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Who says we don’t break news on this show? The whole gang is back this week, and they’re joined by National Review’s senior political correspondent, Jim Geraghty for a long chat on Republicans leaving the party, fealty to you-know-who, and an update on Wuhan lab theories. Then, Elliot Abrams, who’s most recently served as President Trump’s Special Representative to Venezuela and Iran; joins to discuss They Israel’s ongoing fight with Hamas and speculate on how it might conclude, while marveling at the strength of the Abraham Accords (negotiated at the direction of you-know-who). Ricochet member @MarkAlexander gets the coveted Lileks Post of The Week® badge for his post My Shakespeare Confession and Rob and James mull the wisdom of a million dollar vaccine lottery.
Song from this week’s episode: Bad Blood by Taylor Swift.
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They are not a minority, but beyond that point, I have no problem with the term. I’m not one of those snowflakes walking around looking for a reason to be offended. BTW, I am not a member of any branch of the GOP.
As Rob said, the GOP can go to Hell as far as I am concerned. I haven’t voted for a Republican in any national election since 2000, until 2020 that is. I doubt I’ll ever vote for another. But I am enjoying the show.
Wow! I had no idea you were named after Jesus. Cool!
On another topic, I actually bought Boll & Branch bed sheets and they’re great!
Actually the middle name is “Hallowed”.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
This is the best comment on this entire…thread.
I’m guessing that George Bush didn’t own them because the number of former presidents owning them didn’t change after his death. Unless the company didn’t bother to update their copy. On the other hand the copy doesn’t say three former president currently own Boll & Branch. However, the tense does imply presently. Does Trump own them? There’s a new former president.
No, I know we don’t all agree, though I do suspect the membership is substantially more pro-Trump than anti-Trump, like the Republican party itself. I’m speaking as a member who wants this blogging platform to survive and thrive, and I’m listening to a guy who sells the site on his podcasts but isn’t willing to comment here himself because he’s so at odds with the membership in his own views — and yet is happy to spout those views ad nauseum on the signature podcast. And I wonder what new members who come in here expecting it to sound more like Rob think when they discover that Rob can’t stand the place himself.
Sorry, my post was ambiguous in that regard. I wasn’t objecting to the guest. And I wouldn’t even be objecting to Rob if he wasn’t so consistent and strident on this topic.
And, honestly, “the Republican party can go to hell?” I know we have our differences, but is this how we sell “smart, civil conversation on the center right” now, when we should be figuring out how to win the next two elections and stop a progressive juggernaut?
I’m a huge fan of free speech, and I welcome dissenting views. But this is The Ricochet Podcast we’re talking about, and it’s one of the co-founders talking. Just doesn’t seem like good business, or good politics, to me.
I didn’t listen as closely to the portion of the show that I caught during the Zoom call. Did James’ Tight Change line make it to the final cut? A nice reference.
Good to know since the quality of my go-to brand has declined.
I have to admit that I used to like Rob no matter what, but now he is tedious.
Just going by what I heard Ben Shapiro say after the election. He’s normally pretty dependable, so I believe it’s true.
It is.
I forget where I heard this, but the problem is the volume is with white people or something. If you listen to VDH’s latest podcast here, he talks about why Trump is getting so much of the non-white vote, indirectly. Solid citizens get it that Trump was on the right track because of corrupt institutions. He just turned off too many white people, which is where the volume of voters are. This is why I think we need to talk about policy more. Trump had his deficiencies, but he illuminated the things that needed it. The GOP needs guys that understand civics and government more, and are less impulsive.
It was Ryan Gidursky on the Buck Sexton show. It was really good. That guy is really smart.
When the Democrat party gets below something like 89% of the black vote their whole operation is toast. Think about that. I mean the whole country.
One thing that rubs a lot of people the wrong way, and very deeply, is that there were years/decades of the larger Republican voting public willing to vote for the “establishment” candidates that were put before us. Only to find out that, even if they “won,” little if anything changed significantly. But when the larger Republican voting public came up with their/our own ideas, first the TEA Party and then Trump, the “establishment” got in a snit about how they couldn’t go along with THAT, because it somehow violated their “principles” (which didn’t seem to have been much on display up to that point). That’s a pretty basic rift, and I think it’s the establishment that needs to come around, not everyone else. IF they refuse to do so, I think that makes the rift their fault, not ours.
Ah to me, Cheney and much of the neo-cons were big on being pro war, more than willing to send young sons off to do the dying, while sitting comfortably in their seats in congress.
As I have said a number of times, that to me the worst President of the last 50 years is George W Bush, who has cause so much of the crap we now have to deal with. But he is out of power, so we can rehabilitate him.
I am looking forward to President Desantis, and the left pining for the good old days of Pres Trump, “You know he may have said mean things, but you could make a deal with him.”
Watch the long interview of David stockman on real vision. It will cost you a dollar.
Try harder to tell the above to Rob whenever he starts up one of his anti-trump tirades. Its people like him and Cheney that keep making us have this same old conversation over and over and over again.
As seen in a different answer, I am anti-war conservative, who got read out of the party for being against the Iraq war. I dont consider pro-endless war conservative, and she is very pro-endless war.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I voted for that fool in 2000, but I realized my mistake by 2002.
Mises.org is quite interesting on this type of thing and I think the latest human action podcast covers this.
Hey I said nice things about Rob during the covid segment.
For a significant segment of the electorate, the candidate’s character matters more than accomplishments. Biden did not do crazy tweets, so for many voters, they preferred him. It does not matter if you, or I, think issues are more important. If Trump had just shown some self-control, there is a good chance he would have been reelected.
It’s not the pundits who gifted us Biden, it’s the voters.
What can I say, I was reading a lot of Jerry Pournelles blog at the time.
Voters who were lied to by the widespread media, and so many other problems…
But still, What do you say if we find out that Trump actually won the legitimate vote?
10% for the big guy reveals all one needs to know about Biden’s character.
There are two groups of Republicans who voted for Biden. There are those who have abandoned conservatism. The second group are Biden Republicans. The Biden Republicans are quite reachable if Trump is not nominated in 2024.