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Abe, Noah, and John come together for the last COMMENTARY podcast of the week to discuss the retirement of Jeff Flake and his attack on Donald Trump’s violation of norms: Can you really say the man who wins the presidency is a political aberration. We then consider the schadenfreude of the Right at learning of the Clinton campaign’s hidden role in trying to dig up dirt on Trump in Russia—and wonder at the conspiracy theory that is being spun from it. Give a listen.
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I made it to 15:29 before I turned it off. You gentlemen have been telling us since the election how horrible all of this is. I have yet to see it. How about you join the rest of us? Encouraging the behavior we want, and condemning behavior we don’t want. Unceasing negative reinforcement is no way to train a dog or a President. Equal parts praise and criticism work best.
As for Flake, I agree with Andrew Klavan. Flake’s speech boils down to “Someone should oppose Trump, it is our moral obligation. But it won’t be me, I’m leaving.” Hardly a stance of bravery.
“Harpoon yourself on your own bayonet”?
or was it
“Bayonet youself on your own harpoon”?
“Harpoon yourself on your own bayonet”?
or was it
“Bayonet youself on your own harpoon”?
You have yet to see it? The rest of us? You seem to think Trump is like a dog that needs training. Well I think you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Also, if you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Flake has decided that he can’t beat him and won’t join him. I imagine he is hoping someone else will. Me too.
I went farther than you did, Patrick, but it didn’t get any better. In fact, there was plenty of recitation of Trump actions that the whining Commentary editors favor, e.g. reductions in the regulatory state, but somehow they managed to avoid giving Trump any credit for such action, and they certainly didn’t refer to it as “policy.” The sky continues to fall, to hear JPod, Abe and Noah tell it.
They were especially WRONG about the origins of the “Trump Dossier,” claiming that it started out as a Republican-funded operation. They would do well to read Mollie Hemingway’s piece at the Federalist, which includes this point that ought to be obvious to any journalist:
You do realize you’ve just placed Trump on the same intellectual footing as a canine, don’t you?
It’s an apt comparison in my book, but I’m sure it wasn’t the impression you wanted to leave us with.
One can despise Trump AND Flake at the same time, and yearn for the day when all GOP policymakers will be as morally courageous as Ben Sasse (a true dyed in the wool Conservative who is willing to slam left and right with equal vigor; in short, he is that rarest of unicorns: The principled politician.)
Yes, I knew exactly what I was saying. But how intelligent do you have to be, to not be influenced by positive or negative reinforcement? The fact that the President, or any human, is influenced by doesn’t mean he’s on the intelligence level of a dog.