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Trump’s Virtues: An Important Speech
Very short and very challenging food for thought. I was drawn to read the entire piece and that proved to be a most rewarding exercise as it introduced me to an excellent short talk on the virtues of Donald Trump and why we shouldn’t be turning our backs on him at this early stage of the 2024 Presidential Campaign. Here, before linking to the video itself, is the opening paragraph of the article, which can be found here:
I recently wrote a column about why I believed Trump should not run in 2024. I was wrong. I allowed my distaste for Trump’s personality to override his virtues, which are considerable. Some people want Trump without his vices. I was among them — until yesterday, when I watched and listened to Tom Klingenstein’s speech titled “Trump’s virtues.” It was masterful and shamed me that I did not make the distinction between Trump’s character and his virtues, the former being deeply flawed, the latter being almost perfect. I need to man up in my defense of the former President’s virtues. The speech was among the most pointed I have heard and deserves some exposure. Klingenstein says:
Other Republicans say some version of “I like Trump policies but I don’t like the rest of him.” This gets it almost backwards. Although Trump advanced many important policies, it is the ‘rest of him’ that contains the virtue that inspires the movement… Trump was born for the current crisis, a life and death struggle against a totalitarian enemy I call woke communism… that control all the cultural and economic powers in America…
[Trump] revealed, not caused, the divide in this country. In war, you must make a stand… Trump is a manly man… traditional manhood, even when flawed, is absolutely essential… Trump plays to win… There are no clean hands in a fistfight…Trump is unreservedly, unquestionably pro-America… Trump is a refreshing break from the guilt and self-loathing that marks our age…
How wonderful it is to hear a speaker in this age of wokeness and cowardly cancellation for saying the “wrong” thing, i.e., something not within the approved narrative of the Ruling Elite come right out and refer to someone as “a manly man”! I must admit I had to go back and rerun that part of the video I enjoyed hearing it so much! I am sending this video along not in the interest of starting any kind of debate about the 2024 election as it is far too early to be joining that battle. I am, however, sending it along as I think it represents a very valuable contribution to that future debate and the decision we will all be required to make in the future. I hope you find it as interesting and illuminating as I did.
God Bless America!
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Such as this.
God Bless America!!!
I absolutely distrust the RNC and Ronna Romney Mcdaniel, the chairperson. BUT, I do think it makes sense that the RNC can’t pay the legal bills of a particular candidate until the party’s nominee has been determined. I think that Trump has managed to amass a large war chest aside from the RNC. He has a PAC called Save America and all of that money can pay legal fees. I don’t know why the RNC even made this public, if not to purposely step away from Trump. It’s just their usual knife-in-the-back behavior. But somehow all of this political funding seems fungible from one source to another.
Will listen to the speech later but agree with your sentiments. My only question is: Can he win in 2024? To me that is all that matters. The way things are going he would beat Slow Joe. But the Dems know that so Biden will be shuffled off the stage at some point. If Hillary runs no doubt he could beat her again. But what of the others? Most worried about Gov. French Laundry. He has been fooling San Fran and California voters for decades. And the press will go nuts for him. To me, at this point, DeSantis a safer bet.
Trump bungled the 2020 election. He should have easily won beyond the margin of fraud, but he bungled it. While still sharp, he is damn old, and he is way too focused on revenge for 2020 and way too little focused on the future. He was a great President, but the GOP has other good options and should move on.
Given Trump’s age I am not not sure I would want him for another term. I also suspect that he wants to regain to presidency to prove a point that he was cheated.
Fomenting in the back of my mind, I wonder if he would be content with a Trump/DeSantis ticket where he promises to step down after 2 years which would vindicate him (probably what he really wants). This would allow his policy heir apparent to have a crack at a 10 year stretch to insure that the swamp could be drained (his legacy revenge) and re-envision to be more responsive to electoral results (i.e. a change the federal employment laws to allow dismissal for insubordinate civil servants for refusing to comply with executive policy).
I think this would be an unbeatable combination, and in the spirit of compromise between the unhappy factions within the GOP. Unless of course the RINO’s are really more than just never Trumper’s but “stealth democrats” counting on the base’s continued gullibility in undelivered policy promises.
I like it except for the bit where we play with the term of office. If a person runs for President, everyone has a right to expect he means it without equivocation or side arrangements. The office is already looking weak these days.
Trump gave us a promised of a SC selection from a list prior to election. It was a promise he keep, and was in my mind a step toward integrity of what to expect from his presidency.
Why would this gambit be any worst? He knows he is not immortal, and all Presidents have their fingers in the pie w.r.t. their successor. I think I prefer tangible kept promises from my politicians. Plus I think it would be an unbeatable juggernaut against anything the Dems have to offer in the next 4 year looking at their line up of potential national successors.
Great ticket!
Promise to step down in two years? Please send me some of whatever it is you are smoking.
You may have noticed that the details in actually managing the Office of the President was not his forte’ or really his interest. He wants vindication, not the chore of governing. This is his cake and eat it to gambit.
I believe he is smarter and more shrew than the press give him credit. Given the resources and the amount of time the Dems have poured into finding something in his past that is criminal, even with the advantage of biased court venues, they have yielded nothing so far.
This does not mean I think he is a man of great character, but I have given up that notional requirement for the presidency since with hindsight we have not had one of those since perhaps Eisenhower. Certainly none in my lifetime.
With you GD!!!!
Wow! That was outstanding. Thank you for posting this. So well said – both from you and the speaker.
I hesitate to comment, but feel compelled to do so.
It was a good recording. It addresses those who dislike Trump personally, but like his policies. I listened to all 17:59 of the recording.
However, the recording is fundamentally flawed in that there is absolutely no reference to Trump’s Big Lie, that he won the 2020 election and his involvement in the January 6th insurrection.
“Aside from the unpleasantness Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
There is absolutely no way around the Big Lie and the Insurrection. In the 2020 election, a small but significant portion of Republican voters refused to vote for him, which has been confirmed by Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. See “Lost, Not Stolen; The Conservative Case That Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election” at https://lostnotstolen.org/ which states that Trump’s loss was due to “an electorate that included a small but statistically significant number [of voters] willing to vote for other Republicans candidates on the ballot but not for President Trump … [which is why] his campaign fell short, not a fraudulent election.”
That percentage will likely double or triple after the Big Lie and the Insurrection. I believe that our choice will be stark in 2024. We can lose with Trump, or can win with anyone else as our nominee.
____________________________
Once again, it is an excellent speech as to why someone should consider voting for Trump despite not liking his personality. That is, if you can ignore the Trump Big Lie and his role in assembling the mob, whipping them up, and then failing to tell them to go home for 187 minutes on January 6, 2001.
You voted for Biden, Gary.
Any argument you make is invalid.
Now maybe this comment will stand, or maybe an editor will delete it.
The fact stands.
Nothing you say about Trump matters. You are blinded but your hate.
Speaking of big lies . . . this time you’ve added breaking the laws of time among Trump’s imagined sins.
Oh Bryan. I voted for Biden due to Trump’s unwillingness to commit to respecting election results and saying that the only way he could lose would be if the election was stolen. Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election and January 6th fully confirmed the wisdom of my vote.
I encourage you to listen to the 17:59 recording. I think that you will like it a lot. But the question that was never addressed by the speaker was “What about Trump’s Big Lie and his involvement in planning and encouraging the January 6th insurrection “?
Be honest, Gary. You were never going to vote for President Trump in 2020 no matter what. You have come up with various excuses to justify your vote for Biden, but everyone knows that there was never any possibility you’d do anything but vote for the Democrat. Be honest with yourself if you can’t be honest with us.
Because to believe the President planned that is akin to flat-eartherism.
I don’t think you really believe it; I think you repeat it.
But that’s a completely different subject. And it’s going to be FASCINATING!
You voted for the worst president ever. Admit your sin. Nothing less is acceptable.
You are responsible for everything he has done. You are proud of it.
You believe the lies, Gary. You believe all the lies about Trump.
I understand you have bought favor at Ricochet with you money, and I have seen posts edited at your behest. You must love the power to silence others.
I refused to vote for Trump for a variety of reasons, including my premonition that he would act out if he lost. His behavior far exceeded that.
I think you should listen to the 17:59 recording. I think you will enjoy it a lot. My reaction was “Damn, we better nominate DeSantis so that woke Democrats are defeated.”
Your “premonition.” You are the Oracle of Coconino County or something?
Please, Gary, we’re adults here. Let’s not use “premonitions” as justification for our actions. I doubt that would hold up in court. “Your honor, I had a premonition that the defendant was going to knife me, that’s why I shot him first!”
You know what, never mind
It will just get removed.
I don’t see why they would. This is simply my refusal to accept soothsaying as a justification for one’s actions.
I suspect most here would agree with me.
I should stop and explain myself. The January 6th hearings showed that after the 5 hour meeting between Trump and the crazies ended, Trump sent out his tweet to his followers asking them to come to Washington, D.C. saying “It will be wild.” Trump did not exercise day to day planning of the Insurrection, like a good mafia he gave general direction orally.
Repeating lies does not make them true.
It’s not a matter of explaining yourself. You have now contradicted yourself. That’s how I know that you know that it’s all bogus.
An old friend of mine loved to tell stories about things that happened to him. Except every time he told them, certain points would be embellished or changed. It’s like he was crafting a tale on the flly and wanted to create the one that would shock his audience the most. He insisted these things actually happened, but when I began to notice that certain details kept changing — important details that one would not get wrong by mistake — I knew that everything he said was made up.
The January 6th Committee is engaged in this kind of storytelling. It does not matter if the talking points contradict reason, logic, the flow of time, or other talking points. What matters is that they’re repeated often so that a sort of mind control sets in.
One reason to always tell the truth is that you don’t have to keep your stories straight. That has benefitted me greatly when trying to explain what I meant when I have been less than totally careful and someone tries to play “gotcha.” Drew this would be so much easier if you were to join the millions of Americans who have watched the hearings.
Dude. I don’t remember a comment criticizing you for not voting for DJT (though I might have something to say on that topic if pressed)
You are criticized for what you DID: vote FOR Joe Biden.
See, I’ve learned not to trust “sorry, I wasn’t being careful” when very important details change at random. First you said he planned the “insurrection.” Then you backed away from that and insist you just weren’t being careful with your words.
But guy, that’s a big change. That’s not some detail that you accidentally get wrong due to lack of care. That’s a basic detail that would go to the heart of the fake Jan. 6th case against the President.
So no, I think you don’t really know what you’re saying. I think you’re just repeating stuff. Throwing all sorts of random crap against the wall to see what sticks. You say it’s me playing “gotcha.” No, rather it’s me pointing out the inconsistencies and noting that the talking points keep changing. Just like the media, the Jan. 6th Committee, the Democrats, and the Biden administration, none of which are trustworthy sources of information.
Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
The very definition of the “Big Lie” is that it is a propaganda technique proposed by Adolf Hitler. And as a propaganda technique, it would require a complicit media.
But the media has been completely against President Trump from the beginning.
Claims like this destroy any shred of good faith or credibility.
And has vowed to vote for him again.
After everything that Brandon has done, the real corruption and abuses of executive power, has vowed to vote for him again.
Almost as though the Democrat is being held to an entirely different standard.