The Norman Conquests

Only a very few guests warrant two segments on the Ricochet Podcast aka, America’s Most Trusted Podcast® and one of those people is the great Norman Podhoretz (around these parts, we call him “The Podfather). We talk to Norman (who’s a sprightly 89) about his recent conversion to a supporter of the President, the history of the Conservative movement, how he may have singlehandedly invented the hippy, and much more. Norman is a walking, talking museum of American politics of the last 70 years, and we highly recommend this interview. Also, are aliens among us (or at least above us)? A Ricochet Podcast investigation.

Music from this week’s show: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Soundtrack by John Williams

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  1. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Taras (View Comment):
    this sounds like typical Trumpian hyperbole

    It was just silly, private, locker room talk. It means nothing.

    • #91
  2. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Gary:

    We were talking about Nate Silver a long time ago. My thoughts were poorly formed.

    My point was his predictions were really bad in 2018. 

    I’m not saying none of those people are worth listening to, but few are and I don’t see the point of emphasizing analysis of the electorate.

    • #92
  3. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Chris Campion (View Comment):
    Ridiculous. The same kind of easy thinking that went into ideas around Barry not leaving the White House when his 2nd term was over. Yeah, no, I don’t think it’s going to work that way, I don’t think Trump is going to “burn” anything down, and I really wish we’d all take more of this as evidence that we give far too much power to a centralized government, and true federalism should be the goal, not some “leader”.

    I really doubt that there is a better starting point for clearer thinking about everything the days.

    There are far too many “non-public goods” produced at the federal level. Zero value added. 

    The complicated tax code where Congress auctions off tax brackets and deductions. Zero value added.

    The Fed pushing the economy around to supposedly help us. This is a disaster. They are all dumber than the guys that ran GOSPLAN. Look around. 

    Every single Government actuarial system is a fiscal nightmare. Theft and destruction. That is all that is.

    Let’s ask some basic questions for once.

    • #93
  4. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    This guy is really smart and he hates Trump. He never says anything good about him.

    Truth.

    • #94
  5. JuliaBlaschke Lincoln
    JuliaBlaschke
    @JuliaBlaschke

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

     

    Julia, Ronald Reagan said that the 11th Commandment was “thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” So does “I don’t subscribe to the ‘cast no stones at Trump lest you help the Democrats’ idea” imply that you only voted for Ronald Reagan because he wasn’t a creature from the Democrat Party Horror Show? Were you an anti-Reagan Republican?

    You don’t need to answer that, I’m asking rhetorically. You (and Bill Kristol and Jonah Goldberg and J-Pod and …) are constantly comparing Trump to a fantasy utopian ideal, in order to maintain your anti-Trump hatred. That is not a rational thought process. Even my preferred 2016 Republican primary candidate Ted Cruz would never have moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, or recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, or stood by Brett Kavanaugh to confirmation; no other Republican would have taken head-on North Korean nuclear and China trade obstreperousness, and the list goes on. Reagan was nobody’s de-regulator.

    Trump isn’t perfect. Neither are you or I. But Trump’s more effective at implementing conservative policy than anyone since at least Reagan, and if Trump gets a second term, he will surely surpass Reagan.

    I loved Reagan. Trump is no Reagan. I’m not looking for perfection or a fantasy utopian ideal. I am looking for reasonably decent. Even Jeb Bush would have stood by Kavanaugh as his father did with Clarence Thomas. I agree with you about Israel and that is something I like about Trump, however he has been a fool over China and Korea. I believe we could have someone like Nikki Haley who would be very effective at implementing conservative policy without the clown show. But I suppose that is too much to hope for because we apparently have to vote for Trump or we get the Democrats. It really didn’t have to be this way.

    So many say Trump isn’t perfect but jump all over anyone who points out those glaring imperfections and accuses them of not having a rational thought process. That is ridiculous and implies a sort of Trump love that is not good. I am a Republican but I have standards and can’t stand to be constantly put into a position to make a binary choice by foolish primary voters. (I live in Virginia and voted for Corey Stewart who I found to be disgusting. People on here told me “he wasn’t so bad”. He was a terrible candidate when we could have had Freitas but the Trumpers wanted Corey. Now we have Governor Coonman and a rapist Lt. Gov.) I will probably vote for Trump but I don’t delude myself about him.

    • #95
  6. JuliaBlaschke Lincoln
    JuliaBlaschke
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Taras (View Comment):
    Here is a transcript of the notorious 2005 hot mike incident: “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p****. You can do anything.” To me, this sounds like typical Trumpian hyperbole, like when he said he could shoot somebody in Times Square and get away with it. It would be absurd to conclude he actually shot somebody in Times Square, or that he seriously contemplated shooting people in Times Square.

     

    Actually it sounds like something that a man with Trump’s history with women would do. The comment about shooting someone in Times Square was Trump bragging about the dumb loyalty of his supporters. You should take note.

    • #96
  7. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Taras (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):

    I get so depressed when I hear usually sensible people like Peter or James say Mueller or David French or Jonah Goldberg are hacks or RINOs for believing Trump should be held to his oath of faithfully executing the laws. Why dwell on his peccadilloes like asking his NSC staffer to put fraudulent docs in the lawyer’s requests, he’s the only thing between us and the apocalypse.

    Listening to the normally affable Peter Robinson go off on Mueller, et. al. was very depressing.

    I like Norman Podhoretz, but there’s another Trump skeptic almost as bad as Bill Kristol I think he should listen to before chugging the Trump Kool Aid; his son John. I heard John the other day say that when Trump loses the election in a Jimmy Carter-like blow-out the Trumpkin community will finally wake up, like Col. Nicholson in The Bridge Over the River Kwai, and realize how counter-productive it was to sell our integrity to this guy.

    I believe that Trump will manage to do what only Jimmy Carter has done since the 22nd Amendment was adopted in 1951, have his party lose the presidency after only one term. I think that we will also lose the Senate and lose further ground to the Dems in the House.

     

    You may be right — the Democratic nominee in 2020 will have the media and the tech billionaires behind him* — but once again, “Predictions are not facts, and can’t be used as evidence to support your position.”

    Do you have a track record of successful predictions? Did you get 2016 right?

    *In truth, I’m always surprised that the Republicans can win anything.

    I got 2017 right.  We went from holding a 2/3 level in the Virginia House of Delegates to holding a seat by a coin flip.  

    Doug Jones beat Roy Moore in Alabama.

    I got 2018 right.  The Democrats won 40 seats in the House.  We lost formerly safe seats like SC-2, OK-5, GA-8 and NM-2.  We were wiped out in Orange County.  We lots in Suburban Philly, Atlanta and nationwide. We lost women.  We lost the college educated.  For the first time since 1964, a majority of Arizona’s congressional delegation is Democratic.

    According to Pew, in 2018 for the first time in mid-term elections, there were more voters who were Generation X or younger, than voters who were baby boomers or older.

    in 2020, if we stick with Trump, we will lose the Presidency, the Senate, more seats in the House, and more Governorships.  

    If we stick with Trump we will lose the Upper Midwest that we won by 77,000 votes over 3 states.  

    In prior years, Republicans carried Arizona by 9 points, but Trump won Arizona by only 3 points.  In 2020, Arizona will go Democratic for only the second time since 1948.

    We will lose Florida.  We will lose North Carolina.  We will lose Georgia.  And we may even lose Texas, at which point the game is over for decades to come.

    • #97
  8. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Kasich

    I have no idea why you are so tolerant of Kasich.

    Compared to Trump, Kasich looks like Cininnatus.

    • #98
  9. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Kasich

    I have no idea why you are so tolerant of Kasich.

    Compared to Trump, Kasich looks like Cininnatus.

    I’ll take less central planning, welfare, and statism. 

    • #99
  10. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):
    Here is a transcript of the notorious 2005 hot mike incident: “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p****. You can do anything.” To me, this sounds like typical Trumpian hyperbole, like when he said he could shoot somebody in Times Square and get away with it. It would be absurd to conclude he actually shot somebody in Times Square, or that he seriously contemplated shooting people in Times Square.

     

    Actually it sounds like something that a man with Trump’s history with women would do. The comment about shooting someone in Times Square was Trump bragging about the dumb loyalty of his supporters. You should take note.

     

    “Sounds like something that … [he] would do.“   And I am sure the liberal media moved heaven and earth to try to find a real case.  If they had, of course, they would have run with that story, not this silly business of guys topping each others brags. 

    • #100
  11. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment):

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    Julia, Ronald Reagan said that the 11th Commandment was “thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” So does “I don’t subscribe to the ‘cast no stones at Trump lest you help the Democrats’ idea” imply that you only voted for Ronald Reagan because he wasn’t a creature from the Democrat Party Horror Show? Were you an anti-Reagan Republican?

    I loved Reagan. Trump is no Reagan.

    You say that you loved Reagan, yet you unashamedly violate his 11th Commandment.  Are you sure you loved Reagan?

    Trump is indeed no Reagan.  Reagan talked about eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education, and lifted not one finger in the effort.  Donald Trump is the most aggressive deconstructor of the administrative state in America’s history -granted that’s a low bar, but one that Reagan didn’t even attempt to clear.

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment):

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    Julia, … You (and Bill Kristol and Jonah Goldberg and J-Pod and …) are constantly comparing Trump to a fantasy utopian ideal, in order to maintain your anti-Trump hatred. That is not a rational thought process. Even my preferred 2016 Republican primary candidate Ted Cruz would never have moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, or recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, or stood by Brett Kavanaugh to confirmation; no other Republican would have taken head-on North Korean nuclear and China trade obstreperousness, and the list goes on. Reagan was nobody’s de-regulator.

    Trump isn’t perfect. Neither are you or I. But Trump’s more effective at implementing conservative policy than anyone since at least Reagan, and if Trump gets a second term, he will surely surpass Reagan.

    I’m not looking for perfection or a fantasy utopian ideal. I am looking for reasonably decent. Even Jeb Bush would have stood by Kavanaugh as his father did with Clarence Thomas.

    That strikes me as unrealistic.  Clarence Thomas was not subjected to the extreme level of vitriol that was leveled at Kavanaugh.  Reagan abandoned Robert Bork, and Reagan was a more stalwart conservative than GHWBush, right?

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment): I agree with you about Israel and that is something I like about Trump, however he has been a fool over China and Korea.

    So you would prefer continued appeasement and ignoring of North Korea’s and China’s bad acts?  Define “fool.”  Explain how “Trump has been a fool over China and Korea” differs from the fools that Clinton, Bush, and Obama were over China and Korea.  Use examples and show your work.

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment): I believe we could have someone like Nikki Haley who would be very effective at implementing conservative policy without the clown show.

    Are you sure you’re not looking for a fantasy utopian ideal?  Your criticism of Trump seems to me not based on Trump, but rather on your fantasies.  Face facts: Trump has been effective at implementing conservative policy and in promoting America’s interests abroad.

    • #101
  12. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Taras (View Comment):
    “Sounds like something that … [he] would do.“ And I am sure the liberal media moved heaven and earth to try to find a real case.

    I am fascinated by all of the stuff people think Trump has done, but the media never proved it.

    Remember that long article in the New York Times about the Trump family taxes? There were other analysts that said it would go nowhere, and that is exactly what has happened. 

    • #102
  13. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    As for Julia’s comments, does anyone think Trump would put his love of country above his love of himself if Larry Hogan started gaining some traction in Republican primaries? Everyone of us knows he would burn the country down before he let himself be put out of office.

    What is this supposed to mean?

    It means Petty has issues.

     

    • #103
  14. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):
    Reagan talked about eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education, and lifted not one finger in the effort.

    Reagan’s hands were tied on a lot of things for a bunch of reasons. He had the political guts to stop inflation and crush the Commies. Then the demographic bubble went through, so everything took off. 

    I don’t think his example applies very well today. 

    I also don’t think over idealizing about what he actually could do makes any sense.

     

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    I’m not looking for perfection or a fantasy utopian ideal. I am looking for reasonably decent. Even Jeb Bush would have stood by Kavanaugh as his father did with Clarence Thomas.

    That strikes me as unrealistic. Clarence Thomas was not subjected to the extreme level of vitriol that was leveled at Kavanaugh. Reagan abandoned Robert Bork, and Reagan was a more stalwart conservative than GHWBush, right?

    I just heard something about this. Trump had to stay out of it for way longer than he would otherwise because of the nature of the process. Then he let them have it big-time.

     

    • #104
  15. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    The Russians have leverage over Trump.

    Trump is working with the Russians.

    Trump knows he is an International criminal and he’s going to run for POTUS anyway. 

    All of this is while the IRS is giving him a two decade long colonoscopy.

    There were smart people banking on this stuff for dozens of months. I never understood it.

    • #105
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Donald Trump is only one ratchet click away from Ronald Reagan. Remember how some folks thought it was terrible that a man who was divorced and remarried would become PotUS? How far is it from actor to reality TV star? Every time I see the two compared, I think, “Natural progression.” Now, some of y’all Reagan idolators are going to be upset about that, but I’m just saying it’s a slippery slope when one starts relaxing one’s standards.

    • #106
  17. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    @garyrobbins — In other, much shorter words, you got 2016 wrong.

    Also, you don’t say anything about the Republicans increasing their margin in the Senate in 2018. 

    There are, of course, no absolute laws in politics.  However, it is pretty close to an absolute law that if elements within a party wage a civil war against that party’s incumbent President, whether they defeat him or just weaken him, they guarantee a victory by the other party.

    A conservative would say such a civil war is to be avoided at all costs.  Yet such a civil war is what you are hoping for.  That’s why I call anti-Trumpers “conservative-ish” rather than conservative.

    A conservative would point out that Trump won once, when the case against his candidacy — inexperience and unpredictability — was much stronger than it is now.  

    A conservative would tell the anti-Trumper to stop hammering on the hull of the lifeboat, even if it is leaky and some of the wood is questionable.  The anti-Trumper (as the water rushes in):  “Haha!  I was right all along!  Glub glub …”

     

    • #107
  18. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    As for Julia’s comments, does anyone think Trump would put his love of country above his love of himself if Larry Hogan started gaining some traction in Republican primaries? Everyone of us knows he would burn the country down before he let himself be put out of office.

    What is this supposed to mean?

    It means Petty has issues.

    During the three week period from the last debate and election day 2016 Trump was assiduously laying the groundwork to challenge the integrity of the election he was confident he was going to lose.  He was saying he, and by extension his supporters, should not trust the results if it went against him.  Today we have a Democrat named Stacy Abrams from Georgia who is doing the same thing about her gubernatorial election, dumping acid on the foundation pillars of our democracy. His flunky Michael Cohen told Congress he does not believe Trump will accept the election results and will refuse to leave office if he loses in 2020.

    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    • #108
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    Beliefs are funny things. They don’t have to have any basis in reality.

    • #109
  20. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    Beliefs are funny things. They don’t have to have any basis in reality.

    You might be right, maybe I’ll end up like Winston in 1984 and finally start loving the very stable genius.

    • #110
  21. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    You might be right, maybe I’ll end up like Winston in 1984 and finally start loving the very stable genius.

    Don’t take it too far. I would be satisfied if people would see him as he is, not how they imagine him.

    • #111
  22. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Why did Trump get elected? How did it come to this?

    How much does Paul Ryan make, now? Jeff Flake? etc.

    • #112
  23. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    During the three week period from the last debate and election day 2016 Trump was assiduously laying the groundwork to challenge the integrity of the election he was confident he was going to lose.

    No.  He was laying the groundwork to counter the Dems if they cheated themselves to a win.  Big difference between that and pouring acid on the foundations of democracy.

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    Today we have a Democrat named Stacy Abrams from Georgia who is doing the same thing

    Apples and oranges.  Learn your fruit.

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    His flunky Michael Cohen told Congress he does not believe Trump will accept the election results and will refuse to leave office if he loses in 2020.

    Ah, the guy who lied verifiably under oath multiple times and would do anything to lessen the amount of time he has to spend wearing a sundress and pleasuring the Aryan Nation guys on his cell block.  Good source.  Really adds strength to your assertions. 

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    Unlike any other politician out there, running for president or not.  For the love of Cod, I’ve seen Kasich being praised in these comments.  That certainly lends credibility to your arguments.  Perceptive.  We all have a bit of narcissism in us; it’s on a spectrum, like any other human foible.  I believe the clinical term you’re looking for is not pathological narcissist but malignant narcissist.  And if Trump were a malignant narcissist his children would not be as healthy and grounded as they are.  If there’s anything pathological going on on this thread, I think it’s the NT-ers.  I don’t know how your narrative voice sounds in your head as your typing your comments, but the narrative voice I hear in my head reading your comments sounds like you’re only moments away from foaming at the mouth.

    Lighten up, Francis. 

    • #113
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    I get that Trump is going to do some populist / statist stuff, but Kasich is far worse. He lost his mind after he went to Morgan Stanley. I get that you lose the drama, but no way. Most of those Bulwark types want the GOSPLAN nonsense, IMO. 

    • #114
  25. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    You just described 90% of the politicians in Washington D.C. and possibly the entire country. The great thing about Trump is that he had already achieved wealth and fame, big motivators for many politicians, before becoming president. 

    • #115
  26. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    Goldwaterwoman (View Comment):

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is a pathological narcissist who primarily ran for President to gratify his insatiable craving for attention and flattery than for any altruistic or patriotic motive.

    You just described 90% of the politicians in Washington D.C. and possibly the entire country. The great thing about Trump is that he had already achieved wealth and fame, big motivators for many politicians, before becoming president.

    I believe Trump is much more extreme in his narcissism. I think there are politicians that run primarily to get something done or changed, e.g. Reagan and those that primarily run to be somebody, e.g. Clinton. Trump does not scare me today as much as he did during the opening weeks of his administration, when he was ranting about his crowd being bigger than Obama’s crowd and such, but I still believe he is so flawed he does not deserve reelection. We are a nation of a third of a billion people, we could do better than Donald Trump.

    • #116
  27. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    I believe Trump is much more extreme in his narcissism.

    This is a waste of time. Bill Clinton effectively believed in nothing. “The era of big government is over.”

    They are all liars. 43 was a liar. Obama was a liar. 

    It’s better to worry about why populism and socialism is taking over.

     

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):
    We are a nation of a third of a billion people, we could do better than Donald Trump.

    Who’s fault is this? How did this happen? Has there been any conservatism on net since LBJ? 

    I really recommend watching the interviews of Jeffrey Gundlach on Yahoo finance. Watch that and get back to me.

     

    • #117
  28. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment):

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    Julia, Ronald Reagan said that the 11th Commandment was “thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” So does “I don’t subscribe to the ‘cast no stones at Trump lest you help the Democrats’ idea” imply that you only voted for Ronald Reagan because he wasn’t a creature from the Democrat Party Horror Show? Were you an anti-Reagan Republican?

    I loved Reagan. Trump is no Reagan.

    You say that you loved Reagan, yet you unashamedly violate his 11th Commandment. Are you sure you loved Reagan?

    Trump is indeed no Reagan. Reagan talked about eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education, and lifted not one finger in the effort. Donald Trump is the most aggressive deconstructor of the administrative state in America’s history -granted that’s a low bar, but one that Reagan didn’t even attempt to clear.

    Trump is headed towards defeat, while Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment):

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):

    Julia, … You (and Bill Kristol and Jonah Goldberg and J-Pod and …) are constantly comparing Trump to a fantasy utopian ideal, in order to maintain your anti-Trump hatred. That is not a rational thought process. Even my preferred 2016 Republican primary candidate Ted Cruz would never have moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, or recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, or stood by Brett Kavanaugh to confirmation; no other Republican would have taken head-on North Korean nuclear and China trade obstreperousness, and the list goes on. Reagan was nobody’s de-regulator.

    Trump isn’t perfect. Neither are you or I. But Trump’s more effective at implementing conservative policy than anyone since at least Reagan, and if Trump gets a second term, he will surely surpass Reagan.

    I’m not looking for perfection or a fantasy utopian ideal. I am looking for reasonably decent. Even Jeb Bush would have stood by Kavanaugh as his father did with Clarence Thomas.

    That strikes me as unrealistic. Clarence Thomas was not subjected to the extreme level of vitriol that was leveled at Kavanaugh. Reagan abandoned Robert Bork, and Reagan was a more stalwart conservative than GHWBush, right?

    I was already a lawyer during the Bork and Thomas hearings.  Reagan never withdrew the Bork nomination, and H.W. stood with Thomas.

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment): I agree with you about Israel and that is something I like about Trump, however he has been a fool over China and Korea.

    So you would prefer continued appeasement and ignoring of North Korea’s and China’s bad acts? Define “fool.” Explain how “Trump has been a fool over China and Korea” differs from the fools that Clinton, Bush, and Obama were over China and Korea. Use examples and show your work.

    JuliaBlaschke (View Comment): I believe we could have someone like Nikki Haley who would be very effective at implementing conservative policy without the clown show.

    Are you sure you’re not looking for a fantasy utopian ideal? Your criticism of Trump seems to me not based on Trump, but rather on your fantasies. Face facts: Trump has been effective at implementing conservative policy and in promoting America’s interests abroad.

    Unless the Democrats nominate a socialist, Trump will do something that  only Jimmy Carter has done since the 22nd Amendment was adopted in 1951: having his party lose control of the Presidency after only one term.

    • #118
  29. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Donald Trump is only one ratchet click away from Ronald Reagan. Remember how some folks thought it was terrible that a man who was divorced and remarried would become PotUS? How far is it from actor to reality TV star? Every time I see the two compared, I think, “Natural progression.” Now, some of y’all Reagan idolators are going to be upset about that, but I’m just saying it’s a slippery slope when one starts relaxing one’s standards.

    Trump is the Anti-Reagan.  

    Reagan was the Greatest President of the Twentieth Century, Trump is the worst Republican of all time.  

    Reagan led with inclusion, a large smile, and an open hand.  Trump attacks anyone who refuses to bend the knee.  

    And, while Reagan was divorced, Nancy Reagan never had naked pictures of herself on the front page of the New York Post kissing another naked woman.

    • #119
  30. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump is headed towards defeat, while Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.

    We’re still a long way out.

    https://news.gallup.com/poll/11887/ronald-reagan-from-peoples-perspective-gallup-poll-review.aspx

     

    …1983 began for Reagan with a 35% job approval rating …

    • #120
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