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.
7 Trumpian Thoughts
1. In many important ways, Trump’s been a great president.
2. He’s also obnoxious, nasty, and a bully. A big part of a president’s job involves character and being a role model, and he is absolutely awful. This is hurting him and his party politically. It hurts the country.
3. The lines between news and entertainment have disappeared. Trump, CNN, and “The Bachelorette” are far too similar.
4. This awfulness did not start with Trump. This awfulness gave us Trump.
5. Hillary Clinton was right about one thing: refusing to accept the results of an election undercuts the democracy.
6. Hillary Clinton is wrong about everything else. We dodged a bullet.
7. The people trying to bring down Trump are far more dangerous than Trump. Especially McCabe, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, and Schiff. Also their allies in the government and media. It is imperative that they do not succeed.
Published in Politics
I didn’t vote for Obama, so I don’t understand the relevance of your point. But your tone is simply the mirror image of how Leftists paint conservatives: Conservatives aren’t just wrong, they’re evil! Look, I despised Obama. He was a man of the Left, and I despise what the Left is doing to this country. I think their policy prescriptions are wrong, and often based on incorrect ideas about human nature. But to say that Obama was “rotten and ugly” inside is just the sort of stuff the Left vomits.
I don’t think Trump is interested in cohesiveness — I don’t see any evidence of it — and frankly might not even know what it means.
Oh yes, we must all be Trump fans!!! Everyone!! Anyone who criticizes Trump is destructive of cohesiveness!!
How pathetic.
Drew (in Wisconsin) has challenged me as to how Republicans can carry the North Central States without Trump. Other than referring him to Reagan, I don’t have an answer to that specific question.
But I can talk about Arizona, with its 11 Electoral Votes (1 more than Wisconsin). Romney carried Arizona by 9 points. Trump barely won by 3 points, and that was due to the antipathy to Hillary. I predict that Trump would lose to a generic Democrat in 2020, while Romney, Flake, Sasse, Cruz Rubio, or Kasich would beat a generic Democrat.
I’m not so sure – I think Henry Racette’s assessment is the more realistic picture. I agree with Henry that movement towards a primary challenger would alienate Trumps fans, and they might be necessary to any GOP win. I doubt there will be any serious contender in 2020. And I fervently wish Kasich would just – go – away. Please.
I’m not optimistic that Trump will win in 2020, but then the Democrats will likely nominate someone far to the Left. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine Trump ending up with a Democratic opponent anywhere near as loathsome and corrupt as Hillary. Faced with her as the alternative, many reluctant Trump voters held their noses and voted for the guy. But we should never underestimate the Dems’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…
Well Flake had an approval rating of 18 last year when he dropped out of a reelection bid, Sasse has the name recognition of most Oscar nominees and Kasich at this point is a generic Democrat. Could see Rubio winning the state handily and Romney winning with a smaller majority at this point. You saw Cruz as a general election candidate after his win in Wisconsin. Not a good look.
How about a compromise? Gary will articulate the underlying arguments against Trump’s policies and then append a “Mar-A-Lago Delenda Est” at the end of each comment. Very Cato like.
I’ll bite. What does “Mar-A-Lago Delenda Est” mean?
It’s more than that, Gary. I want to know how the NeverTrumper Republicans plan to win back the votes of those who voted for President Trump once they get their deep wish and have him removed from office. That is the question I and others have repeatedly asked the NeverTrump faction.
You will have worked to nullify the votes of half the population. And then you will turn and ask them for their votes.
Good luck with that.
Basically: yup.
No. The media are all statist whores. Counterattack is the only option.
Mar-A-Lago Must Be Destroyed! Cato the Elder, I believe, is said to have concluded every speech in the Senate, whatever the topic foreign, domestic or personal, with “Cathargo delenda est”.
It suits you; you are one steadfast dude. And Cato’s advice did lead to the deaths of many elephants, so there’s that angle too.
Maybe you could explain all things that are virtuous…all things that are not…and give me a score card on Trump. The man is a hard core businessman–contractor/developer–no less. He certainly likes beautiful women–to a fault. He’s raised 4 loving and accomplished children, with a fifth about to reach adulthood, we’ll see how he turns out. He’s built some great structures and helped the city of New York in the process. He doesn’t smoke or drink. From all that I can see, he loves our country and has made a huge sacrifice of his opulent dream life to be vilified by half of this sanctimonious, at times, nation in order to, as he sees it, get us back on track to staying the great nation we have been. He campaigned in earnest with great energy and candor to win the job. Now under tremendous daily acrimonious scrutiny he is performing the job just as he stated he would during his campaign. I agree that we don’t always get what we want. If one hasn’t learned that by age 70, one never will. I also have learned to appreciate that which I have gotten. Every time I thank God for my good health I do not have to add…but I wish my knee didn’t hurt. Every time I say, “Wow what a beautiful day!”. I do not need to add, “but it could be two degrees warmer.” What’s my point..none of us are perfect. I only wish that those of us that got so much of what we wanted would just quit bitching.
This cannot be emphasized enough.
He’s a Saul Alinsky / Frankfurt School / pure statist / leftist etc. in sheep’s clothing. He likes Louis Farrakhan because it’s good for him politically. It’s sick.
All of the Obamacare lies and coopting of the insurance companies is all part of the big plan. Socialism or fascism controlled by his friends.
Brilliant!
Do we have to have a debate about what the meaning of “is” is, as regards obnoxious, nasty, and bullying behavior?
Trump is a lot of things, many of them good. But he’s also clearly a few very unpleasant things, things that less wealthy people probably couldn’t get away with being. And he does some things that, at least until recently, have largely been regarded as uncouth.
I’m pro-Trump, but I don’t think it serves the pro-Trump cause well to pretend that Trump is a gracious man of the highest personal integrity. He isn’t.
Dr. John Lott said Obama would never engage anyone in intellectual debate at the University of Chicago. Absolutely unheard of for professors there. Obama’s just a socialist thug.
I pretty much agree with the OP with some reservations on the first point. I don’t like some of Trump’s ‘style’ issues, but in the current situation, we need a ‘bully’ to fight back the MSM and deep state. I was originally for Cruz, but don’t see him as successful on a policy front at this point because he isn’t the fighter that Trump is.
It is interesting to me how this thread has two basic sides: The first is worried for the state of the country and is glad to see that Trump is fighting both the deep state and establishment politicians (including many GOP) in order to work for the country. The second group is worried about the impact that Trump will have on the Republican party.
I have to say that I am no longer convinced that the establishment GOP is worrying much about the country, compared to their careers. I put my self on the first side and take his faults as a price for a potential victory.
As Lincoln supposedly said about Grant’s drinking : “Well, I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals”
100% true fact. Undebatable.
100% true fact. Undebatable.
Sorry Henry, I do not see, in my comment, where I made that claim. You seem to have totally missed my point.
That’s entirely possible. I read your generally pro-Trump response to Gil and/or Roberto’s comments as implying a challenge to Gil’s point. So I seconded Gil’s point, observing that it would be unfortunate if we began pretending that obnoxious, nasty, and bullying behavior is something other than what it is, simply because Trump exhibits it and we like Trump.
If you’re in agreement with Gil’s observation, then you’re correct: I missed the point of your comment. (I do that sometimes.)
To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we laugh at respectable men and are shocked to find boors in our midst.
I would put an even finer point on it: It is the constitutional republic, and the liberties it ensures, that matters. Even more specifically, it is the thread that the once great American constitutional republic now hangs by that matters. A President Hillary would have snipped that thread by the end of her first week in office.
This is a very good debate to have, Gil. Much better than some – more acerbic – that we have on Ricochet about Trump. I thank you for starting it.
I am more with Gary, though. I am not as sanguine as either you or Henry. I do think Trump is doing lasting harm to what conservatism used to be about. Time will tell, of course. I want to be wrong. And I like the way you state it, in the paragraph that I highlighted: Neither Gary nor I are the problem. We are honest conservative critics, who loved Ronald Reagan, for the decency he brought to conservatism, and the Presidency.
I do agree that nothing can be gained by forcing Trump out. I do not see any impeachable thing. We just have to wait him out. For the sake of our great country, I pray that my worst fears are not borne out, and that we try to see to it that a man like Donald Trump never gets near the Presidency again.
Thanks again for being thoughtful.
The problem is we aren’t in an era where “principled conservatism” effected by “normal” GOP politicians works or does any good. The government and he Fed have mucked up the economy so much. The debt and unfunded liabilities have gotten away from us. (Medicare Part D was at $9 trillion unfunded liability that Karl Rove dreamed up to get enough votes to finish off Iraq,) The media is a never ending lie in support of statism. Cultural marxism grows and grows. The GOP has never done anything about any of this. Trump appears in a 17 guy primary (the structure made no sense for 17) and wins. Then he beat Clinton because of what I just described.
He’s doing O.K. given his lack of experience and other deficiencies. He also isn’t a law breaker on the level of the Clintons.
Provided that Trump does not fire Mueller, and provided that Mueller does not find impeachable offenses, I think that the best route is to wait Trump out, and encourage Republicans in Congress to distance themselves from him.
I see us getting wiped out in the House of Representatives in 2018. From today’s “Meet the Press” on page 16 of its transcript:
“Chuck Todd:
“Back now with End Game and something that showed up in our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that we haven’t seen before. In districts currently held by the Democrats voters prefer Democrats by 24 points, 56/32. That’s not surprising.
“What is surprising is that in the Congressional districts that we polled in that are all held by Republicans eight now the generic ballot is dead even, 46/46. We’ve been looking at the Congressional ballot result through this lens since 2010. And both parties have always led in their own districts that they’ve held. And they’ve always led by double digits, just as the Democrats still do.
“It always has shown our polarization. This one poll could be a n outlier. We’ll have to wait for our next poll to see. Or it could be a very rough sign for Republicans.”
Unless we get rid of Trump in 2020, we will also lose the Senate.
Our only hope will be the good Republican Governors.
Not fair. I get to the post late, read Gary’s comment and think–wait, isn’t Kasich a generic Democrat. Then I keep reading the comments and see that you have posted my thought already.
Selena Zito’s analysis of PA-18 might suggest otherwise. She noticed that the Democrat candidate didn’t mention Trump’s policies at all. Her thought was that he realized that Trump’s policies are producing positive results and the voters wouldn’t go for someone wanting to take that away. Selena went on to say that the Republican candidate didn’t pick up on this and didn’t mention Trump either. She wonders if standing with Trump instead of distancing oneself would have helped in PA-18.
I remember when John Kasich was considered to be a strong deficit hawk who got the budget to balance during Clinton’s administration.
One strength of Kasich is that he won Ohio twice, first by beating an incumbent, and then by 30 points. No Republican has ever won the Presidency without carrying Ohio. There is something to learn from Kasich. (I was one of the half-dozen who contributed to Kasich when he ran for President in 2000!)
No. He changed totally after he went to Morgan Stanley. He’s just going to make everything worse. He could win because he’s a vote buying, central planning, Democrat now. Jason Hart at NRO writes devastating pieces about him all the time. The dude has mind like a steel trap.
Okay. That could very well be true. Still he would be far better than the generic democrat.