So many people here baffled by "TDS" in the face of all the things the Left has done that need to be stopped! You're baffled because you have taken your eyes off the ball and you're in denial. Trump is a criminal many times over, his mendacity is unparalleled, and his goals and your goals don't actually align. He wants to establish in the US what Putin has in Russia. It's going to be the end of the Republic. You may like it for a while, just as my ancestors did in Germany. Perhaps we'll pump a fist and have a drink when DEI gets outlawed, or the like. But in the end you will find that a psychopath at the helm is always a disaster. There are no exceptions. "TDS" is a very stupid concept.
Thanks for your considerate response, Gordon. We definitely agree on nuclear and RFK. As for the ultimate vote, there we must disagree. One other major concern about the Biden camp is his VP. With his age, she is a very real possibility,
What is wrong with people who think like this. How can you listen to yourselves and Sam Harris as examples while they quote their cult as we watch our economy and borders or vax as they describe it not exiting?!? You are not asking the right question! What can’t you see it!! The cult like progressives who voted Joe and Kamala in and will vote for them again while they destroy our country are the people you need to be asking about and fearing. Jeez that’s frustrating.
Certainly there is a 'cult of personality' built around the 'larger-than-life' Trump....but no more so than the Cult of Personality which surrounds Obama.... (Say Hallelujah to the chorus of Hosannahs which greet his every manifestation! Can I get an Amen?!). Equally we could speak of the Cult of Personality which elevates Taylor & Patrick & Kevin & Pink & JLo & Elon & Jimmy.... which make People Magazine, Oprah, Entertainment Tonight, and the View massive cross-generational multi-media hits.
We love our Celebrities and their 'glamorous lives'. This is not new. (Indeed, it's probably why the good-looking, non-sweating Kennedy (whose hair was perfect) was elected 84 years ago.). It's probably why Snoop Dogg is on every commercial.
But that's not the substance of Trumpism. Nor is it why millions upon millions of Americans will vote for him (even as millions of those millions hold their nose and wince as they pull that electoral lever). Yes, he is buffoonish; yes, he's 'orange'; yes, he rough, crude, and more than occasionally inappropriate. He's not even particularly likeable.
But he's also, in a very real sense, 'a new broom which sweeps clean'. And that fundamental truth resonates. It has weight and carries meaning, especially with those who have lost all tolerance for the Unending Perversion, Waste & Corruption which overflows the Beltway.
When what we see in Washington is a massive, sucking, sinkhole of an Anti-American Money & Policy Pit....and what we hear from Trump is that that Deep Dark Progressive Swamp needs draining....who could possibly disagree?
It's not baffling or troubling that people would vote for the man who promises to put an end to the State Hog Trough. What's baffling is why anyone would vote for a demented Biden and More of the Same Garbage and Self-Serving Venality which gives us Sanctuary Cities, Open Borders, Transgendered Days of Visibility, Men Pretending to be Women getting naked in our daughters' locker rooms.... which gives us a feckless, shuffling foreign policy which tips ever closer to world war.... which celebrates crowds of anti-semites shutting down our universities....which abandons our allies....which prides itself on its enthusiastic embrace of racism & sexism and selects Supreme Court Justices because their skin is Black and their genitals are female (of course we still don't know what a woman actually is...so we're just guessing she's female).
No, student loans should not be forgiven. If you borrow from me you need to pay me back. No, we should not subsidize degrees in Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Black Studies, Hispanic Studies, Study Studies. No, we should not mandate electric cars or fund their outrageous price tags with taxpayer dollars. No, the world is not ending. No, we should not shut down our fossil fuel plants. No, we don't need more windmills or solar farms when they are better cheaper forms of energy. No, the Dept of Education should not be funded...nor the waste which is the CDC.
It's not a shame that Caitlan Clark has a contract which is absolutely in line with her league's revenue streams. Abortion is not a 'right'. This is not a Climate Emergency. And inflation is NOT declining (things cost 20% more now than they did 8 years ago, for God's sake!)
The list of no good, very bad, terrible stuff is endless.
Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity kills Quality, destroys Merit, crushes Initiative, and shackles Freedom....and yet DIE is what Biden's Left is all about.
John speaks of Trump and tells us he's dangerous.
What is dangerous ...what is truly, truly, horrifically dangerous ... is the United States being led, for four more years, by a man who doesn't know who he is, where he is, or what he's saying...but who also serves as the white-haired figurehead of a handpuppet for those who are actively working to destroy the Constitution, this nation and our freedom (including the freedom to fail...to eat steak, drive non-electric cars, and kiss someone without a sworn affidavit).
You may not like him. You may despise him. You may hate his haircut, his pout, and his thin skin....but what he works for is undeniably a better & safer & wealthier world than the one in which we currently wallow.
What does it say about our country that ad hominem attacks are made on Trump, while congressmen continually lied that they had evidence he conspired with Russia and they in fact were just lying, and we have people that are not concerned that these liars might regain immense political power and have a track record of abusing their authority. Even if you only half way believe the argument made by Hayek in The Road to Serfdom, or don’t believe it at all, the problem might just be that so much power is centralized in Washington.
100% agree with John about Trump. As a kid growing up in California, I first really became aware of Trump in my teenage years in the late 80's when reading a Doonesbury anthology that absolutely eviscerated Trump for being the embodiment of a low class rich guy. From the start, he was a ridiculous figure; the kind of guy that proved that just because you had money, didn't mean you had class or character or competence.
Then, living in New York, in the early 2000s, Trump kind of grew on me. In New York business circles he was viewed as a joke; the rich son of a successful developer who was pretending to be a great businessman while obviously knowing nothing about what it actually takes to build a successful business. But he played the part so well, both with conviction but also a note of self-aware irony and a willingness to play along with jokes about him, that it was appealing and fun. Trump was like the closest thing to a merger of pro wrestling and the business world, and I loved pro wrestling as a kid. This period obviously hit its peak with The Apprentice, which was a lot of fun to watch, even though succeeding on the show obviously had as much to do with succeeding in business, as succeeding in pro wrestling has to do with being successful in actual combat sports.
So when Trump entered the 2016 presidential race, I thought it would be fun. And as someone who thought the Republican party had already gone a little crazy by then, I rooted for him to win the nomination, since I assumed there was no way that someone who is such an obvious buffoon could actually get elected.
Clearly, I was wrong about that. And so the question Glenn raises really is an important one. What does it say about the state of our country that such a significant percentage of the population is willing to vote for (and in some cases idolize) a figure like Trump: the publicity seeking non-religious son of a rich real estate developer who was spectacularly unsuccessful as a businessman (known primarily for the strategic use of bankruptcy law and law suits to avoid paying vendors) turned successful reality TV star, who dodged military service through a bogus medical deferment, married and cheated on multiple women, and ran for president despite having no experience in politics or government?
Please change focus. I'd like to see a debate on Dopey Joe. Trump is the God of Rationality compared to Biden who is incapable of putting a sentence together.
I joined the Republican Party to do what I could to nominate the most worthy POTUS candidate other than Trump. However, Biden is inept, corrupt and appears to hate our limited form of government. Trump now appears clearly the best alternative. TDS blinds many to reality.
Like most people who dislike Trump, John does not give any real reasons or evidence WHY Trump is dangerous, why the country is better off in its current state, or what Trump has done that earns him a comparison to Adolf Hitler.
Why do people wrangle so much with Trump’s appeal even to those who admit to a dislike of him personally? Just take a look at the alternative, that should help.
Richard Nixon was elected President, and then re-elected in an absolute landslide. Yet almost no one like him. Evidently, voters were able to distinguish between a personality cult and a job application. Are voters nowadays less grown-up in their choices of candidates and parties? I'm looking at you, Mr. Obama!
As a former... DIE HARD Never Trumper... here's my 2 cents...
https://open.substack.com/pub/brookskoenig/p/as-a-former-never-trumper-a-rabid?r=oyvyx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
So many people here baffled by "TDS" in the face of all the things the Left has done that need to be stopped! You're baffled because you have taken your eyes off the ball and you're in denial. Trump is a criminal many times over, his mendacity is unparalleled, and his goals and your goals don't actually align. He wants to establish in the US what Putin has in Russia. It's going to be the end of the Republic. You may like it for a while, just as my ancestors did in Germany. Perhaps we'll pump a fist and have a drink when DEI gets outlawed, or the like. But in the end you will find that a psychopath at the helm is always a disaster. There are no exceptions. "TDS" is a very stupid concept.
Just thinking about Glenn and hoping his recovery is going well. Sending blessings and all good wishes his way...
Thanks for your considerate response, Gordon. We definitely agree on nuclear and RFK. As for the ultimate vote, there we must disagree. One other major concern about the Biden camp is his VP. With his age, she is a very real possibility,
What is wrong with people who think like this. How can you listen to yourselves and Sam Harris as examples while they quote their cult as we watch our economy and borders or vax as they describe it not exiting?!? You are not asking the right question! What can’t you see it!! The cult like progressives who voted Joe and Kamala in and will vote for them again while they destroy our country are the people you need to be asking about and fearing. Jeez that’s frustrating.
We miss the forest for the trees.
Certainly there is a 'cult of personality' built around the 'larger-than-life' Trump....but no more so than the Cult of Personality which surrounds Obama.... (Say Hallelujah to the chorus of Hosannahs which greet his every manifestation! Can I get an Amen?!). Equally we could speak of the Cult of Personality which elevates Taylor & Patrick & Kevin & Pink & JLo & Elon & Jimmy.... which make People Magazine, Oprah, Entertainment Tonight, and the View massive cross-generational multi-media hits.
We love our Celebrities and their 'glamorous lives'. This is not new. (Indeed, it's probably why the good-looking, non-sweating Kennedy (whose hair was perfect) was elected 84 years ago.). It's probably why Snoop Dogg is on every commercial.
But that's not the substance of Trumpism. Nor is it why millions upon millions of Americans will vote for him (even as millions of those millions hold their nose and wince as they pull that electoral lever). Yes, he is buffoonish; yes, he's 'orange'; yes, he rough, crude, and more than occasionally inappropriate. He's not even particularly likeable.
But he's also, in a very real sense, 'a new broom which sweeps clean'. And that fundamental truth resonates. It has weight and carries meaning, especially with those who have lost all tolerance for the Unending Perversion, Waste & Corruption which overflows the Beltway.
When what we see in Washington is a massive, sucking, sinkhole of an Anti-American Money & Policy Pit....and what we hear from Trump is that that Deep Dark Progressive Swamp needs draining....who could possibly disagree?
It's not baffling or troubling that people would vote for the man who promises to put an end to the State Hog Trough. What's baffling is why anyone would vote for a demented Biden and More of the Same Garbage and Self-Serving Venality which gives us Sanctuary Cities, Open Borders, Transgendered Days of Visibility, Men Pretending to be Women getting naked in our daughters' locker rooms.... which gives us a feckless, shuffling foreign policy which tips ever closer to world war.... which celebrates crowds of anti-semites shutting down our universities....which abandons our allies....which prides itself on its enthusiastic embrace of racism & sexism and selects Supreme Court Justices because their skin is Black and their genitals are female (of course we still don't know what a woman actually is...so we're just guessing she's female).
No, student loans should not be forgiven. If you borrow from me you need to pay me back. No, we should not subsidize degrees in Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Black Studies, Hispanic Studies, Study Studies. No, we should not mandate electric cars or fund their outrageous price tags with taxpayer dollars. No, the world is not ending. No, we should not shut down our fossil fuel plants. No, we don't need more windmills or solar farms when they are better cheaper forms of energy. No, the Dept of Education should not be funded...nor the waste which is the CDC.
It's not a shame that Caitlan Clark has a contract which is absolutely in line with her league's revenue streams. Abortion is not a 'right'. This is not a Climate Emergency. And inflation is NOT declining (things cost 20% more now than they did 8 years ago, for God's sake!)
The list of no good, very bad, terrible stuff is endless.
Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity kills Quality, destroys Merit, crushes Initiative, and shackles Freedom....and yet DIE is what Biden's Left is all about.
John speaks of Trump and tells us he's dangerous.
What is dangerous ...what is truly, truly, horrifically dangerous ... is the United States being led, for four more years, by a man who doesn't know who he is, where he is, or what he's saying...but who also serves as the white-haired figurehead of a handpuppet for those who are actively working to destroy the Constitution, this nation and our freedom (including the freedom to fail...to eat steak, drive non-electric cars, and kiss someone without a sworn affidavit).
You may not like him. You may despise him. You may hate his haircut, his pout, and his thin skin....but what he works for is undeniably a better & safer & wealthier world than the one in which we currently wallow.
What does it say about our country that ad hominem attacks are made on Trump, while congressmen continually lied that they had evidence he conspired with Russia and they in fact were just lying, and we have people that are not concerned that these liars might regain immense political power and have a track record of abusing their authority. Even if you only half way believe the argument made by Hayek in The Road to Serfdom, or don’t believe it at all, the problem might just be that so much power is centralized in Washington.
I think both Glenn and John have it right here.
100% agree with John about Trump. As a kid growing up in California, I first really became aware of Trump in my teenage years in the late 80's when reading a Doonesbury anthology that absolutely eviscerated Trump for being the embodiment of a low class rich guy. From the start, he was a ridiculous figure; the kind of guy that proved that just because you had money, didn't mean you had class or character or competence.
Then, living in New York, in the early 2000s, Trump kind of grew on me. In New York business circles he was viewed as a joke; the rich son of a successful developer who was pretending to be a great businessman while obviously knowing nothing about what it actually takes to build a successful business. But he played the part so well, both with conviction but also a note of self-aware irony and a willingness to play along with jokes about him, that it was appealing and fun. Trump was like the closest thing to a merger of pro wrestling and the business world, and I loved pro wrestling as a kid. This period obviously hit its peak with The Apprentice, which was a lot of fun to watch, even though succeeding on the show obviously had as much to do with succeeding in business, as succeeding in pro wrestling has to do with being successful in actual combat sports.
So when Trump entered the 2016 presidential race, I thought it would be fun. And as someone who thought the Republican party had already gone a little crazy by then, I rooted for him to win the nomination, since I assumed there was no way that someone who is such an obvious buffoon could actually get elected.
Clearly, I was wrong about that. And so the question Glenn raises really is an important one. What does it say about the state of our country that such a significant percentage of the population is willing to vote for (and in some cases idolize) a figure like Trump: the publicity seeking non-religious son of a rich real estate developer who was spectacularly unsuccessful as a businessman (known primarily for the strategic use of bankruptcy law and law suits to avoid paying vendors) turned successful reality TV star, who dodged military service through a bogus medical deferment, married and cheated on multiple women, and ran for president despite having no experience in politics or government?
It’s a fascinating question and an important one.
Please change focus. I'd like to see a debate on Dopey Joe. Trump is the God of Rationality compared to Biden who is incapable of putting a sentence together.
I joined the Republican Party to do what I could to nominate the most worthy POTUS candidate other than Trump. However, Biden is inept, corrupt and appears to hate our limited form of government. Trump now appears clearly the best alternative. TDS blinds many to reality.
😂
This recent Joe Rogan excerpt with Brendan O'Neill ("Why The Working Class Supports Trump") helps explain Trump's popularity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRDFDhmAZgE
Pick up a copy of Arlie Hochschild's book, "Strangers in Their Own Land" if you want to do a deep dive.
"He's a gorilla."
"He doesn't belong in public office."
"He's dangerous.
"He's stupefyingly incompetent."
Like most people who dislike Trump, John does not give any real reasons or evidence WHY Trump is dangerous, why the country is better off in its current state, or what Trump has done that earns him a comparison to Adolf Hitler.
Why do people wrangle so much with Trump’s appeal even to those who admit to a dislike of him personally? Just take a look at the alternative, that should help.
Richard Nixon was elected President, and then re-elected in an absolute landslide. Yet almost no one like him. Evidently, voters were able to distinguish between a personality cult and a job application. Are voters nowadays less grown-up in their choices of candidates and parties? I'm looking at you, Mr. Obama!