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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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Oh, ok. I wasn’t sure. Rob was trying to get me to say bad things about Trump, but I declined on the theory that Rob has been doing just fine in that department without my help. ;-) Still, I didn’t get the opportunity to promote–rather than defend–Trump as much as I could have.
Trump really won me over with the debates. Here’s what I wrote at the time:
Trump Dominated the First Presidential Debate
Donald Trump Trounced Hillary Clinton in the Town Hall Debate
I did mention the debates on the podcast with the intention of expounding on the complete disconnect between my reaction to the debates and the reaction from the anti-Trump Left (which includes the media) and the NeverTrump Right. Many of the things they see as negatives I see as positives.
Rob said on the podcast that he didn’t think the cure to the disease is more disease. I don’t agree that there’s a disease. Trump got elected because he tweets, not despite his tweets. He got elected because he talks like a normal person, not despite that. I honestly believe people like Rob are experiencing cognitive dissonance. As I said on the podcast, it’s confusing to Rob that Trump got elected. Now, let me be clear — I can’t read Rob’s mind. I may be wrong. Maybe I’m the one who’s deluded — if I am, then I probably can’t tell the difference. But it seems to me that NeverTrumpers are experiencing cognitive dissonance because the thing they said couldn’t happen did happen. So they’re trying to explain it away as a fluke, a “black swan event.” And they’re trying to mitigate it by minimizing Trump’s accomplishments and delegitimizing his presidency, with the hopes of getting rid of him as quickly as possible.
Lileks appears to be mad at me because I won’t accept his assertion that NeverTrump is over. I guess Lileks would prefer to be called anti-Trump? But as Robert pointed out, the NeverTrump people are still attacking Trump. So why change labels? I don’t get it.
The American people don’t like Donald Trump. The only reason why Trump won on November 8, 2016 is because people disliked Hillary Clinton even more than Trump.
If the Republicans in Congress booted Trump out of office via the constitutional impeachment mechanism, the popularity of the Republican party would skyrocket. People all over the country would be saying, “The Republicans put the good of the country over the partisanship.”
And we would have Mike Pence as President as part of the bargain. Mike Pence does not have a daughter named Ivanka who is trying to push through socialist policies like mandatory paid leave. Mike Pence is not a fan of single payer health care like Trump is.
Removing Trump and having Pence replace Trump would be all upside for the GOP and the country.
Great podcast. It was good to hear from 2 folks who are sympathetic to Trump.
I want to find some common ground with Trump fans, but when they say everything is going swimmingly and more of the same from this administration is needed, I just don’t see the bridge to cross the divide.
No, I wouldn’t want to so badly neuter an imperial presidency.
They have to put an end to the white house leaks, is there a better way?
Robert and Max, great podcast contributions. Wish someone would have floated the idea that Trump’s “unnecessary outrageousness” and “unforced errors” are really part of ingenious strategy to discredit and kill off the MSM.
The Ricochet biggies are in the grip of the MSM.
Well, it is my understanding that Kristol has publicly said he voted for Clinton.
Good point — remember how much things improved after the Republicans in Congress got Nixon to resign? Things were so much better after that. And the Vietnam War got resolved and then we went right to work to whip inflation now (WIN). Those were the days.
Many conservatives and Republicans voted for Trump simply because they didn’t want Hillary Clinton to win.
At this point, given the fact that Trump is still behaving as recklessly as ever, conservatives and Republicans should feel free to dump the Trump in favor of Mike Pence.
Remember, Trump hired his daughter Ivanka Trump who supports mandatory paid family leave. Trump doesn’t want to make America great again. He wants to make America like Sweden.
Within the last six weeks Trump said that Australia’s single payer health care system is superior to America’s health care system. We need to stop equating the conservative agenda with the viability of Trump’s presidency.
When Nixon resigned, America was suffering from long gasoline lines, double digit inflation and a sluggish economy, not to mention a lopsidedly Democrat controlled US House and US Senate.
Now the situation is different. If we get rid of the ignoramus Trump, we can get down to the business of enacting the conservative agenda.
Most Americans don’t think Trump is fit to serve as president and the only reason he was elected was that they felt Hillary Clinton was worse!
Remember the thousands of people who showed up for Trump rallies? I am willing to bet that most people don’t behave so enthusiastically for someone just because they’re not someone else.
I am still singing a happy tune that HRC is not president. And I agree that Trump has faults. But I have become a fan over these past months.
This talk of impeachment is dangerous and should be fought loudly. You give the left this win and no R president will ever get elected for a full term.
This is a coup attempt straight up. And proves to me what I’ve always suspected (and the reason why I didn’t join the R party til last year) – any talk of respecting the military and the average voter is just that. Talk and zero sincerity.
And this is why Trump supporters come off as so unhinged. Because, frankly, many of them are. The inability to see any problems, the desire to see incompetence as brilliance….Tell me, what is the grand strategy in losing so much support? What’s the goal?
I’ll save several points for later, but given the same two true choices offered last November, I’d vote Trump again.
I think I understand why Trump wanted to correct the record on the Comey firing. It’s the President who fires, and he wanted to make it clear that he is in charge. The President doesn’t need an opinion or an approval from the Deputy Attorney General or anyone else to fire, although he can always ask for their advice.
The reason is because the President must take care to faithfully execute the laws, and he can’t do that if he can’t fire unilaterally. If he had set the expectation that he had to get approval from other officials, his presidency would have been weakened and the institution would have been weakened.
If we look at the impeachment of Andrew Johnson we can see an interesting parallel. The Radical Republicans impeached Johnson in part because he fired a member of his cabinet in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson argued that the act was unconstitutional. And Johnson was correct.
Today, we have a minority party that wants to impeach Trump because (and this is the bottom line) it didn’t want him to fire James Comey. Why didn’t they want Trump to fire James Comey when only a few months before they had called (almost to a man) for his political head? What changed? Was it this alleged memo we have heard so much about? Unlikely, because its existence was not alleged at the time of Comey’s firing, and anyway it would have contradicted Comey’s statements under oath that he had not been pressured to end any investigation.
In my mind, this scandal is being concocted by sore losers who want to “get” the President.
My advice to Trump would not necessarily be to tweet less, but to do his own press briefings, at least some of the time. Trump is compelling, presidential, and entertaining on television, and he can connect with his base and with the country. As far as dealing with this investigatory thicket, which threatens to slow down his agenda–don’t give an inch. Also, don’t antagonize Congress right now.
i don’t know what your agenda is, and I don’t know if the NeverTrumpers are just clueless or have an agenda, but pretending Trump’s first few months haven’t been highly successful; that he hasn’t successfully thwarted the MSM’s attempts to destroy him; and that he didn’t win the election using the same “outrageousness” and “unforced errors” you blame him for now demonstrates a bizarre lack of awareness and self-awareness.
Yes, it is such an ignorant position to take that we should remove him.
“This talk of impeachment is dangerous and should be fought loudly. You give the left this win and no R president will ever get elected for a full term”
I agree. Because if “I” talk can be based on nothing, it can be based on anything.
Who wants Trump gone?
Who wants Trump to stop tweeting?
There is nothing wrong with aligning with the lesser enemy against the greater enemy. I hope that people who align with the left can see what they are doing and they realize who will benefit the most from that help.
We know during the election that the NT conservatives gained great help from the left and they considered it was for a greater cause. Let’s be clear about this, though.
I thought Rob’s last question to Robert and Max was a good one. Basically he was asking each to give Trump advice. The premise of the question, as I understood it, conceded the unfair media and “deep state” environment. Rob was asking for advice to Trump on how to successfully maneuver in this reality. Both men seemed incapable of answering Rob’s question. @roblong
John Berg, I would cut Robert and Max some slack given that they were doing a live podcast. On the other hand, I would recommend that Trump not change a thing. Why? Your question assumes the opposition to Trump is rational and fact-based. It is not. Moderation would just be seen as weakness. I believe Trump’s strategy is to engage and activate the MSM so that as many people as possible see how stupid and depraved the MSM and Democrats are.
As I said on the podcast, I rejected the premise of the question, which was that Trump’s presidency is failing. I don’t agree.
As for my “agenda”, I would, as a conservative, like to see conservative policies put into place, as much as possible. That means less federal intrusion, more accountability, tax reform, the rollback of onerous regulations. I have no problem whatsoever in lauding Trump for what successes he has had in some of these areas. And I am very happy with Gorsuch. But I think he is sabotaging his own agenda by his stupid, imprudent actions, such as dissing Comey to the Russians. What idiot wouldn’t figure out that this plays right into the hands of the Left’s efforts to get rid of him??! It’s disgusting to have a president that would treat the Russians as pals. That the leak came from inside the White House tells you something about how he is regarded by those under him. Not a good sign. It was stupid to send out defenders to explain that the firing of Comey had nothing to do with the Russian investigation, only to then tell a reporter that it was, in fact, because of the Russian investigation. Who is going to defend him now, if he’s shown that he will undercut them? This is weird, self-sabotaging stupidity.
No major legislation passed. No budget. No wall. His Executive Order on immigration may or may not withstand Supreme Court scrutiny. If that is not “failing” then I’m not sure what would be. Other than getting Gorsuch through the nomination process, what exactly has been accomplished? What’s your criteria for success?
I agree with Robert & Max, these shadowy Presidential “misdeeds” that Trump “needs” to address is working on the assumption that they’re actual “misdeeds”. When in reality they are convoluted and contrived. It’s an insult that any acting President would be subjected to ridiculous hysteria and be expected to non-stop constantly respond to it. Especially when the public” watched the past President lie to our faces about a national health care program that represents a large chunk of our economy, the cause of death of one of our ambassadors, etal ….. – I mean these were real misdeeds which really deserved an answer. And yet, with nary a peep.
Australia’s system is superior in most ways, but most critically just sustainability. Ours is going under, 5-9 years. There is no one who can stop it.
Trump says many incorrect and moronic things. This wasn’t one of them. No need to debate me with anything regarding this because I know I’m right, it’s my life’s work and profession. Any anecdotal data, charts, stats, or reports won’t convince me. I have many preferences ( on record here) beyond Australia’s system but what I’d prefer means nothing.
This is very dangerous talk. There was an election. Trump won. His detractors need to come to terms with that.
I agree with this, Robert is a good spokesman for the Trumpian right. Just how he reconciles his libertarianism with Trumps policies I don’t fully understand but the points he made on this podcast were good.
How is “no major legislation passed [so far]” Trump’s fault? How much major legislation, including 51 vote passable legislation, has made it to his desk?
Incorrect and dangerous talk from the impeachment crowd but I doubt anyone will change anyone’s mind on this. It may be the most pointless discussion ever, sides are drawn and it’s going to play out.
God Bless the USA.