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Another slow news week…yawn. Uh, no. With so much to talk about, we present another super-sized Ricochet Podcast clocking in at just under 90 minutes. We’ve got our pal David French, who wants us to Stop Making Terrible Arguments for Blind Loyalty. That’s followed by two Ricochet members (that’d be Robert McReynolds and Max Ledoux) who wants us to give the President the benefit of the doubt at least some of the time. Seems reasonable, but you won’t want to miss the debate that ensues. Who won? Tell us in the comments. Also, RIP Roger Ailes, the whip smart, innovative, and yes, controversial, creator of Fox News (the Michael Wolff piece Rob refers to about Ailes is here).
Music from this week’s podcast: Happy Family by The Ramones
The all new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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If Trump was prepared to be president – he would not be elected. The point of the entire Trump candidacy was that he would burn the system down. (maybe accidentally)
Its difficult to say what kinda trouble Flynn could have gotten into – I thought he would have a better understanding of the ramifications of what he was doing before he’d done it. These kinda things really denigrate the influence of ‘experts’ who really seem to fall victim to their own hubris and an overestimation of their own expertise.
Which were what? Just curious. I hear this type of thing often, but without specificity.
I think it was unnecessary when Trump said he got to know Putin when they were on 60 Minutes together, when they were on different continents and didn’t meet each other.
That’s not Trump making it seem to all the world that firing Comey was to take pressure off the Russia investigation. That’s clearly Trump’s political enemies making it seem to all the world that firing Comey was to take pressure of the Russia investigation. We have no idea what Trump said to the Russians.
?
Like when Trump was asked what he thought about Putin’s murdering journalists critical of him in Russia. Trump says, “We do the same thing in America.” That’s the kind of stuff people on the Left like to say. I remember when I was in college and I criticized Fidel Castro’s regime to my English teacher. She responded, “America has just as many political prisoners as Cuba does.”
So, during the campaign it was a bit head scratching to learn that, at the time, leading candidate for the GOP nomination was sounding like my Left wing English teacher.
Does this mean that I think Trump has “colluded” with Russia? First off, I don’t know what the hell collusion really means in this context. The media made is seem like Jeff Sessions was some closet KGB agent because he spoke to the Russian ambassador.
I don’t think Trump colluded with Russia. Maybe Paul Manafort did. I don’t know.
Generally the stuff that comes out of Trump’s mouth sometimes makes me laugh because it seems so ridiculous and on other occasions he just makes me shake my head in disbelief.
That said, I will quote David French of National Review (and guest on the Happy Family podcast) from February of this year: “I agree with almost everything Trump has done; I disagree with almost everything Trump has said.”
We know he mentioned the investigation in the termination letter he sent to Comey. And he admitted to Lester Holt that the White House Press Secretary/Deputy Press Secretary lied about the timing of his decision to fire Comey.
How do you explain those two points? Do you think NBC news fabricated the video interview done by Lester Holt?
Ooh! Ooh! Can I play too? Let’s see…
It’s amazing that every single thing every single person in the Trump administration and campaign “obviously” really meant only becomes obviated a day or two after the statements are made in the first place. Obviously, “I never talked to the Russians” really means “I never talked to the Russians in my capacity as campaign surrogate”. Because that’s the kind of straightforward, plain talkin’ we do here in real America.
Well, by that logic, Loretta Lynch never talked to Bill Clinton in her capacity as Attorney General. I mean, if you can just declare post facto when you are and aren’t “in your capacity”, why not? Also, she never said “Simon says” to Bill, and it wasn’t a full moon, and Mars wasn’t in retrograde. Obviously, there was nothing at all wrong with this meeting. Any suggestion otherwise is to make common cause with the alt-right Breitbart.com, Newt Gingrich, and Alex Jones.
See? I have the formula, too:
1. Blah blah blah, clearly the plain meaning of words wasn’t what was meant.
2. Blah blah blah, bring up the opposing party and attack/defend them.
3. Blah blah blah, media outlet I don’t like, politician I don’t like, political movement I don’t like.
Is that something like it? Seems to work okay.
Sometimes I think the different between Trump supporters and detractors is a sense of humor. :-/
OK, fellas, you can knock it off now: @MollieHemingway is the guest on this week’s Ricochet Podcast and she won’t put up with any bickering between members (and staff).
She’ll turn that car around right now!
That’s pretty much the difference between the left and the right as well.
Which reminds me, did you hear the one about the…
No, the difference is one side shoots back at every reasonable objection to its point of view with vague accusations of treachery and roundabout personal digs, and the other doesn’t. I, and others, have asked a hundred reasonable questions of Trump supporters in this thread, and with few exceptions, every single one has either been ignored, or answered with some form of “You’re conspiring with the media to destroy Trump because you’re petulant”. Anyone can go back and read this thread to see I’m not doing much paraphrasing.
Why don’t you answer the question, Max? You complain that people charge Trump with boneheadedness without specificity, and @nylibertarianguy gives you a specific example, which you sidestep entirely to take a swipe at (presumably) me, and all other Trump detractors. Either contradicting his own staff, and his own letter of termination, on the Comey firing can be defended as a non-boneheaded thing to do, or it can’t. If you can, let’s hear it. If not, and you keep fighting back based on entirely separate grounds, you’ve got no room to complain that anyone’s calling you out for hero worship. Let’s hear an actual defense of the man’s decisions on this one.
I’m not scared of her. She’s not even my real mom.
Well, the worst was:
… it goes on.
That was hardly the first or only time he praised Putin.
He was not praising Putin as much as trashing Obama. “Even Putin does a better job at leading than Obama”. It is as clear as day, and I thought so at the time.
I agree with Bryan. That was more trashing Obama: Even Putin is a better leader than Obama.
Right, he mentioned in the termination letter that Comey had told him he wasn’t under investigation so that everyone would know he’s not under investigation. That’s, in my opinion, good messaging. He forced the media to cover that. That’s not a mistake. That was on purpose.
He did not “admit” that Spicer and Sanders lied. That’s just the way you’re choosing to characterize it in order to make Trump look bad. What Trump said was: “I was going to fire him — it’s my decision.” That is an absolute fact: the decision to fire Comey was his alone. He is the president. Trump’s interview with Holt was in no way contradictory to what Spicer and Sanders had said, which was that Rosenstein recommended Comey be fired. (I am not aware that they ever said that the one and only reason Comey was fired was due to Rosenstein’s recommendation and that barring that Trump would not have fired him.)
Here’s what Mollie Hemingway said about it:
Most conservatives can trash Obama without praising Putin.
You know who thinks there is only one reason? Someone that does not have a lot of experience with running complex organizations. Like, oh, almost every single pundit and reporter in the world.
Thanks for agreeing with my point that he was trashing Obama.
What examples of calling Obama out on being a wimp do you have in mind, from either of the candidates who ran against him? I don’t remember much anti-Obama invective.
By the way, Putin is a strong leader.
I didn’t think it was in question. It’s still a very weird way of doing it, especially considering the way that Trump tried to initially schluff-off Putin’s murders. Had he said something like:
Then Trump would have been exactly right.
You went after Trump for praising Putin, not being inartful in getting his point across. I think this really is one of the key issues for Trump: He is not great with words. As such, the people who are great with words, have difficulty tolerating him.
It was clear to me what he meant. Maybe it is because I have a career dealing with people that don’t always get the words right, but I understand their meaning, including the emotions behind them. The chattering classes focus so much on the exact words, they forget that most people are poor communicators. And these days, any misspeak is used to tear someone apart. I think with Trump, there is some portion of the American people tired of that.
OK, but forgive me but you’re sort of saying, “if Trump weren’t Trump then he’d be ok with me.” I mean, that’s not what you said, I know that. And I am not trying to read your mind or anything. But, well, Trump’s Trump… <—- not the dumbest thing I’ve ever said, according to a few people who listened to the podcast. ?
The media gets too focused on one reason. This was also evident during the Bush administration and the Iraq War. The administration gave many reasons for ending the Desert Storm cease-fire. The stockpile of WMDs became the loudest reason and when huge stockpiles weren’t found, turned into the only reason and the Left hounded the Bush administration.
He did praise Putin.
No, he’s a petty tyrant. He’s not making things better for his people. He’s just dominating them for his own selfish need to have power.
Most often, that is all a strong leader is.
If you think that, no wonder you support Trump blindly.
That’s nonsense. A CEO should know better.