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Message to GOPers: Words Are Not Actions
DeSantis wrote in a Wednesday post on X that “it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart.'”
In a recent BDB post (who is on fire of late) crystallized a vague concept I had about the legacy GOP and their over-reliance on political debate as a substitute for achieving results. I mean that quite literally.
It doesn’t really matter what we do, it only matters what we say out loud, lest someone get the wrong ideas in their pretty little heads.
I have often read on these very pages on Ricochet and elsewhere, how Trump should be more careful about how he says things because the media and Democrats will pounce on the wrong interpretation.
This in itself is laughable because these people are entirely capable of making any statement into any absurd meaning they wish.
Further, the fear GOP candidates have of being misconstrued (usually with deliberate intent) turns their statements into mild pablum, full of platitudes and devoid of strength and impact.
This is why Romney lost, and why so many GOPers fail.
Then, these very same pols who have failed to gain higher office, or failed to keep their weasel-ly promises while serving in office, gleefully join the attacks on DJT for being insufficiently vague and nuanced in his speech.
The statement from Ron DeSantis is despicable and clearly desperate. But desperation should not mitigate the reprehensible conclusion that Trump is “attack(ing) Israel” by saying these words.
Apparently Trumps actions are to be completely ignored, and his latest ‘words’, badly misinterpreted, should define his entire being.
(This, by the way, dismisses the amazing accomplishments Trump made on behalf of Israel to include the bold action to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the Abraham accords, and granting his Jewish son-in-law close advisory position and more)
As to the substance, or lack thereof, to the charge that referring to someone being “smart” is ‘praise’ well, I fail to see that logic, and it scares me if DeSantis actually believes we should never regard our mortal enemies as being smart, cunning or resilient. He wants to be Commander-in Chief?
On the second level, does DeSantis believe this absurd attack will help his chances?
That’s not very smart, Ron.
Published in General
You push back against this so-called “national narrative” by saying Good Things About Trump? And you think people here on Ricochet can’t stand to hear it?
Some people have a rich fantasy life. Who needs evidence when you have that!
So that would be the narrative of like 5% of people? I can’t understand why people on Ricochet are obsessed with TV news media. Hardly anybody else in America watches that stuff. Constantly monitoring what the TV news people say is like living in a bubble. It is little indicative of what goes on in real life.
First let me say that I appreciate your uniformly respectful responses, something which I myself may have trouble with. So, thank you.
As to The Narrative, I don’t have a TV set, so whenever I want to hear breaking news, I google with with Brave or recently for a very short time DDG. And to find out who the latest shooter is, or what the latest political super-event is, I click on AP or Reuters, CNN, or even Yahoo sites just to get the basics. And most recently after the ouster of McCarthy I wanted to hear what all the following commotion was about, and I clicked on various main outlets — and I was moderately shocked to hear from every main outlet the clearly injected gratuitous scornful adjectives at the Republicans for holding up run-of-the mill House legislative functions.
Sure, maybe only 5% of the US populace hears this directly, but in conversations with others, mostly twittophiles, they mostly seem to be following the same thinking that is presented on the news — which I consider to be propagandistic. And we know that twitter is a major, and probably the major, source of news for most Americans, or at least middle aged and younger Americans. And we know from Project Veritas’ clandestine interviews of top executives that the mass media coordinate to direct the narrative of news stories, and from the Twitter Files the US government sets the stories to be pushed on twitter and for years has actually actively censored opposing news — that is, news that doesn’t agree with the government’s preferred narrative — or “the national narrative”.
And I am reasonably convinced that if the Military Industrial, Media, Academic Complex (with the CIA at the top) had not immediately taken to smearing Trump, that is if the mass media had not poisoned the water so to speak, Trump’s approval which was very high before declaring for the presidency, would be much, much higher than it has been for the past 8 years, and he would easily have won reelection in 2020. But I also think that half the people believe whatever they are bombarded with. The old saying is that if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough, people will believe it; and the even older saying is you can fool half the people all the time.
This is what I mean by a “national narrative”; and so, yes, it certainly exists, and people believe it and internalize it.
I’m so glad to hear!
Myself, I don’t care much about breaking news or picking up stories quickly, but to each his own.
I agree minimally with Trump’s approval rating being higher if not for the “Military Industrial, Media, Academic Complex” (good term!) constantly pounding him. But I think the idea of the majority of the country being swayed by the mass media is becoming somewhat outdated. Consider this – Biden’s approval rating has been worse than Trump’s for the vast majority of his tenure so far, and it has even fallen lower in recent weeks. Surveys indicate that something like 70% of Americans think that Biden is corrupt and has been taking bribes from foreign entities. These attitudes would not be possible if the mass media had as big an influence as most conservatives think it has.
Louisiana just had a State-wide election where the democrats were blown right off the political map, and they have all the same mass media that we do. News has become so decentralized because of the Internet that it is really impossible to keep anyone in the dark anymore unless they purposely want to be kept in the dark. And of course, there are some people who are happy with just that!
Well, I don’t trust either the methodology or the ethics of public pollsters. They’re like newscasters who know that drama sells. People are always speculating that specific poll results are formulated to manipulate public opinion up and down. Frankly, I find it a little hard to believe that 70% of US adults even know about Biden’s bribes and corruption. But even if they do, far less actually care. I really do think that at least 45% of the population would vote for any Democrat, or even Biden again, knowing what they could know now.
But I still believe that the government censorship and media narrative shapes at least half the country’s thinking, even unwittingly to an otherwise knowledgeable public. Google proved that it can sway elections by, I believe it was at least 16% but possibly far more (I just don’t remember the exact numbers) just by the surreptitious way it picks and orders search results. And nowadays the results are even more obviously skewed. And that’s the internet.
By the way, I didn’t think up MIMAC. I saw someone talking about it in a video not too long ago and it caught my eye.
Again, you expect me to submit to your interpretation(s) of some comment I made on a thread – no quote and absent any context. You’ve already proven you jump to conclusions and make uninformed blanket statements. If you really think you can use the term “quite literally” without a quote and context you’re in some kind of cult yourself.
Then I’m supposed to sign onto your definition of being a Christian by taking some oath?
I did that constantly for 8 years in a Catholic school. But did I mean it? No I was being programmed. Did it affect me? Yes. I am fundamentally a Christian, but unlike you cultists, I don’t think the religion and its adherents are flawless. I find your tone and false accusations unChristlike myself…
I can imagine I’ve pushed back on religiosity here. This is a political site and arguing about religion is even more futile and ridiculous than arguing about politics.
That does not mean I am somehow un-Christian or “far from” being Christian.
If you belong to a faith, or a cult, that claims you can be the arbiter of someone else’s religious or spiritual beliefs from a few comments on a political forum well, you’re definitely in a cult – and not a good one.
But it’s obvious to anyone here, you’re the one making unverified claims about others with scant evidence.
Oh, look at that! Here it is again!
https://ricochet.com/1509767/ron-desantis-destroys-his-political-future/#comment-6969549
Last I checked, less than 1/4 of Americans use Twitter/X. So it can’t possibly be a/the major source of news for most Americans.
The reach is extended some by the number of media figures who do seem to basically copy/paste their “news” from other sources including Twitter.
That’s not quite bringing up the porn star thing whenever somebody says something positive about Trump. That was in response to Franco saying:
The porn star scandal is one of the biggest reasons that soccer moms don’t like Trump, not because of his height.
So “whenever” now equals “one” (1). Must be that new math we keep hearing about.
I was not asking you to take an oath. I was asking you if you believed in the basic tenets of Christianity, which you declined to answer. Any normal Christian would jump at the chance to profess his faith to others. I guarantee you that if I asked the same questions of Flicker, he would jump at the chance to affirm his faith.
I will make an effort to find the comments you made that I am referencing.
If your serious answer to either of the two questions you asked is yes or maybe or sometimes or I don’t know or anything short of “no” then nothing is cleared up. If your serious answer is “no,” then I would be interested in your proof.
I’ll bet that’s a false statement.
Okay, I’ll bite. Yes, it is absolutely possible to be deceived, and this applies to every human being who has ever lived. And is it possible to lie? The answer is an unqualified yes! That also applies to every human being who was ever born or whomever had the ability to communicate.