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Got a new piping hot GLoP for you, and we aren’t kidding about the pipe, as that ancient smoking accoutrement is discussed in great detail in today’s show. We also cover C-Span’s Steve Scully’s fall from grace, the media and big tech’s latest in kind contribution to the Biden-Harris campaign, courtesy of Hunter Biden and the New York Post, that time Rob ran into Dick Clark, board games. and why Antonin Scalia was the coolest Supreme Court Justice in history.
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There was absolutely nothing snide about me calling it an easy choice between those who riot/burn and those who don’t. I considered that an uncontroversial observation. I see youngsters today that are excited by “street action” as too immature to understand what they are unleashing. I expect more from adults. But your interesting reaction is telling, as you labeled it as coming from Trumpworld. Let’s all hope that minimum level of discernment isn’t limited to Trump followers.
I’m not the one who decided that trillion dollar deficits even during a time of full employment were a-okay. If Biden wins, how is the GOP going to make a serious case against the wild spending of the Democrats? You don’t know a single thing about me. Go piss up a rope.
I hope you’re not arguing that a comment on Ricochet helps the left believe I DO support THEIR policy agenda. Oh wait. That’s exactly what you are arguing.
Sadly, when was the last time we had a GOP that showed a serious interest in reducing the deficit? I contend that it was last seen in the days of Gingrich, and even my favorite Reagan made no progress (though he had bigger fish to fry, so is forgiven). This is just to say that, at best, the GOP has been better than the alternative, but not much. And also that Trump can hardly be singled out as an aberration here.
No, I’m saying that NOT voting for NOT their candidate, leads them to believe they have support.
And also, growing the economy rather than shrinking the economy, does tend to make deficits less important.
There was no shortage of hatred for Dubya’s fiscal policy and his deficits pale in comparison. If all Trump did was not make it worse, I’d have less of a problem with him. He did’t even do that. He didn’t even try.
With all the things that need to be done, if someone doesn’t make deficits their top priority, they just don’t measure up to you? That’s sad.
I have said plenty over the years to counter that. My vote belongs to me until I cast it. It doesn’t belong to either the GOP or the Democrats. The GOP at least had a chance to win my support but you guys are more interested in pretending I’m a lefty and Trump isn’t at all interested in my concerns.
That’s your position. But like it or not, the Democrats can use your non-vote in their favor. Good luck on your road trip explaining how it really DOESN’T mean that, to all 300+ million Americans, one-on-one.
Until 2019 our debt to GDP was at or over 100% for 8 years running. This year we have a genuine emergency so we’ll probably add $3T to the debt this year. There is no way this is sustainable. A growing economy should have made the job of reducing the red ink easier. There is no excuse. If the GOP won’t stand for fiscal sanity, who will?
Let’s remember how the economy was before Trump, and how it likely would have been at the start of COVID, with President Hillary.
In the real world, it’s necessary to deal with what IS, not what we’d LIKE. And it doesn’t take much thought to realize that COVID hitting with the economy the way it was at the end of Obama, not including likely further lowering by Hillary, would have been FAR WORSE than it would be now. Even with a $3 Trillion addition, which could easily have been double that or more with Hillary.
The Trump Economy was far better able to take the hit, than the Hillary Economy would have been. And remember, the Democrats didn’t want to restrict travel from China early on…
Other things are more important NOW. They weren’t before the pandemic hit. The deficits weren’t even on the map. That’s sad.
I could easily argue that undoing Obama strangling regulation, opening up energy production, etc, was all more important at the start of the Trump administration, than jumping right in on deficits.
Yes, that’s my position and not a single Democrat will try to use me as an argument in their favor. That’s pure fantasy.
Not you, specifically. But the lack of your vote for Trump.
I’m not voting for Biden either. You don’t see my non-vote for Biden as in Trump’s favor. Obviously your “logic” has holes.
You could make that argument and it would show your bad faith. There was no conflict between those initiatives and a sane fiscal policy. Undoing regulation didn’t cost the federal government anything. Ditto for opening up energy production.
Elections in general, and those involving Democrats in particular, are not controlled by logic. No matter how pure you might think your logic is.
So as soon as Trump got elected, all the entrenched interests protecting various aspects of federal spending and even always demanding more, just volunteered to surrender?
Got it.
Come on. “Reducing deficits” in a vacuum, as it were, was not going to go anywhere. Boosting the economy, eliminating ridiculous over-regulation, greatly increasing energy production, getting unemployment down to record-low levels, was an important part of controlling spending, especially for things like the “entitlement programs.”
And apparently, you also are not controlled by logic. You’re trying to argue that my non-vote for Trump in a deep blue state will be used by the Democrats in their favor. That simply is not going to happen.
I said it wasn’t about you specifically. The Dems don’t know you, and their upper levels – Hillary, AOC, etc – don’t WANT TO know you, or anyone LIKE you… But why do you think that Dems wouldn’t take lack of support for Trump as meaning they’re right?
Eliminating over-regulation had nothing to do with controlling spending. If it did, the deficits would have gone down not up. Ditto for increasing energy production. Reducing unemployment brought more money to the Treasury. It should have made it easier to reduce the red ink. Instead the deficits got worse.
I thought he was a fighter. You can’t do anything about the spending if the first thing you do is surrender. He didn’t even try.
Well, I can’t wait for you to become president, and get it all done in the first year.
Now that we all know how easy it is.
P.S. You also don’t really know – none of us does – that he didn’t try. Indeed, that the Dems knew he would veto their various pork-laden “stimulus” bills, just for one example, is more than just “trying.”
If it was too hard for him, that’s disqualifying. I didn’t expect him to get it all done in the first year. That’s a straw man argument. He had 3 years before the pandemic hit. I would have been happy if he’d just flattened the curve. Instead, each year it got worse. Just before the pandemic hit the deficit was just under a trillion dollars for 2019 and 2020 was scheduled to hit a trillion going into the fiscal year. That was before anybody knew anything about a pandemic. I recognize the pandemic has thoroughly changed the fiscal landscape. I’m not judging him based on that.
But that’s also one-sided. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s something like, if you grow the economy by 3% or 4% per year, you can eliminate a deficit rather quickly, and actually have surpluses, even while still increasing total spending.
As it turned out, Trump didn’t have enough time to grow the economy enough to get to that point, but it certainly made it a lot more able to absorb the economic impact of COVID (largely caused by inept Democrat mayors and governors, but that’s an issue unto itself) and now allows for a much quicker recovery.
Now, it may be that no Republican would do that fast enough to suit you, even in the best of times, but a Democrat will NEVER, EVER do it.
And, like it or not, not voting for the Republicans, does help the Democrats win.
This is the world, not a poli-sci classroom. So who “earns” your vote is irrelevant. Or, to put it another way, Democrats ALWAYS will DIS-earn your vote. But if you refuse to vote for their opponent, it still helps them.
And this is also very well written:
https://ricochet.com/815943/for-trump/
However, if “But Twitter!” or “But Deficit!” is still the big bugaboo for you, then maybe you should… how did you put it? Go piss up a rope?
Anyhoo….in amongst the ding-dong on Trumpiness or otherwise…
Can anyone give me a link to Rob Long’s new Irish radio home for Martini Shot?
Yeti said they’ll be hosting/mirroring it on Ricochet, soon. Assuming it’s still called Martini Shot, it should appear in the Podcasts menu at some point.
A little more of that and you’ll be ready to join us! (That’s another way I ended up a supporter of the President — I spent so much time defending him from ridiculous charges, even as I swore I’d never vote for him, that I ended up being pushed right onto the Trump Train.)