Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Without Evidence
Disappointing headline of the day: “Trump Claims Without Evidence John Fetterman Does Drugs in Wild PA Speech: He Dresses ‘Like a Teenager Getting High in his Parents’ Basement’”
Former President Donald Trump accused Pennsylvania lieutenant governor and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman of doing hard drugs, all without producing any kind of tangible evidence to back his claim up.
They have to speak English as a distant second language to not understand Trump’s actual meaning. Here is the actual sentence:
Fetterman may dress like a teenager getting high in his parents’ basement, but he’s a raging lunatic hellbent on springing hardened criminals out of jail in the middle of the worst crime wave in Pennsylvania history.
Trump is not criticizing Fetterman’s alleged drug use. He’s criticizing Fetterman’s alleged wardrobe.
So by defending Fetterman’s alleged drug use, are they admitting he is the “raging lunatic hellbent on springing hardened criminals from jail?”
Published in Journalism
Bunk beds.
Hey now! I already did that one! I thought I was being so clever and original!
I don’t know…I’d have to see him do a song and dance number to be convinced. And wearing a tux…no chance of that, I suspect.
Oooo. Don’t go there.
The people who pushed the “Steele Dossier” and Hunter’s laptop was Russian Disinformation are complaining about this
Oh cool!
I don’t think I saw that.
Yeah, I think that “Puttin’ on the Ritz” would be a stretch for him…
I posted it in Ricochet’s sub-basement.
Trump often gives his media opponents ammunition. Why make the stupid comment about the guy’s wardrobe? Mention his policies. Leave it at that.
Because he’s Trump. He’s going to say the unsaid. He’s going to point it out. Do you really want to be represented by this slob?
Because people like you apparently won’t.
That’s only OK if others are doing the dirty work. Otherwise, it’s how we lose elections. I am sick of the McCain/RINO* “They’re not evil, just wrong” ineffective strategy losing to the left’s “They’re evil (or crazy), so we don’t have to discuss whether they’re right” strategy.
* Note that in primaries, when they know the media will back them, they’ll use the effective strategy.
BTW, this is why the Dems. love ranked choice voting. By branding the likely Republican nominee as evil, they clean up on the second choice votes from brain dead feel good voters.
You are insulting Gru though.
And a Love Toilet.
Trump isn’t my first choice, but I would certainly prefer him to any Democrat alternative.
As Richard Epstein recently recommended, it’s good to think of Trump à la carte: a lot of what he did was really good, some of it not as good, and his tone was often challenging. Since I’m more interested in results than presentation, I was okay with that.
Nor should they, in my opinion. It isn’t necessary to approve of everything Trump does, nor to condemn everything he does.
If he had been a more thoughtful communicator he might still be President. (We can’t know that, but I kind of suspect it’s true.)
Of course, if he were a more thoughtful communicator he probably wouldn’t be Trump, either: for better or worse, part of his “charm” is his bull in a china shop quality.
My own hope is that he graciously stands down and throws his support behind DeSantis. I’d put the odds of that happening at about one in a thousand.
Those are some mighty long odds.
Fetterman is a slob. His lack of decorum reveals his contempt for our society. This is not preferring to not wear a tie. This is just being a pig. No one ridiculed him, and he richly deserved it. Trump’s mockery works.
Which is why they don’t like it.
I found his tone to be wholly appropriate in general. He challenged all the conceits. This connected him to real Americans who were done with the pretenses.
I think people were appalled that a Billionaire Al Bundy ego-driven narcissist could become President
The problem with “thoughtful communicators” is that they are competing with rank sloganeering.
Somehow, Democrats are given a pass for their feeble and manipulative bumper stickers, and our ‘good communicator’ must explain it in paragraphs. This is a loser. Do these people see who is voting in this country and what they watch and how to communicate with them? Trump has his finger on that pulse.
And I’m just agreeing with you and elaborating
To the 1% of people who are as engaged in politics as we are , to subscribe to a political website, it makes sense.
But Trump knows what people are hearing from Democrats and enemies of America – foreign and domestic – and has a counter-proposition that resonates, should be critiqued by those who have tut-tuted over the fall of the Republican and conservative brands as mere populism.
Yes, the GOP ignores millions of ordinary Americans’ requests for action, and then lament that the guy who tries – quite stridently – to achieve these simple and reasonable reforms from our representatives is a populist ! who should be ignored by who? The people?
Apparently he did. See https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/09/trump-accused-fetterman-of-drug-use.html?m=1. Maybe he circled back from the earlier riff.
But I don’t mind President Trump following the Harry Reid Rule*. I don’t need President Trump to be a better person than the Democrats. I just need his national policies to be the way we do things.
* When confronted about his lies about Romney his response was: “It worked, didn’t it?”
Fetterman is a Trust Fund Baby who was still being supported by his parents at age 50.
Set aside the stroke and likely brain damage resulting in his inability to string two complete sentences together (which makes him Presidential material in 2022, I guess), he plays up this working class image when he’s never held a job in his life. While I suspect that is typical of his class, I’m not sure someone like that should be Senator.
(To be fair, I don’t want McConnell being Senator either.)
Sounds like EXACTLY the kind of guy who USUALLY gets elected.
In the Republican field, Trump was not my choice. I thought he was juggling hand grenades for the entire campaign, I still wonder why nothing detonated in his face and ended his political career. I think on average, he was saying 3 things a day, that would have ended any politicians career – every day. (this was back in 2015-16 campaign)
But in both the general elections I greatly preferred Trump to the democrat field.
Seems like the media wanted him as the Republican nominee, because they were certain Hillary would mop the floor with him. So up until after he won, they weren’t that hard on him.
If you’ve gone to the effort of dressing your best (or well), it shows a sign of respect to those who cross your path or to those you plan to meet.
I care more about a candidate’s positions and ideas than I do about their appearance. So no, if I was a Democrat and liked his positions, I wouldn’t mind being represented by that slob. I’m not a Democrat so it’s not a choice I’m making, but still – the federal government suffers from gross incompetence and bad ideas, not bad wardrobe.
Exactly! Dress for Success! Elegant but understated…That jacket and slacks combination is obviously from Savile Row.
Whether or not Fetterman should be senator, he probably will be senator, thanks to Trump’s pushing Oz.
Yes, yes, we know you hate Trump. But Trump didn’t vote in PA. The people of PA did. And Oz is their chosen candidate.
Please focus your hate on those who actually did the voting.
I like that visual.
Whether or not Fetterman should be senator, he probably will be senator, thanks to Trump’s pushing Oz.