Joe Biden Will Never Be My President. Never.

 

I happened upon this most incisive piece by Newt Gingrich and it so clearly and vividly described how I believe so many of us are feeling right now I decided to bring it to your attention.

It is entitled, most aptly for me, at least, and I have a strong sense that it is so for many American citizens in that number of about 74 Million (who knows, really?) who voted for a second term for one of the most productive Presidents in our history “Why I will not accept Joe Biden as president“, and can be found here.

The passage which really struck me, as it so concisely describes my state of mind since I decided I had seen enough evidence (emphasis added in view of the numerous howls from the Loonocracy that there is none) to know that there was credible,  provable evidence of deep and widespread fraud, follows:

As I thought about it, I realized my anger and fear were not narrowly focused on votes. My unwillingness to relax and accept that the election grew out of a level of outrage and alienation unlike anything I had experienced in more than 60 years involvement in public affairs.

The challenge is that I — and other conservatives — are not disagreeing with the left within a commonly understood world. We live in alternative worlds.

That phrase is, to put it mildly, as heavily freighted and chilling as one may use in what we all thought was our Constitutional Republic… think about those words: “We live in alternative worlds.” Although Mr. Gingrich did not specifically reference it in his article, I came away from reading it haunted by Mr. Lincoln’s words of eternal wisdom and wondering, as I have many times in the last five years but especially in the last two months, if those words are the perpetual truths many assume they are, how we can possibly stand as a Nation with this jagged tear right down the middle of our sacred fabric?

Another national treasure, Rush Limbaugh, who has our prayers every single day, made a statement recently which struck me as hard as this one did, although it simply put in words what many of us have been feeling for some time: What do we have in common with them? He cited past national emergencies when we Americans all pulled together for a common cause, with a dedication fueled by our common love for the land that we love. As Rush noted, that critical component: love, both for and dedication to America and the idea of America simply no longer exists with a large segment of the electorate who voted for Joe Biden, a man described recently as “a sleazy, corrupt-to-the-bone-marrow lifelong politician, who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his 78 years on Planet Earth.” Speaking for myself, which I fervently hope I may continue to be free to do after January 20, 2021, I cannot understand the thinking of an American citizen who would vote for such a person of proven – time and time and time again, dishonesty and corruption or, as I suspect the case actually was for many, who would be so driven by such a white-hot hatred of a person that he or she would vote against President Trump even if the only choice was to vote for such a dangerously sleazy and corrupt person.

Speaker Gingrich sets the stage:

The left’s world is mostly the established world of the forces who have been dominant for most of my life.

My world is the populist rebellion which believes we are being destroyed, our liberties are being cancelled and our religions are under assault. (Note the new Human Rights Campaign to decertify any religious school which does not accept secular sexual values — and that many Democrat governors have kept casinos open while closing churches though the COVID-19 pandemic.) We also believe other Democrat-led COVID-19 policies have enriched the wealthy while crushing middle class small business owners (some 160,000 restaurants may close).

The rest of the piece, which I highly recommend be read in its entirety, continues to enumerate the many ways the world of the far-left is probably by now irreparably irreconcilable with ours and why we are truly living in two different worlds, separated by oceans of distrust, corrosive venality, dishonesty, corruption, amorality, condescension, hubris, arrogance and utter disdain for our Founding Documents, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, upon which our beloved Nation was built.

Thus I return to the question put by Rush Limbaugh and apply it to myself, as I cannot and do not pretend to speak for others, while noting I know to a certainty that many share these views and I also know to a certainty that if there are any factual errors in any of these statements my colleagues here on Ricochet will quickly bring them to the fore.

What do I have in common with those elites in entertainment, academia, and the media who spent the last four years savagely attacking not only our duly elected President, calling him every name in the book such as Hitler and Mussolini, parading around with a mock-up of his severed, bloody and gory head, and, as their designated “President” “elect” and his communications director did recently, calling us, his loyal supporters names such as “chumps” and “f (C of C)s”?

What do I have in common with those mega-rich tech oligarchs (other than the obvious, as “oligarch” I am definitely not) who think their astonishing wealth gives them the power to not only censor the extremely significant news that both Biden and his son were on the take from China and received at least $5 million from an entity controlled by our most dangerous adversary but who also think they have the power, so far totally unchecked by our less than stellar Congress, to censor the President of the United States, an act of hubris never before seen in the history of our Republic.

What do I have in common with members of the media and the far-left loon wing of the Democrat Party and some members of the Republican Party, aka Never Trumpers, who sit on the sidelines as piles of evidence are being accumulated of out-and-out election fraud in the form of affidavits sworn under penalty of perjury and other forms of documentary evidence and repeat the mantra “but there is no widespread evidence of election fraud” and cheer as Judge after spineless Judge refuses to even hear the evidence, including, most sadly, our brand new, great, good for the next half-century, “conservative” majority on the Supreme Court?

What do I have in common with those intrepid members of the media who go out to do on the scene reports while standing in front of the blazing St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington and state, on camera, for all the world to see, with a straight face, that the scene behind him is a “mostly peaceful” demonstration? As our friend and colleague, Susan Quinn, recently observed in her excellent post “Will there be justice?”, how do these people sleep at night? How do they explain to their children why they must be so blatantly fraudulent just to make a living?

What do I, admittedly not the most devout or regular churchgoer, have in common with a person millions voted to occupy the most powerful office in the world who holds himself out to be a devout, Rosary praying, Roman Catholic, but who now, as phrased in a recent article, “supports abortion up until college graduation, if the mother finds the child inconvenient.”?

What do I have in common with a woman who used every means at her disposal to get ahead, no matter how unsavory or tawdry, and then proceeded to savagely, cruelly, immorally, attack a candidate for the High Court right in front of his wife and little daughters, and then gloated about it, and who also not only did not raise a single question about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters burning down American cities across the land but who also helped raise bail money to get them out of jail, almost certainly never to be seen again by the Court system? I well and truly pray I would never have a single thing in common with such a despicable person, even if she may possibly be (probably?) the President of the United States within the next four years.

What do I have in common with a large, muscular, strong ox of a man in a Law Enforcement uniform who wrestles with a young, small mother sitting in the stands watching her son play football — without, qeulle horreur!, a piece of cloth over her face– putting her in handcuffs in front of her fellow parents (including several large men who, disgracefully, did nothing to help her) and, perhaps more to the point, what do I have in common with despicable, power-mad “leaders”  like Cuomo, Wolfe, Whitmer,  Murphy, DeBlasio, and, sadly, many others who ordered this kind of barbaric behavior?

Would that I could have a more positive outlook as we move into a New Year, carrying so many good promises if for no other reason than not being named 2020, truly annus horribilis, but also bringing us the closest thing we have ever had to a Marxist administration. A year in which the person elected to occupy the Oval Office, the most powerful office in the world, is not in full possession of his cognitive faculties and, at times, simply does not know where he is. A year in which the Biden Administration, an oxymoronic phrase if ever there was one, will be staffed with so many Obamatons as to make it, in effect, Barack Hussein Obama’s third term, a thought which should frighten any citizen with a sentient mind.

Like so many of us, I spent the last four years on that roller coaster ride of watching in awe the boundless energy and creativity and drive and determination of one of the great Presidents in our history while almost simultaneously praying that someone would please, please shut down his Twitter account and take away his phone. I related in a post recently the one emotion one could never fully realize unless they attended one of his rallies– the pure, unadulterated outpouring of love this President’s supporters feel for him. It is a true phenomenon to see and experience for oneself.

Positive outlook? Thank you, but I think I’ll let that cup pass me by.

Sincerely, Jim

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  1. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Raxxalan (View Comment):
    Agreed. I don’t remember the book or author; however there was a pretty detailed account of Media Bias a while back that went on to argue it has about a 2-3% effect on elections.

    This needs to get resolved, because that is not what Tim Groseclose says. I think he puts it in double digits.

    Thanks for the author’s name. I didn’t remember it being that high; however, since I didn’t remember much other than the thrust of the argument I’ll take your word for it. It doesn’t change my prescription. Factor it in and figure out where we go from there. The Media isn’t going to change and we aren’t going to change the American people enough to overcome that effect in the short term. In the long term maybe conservative media can have an effect, but “it ain’t there yet”.

    OK I need to be more clear. Larry Elder talks about this all of the time and maybe he’s just talking about the effect of the volume of votes. 

    I distinctly remember you would end up with 10% more people voting Republican or something like that. Maybe that’s not right.

    I don’t have a head for remembering this type of thing. 

    • #91
  2. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    We spent 8 damned years condemning the cult of personality around Obama as dangerous. We cannot claim that others would not see the same behaviors around Trump as equally so.

    Um… a Cult of Personality has the media creating an image for a leader.   Clearly the case for Obama.

    But for Donald Trump, the media is actively organized against him.  So this is the exact opposite of a Cult of Personality.

    • #92
  3. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    Yes, they do. But they see the dangers of Biden as overstated compared to the dangers they perceived from Trump. Just as Trump voters saw the potential dangers of Trump in 2016 as being more worth the risk than the known dangers from Hillary.

    Joe Biden has been on the take, on one level or another, for 47 years. If that’s not a “known danger”, that idea simply does not exist.

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    Personally speaking, that’s rich coming from Jefferson, considering what did as President (I’m firmly in the camp of those who consider Jefferson a terrible president). But more to your point: the American electorate has been, by and large (and with a few moments of self-awareness brought on imminent danger), ignorant, corrupt, foolish, vain, and self-destructive for many generations now. And every expansion of the voting franchise has made it worse. But, thanks to the horribly racist uses of things like literacy tests in the Jim Crow South, any notion of restricting the franchise is now immediately denounced as racist – just look at the resistance to voter ID, and the push for universal mail-in ballots as examples.

    And I am firmly of the camp, along with President John F. Kennedy, who believe Mr. Jefferson possessed  one of the most brilliant minds in the known history of man; here’s what he said at a 1962 dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners:

    What most people know about the April 1962 Nobel Prize dinner at the White House is a famous quote from President Kennedy. He said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

    The rest of your statement is largely an indictment, it seems to me, of the utter and total collapse of the public education system, which has become a disgrace and a cruelty to inflict upon our children and, in many cities, a very dangerous one at that. I’m not sure there is any hope for it now– what about you?

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    I’d argue that the franchise ought to be restricted to those over 25, that all absentee ballots ought to be banned without any exceptions, and that voters need to be required to register for each and every election, each and every time, complete with a fingerprint and photo ID, no later than 2 months before each election. (Emphasis added)

    Finally, something we can really agree on! I agree with every jot and tittle, but must put the emphasis on three words: “ought to be” as they illustrate quite vividly the fact that the creatures slithering around our National Legislature will never get near a single one of those stellar ideas! By the way, My Lady Judith could have written every word of that paragraph and I can think of no higher accolade.

    Sincerely, Jim

    • #93
  4. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    We spent 8 damned years condemning the cult of personality around Obama as dangerous. We cannot claim that others would not see the same behaviors around Trump as equally so.

    Um… a Cult of Personality has the media creating an image for a leader. Clearly the case for Obama.

    But for Donald Trump, the media is actively organized against him. So this is the exact opposite of a Cult of Personality.

    No, this is not how these things work.  It’s not the media doing the work, it’s the person themselves. 

    Obama actively cultivated personal adoration of himself – the media just helped him along.  But Obama and his handlers were very actively involved.

    Trump actively cultivated personal adoration of himself too – that’s exactly what 4 years of rallies were doing.  That the media tried to thwart Trump, while a good sector of conservative media actively promoted Trump, doesn’t change what was going on.

    • #94
  5. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    If you guys like this discussion you would like Breitbart News on SiriusXM. All of those people are really sharp and they get good guests. 

    • #95
  6. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Jim George (View Comment):

    And I am firmly of the camp, along with President John F. Kennedy, who believe Mr. Jefferson possessed one of the most brilliant minds in the known history of man; here’s what he said at a 1962 dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners:

    What most people know about the April 1962 Nobel Prize dinner at the White House is a famous quote from President Kennedy. He said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

    How Jefferson wrote and spoke was not always how he governed.  As president, Jefferson was erratic and regularly denounced opponents as traitorous, and who used constitutionally dubious presidential power to ban foreign trade of all kinds, not only because he was an agrarian utopian, but because he wanted to bankrupt the New England Federalists (in this he succeeded).  His irrational foreign policies (with a few bright spots) very nearly got us into war with Britain, and set up the war of 1812.

    • #96
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Raxxalan (View Comment):
    Ultimately I care less about that than I do about the steps the legislature takes to ensure this doesn’t happen again. This election is for all intents and purposes over. Any last minute maneuvering is unlikely to alter the result at this point. What matters now is making sure that this tactic is taken away from the democratic party’s arsenal going forward and that elections are cleaned up. Additionally a lot of work has to be done to repair the “rot” that @Skipsul has described in the administrative state so that elections matter again. There will be no deus ex machina that delivers us from a Biden administration. The key now is to find new ways of fighting and to try to ensure the damage done by Biden and/or Harris is as minimal as is possible. In four years some Republican is going to need new tactics and strategies to overcome the media advantage the left has. It is up to our state legislatures and/ or governors to take steps to ensure the integrity of the vote. I think the PA legislature is Republican controlled they should immediately start impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of State. They should make sure she pays a political price for her role in this. I would also suggest if the legislature believes the State Supreme court usurped its authority in Pennsylvania start working on impeaching some of them as well. We need to stop fighting this election and start working to keep the next one from being stolen.

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appears willing and able to block or simply ignore anything the Legislature does.  And then to write their own laws instead.

    • #97
  8. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

     

     

     

    • #98
  9. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):
    In a few words, you may have distilled one of the deepest problems in this entire debate, and that is if people are “terrified” at the love Americans feel for their duly elected President, there is, and I say this most respectfully, terribly amiss with those people.

    Remember the adulation for Obama? The messianic language he used? The insistence that anyone who opposed his policies really only opposed them because they were voiced by a black man? That didn’t creep you out? That didn’t strike you as amiss? Did you not find aggravating how, for 8 years, people lambasted you and people you knew as racists for not supporting Obama? Did you not find insulting how opposition to Obama was deemed unpatriotic?

    Trump’s rallies, while differently oriented, were nonetheless often using very similar language, tactics, and rhetoric, directly associating Trump’s policies with Trump himself, and opposition to Trump’s policies with opposition to Trump himself.

    If you were repelled by Obama, but drawn to Trump, when both used very similar strategies, then you shouldn’t wonder or find anything amiss with other people who were drawn to Obama while repelled by Trump.

    And frankly, we should all be worried when Presidents make their policies personal like this – it is divisive and damaging to body politic, and makes even constructive criticism from one’s own side nearly impossible. Obama is infamous for surrounding himself with stooges who wouldn’t gainsay him, just as Trump is infamous for firing people who kept crossing him for good or ill.

    There are good and bad forms of love Americans can feel for their presidents, but any president who goes out courting love in place of respect is entering dangerous waters.

    And if you felt strong love for Trump, it should not surprise you that others felt strong emotions the other way – those who demand strong love (as both Trump and Obama have done) are going to get strong emotions back from people – love and hatred both.

    This strikes me as a false equivalency. It’s intuitive, I’d have to think harder to provide a better argument. But Obama making it all about his skin color is an order of magnitude different from what Trump was doing. Especially since most of what Trump was saying involved “we”, not “me” and was not a royal one, but one that included his voters and supporters.

    You think we are depriving people moral agency. I refuse to think the American people are so STUPID. And it is stupidity that elected Biden if it wasn’t fraud.

    • #99
  10. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Stina (View Comment):

    This strikes me as a false equivalency. It’s intuitive, I’d have to think harder to provide a better argument. But Obama making it all about his skin color is an order of magnitude different from what Trump was doing. Especially since most of what Trump was saying involved “we”, not “me” and was not a royal one, but one that included his voters and supporters.

    You think we are depriving people moral agency. I refuse to think the American people are so STUPID. And it is stupidity that elected Biden if it wasn’t fraud.

    Talk to Biden voters and see what they say.  They are very clear on this: what they heard from Trump was a “we” that meant “Me and the people who support me” – given that they did NOT support Trump, that sort of rhetoric was exclusionary.  It was saying “you are with me, or an enemy”.  Just like Obama’s rhetoric.  Obama used racism as bait, Trump used patriotism, but beyond that there really wasn’t much difference. 

    • #100
  11. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

    Hang on.  Don’t black women say that black men are supposed to marry black women?  And doesn’t that mean black women are supposed to marry black men?  I guess that means it will be easy for Kamala to be taken out too, when the time comes:  she’s obviously a race traitor.

    • #101
  12. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Stina (View Comment):

    This strikes me as a false equivalency. It’s intuitive, I’d have to think harder to provide a better argument. But Obama making it all about his skin color is an order of magnitude different from what Trump was doing. Especially since most of what Trump was saying involved “we”, not “me” and was not a royal one, but one that included his voters and supporters.

    You think we are depriving people moral agency. I refuse to think the American people are so STUPID. And it is stupidity that elected Biden if it wasn’t fraud.

    Absolutely. I’m afraid Skip is pattern seeking where it doesn’t exist. Nobody considers the pudgy orange man with a checkered “marital” (and extramarital) history and says, “there’s my cult hero!” Nope. There is an element of “he’s the only guy standing between us the Left’s final victory,” but that’s not cult worship. And the very fact of his using “patriotism” to gather followers is a “we”-thing, not a “me”-thing. After Obama, Donald Trump’s love of country was refreshing and stood out by contrast. His rallies looked like celebrations of America to me. No Greek columns. No jutting chin. No freakin’ halo on Time magazine covers. 

    It may not “appear” that way to Trump haters, but that’s another thing to love about the Trump movement — they’re going to call us cultists and thugs and racists and homophobes anyway, so stop worrying about how it “appears” to people who don’t get it and just be authentic in your love of country and the like-minded people who inhabit it, whatever their skin color or sexual inclinations. 

    • #102
  13. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    It may not “appear” that way to Trump haters,

    And that is the point you keep missing here.  Appearances matter.  And to those not inclined to vote Trump, the rallies were alarming.

    I do not understand why so many here refuse to admit that, and deride the comparison with Obama.  You found Obama’s events and rallies abhorrent, but HIS fans adored them and thought you nuts to complain.  Try to see things from their POV here.

    My goodness but this conversation is practically a mirror of countless arguments I have had with liberals over the last 4 years.

    • #103
  14. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Stina (View Comment):
    I refuse to think the American people are so STUPID. And it is stupidity that elected Biden if it wasn’t fraud.

    Your first sentence contradicts your second.

    • #104
  15. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    We spent 8 damned years condemning the cult of personality around Obama as dangerous. We cannot claim that others would not see the same behaviors around Trump as equally so.

    Um… a Cult of Personality has the media creating an image for a leader. Clearly the case for Obama.

    But for Donald Trump, the media is actively organized against him. So this is the exact opposite of a Cult of Personality.

    No, this is not how these things work. It’s not the media doing the work, it’s the person themselves.

    Obama actively cultivated personal adoration of himself – the media just helped him along. But Obama and his handlers were very actively involved.

    Trump actively cultivated personal adoration of himself too – that’s exactly what 4 years of rallies were doing. That the media tried to thwart Trump, while a good sector of conservative media actively promoted Trump, doesn’t change what was going on.

    Gotta disagree.   For a true “Cult of Personality”, yeah, it is the media doing the work.

    From Wikipedia,

    A cult of personality, or cult of the leader, arises when a country’s regime – or, more rarely, an individual – uses the techniques of mass media, propaganda, the big lie, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image of a leader, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. A cult of personality is similar to apotheosis, except that it is established by modern social engineering techniques, usually by the state or the party in one-party states and dominant-party states. It is often seen in totalitarian or authoritarian countries.

    Obama fed just their virtue signaling by matching everything they were looking for in an affirmative action success story.  Everything else was the work of others.

    Donald Trump’s rallies are about bypassing the media and demonstrating that his movement exists. 

    • #105
  16. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    I refuse to think the American people are so STUPID. And it is stupidity that elected Biden if it wasn’t fraud.

    Your first sentence contradicts your second.

    That assumes I think it wasn’t fraud.

    • #106
  17. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Raxxalan (View Comment):
    Ultimately I care less about that than I do about the steps the legislature takes to ensure this doesn’t happen again. This election is for all intents and purposes over. Any last minute maneuvering is unlikely to alter the result at this point. What matters now is making sure that this tactic is taken away from the democratic party’s arsenal going forward and that elections are cleaned up. Additionally a lot of work has to be done to repair the “rot” that @Skipsul has described in the administrative state so that elections matter again. There will be no deus ex machina that delivers us from a Biden administration. The key now is to find new ways of fighting and to try to ensure the damage done by Biden and/or Harris is as minimal as is possible. In four years some Republican is going to need new tactics and strategies to overcome the media advantage the left has. It is up to our state legislatures and/ or governors to take steps to ensure the integrity of the vote. I think the PA legislature is Republican controlled they should immediately start impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of State. They should make sure she pays a political price for her role in this. I would also suggest if the legislature believes the State Supreme court usurped its authority in Pennsylvania start working on impeaching some of them as well. We need to stop fighting this election and start working to keep the next one from being stolen.

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appears willing and able to block or simply ignore anything the Legislature does. And then to write their own laws instead.

    All the more reason to impeach them or reduce their salaries.  The legislature has tools to discipline the court if they have the will.

    • #107
  18. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    It may not “appear” that way to Trump haters,

    And that is the point you keep missing here. Appearances matter. And to those not inclined to vote Trump, the rallies were alarming.

    I do not understand why so many here refuse to admit that, and deride the comparison with Obama. You found Obama’s events and rallies abhorrent, but HIS fans adored them and thought you nuts to complain. Try to see things from their POV here.

    My goodness but this conversation is practically a mirror of countless arguments I have had with liberals over the last 4 years.

    Who was bothered by Obama’s rallies?

    Admittedly, I was young and not paying to close attention what with dealing with pregnancy and getting married, but I don’t remember a lot of issues with Obama rallies.

    I remember personally having issues with him saying two different things to two different crowds. And Obama Loves Me set to the tune of Jesus Loves me.

    I didn’t start listening to Rush consistently until the summer after Obama’s election.

    • #108
  19. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Obama fed just their virtue signaling by matching everything they were looking for in an affirmative action success story. Everything else was the work of others.

    Donald Trump’s rallies are about bypassing the media and demonstrating that his movement exists.

    By your definition it still fits: Trump consistently used consistently used conservative media, and they were happy to be so used.

    • #109
  20. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    namlliT noD (View Comment):
    Obama fed just their virtue signaling by matching everything they were looking for in an affirmative action success story. Everything else was the work of others.

    Obama in 2008 was a blank slate with only one vote he did not abstain from.

    His entire persona was media created and he WAS created by the media. It was supposed to be Hillary’s turn, but the blank slate, first term senator could be anything they wanted him to be and the made him.

    • #110
  21. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Stina (View Comment):
    Who was bothered by Obama’s rallies?

    Anyone on the right who was seeing the symbolism he deployed.

    • #111
  22. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Obama fed just their virtue signaling by matching everything they were looking for in an affirmative action success story. Everything else was the work of others.

    Donald Trump’s rallies are about bypassing the media and demonstrating that his movement exists.

    By your definition it still fits: Trump consistently used consistently used conservative media, and they were happy to be so used.

    No he didn’t. Most conservative media was against him until they saw their numbers declining and had to do a retake. Fox News never favored Trump. Tucker gained support not because he supported Trump, but because he understood why people voted for him.

    • #112
  23. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    Who was bothered by Obama’s rallies?

    Anyone on the right who was seeing the symbolism he deployed.

    Well looks like I was right to start having doubts about Conservative media. Rallies seem like a proper way to run a campaign. Clearly they work better than wining and dining big money donors.

    • #113
  24. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    It may not “appear” that way to Trump haters,

    And that is the point you keep missing here. Appearances matter. And to those not inclined to vote Trump, the rallies were alarming.

    I do not understand why so many here refuse to admit that, and deride the comparison with Obama. You found Obama’s events and rallies abhorrent, but HIS fans adored them and thought you nuts to complain. Try to see things from their POV here.

    My goodness but this conversation is practically a mirror of countless arguments I have had with liberals over the last 4 years.

    I think it was good to see a “politician” who keeps his word, or at least his principles.  And it was good to find a “politician” who people could actually like instead of hold their nose to vote for and hope he will be better than the last dozen.

    It’s not at all messianic as it was for 0bama, whom they actually literally referred to as the messiah, but genuine appreciation of a man who could sustain while the whole media and political class and half the judiciary betrayed him.

    • #114
  25. Biden Pure Demagogue Inactive
    Biden Pure Demagogue
    @Pseudodionysius

    • #115
  26. carcat74 Member
    carcat74
    @carcat74

    Your post is just as eloquent, heart-wrenching, and poignant as Mr.Gingrich’s piece. As Rush said when BO took office, “I hope he fails.” Biden and his crew should fail so hard…..

    • #116
  27. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    And that is the point you keep missing here. Appearances matter. And to those not inclined to vote Trump, the rallies were alarming.

    I’m more interested in truth than appearances. It is simply untrue that Donald Trump is a cult figure. People who believe that are wrong and believe a lie. The same people who believe in the Trump cult were probably alarmed by the Tea Party rallies and Glenn Beck’s rally on the National Mall where participants regularly left the site better (cleaner) than they found it. Many of them disbelieve their lyin’ eyes and accept it as truth when a CNN reporter is standing in front of a burning building talking about “peaceful protests.” They believe the motto Make America Great Again is some kind of white supremacist rallying cry.

    I don’t know what you do about people so terribly deceived (who also seem to enjoy being deceived — Global Warming hysteria, Trump is a Russian agent, COVID deaths are Donald Trump’s fault, China isn’t a threat but Donald Trump is . . .), but I know what you don’t do — you don’t stop telling the truth.

    I’m not sure which is worse at this point — that Biden “won” by fraudulent means, or that he didn’t. I think I prefer to believe it was fraud, because America is a goner if Biden legitimately won the electoral college. That just means otherwise good people are so easily deceived, they’ll believe anything, and the Left occupying the commanding heights of the culture can have its way with us. We’re going to get the government Biden voters deserve, good and hard.

    • #117
  28. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    carcat74 (View Comment):

    Your post is just as eloquent, heart-wrenching, and poignant as Mr.Gingrich’s piece. As Rush said when BO took office, “I hope he fails.” Biden and his crew should fail so hard…..

    Thank you! I’m so glad you mentioned what Rush said about hoping Obama fails, as I fully intended to include that in the post and, like most good intentions, it was forgotten. 

    Happy New Year!

    Sincerely, Jim

    • #118
  29. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    I’m more interested in truth than appearances. It is simply untrue that Donald Trump is a cult figure. People who believe that are wrong and believe a lie. The same people who believe in the Trump cult were probably alarmed by the Tea Party rallies and Glenn Beck’s rally on the National Mall where participants regularly left the site better (cleaner) than they found it. Many of them disbelieve their lyin’ eyes and accept it as truth when a CNN reporter is standing in front of a burning building talking about “peaceful protests.” They believe the motto Make America Great Again is some kind of white supremacist rallying cry.

    Stone the messenger all you want, but I’m telling you what other people see and perceive, and what they tell me.  Blame the media all you want too, but this is sounding like the lady who quipped in ’72, after Nixon won, “I don’t know how he won!  Nobody I know voted for him.”  

    And it’s wrong to say they believe a lie because this shows you fundamentally do not understand why people could see and value things differently than you.  You think everyone out there who thinks this way is somehow an unthinking CNN drone?  They certainly think that anyone who supports trump is an unthinking Fox News drone, and neither perception of the other is at all right.  Most of the Biden voters I’ve talked to wouldn’t give CNN the time of day – they’ve long since cut the cable.  CNN?  Fox?  MSNBC?  That’s for their parents and grandparents to shout at. 

    Let me try this one more time.

    You remember the whole Obama “Hope and Change” nonsense?  How we had 8 years of that crap?  How we would have neighbors emblazon it on yard signs long after the 2008 election?  Remember how we had to keep seeing that and other Obama slogans on hats, and on signs in shop windows?  Remember how we Obama’s visage constantly on magazines, on TV, and everywhere else?  How did you react?  Did you go arguing with everyone who sported Obama stuff, or did you bite your lip and move on, wanting to avoid creating a scene with someone you knew was hoping for an argument? 

    Now put yourself in the shoes of someone who voted against Trump in 2016.  For 4 years they’ve had MAGA hats, MAGA shirts, MAGA rallies that snarled traffic, and MAGA signage.  A never-ending campaign for Trump, with his slogan and logo everywhere, and for the most part they’ve said nothing.  Yes, there have been a more than a few nuts who did start arguments, or assault people who wore the hats especially, but the majority bit their lips, kept silent, and tried to avoid creating a scene.  But they knew damned well that the slogans were for Trump, and resented the hell out of it.  Same as we did for Obama.

    • #119
  30. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    Stone the messenger all you want,

    Really? Do you feel you’re being martyred for expressing your opinion among people who disagree?

    I didn’t care about “Hope and Change” or Obama/Biden bumper stickers that persisted through the years. I objected to “fundamentally” transforming our country with left wing lunacy like you discuss on Susan’s transgender post. I strenuously objected to the arbitrary application of laws (aka lawlessness), the lies, and the foreign and domestic damage done by people who believe them. It was policy/worldview disagreement and the equivalence it has on our side is that my policy/worldview comports pretty well with Trump’s — and with reality. It is borne out in the fruits of the two administrations. Both sides believe they’re right and have the truth, but only one does. Answers to questions about whether a man can become a woman are binary, for example. 

    • #120
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