In the latest COMMENTARY podcast, John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, and Noah Rothman explore the last ride of the Boomer generation in the form of a Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton presidential contest: How the wings of the liberal and conservative movements for whom nostalgia for various periods of the 1960s won the argument, and why this dynamic is suffocating American politics and stifling meaningful debate about where the country is moving.

Also, as the polls turn against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters threaten to burn the place down on their way out, the gang indulges a bit of well-earned schadenfreude over liberal panic.

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There are 6 comments.

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  1. John Russell Coolidge
    John Russell
    @JohnRussell

    I had never heard the adjectival version of the noun phrase Rat Pack before (namely Rat Packian).  I like it.

    • #1
  2. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    It was really sad listening to you guys try to explain Trumps strategy. I prefer reading Scott Adams blog (writer of Dilbert).  He really does the best analysis of Trump as he is not blinded by his own pretensions.  He points out the reason why Trump will win and why Hillary will lose.  It has nothing to do with issues and has everything to do with marketing and messaging.  Which is why he was able to slaughter the best Republican field in the last generation.

    It doesn’t matter whether or not the stuff from 25 years ago is relevant. What is important to Trump is that we spent the last 48 hours talking about Trump.  Its all about keeping his name in discussion and in the media and on the front pages.  Its about persuasion and salesmanship.

    • #2
  3. J Climacus Member
    J Climacus
    @JClimacus

    John Podhoretz said he’s not a political consultant and doesn’t know how to publicize issues for political campaigns. This podcast shows why.

    John’s advice to focus on Hillary’s emails is the last thing Trump should do. That’s just what Hillary is hoping for so she can claim the whole email thing is a partisan witch hunt. Trump is doing it exactly right: Say nothing and let the FBI investigation run its course. If the FBI ends up punting it, then Trump can start talking about emails and how the fix was in.

    Trump is talking about Vince Foster and the like for a few reasons: He’s saving the heavy artillery for later in the campaign when it really matters. Not many people are paying attention to the general election right now. But by throwing this stuff out there he is maintaining the initiative, driving the news cycle, reminding people of the Clinton’s tawdry 90’s history, and introducing the subject to younger people who are unfamiliar with it. He knows the Vince Foster stuff isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t matter for his purposes.

    I’m no Trump fan but I think his approach to Hillary has been masterful so far.

    • #3
  4. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    re: The discussion at 40:00 about driverless cars and the effect on the economy.

    I shell out hundreds every year for analysis by hedge fund guys that have been right on everything for the last 20 years. Technology and globalization is killing wages and it is going to get much worse. Deflation. The Fed is countering this by trying to generate inflation to counter it because we have too much public and private debt to actually switch back to a pre Fed deflationary economy. Also, the government and politicians lose all kinds of power under this type of economy.

    This paradigm kills the middle class because their wages go down but stuff they are forced to buy keeps going up. Also, government policy makes things like education, health insurance, and housing overpriced for no good reason.

    There is no such thing as a realistic, practical conversation about this anywhere. The one example I can think of, is Rep. Tom Emmer is trying to get rid of the Fed dual mandate. The fact is, conservatism can’t function well in an easy money environment.

    The big government inflationist central planners at Bloomberg View and Larry Summers are freaking out. Their system is doomed.

    This will end badly.

    Inflation

    INFLATIONIST CENTRAL PLANNER IN TOTAL PANIC LOL —> “Pride of place” “People’s agenda”

    • #4
  5. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    This is a wonderful quote from that article.

    Big Brother cannot take care of us. Only we can do that. Big Brother is us; the government is us. If we think a bureaucrat can take care of us better than we can take care of ourselves, or cares more about us than we care about ourselves, we’re deluded. The more we think we can offload our own responsibility for self-reliance—the longer we take to look under the bun and ask, “Where’s the beef?”—the more we invite our elite leaders to continue with the interventionist policies that have inflicted so much damage already.

    • #5
  6. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Ricochet should start a podcast like this one except focusing  on Bloomberg View and Larry Summers et. al.

    We need new words and radical thinking to get out of this mess. Austrian economics.

    • #6
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