Feel the Bern

The men of GLoP (for those living under a rock, that’s Jonah Goldberg, Rob Long, and John Podhoretz) return for their August appointment. This episode, Yuge look at Candidate Trump, including a sobering exercise in what a Donald Presidency might look like. Then, Hillary’s email server gets GLoP-ped, the Bernie Sanders/#BlackLivesMatter  phenomenon is explained, True Detective gets parsed, and much more. Tune in!

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There are 34 comments.

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  1. Indaba Member
    Indaba
    @

    Looking forward to getting my GLOP fix.

    • #1
  2. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    I have a subject I need you guys to address next episode. I just read the first few pages of this Lego Star Wars book to my son. The book goes into great detail about each character and ship and boontas and bantas and whatever… (That probably gets me in trouble now but I won’t apologize.)

    Anyway, I can’t read this thing. I can pronounce Anakin but after that I’m stumped. Alba Tamoopaloopa flew the R5X4 Generator Oscillator in the Naboobaloo Raceypoo… Can you help me out? I’ve got about 200 more pages of this nonsense.

    • #2
  3. SParker Member
    SParker
    @SParker

    Betcha F.W. Murnau bought the big one (Der Gang in die Nacht, if you will) on Calif Rt. 1.

    • #3
  4. Indaba Member
    Indaba
    @

    And not disappointed.
    John, look into sending your child to a Canadian university, not Australia. Just like our top five banks are in the top 20 leading banks globally, so are our top universities. Plus they are far less expensive. University of Torinto is in the centre of the fourth largest city in North America with the lowest crime rate. My sons are in the midst of university and I have searched for any Marxist brain washing and there is a disappointing lack of it. Also, it is heavily Asian, and they tend to be far more realistic having lived with heavy government policy.
    Great overview of true detective. Vince was good.

    • #4
  5. mezzrow Member
    mezzrow
    @mezzrow

    “Lonesome Rhodes in a sharkskin suit”

    Had to just stop and congratulate you for that one, J-Pod (that was J-Pod, wasn’t it?).

    That’s how this has to end, right?

    Right? (hopefully)

    Now, back to the podcast…

    **edit – J-Pod is kind enough later to credit Jonah – the idea is brilliant, anyway – and J-Pod does even better, stick around…  I was listening to Julius laRosa on the XM 40’s radio the other day, and thought about planes – why planes? As a youngster, I did Civil Air Patrol and learned there that Arthur Godfrey was a private pilot and a big proponent of govt support for military and commercial aviation infrastructure growth.**

    • #5
  6. Jonah Goldberg Member
    Jonah Goldberg
    @

    Mezzrow — It was me! ME! MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

    • #6
  7. mezzrow Member
    mezzrow
    @mezzrow

    Jonah Goldberg:Mezzrow — It was me! ME! MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

    You’re quoting Trump again, aren’t you?  (certainly not Hillary…)

    • #7
  8. Benjamin Glaser Inactive
    Benjamin Glaser
    @BenjaminGlaser

    Something that the commentators miss is that the grumblings over the past 6 years towards the GOP “establishment” really have less to do with an inability to roll back Obama’s policies as with a remaining Tea Party angst over George W. Bush’s massive big government policies which raised the national debt and violated free market principles and small government sensibilities. This is especially true when over and over we see no example that the leadership in the House and the Senate have learned anything from Medicare Part D, NCLB, etc…instead being engaged in the well-termed Twitter language of “Failure Theater”, where the leadership makes claims of conservative bona fides only to roll over to the machinations of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. After which we are treated to “well we don’t have enough Senators, Congressmen, or the White House, etc…”.

    The frustration is real, not just made up by us ignorant yokels in flyover country. (…and no I do not and will not support Trump).

    The Tea Party was as much a reaction against Bush and the crony capitalism of the Fall of 2008 as Obamacare and the Stimulus.

    The battle over the Import-Export bank and the underhanded work in Mississippi last year (not to mention going all the way back to 2010 and the backing of Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio) are both good recent examples of this.

    • #8
  9. BuckeyeSam Inactive
    BuckeyeSam
    @BuckeyeSam

    Podhoretz points out that the GOP doesn’t have 60% of the Senate. True, and the GOP probably never will again. But the GOP could come close. That said, stop and think about where the despised GOP Establishment put its money in some of the recent campaigns. For example, in 2014, the GOPe essentially ignored the VA candidate who came close to taking out Dem. Warner. At the same time, the GOPe went to the mattresses to prop up the completely useless Thad Cochran.

    Years ago, it undermined a mediocre candidate in NV (Angle) who had a decent chance to take out Dem. Reid. In Wisconsin, why couldn’t they come up with a better candidate than Thompson. Instead, we have a Dem. crackpot Baldwin. Casey in PA has always seemed a weak-tea senator. Why can’t the GOP line someone up to take him out? Here, in Ohio, the GOPe didn’t seem to put forth a lot of effort trying to take out Sherrod Brown in 2012. Why does the GOPe stand still while we have a Dem. Senator in Montana (Tester)? Same with North Dakota (Heitkamp). Even though Manchin is popular, same with West Virginia. We had Dem. McCaskill’s seat in the bag until the Akin fiasco, and he was the GOPe choice, though it pawned him off on the Tea Party. Murdock, in IN, was a Tea Party failure, but I don’t recall a great deal of help coming from the GOPe when his original comments got blown out of proportion.

    The GOP needs to create firewalls in most Southern states, most Mountain states, and some Midwestern states. And then chip away at some weak links in purple states. I’m angry that all these GOPe experts can’t get the job done.

    • #9
  10. Mate De Inactive
    Mate De
    @MateDe

    I agree with Rob on college but aren’t we perpetuating this waste of time and money that is college by sending our kids? I have a college aged intern in my office and she was telling me most kids are going to community college or working after high school because they don’t know what they want to do and they don’t want to take out the student loans for pay $60,000 a year to figure it out. The cost of college is outragous, and you don’t get much in return. Most kids are realizing this especially when they see young people with master’s degress working at Starbucks. Also if you can get a degree in English from UCLA without ever reading Shakespear then it is likley that degree isn’t worth the paper it is printed on and employers will realize that too.

    I’d rather send my kids to a trade school or something where they will have real vocational skills when they graduate. with things like the great courses (there’s a plug), Hillsdale college courses on the Consitution, Coursera courses or videos of lectures that you can find on Youtube a young person can get a liberal art education for a few hundred bucks.

    • #10
  11. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    I find it interesting how you mention how dark tv is getting. I have been delving into the recesses of Youtube, and have found several shows that I am now watching.  Hunter, which is straight simple police procedural.  The other two are a bit more whacky premises Hardcastle and McCormick and Riptide.

    The last two shows have me going, “How did these get green lighted let alone 3 seasons each!”  But when you sit down and watch them they are something that most shows are not now.  They are lots of fun.  The main characters from the get go are always cracking jokes and taking a light hearted approach to problems, even when thugs are kidnapping them or shooting at them.  They do something that I recently heard as a complaint about Fantastic 4 reboot.  “Real people don’t talk that way.” Stephen J Cannel had a great way of writing interesting dialogue even when the shows were a little odd ball. 

    My favourite two shows of the modern era are Strike Back and Brooklyn 99.  Strike Back is about two Commandoes that travel the world, sleep with beautiful women and kill terrorists while wise cracking the whole time.  And Brooklyn 99 is the best situational comedy since Night Court. 

    I also watched True Detective and cant think of a single joke during the entire show or when someone laughed.

    • #11
  12. Lazy_Millenial Inactive
    Lazy_Millenial
    @LazyMillennial

    Loved the summary of the “career-oriented” students.  Graduated recently from a University, and it’s a great description of the “cynical order-taking” that most students do.  A few kids buy into progressivism, most just tell professors what they want to hear, then get out.  They definitely pick up some progressive ideas along the way (mostly “Republicans = racist and sexist”), but mostly just pass through and jump through whatever weird hoops are put in front of them.

    I’m hoping Jonah’s quote was Vince McMahon’s big reveal as the head of The Corporate Ministry

    • #12
  13. Mike Silver Inactive
    Mike Silver
    @Mikescapes

    Jonah came closest to divining Trumps goal. A deed to Nevada makes the point humorously. My thought is that he seeks something more in the realm of possibility. In exchange for dropping out of the race he would make a deal for a seat at the table of a Republican administration. Not a cabinet post, but undersecretary of something in Commerce. Maybe far eastern trade since he’s  so obsessed with China eating our lunch. So, at some point in time when the primaries have sorted out the real front runners, he approaches or is approached by one or more of the likely winners and closes his deal -out and support of candidate X. Why else threaten a 3rd party run. He’ll have to time it so that his poll numbers don’t slip to the point where no deal is possible and the 3rd party run is not credible.

    Of course any candidate who deals with Trump would need to require an oath of silence so that Donald isn’t shooting his mouth off in some sub-cabinet post contrary to the President’s stated policy. Might be tough to get a guarantee.

    • #13
  14. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    John may be the quintessential New Yorker.  A 4 hour drive, John… 4 hours.  :)

    • #14
  15. Michael Sanregret Inactive
    Michael Sanregret
    @TheQuestion

    “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” is one of my favorite expressions ever.  And it’s been especially useful recently…

    • #15
  16. Michael Sanregret Inactive
    Michael Sanregret
    @TheQuestion

    Ryan M:John may be the quintessential New Yorker. A 4 hour drive, John… 4 hours. :)

    He’s not from Texas, clearly :) .

    • #16
  17. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Michael Sanregret:

    Ryan M:John may be the quintessential New Yorker. A 4 hour drive, John… 4 hours. :)

    He’s not from Texas, clearly :) .

    Or Montana.  A 4 hour drive gets you to the next town…

    • #17
  18. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    Ryan M:

    Michael Sanregret:

    Ryan M:John may be the quintessential New Yorker. A 4 hour drive, John… 4 hours. :)

    He’s not from Texas, clearly :) .

    Or Montana. A 4 hour drive gets you to the next town…

    In Texas it’s the end of the driveway.

    • #18
  19. Probable Cause Inactive
    Probable Cause
    @ProbableCause

    Someone should start a franchise called, “Off Campus Comedy Club (TM),” aimed at college students, and situated within walking distance of major American universities.  In addition to comedians, they could host Ann Coulter.

    • #19
  20. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Boehner cries. Trump shouts.

    President Obama lies constantly, as if on principle. A Republican calls him a liar, and the party demands that he apologize. Would Trump apologize?

    I’m not suggesting that Trump is a decent candidate. I’m suggesting that there is good reason for disliking Republican leadership.

    Republicans didn’t need a super-majority to subpoena evidence of scandals (Benghazi, Fast & Furious, Operation Choke Point, Clinton’s illegal emails) in a timely manner. They waited for evidence to be destroyed and meekly waited for Democrats to supply witnesses against themselves.

    Republicans don’t need a super-majority to win PR battles in the media. But somehow they still can’t figure out how to respond to hostile reporting and avoid being led by the nose into debates about non-issues.

    Republicans traded huge cuts to the defense budget for tiny cuts to everything else, fearing the government “shutdown” that they won seats afterward. And did they mention lifetimes of stories about taxdollars wasted when Democrats claimed police and firefighters must be the first programs to be cut?

    Purity tests? Nobody thinks Trump is a paragon of conservatism. They just prefer a buffoon who grabs the bull by the horns to ninnies who think Republican voters should wait for an electoral scenario that has happened only once in my lifetime (a Republican President and two Republican houses of Congress).

    Want to sideline Trump? Show an alternative with grit and ignore him as you would ignore any class clown.

    • #20
  21. Mister Magic Inactive
    Mister Magic
    @MisterMagic

    They just prefer a buffoon who grabs the bull by the horns to ninnies who think Republican voters should wait for an electoral scenario that has happened only once in my lifetime (a Republican President and two Republican houses of Congress).

    John made an excellent point in the podcast; the system the Founders set up was designed to prevent such a “buffoon” from getting very far without a supermajority ( a clear mandate from the voters). How exactly would Trump grab that bull?

    • #21
  22. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    The Constitution was aimed at prevention of expansive and centralized power. Gridlock is great for prevention. It doesn’t help for restoration of limited government, respect for law, a balance of powers, or anything else we have lost. It’s mainly defensive.

    President Obama has greatly expanded the de facto authority of any President willing to fight for it (which a Republican President, unlike Obama, would have to do because Democrats don’t roll over the way Republicans do). The Constitution is not as powerful as it once was. Will beats law in modern American politics. Power is no longer grounded in authority.

    I’m not rooting for Trump. He’d be a terrible President. But, unlike Boehner, he has sense enough not to begin negotiations from the middle… and not to negotiate at all when he doesn’t need to. He has sense enough to be combative with hostile journalists, rather than meekly going along with the charade of objectivity. He has sense enough to use what powers the Executive branch has accrued in the past century. There’s plenty a bull can do without Congress.

    • #22
  23. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    Wouldn’t most of the problems with higher education be solved with two changes:

    1) Reiterate the Civil Rights Act prohibition on disparate impact that was stood on its head by Griggs v Duke Power, thereby allowing corps to do aptitude tests and do in-house training and education programs.

    2) Allow student loan debt be discharged in bankruptcy court after seven years if it has not substantially improved the student’s income.

    • #23
  24. gts109 Inactive
    gts109
    @gts109

    JPod made the elementary point that in a two-party system, a party must hold the White House and Congress to pass legislation that does not hold bipartisan support.

    Usually, I’m not interested in such banalities. But I was extremely relieved to hear a smart conservative state the obvious because so much of the commentary on the right lately has been bile-laced rants decrying “Establishment” Republicans in Congress for not having sent enough doomed legislation to Obama’s desk for veto.

    • #24
  25. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Benjamin Glaser: The Tea Party was as much a reaction against Bush and the crony capitalism of the Fall of 2008 as Obamacare and the Stimulus.

    I frequently hear lefties say that conservatives weren’t concerned about spending and deficits before Obama took office.

    I tell them too google “Porkbusters”.

    • #25
  26. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    gts109:JPod made the elementary point that in a two-party system, a party must hold the White House and Congress to pass legislation that does not hold bipartisan support.

    Usually, I’m not interested in such banalities. But I was extremely relieved to hear a smart conservative state the obvious because so much of the commentary on the right lately has been bile-laced rants decrying “Establishment” Republicans in Congress for not having sent enough doomed legislation to Obama’s desk for veto.

    There’s nothing wrong with sending “doomed” legislation to the Presidents desk.

    It’s clarifying.  Make him veto a bill defunding PP.  Make him veto immigation bills.  Make him Veto Keystone.

    Set the agenda, send it to the White House and let it die – make sure people see who’s killing it

    • #26
  27. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    “Hire the best generals” may be the quote of the year.

    • #27
  28. Mr. Dart Inactive
    Mr. Dart
    @MrDart

    See below as a 33 year old, cute-as-a-bug Goldie Hawn shows that Rob’s drive wasn’t really all that scary.  Of course Rob was driving a Subara Forester with nearly twice the horse power of Goldie’s VW Beetle, but still…

    • #28
  29. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    “We’ll pass bill after bill and put them on Obama’s desk and force him to veto popular legislation.” Hasn’t happened and that’s why people are mad.

    • #29
  30. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    gts109: JPod made the elementary point that in a two-party system, a party must hold the White House and Congress to pass legislation that does not hold bipartisan support.

    Two years in half-a-century. That’s how often that scenario occurs. If Republicans get two years for every forty Democrats get to advance their agendas, then Republicans don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of accomplishing anything truly significant.

    “Reagan won the Cold War”, you might say. Well, FDR won WWII. So perhaps Reagan’s victory had less to do with being a good Republican than it had to do with being a good leader.

    What enduring effects did Reagan’s domestic policies bequeath to us? FDR rewrote the Constitution and kicked off a century of runaway government expansion.

    • #30
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