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Is It Possible to Just Calm Down?
I don’t see the MSM, but I see it reflected on the pages of Ricochet. Tensions are through the roof, and mostly because Trump has been doing what we basically expected him to be doing: saying all kinds of stuff, and ignoring the way “things are supposed to be done.”
Let’s all judge Trump by his deeds, not his words. The agenda is what matters, and while it (tax reform, health care, de-regulation, etc.) seems to be stalled at present, I remind all and sundry that the alternative was Hillary Clinton.
Today the alternative is not Mike Pence, because an MSM-led removal of Trump would cripple all proposed reforms of things that desperately need reform. The basic question today is whether or not the good and substantive parts of the agenda can gain adherents in Congress.
To that end, can we Ricochetti stop marching in lockstep either for or against the MSM media? The idiots who run them are best ignored. We should not let them frame the debate.
Actions, not words.
Published in General
I’d love to get on board with this, I’d only point out that Trump’s words and general inability to control himself are the primary thing standing in the way of his agenda.
I think that it isn’t as bad as it looks. I think that the MSM is exaggerating everything they can. I think that Trump, not being a professional politician, but being a professional self-promoter, just doesn’t speak “Politics” at all. So, he doesn’t parse every syllable like we’re all used to having the Political Class do when they speak. Yeah…it’s obnoxious and disconcerting.
But—again—like iWe pointed out: actions, not words. And…the alternative was HER. (shudder)
It does make one realize, however, the lack of substance in many of the Ruling Class members since the norm is now words, not actions. Did the 24/7 news cycle foster this trend?
His words and actions are a side show, not the primary reason for difficulties getting bills to him. Any GOP would have a heck of a time with an agenda.
Only if we pay him mind. Ignore the words.
There is real work to be done. The tax reform stuff is wonderful – and if it somehow actually comes to be, it would be sensational for our country.
Trump got elected by trolling the media while doing real things in the background. He needs to get back to that. The problem is that Congress is, in turn, having their strings pulled by the MSM. And so are many of us who otherwise want to see the good parts of Trump’s agenda come to fruition.
I’m sorry but this ignores the entire modern history of how legislative agenda’s are passed. Obamacare became law because a popular President swayed the American People just enough to get enough congresscritters to sign on. The Reagan Tax Cuts happened because a popular president persuaded the American People he was right and forced congress to jump on board.
The canard that the President is some sort of monk who just sits in the oval office with a pen while the American People expect Congress to act is a facile and convenient excuse.
It’s hard, when you’re up to your armpits in alligators, to remember you came here to drain the swamp.–Ronald Reagan
Words – or lack of them – mean things…They need to be used judiciously…One’s subordinates are not puppets to be manipulated. For Pete’s sake, watch out for unforced errors…This is live, not Memorex.
They do to you and me. We create with words.
The MSM uses words as a destructive tool.
We knew what we were getting when we elected the fellow.
The question is how we move forward from here. I do not believe the answer lies in Trump miraculously having an epiphany and changing – I very much doubt any of us believe that Trump can change his spots. So let’s work with what we have: an agenda that needs support and promotion.
I’m a bit hesitant about lockstep about anything. However, I agree with this:
If “he’s not going to change” and “we knew what we were getting”, why the need for subordinates – who have full plates of their own to cope with – to act as interpreters, at best, and perform damage-control, at worst? Can the man roll up his sleeves, keep his head down, and *get to the dull, everyday tasks we, as an electorate, hired him to do*, please and thank you? (Paging “Silent Cal”…).
iWe is right, Nanda. It’s like hoping and wishing one’s spouse is suddenly going to turn into a romantic when all behaviors have been the opposite for 30 years.
We need to accept the situation as it is and work with what we’ve got. Much of what Trump has accomplished so far has been good for the country. That won’t continue if we all pile on every time he tweets.
Sadly that’s not how extreme narcissists work.
Donald Trump has never been that guy. It is one reason why many of us preferred Ted Cruz in the primary.
Nevertheless: here we are. Let’s make the best of it.
I think Ted Cruz may be doing just that, by the way. If he succeeds with the health bill in the Senate, a new Trump/Cruz partnership might emerge, one that really delivers results.
We are about a month away from the serious return of salmon to the streams. The NHL playoffs have gone from having two or three significant games a day to one every other day. July baseball is only slightly more boring than May baseball. It’s a seasonal doldrums. A vacuum to be dealt with.
This refrain is eventually going to run out of mileage if it hasn’t already.
Perhaps to you. I take the longer view.
When Trump was elected, we at Ricochet asked ourselves: what would constitute a successful Trump presidency? Most responders, including yours truly, said we would call Trump a huge win if he just appointed a right wing justice to the Supreme Court, and maybe slowed new regulations.
Let’s keep moving forward: what would be the next win? The answer, to me, could be deregulation, a much better tax system, improving health freedom. Any of these would be a huge improvement over What Could Have Been.
Exactly. Ignore those treasonous Russian whores. (Dear editors, this is a Kieth Olbermann phrase, and is inserted here as humor. Thank you.)
Yeah, that’s where I’m at too. Every time he does something bizarre, I think it could be HER and the guys rioting in the streets could be reveling instead in their expanding power. The insane anguish from the left is amusing, in a way. Just take a deep breath.
Yeah, but you are so much into freedom and liberty, I suggest that you look more deeply at what is going on in the corrupt US intelligence apparatus and their combination with leading print and tv media to preserve what they view as their American Empire. I also have always had concerns about Trump but I am not seeing any substantive policy moves that I will object to at present, nothing but media gossip and they push only that.
This President is an excellent persuader of the people, proven. What is needed at this time is some correction to the corrupted media that has been controlling the public discussion. Trump is not acting in an inappropriate manner, regardless of the words from his mouth. So he should be supported before giving support to the gossip of the Washington Post and the New York Times.
If you take just two legislative bills as the primary core of ‘Trump’s agenda’ for 2017 … Healthcare and Tax reform … you would see that the President is willing to sign anything that comes out of the GOP Congress, but they are what is standing in the way, not him or his “words”.
Healthcare spotlighted the chaos within the GOP between the Tuesday Group and the Freedom Caucus and when they finally found a consensus … Susan Collins announces she’s going to draft her own bill ….
Tax reform, even though there is so much that is already agreed upon … Comparison of GOP Tax Plan With Trump Proposal … the GOP idiots in the House and Senate would rather talk about Russia. Sad.
I agree, Annefy. Except he’s not my husband; he’s my president.
The biggest fear the Founders had regarding having the people rule the country is that they would rule on passions and emotions that are often unreasonable and change quickly. They called it Tyranny of the Majority. A lynch mob is a classic example of this. Listening to the news this morning, it is apparent their fears were justified. Everyone wants to lynch the President, yet not one piece of hard evidence has been provided. Everything comes from unnamed sources, a memo that no one has seen, and speculation. Contagious passions are spread by media.
I do agree with Jamie, Trump seems to add fuel to the mob fire. Sometimes he dumps liquid oxygen on it.
Nah. That is all the media’s doing. I mean … reading, no whispering, from the ruminations of James Comey’s diary?!
How well do you understand your own people or human nature?
That is not how I remember Obamacare becoming law. I remember Obamacare being unpopular. (never getting above 50%). I remember that Popular President giving multiple speeches/rallies/townhall meetings and not moving the polls. I remember Blue State Massachusetts electing a Republican to stop Obamacare, thus opposing that Popular President.
I remember backroom deals (Cornhusker kick back,ect) and midnight votes before Christmas in a blizzard but not the power of Obama’s popularity.
Sorry, guys, this is like enabling a substance abuser…I don’t care about his personality/style. I care that his missteps are the order of the day…Get your attention-seeking fix some other way and get on with the people’s business, please…(Oh, and, “He’s not HRC.” doesn’t cut it for me, never did. (And, before you ask, I didn’t support either one.)
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Long before I had anyone on Ricochet to talk to, I used to shake my computer monitor when Republicans complained about GW and yell, “Are you kidding me? If he had shaken one less hand, smiled one less smile, we would have had John Kerry and/or Al Gore as president! George Bush cannot run the whole country by himself. Either help push the train up the hill or stop complaining. Get to work!” :)
President George W. Bush after visiting Katrina-devastated New Orleans