Conventional Thinking

It’s the Republican National Convention week, or as pundits on the right call it — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and whatever other major holiday you want to thrown in there. We break it all down: the pluses, the minus, the hits and the misses. And we make some predictions for the next couple of months. As you’re hear, we recorded this show on Zoom in front of an audience of our beloved Ricochet members. We’ll be doing a few more of these on Zoom before the election, so if you’d like to participate, join us!

Music from this week’s show: Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones

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There are 134 comments.

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  1. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    I am so tired of Rob Long’s soft bigotry against Trump and his supporters.

    That bigotry ain’t soft. 

    • #31
  2. Kervinlee Inactive
    Kervinlee
    @Kervinlee

    Hey Rob – Bob Dole is still around. He seems to be your kind of guy; why don’t you give him a call and see if he’ll throw his hat in the ring one more time for the good old Republican party that has brought the American right so much success, like John McCain and Mitt Romney? You know; the Mike Murphy GOP that’s jake with people of your oh-so-with-it right leaning, right-thinking GOP. Smart, edgy entertainment and Lower capital gains tax ahead!

    • #32
  3. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    Dennis A. Garcia (formerly Gai… (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    I am so tired of Rob Long’s soft bigotry against Trump and his supporters.

    When the left conflates disagreement with bigotry we call them snowflakes. Rightly.

    Dennis A. Garcia (formerly Gai… (View Comment):

    Rick Banyan (View Comment):

    … Bigotry is a cast of mind. An Always-Trumper will start from the assumption that whatever Trump says or does is good while a Never-Trumper will assume that whatever Trump says or does is bad. For the Never-Trumper, it isn’t simply a matter of disagreeing with Trump; whatever position Trump takes is wrong. We’ve all heard the criticism of Never-Trumpers that if Trump were to advocate a policy that a Never-Trumper previously advocated, the Never-Trumper would jump into the pit of cognitive dissonance and condemn the policy.

    … I stand by my assertion that too many trump supporters are swiftly becoming everything they hate about the campus left.

    To bring this back to Rob’s reflexive attitude toward all things Trump:

    Disagreement v. Bigotry.  I doubt Rob disagrees with – to tick off a few examples,

    • Embassy to Jerusalem/Golan Heights recognition/Destroying ISIS/Israel-UAE Deal;
    • Keystone XL/Drilling in ANWR/pro-energy independence;
    • Confronting China/N.Korea/Iran/Russia/NATO/WTO/WHO/UN;
    • Drastic Corporate Tax Rate Cut/Repatriation Amnesty;
    • War on Oppressive Regulation;
    • Free Exercise of Religion/Pro-2d Amendment/ProLife;
    • Gutting ObamaCare;
    • Clearing out corruption at DoJ/FBI/Intelligence Community;
    • Heroic DoEducation reforms re school choice and “Dear Colleague” denial of due process on campus;
    • Withdrawal of disastrous AFFH; or even
    • Enforcement of Immigration laws/Building a Wall/Withdrawal of DACA;

    But a listener could be forgiven for thinking that every single time Rob mentions Trump, he disparages Trump.

    • #33
  4. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Before WuFlu? Name a government – anywhere in the world – that handled the pandemic better or quicker than the US?

    I remember back last winter being told that a couple million would die if we didn’t do handle it correctly.

    170K doesn’t seem so bad compared to a couple million. We must have done something right.

     

    True, to remember even further back to the 2016 election. We also told that Donald Trump would start nuclear wars, destroy the economy and kill millions. By the standards set by the democrats in 2016, Trump has been a roaring success.

    Jonah has assured me that all those things will happen with a second term. Trump couldn’t do it this time, for reasons, but he will be destructive if re-elected. Jonah has to be proven right. 

    • #34
  5. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Obligatory screen shot taken during the recording of this show:

    And they say there won’t be a blue wave

    That would be nice if the Republicans could sweep everything. What? I want to get away from the 2000 switch and return the international color of communism to the Democratics. Commies are red, not Republicans. 

    • #35
  6. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Before WuFlu? Name a government – anywhere in the world – that handled the pandemic better or quicker than the US?

    I remember back last winter being told that a couple million would die if we didn’t do handle it correctly.

    170K doesn’t seem so bad compared to a couple million. We must have done something right.

     

    True, to remember even further back to the 2016 election. We also told that Donald Trump would start nuclear wars, destroy the economy and kill millions. By the standards set by the democrats in 2016, Trump has been a roaring success.

    Jonah has assured me that all those things will happen with a second term. Trump couldn’t do it this time, for reasons, but he will be destructive if re-elected. Jonah has to be proven right.

    His Friday column dealing with the superfluousness of political conventions could have been written any time in the past 30 or so years, and seems to have been dashed off in generic style in part because he didn’t want to deal with the overall tone of the convention, because it turned out not to be either a wall-to-wall Trump-fest or a train wreck far worse than the DNC’s efforts the previous week.

    • #36
  7. Patrick McClure Coolidge
    Patrick McClure
    @Patrickb63

    Trump is a good President from a policy standpoint. He loves this country but has a grating personality. I’ll take a Republican President like him every day over the grating personality with bad policy (McCain) or the kind but policy waffling personality I like (W).

    • #37
  8. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    You can tell the speech was pretty effective by the fact that the first thing sour faced Chris Wallace mentioned in his misery was masks and social distancing. 

    • #38
  9. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    After reciting all the times the polls were wildly wrong and always in favor of Democrats, Peter apparently still believes the polls are legit.

    • #39
  10. Mark Alexander Inactive
    Mark Alexander
    @MarkAlexander

    I’m surprised none of you see the coming electoral landslide. Wait for it…wait for it…

    I say this who did not vote for Trump for all the principled reasons. But the array of snake pits he and his apparent faults have uncovered are his greatest unspoken achievements. And millions now see that..

    He may also win the popular vote.

    • #40
  11. Wolfsheim Member
    Wolfsheim
    @Wolfsheim

    Thank you, Peter Robinson, for alluding, however briefly, to the eloquent, stirring words of Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, POSC. I was beginning to think that the three of you were lost in the trees, unable to see the forest. The pro-life cause is not just one of many; it points more than any to the yawning gulf between the alternatives.

    I am older than all you and remember elections of long ago. I was in America for the 1964 election, when James Lileks, for example, was all of six. I sat with (aging) Eisenhower Republicans who were switching to the Democrats, smugly convinced that Barry Goldwater was a wild fanatic. Leftist American friends and acquaintances of mine, somewhat embarrassed at promoting a “bourgeois capitalist Texan,” promoted the slogan: “Half the Way with LBJ.” And then…

    C.S. Lewis reminds us that we are never given to know what might have happened. And yet…Well, at least America wound up electing Ronald Reagan. The choice is even more stark today.

    • #41
  12. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I am not sold on demographic change. In the past, white keeps getting expanded. Zimmerman became a white Hispanic remember.

    20 years and they will all be white. 

    • #42
  13. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Patrick McClure (View Comment):
    the grating personality with bad policy (McCain)

    You cannot–ever–get anybody to explain in plain English how John McCain moved the ball forward for libertarians or conservatives.

    There was nothing constructive about his ACA vote. 100% terrible. That’s what got my attention. Now his old lady is trying to get Republicans to vote for Biden. This is insane.

    • #43
  14. Paul Hoover Coolidge
    Paul Hoover
    @PaulHoover

    I’m disappointed that I didn’t get an email telling me the podcast would be on Zoom. Or am I not a sufficiently prestigious member? I’ve gotten the notices in the past … 

    Sad …

    • #44
  15. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    If the democrats should win, what role would Joe Biden play in his administration?

    Clearly none. Should there be such a calamity Joe would be declared non compos mentis before sunrise. He’d be the modern day Menshevik. As soon as power was secured, they where betrayed and shot by the Bolsheviks. Joe will be luckier, he’ll only be declared incompetent, and shuffled off to some home.

    • #45
  16. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Joe will be luckier, he’ll only be declared incompetent, and shuffled off to some home.

    This is a for real 25th amendment situation, done on purpose by the socialists.

    • #46
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Except they don’t really need to get Joe out of the way, since it seems pretty clear that he would sign anything that AOC and the others put on his desk.

    • #47
  18. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Joe will be luckier, he’ll only be declared incompetent, and shuffled off to some home.

    This is a for real 25th amendment situation, done on purpose by the socialists.

    They wont even need the 25 amendment. They’ll act before he’s sworn in.

    • #48
  19. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Except they don’t really need to get Joe out of the way, since it seems pretty clear that he would sign anything that AOC and the others put on his desk.

    That’s true as well.

    My brother-in-law used to laugh about Republicans that were concerned about the Democrat party being taken over by socialism. In the primaries he was for Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. It’s going to be amusing to take this up with him.

    • #49
  20. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Except they don’t really need to get Joe out of the way, since it seems pretty clear that he would sign anything that AOC and the others put on his desk.

    That’s true as well.

    My brother-in-law used to laugh about Republicans that were concerned about the Democrat party being taken over by socialism. In the primaries he was for Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. It’s going to be amusing to take this up with him.

    And by having Joe do the signings rather than Kamala, they can claim everything they’re doing is “moderate.”  Obviously.  Because Joe.

    • #50
  21. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My brother-in-law used to laugh about Republicans that were concerned about the Democrat party being taken over by socialism. In the primaries he was for Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. It’s going to be amusing to take this up with him.

    There was another interesting thing about this. He tried to get me into a big argument about if Trump takes credit for things he didn’t do. I just don’t care about this. Maybe I should, but I don’t. I flat out told him I only want to discuss public policy. Maybe there are other things to talk about but you would have to persuade me in the moment. He said that he doesn’t care about public policy because so many of them are liars. I have a feeling he said that because he couldn’t think of anything else to say because I was being so reasonable. The other thing is I think he really gets off on “inspiring” speeches and politicians, and since I don’t, I don’t think he really knows how to deal with that. I get that that stuff can be efficacious in a way, but how do you talk about it?

    • #51
  22. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    kedavis (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Except they don’t really need to get Joe out of the way, since it seems pretty clear that he would sign anything that AOC and the others put on his desk.

    That’s true as well.

    My brother-in-law used to laugh about Republicans that were concerned about the Democrat party being taken over by socialism. In the primaries he was for Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. It’s going to be amusing to take this up with him.

    And by having Joe do the signings rather than Kamala, they can claim everything they’re doing is “moderate.” Obviously. Because Joe.

    She is a nightmare. Be sure to listen to the end of the latest Law Talk where they addressed this. They had some new observations I hadn’t heard before. They are going to go completely nuts with union law. Also check out on SoundCloud the Breitbart interviews of Hermeet Dhilan and Peter Schweizer about her

    • #52
  23. Lois Lane Coolidge
    Lois Lane
    @LoisLane

    I feel like someone needs to say it… I like Rob.  

    • #53
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    He said that he doesn’t care about public policy because so many of them are liars.

    If you think about it, this is a 99% capitulation to libertarianism. 

    For a variety of reasons in his background, he just needs that leftist, central planning nonsense to work. He can’t deal with the truth. 

    • #54
  25. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Joe will be luckier, he’ll only be declared incompetent, and shuffled off to some home.

    This is a for real 25th amendment situation, done on purpose by the socialists.

    Very rarely is it mentioned that in 1944 they cynically ran a dying man who wouldn’t make it even 3 months into his term. We can be thankful that we were saved from Henry Wallace but even back then the press colluded with the Democrats to cover his obvious unfitness.  

    • #55
  26. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Lois Lane (View Comment):

    I feel like someone needs to say it… I like Rob.

    From a dramatic standpoint, it’s always useful to have a character who does not learn from experience. Like Coyote in the “Road Runner” cartoons.

    • #56
  27. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    He said that he doesn’t care about public policy because so many of them are liars.

    If you think about it, this is a 99% capitulation to libertarianism.

    For a variety of reasons in his background, he just needs that leftist, central planning nonsense to work. He can’t deal with the truth.

    There are three definitions of rational belief:

    A. It makes you feel good.
    B. It makes you look good in front of other people.
    C. It corresponds to reality.

    Progressives operate mostly with A and B. Conservatives, mostly with C.

    Not surprisingly, the two sides don’t understand each other’s viewpoint.

    • #57
  28. David Bryan Inactive
    David Bryan
    @DavidBryan

    Rightfromthestart (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Joe will be luckier, he’ll only be declared incompetent, and shuffled off to some home.

    This is a for real 25th amendment situation, done on purpose by the socialists.

    Very rarely is it mentioned that in 1944 they cynically ran a dying man who wouldn’t make it even 3 months into his term. We can be thankful that we were saved from Henry Wallace but even back then the press colluded with the Democrats to cover his obvious unfitness.

    Oh…I never knew that Democratic leaders were aware of the gravity of FDR’s health. This is chilling, unless FDR himself convinced the party that he had rather pass away in office rather than in private. Is there a book on this you could recommend?

    • #58
  29. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Lois Lane (View Comment):

    I feel like someone needs to say it… I like Rob.

    Rob does have a point that if you’re an old-line fiscal conservative, the GOP under Trump hasn’t been your cup of tea as far as reining in the federal budget. But going from that to “and that’s why we need President Joe”  (which is where some of Rob’s friends seem to be) is quite a leap, given the programs and spending the Democrats have proposed if Biden’s elected.

    That’s why I’ve been saying for the past two years that if you’re a ‘soft’ #NeverTrumper who doesn’t want to knee-jerkily repudiate the majority of your past ideological positions because Trump’s voiced support for them, the better goal would be to already start looking towards 2024, and finding a candidate you think is more fiscally responsible and less prone to starting Twitter feuds just for the fun of it, but at the same time still will fight back against the Democrats and their media allies effectively, in ways Mitt Romney was scared to do on that debate stage with Candy Crowley eight years ago. Win or lose in November, the Republican Party is not going back to pre-Trump era candidates in terms of accepting the premise of the argument that the usual media outlets set up, and if the Trump-skeptic people put their chips in ’24 on someone like that simply for the sake of comity, they’re going to get their heads handed to them again in the primary season.

    • #59
  30. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Lois Lane (View Comment):

    I feel like someone needs to say it… I like Rob.

    Rob does have a point that if you’re an old-line fiscal conservative, the GOP under Trump hasn’t been your cup of tea as far as reining in the federal budget. But going from that to “and that’s why we need President Joe” (which is where some of Rob’s friends seem to be) is quite a leap, given the programs and spending the Democrats have proposed if Biden’s elected.

    That’s why I’ve been saying for the past two years that if you’re a ‘soft’ #NeverTrumper who doesn’t want to knee-jerkily repudiate the majority of your past ideological positions because Trump’s voiced support for them, the better goal would be to already start looking towards 2024, and finding a candidate you think is more fiscally responsible and less prone to starting Twitter feuds just for the fun of it, but at the same time still will fight back against the Democrats and their media allies effectively, in ways Mitt Romney was scared to do on that debate stage with Candy Crowley eight years ago. Win or lose in November, the Republican Party is not going back to pre-Trump era candidates in terms of accepting the premise of the argument that the usual media outlets set up, and if the Trump-skeptic people put their chips in ’24 on someone like that simply for the sake of comity, they’re going to get their heads handed to them again in the primary season.

    I certainly hope they would be repudiated in that way.  But the other problem is, where to find some kind of “Trump-Lite” candidate who CAN win against whoever the Dems put up in ’24?  It may be too much to hope for that they basically self-destruct again.

    • #60
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