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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
Did you mean *not* arguing against my central point as context implies?
Reagan was not impeached twice, but he was constantly vilified unfairly, although it started to let up somewhat towards the end of his 2nd term when it was obvious that it was doing no good. He was not formally charged with scores of false accusations by our state security services, but you couldn’t walk down a university hallway without hearing false accusations against him.
So, I don’t know, am I arguing against your central point or not?
Duck Duck go:
Of course Tip was entirely disingenuous and RR something of a dupe in that regard, but the point is that no Democrat Speaker would be caught dead consorting with Trump off hours.
Remember the charge is that I wasn’t present in the 80’s or I wasn’t paying attention. Both completely false.
So I’m doing all the work and you’re just making uninformed spurious charges. Picking nits while agreeing it seems with my basic points? Thanks, pal.
( if you really mean you are arguing with my basic points you’re not doing a very good job…)
Maybe just not getting my point.
To capsulize… the sentiment was quite the same, but the effect– the power the exponential impact of 24/7 openly hostile media channels with the rest pretending they are unbiased.
And an unprecedented attack. You’re using the words… two impeachments …but ….but well… two ( entirely ridiculous) impeachments is enough right there, daddio!
Again I’m not saying people didn’t hate Reagan, but it was a completely different environment. They weren’t screaming bloody murder 24/7
Also since Reagan the DOJ changed dramatically. This law fare didn’t exist back then.
I can’t believe I have to argue this point. But it seems mostly a misunderstanding
I would thinks his lead in the polls (and the shady 2000) make him an incumbent, just the rare kind.
I have always been a Netanyahu fan but if he did that, I could also understand why Trump would be mad at him. Also, it would have made Netanyahu look weak.
But those NTs have already told us through words and actions that voting for a Dem, staying home, or voting for an independent or all honorable things to do. They set the bar.
Telling people elections are stolen convinces people to stay home and causes us to lose? – Denying elections are full of corruption allows corruption to continue so we lose….seems to be a problem here. Perhaps Georgian and other voters should have made better decisions to give themselves a fighting chance.
All of this – ditto.
People who vote against him are almost always doing so for emotional reasons ergo they don’t convince Trump supporters they are wrong to support him. Even if both sides are acting out of emotion, which emotion is more justifiable? I contend the Trump supporters’ emotions are more valid. Salena Zito did a good job laying out those emotions in her book.
Exactly, and they are overlooking a very important reason why we want Trump to win – it seems to be the only way we can defeat this dangerous tactic of the left. The Republican Party seems to have no interest in doing so. And if voters have no interest in undoing this evil behavior, I see no reason I should vote for anyone else to save them from the evil they intentionally ignore because they hate Trump so much.
People see their country and their future slipping away. They don’t like the path the country is going down. Trump read their feelings and talked to them in a way no other candidate has and in a time when the left had crossed the red line. Rather than learn from Trump, the party instead insulted them for their feelings. No wonder they don’t listen to the Trump haters…they don’t get it.
There is no comparison with this and the Obama lovers. Some were moral preeners. Others like his message of blaming others for their failures. Many fell for his slick talking or promises to be Santa Claus. Obama was more of an antichrist than a wise man. You can’t say that about Trump.
Ones state of residence might possibly make a bit of difference.
I have argued against the mindset “My vote doesn’t matter because I live in California” or wherever.
First, for the people who want to beat us over the head with popular vote totals, which we know don’t matter, it’s good to show them that we can beat them in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote. It gives them less ammunition for pushing Nationwide Popular Vote on us.
Second, it shows your friends and neighbors who might be secret conservatives that, no, they’re not alone. And even if the Dem is going to win anyway, the smaller the margin by which they win, the more they see control slipping away (and again, the more your friends and neighbors see that there’s a chance to flip the state in the future.
Never let the fact that you live in a blue state determine your vote. If it’s Trump vs. Biden and you call yourself a conservative, but just sit home on election day because you find Trump too icky, you’ve just given Biden a vote. And I will blame you for when the world goes to hell.
Somehow I lost what I was writing, so let me summarize: All good comments, and I endorse all of them.
Nevertheless, right or wrong, in 2016 I quietly voted 3rd party. Was unsurprised that the state went like 35% Hillary and over 60% Trump. My own county was 6-1 for Trump. 2020 Trump no question.
But are you saying that if you expected your state to be closer in 2016, you would have voted for Trump?
Because otherwise, don’t overlook the possibility that if Trump hadn’t won in 2016, President Hillary could have been partly your fault if you still voted 3rd party.
No, I’m not saying that at all. Had there been any significant possibility – like for example had I lived in Texas or Florida (I used to and where my children lived at the time)- Trump would have gotten my vote, hands down.
Of course the real reason our votes don’t matter, particularly in swing states, is because ballots are what matter. And Democrats can produce tens of thousands out of thin air.
(You still vote, because you want to make it harder for them to steal it. The harder they have to work, the more opportunities to catch ’em in the act. We caught ’em in the act in dozens of ways in 2020, but we still have “conservatives” who refuse to believe it and “Republicans” who won’t do a thing about it.)
This is why I am not bothering to vote for the GOP anymore above the State level, and honestly the Texas GOP is fairly messed up as well (just look at the Dade Phelan and Paxton impeachment as examples.
And now, this:
Sure to trigger many.
He sees the writing on the wall.
Just asking: What are the mechanics of a Republican Party Presidential Candidate having the Party itself officially nominate Trump?
I don’t find the point of this post convincing. You are bringing up a fairly benign criticism of Trump by DeSantis, yet you go on to persuade that actions are more important than words, it is even in the title of your post. You cite the cases of Trump’s words being overly criticized, but seem to be unaware that you are doing the same thing to DeSantis’s words, while ignoring his solid actions as Governor.
I know you don’t like the idea of Trump as a cult, but most of your reasons for supporting Trump seem to be of the cultish variety. You denigrate every other Republican candidate, especially DeSantis (presumably because he represents the biggest threat to Trump), as if Trump were the lone figure in the republican party that can be our savior. I don’t subscribe to that. I would probably be happy with at least six or seven of the candidates if they were the nominee, and I don’t even know much about the rest of them. However, you treat them as enemies. I would expect a typical conservative to embrace the wonderfully deep bench we have rather than fight against them. I hear conservatives complain all the time that the democrats are united while the republicans are not (which may or may not be true). Well, this is one of the reasons for not being united. We shouldn’t be fighting against the people in our own party, especially if they are staunch conservatives.
This reminds me too much of communist politics (I know somebody’s going to think I’m over the top, but this is true). In communism, all other rivals for the top spot are brutally eliminated in favor of the top guy. There is no “from the ground up” support. It is all “top down.” And actual issues don’t matter, only power matters. And you are mostly not bringing up substantive issues, you are citing things like charisma, who the candidate’s donors are, the enthusiasm a candidate generates, or how much flak a candidate receives from the press. This does not inspire me to vote for anybody based on those qualities.
I have never seen Jean make nasty comments toward people. Can you cite a specific one?
It is preposterous to assume that by simply running against Trump, DeSantis and his supporters are empowering the “March to totalitarianism.” This is another cultish fetish. Why does Trump deserve special status, that no other candidate should dare run against him?
If you really wanted people to stand up for our very system of government and democracy, not just for Trump, then you wouldn’t criticize any candidate simply for running against him.
I agree with your first two paragraphs, but the third does not make sense. Does that mean that everybody in the republican field is ignoring the election problems based on the fact that they are running for President?
The semi-official estimate is that Trump got $413 Million from his dad (only a small portion of that was inheritance. Most of it was gifted to him before elder Trump died). Forbes Magazine did an analysis on whether or not the oft-repeated line by detractors was true that “Trump would have made more money just investing in the stock market than building his business empire.” They came up with kind of mixed results:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/10/11/its-official-trump-would-be-richer-if-he-had-just-invested-his-inheritance-into-the-sp500/?sh=74bcb8751c48
But wouldn’t it actually make him – or anyone – MORE admirable that they wanted to actually get stuff built, not just sit on money and wait for it to increase?
What’s next, Elon Musk is a chump for actually building rockets and stuff?
Well, I’m glad he went out and worked instead of just living off his father’s toil.
This is a little over the top. People have been disappointed by too many politicians. They fee they are losing the country. Nobody listened to them until Trump came along. That is neither a cult nor communism.
This post illustrates the problem. They stick with Trump because he recognizes the problem. Why aren’t DeSantis and the other Republicans running against what the corrupt government is doing to Trump? Of course we stick up for Trump. We fear what out country is becoming and only Trump gets it. The others seem content to let the corrupt DOJ take out their rival.