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Thank You, Peggy Noonan
I had just wandered through a generally so-so observation about patrician and plebeian elements in our present political situation. I was not sure that I had made my points clear enough for the normal pleb to grasp fully (we are generally too preoccupied with life’s minor distractions such as rent, food, and selecting the right brand of beer).
But one can always count on their betters to provide. So Peggy Noonan was kind enough to write a Wall Street Journal piece that explains it much better than I. She, of course, is an established member of the GOP Order of Patricians and her concern was about the unwashed plebs generally known as Trump voters. Hope among her fellow elitists was that more and more of this group would abandon the notion of the former president seeking the office again in 2024, that support for him would fade and he would pass from the public’s eye. As it is turning out, that simply isn’t happening. In fact, it appears to some that their numbers might even be growing.
This is so despite the continuous dumping on the former president. Or maybe even because of it. The latest anti-Trump production is turning into a huge disappointment. It actually seems to have the opposite effect intended. Interest in the show trial sometimes called the J6 hearings has been weak and far below what was hoped for. In fact, it is probably having the opposite effect. Only the most gullible or pre-disposed believe in them and for the rest they are far too transparent. For most, they leave the distinct impression of Star Chamber episodes intended not to learn anything but to influence an election by removing a leading candidate. Plebs must be protected from their limited intellects by narrowing their choices to only acceptable options.
In any case, Trump is actually increasing in support from this sideshow. So a fresh approach in pleb management has shown its face recently. That is to agree that the plebs do have some real concerns and that maybe the down and dirty Trump demeanor helped to create attention for them. But now he has served his purpose and it is time for candidates with smoother edges to carry the banner. For the moment, they are even willing to accept some candidates who might be a little “Trumpy” themselves as long as they are not the original. For the moment, that is.
But in the end, the real call will be for “reasonable” candidates who can hopefully worm their way into those “purple” vote without really confronting the matters that will change us as a nation and having to win a thoughtful and passionate argument for Liberty. You know, the kind of candidates who made Trump possible in 2016, the kind who knows in his (or hers, or …..) heart that something can be worked out to get us by if the patricians were left to bargain among themselves.
Noonan knows enough to begin every con job with a compliment, sort of. She is impressed that every Trump voter does love America even if it is “not always been a fully thought-through love but it’s generally fully felt”. She even concedes that this is “admirable”, even if the thought process was so incomplete. So plebeian. If it got any more simple-minded, it would be on my level.
A little deeper into the piece one is able to get a clearer picture of the patrician view of those millions upon millions of the GOP base who are so regularly called on by the party elites but rarely listened to. She tries to reinforce the Dem contention that Trump was told by all reasonable and sane people that the 2020 election was fair and square but he chose to listen instead to a collection of “kooks, crooks and freaks” which was not hard to find since “Trumpworld has more than most”.
Her appeal to wayward plebs is to drop Trump or lose the shining chance to dominate in the coming elections. Everything is so very bad that just about any Republican will surely win. Any except, of course, Trump. “Only Trump” would lose.
But the truth is as soon as Trump can be eliminated, the patricians will begin to try and thin out any of the other non-conformists with plebeian tendencies. Before the discussion is over they will hope to be back to the old standard GOP patrician because they could win “in the middle”. You know, that legendary middle where gun rights can be narrowed, where new entitlements have been created, where “comprehensive” immigration reform lives, where government dollars represent educational concern, where … Oh, hell my simple mind and stubby fingers are over-loaded … You can fill in the rest.
What is so desperately needed is a clear, objective American agenda for all, with disregard for who you are speaking to. The principles of the Founding and the principles which build successful lives will reach all levels of society.
The great swath of middle America that I have spoken of very much feels the loss of our Constitution even if the patricians don’t. The party elites have yet to realize that MAGA is not a Trump thing. It is a grassroots American plebeian thing. Trump simply put a slogan behind it and then did his best to implement it.
The Peggy Noonans still talk and act as if this was about a loose-mouthed billionaire and not the saving of the republic as founded. But they do sense the shift away from them and that is what they hate, what they fight against. If Trump is at the head of the column or not is hardly the central question. The real question is the uncompromising direction of the column.
We might be in a dangerous position with our future but more and more I believe that the people who will make the long-term difference have finally realized that the damage done to us by the “warriors” on their side, it is not near the problem as the damage done by the cowards and blinded on ours. Hopefully, Noonan will save her condescension for her own kind.
By the way, if any of you fellow plebs actually want to read the Noonan column you will find it behind a paywall. Unless you have the devious computer skills to bypass “the wall”, you will have to take my word for the content of the piece. Otherwise, you can join me in some simple plebeian pleasure as I take off these smelly socks, let the air hit these more than smelly feet, pour three, possibly four fingers in a cup, and soak up the quiet of an evening that has finally begun to cool.
Published in General
How about this:
There are a whole bunch of popular Republicans who have an excellent record as being Governor without sparking a riot in their capitols. DeSantis, Kemp, Abbott, Pence, Kemp, Ducey, Little, Christie, Romney, Baker, Hogan, Sununu. Pick one of them and win.
Or you can stick to Trump and lose.
It really is that easy.
Choose wisely.
News from 2016.
You’re really not good at this prognostication thing.
In 2016 Trump was not fresh off of a riot. Trump summoned the rioters, assembled the rioters, targeted the rioters and then did nothing while they ransacked the capitol.
EDIT: Nope. You’ll cry to the management to protect you from the plain and obvious interpretation of your own words.
Trump didn’t start “the election was stolen” but. That started with his voters.
And it’s a pretty large, one might even say, Big Lie.
Not only is all of what I am saying true, about Trump summoning, assembling, targeting and doing nothing, it is also believed by a large majority of Americans.
Who cares? If the entire world believed that the moon was the egg of the Great Bird of the Galaxy, that wouldn’t make it true. You’re only demonstrating how good the Democrats are at mind control.
Really? Because the only person who said that the election was stolen was a drunk Rudy Giuliani, all according to the other Trump Administration witnesses.
President Trump offered federal troops to secure the Capitol before Jan6 and that offer was declined. That’s a little suspect.
Just shows how closed off Gary is from normal people. As soon as we saw the sudden, weird, illogical influx of “Biden Votes” in five battleground states in the wee hours of the morning, we all knew the election was being stolen. Gary thinks only Trump and Giuliani said it, and all his voters simply parroted what they said based on the fact that they said it?
No, we saw. We have seen. We looked at the evidence. We saw the video footage. We know it was stolen. We speak what is true because it’s true, not because Trump says so.
Have some faith in your own critical thinking skills. Don’t outsource them to politicians.
Wisely? As if you would know what wisely is. There are two on that list I will vote for. The rest can stuff it.
During the riot, McCarthy called Trump and said that they needed troops. Trump said, “Maybe Kevin, the rioters are more concerned about the election than you.”
No, analyst after analyst pointed out that since mail-in votes were counted after the votes at the polls, that there would be the “red mirage” effect. Chris Stirewalt testified as to this at the second day of the hearings. After the 2000 elections, Florida changed their elections so that they would count the walk-in ballots first. But Pennsylvania and the other the five states that flipped did not.
Did the Jan6 Committee publicly interview those who declined the Trump offered troops days before so the public can transparently see who set this up for the way it went? This is why Republicans were not allowed on the Committee.
So work for those two in the primaries. If you vote late in the primaries, work for the remaining candidate who best fits your views.
Just realize that a majority of Americans believe that Trump tried to steal the election, and that he summoned, assembled, and targeted the rioters, and then refused to call them off for hours after they overran the capitol, chanting “Nancy,” and “Hang Mike Pence.”
I don’t give a burst of flatulence on a wet Wednesday what the majority of Americans believe. A sizable minority of Americans believe in Bigfoot and that aliens built the great pyramids. I bet those fools also believe the lies told about Trump.
There are two Republicans on the Committee, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. They just aren’t “Trump Republicans.”
If we are going to go full conspiracy, then why was the full Committee with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats vetoed by McConnell?
@Garyrobbins you did not answer my question as usual.
Gary, you need to detox from politics, and turning off the Liz Cheney/Adam Schiff Liar’s Hour will help with your detox.
A majority of Americans don’t believe in Bigfoot, or that the aliens built the great pyramids.
However a large majority of Americans believe that Trump lied repeatedly, and that he summoned, assembled, and targeted the rioters, and did nothing to call them off for hours.
I don’t care what fools believe.
I am sorry. I can’t run down every single conspiracy theory that Trump supporters dream up.
No one saw the idea of hijacking planes and flying them into buildings until it happened on 9/11.
No one saw the idea that a president of the United States would organize a group of rioters to overtake the Capitol until Trump did it on 1/6.
I care about this country and how so many in my party are running away from the truth about Trump.
Gary, you need to stop — for your own good.
Go outside. Take a walk. Pet a dog. Eat ice cream.
Just a few questions.
Mismanagement by Pelosi and the Capitol Police needs a look.
I’m not sure this is very accurate.
When you go on Twitter you get attacked in a very systematic way when you talk about this.
I think it’s all Pelosi’s fault.
The committee is set up so there’s no adversarial approach–which has been done since the inception of the country– and to suppress Pelosi’s deserved scrutiny.
Fine by me.
When Black Lives Matter had a demonstration, there was a line of riot police encircling the Capitol and they were ready to rumble.
Back in 1861, the Chief of Staff of the Army encircled the capitol with armed troops and said that he had a cannon that he would shot at rioters.
But when Trump received the call from Kevin McCarthy demanding relief, Trump said “Well, Kevin, maybe those folks care more about the election than you.”
Also, I wonder why Representatives like Andy Biggs asked for Presidential pardons.