I have friends that are post-liberal, MAGA folks. It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: I have a hard time agreeing with their assessment of our current President’s performance. As I was pondering why they seem to post defenses of the President so frequently, I think I discovered the reason: They are afraid and defensive because they really do see what we “normal” Republicans see: A deeply flawed man whose vulgarity and narcissism really can’t be defended. Nothing says “I want my money back” more than someone who constantly defends a purchase. It’s the classic marketing ploy. You launch a product that was *supposed* to be vetted and eagerly anticipated by the market, just to discover that your market research was wrong and now you are stuck with a product you have to unload. So you over-sell. Constantly promoting the product as SO much better than what people are saying. It’s “New Coke” all over again. That is why MAGA folks saturate their feeds with how great the President is. They are having “buyers remorse” in spades….
What I also find interesting is that all of the comparisons to previous Presidents and administrations are comparisons to Democrats. That is a rather low bar. If he really is the greatest President that ever lived, why not elevate his standing by comparing him to other Republican Presidents. Surely Nixon was worse (not by much)?
So, my heart goes out to you MAGA folks. You bought a 4 year subscription to economic ruin, the disassembly of democracy and a staff of incompetents that will eventually completely erode whatever version of America you thought you were getting. You get to experience some of the pain that normal Republicans are feeling. It is actually MAGA folks who have the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” so often attributed to us folks who see the man clearly. Welcome to our world….
A possible solution to the Ukrainian and Iranian Wars
As I watched another cringe-worthy news conference at the Whitehouse the other evening, I thought to myself: “What would it be like to go mano-a-mano with Karoline Leavitt?” She has the same knack that Trump does to take any hard question and make the person who asked it look like a schmuck. Her scathing deliveries and blistering rebukes could reduce anyone to a simpering wimp, ready to do her bidding, rather than face another volley of hyperbole and lies. She really is a nasty person with a very prickly personality.
So, why not unleash that talent on Putin in negotiating an end to the war that Russia started with Ukraine? I am pretty sure that after a day or two of facing Karoline, Vladimir would say “Please, I’ll agree to anything, just take that woman away from here”. Problem solved. Using her as a “weapon of argument destruction” would be the best use case for her and her oratory talent.
Look out Iran! If you don’t surrender we’ll send in Karoline Leavitt!
Mean Girls
This has probably been noted before….how could you avoid commenting if you have ever watched a White House press conference, but isn’t Karoline Levitt the perfect press secretary for this Trump administration? She is SO perfect for it that I would suspect she was AI generated. But with the exception that she kinda looks like Lindsey Lohan, she apparently IS real, as indicated by her regular berating of the “fake news” reporters she hosts. An AI generated press secretary and a room filled with AI generated fake news reporters seems a little far fetched, although such a thing is probably not far off in the future. But, it all seems real and I haven’t seen any indication of 6-fingered hands, or three legs or even two heads when she is conducting her usual news-flogging sessions….
So, if all of these news outlets are fakes, why does she bother to even host the news conferences? One could assume she just enjoys the power-move of regularly dressing-down reporters and, there have been some doozies. I still watch with fascination though. It’s like Forrest Gump said: “You never know what you are going to get”. Will Glinda show up or the wicked witch of the west? It’s usually the latter but, you never know, that good “shoulder angel” could show up and convince her that kindness would be the better approach.
Pam Bondi seems to be cut from the same cloth. Just watching her face and listening to her during the recent hearing was both frightening and hilarious. Frightening because it is hard to believe that a professional in a very public and powerful position would speak so coarsely and unkindly to other professionals who represent the American public [kind of applies to most of this administration] but also hilarious because her responses were so ill-informed and inane. A decade ago, OK, maybe more than a decade, treatment like that would get you tossed out. These days the MAGA forces posting on social media say “You go girl!” – It ends up being depressing….
Your public face defines who you are (uh, DUH) and so the hardness and lack of charity that is displayed by this administration, particularly in very visible settings (press conferences, Senate hearings, etc) says everything about character. I wonder if Leavitt and Bondi are that mean in their family settings? I hope not (prison might be more fun). If it’s all an act, Lindsey Lohan has some real competition….
When a leader is not a leader
I read the The Dispatch on a daily basis. If you are a Republican who is not MAGA, or a person who is interested in unbiased (my opinion) political reporting, then you should subscribe to The Dispatch. There is a wide variety of content that challenges my thinking daily.
In an article published today entitled “It’s not too late for Trump to squeeze Putin” Eric Edelman makes this observation:
“The official Kremlin readout of the phone call the day before Zelensky’s visit to Washington reveals Putin’s praise for Trump’s Middle East efforts and indicates that Trump should have won the Nobel Peace Prize. He also emphasized that Russia was winning in all phases of the war in Ukraine and suggested that providing Tomahawks to Ukraine would have no military effect, while at the same time arguing that taking this step would be highly escalatory. Finally, Putin bemoaned the fact that ongoing U.S.-Russian differences over Ukraine were impeding the many benefits that would flow from an end to sanctions and the resumption of mutually beneficial economic and trade relations. “
You are not a leader if flattery is the reason you change policies, you are a weather vane: You turn wherever the winds of flattery blow you. Our President is just that. After a September 23 meeting with Zelensky, Trump posted, “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe, and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.” On October 17th, after the phone call, Trump said “They should stop where they are. Let both claim victory, let history decide! No more shooting, no more death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,”. Basically, Trump wants to reward Putin’s aggression with acquiescence. My guess is that there was more than flattery in the conversation that made Trump reluctant to send Tomahawk missiles. Probably some threat to Trump’s bank account or investment pullback in Russia. Who knows? The TACO man comes calling.
Where to begin?
I haven’t been able to keep up with all the inane Executive orders rolling in from Pennsylvania avenue. But, let’s start with the ban on refugees from the 7 Muslim countries our “Fearless Leader” recently signed. Apparently, he isn’t too fearless because the reason given for the EO was to ensure our safety (his too, presumably). So, that set me to wondering….of the 85,000 refugees and the subset of 38,000 that were Muslim that came to the US in 2016, how many actually committed a terrorist act? How many are we aware of that actually planned a terrorist act and were caught? And, of course, the condemning statistic that makes this such a joke is how many US citizens committed terrorist acts here without having to worry about an entry visa? This is all “straw man” politics! Raising the specter of nations of Muslims just waiting for a visa so that they can commit terrorist acts here. That dog don’t hunt, as they say here in Texas.
This delivered to us by a self proclaimed genius of a businessman! Well, any businessman worth his salt makes decisions based on hard facts and there aren’t any facts to back him up. Just “alternative facts” can can be neither retrieved or refuted.
The goal is pretty clear: POTUS will sign executive orders that will confirm and support his campaign promises and when they eventually get overturned by congress, the courts or the will of the people, he will blame the Democrats, judges of Mexican heritage, and Liberals in thwarting his efforts. If the White House even dug down a fingernail’s depth, they would find plenty of conservatives like me, grumpy and not so grumpy, that think his approach is all wrong. A little rationality and compassion might even turn the tide. But, as it is, compassion has no place in the White House and rationality, well, let’s just say it appears to have taken a vacation….