One Year Out, Trump Has Proven Doomsayers Wrong But Naysayers Right

[EasyAce]

By Kimberly Ross
https://www.redstate.com/kimberly_ross/2018/01/21/one-year-doomsayers-wrong-naysayers-right/

Oh, tribalism. The political discourse in America right now absolutely reeks of it. It’s a steaming pile of, well, you know what.

There is not much thought that goes into such a worldview except blind allegiance to a person. It’s not as if we haven’t seen the same thing in years past. Barack Obama received undying adulation during his eight years in the White House. He was praised for every move he made, no matter if it was substantive or not.

That’s what idol worship looks like.

Now we’ve seen the same exaltation of Trump, a man whose questionable character and behavior would make his own MAGA disciples think twice about throwing their support his way but only if he was a member of that other political party. Again with the idol worship.

And then there’s another segment of the incredibly fractured electorate that’s located on the Right side of the aisle. It’s made up of those whose hatred for Trump is also a sort of blind allegiance. This time, however, that allegiance isn’t directed at a person but an anti-Trump ideal . . .

. . . A full twelve months after he took office, it’s evident that President Donald Trump did not usher in an American apocalypse. He is not Hitler nor is he Stalin. He is not comparable to these murderous monsters of decades past, but he is monstrous in his own way. He gives rise to bigotry and racism within his own ranks whether he gives a stamp of approval on it or not. He lowers the decorum of the highest office in the land. He is embarrassing on an international scale.

But the end is not upon us.

This is not to say that he hasn’t irrevocably damaged conservatism. His connection, however tenuous, has permanently marred it. We’ll have to answer for that in the immediate future and in the long run as well.

Despite what those who are deeply aligned against Trump believe, the end was never going to come with him. But he certainly hasn’t done much to slow its arrival.

[INVAR]

I'm more deeply aligned against Trump's fanatical hordes of True Believers than I am Trump himself.

Trump is just amusement for me.  He certainly has not disappointed me with any semblance of dullness for all of the fun stuff he has enabled to become the meme and zeitgeist of the country.

His fanatical hordes of mind-numbed acolytes.... well there's that picture of the guy refusing to salute the guy in the funny mustache in the midst of a mob from history back.

That's pretty much where I am.

[EasyAce]

I'm more deeply aligned against Trump's fanatical hordes of True Believers than I am Trump himself.

Trump is just amusement for me.  He certainly has not disappointed me with any semblance of dullness for all of the fun stuff he has enabled to become the meme and zeitgeist of the country.

His fanatical hordes of mind-numbed acolytes.... well there's that picture of the guy refusing to salute the guy in the funny mustache in the midst of a mob from history back.

That's pretty much where I am.

@INVAR
I've objected to what Gene Healy has called (and chronicled, impeccably, in two books) the Cult of the Presidency for a very long time. Regardless of party or ideology (assuming there was an ideology at play). We've seen it in previous elections, we'll probably see it again, at least until people begin to re-orient themselves to the idea that president was designed to be nothing more than a chief executive of one branch of government and not our monarch-in-all-but-name. (It would certainly help, of course, if presidents quit thinking of themselves as legislators and Congress quit passing what it doesn't particularly stomach to the presidency . . . )

[DCPatriot]

@INVAR
I've objected to what Gene Healy has called (and chronicled, impeccably, in two books) the Cult of the Presidency for a very long time. Regardless of party or ideology (assuming there was an ideology at play). We've seen it in previous elections, we'll probably see it again, at least until people begin to re-orient themselves to the idea that president was designed to be nothing more than a chief executive of one branch of government and not our monarch-in-all-but-name.

That's just it, @EasyAce !

With Donald Trump, we didn't elect an "Ideology".   We elected a man who was going to shake things up and get things done.   Make 'wrongs', right!

The Conservative part is the crumble peanuts, whipped cream and cherry on top.

[Frank Cannon]

Alright. We got some 20 year old chick from the premier Trump hate site telling us Trump is doing good things, bet she still hates him. What a revelation.

[INVAR]

@INVAR
I've objected to what Gene Healy has called (and chronicled, impeccably, in two books) the Cult of the Presidency for a very long time. Regardless of party or ideology (assuming there was an ideology at play). We've seen it in previous elections, we'll probably see it again, at least until people begin to re-orient themselves to the idea that president was designed to be nothing more than a chief executive of one branch of government and not our monarch-in-all-but-name. (It would certainly help, of course, if presidents quit thinking of themselves as legislators and Congress quit passing what it doesn't particularly stomach to the presidency . . . )

Aaaaaaand DCP goes and illustrates your entire point about the Cult of the Presidency in exquisite loud fashion.

As with the Obama worshipping hordes - the Trump fanatics have made it perfectly clear that they too have chosen a man to be king - as long as he is THEIR man, punishing and hurting those whom they hate and blame for all their ills. 

No difference between the two except in whom they have invested all their hope and dreams for change.

[EasyAce]

Aaaaaaand DCP goes and illustrates your entire point about the Cult of the Presidency in exquisite loud fashion.

If I'd had a write-in vote in my state (alas, all I had was "none of these candidates," the vote I did cast), I'd have had a hard time choosing between
Groucho Marx (Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and misapplying the wrong solutions) and the Green Hornet---who
had style and substance to burn and, besides, was the only known superhero/crime fighter who didn't do his gig running around in his underwear, and had
a better and better-looking car than the presidential limousine.

[the_doc]

As with the Obama worshipping hordes - the Trump fanatics have made it perfectly clear that they too have chosen a man to be king - as long as he is THEIR man, punishing and hurting those whom they hate and blame for all their ills. 

No difference between the two except in whom they have invested all their hope and dreams for change.

We could have nominated a better candidate, one who would have cleaned HRC's clock and done all of the same good things Trump has done so far.  However, I confess that I am pleased that he is right now working behind the scenes to drain the Swamp.  (We are still in deep Deep State swamp doo-doo.  We need to see about 10,000 successful federal prosecutions--including a huge number of cases for outright treason.) 

[INVAR]

We could have nominated a better candidate, one who would have cleaned HRC's clock and done all of the same good things Trump has done so far.  However, I confess that I am pleased that he is right now working behind the scenes to drain the Swamp.  (We are still in deep Deep State swamp doo-doo.  We need to see about 10,000 successful federal prosecutions--including a huge number of cases for outright treason.)

I do not disagree at all with your sentiments, but the proof remains yet to be seen or tasted in this pudding.

A LOT and I mean a LOT of people who should be in orange jumpsuits are living quite high off our hogs thanks to the fecklessness of the creatures that inhabit the Beast at Mordor on the Potomac.

Lots of promises and boiler-plate rhetoric, but not much in the way of actual substance out side of worthless public venting.

Which is what D.C. and anyone working in it does best.

[the_doc]

@Sanguine
@Quix
@Smokin Joe
@Bigun

A LOT and I mean a LOT of people who should be in orange jumpsuits are living quite high off our hogs thanks to the fecklessness of the creatures that inhabit the Beast at Mordor on the Potomac.

Yeah, my estimate of 10,000 needed prosecutions is actually low.  Both political parties are rife with corruption, and almost all of the Dems from the federal level to the local level are ideological enemies (at the very least) of the Constitution--which happens to be a republican document!  Assuming we have a million diehard Democrat politicos, we may very well be looking at 100,000 unindicted felons, not just a bunch of ideological jerks.

I do not disagree at all with your sentiments, but the proof remains yet to be seen or tasted in this pudding...

Lots of promises and boiler-plate rhetoric, but not much in the way of actual substance out side of worthless public venting.

I am persuaded that Trump is doing a lot of good stuff behind the curtains.  Almost none of this is being covered by the MSM.  Even Fox is barely touching upon it.  We will soon see disclosure of some of these ballsy but very quiet Executive Branch actions, but it will have to be dribbled out slowly to the public.  The numbers and horrific natures of the crimes that need to be prosecuted are too daunting to be believed by the largely dumbed-down reprobates of our hoi polloi.  My goodness, even as few as 10,000 or so federal perp walks on a single day would be too much for the public to believe.

My bottom-line concern is that draining the swamp too fast could destroy the country.  (One of the leakers [supposedly in the FBI] posting anonymously on the Dark Web after the Weiner laptop discovery uttered this very warning after he learned what the NYPD found on Weiner's laptop--most of which is stuff that no one is really talking about.  That leaker indicated that Weiner's "insurance" file contained gut-wrenching evidence of the most evil crimes in American history.  [By the way, he also said that these crimes have global implications.])

[Bigun]

@Sanguine
@Quix
@Smokin Joe
@Bigun
Yeah, my estimate of 10,000 needed prosecutions is actually low.  Both political parties are rife with corruption, and almost all of the Dems from the federal level to the local level are ideological enemies (at the very least) of the Constitution--which happens to be a republican document!  Assuming we have a million diehard Democrat politicos, we may very well be looking at 100,000 unindicted felons, not just a bunch of ideological jerks.
I am persuaded that Trump is doing a lot of good stuff behind the curtains.  Almost none of this is being covered by the MSM.  Even Fox is barely touching upon it.  We will soon see disclosure of some of these ballsy but very quiet Executive Branch actions, but it will have to be dribbled out slowly to the public.  The numbers and horrific natures of the crimes that need to be prosecuted are too daunting to be believed by the largely dumbed-down reprobates of our hoi polloi.  My goodness, even as few as 10,000 or so federal perp walks on a single day would be too much for the public to believe.

My bottom-line concern is that draining the swamp too fast could destroy the country.  (One of the leakers [supposedly in the FBI] posting anonymously on the Dark Web after the Weiner laptop discovery uttered this very warning after he learned what the NYPD found on Weiner's laptop--most of which is stuff that no one is really talking about.  That leaker indicated that Weiner's "insurance" file contained gut-wrenching evidence of the most evil crimes in American history.  [By the way, he also said that these crimes have global implications.])

@the_doc

There is indeed much to be done and it must be done!

[INVAR]

Yeah, my estimate of 10,000 needed prosecutions is actually low.  Both political parties are rife with corruption, and almost all of the Dems from the federal level to the local level are ideological enemies (at the very least) of the Constitution--which happens to be a republican document!  Assuming we have a million diehard Democrat politicos, we may very well be looking at 100,000 unindicted felons, not just a bunch of ideological jerks.

I am persuaded that Trump is doing a lot of good stuff behind the curtains.  Almost none of this is being covered by the MSM.  Even Fox is barely touching upon it.  We will soon see disclosure of some of these ballsy but very quiet Executive Branch actions, but it will have to be dribbled out slowly to the public.  The numbers and horrific natures of the crimes that need to be prosecuted are too daunting to be believed by the largely dumbed-down reprobates of our hoi polloi.  My goodness, even as few as 10,000 or so federal perp walks on a single day would be too much for the public to believe.

I do not disagree with your sentiments albeit I think you are likely more optimistic about the end-result of any 'swamp-draining' than I am.

My bottom-line concern is that draining the swamp too fast could destroy the country.  (One of the leakers [supposedly in the FBI] posting anonymously on the Dark Web after the Weiner laptop discovery uttered this very warning after he learned what the NYPD found on Weiner's laptop--most of which is stuff that no one is really talking about.  That leaker indicated that Weiner's "insurance" file contained gut-wrenching evidence of the most evil crimes in American history.  [By the way, he also said that these crimes have global implications.])

When wholesale evil and corruption is as institutionalized and embedded and entrenched in the entire system of governance as ours is now, history teaches that getting rid of it and restoring the rule of law and liberties diminished by said corruption cannot be done via civil means.

We have in front of us, a hybrid form of fascism that runs everything.  Money and it's pursuit towards power is all that matters for most people in and out of office.  The fact that the large massive-bulk of the population can care less about what corruption is already revealed, and that it APPROVES of it as long as the means to the ends of getting out of it what they want or think they deserve - said corruption will continue and roar back with increased despotism.

It's a terminal cancer to liberty that has been allowed to grow and fester with eager assistance of government.  The only way to save the patient (a republic) is to cut it out and perform radical treatment that might in itself kill the patient more quickly than the cancer itself will. 

Doing nothing ensures the cancer will eventually kill everything via the insolvency/debt when we run out of other people's money that The Beast has spent.  What our leaders are contemplating is whether they are willing to personally risk trying to save the patient or go along with the cancer's trajectory so as to eek out as much as they can get out of the patient before it dies.

[truth_seeker]

I'm more deeply aligned against Trump's fanatical hordes of True Believers than I am Trump himself.

Wow. What a compelling political statement you make every single day.

Ever wonder how many you convert, with your version of "persuasion?"

What you seem to envison as "fanatical hordes," in my mind are hard working American citizens, patriots, voters, taxpayers, military, vets, etc.

[truth_seeker]

We could have nominated a better candidate, one who would have cleaned HRC's clock and done all of the same good things Trump has done so far.  However, I confess that I am pleased that he is right now working behind the scenes to drain the Swamp.  (We are still in deep Deep State swamp doo-doo.  We need to see about 10,000 successful federal prosecutions--including a huge number of cases for outright treason.)

I challenge the idea, another GOP candidate could have defeated Hillary, since they couldn't even win the primary.

YMMV

[INVAR]

Wow. What a compelling political statement you make every single day.

Ever wonder how many you convert, with your version of "persuasion?"

More than you will be comfortable with knowing about.

What you seem to envison as "fanatical hordes," in my mind are hard working American citizens, patriots, voters, taxpayers, military, vets, etc.

Right, because all those hard-working Americans you cite consider anyone who didn't vote for Trump to be an enemy of the country.

And IF that sentiment is true - and indeed all those hard-working American citizens you cite are indeed fanatical hordes saluting your leader with fervency and intensity as demonstrated by the political propagandists online -

Sorry I don't allow nazi references

[Quix]

Tha

@Sanguine
@Quix
@Smokin Joe
@Bigun
Yeah, my estimate of 10,000 needed prosecutions is actually low.  Both political parties are rife with corruption, and almost all of the Dems from the federal level to the local level are ideological enemies (at the very least) of the Constitution--which happens to be a republican document!  Assuming we have a million diehard Democrat politicos, we may very well be looking at 100,000 unindicted felons, not just a bunch of ideological jerks.
I am persuaded that Trump is doing a lot of good stuff behind the curtains.  Almost none of this is being covered by the MSM.  Even Fox is barely touching upon it.  We will soon see disclosure of some of these ballsy but very quiet Executive Branch actions, but it will have to be dribbled out slowly to the public.  The numbers and horrific natures of the crimes that need to be prosecuted are too daunting to be believed by the largely dumbed-down reprobates of our hoi polloi.  My goodness, even as few as 10,000 or so federal perp walks on a single day would be too much for the public to believe.

My bottom-line concern is that draining the swamp too fast could destroy the country.  (One of the leakers [supposedly in the FBI] posting anonymously on the Dark Web after the Weiner laptop discovery uttered this very warning after he learned what the NYPD found on Weiner's laptop--most of which is stuff that no one is really talking about.  That leaker indicated that Weiner's "insurance" file contained gut-wrenching evidence of the most evil crimes in American history.  [By the way, he also said that these crimes have global implications.])

Thanks. Will plan to get back to this in a while.

[truth_seeker]

I see. That is your graphic way of calling Trump supporters Nazis. Good to see that you are stuck in that place.

Meantime life goes on, outside the fantasy world of your mind.

[DCPatriot]

More than you will be comfortable with knowing about.

Right, because all those hard-working Americans you cite consider anyone who didn't vote for Trump to be an enemy of the country.

And IF that sentiment is true - and indeed all those hard-working American citizens you cite are indeed fanatical hordes saluting your leader with fervency and intensity as demonstrated by the political propagandists online -

@INVAR Not that it affects me in anyway, but weren't you given a timeout once...for posting that meme?   

It directly infers that Trump supporters are Nazi-like.   And, even when I mock you about your claim we're going to round you up in FEMA camps, you still carry on to this day.

Today, you gave the forum the 'Full Monty'.   You lost it.  And instead of blaming a bad cold, you decided to break out in "Beautiful Dreamer".

Geezuz

And is there a reason why your superior intellect can't seem to grasp the concept of reducing the size of your graphics?

[INVAR]

I see. That is your graphic way of calling Trump supporters Nazis. Good to see that you are stuck in that place.

If that is how you would like to spin it.  Just proves you are too dull-witted to comprehend the point or deliberately deceitful so as to promote your narrative, even when there is red text on the graphic that makes the point you chose to ignore.

Meantime life goes on, outside the fantasy world of your mind.

Memes and mobs and zeitgeists are an historical reality and ever-present constant in life.  You can pretend otherwise and call it a 'fantasy' all you like.

I don't follow herds and I avoid mobs and groupthink.

[Suppressed]

It's interesting to hear people these days...already, there's a bit of a turn in some, looking 3 years down the road.  As someone said to me today, "The backlash is going to be so big, with the Dems having both Congress and the White House, the taps will be wide open.  I told my daughter to go to grad school rather than getting a job now, because when she gets out, it will be right when a bunch of money will be released for her to do coastal work -- I'm being selfish!"

I can't say it's a bad analysis.  It's gonna smack us HARD.

[DCPatriot]

If that is how you would like to spin it.  Just proves you are too dull-witted to comprehend the point or deliberately deceitful so as to promote your narrative, even when there is red text on the graphic that makes the point you chose to ignore.

Memes and mobs and zeitgeists are an historical reality and ever-present constant in life.  You can pretend otherwise and call it a 'fantasy' all you like.

I don't follow herds and I avoid mobs and groupthink.

[INVAR]

@INVAR Not that it affects me in anyway, but weren't you given a timeout once...for posting that meme?

You can make your request to Nancy and get it deleted if you insist.  I posted it for a reason.

It directly infers that Trump supporters are Nazi-like.

Snowflake much?   

And, even when I mock you about your claim we're going to round you up in FEMA camps, you still carry on to this day.

I have been threatened with worse from the likes of your compatriots.

And is there a reason why your superior intellect can't seem to grasp the concept of reducing the size of your graphics

I want to make sure the willfully blind can see it.

[the_doc]

I challenge the idea, another GOP candidate could have defeated Hillary, since they couldn't even win the primary.

YMMV

You forget that the only guy in the primaries who was projected as a losing candidate against HRC was Trump.  HRC believed these polls and wanted to face off against Trump--against no one else.  It is widely rumored that she even worked her contacts within the GOP Establishment to make sure that Cruz didn't get the nomination through a last-minute revolt by disillusioned Trump-bound delegates at the Convention.

Another important note:  HRC's plan probably would have worked if James Comey's bizarre work with the e-mail scandals hadn't wound up seriously discrediting her in the eleventh hour of the campaign.  Heck, with Cruz leading the GOP ticket, we would have had a real landslide--not a close election with Trump losing the popular vote.  (The typical claim by Trumpers that Trump wound by an historic landslide is simply not true.  With Cruz, it would have been a bona fide landslide, in my informed, unbiased opinion. )

[EasyAce]

I challenge the idea, another GOP candidate could have defeated Hillary, since they couldn't even win the primary.

YMMV

@truth_seeker
Assume hypothetically that Donaldus Minimus wasn't in the race. I'm pretty sure Hilarious Rodent Clinton still could have and would have been beaten in November 2016. Even her own party, out and beyond the national committee she managed somehow to co-opt, was weary of her transparent indifferences on the campaign trail. Her refusal to work states where she absolutely needed to work---states which also happened to have considerable portions of their population gone to the wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and had numerous qualms about her Benghazi behaviours in hand---made her even more vulnerable in the general election. (They were states thought blue but which Donaldus Minimus ended up carrying; if she was that indifferent to working them any Republican could have beaten her there.) So did her foolhardy thought that she could have a kind of "vacation" during the campaign's late summer. Unless---absent Donaldus Minimus---the Republicans ended up picking an utter incompetent or a "legacy" candidate (think Bob Dole in 1996, when the only justification anyone really had for getting behind him was that it was his "time," to name one example; or, think how far Jeb Bush didn't get in 2016's primaries), Hilarious Rodent Clinton would have been dead meat regardless. Even the hardest line of liberals were exhausted by her act.

[truth_seeker]

@truth_seeker
Assume hypothetically that Donaldus Minimus wasn't in the race. I'm pretty sure Hilarious Rodent Clinton still could have and would have been beaten in November 2016. Even her own party, out and beyond the national committee she managed somehow to co-opt, was weary of her transparent indifferences on the campaign trail. Her refusal to work states where she absolutely needed to work---states which also happened to have considerable portions of their population gone to the wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and had numerous qualms about her Benghazi behaviours in hand---made her even more vulnerable in the general election. (They were states thought blue but which Donaldus Minimus ended up carrying; if she was that indifferent to working them any Republican could have beaten her there.) So did her foolhardy thought that she could have a kind of "vacation" during the campaign's late summer. Unless---absent Donaldus Minimus---the Republicans ended up picking an utter incompetent or a "legacy" candidate (think Bob Dole in 1996, when the only justification anyone really had for getting behind him was that it was his "time," to name one example; or, think how far Jeb Bush didn't get in 2016's primaries), Hilarious Rodent Clinton would have been dead meat regardless. Even the hardest line of liberals were exhausted by her act.

I respectfully disagree. Been  following Republican politics and elections a long, long time. Trump brought out that "intangible" quality which got people to the polls.

Nobody on that long list of fallen GOP candidates had intangible qualities. I think the Clinton-democrat machine would defeat them all.