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Trump Wasn’t a Symbol, But a Man
Trump is done. But he wasn’t a symbol or a symptom but a man. Trump is gone, and with him the republic. There will never be another Jefferson Smith or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Trump was a unique man, he did extraordinary things. He was in many ways larger than life. And I won’t bring up his failings here, because we all have failings, and are similar to every other man in this regard, but Trump was truly unique, perhaps even great. Being a billionaire, large or small, is usually accomplishment enough for one man in one lifetime, but to be a longstanding television celebrity, star of his own show, and a billionaire gives him a rarified status. And to run for political office once and to win the US presidency is another even more rarified accomplishment. And to – inadvertently perhaps – take on the world’s deepest darkest political organization and to survive to fight another day is another rare feat.
Twitter is very likely gone, or more correctly on the way out, if it is intended to be a neutral public square: it will never be allowed to be. But Trump has invested his time, money, and energy into creating an alternative to Twitter that will likely survive, even as it will not be the same, or as powerful.
But he is a man. Old and in good mental and physical condition, but, being now cast in the shadow of Mr. Biden, is being depicted as too old, too subject to mental infirmity, and too likely to die in office should he ever run for public office again.
He is a man who taught us a lot – though some would say inadvertently – about the corruption of government at its highest levels, in the legislature, in the highest court in the land, and especially in his own executive branch; what I would call a runaway branch, and what some including me, would refer to as the de facto Fourth Branch of government, and one supreme to the rest.
He has taught us – again, perhaps inadvertently – that entrenched powers could destroy a US presidential administration through obstruction, planned malingering, deceit, and through the covert spy services which were created to protect the federal government from just such obstruction, deceit, and spying from foreign powers.
He taught us – though possibly inadvertently – that China was indeed our greatest strategic and economic threat.
And he taught us – contrary to the hand-wringing of politicians, political operatives, pundits, and the Press — that Russia and North Korea and Iran could be held at bay, sitting on their haunches, though waiting, licking their lips.
And, like Mr. Smith, the movie, which was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, winning Best Original Story, whether chosen by whim or fate, Trump has shown us that the American public of 1939 is mostly dead.
The public that turned to Trump is largely now turning their backs, saying that his time is past; they are turning to a new incipient American hero who, unlike Trump, cannot manipulate the adversarial Press to boost his candidacy, and who cannot self-fund his election campaign, and who is taking tremendous campaign contributions from and placing himself beholden to the usual establishment financial sources; and who, unlike Trump, is not so much a political innovator but has gotten his start standing on Trump’s shoulders and endorsements, who has learned to treat the Press with disdain as Trump showed him how, and who has been leading the wave of Trump’s political recalcitrance and impertinence, but who now is being wooed, perhaps willingly, into opposing Trump’s political direction.
This mostly dead portion of the populace is now either “over Trump” or, where it is not “over” him, remains in direct opposition to him. At best, they say that Trump was a stenotic plaque, if you will, a symptom of a sclerotic Republican machinery, a club, a political corporation, whose best interests were never in service to the Americans they professed to represent and whose interests were never their own.
And so, much of the mostly living parts of this mostly dead republic revert to those candidates who go along to get along; voting in elections that are proven to be swayed beyond any so-called margin for fraud by Google’s prioritization algorithms; on electronic black boxes and that all go down simultaneously in important elections, when important Republican voters are most likely to vote in person; with judges who restrain voting centers from staying open late to address these unforeseen election calamities.
And they bewail the result, and speak of messaging and enthusiasm as if it were the cause of an electoral disappointment.
So yes, Trump was a unique man and a sign of the times, but he was also a symbol, a symbol more potent than the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant, so potent that the highest office in the land charged him with being the identifying symbol not of the deplorables, but of terrorism, and White Supremacy, and a Threat to Our Democracy. And you became the focus of FBI, DOJ, and the government’s related social media companies along with the banking interests it regulates. And such disdain and legal threatening can only be borne for so long.
I understand why you must now refer to Trump as “former President Trump” and say, He’s gone, and, I’m over him, lest you be singled out for social and political shunning and possible 5 a.m. raids by military commandos wearing police badges.
But let us lament the laying to political rest of Donald John Trump, the man, who showed us so much.
Published in General
Is that really how the Constitution is written?
You’re right. Looking at the 12th again, they could vote for one of them but would have to vote for someone from another state for the other slot. Because one has to be from another state. You wouldn’t be entirely giving up your electors.
I knew that but had forgotten the specifics. That’s a lot of votes for the VP not to get. Any ideas about how the VP would be chosen if there was not a majority?
Nanocelt has a better read on it but yes. It would be messy and try explaining it to an electorate with a poor grasp of civics but it’s in the 12th amendment.
Thanks.
I think one significant idea comes about when a person examines the individuals who hate on him.
Aside from the socially radical, Commie-aligned LGBT crowd, who are so far gone that many former members are now apologizing for ever standing with them, all the other critics of Trump are either heavily invested with China or else they are out and out puppets of the Red Chinese.
Trump kept the economy strong and he kept the price of our fossil fuels down low.
Who is hurt when gas an oil are cheap to be had?
Russia is hurt, that’s who. How do we know this? There were several reasons why the USSR went down into the toilet on account of the Reagan Presidency.
One was the nuke catastrophe at Chernobyl, a disaster that woke many in Russia up about the corruption inside all governmental undertakings.
But a second and equally important act is that by keeping the price of gas and oil down low, the USSR’s main commodity was priced low too. The economy there was in turmoil.
So Trump not only strengthened our economy by ensuring that the USA was energy efficient, but he also actively brutally hurt the major political entity that the Dems and RINO’s insisted that he was in bed with!
As Nanocelt said, if the VP is undecided it goes to the Senate. If the President is undecided it goes to the House where each state gets a vote.
Wouldn’t it be kinda hilarious if the TV show “Jericho” turned out to be somewhat prophetic? With a Re-United States capitol in Texas.
You know this rural/urban division we have now is completely new and culturally/politicly divisive. Obviously, it is not anywhere near a 100% thing but it is significant enough to really separate and distinguish the values that the two major political groups hold.
Issues where there are differences:
Families, children, and education.(Public vs Private and home schooling)
Community density for housing(Multi-unit buildings vs single family residences)
Modes of transportation(subways, buses vs cars, trucks)
Big central vs small local government
Other policy differences:Welfare, Energy, Healthcare, Business and other regulatory matters
That list is far from exhaustive but the current division seems to be evenly divided. There are reasons for this but not necessarily rational. Knowledge is Power. I think of it as the Left where the knowledge is concentrated in a few and used to dominate and control the masses and on the Right the knowledge is distributed and difficult to manage and coalesce.
By the Senate.
However it is important to acknowledge that it is not the deeply Democratic voters and the deeply Republican voters who decide the fate of candidates, but the non-affiliated voters who determine the elections.
This trend was what propelled Obama into office. Even my hysterically Right Wing neighbor voted for Obama. Why? He was sick and tired of the Iraq War, and angry that the Bail Outs would definitely be in play if McCain won. (Too bad for the American public that O was lying thru his teeth when he said he would not favor Wall Street over Main Street in Oct 2008.)
Right now, many vote pattern experts believe people have decided that continuing the support for the Dems under Biden means fewer groceries, less ability to pay for transportation and utility fuel needs, and factors of stupidity: “Biden announces the need for a Department of Truth.” No, no one in America thinks we need a Department of Truth, except a few fringe radicals and even fewer billionaire social media owners who want continued black op monies in return for censorship.
Swoboda, the woman that is investigating where the 350,000 uncounted and location un-accounted for ballots in AZ might be now has brushed aside Charlie Kirk’s phrase regarding “Well, was that an area of AZ that traditionally goes for the Republican candidates?” with the retort “This election the voters are not necessarily voting the way they had in the past.” (I am paraphrasing the conversation they had.)
If 350,000 AZ ballots are truly uncounted and if they can be located, Kari Lake wins. Just as importantly, this state of affairs proves that the smoke we “election deniers” had kept on pointing to really truly had some fire going on below the surface.
Trump had one job left as the MAGA leader, providing material support to the candidates still fighting in the field, including especially Kari Lake and Herschel Walker, and saluting and validating the huge red wave in Florida and the men who made it happen, the foremost being Gov. DeSantis. That was what the moment called for. His spectacular failure on the latter has done nothing for Kari and probably hurt Herschel’s chances in a state where his thoughtless comments hurt allies’ chances in a 2020 post-election election. Own goal of the ugliest sort.
Ann Coulter really went off on Donald Trump on Twitter. I would post the tweet, but Coulter used an F bomb at the end of it.
Apparently, a large number have been “hidden” by moving them into drawers of counted ballots without actually counting them. Things are quickly moving from the Katie Hobbs appearance of malfeasance in managing an election in which she is a candidate to a situation where criminal charges are clearly in order.
If they’re mixed in with other ballots, how could they be identified for actual counting?
I don’t have a clue what that is.. you did say I sounded like Rick Wilson. :)
Nicely written. Trump has a bigger than life personality. He’s almost folkloric. I don’t really know if that’s best suited for politics. I don’t think it has staying power in politics. He had some wonderful accomplishments. He got screwed by Covid that disrupted the economy. He can still influence the direction of the country and be a sort of king maker, but I don’t think he’s electable any longer.
I should also add. I will be forever grateful for defeating Hillary and getting three conservative Supreme Court justices on the Court.
How about “the big reveal” of the true nature of the bureaucracy?
And remember when President Trump fired Fauci?
Oh wait.
This is so unfair . There are some battles that can’t be won at certain times.
Firing Fauci would of been a successful impeachment 3 .
Yes, and besides, I blame those who support the utility of masks and the safety and efficacy of vaccines as faucis in their own right. Maybe they should be fired, too.
From your keyboard to God’s inbox!!
By starting the count over.
I think there are some people even on Ricochet who would prefer to let Hobbs win rather than “suffer through” a complete recount.
It’s not a requirement that you respond to every question answered.
A better question is “what happened to “chain of custody” for ballot integrity?
Either we demand the truth or we extend our limbs for the application of shackles. People who whine about the unbearableness of “the strain” of doing so remind me of Jonathan Harris’ Dr. Smith. “Oh, the pain, the pain.” And then there are the people who would rather see children aborted, mutilated, and generally subjected to demonic psyops than lift a finger in defiance. There are always such people. They should step closer, I have something for them.
It’s strange how many people – including some lawyers, but probably not lawyers with much experience with criminal law – either don’t know or don’t care how “chain of custody” intentionally pretty much reverses the burden of proof: chain of custody is intended to protect evidence etc, and if chain of custody is not kept, it’s not necessary for anyone to prove that any particular tampering occurred.
And if some of what’s been reported about Arizona is correct, it’s possible that none of the ballots from Maricopa County have valid chain of custody.
And that would get a “Wow” after having the 2020 election experience.