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Trump. What Else?
I’ve been a Ricochet member for years (love the podcasts!) but this is my first post. Please be gentle. This article inspired a bit of political stream of consciousness in my head that I wanted to write down.
I’m not a Trump fan. I don’t think I’ve made that a secret to anyone who knows me–and thanks to social media, to several people who don’t know me. I don’t think that he’s evil incarnate, or that he is an existential threat to civilization; I don’t think he’s a racist (although he has–intentionally or unintentionally–played into some scary white nationalist stuff). I just think he’s an uncurious, philandering, serial-exaggerating (okay, lying), anti-intellectual, big government-supporting, insecure, hubristic, vainglorious buffoon. I mean, who gives himself a “10 out of 10” on anything? Humility is a virtue, Mr. President. Try it on for size some time. “I have the best hurricane response. It’s tremendous. No other president has ever responded to a hurricane, if you want to know the truth. It’s yuge.” Etc., etc.
Those of us on the center-right who haven’t embraced Trump find ourselves in a weird space. (My favorite is when a Trump fan accuses me of being a RINO, when Trump was a Republican for what, five minutes before he announced?) Occasionally he does something that I support without reservation (Neil Gorsuch, anyone?). Then he says things that make me cringe. Then he says things that make me think that he has never really had any serious thoughts about serious issues, that he has no under-riding, guiding philosophy of life. I could be wrong; I only report what I observe.
I’m a conservative, not a populist; a patriot, not a nationalist. Populism and nationalism are dangerous impulses.
I also sometimes think that my friends on the left have learned nothing from 2016, and that they may as well be actively working for the Trump 2020 campaign. The whole #takeaknee thing comes to mind. At first, I thought Mr. Trump was foolish to pick a fight with the NFL, but he seems to have won this battle in the culture wars.
I’d like to post more often, and be involved in more conversations. Thanks for reading.
Published in Politics
Just curious. Do you follow his tweets?
No. I left Twitter in 2009. But I read a fair number of them.
Yes, but: TV and radio producers wanted Trump badly. He was the most interesting person to talk about in those early slow moving phases of the campaign. So, this impulse has no ulterior agenda. But, the editors and the talent also liked him for the same reasons and gave the green light (obviously) to more bookings. They were desperate for him. And yes, it did suit the leftist overlords as they sat smugly in their lairs. They didn’t see him as a threat and some definitely thought he would torpedo the other candidates — and he did. So, they probably patted themselves on their backs after he clinched the nomination.
Yes.
If by easily triggered you also include the GOP elite and the anti-Trump conservative elites then both sides for sure. And 2018 will be the second ratchet on the pawl to see if this will hold but let’s not forget 2020 in this calculation, too. He gets another chance then.
Agreed. I have always found you to be rational and responsive and that’s what serves Ricochet best (for us members, anyway). After all, political opinionating is an iterative process that, at its best, moves toward clarity and sometimes agreement.
I met Larry at a Seattle Meet Up last year, and he most definitely impressed me as a gentleman.
And you’re a peach yourself. I’m so glad we met that time — that was fun. We really should get a meeting together the next time you are in town.
I’ve been here since the end of May and am going south just before Thanksgiving. The other night the wind was blowing, the rain was coming down in buckets, and I was freezing as I walked my dog Suzi. She looked up at me and said, “Isn’t it about time for us to be thinking about the California desert?” :-)
This was the one I enjoyed the most during the election. The MSM was trying to ignore Trump in the early days, but every time he would give a speech and it was shown on Fox News and Fox Business, their ratings would skyrocket! So CNN tried a couple and boom – their ratings went up.
If everybody changes the channel from your channel to the main competition, you show what they’re showing.
Eventually, I started seeing Trump speeches on MSNBC and even the Big Three. I remember one day sitting there astounded that I was watching a Trump speech on CBS. Yes, I said C.B.S.
The very best moment for me, though was when Trump did a speech during one of the Democrat Debates, and CNN showed the Trump Speech. I need to find it, but I took a picture of it because I thought nobody would believe me.
So I guess that’s a lesson for the Republicans: Give speeches that people will change channels to watch, and everyone will broadcast it.
Ya, right — like we have a lot of those type people who can do that.