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 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Pivot
It looks to me that Trump will now turn on the naysayers in the party. It couldn’t be more deserved. He tried to play nice, but they are refusing to support him. After the 50 national security neo-cons penned a letter denouncing him, and other GOP stalwarts are playing games trying to undermine him, Trump will now use them to differentiate himself from failed Republican policies and attract a new coalition of voters.
From yesterday’s speech:
When we talk about the insider, who are we talking about? It’s the comfortable politicians looking out for their own interests. It’s the lobbyists who know how to insert that perfect loophole into every bill. It’s the financial industry that knows how to regulate their competition out of existence. The insiders also include the media executives, anchors and journalists in Washington, Los Angeles, and New York City, who are part of the same failed status quo and want nothing to change.
Every day you pick up a newspaper, or turn on the nightly news, and you hear about some self-interest banker or some discredited Washington insider says they oppose our campaign. Or some encrusted old politician says they oppose our campaign. Or some big time lobbyist says they oppose our campaign.
I wear their opposition as a badge of honor. Because it means I am fighting for REAL change, not just partisan change. I am fighting – all of us across the country are fighting – for peaceful regime change in our own country. The media-donor-political complex that’s bled this country dry has to be replaced with a new government of, by and for the people.
The leadership class in Washington D.C., of which Hillary Clinton has been a member for thirty years, has abandoned the people of this country.
I am going to give the people their voice back.
Think about it. The people opposing our campaign are the same people who have left our border open and let innocent people suffer as a result.
The people opposing our campaign are the same people who have led us into one disastrous foreign war after another.
The people opposing our campaign are the same people who lied to us about one trade deal after another.
Aren’t you tired of a system that gets rich at your expense?
Aren’t you tired of big media, big businesses, and big donors rigging the system to keep your voice from being heard?
Are you ready for change?
Are you ready for leadership that puts you, the American people, first? That puts your country first? That puts your family first?
Fasten your seat-belts.
Published in General
Fair enough, but Perry got in too late, and had health problems that hampered him. Of the candidates that weren’t barred by externalities like those, Romney was the best. Also, Perry was considered by some to be too soft on immigration, which is a problem both politically and policywise.
11 hours later and still waiting…
Well, in Texas Time, it’s only been 15 minutes.
How have I harmed you, Larry, that you come at me like this? I’ve always liked you. Am I now your enemy because I’m struggling with my choices (or lack thereof) this year?
I actually wasn’t aware of any Texas haters at Ricochet. Unless that is the perceived subtext behind any criticism or Ted Cruz or Rick Perry (fwiw – Perry was my guy after Walker dropped out).
Blaming voters is just about the stupidest thing you can do. It’s akin to blaming people who complain about your product instead of listening. But by all means double-down on stupid. The GOP will never win another election if they don’t win this one.
Jeb and the big shot donors and the Bush network muscled your guys Walker and Perry out. They saw the writing on the wall. And then Jeb Bush and his pal Mike Murphy knee-capped your buddy Rubio.
So your plan is to ignore these elements in the GOP that ushered in your nemesis Trump and blame a bunch of faceless voters for simply voting for their interests. These people will still be around in 2020 and they won’t forget this. Unless Bill Kristol and Hillary put them in concentration camps, which they would both LOVE to do. The GOP will have a third party to deal with if Trump loses. For any reason.
I don’t see where Larry called you his enemy. I think he just doesn’t understand how the choice isn’t easy. I don’t think I’ve ever voted for someone. It’s always a lesser-evil problem. Some of us do not have our morality tied up with our politics. I would be very angry at myself for having supported guys like Denny Hastert and afraid to vote at all. You can’t sin in the voting booth.
The good reason to vote for Trump is to stop Hillary. That’s your reason.
Not since they did away with the curtains anyway. Before that though…
While a lot of us are in agreement with you on that, not everyone is and that’s the constant source of tension here.
It comes down to this: who will be worse? And that’s why we keep fighting really – we are just constantly arguing about that, back and forth. We all know they’re both terrible.
If you think Trump will be worse (and I disagree on that FWIW), then it makes sense to not support him. If you think Hillary will be worse, then Agent Orange it is.
And if you think they’re both as bad as each other then Gary Johnson it is!
This is a test and some are failing it. The test is how threatened are you by a HRC administration? We have a guy who is almost everything we want in a candidate policy-wise and he’s selected possibly the most conservative VP since Dick Cheney (who supports Trump BTW) and has told us outright which types of SCOTUS Justices he will appoint, you name it. But since he’s said some questionable things and they don’t like his character, it’s a toss-up.
This has been the problem pre-Trump, it’s just manifesting itself now. These people would have worked against Cruz, and Rand Paul too. They want their guy and their guy only, otherwise they are fine with left-wing Democrats as their fall-back position. This is why they don’t fight hard. It’s not that threatening.
I’m not talking about individual voters like Drew who may or may not fit, but the politicians and pundits who are publicly nevertrump.
Can you not replace the names with the competitors from any election campaign? Nobody’s ever nominated because their supporters think they’ll lose.
Unless you think Gary Johnson, on average, is just as bad as Hillary and Trump.
Each candidate has pro arguments and con arguments. If each candidate’s pros and cons balance out to zero, even though their pros and cons are very different from each other, then it doesn’t matter if there are two candidates or three.
GILMORE!
You’re amazing ability to know counter-factuals and read other people’s minds continues to impress. I would love for you to pick stocks for me.
Go over to the polls for the run up to the Iowa primary. With 1/12 the resources, Walker was lapping Bush. Then Trump got in the race and everyone else cratered. His antics were put on display and his ratings went up.
Voters weren’t responding to issues. Those first debates were circuses and I saw far too often statements like “my vote for Trump is a finger to the establishment.” If kneecapping your own party in an election year is in your interests, then that’s a new approach.
And then there was an echo chamber that justified and excused every idiocy of Trump’s campaign. Anyone pointing out that this was not going to work in the general election was scoffed at as “establishment”, “GOPe”, captured by DC or PC, suffering from Stockholm syndrome, a patsy to CW, etc.
It’s the plurality of GOP voters who defied reason and threw away opportunities in order to secure the nomination for Trump. Sometimes voters choose poorly. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that they had their reasons to be angry and frustrated with elected officials, but there’s also nothing wrong with pointing out that they chose a poor response. And it’s not inaccurate to say that Trump got a leg up from celebrity and a reality show persona that some voters found entertaining. And it’s also not inaccurate to say that is a poor basis for selecting a candidate to run against the Clinton Machine that you know is coming.
It’s perfectly fair to say that the GOP leadership, donors, and RNC learned some wrong lessons from 2012 when they pushed a compromise solution to the immigration issue. But it’s also perfectly fair to say that a segment of the GOP electorate didn’t learn anything at all from 2012 and backed a candidate whose obnoxious demeanor was clearly going to narrow the party rather than expand it.
In the world of business we must say the customer is always right as a shorthand for knowing your market and keeping loyalty. But what do you say when the customer insists on a Beta Max over a VHS? If a voter or a customer makes an obvious bad call, I don’t see the reason for blaming all other viable alternatives.
I thought when Walker got out, he was pretty clear that he was getting out so the party could unify against Trump.
I’m Hillary Clinton and I approve this message!
Sell.
Can’t we acknowledge that anyone that voted for Trump in the primary did not feel threatened by a Clinton in the White House? If there is one group that is responsible for Clinton in the White House, it is Trump primary voters.
Agreed. This simply doesn’t make any sense in the real world. Something similar was said about Roy on his recent thread, to the effect of “since Avik didn’t get his way on immigration, he wants to go running to the left-wing media to do as much damage to the GOP as possible.” Really? We’re accusing one another of temper tantrums and we’re honestly suggesting that people would prefer – like the kid who takes his ball and goes home – to elect left-wing democrats because they’re mad about not getting their guy? Goodness, I guess there’s no such thing as a principled conservative, then.
I’m sorry, but that’s just not reality. I wanted Walker, then Perry, then Rubio, then Cruz. Trump was never an option, and it’s not a tantrum. I’ve been tempted to accuse Trumpers of similar. Of wanting to burn it down… but would any of you admit that you’re willing to let Hillary win because you’re mad at the GOP? I don’t think so. I think you honestly believe Trump can win. So why accuse me of something absurd?
meh – I think this might be true for some. But don’t underestimate the cult of personality. I don’t have any reason to doubt that Trump supporters are anything other than completely sincere in their belief that Trump can and should win. I disagree with them, but not for their motives, generally. There is no reason to think that any of us want Hillary in the White House. I believe that Trump supporters have been duped by a con-man, and that they will get home to realize that their magic-fat-eraser doesn’t work as advertised. But I also believe that most of them have been swept up in a wave, and that they are sincere.
If Trump wins, they will have been proven right that he could win, and I will admit I was wrong.
If Trump loses badly and helps the Democrats win the Senate, then they should acknowledge they were wrong.
If that were true, then why is it being treated as a grievous sin to not vote for the Donald?
I don’t understand how people expect voters to do anything other than vote their perceived interests given the alternatives. If a voter is “sending a message” or has a woman-crush on the candidate or votes for the candidate because of his skin color, or votes for someone because he hates the other candidate, whatever. There are a million reasons why people vote and blaming individuals for not making cold calculations and judiciously studying future scenarios is foolish. People will never do that. We here are in the 1% in terms of political knowledge, and some of us are still idiots, wasting time and energy blaming voters of all people. Votes are the result of something. Find out what caused them to vote for Trump, or Brexit or whatever and work that angle.
Either explain to them why they are wrong, or take up their cause. The GOP has not sufficiently done either. They just willfully ignore those pleas and expect to win anyway. They took all those voters for granted, and left more on the table all to get their pet policy wishes for more globalism and open borders.
Now, with Hillary they at least have their precious globalism and open borders
Why also is it being treated by others as a grievous sin to vote for him?
I don’t have a problem with people voting for Trump, I have a problem with people telling me I need to vote for Trump because they are.
I gotta say, I’m not interested in rubbing anyone’s noses in it, nor will I accept a nose-rubbing. I think we all want what’s best for the country regardless of who we’re voting for, and if we get good results, I don’t think we’ll care much how we voted. I’m not going to withhold America’s greatness from the people who voted wrong. (If I did, that would make me a Obama-Democrat.)
And because I presume we’re screwed either way this fall, I will commiserate with anyone who is feeling that our country’s best days are behind us.
As I’ve said many times, the only people I have complete contempt for are those who think Hillary is wonderful and blameless and have always been in her camp. The rest of you — vote as your conscience dictates. I will not be rubbing your noses in it. This year sucks.
I hope nobody got that impression from me. See my comment above. I completely understand how difficult our choices are.