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 can only hope that this debacle has ruined his chance to run in 2024 (please, God!) and, maybe more important, has scotched his chance to be a kingmaker in the GOP, which he decidedly was headed toward.
Frankly, the GOP must detrumpify, much as post-war Germany had to denazify. I don’t call for a scorched-earth policy. After all, the Allies let some former Nazis continue to be involved in government and business in order for society to function. Similarly, I can see forgiving folks like Ted Cruz if they convince me they see the error of their ways. Or even simply lie low and behave.
I really regret sounding harsh. I’d like to think we could all move on from this ugly moment in history and fight* on the same side. But I’m not so sure we can do it.
*I mean this metaphorically. Sadly, that can’t go without saying today.
You forgot to mention, “at the behest of the democrats.” So it goes like this: “Under the bus people throwing at the behest of the Democrats.”
You forgot to mention, “at the behest of the democrats.” So it goes like this: “Under the bus people throwing at the behest of the Democrats.”
Well, that’s our problem. We have actual hard data that forcing COVID positive patients into nursing homes caused thousands of lives. There’s just no doubt about it. By Trump playing down the virus, I assume you mean he didn’t go full on for the lockdowns once guys like Andrew Cuomo – after killing thousands in the nursing homes – decided to swing violently to the other extreme and shut everything down. The effects of those lockdowns is controversial, and there is no clear evidence how effective they were. Maybe they helped, maybe they didn’t. We can argue about that.
That’s the problem with our whole response to COVID. So much is driven by ideology. The left must blame Trump for everything and exhonerate leftist politicians even when they do provably dumb and dangerous things. Trump cannot be allowed to ever have done anything right. Just about everyone does some things right and others wrong – that’s true even of leftist politicians. Trump is somehow always wrong about everything, and the left is always right about everything. So Hillary must have been able to do a better job than Trump, because by definition what she does is right and what Trump does is wrong.
I’m so tired of this.
Are votes ever used as instruments of murder?
Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I doubt that Hillary would have done a travel ban, but I also don’t think Hillary would have allowed the situation to degenerate to this point.
And with every new DMV registration ask “would you like a gun with that?”
V.I. Lenin just called. “Yes. Yes, they are.”
While I feel compelled to disagree with your central point here, I like this post and have clicked to indicate so. Yours is certainly a defensible position. Or at least a debatable position. And, interestingly, there is somewhat of a conversation happening here. So often, “joining the conversation” means to issue short, ostensibly witty one-liners that fail to address any of the posted arguments.
I hope to post on this soon and I will welcome your thoughts.
Huh. There is a gun store near where I live, but it turns out that I can use a vote to defend myself from Proud Boys. I never knew that.
You really think that we will ever be allowed to win an election again? Hugo Chavez never lost an election once he got in power of a very successful democratic government.
Yes, I think we will be allowed to win. I’m much less certain whether we will. And I’m worried that there isn’t a “we” anymore.
Do you really think that Trump gets full credit for destroying his presidency. Really? Reeeaally? He was impeached over a legitimate and legal call to the new president of Ukraine. Before that he was investigated and smeared by the Dems and the Press for two years, including the farcical Mueller investigation. And before that he was illegally “investigated” – that is spied upon and manipulated – and slandered by the CIA, FBI and DOJ starting before he ever entered office. And his right-hand man General Flynn was framed for, again, a legitimate and legal call to a Russian official, done in his capacity of incoming National Security Adviser.
And to say that “Those who sabotaged him were incited by his disdain for them and his nastiness,” is simply wrong. “Disdain”?! He was an existential threat to those who fought him. Those who sabotaged him were part of the Deep State, not disgruntled federal employees, or the American public offended by his mouth (and yes, the so-called Deep State exists, and has since the end of WWII).
You say, “Which justifies his insulting his vice president who put up with his abasement of him for years with class, diligence, and allegiance.” When has president Trump ever insulted or abased Pence? Never. In fact, Pence didn’t have to accept Trump’s pick of him for VP either. And Pence quietly started a campaign with Paul Ryan as VP in October of 2016 just a month of two before the election! And you think Pence has been loyal?
I can imagine your agitation, but to blame Trump for yesterday is also mistaken. He was trying to do something, I’m not sure what, but the assault on the Capitol was organized by leftist provocateurs working in conjunction with local police who not only let the protesters in, but incited them, and apparently eventually shot one of them.
And the bottom line is that I very much doubt that the country can come back from the last four years. Or from the next four, if Biden is president.
I honestly think it’s foolish for any Republican to think that we will ever have a fair election again. Why would they allow it when they pulled the greatest coup in American history and got off scott free? Are the Democrats that noble?
This is why there were protesters, not merely Trump. There are 75 or 80 million voters who are very angry, and reasonably afraid of the future of America, perhaps more angry than you. And this country will either maintain or fall based on their reaction to this election. Trump is just the focal point of this.
And despite Trump’s “rudeness and crassness” who could have done better?
Irrelevant to the point. They are used to prevent crimes, including murder. When the 2nd Amendment was written, their guns also could kill. Either the rules in place for elections prevent fraud or they don’t.
The left is sending the message that anyone who dares oppose them need not run. The right seems to be saying the same thing.
The proud boys will never bother you and you know it. Quit such foolishness. The adults are talking.
At the present time, they are more likely to harm me than any Radical Islamic group or China.
It’s curious that Viruscop uses as an avatar a fictional character that uses violence to take over civilizations and transform people into mindless drones.
Just to be clear, you fear the Proud Boys more than the Chinese perpetrated Wuhan-flu? I realize that the odds of being harmed from either are quite small, but you rate the Proud Boys as a substantively greater threat? Perhaps I am unknowingly in danger. How exactly will they come at me?
Yes, they are see Venezuela or Turkey.
I thought he did yesterday, when he tweeted about Pence being too cowardly to do whatever. I disapprove of putting Pence in that kind of position and then treating him that way. I’m not going to throw Trump under the bus for it, at least not until a better alternative turns up, but I don’t like it.
High praise, Jack. I look forward to your post. Thanks.
I don’t know how they will come at you. I can only speak for myself.
This is getting crazier than The Pit.
The proud boys haven’t killed anybody. The Radical Islamic groups that have killed Americans would target you.
Got it. How are they coming at you?
I live in Lansing, the site of angry protests against the governor, who was the target of a radical kidnapping plot on the part of right-wing terrorists. I think it is reasonable to assume that there are more Proud Boys in the area who want to kill me, a Liberal, than there are radical Islamists or Chinese agents.
Well when in Rome.
Susan, you can scream at them all you want, they don’t care. Nothing will change because the only person who was willing to do anything about the corruption in America just got stabbed in the back by everyone in power. They feared Trump, they don’t fear you, or me, or even God and that should be painfully clear. If it’s’ not, it will be very soon. Who is going to investigate? One of the only three members of the Senate willing to challenge it yesterday? It’s a dream.
Yesterday you saw how much you can rely on man. Either God puts right what is wrong or no one will.