Part of me feels that this is such an obvious, self-evident fact that to even say it, risks banality. Yet in another sense because it is so self-evident, it's easy for this fact to be glossed over.
I agree with Krugman-unlike the GOP, Hillary and the Dems will successfully prosecute the fight against Trump. The GOP never could really figure out a way to attack him that wasn't in some way ideologically embarrassing for itself.
And they waited way too late to hit Trump and when they did-most Rubio did in that one wild late February debate-it lacked a certain coherence. Rubio's attacks on Trump had something desperate about them-like his plane was going down and he was flailing about trying to take Trump down with him.
It had a certain everything and the kitchen sink quality that didn't really lead us to a coherent anti Trump narrative. Some say Hillary's team is struggling to figure out how to attack Trump. I'm assuming this is nonsense. How can you knot know how to hit Trump?
It writes itself. Start with his taxes. Then there's Trump University and using illegal immigrant labor. There's the many lawsuits where he has been accused of sexual harassment. For him to accuse Bill Clinton of being a rapist skates over the fact that Trump himself has been accused of the same, more than once, including by his ex wife, Ivana Trump.
And we haven't even gotten to his 'policies' yet.
We do know that he thinks wages are too high and wants cut Social Security despite the impression he left at GOP debates. Or at least his policy director does.
https://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/05/but-at-least-donald-trump-wont-cut.html?showComment=1463419162337#c6201741043827131680
We also know he wants to end Dodd-Frank and thinks schizophrenic children are not really disabled. We know that he thinks women who receive abortions should receive a punishment-a radical position even on the radical Right.
But fundamentally, the problem with Trump goes beyond policies. The man is not qualified to be President. Beyond that, he's' a joke. His very candidacy demands the process.
"And there’s one last thing, which I suspect may make the biggest difference of all: Clinton’s campaign can go after Trump’s fundamental buffoonery."
I mean, he is a ludicrous figure, and everything we learn just makes him more ludicrous."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/the-gop-is-not-america-clinton-is-not-rubio/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&_r=0#more-39770
We have to be able to take that step back and say more than just he's wrong about this or that policy. This man is fundamentally not fit to be POTUS. He is a joke, and doesn't even deserve to be taken seriously. It seems that Hillary made that point today in her CNN interview with Chris Cuomo.
"Donald Trump is unqualified to be president, Hillary Clinton said Thursday, not mincing words regarding the man she will likely challenge for the White House this fall."
“I know how hard this job is, and I know that we need steadiness as well as strength and smarts in it, and I have concluded he is not qualified to be president of the United States,” Clinton told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview Thursday."
"And I think in this past week, whether it’s attacking Great Britain; praising the leader of North Korea, a despotic dictator who has nuclear weapons; whether it is saying pull out of NATO; let other countries have nuclear weapons,” Clinton began, “the kinds of positions he is stating and the consequences of those positions and even the consequences of his statements are not just offensive to people, they are potentially dangerous.”
"After suggesting an act of terrorism is responsible for the Egyptian plane that went missing early Thursday morning at the outset of the interview — though she also cautioned that investigation would have to determine how — Clinton criticized Trump as she made a case for who would be the better commander-in-chief."
"EgyptAir Flight 804, a plane en route to Cairo from Paris, disappeared from a radar early Thursday morning as it flew over the Mediterranean Sea. Clinton said the plane’s abrupt absence “shines a very bright light” on threats the world faces from organized terrorist groups, including the Islamic State."
“I think it reinforces the need for American leadership. The kind of smart, steady leadership that only America can provide, working with our allies, our partners, our friends in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere,” she said. “Because we have to have a concerted effort that brings to bear both domestic resources, sharing of intelligence, take a hard look at airport security one more time. Whatever needs to be done must be done. The world depends upon air travel. We can’t allow it to be interrupted or people be intimidated.”
"The entire world is listening and watching the presidential candidates, Clinton continued, firing another shot at Trump for his rhetoric."
“When you say we’re gonna bar all Muslims, you are sending a message to the Muslim world and you’re also sending a message to the terrorists because we now do have evidence, we have seen how Donald Trump is being used to essentially be a recruiter for more people to join the cause of terrorism,” Clinton said. “So, I think if you go through many of his irresponsible, reckless, dangerous comments, it's not just somebody saying something off the cuff. We all misstate things. We all, you know, may not be as careful in phrasing what we say. This is a pattern. It’s a pattern that has gone on now for months.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-trump-not-qualified-223373#ixzz498A6yA34
I agree with Krugman-unlike the GOP, Hillary and the Dems will successfully prosecute the fight against Trump. The GOP never could really figure out a way to attack him that wasn't in some way ideologically embarrassing for itself.
And they waited way too late to hit Trump and when they did-most Rubio did in that one wild late February debate-it lacked a certain coherence. Rubio's attacks on Trump had something desperate about them-like his plane was going down and he was flailing about trying to take Trump down with him.
It had a certain everything and the kitchen sink quality that didn't really lead us to a coherent anti Trump narrative. Some say Hillary's team is struggling to figure out how to attack Trump. I'm assuming this is nonsense. How can you knot know how to hit Trump?
It writes itself. Start with his taxes. Then there's Trump University and using illegal immigrant labor. There's the many lawsuits where he has been accused of sexual harassment. For him to accuse Bill Clinton of being a rapist skates over the fact that Trump himself has been accused of the same, more than once, including by his ex wife, Ivana Trump.
And we haven't even gotten to his 'policies' yet.
We do know that he thinks wages are too high and wants cut Social Security despite the impression he left at GOP debates. Or at least his policy director does.
https://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/05/but-at-least-donald-trump-wont-cut.html?showComment=1463419162337#c6201741043827131680
We also know he wants to end Dodd-Frank and thinks schizophrenic children are not really disabled. We know that he thinks women who receive abortions should receive a punishment-a radical position even on the radical Right.
But fundamentally, the problem with Trump goes beyond policies. The man is not qualified to be President. Beyond that, he's' a joke. His very candidacy demands the process.
"And there’s one last thing, which I suspect may make the biggest difference of all: Clinton’s campaign can go after Trump’s fundamental buffoonery."
I mean, he is a ludicrous figure, and everything we learn just makes him more ludicrous."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/the-gop-is-not-america-clinton-is-not-rubio/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&_r=0#more-39770
We have to be able to take that step back and say more than just he's wrong about this or that policy. This man is fundamentally not fit to be POTUS. He is a joke, and doesn't even deserve to be taken seriously. It seems that Hillary made that point today in her CNN interview with Chris Cuomo.
"Donald Trump is unqualified to be president, Hillary Clinton said Thursday, not mincing words regarding the man she will likely challenge for the White House this fall."
“I know how hard this job is, and I know that we need steadiness as well as strength and smarts in it, and I have concluded he is not qualified to be president of the United States,” Clinton told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview Thursday."
"And I think in this past week, whether it’s attacking Great Britain; praising the leader of North Korea, a despotic dictator who has nuclear weapons; whether it is saying pull out of NATO; let other countries have nuclear weapons,” Clinton began, “the kinds of positions he is stating and the consequences of those positions and even the consequences of his statements are not just offensive to people, they are potentially dangerous.”
"After suggesting an act of terrorism is responsible for the Egyptian plane that went missing early Thursday morning at the outset of the interview — though she also cautioned that investigation would have to determine how — Clinton criticized Trump as she made a case for who would be the better commander-in-chief."
"EgyptAir Flight 804, a plane en route to Cairo from Paris, disappeared from a radar early Thursday morning as it flew over the Mediterranean Sea. Clinton said the plane’s abrupt absence “shines a very bright light” on threats the world faces from organized terrorist groups, including the Islamic State."
“I think it reinforces the need for American leadership. The kind of smart, steady leadership that only America can provide, working with our allies, our partners, our friends in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere,” she said. “Because we have to have a concerted effort that brings to bear both domestic resources, sharing of intelligence, take a hard look at airport security one more time. Whatever needs to be done must be done. The world depends upon air travel. We can’t allow it to be interrupted or people be intimidated.”
"The entire world is listening and watching the presidential candidates, Clinton continued, firing another shot at Trump for his rhetoric."
“When you say we’re gonna bar all Muslims, you are sending a message to the Muslim world and you’re also sending a message to the terrorists because we now do have evidence, we have seen how Donald Trump is being used to essentially be a recruiter for more people to join the cause of terrorism,” Clinton said. “So, I think if you go through many of his irresponsible, reckless, dangerous comments, it's not just somebody saying something off the cuff. We all misstate things. We all, you know, may not be as careful in phrasing what we say. This is a pattern. It’s a pattern that has gone on now for months.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-trump-not-qualified-223373#ixzz498A6yA34
His admiration for Kim Jong-un is not accidental. He also admires Putin, and the authoritarian Chinese. He's not running to be President, he's bidding to become America's First Dictator.
It's important not to lose sight of this in the coming weeks and months. The media treated him like a joke-when it was clear to me all along he had a real shot to be POTUS.
Now that he is the GOP nominee it's important not to treat him as just a generic GOP candidate. He represents a fundamental threat to are very system of democratic government.
It's important not to lose sight of this in the coming weeks and months. The media treated him like a joke-when it was clear to me all along he had a real shot to be POTUS.
Now that he is the GOP nominee it's important not to treat him as just a generic GOP candidate. He represents a fundamental threat to are very system of democratic government.
Good post Mike. Regarding "America's first dictator" I think this is a great example of the worst false equivalence I've seen at RedState recently (despite their slew of actually good articles about Trump):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/05/19/washington-post-bemoans-50-america-embracing-fascism/
It's by writer "streiff" who's one of the worst over there on the false equivalence front.
Now I've got to hand it to Erickson himself, for this piece (at TheResurgent), which I actually agree with:
http://theresurgent.com/facebook-and-conservatives/
This one is pretty funny too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/05/19/one-trumps-maryland-delegates-wont-going-convention/
... and man, I'm liking just about everything Rubin writes these days. For example this one hot off the presses:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/05/19/hillary-clinton-says-what-republicans-should-have/
Hey Mike
ReplyDeleteHere is what Scott Adams had to say about Trumps interview with Megan Kelly
"Some of you will say nothing newsworthy happened in the interview. On the 2D playing field, that’s true. But on the dimension of persuasion, Trump showed us visually – which is the only way that matters – that his campaign personality is a tool, not a sign of insanity.
On one level, not much happened in the Kelly interview. But I’ll bet the people who saw it are less concerned about Trump getting along with foreign leaders. And treating Kelly with sincere respect goes a long way too.
I predict Trump’s favorability with women will start a slow climb from now through November. This will be an inflection point. People need a “story” to use as an excuse to change their minds. In persuasion terms, the Kelly interview provides what I call the “fake because” to do so. It won’t be enough on its own, but if Trump continues to make his case, it will be seen as a turning point.
A third act, if you will."
Thats a prediction about Trumps future favorability with women. We'll see if he is right.
Have you ever been to his blog over at dilbert.com? You could find some Trumpians to get into it with in the comment section for sure. Some good fodder for future posts!
Greg I have written of him many times. Of course, I predicted Trump's rise to the GOP nomination-I didn't guarantee it initially but I thought he had a serious shot-and I rooted for it since last July.
ReplyDeleteScott Adams was one of the few others besides myself who predicted his rise. The other I'm aware of being Norm Ornstein.
Now the difference is that me and Norm agree on the reason-the GOP is a dysfunctional mess.
Scott Adams thinks Trump is a Master Persauder.
I think he is good. But what happened in the primary is more about the GOP than him. He just figured out how to game it
I know you mentioned him before but I don't remember any posts on him, I must have missed them.
ReplyDelete"I think he is good. But what happened in the primary is more about the GOP than him. He just figured out how to game it"
Well I think the same thing that allowed him to game the GOP can work even beyond. I still think there are only about 30-35% of voters who are impenetrable to Trump.
I don't have much faith in the average American citizen..... especially the white ones!!
Being that you live in Georgia this is probably based on experience! LOL
ReplyDeleteI guess I have a little more faith in them. I think Trump gets fewer white votes-certainly from white women-than Romney.
Yes many of these voters may hate Hillary. But GOPers staying home or voting third party are basically votes for Hillary.
In addition, I think there are a number of GOP women like Jennifer Rubin out there who go for Hillary.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/05/20/democrats-we-feel-your-pain/
I don't think Rubin is an isolated case at all. I've heard of focus groups that show that a lot of GOP women are won over by Hillary's simply being competent and sane.
I agree a lot of people will vote for crazy. I think there may well be more who crave the end of crazy.
We are what another President once called the 'silent majority.' Yep, I'm quoting Nixon.
But there are a lot of similarities between 2016 and 1968. Michael Cohen-the Boston Globe writer-has a very compelling new book about 1968.
He had an excerpt out in Daily Beast:
"In a year when grassroots political movements helped to topple Lyndon Johnson and got George Wallace on the ballot of all 50 states and 13 percent of the popular vote on Election Day, it’s perhaps the greatest irony of 1968 that a leader who was the embodiment of the political status quo ended up prevailing on Election Day. How Richard Nixon won that year is a story of perseverance, of navigating between two wings of a divided political party and of cultivating an aura of calmness and order in a year of unprecedented and extraordinary political upheaval. If Nixon’s rise to power and his winning of the presidency reminds you of another presidential candidate this year—one who is almost universally-known, despised by her political enemies, often tolerated by the political allies, and a voice of pragmatism in a sea of political instability—well that’s not a coincidence. Because, in much the same way that Richard Nixon won the presidency in 1968, by speaking on behalf of what he called, the non-shouters and the non-demonstrators, Hillary Clinton is following a very similar path."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/20/hillary-clinton-is-this-year-s-new-richard-nixon.html
My wager is that we 'non-shouters' and 'non bomb throwers' amy prove to be the majority after all.
Indeed, many were surprised how many Hillary supporters there turned out to be. After all, we hear how Bernie Sanders is so much sexier.
But not everyone wants to blow the system up. Change for the sake of change is ignorant.
As for those Berners-not saying you or the majority of Bernie Sanders voters-who commit the crime of false equivalence between Hillary and Trump-sound like Stalin and his Marxists in 1932 who said there was no difference between Hitler and the Social Democrats-they absurdly called them Social Fascists.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/05/smells-like-1932.html
I do see that the Donald Trump supporters love Scott Adams. Trump is allegedly a Master Persauder.
I don't agree. I remember what Obama did to him in 2012. This guy has all kinds of vulnerabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4