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We were going to take this week off, but the opportunity to do a special holiday weekend edition of the Ricochet Podcast with just The Founders *and James Lileks, of course) proved to be too tempting. The guys talk about Presidential tweets, what to do about health care, what they like to do on the 4th, and life in the ten years since the iPhone debuted. Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
Music from this week’s podcast: Saturday In The Park by Chicago
The all new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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Boom, @EJHIll
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Great Scott!
Also I continue to here Rob cite the ratings bananza at CNN. But everywhere I reference they just had the worst month in there history. The guys talked about Trumps tweets but nothing on Project Veritas using Breitbarts playbook to destroy CNN. Catching multiple reporters in incredible lies and driving a conspiracy theory.
Why couldnt we talk about that? How was Veritas not a newsworthy story?
Great outro. That’s definitely a summer song on the radio all the time when I was a wee lad.
In my dreams, he does.
Even if it were true about CNN, that’s not surprising or shocking. When Barry was president, Fox ratings went up. I assume the same effect would be had on the other side.
I do think the tweets are basically ways of giving ad revenue to CNN, MSNBC, etc. I’m quite sure that’s weighed against the positives that exist in Trump’s mind around what he perceives his supporters to want, or to respond to.
That or he just does it, and doesn’t think about it at all. Which might be the best part of it.
And, lastly – I think we can give the old heave-ho to the “dignity of the office”. I’m confident that Clinton and Barry set the standards there for undignified behavior, as much as Democrats happily forget about those things when it’s time to become outraged about Trump. Again.
How @roblong sees @jameslileks :
I’m sure much of it was wishful thinking, but many on the left expected Rush Limbaugh to fade away after he didn’t have Clinton to criticize.
“I alone can fix.”
Uh…What?
You’re off by about 8 years – many expected Rush would fade away after H.W. Bush lost and Clinton came in.
Peter has the patience of Job. I don’t. It’s now been two years since Trump announced and all the “mainstream” conservatives commenced their hissy-fit, which I expected would pass, but hasn’t.
Peter is right. James and Rob are bores. And there is one cardinal sin of “infotainment”, and that is to be a bore.
I’ve been a Ricochetti since 2012, and a listener since the very first podcast (teased by the presence of Mark Steyn). But my yearly subscription is up on August first, and I have found over the last two years that most of the Ricochet contributors can’t get over, can’t understand, and can’t come to terms with why Trump is now President. It’s a shame. And a bore.
Maybe there is a sugar daddy to keep it going. Or maybe in the center-right universe, there is a constituency happy to pay the freight of a mostly-Trump-bashing commentary.
As for me, with apologies to Peter who has comported himself with utter fortitude, I am out.
Some of us like it as it is.
Seconded.
Is it really all that unusual for the ratings to go up on stations sympathetic to the side that lost? And Rob, sorry but you sound silly dispensing political advice to the man who pulled off the biggest political upset in my lifetime. Maybe there’s a method to his madness.
James, if you’d like to take your exchange student out to the range and take them shooting I’d be glad to do it.
I live in the city across the river, I’m a MN DNR instructor and a high school trap team coach. My treat.
Or maybe America has gone mad, so madness works? ;)
And this is why Ricochet.
If people want the PRO TRUMP FLAGSHIP Podcast. Go over and listen to Harvard Lunch. Its like a little bit of Townhall right here on Ricochet.
Here’s a link to the page for the Harvard Lunch Club podcast.
Peter called us bores? I am clutching my pearls and taking to the fainting couch!
Look. I have completely accepted Trump’s victory, because it’s a fact. I’ve said before here and elsewhere that I understand why people voted for him. Every Republican I know voted for him. My father voted for Trump – somewhat reluctantly, because there was a lot about the the guy that troubled him, but he pulled the lever. So don’t lay that “can’t understand” on me. I lost two friends over this, and not because I criticized their choice: they decided that I was a Hillary supporter, or that I was the equivalent of a Vichy Frenchman. Not voting for Trump was sufficient to flush the friendship down the tubes.
I support the administration’s efforts to do the right and good things. My opinion of the man is my opinion and is separate from hoping the administration succeeds. I also understand that Trump admirers are not interested in criticism from people who do not share their view of the man, and that it has no effect.
@jameslileks I know your over the Trump election and have moved on. Your job on the podcast is to keep things moving along it seems. My only concern is your insistence is that Never Trump is over. There are definetly people on the right, like David Frum (though I doubt he is really on the right), who are committed Never Trumpers still and I think you need to recognize that.
I think the concerns of a lot of people is that Rob Long is a broken record. We all know the concerns and the talk. We have heard it for a while. If you have nothing new to contribute there is no need to say it. We cant change his Twitter account. We cant change the fact that CNN and other networks dont like him. The problem is that we need to recognize that no one who voted for him is watching those networks. Fox news is hurting in ratings cause they just got rid of a bunch of talent. From Ailes to O’Reilly.
Anyways its customer service. You want to sell a product, Ricochet. Do some basic marketing, get some data and start setting up your message to sell to your market. Cause we are losing customers to this. I dont know the internals. But I think that needs to be addressed.
I’m in the same boat as you Ario, I have been going back and forth on whether to renew, hoping that they will get over it- they won’t get over it and I find listening to their Trump-bashing tiresome and depressing. Stick with Victor Davis Hanson, he has much more insight & fortitude, and has an uncanny ability to interpret our unorthodox president in these unorthodox times which is much more encouraging than most of what Ricochet has to offer. (Dittos on Rush Limbaugh- maybe we should spend our renewal membership on joining Rush 24/7!)
Yep, and unless I’m mistaken, I can sign up for many of the thoughtful Ricochet podcasts, like The Classicist with VDH, without continuing to contribute to this swill (I believe I’m entitled to my opinion.)
You’re wrong. It is not Trump admirers who find your comments worthless and tiresome. It’s people who give a crap about doing something with the Presidency and the majorities that so-called conservatives hold in Congress. You spent the first twenty minutes of the podcast on the same old pointless self-pleasuring.
That is the closest Peter, who is nothing if not polite and politic, will come to explicitly calling anyone a bore to his face. Your obsession is well on the way to robbing you of all perspicacity.
“Can’t understand” covers you head to toe. The evidence is all over the podcast.
This cannot pass without comment (and don’t worry, I’ll be gone soon).
You lost two friends, “and not because I criticized their choice”? You spent the entire election season criticizing people who reluctantly chose to vote for Trump. You did it in public. Again, and again, and again. You walked out on an interview with Larry Arnn because he had the audacity to present evidence that Trump might not be as unreliable as was feared. And you expect us to believe that you didn’t criticize your former friends’ choice in private? You might want to reconsider whether your friends were right, or at least justified, in dispensing with you.
It’s amazing to me that people spend careers in public blathering away, and then expect that none of that should be any reflection upon them.
I’m quite certain that James has ceased to read these comments (that is my judgment of him.) But for what it’s worth, the pearls/couch comment should be a wakeup call as to how Trump derangement propels a witticist to plonking mediocrity. Rob should also take note, given that relates to his vocation as well.
As far as James’s opinion of Trump, mine is quite similar. As usual, Steyn said it best back in July ’15 when he said “you can’t out-a**h*** Donald Trump” with regard to McCain and Rubio’s attempts to fight back. But Trump’s a**h**ishness is not why he won. He won because he did what his opponents refused to do: address the issues voters cared about. Ricochet should do the same. For the most part, voters don’t care about Trump’s a**h**ishness. They care about the idiotic government policies accrued over that last, oh, quarter century, which will take heavy lifting to eradicate.
Unless you want to be a very much less successful version of MSNBC. If so, carry on.
Can’t help with the “Uh…What” part. That’s a cognitive limitation. But, here’s a thought (@jimlileks could try this too) it’s known as: “quoting in context”. The comparison is between the Left, the media, and Trump and his admistration. Now, you pick the group you think most likely puts US interests first. Hope this helps.
It’s possible that those who also give a crap find the President’s actions counter-productive to the effort. You might not agree, but you can see how some people might hold the opinion. And if we had spent the first 20 minutes praising the Tweets as subversive genius, emblematic of that fantastically efficacious Trump style, it would not be self-pleasuring at all, but proof we Got It.
I mean I didn’t lose their friendships because I criticized their choice – we had frequent disputes about ideas and candidates, which is natural. I mean they decided I was bad for not accepting their choice. I have no problem having friends who are Trump supporters. They had problems with friends who were not Trump supporters.
And sure, I criticized some Trump supporters – that’s okay, right? We can do that?
Wrong. I had to leave the podcast early for work. I would never walk out on an interview because I disagreed with the guest.
As I said, of course I criticized their choice. As they criticized mine. I remain friends with most. Two decided that my decision not to vote for Trump meant I was an active participant in aiding evil, and that made me a bad person.
Based on the fact that I’m usually the only one of the three to come in the comments and comment or reply?
Oh, relax. Jeez. That’s the tired line every one uses when describing someone else’s reaction, if someone else is 4% more exercised than the other person. It’s a tired cliche and that’s why I used it.
I just make the mistake of voicing it?
For the most part, voters don’t care about Trump’s a**h**ishness. They care about the idiotic government policies accrued over that last, oh, quarter century, which will take heavy lifting to eradicate.
A lot care about both, but of course the second most of all. And some, as you probably suspect, believe that the President’s character is related to his ability to do what needs to be done. We’ll see. In the meantime, don’t leave on my account; there’s too much good fun to be had here for me to spoil.
@jameslileks, Just want to let you know, you are a big part of my enjoyment of the podcast. Thanks much for your work.
I like James’ analogy to the ants, but I’d like to take it a step further. What if the ants are fire ants? They can sting, and if enough join in, they can even kill you. I’m glad Trump is going after these “little guys” because they are all piling on trying to kill his Presidency. If they succeed, the Republican party goes down the tubes with Trump not only for not passing his agenda, but because the Republicans will have proven they are more loyal to the party than the voters who elected them.
Look, the left is going after our little guys – cake bakers, wedding photographers, the Boy Scouts, small businesses – I want Trump to stomp on the ants . . .
If you had spent the first twenty minutes praising Trump’s tweets in a manner you had done for two years, you’d be a bore. But your reaction exemplifies your general attitude toward anyone who is tired of the harping, i.e., if we find you to be a bore, ipso facto we are Trump sycophants. Surely you can see how ridiculous that is. Or, after two years, evidently you can’t.
Along these same lines, listeners will struggle to recall a reluctant Trump voter whom you didn’t treat as a traitor to conservatism. And given that persistent attitude and the impression it engraved, it was very likely a mistake for you to be rude and dismissive to Mr. Arnn before disappearing unapologetically. Tends to cement the impression.
On the other hand, you are to be credited with engaging in the comments, and I clearly made a poor assumption. I hope that other conclusions I have drawn over the last two years — and here voiced — are similarly erroneous. I’m not leaving on your (or Rob’s) account; too many other contributors have become similarly insulting, or short of that, similarly tedious. Amongst the contributors, you’ve got quite an Amen Chorus going; perhaps that’s the way you like it. I’m paid through the end of this month, so I have some time to listen and adjust my impressions (though I’ve been thinking that for two years as my hope and interest has waned and waned).
James Lileks is among my favorites as well. I also enjoy Rob Long and Peter Robinson. These fine gentlemen created this wonderful site. Those who cannot tolerate opinions different from their own own the problem, not Rob or James. I don’t always agree with them, but I respect their knowledge and acumen, and I never reject anything either has to say without very carefully analyzing why it is that I initially disagreed. Freuently, I have been won over. For those incapable of dealing with criticism of Trump, I would suggest, as was recommended above, the Harvard Lunch Club. It is also an excellent podcast, though with a very different slant on Trump. Attacking the presenters is not an acceptable argument in my opinion. Attack ideas by offering alternative viewpoints, not personal attacks. That part of the CoC is what makes Ricochet the best site on the internet for civil conversation.