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The Progressive Gamble
As I watch the growing chaos, I am beginning to conclude that progressives are making a big bet that the best way to lever President Trump out of the White House and seize power for themselves is to promote anarchy. They seem bent on achieving the two-way win: if they succeed — great; if they fail, they are simply creating evidence for their true believers that even more chaos is required.
I hope the NeverTrumpers now see what it is that they are aiding and abetting by making common cause with progressives in wishing that President Trump was not … well … President. No, I am not asking that NTs swear fealty to President Trump; I have not so sworn. But civil society requires that people abide by our public compact. And progressives have no desire to do so and are pleased to make law fit desires rather than make desires fit law.
I am not a conspiracy nut. I tend to think things happen based on opportunity. Progressives have been sowing discontent for decades because that gave them political power. Creating identities and division was the path. In the process they were able to cover their actions with Newspeak, making words mean the opposite of what they had always meant. So today “riot” means “protest” if it is for a progressive cause, and “protest” means “riot” if it is for any other cause.
From this toxic brew, discontents can flare, as they are doing now in Minneapolis and several other places, as they did in Ferguson, as they did in Detroit, as they did in LA. Bad things are going to happen, and when they do, it takes good faith and common decency to sort through it, assign responsibility, and make changes as required. But when an opportunity for progressive power is to be had, good faith and common decency become the enemy, not the pathway.
The danger here is not simply the property damaged, lives taken, or disrupted. It is the sense that problems can only be solved by central authority and not local resolutions. And that is the goal of this latest chaos: to promote violence that local and regional authorities cannot deal with, to promote a heavy federal hand. If the heavy federal hand does not come, progressives will claim that, just like with the pandemic, President Trump is not up to the job. If it does come, progressives will claim that their persistent labeling President Trump as an authoritarian was correct. Either way, according to progressives, President Trump must be removed. If this were just about President Trump, that would be all fine and good. But it isn’t.
I wish I knew what to do. I am glad it’s not my call. But “law and order” will come into fashion again, because the alternative is just not acceptable. The only question is who will be holding the reins. Pray it is not the progressives.
I have fully abided by the 2016 election. I have not taken up arms to overthrow the government by violence. But our founders dictated that there would be presidential elections every four years. It is my constitutional right guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to bitch, moan and complain about the person who Reagan would say has only a temporary lease on the White House, to be renewed every four years.
Ah. So you did abide by the public compact. I’m not quite sure why you said you made no such compact.
It appears that folks are saying that I cannot be a conservative and/or a Republican in good standing here at Ricochet because I want to defeat Trumpism by hammering a wooden stake through its chest, and have been doing that for the last five years.
I am guessing that if Trump is defeated in a landslide and we lose not just 4 Senate Seats, but as many as 11, then perhaps the conservatives and/or Republicans will realize that Trumpism is a losing philosophy.
During the Nixon Administration, almost all of the Republicans in the Senate by August 1974 said that what Nixon had done was wrong. Republicans lost 3 net Senate Seats.
During the Clinton Administration, almost all of the Democrats in the Senate by February 1999 said that Clinton had done was wrong, but that it did not rise to the level of removal. Democrats won a net four seats.
During the Trump Administration, only a couple of Republicans in February 2020 took the position that what Trump had done was wrong. Other than Senators Romney and Alexander, no Republican Senators took the position, forced by Trump himself, that Trump’s call to the Ukraine President seeking an investigation, and withholding appropriated funds, was wrong. For that we can be looking at up to 11 Republican Senators losing their seat, such as in AZ, CO, GA, IA, KS, KY, ME, MT, NC, SC and TX, for a Democrat net gain of 10, provided that Doug Jones loses in Alabama. We will rue the day that we threw in with Trump and Trumpism.
Moderator Note:
Personal attacks on the character of a fellow Ricocheter violate the Code of Conduct.How about a little focus on what Reagan did say…about Biden:
[redacted]
I’ve not said that. I do occasionally think you are a bit over-the-top in your NT’ism.
Thank you so much. There are those who have variously called me a “fraud” or worse.
Kevin Williamson is clueless, just clueless.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/tired-of-winning-yet/
Republicans used to be the freedom people: free speech, free trade, free enterprise, free markets, freedom of religion, freedom of association, free to keep and bear arms. Trump and his partisans too often are the opposite of that: the neo-mercantilism people, the wildly expansive government power people, the Orbán toady people, the “total authority” people, the people who complain about abuses of presidential power on Monday and think up implausible excuses for them on Tuesday, the people who conflate corporatism with patriotism, the slanderers, the conspiracy goofs, the shut-down-Twitter-if-Twitter-doesn’t-do-what-we-want people.
Yes, Orban did not want Muslims over running his country. China bought half, if not 3/4 of Washington DC. Corporatism is his team. Especially those “conspiracy goofs” that thought the FBI was trying to overthrown the government, at least the part they did not control, Speaking of “wildly expansive.”
Suit yourself.
I am not going to accept it either. Even if George Floyd was a career criminal, there is no reason to him to be murdered with a knee on his neck. Period. Full stop.
A cheerful meme from “Communist Crusher” over on Twitter:
Good luck in taking our guns away from us now, libtards!!
I often watch Chicago comedian Jimmy Dore on his youtube channel. Although he affirms again and again that he detests having Pres Trump as the president, every other week he has some praise for something Trump has done.
I get very confused when somebody like Gary can’t say even once: “Well this time Trump is right” or “This time Trump went out on a limb and got some good results to come about.”
From stopping our expensive involvements in both NATO and the Paris Accords, to trying to bring about change in No Korea, to banning the flights of Boeing Max airliners, to the re-write of the tax code, and even his knowing enough to mention Hydroxychloroquine, Trump is a very active President. He was clearly prescient in his attempting to break off the trade-umbilical cord that has put our jobs overseas and our trade deficit to the advantage of the Chinese.
I cannot think of one single time when the media praised him. For anything.
If God forbid, a bomb went off at a WH presser, and Trump singlehandedly carried out all of the injured press corps people away from the resulting fire, the headline story would still be shaming him: “Sexist pig Donald Trump roughly handles women reporters, shoving and pushing at them, and forcing them out of the Rose Garden.”
Yes I think the answer is: You can take my gun from me one projectile at a time.
I have repeatedly said that Trump has done a good job on judges, taxes and regulations.
Then support him to do more good jobs on judges, taxes and regulations because you well know that his progressive opponent won’t. Work for a 2024 Republican candidate that meets you standards, but don’t aid the progressives in 2020. (Although I do approve of your spending money supporting Dems primary-ing the Squad.)
I support Gary on this.
Brenda Jones was the incumbent who beat Rashida Tlaib in the Special Election, but then barely lost to her in the Democratic Primary by only 900 votes. No Republican will ever win this overwhelming Democratic district. But we can have a Representative from MI-13 who is not Anti-Semitic. I urge you to contribute to Brenda Jones, and restore honor and dignity to MI-13.
Michele Caruso-Cabreta is the strongest person taking on AOC. She is still a long shot. But it is important for America that Representatives like AOC be relegated to the ash heap of history.
The quickest, easiest way to contribute to them would be to sign up with “Act Blue.” The “Win Red” website was fully co-opted by Trump, and I could not contribute to Bill Weld, Mark Sanford, or Joe Walsh through “Win Red,” while “Act Blue” will allow one to contribute to any Democrat, even if they are running against an incumbent.
Ellison is definitely malevolent – perfect word
I heard something funny and true on an old clip of Joe Rogan on YouTube. I forget which guest he was interviewing but either Joe or his guest said (shortly after Jeffrey Epstein ‘committed suicide’):
“Politicians are not getting worse. Voters know more about them now.”
“It’s no longer a conspiracy theory if it happens and people can predict it before it happens.”
Antifa is the new Weather Underground
I guess they are not so underground lately
The progressive gamble is a great title because it’s not a strategy, it’s a sign of desperation
Try this. https://lawofselfdefense.com/did-baden-autopsy-find-clinical-evidence-floyd-killed-by-asphyxia-no/
The second autopsy report did NOT find evidence of asphyxia.