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What was Trump doing talking about Jews and loyalty? Why does everyone have a cow every five minutes about what Trump says when he’s been doing the same thing for four years now? Whom does this help? Whom does it hurt? The whole podcast gang is back to offer maybe a little insight. Give a listen.
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Podhoretz gives his best shot at the “but he’s better than a Democrat” Trump defense…and kudos to Noah and the others for the beatdown they give him.
Obama and his minions used the “dual loyalty” argument? Really? Against who? Theres almost no elected Jewish Republicans. Evidently, Trump can bash Jewish Democrats all he wants……cuz Israel…..and cuz “he’s better than a Democrat”, so lets stop holding him to standards.
I think Pod is more talking about the performative outrage culture. Noah rationalizes it to fit his argument on standards where it doesn’t fit.
I honestly think Noah’s offbase that a “better” person pushing a bad agenda is a better choice.
They used it against what they believed to be the neoconservative (read: Jewish) opposition to the Iran deal. It was actually really disgusting, the way they heavily implied that only if you liked Israel more than the US could you possibly think the Iran deal was a bad idea. John is absolutely right that this outrage represents major hypocrisy on the Left’s part.
Where he’s wrong in my opinion, though, is his dip into whataboutism. You can’t excuse Trump’s behavior by saying the Democrats did it too.
I also disagree with how he excuses Trump’s behavior as president by saying we should accept it as the “new normal”. Noah is right: we should be passing judgment on Trump’s lack of decorum, and insisting that he live up to a higher standard – and that every president after him should do so as well.
What if he is successful doing conservative or somewhat conservative things by his use of twitter?
His polar opposite would tend to be George W. Bush who never wished to respond to his critics. That wasn’t a fun time either. About the only person willing to respond to the media during the Bush administration was Donald Rumsfeld — a smart, older figure with a varied background from a bit a different generation who was essentially picked or suggested by Dick Cheney.
At least Trump is smart enough to know that there is a cultural and media war to be fought. John McCain thought he could get elected by being friends with America’s Leftist-hate-filled press. Anyone conservative could have told him what a foolish idea that was. Michigan and Wisconsin voted for Trump the brawler and not their native sons, gentlemen named Romney and Ryan.
But he hasn’t been, has he? What has he accomplished that puts him ahead every other Republican candidate – candidates that would have accomplished exactly the same things without permanently poisoning conservatism’s image in the eyes of two whole generations of Americans?
Judges? That’s McConnell, not Trump. Tariffs? That’s not conservative in the least. A tax cut? Every Republican president manages to pass a tax cut.
All Trump has managed to do on Twitter has been to piss off everybody, including his supporters, time and time again; to kneecap Congress’s efforts to cancel Obamacare; and to express love for dictators in language that, if it came out of a Democrat’s mouth, you’d be going ballistic over.
George W. Bush might have been greatly unpopular by the time he left office, but he took down two dictatorships, permanently and massively changed Africa for the better, put the fear of God in the Libyans such that they voluntarily gave up their nuclear program, passed a major Medicare bill and a major education bill, and passed multiple free trade agreements.
Obama, too, was massively successful, pushing through bills and making changes to American policy that I couldn’t disagree with more but recognize as “succeeding in what he set out to do”.
What has Trump actually done, that makes his horrific behavior worth it?
Near the end of Monday’s podcast, John alluded to Noah being embroiled in some minor online dustup over the weekend, which may explain why Noah seemed a bit testy during the show.
So what the heck happened, exactly? Were people giving Noah grief on Twitter or something? Does anybody know?
If only our choices weren’t W or Trump? There is nobody who could fight like an adult? Actually there were. But it had to be Trump and I will never understand that. Please don’t try the old arguments. I am sick to death of hearing them.
That is not remotely what John MCCain thought in my opinion. He understood the press and he understood the country, history and foreign affairs. Republican voters just got it wrong. As usual.