking in falsehoods (http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/2-voter-general-election-preferences/), Goldberg manages to recycle quite unreflectively the assumptions of partisan Democrats. Black votes are not counted double and neither are the votes of callow youths. That someone polls better in certain demographics than others is of sociological interest only.
11. August 2016 at 10:36
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/republicans-urge-rnc-cut-funds-trump-226918
11. August 2016 at 19:51
@Tom Brown
I don’t think it’s any question Trump is exactly what is meant by the term ‘troll’.
12. August 2016 at 16:56
It’s strange you should bring up Romney’s statements
It’s not strange at all. I’m just trying to be as unbiased as possible.