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 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Only the ‘Best’
In 2016, Donald Trump promised to “only hire the best people.” By 2018, he was openly trashing most of them. What Trump demands is absolute personal loyalty. Not to the office, not to the country, but to him.
When Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds endorsed fellow governor Ron DeSantis, Trump issued a statement that said, “Two extremely disloyal people getting together is, however, a very beautiful thing to watch.” Kneel before Zod, peasants.
In the past two weeks, three high-profile individuals associated with the Trump campaign have engaged in various levels of bad behavior that has been met with absolute silence.
First, Laura Loomer, the self-styled “investigative journalist” whom Don Jr. has been promoting as his father’s next press secretary, doxxed Riley Gaines for endorsing DeSantis. Gaines appeared at a DeSantis event and was compensated for her travel and expenses and that was reported to the FEC. Loomer, who sticks her head up Trump’s rear for free, tried to paint this as a scandal and published Gaines’ home address on X (formerly Twitter), exposing her to Antifa and the rest of the transgender crazies.
Then last week, convicted felon and still Trump advisor, Roger Stone called Casey DeSantis the “C” word. Not illegal, of course, but crude and an indication of the contempt Trump & Co. have for women. That she is a loyal wife, a mother of young children, and a cancer survivor is just icing on that crap cake.
Last night, it was reported that Ryan Fournier, a co-founder of Students for Trump, was arrested for pistol-whipping his girlfriend. I guess we should be grateful that he didn’t use the business end of that gun on her.
We could hope that the other co-founder of Students for Trump will take up the slack. Oh, wait. That guy was John Lambert, and back in 2021, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison for fraud, pretending to be a New York City attorney and bilking people out of thousands of dollars. He’s still working out his supervised release and may not be available.
Only the best people. And as long as you bend the knee you’re A-Okay.
Published in Politics
I’ve known a few politicians in my lifetime. In private, they sound a lot like Trump. “I endorsed that guy. Do you believe what he just said?” “I did thus-and-such for so-and-so, and he never thanked me.”
I don’t know any politicians who have ever said, “Gosh, I endorsed you for office, but I won’t mind it when you speak against me or run against me tomorrow. It’s okay. I understand. I’m a jerk. I deserve your poor opinion.” :)
The game of politics is about building coalitions. That is the job that every politician is doing from the moment he or she decides to run. Endorsements are a very big deal in the world of politics. They are the currency of politics.
Trump is saying publicly what I’ve heard many politicians say privately about other candidates or fellow elected representatives.
It’s not surprising – it’s been the case all along. Give him admiration and you’re solid. Confront him outside his range of expertise and knowledge and it’s personal, and you’re a loser and hater. BLM could’ve had him over a barrel in 2020 if they’d played him right.
No, they don’t say that. They keep their mouths shut about it, because it comes off as childish and is self-demeaning to complain about it in public. What good would it do?
Ask him a question about the nuclear triad and you become the worst radio show host ever.
You think this is scary? Wait until Trump tries to find people to work in his administration.
Doxxing a fellow conservative will qualify Laura Loomer to be AG. Roger Stone’s history of dirty tricks makes him perfect for CIA director. Pistol-whipping a woman is the type of use of force that could make Ryan Fournier a great SecDef.
Did they undermine his agenda? Did they lie to his face? Both Birx and the military have admitted to that … rather, bragged about it
I agree. I’ve never heard any politician talk about loyalty publicly.
But I have heard quite a few sound like Trump in private conversations.
What I’m trying to say is that he’s not crazy for reacting that way. It’s pretty normal for politicians to do so.
I too bought a psychology degree online.
One person. That is less than a ‘fair number of his supporters’.
Also, let’s say a fair number of his supporters do complain about disloyalty.
What would that mean to you?
We know that people like McCain was pretty rough on subordinates and said some nasty things.
To this point, I think the argument should be is Trump wise to say these things publicly. I don’t tend to think so, even though part of me likes to hear it.
Yes and besides I recall the criticism of Kelly was not that the questions were “hard” as she herself likes to characterize them, but that the questions were more of a hit job.
1: The President is not the Vice Presidents “boss”. They are separate Constitutional offices. POTUS cannot “fire” VPOTUS.
2: Lots of people take notes during phone calls. For higher level government officials it’s kind of expected.
Kind of like when Trump keeps claiming he’s going to drop incontrovertible proof of electoral fraud in 2020, but somehow never does.
Of course, it never surfaces, and it’s clear [Trump] made it all up. But the Righteous fury of the Trump supporters who cling to the lie never abated.
Here too I recall it differently. I recall that anyone who never heard of the term nuclear triad was supposedly manifestly unfit, as if they probably didn’t already understand that the US possessed several delivery methods for its nukes but just had never come across the term, as if it it were some complex subject that couldn’t be understood in less than a minute.
It was the over the top and seemingly dishonest reaction that earned Hewitt the criticism.
And you don’t see the difference between “Public” and “Private”?
Why do you care if it’s public or private if it’s the same reaction, if what he’s reacting to is public? As voters, shouldn’t we want all of it public? Haven’t we had enough of the glittering images, narratives, and propaganda?
You should really check in with St. Augustine.
Like I pointed out before, a lot of people who were applauded when they entered the Trump administration are now regarded as back-stabbers or whatever by the Trump loyalists. It’s going to be harder to fill top positions in the next Trump administration, knowing that even if you are popular with conservatives when you take the job, you may be despised when you leave, because that seems to be a pattern. My guess is if you work in a DeSantis or Haley administration, you could disagree with your boss and not have your boss and his legions of fans ridicule you on social media with childish nicknames.
I do see a difference, as I said. What I’m trying to say is that his reactions are very normal for politicians.
I’m trying to say that he’s not some kind of maniacal egotist who is weird for a politician.
Does he lack social skills? For sure. :) :)
It was a simple question to anyone versed in the US military policy for any length of time over the previous half-century. Trump was running for Commander-in-Chief, not for alderman. He had a lot of studying to do, and he hadn’t started yet.
I knew what the Nuclear Triad was when I was in Junior High School.
I share that concern about how able he will be to attract top talent. And it would be a problem even if he were a perfect human being. For starters, any president who is known to be able to serve only one term would have that problem too. But there’s a trust issue there for people as well. I have no idea how this will turn out.
But truthfully, I was worried about that in 2016. Who would work for this guy? Actually, his cabinet turned out to be an excellent group of people. They did a fantastic job.
But please remember that Republican voters wanted an outsider. They were not interested in Jeb Bush (my first choice) or anyone else who was deemed an insider. We have to respect that. And what goes with that is a person who is not going to have a poker hand of people to pick from to fill his cabinet and advisory roles.
Republicans wanted a fresh pair of eyes in Washington. Given the national debt and the intrusiveness of the various federal agencies into local life, I think they were right to want that more than anything else.
Voters were ticked off in 2016. I keep repeating this, but they wanted and got a clean sweep. Republicans took the House, the Senate, several governorships, and several state legislatures.
I respect my fellow Republicans. And Trump turned out to be a good choice.
Republicans could have, too. Except they decided before he’d even taken the oath of office that they weren’t going to work with him.
Amazing, isn’t it? Republicans refusing to work with a President of their own party? You’d at least expect them to be loyal to their own President.
Right now, who would choose to work for him knowing that anyone who does gets targeted by an unhinged DOJ together with crazed federal judges, an FBI that operates as the secret police of the Democratic Party, and all the other federal agencies lined up against him. Ask John Eastman what happens to you if you work for Trump.
Meanwhile, you firmly believe that Joe Biden legitimately got 81 milli — LOL, I can barely type that without laughing — 81 million votes? More votes than any Presidential candidate ever? Even Obama? All the while campaigning from his basement or speaking to crowds of 12?
And then he gets slammed for not having the best people.
The GOPe and Conservatism, Inc. did quite a lot to damage the Trump Presidency out of spite. They may tell themselves it was because he was “unfit” but is is clear to me it was childish, petty, petulance. The exact sort of thing they want to accuse Trump of.
I only ever heard of it when it was asked of Trump in 2015. It’s jargon for a concept most of us already knew anyway (or could describe upon a moment’s reflection). I suspect we actually have more than three by this point.
We’re getting closer here. The loyalty is not to the president but to the chain of command. Insubordination in the military is not following a lawful order. But insubordination is not disloyalty. If anyone in government cannot execute the policies of the president then they should just resign.
Social skills according to whom? To me, I like direct and dislike veiled, in personal life. In public life, as a voter I now believe direct is a benefit to me – the more direct the better since I’ve had more than my fill of of duplicity and platitude.
I think you’ve just illustrated, in these two paragraphs, why Trump isn’t an effective leader. Yes, you’re right, it is necessary to build coalitions. That is made very difficult by the inability to keep one’s mouth shut. Maybe those politicians you’ve heard expressing opinions privately, not publicly, were aware of that – Trump isn’t.