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Bonfire of the Inanities
I’ll be the first to admit there are many things to loathe about 2016; actually I was probably the first to proclaim it at 12:00:01 AM in my timezone. I think my exact words were something to the order of “this year is overrated.” And it certainly seemed to be shaping up into one long, terrible year: I confidently predicted that the GOP would nominate Bush/Kasich in 2016 and lose terribly to Hillary because GOP voters embrace shallow thinking above all things: immigration is a minor concern, vanity candidates have no chance of winning, the voters pick the next guy in line, character counts.
But there has been one shining star in the dark fundament of bland: Donald Trump. If there’s one thing to love about the man it’s that he is, or plays on TV, the loudmouth New Yorker who takes nothing off nobody.
Now don’t tear into me yet: I’m not thrilled about him being the Republican nominee. I am absolutely delighted, however, that he seems to be headed to the lowest common denominator in the general election season. As a Texan I have a warm affection for his brand of New Yorker, much as I do the proud Frenchman. We’re all convinced we live at the epicenter of civilization, living somewhere else makes you inferior in some real but undefinable sense and anyone who says different is not just wrong but delusional. The only difference, of course, is that Texans are right and New Yorkers and the French are wrong, but I don’t hold that against them.
Today comes the news that Donald Trump, fresh off his attacks against Bill Clinton as a rapist on Instagram, is now raising questions about the “very fishy” Vince Foster suicide.
Via Hot Air:
When asked in an interview last week about the Foster case, Trump dealt with it as he has with many edgy topics — raising doubts about the official version of events even as he says he does not plan to talk about it on the campaign trail.
He called theories of possible foul play “very serious” and the circumstances of Foster’s death “very fishy.”
“He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said, speaking of Foster’s relationship with the Clintons at the time. “He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.”
He added, “I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”
I don’t need to tell you how marvelous this all is. After decades of shibboleths about how to behave in the primary and general election and who plays to the average voter and how SuperPACs are evil and will distort politics forever and buy elections we’re finally getting an acid test about all the things we know about politics.
So far the shibboleths haven’t fared very well.
The rest of the year will be awful and no matter what happens a lot of us will be unhappy; the fact that this was true in at least 2008 and 2012 I’ll leave aside for the moment. But the media that demonized Mitt Romney who, government policy aside, might be the most humane, gentlemanly, and all-around decent person to ever seek the nation’s highest office as a gay-hating, animal-abusing monster who gave people cancer are now faced with the exact opposite. Donald Trump is political oneupsmanship in action.
The New York Times calls him a woman-hater? He trots out Bill’s, ahem, philandering.
George Stephanopoulos argues he’s not keeping his promises? He brings up Hillary’s emails and attacks George’s motives.
People want to talk about his shady past? Hey, do you remember that Vince Foster suicide people say was a murder?
Trump is going at it with fire and sword. For those of us who tear our hair out (figuratively in my case, as I don’t have it anymore) at all the bland bromides trotted out as sage wisdom, we’re getting to put it all on the line all at once. If it’s all going down anyway it might as well do so in flames.
Whatever else happens, 2016 is shaping up to be entertaining as hell.
Published in General
I just can’t even.
I’m beginning to think much of his support isn’t so much pro-Trump as anti-media, we have been waiting soooo long for someone on our side to call them out, it’s wonderful. I’ve always said the job of every Republican is get up each morning and kick the NY Times right I their tiny testes, every single day , first thing.
25 years of watching the Clinton’s get away with everything!
And on the flip side, I’ll never vote for Trump but find his attacks on Clinton humorous. I can only imagine the conversations in the Clinton campaign HQ, wondering why her friend would be so mean to her.
Donald is going to be sooo disappointed when he becomes POTUS and demands, “Show me where the bodies are buried!” and learns that all his trading in conspiracy theories from the JFK assassination to 9/11 Trutherism is just a bunch of garbage.
Heavens above, I love that video!
“The media” has been going after Trump for a long time. The more leftist places (HuffPo, Slate, MSNBC, Occupy Democrats) have been attacking Trump since November, at the latest. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Trump has been using leftist/Democrat campaign tactics, and this scares the hell out of the leftist media, since it works. They have no counter for it, since they’ve never really had it used against them before. (Conservatives have no counters to it since the more obvious counters are odious to conservatives generally – this was, of course by design; lucky for Trump he’s no conservative.)
It is, but Sanders is probably the ideal opponent for Trump: the meek, earnest, and naive type that Trump will eat for breakfast. Sanders doesn’t have the presence to even stand in Trump’s shadow.
I think the leftists also see this, and that’s why they’re deathly afraid of Trump. Neither of the major Dem candidates can stand up to a sustained Trump attack. Warren or Biden might have been able to deal with him, but both Clinton and Sanders are probably the weakest opponents against Trump’s style.
My thinking is that Trump has a lot of enthusiasm behind him while Hilary, definitely, does not. Sanders will reinvigorate the Democrats and turn it into a much more difficult race. Plus if it’s a Sanders vs. Trump election could you imagine? The protests! Gott im Himmel! The protests!
Maybe you’re right though. There’s still 5 months to go and Hilary is still trying to hold off Sanders. A lot can happen between now and election day.
I’m tempering my expectations for now. My concerns would never have been addressed by a single presidency anyways. I’ll definitely party hard at the Made America Great Again victory party on the Trump Space Station though.
Speaking of inanities and protests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7LQZU-83qs
Agreed. And this is why the media can’t get at Trump. We don’t really believe Trump, but we certainly don’t believe them.
They are juggling so many fictions and pretenses it’s beyond parody.
Trump is now reporting on events they resolutely do not, and did not want to cover.
The corporate media which has subsumed the Democratic Party (they are not merely sympathetic to Democrats, they control the Democrats) are getting their long overdue comeuppance.
Hillary will beg out of the debates, with the excuse that she won’t lower herself to Trump’s level.
So, since we are having a rockin’ bonfire. I will bring the marshmellows and boom box you bring the hot chicks to dance naked around it.
Who is bringing the beer? Volunteers?
Wow. So Trump will hold a “debate” where he beats up on her without her responding. That would be interesting too.
The MSM probably wouldn’t cover it. Remember the networks canceled the last debate because Trump said he wouldn’t show up and then Kasich, may he be driven from office with swarms of angry bees, declined to debate Ted one on one despite complaining about airtime the entire cycle.
I disagree. They would cover Trump standing up there on a stage yelling at an empty podium. They may be in the bag for Clinton, but they could not resist it.
I’d like to believe that and you may be right, but they’re so in the tank for Hillary it’d be hard for them to do so personally.
If I knew hot chicks who would dance around a fire naked, I would’t be hanging around ricochet.
Think of it as a preview of the upcoming campaigns, I imagine that once Trump/HRC start slinging the mud in earnest they’ll be able to top that.
Fox will carry at least! Then YouTube it! I’d watch it.
#Fact