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.
Trump Is Done
Trump gets full credit for destroying himself and his Presidency. And he finally did it single-handedly. We have all put up with his rudeness, crassness, and inconsistencies, and I was willing to go along.
Until now.
Trump’s protesting the election was understandable. But once he voiced his protests, he should have just done his job and limited his comments; instead, he kept inciting his most passionate followers and everyone else within shouting distance. Yes, I think it’s entirely possible that those who crashed the Capitol were not just his fans, but those who were just waiting for an opportunity to incite violence, just like the riots we saw in several major cities. And Trump gave them the cover to attack.
I hate violence. I hate breaking the law. I hate those who threaten others. And Trump essentially encouraged all of it. Even when he told people to go home today, he had to say just one more time that he was cheated in the election. He should be ashamed.
But he doesn’t have the decency to be ashamed. He’s just angry. Which justifies his insulting his vice president who put up with his abasement of him for years with class, diligence, and allegiance. And Trump thanked him by trying to discredit him.
I can tolerate a great deal from a person when they get things done. But to a great extent, Trump brought much of the hatred towards him on himself. Those who sabotaged him were incited by his disdain for them and his nastiness.
Yes, Trump did many good things during his Presidency. But those accomplishments will be overshadowed by his lack of discipline and lack of respect for those who had tried to serve him well.
He’s done.
Published in Culture
I agree.
Agreed. I was never a Trump fan, but I’m glad of the good things that happened on his watch; judges etc.
He has foolishly made it impossible for me to defend those things.
All he will be remembered for is this. He accomplished much that was good; however, he immolated himself in the past two months. Today was a tragedy. Hopefully the country can recover. I am not optimistic.
Well said!
I saw an opinion piece arguing that Trump may have cost the Republicans Georgia. We can never know. And I do accept that there were plenty of questionable actions taken during the election, most justified by the pandemic (extending/easing voting, mainly).
Still, Trump seems the mirror image of the Thane of Cawdor, of whom Malcolm said: “Nothing in his life / Became him like his leaving it.”
He has always seemed to believe that there was a PART of the Republican Party that he could appeal to. He is going out as if he wants to create a rump party for future uses.
Maybe done for you, but he is not the problem, he is the symptom. The problem is that we have a two-tier system of justice in this country. Some people work hard and are taxed and put out of business, while elites are allowed to break the laws and live off the taxes that their lessors pay. We have a system where the votes of some people are worth less than the votes of others. I don’t know how things turn out, but there is a lot of pressure in the pot and the elites in power will drive a narrative that will create more pressure.
What he did was for the most part good. How he expressed himself was problematic.
I’ve worked for guys who made Trump look like Miss Manners. They were effective too. I’ve worked for guys who I’m sure got straight As in comportment who were otherwise wastes of skin. He was better than the alternative. The whole country is going to find out that he still was better than the alternative. They are going to learn that the hard way, unfortunately.+
He could have accomplished much more by combining his passion with finesse. He had none. The bull in the china shop impaled himself on a nasty shard of broken glass.
I’m not blaming him for the countless problems we have. I’m talking about his Presidency.
Maybe, but we could have done better.
Great post. Trump has made it much easier for the demoniacs to undo the majority of what he accomplished and likely made it almost impossible in the short term for us to claw back congress.
You’ve seen those movies where a previously likable character gets more and more hysterical until finally, someone slaps him or her back to reality? Conservatives are that character and today was, for many of us who were in various stages of denial — from excuse-making up through hysteria — the slap. Now is the scene where we look around and say, “What have I done?”
Those who don’t feel the sting on their cheek today probably never will.
I didn’t vote for him. But I was willing to give him a chance. Any respect I tried to maintain for him as an individual is gone.
There maybe hope yet there. Mercifully that is all about the overreach. This will be inconvenient and will spark a lot of negative ads but, with enough overreach a republican can be elected to the senate from MA, so this may be a blip for the party.
I feel the sting however I don’t see that I had much choice in matter before or am likely to later. I didn’t vote for him in 2016, I voted for him enthusiastically in 2020 because the Abraham accords are something special that g-d willing will last. In 2 years I’ll do what I can to support Republicans because they are the only shield I have. In 4 years if by some dark twist of fate it is Trump the Phoenix against Kamala I don’t really see how I would have any real choice there. I can’t see how I could support him in a primary but will not say I never would because fate takes notice of such hubris.
As I have said elsewhere, I have spent 5 damned years arguing with the reflexive Trump haters that he wasn’t a tinpot dictator, he wasn’t trying to undermine the republic, he wasn’t going to destroy conservatism.
And in the last 2 damned months he has totally undermined it all.
Screw him.
I think you pretty much speak for me, Raxxalan.
Cruz, maybe. But as I recall, the majority of the Never Trump people started out as Never Cruz.
I get this. Life is a series of choices and sometimes there are just two bad ones. I’m still not sure which of the political choices I made over the past five years were right and which were wrong, but that’s what forgiveness is for.
I do know that I have very little respect for those who are sure the choices have been easy all along.
I think that Never Trump’s desire is really to be the loyal opposition to a resurgent progressive ruling party. I think they are much more concerned with appearance and performance than results. I am also quite sure they don’t see the Democrats as either an existential threat or fundamentally unAmerican. As such I find it hard to take them seriously. They will oppose anyone who is for upsetting the apple cart and for really changing the dynamic in the culture or the government. As such while they are right to condemn what has happened today, I still find it hard to take them seriously or forgive their past statements.
All of the important choices are hard. I often think if there are two ways to read scripture and one seems like it would be easy to follow and one seems hard the hard one is probably the right one.
I’d like you to know that I get no satisfaction by calling Trump out. I remember how often people said, we need someone like him to clean out the swamp, don’t expect him to change, what you see is what you get. I do think we needed a rabble-rouser to stir things up, and all those who were upset about his going against tradition get no sympathy from me. But I was always baffled by his inability to tone it down at times; to moderate because it would serve his ends. But he didn’t have the capacity to change. Every now and then his compassion would show, and I know it was there. I don’t know if he has completely gone off the rails–I really don’t know–but it’s tragic for him, his family, and even the country.
It’s a little too early to say. He’s done being President, but I don’t know that he’s done.
Susan, all that matters is whether or not fraud occurred. If you don’t believe it, then it was over back in November. Is that your position?
If you believe fraud did occur however, how does anything that’s happened since the election make a difference?
Trumps behavior, tweets, or the actions undertaken today have no bearing on the facts of that matter.
I was a Cruz supporter, but after his nonsense this past week, I will never support him again.
Very well said, Susan. You’ve always had my respect and this post shows why.
I understand where you are coming from; however, I disagree. There was definitely fraud in November and it almost certainly turned the election in two states. That justified every legal maneuver up until today and maybe even justified the protest votes today by republican legislators, although I tend to agree with Mike Lee and Tom Cotton on this issue. I am not certain and we can be certain that fraud determined the election. Also the country is too closely divided to sustain the type of action it would take to overturn the results this late. Trump had to take the Jacksonian approach. Acknowledge the fraud and vow to fight it and return. He needed to take that approach at some time, not too early and not too late. He waited too long. This is not surprisingly given who he is. As much as I hate to say it if fraud won the election this time it worked. The key was to preserve what could be preserved and make the case strongly enough that some action had to be taken. Alas, Trump wasn’t up to that task.
So do I.
I don’t mind a good crazy protest but I mind that this one is about a counterproductive conspiracy theory propagated by nutty nutters. I voted for Trump twice even though I find him a dislikable jerk. He gets poop done so fine. This nutty protest isn’t about anything. What is the real issue at stake? Stolen election is as banal as systematic racism. The old senile one won so boo hoo – back to work for us. I can’t wait for this to be over even though the leftists will never be happy.
Quoting because I can only like it once.