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Smells Like Desperation
One thing that has always bothered me about the US and its allies throwing unchecked and unending support to the Ukrainians is that desperate people do desperate and stupid things. Escalating a war with a country that possesses 5,977 nuclear warheads has little room for error, and I don’t have great faith in those charged with navigating that course.
In one breath, the hawks assure us that Putin is both a rational actor and a man who wants to go to war with all the former Warsaw Pact countries, even the ones now admitted to NATO. That contradiction makes it hard for me to look at them as people we should trust to make judgments regarding Putin’s current state of mind.
And it’s not a judgment I can make for myself. I don’t speak Russian and therefore can’t adequately judge Putin’s words or try to gauge his thinking by the lines being laid down through state media.
Where I do sense desperation today is from Donald Trump and his loyal supporters. Now, when it came to Donald Trump’s presidency, I made two things explicitly clear on the pages of Ricochet. First, I wasn’t from “Never-Neverland,” nor was I an acolyte. The second thing, and more importantly, while I could not be characterized as a Trump supporter, I was definitely a supporter of Trump supporters. Like Dave Chappelle in his now infamous SNL monologue, I could say that I understood them because I lived among them. And I still do. Even today, I will argue those who attacked Trump’s base may have felt something cathartic, but it was a highly destructive and counterproductive endeavor.
With yesterday’s announcement from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Trump base is becoming harder and harder to defend. Since last night they have attacked the Governor, not from the right, but from the left, citing and parroting every MSNBC and DNC talking point they can find. Today’s big line from Alex Bruesewitz is a doozy:
Imagine this bunch adopting the line that relitigating anything from 2020 is beyond the pale. Hell, their entire raison d’etre is relitigating the year 2020. And their guy can’t shut up about 2020.
While I may be in the dark about Putin’s desperation, this group practically reeks of it. It smells so bad you can see the fumes. Bruesewitz wants us all to move on? Well, I have.
Published in General
Almost everyone I know personally (risking a Pauline Kael moment here) who happily voted for Trump, twice, is fully supportive of DeSantis, and kind of wish Trump would stop the stupid comments.
So I don’t think that’s Trump’s base. I think that’s Trump’s online paid shills doing that stupid stuff. (And Trump himself.) The base is far less hardcore.
Just like online amplification allows NeverTrumpers to believe they were the decisive votes that put Biden in the White House, it also allows Trump shills to believe they, too, are a formidable army.
I, too, am with you Drew. I was shocked to hear Trump criticizing DeSantis with his stupid Desanctimonious comments. It made me remember back in 2015 when I said to my wife, there will be many moments when we cringe but Hillary Clinton is not an option. Now, we have an option. I just listen to the DeSantis interview on Newsmax with Eric Bolling. DeSantis is the man!
I think this is a contradiction and that the first paragraph is correct about Trump’s supporters–it’s a very mixed group of people. Most of them are just like you.
The second paragraph is referring to a group of Twitterers. Many of Trump’s supporters don’t even have Twitter accounts. :)
People just write and say stuff sometimes because they like the sound of their own voices.
Isn’t that pretty close to what Trump does? I’m sorry, Marci, I was a total Trump supporter while he was POTUS, but I’ve almost got to the point where I don’t trust him anymore. He has made a big mistake in going after DeSantis starting several months ago, for no reason. Did you listen to DeSantis interview tonight with Eric Bolling.? DeSantis does not criticize Trump, he knowledges Trump’s accomplishments. He is campaigning as an adult, the kind of person who we would admire as president.
I love hearing how well DeSantis is handling this. And I belong to Ricochet–that’s how much I don’t like personal remarks. I wish Trump would stop. On the other hand, I never liked it, but my fellow Republicans didn’t care and elected him, and I was pleasantly surprised during his term in office. I really liked Jeb Bush, but no one treated him with any respect at all. I’m not holding my breath waiting for people in politics to start treating each other with kindness and respect.
I don’t know what to say. I didn’t make this situation, and I don’t see an easy way out. The persecution and prosecution of the J6 protestors and Biden’s Red Background speech in Philadelphia have changed things.
I wish the DeSantis supporters well. I respect their judgment, and I understand how frustrated they are with Trump’s campaigning style.
But I also think people should feel free to be a friend of Donald Trump without living in fear of the DOJ or the FBI.
The desperation seems to be for people to get clicks. People will say anything to get cheered or jeered. As for Trump v. DeSantis, I think if elected, that DeSantis would take the job seriously. With Trump you get entertainment like season 99 of The Apprentice.
I also find it very disappointing that Trump is so intent on criticizing DeSantis, and seems to have forgotten the sorry state of the nation and it’s looming frightful descent into a Totalitarian State.
On a few issues like the reluctance to cut welfare spending, reform Social Security and/or prosecute the mass murdering FDA/CDC/NIH/Big Pharma complex for it’s purposeful and deliberate ruining and killing of America lives, Trump is not looking too good. So when you add all these ridiculous attacks on DeSantis Trump is starting to look absurd. His Ego is just too big and has gotten to him.
Precisely. Trump is in a target-rich environment, and he has focused his fire in the wrong direction.
President Trump, either move forward or move out of the way.
Yesterday on the Buck Sexton/Clay Travis podcast DeSantis said he would pardon Trump and the J6 protesters and anyone else he determined to be a political prisoner in an effort to de-weaponize the Justice Department. In favor of Trump, OTH, his name is easier to type than DeSantis.
It is interesting. There are a bunch of politicians that got into office through a Trump endorsement and they are fiercely loyal. There are also a bunch of politicians that hate Trump that are willing to promote someone else. The result is a lot of politicians are talking about one guy, DeSantis and everyone else just disappeared.
I think that DeSantis lacks charisma, but he makes up for it by working hard. He does lots and lots of long interviews with radio hosts, who love him as a guest. That and $200M will win him IA and NH. His best advantage is his wife, Casey. She does have charisma and charm and is willing to do all women’s shows where she will talk about growing up in Ohio, beating breast cancer, and raising three kids. Melania looks like a model, but she is stand-offish and a bad fit for women’s shows, because she only knows to talk about being a runway model in 5 languages. In 2016, did you see Jeb!s wife? What about Cruz’ wife? Do you remember their names? Columba and Heidi.
“Fill your pockets with jam, baby…because we’re toast!”
The above quote was from a volcanologist a little too close to a sudden eruption.
But the attitude adopted by those who I refer to as “Only Trump”-ers calls that quote to mind. Their scorched earth tactics will alienate some voters and in 2024 we will desperately every vote. I’m afraid we’re toast.
That is super good news! Thank you.
Maybe not.
The attitude on CTH with Sundance and his followers is disturbing. They consider DeSantis to be a traitor to the Trump cause. It feels as though Trump is more important than America First. They believe DeSantis is financed by globalists and will be beholden to them. I have not heard DeSantis express one word that would justify those fears. But right now I have little doubt that if the primary goes to DeSantis, most of that crowd will stay home in the general election.
Well, no, that’s not a fair characterization of what Bruesewitz wrote.
He didn’t say that relitigating anything from 2020 is beyond the pale. He said that relitigating the Covid response is unwarranted, because DeSantis locked down Florida. This suggests that DeSantis wouldn’t have handled Covid in a significantly different way than Trump. I think that it is a good argument.
I think that what you did this time, EJ, is what we call a strawman argument. Claim that your opponent in debate said something that he didn’t say, and then attack that. It can be effective rhetorically, if people aren’t paying much attention, or if they’re inclined to side with you anyway.
I like both Trump and DeSantis.
DeSantis and his team of sycophants
Oh, now that is rich!
That’s not true because his very first sentence says, “…Donald Trump is focused on the future.” And that’s demonstrably false. It is a bald faced lie false. It is liar, liar, pants on fire false. Donald Trump is obsessed with the 2020 election and so are all his online minions and hanger ons such as Bruesewitz, Laura
LooneyLoomer, et. al. They don’t want to litigate what makes Trump look bad. It’s about controlling the narrative. C’mon, Jerry. You’re smarter than that. Your answer is Clintonesque. Wanna talk about what the meaning of “is” is?Wait a minute. Candidates of the same party are going after each other ahead of the primaries?
Gasp.
Let’s not forget that these political heroes all have the same goals – to get into or stay in office, in order to tell you what to do, and profit from their positions, immensely. One of Trump’s redeeming qualities, well, let’s call it an attribute instead, is that he can throw rocks, be the iconoclast, and call out the participants in the system for what they truly are. Because he spent time with all of them, contributed to their campaigns (on either side), way before he ever ran for president.
Looking forward to 1.5 years of this.
Of course you expect candidates to attack each other in a primary, they are opponents. However, Trump attacking DeSantis from the Left on stuff people like is not a good look. If DeSantis attacked Trump on his judicial picks, I would think he was smoking meth like a proper Florida Man. Also, the post was about an attack that’s embarrassing. Trump needs to step up his game if he wants to have a shot at revenge for 2020.
GOP women don’t even like DeSantis better. The only desperate group is his supporters who don’t understand how stupid him entering the race this cycle is.
A poll conducted by those mouth-breathing commies at the Economist? Feh. Feh, I say!
July 2015:
Jeb! 19%
Trump 12%
Huckabee 8%
Carson 7%
Ra Paul 7%
I don’t put too much faith in polls of any kind this far out.
To be fair, that was an open field.
Of course, you know those suburban women voters are getting all their information from Regime Propaganda sources. And if you listen to Regime Propaganda, DeSantis is 10 times worse than Trump.
To be fair, so is this. Trump is an ex-president, not an incumbent.
You know this is different.
Regarding Putin’s state of mind. I think Scott Walker described it well back in 2015 when he said (paraphrasing from memory here), “Putin likes to probe with bayonets. If they find mush, they push. If they find steel, they stop.”
That’s why nations as diverse as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Poland have decided to provide steel to the Ukrainian military. They figure that once those Russian bayonets are confronted with steel, they will be stopped dead.
Otherwise, Putin just keeps on probing with his bayonets and nuclear table pounding, thinking he can get what he wants because people are too weak to show him any steel.
Walker may have said it about Putin, but the quote was from Vladimir Ilich Lenin.
The best way to deal with someone who is poking a bayonet at you is to shoot him in the face.
— Percival
@ejhill – As you well know, there’s reliable sampling then there’s anecdotal projection. A squeaky wheel on Twitter can’t represent or even give hints about Trump’s core following.
Remember when ABC’s publicists were calling Chicken Soup the new hit of the 1989 Fall season, even though it was losing most of its lead-in from Roseanne, and would be cancelled in early November? Stop Trump conservatives exhibit similar wishful thinking and willful blindness about the former President’s base of popularity.
Anyone who has had understanding audiences as part of his professional portfolio knows that developing data instincts has become very difficult. Audience niches are smaller, survey methods reliant upon evolving media can’t reliably represent disparate demos, and analysts too often identify a preferance as a zeitgeist.
With that last disclaimer in mind, here come my own best guesses as to what’s going on right now.