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.
David French — lawyer, writer, soldier, father — and decent, humane man joins Mona and Jay to discuss matters of conscience and how to cope with the Republican Party’s embrace of an unstable, fascistic showman. The only good thing to emerge from the Year of Trump may be the demonstrated integrity of those who staunchly oppose him.
Music: “Ombra mai fu” from Handel’s opera “Xerxes” by George Frederich Handel. The voice sounds like a woman, but is actually a male countertenor.
Support Our Sponsors!
For a limited time The Great Courses Plus is offering Need To Know with Charen and Nordlinger listeners a chance to stream their new Video Learning Service: The Great Courses Plus popular collection of business courses – Absolutely FREE! Go to thegreatcoursesplus.com/NTK
Subscribe to Need to Know in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.
“fascistic,” seriously?
Yes. Absolutely seriously.
By the way, if you want to express your support for an alternate political reality in this nightmare year, follow Bill Kristol’s @RenegadeParty on Twitter.
I think describing Trumpism as “national socialist” (NB not National Socialist) rather than “fascist” is more accurate. It certainly represents an odious combination of nationalism with socialism, but lacks the militarism and symbology that characterized traditional fascist movements. On the other hand, the pathological fascistic worship of the great leader is clearly evident.
History never repeats itself, but it does rhyme.
Lucy, Trump has been a public figure since at least the eighties, so if he has antisemitic or racist views, I think they would’ve been expressed before. Granted he can be boorish and crude, and I worry about some of his authoritarian promises, like forcing corporations to return production to the US; but no, I don’t see him as any kind of fascist.
Don’t pull a muscle patting yourselves on the back.
“This is how fascism comes to America.”
How about “authoritarian”?
My parents lived in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
If they were alive they would not stop laughing.
No pictures of flag waving Nazi’s this time?
You realize how goofy (or is it Goofy? or gOOFy?) you sound trying to convince people that you don’t believe labelling somebody as a “national socialist” is different than labelling them a “National Socialist.”
Fortunately nobody believes that Trump supporters are Nazis anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
Up your game, man!
FWIW, Mark Steyn has a different take on the election, as I posted earlier: http://ricochet.com/mark-steyn-on-the-lolita-express-hillary-and-conservatives-voting-for-her/#comment-3329097
Remember back in July ’15 when Jay and Mona were incredulous that Trump had any traction at all, and they blamed the purer-than-pure right for creating the conditions that opened the door for him? Yep, there they are obliquely referring to it.
Now Jay and Mona won’t vote for Trump because he’s a liberal.
Jay and Mona know just where to draw the line on purity. This is foolish purity. That’s beyond the pale. Only Jay and Mona know for sure.
And David French knows that Hillary will be no worse than Trump. Wishful thinking is evidently just a sin of others.
Fascistic? If he were running as a democrat perhaps, but still it’s a stretch. The fascists throughout Europe and their intellectual mentors were former members of the Socialist International. Nationalism was the flavor of the day so fascists used nationalism opportunistically as the road to socialism. Opportunism was the core of fascism both tactically and strategically. Mussolini was a clown and a charlatan and that fits, but not the fascism, at least in no measure equivalent to Obama, Hillary and most especially much of the academic elite. Our confusions about fascism are many. The Falangists were right wing but were not fascists yet helped confuse America’s left. Hitler rose to power on the backs of the socialists but he was unique and not a fascist. Lenin called fascism the last stage of capitalism and that stuck, but the fascists and communists hated each other with such a passion because they were competing for the same people in the same ideological space. The fascists had split the socialist international and could not be forgiven, on the other hand the socialist international was a front for Russian nationalism. My fear of Trump has been that he will teach Democrats and progressives that nationalism now works for them as well. The cold war is over, the US is now the socialist homeland. Get over the misplaced pacifism, you won. The nanny state, the welfare state, the administrative state and the military industrial state all in one. That is scary.
Mona, re: “if you want peace prepare for war,” listen to this:
Okay, so what about this: http://ricochet.com/fascism-not-thee/
Possibly, but only if you take his rhetoric as being iron-clad promises that he won’t later modify. I assume the latter, but yes I am concerned.
I appreciate the litany of reasons to be #nevertrump. I’ve made many of those arguments myself. I even, briefly, flirted with #nevertrump, and I may yet NOT vote for him.
I haven’t yet decided.
If you look at Trump as his positions are designed to win and are thus targeted at the general electorate, maybe it makes more sense.
In this case, to know what he will actually do, you need to know what is at his core, and I agree that most of us don’t know what that core is.
He’s a wholly imperfect vessel, and he flirts with the alt-right too closely. But…i think I am leaning toward wishful thinking, and away from certainly bad.
Mona, Jay, and David,
Thanks for all you have said on the subject of Trump in this and on previous podcasts. Thanks also for your support of Bill Kristol and others like him. My membership here is due to expire soon and while I am content to move along quietly, I didn’t want to leave without letting you all know how much I admire the consistent position you all have taken during this painful campaign season.
I think that Trump’s biggest attraction to voters is that he absolves them of any blame for the failures in their lives by shifting the blame to China, Mexico, and global trade. As proof, consider the wave of outrage that hit Kevin D. Williamson when he dared suggest that a hypothetical person – unemployed, living by disability fraud, and located in a dying town – should suck it up, move, and get a job. Trump supporters became unglued at Kevin’s “insensitivity.”
Their reaction says far more about them than it does about Williamson. First, it shows they’re not conservatives – what conservative ever believed that people are not responsible for their own lives, actions, and inactions? Second, it shows that they know nothing about economics. Despite Trump’s claims, China did not “manipulate” its currency. Until recently, China had the yuan pegged to the dollar while the Federal Reserve was manipulating our currency.
Global trade isn’t responsible for a manufacturing decline in the United States because there is no manufacturing decline. We’re producing more goods than ever, but we’re doing it with fewer people. As a percentage of the labor force, manufacturing peaked during World War II or shortly thereafter. In total numbers employed, manufacturing peaked in the 1970s. If you need something to blame, blame technological progress.
Mona and Jay – I would love it if you could arrange an interview with conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager He is no Trump fan but believes that Hillary and Leftism pose a far greater threat to America than Trump. I think the 3 of you could have a fascinating conversation.
Mona and Jay – I have enjoyed your conversations over the past couple of years and have listened to nearly every podcast you have produced. Unfortunately, with the presumptive nomination of Donald Trump, the past few podcasts have been utterly permeated with your hostility to Trump. So much so that they are becoming unlistenable. I managed to get through about ten minutes of your most recent podcast before I finally shut it off and deleted it.
If you are trying to persuade others to the NeverTrump position, you are failing. Donald Trump is a loathsome figure and the Republican party has severely disfigured itself by nominating him. Nevertheless, a large number of prominent Republican voices are reluctantly supporting him – arguing mainly as the lesser of two evils.
The 2016 election will ultimately be a choice between two loathsome candidates – neither of which I would ever support. Between now and November, Donald Trump will have to demonstrate his fitness for the Presidency. While I remain deeply skeptical that he can, I am willing to at least give him the chance to earn my vote.
Can we please just take a break and find something better to talk about?
I hope that this popping back up to the top of the feed doesn’t mean Ricochet is in on this depressing Bill Kristol move.
I have to agree with a previous poster regarding Mona’s hostility towards Trump. Mona sounds like she’s about to go over the edge. And when you act like that, you’re probably not going to convince the undecided. The only people that will listen will be the choir that likes to be preached to.
As it happens, if she’s looking for someone to emulate, perhaps she should look no farther than Jay, who makes it clear he’s against Trump, but doesn’t give the impression he’s going to spit at you if you decide to vote for him.
Realizing that politics is what Mona does, she should try to move onto something else for awhile.
How long before Glenn Beck is made a contributor?
I’ve had the good fortune to meet David French, who is very personable. And he doesn’t look like Vladimir Putin. But that picture up above? Maybe something else should be substituted.
The lead in is great! Unstable and Fascistic. What the hell does that even mean? Tiresome, unoriginal rhetoric.
I fear that Mona is disconnected from reality. Let’s all crown Hillary now and save six months of angst. Give up! You staunch opposers are in league with the devil. Crikey; read Jonah’s book about liberal Fascism, written before he took leave of his senses.
There, I said it! CoC me! I’ll bet I gather a lot of likes…
Donald Trump defeated 16 highly qualified candidates. The voters have spoken. I didn’t want Romney in 2012 and rooted for Gingrich, but Romney was our candidate so I voted for him. Millions of our fellow Republicans stayed home and voted for no one. I respect them more than I do you people who are actively working against Trump and are only helping the Democrats. You are wrong about Trump votes Mona. It’s easy to look up. Trump has more votes at this stage of the primaries than Romney. Don’t take someone else’s word for it. Google Romney primary votes 2012 vs Trump 2016.
Say baby eating next time.
Since you’re going to be irrelevant in 6 months go out full frontal.