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This week on America’s Most Trusted Podcast®, we kick off with some home grown commentary about the ongoing Pelosi-Trump drama. Then, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s White House correspondent extraordinaire Deb Saunders joins for an extended and more detailed chat on the same topic. Later, Dr. Bill McClay stops by to discuss his new book, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story which is all about the way history textbooks weirdly seem to only promote one point of view (guess which one). We close with a bit of talk about why Florida may be America’s greatest state and the what the hosts are doing for the three day weekend.
Music from this week’s show: Land of Hope and Dreams by Bruce Springsteen
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Now who can argue with that?
Politics in general is pretty tiresome. On the bright side, Rob seems like he is coming dangerously close to joining the side that he’s already on. Those little victories are going to make all the difference in 2020, and since we know the president isn’t going to pivot in a way that will suffice to reticent Republicans, I think it will fall to his supporters to work on them – and a lot of patient persuasion will be necessary.
I agree with Julia that Jonah and the rest wouldn’t have been fine with Hillary. But I think we’re getting at one of those realities that only intellectuals can fail to see: it was Donald Trump that actually built the coalition that beat Hillary Clinton. There are so many things I would’ve preferred but this is where we’re at; and knowing where we’re at is as important as knowing where we want to go if we ever want to get there.
Ricochet lets you edit your comments but not delete them (if, for example, you realize you don’t have the time to finish them).
They won’t.
I don’t see much evidence to support such certainty, Julia. Jonah’s fellow travelers in the NeverTrump right have openly advocated for Hillary and for other Democrats. Bret Stephens, George Will, Bill Kristol and the entire steaming pile of bulwark, …
And not one of them ever described Obama as “embarrassing,” really.
You are complaining that Trump isn’t perfect. But in his willingness to take on the Democrat-Media Complex while adhering more strictly to conservative policies than any Republican since at least Reagan, he is by your own conservative standards closer to perfection than any alternative.
The entire NeverTrump right is exposing its movement as tiresomely delusional.
He doesn’t always sound like a bumptious fool, just often. His administration has done many good things and continues. He doesn’t always express himself in a vulgar and stupid. Often he does. He can be (is) very tough to take. I’ll vote for him despite his inability to shut up because the alternative is totally unacceptable. Mainly because he is a patriot; he loves his country even though the English language is something of a challenge. The highjacked Democratic party does not.
I’m not sure how anyone looking at all the past Republican candidates and Presidents who TALKED a lot but didn’t DO all that much – such as nominating very conservative judges and Justices which then got pushed through even against anti-Kavanugh-level tactics from the left, and actually moving the Israel embassy to Jerusalem which has been official US policy for a long time – can conclude that Trump really isn’t doing all that much, certainly not enough to possibly overcome his “loathsome”-ness.
They might have been unhappier with Hillary in policy areas, but they would have been happier to have someone not “loathsome” in the office. In some cases, at least, to the point where they actually say that Hillary should have won.
Or at least she wouldn’t be “their” loathsome. Like you, I look at what’s been done and ignore the sideshows, which are also having effects I like.
This is what I was unartfully trying to say. Hillary would be an acceptable foe. I don’t understand why more pundits haven’t taken Milton Friedman to heart, “The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.” If Trump is the wrong person as they see it, work to make it politically profitable for him to do the right things. Don’t derisively dismiss them with things like “but Gorsuch”.
But Hillary is just as loathsome if not more so. She is criminally negligent and corrupt. Also incredibly arrogant and dismissive. How it ever came down to a choice between the two is a serious problem, Trump’s policies notwithstanding. We must chose better in the Primary but with Trump running again we are stuck with a repeat and a choice between two “loathsome” candidates again.
#1. Dumb primary systems. The RNC had no idea what to do with 17 candidates. Superdelagates and corruption in the DNC.
#2. People have given up on ordinary supposed conservatism and tactics.
#3. Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™The Founders system was toast decades ago.
That was me, not Bishop Wash.
Hillary is more… “professionally” corrupt. They view Trump as more “personally” corrupt which seems to be a bigger problem for them. But the goal is (to be inaccurate) “running the country,” not appearing dignified at dinner parties or whatever, while the economy and foreign policy go down the toilet.
I like to say that, where many politicians are criminals, the Clintons are professional criminals, having been at it for more than 40 years.
In some sense, anti-Trumpers don’t care what happens to the country. They simply feel Trump embarrasses them personally when they talk to their friends.
The fact that Bill Clinton was 100 times worse, and John F. Kennedy 1000 times worse; that Harry Truman was quite open about his racism, is irrelevant for them, because those Presidents all had a “D” after their names.
Yes Ferdinand Beach is great. lot of people like Jacksonville including my sister who lives there. Some of the lowest priced urben housing in the US. The problem is they don’t have as many jobs around there.
Yes, but it’s easy to understand. If a rival football team keeps fumbling the football, you’re not going to be embarrassed about that. It’s when the most high-profile player on your own team repeatedly fumbles that you become the most exasperated. I don’t feel embarrassment when Bernie Sanders or AOC tells us we can have all kinds of free goodies paid for by the 0.1%. It’s fun to laugh at the nonsense they are peddling. It’s when the leader of my own party makes ridiculous claims that I am embarrassed.
Anti-Trumpers do care what happens to the country. It isn’t about his personal behavior. It is the fact that there is a man with no control over his own impulses and very little substantive knowledge sitting in the WH. The fact that Democrats are awful does not make Trump good. It just means that because some very foolish primary voters chose him we are now faced with a terrible binary choice. Again. The good that has come from Trump’s presidency has come when he listens to those in the Republican Party who are wiser than him. I hope he continues to do so. I fear his ego will take over.
It is so frustrating to be told that because I still don’t like Trump, I am not a good Reagan Republican or don’t care about the country and just some sort of snob. It is as bad as calling Trump voters “deplorable”.
But just as I am told I am blinded by my Trump hatred, I feel that others are blind to the dangers.
I’ve come a long way. I didn’t vote for him in 2016. I should have. I will vote for him in 2020. But I won’t be happy about it. Just resigned. This country deserves better.
Some erstwhile Anti-Trumpers, like you, do care what happens to the country.
But it shouldn’t make you root for the other party! Unless your political beliefs are just for show.
I think you can count on one hand the number of Ricochet members who are rooting for Democrats, Taras, and they were Democrats to start with. I’m not rooting for the Democrats at all, I just wish for better Republicans, both in the Oval Office and in both chambers of Congress.
You have a Republican in the Oval Office who is a better tax cutter than any Republican in 40 years, and in fact who is the best Republican ever in several categories:
and yet honestly, NeverTrumpers complain more about Donald Trump than they ever did about Barack Obama, who encouraged, enabled, and likely directed that corruption.
NeverTrumpers wouldn’t know a better Republican if he punched each one of them in the face every day – which is what he does.
I love this.
Why did they do that?
I realize that nobody cares, but I will take another shot at this anyway.
I just watched another video on real vision. One of the big reasons you got Trump is, the United States of America and the whole West is doing every single thing wrong in the face of wage deflation and job loss from globalized labor markets and robots.
All of this trade stuff and robots is about better living through purchasing power. Purchasing power means deflation means progress.
You simply cannot have any inflation in this environment, and I mean the Austrian definition: assets and CPI. The killers are, homes, apartments (rent) and bonds (you can’t get any interest over inflation at the bank). This gets complicated but there isn’t any lending for actual productivity unless it’s big time bond markets stuff. The community banks are screwed.
So that’s half the reason you are getting populism shove down your throat.
I forget the guy,s name, but there is a substitute host on the Salem talk radio channel in Chicago that is constantly harping on it. He’s the only one.
The best thing is to just get on your hands and knees and pray to God that Trump gets reelected before the economy goes south.
Specifically what I’m saying is, it accelerates the job loss and it robs purchasing power from the people whose wages are flat and are losing opportunity by the minute. All of this is being accelerated and made worse by government and Fed policy. It’s nuts.
Basically the only thing that should be going up a little bit is healthcare related stuff. Everything else should be going down in price, and I’m not exaggerating.
The problem is our whole government and financial system is based on constant CPI and asset inflation.
Speak of the Devil. What we need is deflation and interest on savings.
Tucker Carlson doesn’t understand that “economic nationalism“ is a policy that has been tried in a hundred countries. It’s a big part of what has kept Latin America poor.
“Protect the Finland Orange Growers Cooperative from cheap oranges from Spain!”
Finland could grow its own oranges, in hot houses, but it would make the country poorer. The benefit would go to a small number of people, single-issue voters, while the harm would be spread out over everybody: oranges would be expensive and rare; resources wasted growing them would not be used for other things (costing jobs); and Spain would buy fewer Finnish exports (costing jobs).
Public choice theory teaches that a concentrated special interest will beat a diffuse general interest. In other words, a small benefit to a small number of people that politicians can see will outweigh a large harm that is spread out over the entire population.
I made up (I think) the Finland Orange Growers Cooperative. But farm price supports are very real, benefiting a handful of farmers while making everybody else pay higher prices for food.
@taras
Excellent.
We need to stop with the central planning, get the cost-of-living down, literally run with a negative CPI, shrink taxes, stop thinking about wage growth andr evenue growth, because life is more about what you save and your purchasing power. Profit. Personally, spiritually, and ROI.
Not inflationism. The problem is our political system, government and financial system is not set up for this.