On A Rant

We discuss the events of the week, we talk to AEI’s Yuval Levin about leadership in a populist age and Andy McCarthy about the 25th Amendment and pardons. One of our hosts is dealing with a medical issue which he discusses here and in some members only content with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (available here).  Keep calm, carry on, and be nice to each other. This too shall pass.

 

 

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  1. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    The GOP is worthless. Trump is the first GOP candidate I’ve voted for since Bush I — voted Constitution Party or just left it blank the rest of the time — and I rectified that mistake in 1992. Trump will be the last GOP candidate I vote for.

    Yeah well. I was NeverTrump until the Democrats showed me that they were completely insane. I am not going to say now what I will do in 4 years. In my opinion, Trump is worse than worthless. The policies were good but Trump did his inane thinking out loud too many times.

    We can agree on that even if nothing else. 

    • #91
  2. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    … Trump is worse than worthless. The policies were good…

    I’m just going to leave this here.

    2 + 2 = 4  AND 2 +2 = 5

    Got it.

    • #92
  3. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    … Trump is worse than worthless. The policies were good…

    I’m just going to leave this here.

    2 + 2 = 4 AND 2 +2 = 5

    Got it.

    As the mathematician’s joke goes, 2 +2 = 5, for large values of 2. 

    • #93
  4. DonG (Biden is compromised) Coolidge
    DonG (Biden is compromised)
    @DonG

    Interesting that they guy in NYC is lecturing the guy raised in Lexington, Missouri about being in touch with populism (defined as opposing coastal elites). 

    I will note that McCarthy sets the standard for resigning from office as “having used demagoguery”.  Either he has TDS or he expects 99% of politicians to resign.  It is a shame that he can say that without any push back from the hosts. 

    • #94
  5. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Nobody owes Trump anything.

    I find it interesting — all the Trump people fleeing the ship with less than a dozen days left.

    Et tu Betsy DeVos?  (Thomas Sowell came out of retirement to write a column supporting you.  We had to delay in confirming Jeff Sessions as Attorney General as Mitch McConnell needed 50 votes plus Mike Pence to get you confirmed.)

    It reminds me a tiny, tiny bit of when Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich on January 20, 2001, his last day in office.  The Lefties went crazy.  They suddenly hated Bill Clinton.  What a show!  Uh, you could have complained before the very last day in office.

    I remember Glenn Loury’s great interview with Jon Shields two months ago about his book Trump’s Democrats.  One of the things these people value above just about anything is loyalty.  Not a lot of loyalty this week…  Ann Coulter and others complained endlessly about Trump hiring his family members Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.  But who could Trump really trust?  Just about no one other than perhaps a few people he might have known beforehand like Wilbur Ross or people with integrity like Ben Carson, both outsider types from the non-political world…

    • #95
  6. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Django (View Comment):
    I have no faith in the rest of them. 

    There are others.

    • #96
  7. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    … Trump is worse than worthless. The policies were good…

    I’m just going to leave this here.

    2 + 2 = 4 AND 2 +2 = 5

    Got it.

    The policies were the ideas of others. Trump listened to them. He didn’t pick the judges or get them through and he didn’t think of the Abraham Accords. Trump did the love letter to Kim and the stupid flattery of dictators. And when the good policies came through Trump was always there stepping all over the good news with some stupid thing. That’s why he’s worse than worthless. He should resign.

    • #97
  8. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Nobody owes Trump anything.

    I find it interesting — all the Trump people fleeing the ship with less than a dozen days left.

    Et tu Betsy DeVos? (Thomas Sowell came out of retirement to write a column supporting you. We had to delay in confirming Jeff Sessions as Attorney General as Mitch McConnell needed 50 votes plus Mike Pence to get you confirmed.)

    It reminds me a tiny, tiny bit of when Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich on January 20, 2001, his last day in office. The Lefties went crazy. They suddenly hated Bill Clinton. What a show! Uh, you could have complained before the very last day in office.

    I remember Glenn Loury’s great interview with Jon Shields two months ago about his book Trump’s Democrats. One of the things these people value above just about anything is loyalty. Not a lot of loyalty this week… Ann Coulter and others complained endlessly about Trump hiring his family members Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. But who could Trump really trust? Just about no one other than perhaps a few people his might have known beforehand like Wilbur Ross or people with integrity like Ben Carson, both outsider types from the non-political world…

    They are right to flee.

    • #98
  9. DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone Member
    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):
    But who could Trump really trust? Just about no one other than perhaps a few people his might have known beforehand like Wilbur Ross or people with integrity like Ben Carson, both outsider types from the non-political world…

    I keep thinking about this. How many people working under President Trump were actually working for him? Seems like very few. The amount of backstabbery over the last four years is uncountable.

    • #99
  10. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):
    But who could Trump really trust? Just about no one other than perhaps a few people his might have known beforehand like Wilbur Ross or people with integrity like Ben Carson, both outsider types from the non-political world…

    I keep thinking about this. How many people working under President Trump were actually working for him? Seems like very few. The amount of backstabbery over the last four years is uncountable.

    The whole situation was terrible, in this sense.

    The deep state spent probably $60 million going after him. Then throw in the democrat controlled media.

    Totally unfair and undemocratic.

    Gary loves it.

    • #100
  11. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):
    I keep thinking about this. How many people working under President Trump were actually working for him? Seems like very few. The amount of backstabbery over the last four years is uncountable.

    I wonder why – lol. How many people did Trump turn on? Legions. 

    • #101
  12. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):
    I keep thinking about this. How many people working under President Trump were actually working for him? Seems like very few. The amount of backstabbery over the last four years is uncountable.

    I wonder why – lol. How many people did Trump turn on? Legions.

    Did they back-stab because he turned on them, or did he turn on them because they stabbed him in the back? 

    • #102
  13. Architectus Coolidge
    Architectus
    @Architectus

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Rob took hydroxychloroquine? Sounds like he owes Trump an apology.

    Actually, ANOTHER apology.

    Nobody owes Trump anything.

    I owe President Trump a hearty ‘thank you’ for the most conservative administration since Reagan, for preventing the most corrupt Clinton from occupying the White House in the form of Hillary, for giving us incredible judges and justices, for reducing regulations, for historic achievements in the ME, for returning the US economy to new heights, for reducing unemployment to record lows, for giving us a 4 year break between race-baiting presidencies, and so much more

    But sure, some (small) people can only celebrate those achievements if they are done by the morally spotless. Sorry, I’m not seeing those candidates around, so maybe we stop the moral preening and grow up. Defend the record boldly (assuming you consider the above to be positive developments), even as you recognize the imperfections of the one that helped bring them to reality. But so many on the Right are joining in being hysterical, as the Left has been for 4 years.  Not a good look, and not the least bit conservative. 

    • #103
  14. DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone Member
    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):
    I keep thinking about this. How many people working under President Trump were actually working for him? Seems like very few. The amount of backstabbery over the last four years is uncountable.

    I wonder why – lol. How many people did Trump turn on? Legions.

    Uh . . . phrasing.

    • #104
  15. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Google (Android) and Apple both now have suspended downloads of the Parler app. Amazon has threatened to revoke Parler’s licensed use of their servers. All claim Parler is not doing enough to prevent “incitement”, though of course those companies all host platforms with similarly uncivil messages.

    Tucker Carlson reported on it. We will see what Democrats do to undermine FOX News. YouTube is still hosting conservative commentators.

    The first priority of Republicans and conservatives right now must be to ensure that we remain able to communicate. Ricochet admins would be wise to have a backup plan in case the site’s server license is threatened.

    Who knew, sometimes offshoring is really a good idea?

    • #105
  16. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    What a great podcast!

    Oh, boy. I’ve avoiding this one.

    As Gary actively and enthusiastically supported Joe Biden and was even against swishy Martha McSally and others as I remember, this comment says a lot.

    There have only been a few of the flagship ricochet podcasts that I have skipped or missed, but I think this might be one. I think I might avoid the non-Delingpole/VDH podcasts for awhile. Dan Senor’s post-COVID postcast was kind of interesting though.

    In the latest “very special episode” of Classicist, VDH seemed like he might also be taking a safety stroll to the left.

     

    • #106
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    The_Admin() (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Ricochet admins would be wise to have a backup plan in case the site’s server license is threatened.

    Indeed. We switched to a conservative-owned hosting company last summer.

    Let’s hope they’re actually conservative, and not Gary Robbins “conservative.”

    • #107
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Trash (Trump), Cut him loose. Bury him 20 feet deep.

    Also this hatred of human beings and fellow Americans is generally not something that conservatives usually do.

    I can’t ever remember wishing that Obama, Bill Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, or any politician was buried and dead.

    I don’t even know what it is exactly that Trump said that was so terrible. Did he say to storm the Capitol or something? Then all the Lefty news media accused him of advocating violence or something? This is only my guess.

    If so, how is this different from Gary desiring that the President of the United States be dead and buried.

    Although there are still 11 days left, the fact that Trump survived the term should be seen as a real accomplishment.

    The last time the Democrats declared a “Resistance” and started continually spouting Virginia’s motto Sic semper tyrannis — “thus always to tyrants”, the first Republican president ended up dead at Ford’s Theatre.

    Remember too that Gary was actually quoting ROB LONG from The Ricochet Podcast.

    • #108
  19. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    What a great podcast!

    Listen to Rob at 1:06:00.

    If Republicans want to survive, they need to cut him [Trump] loose.

    Start a bonfire, throw him on it.

    But not just not talk about him, trash him.

    Kill the demon. And then move on.

    Trash him, Cut him loose. Bury him 20 feet deep.

    This is more blood lust. If the President gets assassinated, you and Rob have incited it. You should both be ashamed.

    If they incited actual violence/murder shouldn’t they be arrested and prosecuted?

    • #109
  20. StevenWilliams Listener
    StevenWilliams
    @StevenWilliams

    Architectus (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Rob took hydroxychloroquine? Sounds like he owes Trump an apology.

    Actually, ANOTHER apology.

    Nobody owes Trump anything.

    I owe President Trump a hearty ‘thank you’ for the most conservative administration since Reagan, for preventing the most corrupt Clinton from occupying the White House in the form of Hillary, for giving us incredible judges and justices, for reducing regulations, for historic achievements in the ME, for returning the US economy to new heights, for reducing unemployment to record lows, for giving us a 4 year break between race-baiting presidencies, and so much more.

    But sure, some (small) people can only celebrate those achievements if they are done by the morally spotless. Sorry, I’m not seeing those candidates around, so maybe we stop the moral preening and grow up. Defend the record boldly (assuming you consider the above to be positive developments), even as you recognize the imperfections of the one that helped bring them to reality. But so many on the Right are joining in being hysterical, as the Left has been for 4 years. Not a good look, and not the least bit conservative.

    Wonderfully stated. Thank you for a concise and insightful statement. The moral preening has become almost intolerable.

    • #110
  21. StevenWilliams Listener
    StevenWilliams
    @StevenWilliams

    Rob consistently mis-identifies the “lick-spittle”. The establishment came to conservative voters years ago and told us, vote for us and we will reverse the slide toward socialism and oversized government. We gave them the House, “Oh we can’t do anything because we don’t have any real power. We need more.” We then provided the Senate “Thank you but we still can’t do anything. We’re afraid to act. The president will veto. Give us the presidency also”. Okay here is the presidency “Oh, you gave us the wrong president. We can’t possibly work with him. He might support the American People, the ‘lower unwashed classes’ go back to your hovels where you belong and how dare you not obey your betters” Until the Republican party starts actually working to limit government and restore our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms/rights there will be civil war within this party. The establishment Republicans wish to have the single-minded control that the Democrats seem to have. There is too much freedom of thought amongst the People according to the Establishmentarians. 

    What I have yet to hear is a cogent definition of Populism. The best I have been able to determine is Populism is whenever the People disagree with the elite ruling class and insist the “Public servants” really be servants and not rulers.

    • #111
  22. DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone Member
    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    StevenWilliams (View Comment):
    What I have yet to hear is a cogent definition of Populism. The best I have been able to determine is Populism is whenever the People disagree with the elite ruling class and insist the “Public servants” really be servants and not rulers.

    That’s pretty close.

    See if you like this one: https://ricochet.com/861797/ricochet-and-the-republican-party-must-decide/#comment-5127974

    • #112
  23. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    The Cloaked Gaijin (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    … Trump is worse than worthless. The policies were good…

    I’m just going to leave this here.

    2 + 2 = 4 AND 2 +2 = 5

    Got it.

    “THERE … ARE … FOUR … LIGHTS!”  Star Trek, The Next Generation.  

    • #113
  24. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Django (View Comment):
    Did they back-stab because he turned on them, or did he turn on them because they stabbed him in the back? 

    He turned on them because they were not obsequious enough.

    • #114
  25. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    What is the song at the end of the Podcast? I found it to be hauntingly beautiful.

    It was Johnny Cash’s last album. He knew his days were numbered. Cash always had a gloomy outlook on the world (“The Man in Black”) and the sins of man.

    The song really blew me away.  The video was even more overwhelming.

    • #115
  26. StevenWilliams Listener
    StevenWilliams
    @StevenWilliams

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):

    StevenWilliams (View Comment):
    What I have yet to hear is a cogent definition of Populism. The best I have been able to determine is Populism is whenever the People disagree with the elite ruling class and insist the “Public servants” really be servants and not rulers.

    That’s pretty close.

    See if you like this one: https://ricochet.com/861797/ricochet-and-the-republican-party-must-decide/#comment-5127974

    Drew, thank you for the link. A worthy definition.

    • #116
  27. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Editor Note:

    Gary's comment has been redacted as it is a thinly veiled claim that Trump supporters are Nazis.  Gary you are advised to knock this off.

    Django (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    What a great podcast!

    Listen to Rob at 1:06:00.

    If Republicans want to survive, they need to cut him [Trump] loose.

    Start a bonfire, throw him on it.

    But not just not talk about him, trash him.

    Kill the demon. And then move on.

    Trash him, Cut him loose. Bury him 20 feet deep.This is more blood lust. If the President gets assassinated, you and Rob have incited it. You should both be ashamed.Running the gamut from Pelosi and Kerosene Maxine down to Rob and Gary, no one ever accuses any of them of incitement. Maybe it’s because no one takes them seriously even though they mean it.(Redacted)

    • #117
  28. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    Did they back-stab because he turned on them, or did he turn on them because they stabbed him in the back?

    He turned on them because they were not obsequious enough.

    I don’t think one is being “obsequious” if he supports the man who hired him. Obviously, opinions vary. 

    • #118
  29. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    What a great podcast!

    Listen to Rob at 1:06:00.

    If Republicans want to survive, they need to cut him [Trump] loose.

    Start a bonfire, throw him on it.

    But not just not talk about him, trash him.

    Kill the demon. And then move on.

    Trash him, Cut him loose. Bury him 20 feet deep.

    This is more blood lust. If the President gets assassinated, you and Rob have incited it. You should both be ashamed.

    Running the gamut from Pelosi and Kerosene Maxine down to Rob and Gary, no one ever accuses any of them of incitement. Maybe it’s because no one takes them seriously even though they mean it.

    I am serious that there needs to be a process of “De-Trumpification” just as there was a process of “De-Baathification” in Iraq, and De-“You know what” in post-war Germany and Japan.

    I know you are serious, but having been designated by you as one of your “special friends” I am under no obligation to take you seriously. Nor is anyone else for that matter. 

    • #119
  30. DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone Member
    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I am serious that there needs to be a process of “De-Trumpification” just as there was a process of “De-Baathification” in Iraq, and De-“You know what” in post-war Germany and Japan.

    Yes, we know you agreed with Dennis when he said we needed to exile the President, his family, his staff and his prominent supporters and execute them should they try to return to the US.

    You don’t have to remind us how crazy you are. We know.

    • #120
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