December 7, 2015

Rich Lowry on Donald Trump: "Well, it's clear that he's not going to disappear in a cloud of pixie dust, as many people thought."

"And I don't think there's any clever way for the establishment to take him down. It's very simple. Another candidate is going to have to find a way either to out-maneuver him, or to just frankly beat him in the argument. And if no one can do that, yeah, he better man the lifeboats, because there's some significant chance he'll win the nomination."

That was on "Meet the Press" yesterday. I never got around to watching my recording of it — only got to "Face the Nation" and "Fox News Sunday" before maxing out and letting the television do what it wanted to do: display football games. So I'm just reading the transcript this morning, which is easier to scroll through and easier to blog.

I'm cherry-picking that Rich Lowry quote because it exemplifies the tedium. We've had months of this almost perfectly empty staring at the blunt fact of Trump's existence. It's progressed from he's not really there to he won't go away to he'll have to go away soon to we need to recognize that he's not going away like we thought he would to — newly emerging — he's (probably) going to get the nomination and then what will we do?

Lowry's rhetoric — which perhaps he said with the simulacrum of a pleasant smile on his face — has an edge of violence. Trump should just "disappear." (We'd use sorcery to disappear him if we could.) We needed to "take him down." And if we can't, "he better man the lifeboats." Did he say "he"? Why should Trump man the lifeboats if Trump wins the nomination? Ah, do I have to check the transcriptions? Dammit. But the violence is there, you see? A shipwreck. Oh, I get it, I think. The whole big Republican Party is the sinking ship, and Trump will have to proceed by lifeboat, because he will have lost the party, the establishment. But was Trump even ever on that ship? And if you look at the polls, is the ship even big? I don't know, but perhaps Mr. Lowry has some ideas about whether the deck chairs would look better rearranged.

ADDED: Meade IMs an image with the caption "Trump’s lifeboat will be HUGE"...



AND: I checked the recording, and on first listen, it did sound like: "And if no one can do that, yeah, he better man the lifeboats...." But by the 4th listen, it was absolutely clear that he said: "And if no one can do that, yeah, you better man the lifeboats...." Does this ship still sink?

72 comments:

buwaya said...

He meant "we" not "he" and he misspoke. Maybe a bit of the subconscious poking through.
Of course, its unclear who "we" are.

Laslo Spatula said...

If Trump wins the 2016 Presidency expect the Dems to run George Clooney in 2020.

Although Matt Damon might give him a run for his money.

I am Laslo.

MayBee said...

" But the violence is there, you see? A shipwreck"

No. I don't see the violence. I saw it live. No violence.

Shouting Thomas said...

The humor of it is sublime!

I can't wait for Big Cunt to take on Biggus Dickus!

Lyle Smith said...

Spot-on analysis.

Rick said...

We needed to "take him down." And if we can't, "he better man the lifeboats." Did he say "he"?

If Lowry didn't say "we" better man the lifeboats he meant to.

Owen said...

A lot of mockery of Trump and much of it justified. He is a repellent creature. But he is able to channel a lot of (IMHO) legitimate fear, frustration, fed-up-ness. Why is that? Why is the Go-to Old Popular brand so unable to appeal? Why cannot Jeb or Rubio or Cruz capture that demand and reflect it in their promises?

Were they crippled by a childhood exposure to the PC virus?

Michael K said...

"“People need leaders; when the meritocratic priesthood seems incapable of providing leadership, people start looking elsewhere.”

Yes and this worries me but there seems to be nothing the traditional "meritocratic" elite can do. It is lost in its own contradictions.

We are now at peak Progressivism and it has lost its way. It is dissolving into ridiculous student angst, at Harvard Law School of all places, and riots by privileged minorities who don't understand the real problems of their racial colleagues.

We may be headed for an era of a "man on horseback" and it is worrisome.

Ann Althouse said...

"'But the violence is there, you see? A shipwreck.' No. I don't see the violence. I saw it live. No violence."

It was a verbal image, so you could only see it in your mind. We all see it "live" in our minds when we hear or read the words. In my mind, the reference to lifeboats implies a sinking ship, which does violence to those on the ship. What was your lifeboat experience like?

Or did you just mean to say you saw Rich Lowry's face when he said it and he smiled? I allowed for that and don't think much of it.

Henry said...

Fletcher has spoken.

cubanbob said...

Funny no one seems to mention the fact that Hillary is also a boat anchor for the Democrats.
I'm not a Trump guy but as I have said before along with others, Trump attracts blue-collar Democrats. So far I haven't seen much evidence of any other Republican candidate that is credible in the polls do that. As for Hillary, she doesn't have any crossover appeal at all. I suspect that if the election comes down to Trump vs Hillary few if any Republicans will vote for Hillary over Trump and quite a few Democrats will vote for Trump over Hillary. The Islamophilia of the left and Hillary isn't helping her campaign.

Mike Sylwester said...

I don't think there's any clever way for the establishment to take him down

The establishment can begin by adopting many of Trump's positions on the immigration issue.

* Complete the border barrier.

* Resumption of normal rates of deportations.

* Revocation of birthright citizenship (by Constitutional amendment, if necessary).

* No citizenship ever for current illegal immigrants unless they go home and apply to immigrate properly.

* No H-1B visas for positions that can be filled by US citizens.

Henry said...

Perhaps Lowry was thinking of In the Heart of the Sea. In this analogy, Trump is the whale and what awaits those that crowd the lifeboats is cannibalism.

rhhardin said...

Rich Lowry fired Derbyshire for not being politically correct. Lowry doesn't see political correctness as strange. He's part of it.

So Trump, the candidate supported solely for blasting holes in the media its PC, is a mystery to him.

PC has to be solved or nothing will be solved, is the feature of Trump.

Laslo Spatula said...

The people on the Lifeboats are the Trump supporters. They are fleeing the ship whose Navy believes Jeb should be Captain.

Lowry believes there is no iceberg ahead.

I am Laslo.


Rick said...

In my mind, the reference to lifeboats implies a sinking ship, which does violence to those on the ship.

Is it considered "violence" if it's an accident or system failure? I think the term implies intended human action which is missing from the imagery.

Sammy Finkelman said...

And if no one can do that, yeah, he better man the lifeboats, because there's some significant chance he'll win the nomination."

This is maybe slightly bad grammar, but it means if someone thinks no one can beat Trump in an argument, he'd better man the lifeboats

if no one = if someone thinks no one.

The antecedent is kind of subtle.

Lowry doesn't really thnk nobody can successfully argue with Trump, but he does think somebody's going to have confront him in an argument.

Anonymous said...

My oh my. Mr. T. Is certainly sounding more reasonable by the day. Even with original ideas that the left, right, even policy wizards didn’t think of, or think were possible. Demanding the Islamic community police itself by offering to deport the wives and probably families to some “religion of peace” haven, like Jordan or the Saud’s. Better yet he'll not be guilty of the thousands of renditions Mr. Clinton used, where Mr. C was so proud of his ability to keep his hands clean. Note Mr. T. only needs a few examples of “undocumented” souls to make it effective in disciplining the rest of the community so they’d be leaving anyway. Hmm. Reminds me that that terrible man GB2 stopped this practice because he knew he couldn’t escape culpability before his maker or look at himself in the mirror by pulling a Clinton, so he rightly decided if we must torture someone to save Americans and our allies we are going to do it ourselves as safely and humanely as possible using exactly the same tools and experience we subject the tens of thousands of our citizens taking SERE Training. I wonder if GB2 took SERE?. SERE teaches the students that they always give it up. And they did. So we told them it was expected so do the best you can but don’t destroy yourselves, unless you know something seriously important, which we’ll insure you don’t by not sending you few into combat. Except if you pick it up from your Admiral Father's table gossip, so if you do know something that threatens the nation, you’ll have your gun for at least a while, or you can starve yourself to death. Lessons learned from the Chinese in the Korean war.

I expect someday soon Mr. T will say something as reasonable as this to the undocumented community. “Police yourself before I have to.” “I’ll do my job and get a wall built, it’s your job to see those who are here who haven’t played by the rules take themselves and their families home as soon as possible, including the so called anchor babies which no other country calls a citizen until their family plays by their rules.” Note that if they self-deport, there’s no reason to wait for the legal system. Though Mr. T will probably will start aggressively exporting felons with stapled bill-of-particulars on their back to their home governments, with a no harm-no-foul exemption for those with lesser crimes who self-deport. And he’ll probably start with others than Hispanics. Not a prejudiced bone in his body. If it hasn't occurred to you gentle readers, this is probably why he says he'll get governments to build these walls (at all places where people can leave to enter the U.S. he knows we can't get either the left or our legal system out of the way otherwise.

Oh my. this is going to get interesting. Where’s my popcorn?

Lyssa said...

I would interpret the "he better man the lifeboats" line as a statement about the general election - that is, if Trump wins, he'd better be ready for a different kind of fight (one that he may not win, given his negatives and the hypothetical match-up polling) in the general election.

BarrySanders20 said...

If it's a pure question of leadership, Hill is not going to compare favorably with anyone, especially Trump.

Here is a list of fairly generic leadership qualities. How many favor Hill over Trump?

1. Inspires and motivates others
2. Displays high integrity and honesty
3. Solves problems and analyzes issues
4. Drives for results
5. Communicates powerfully and prolifically
6. Builds relationships
7. Displays technical or professional expertise
8. Displays a strategic perspective
9. Develops others
10. Innovates

eric said...

When the establishment candidate is attacked, you hear a lot of, "Oh great, now the Democrats are going to use that against the nominee in the general election. Thanks guys! Thanks a lot!"

Well, if you've been paying attention the GOP has been trashing the hell out of Trump. Hillary will use this. She will say things like, "Even XYZ conservative commentator hates Trump."

And of course, these fools will defend themselves by saying, "Well, its true and he isn't really a Republican or a Conservative anyway, so that makes it OK."

The good news is, this will make some Democrats and Independents like him even more.

But Hillary won't realize that.

Anthony said...

I am still clinging (bitterly) to the fantasy that this is all Trump's latest reality show.

Brando said...

I keep hearing that "Trump only wins because he's saying what the others should be saying" but this isn't really true--if you want to come down hard on illegal immigrants, it's not as though there aren't several other candidates saying the same thing. It's a typical Trump lie that "no one was talking about this before me" (Tom Tancredo made his name on this). There's something more at play here, and I think it's this--Trump is "alpha male" over these other guys, because he consistently talks down, brags, insults, and refuses to back down on anything. Some of those can be good qualities if you want boldness, but each of those are weaknesses too (note some of these could be applied to our current Commander in Chief). But it's hard to get behind another candidate who seems to be getting all the downwind bluster from Trump. Maybe people don't like bullies, but they don't like bully victims either.

I don't care for Trump because I think he's dishonest and has absolutely no idea how he would run this government if given the chance (and seems to think it would come down to "putting in the right people", whoever they are) but it doesn't really matter because when he gets nominated they're going to pop open champagne at DNC headquarters. As much as the Democrats are sadly resigned to running Hillary, along comes the one thing that could practically guarantee a victory for her.

But no one has accused the GOP of being the smart party. They've created this mess and now we get to watch the slow motion disaster. For other Trump critics, I say--relax! People tend to get what they deserve in democracies. We apparently deserve Hillary Clinton. At least take solace in the fact that Trump will make this disaster somewhat amusing. He is a showman, after all.

Anonymous said...

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you.

Then you win.

Sebastian said...

@Owen: "Why is the Go-to Old Popular brand so unable to appeal?"

You mean, apart from record representation and power in Congress and at the state level? GOP is doing well except in the presidency. Trump is pulling in non-traditional potential GOP voters. The question is not about generating some general appeal but whether the GOP can win FL, OH, and VA. The establishment is wrong on substance but right to worry strategically. To be 1. right on substance, 2. right strategically, and 3. stop Trump, the answer is for the GOP to solidify behind Rubio/Cruz.

traditionalguy said...

Lowery is in the political talking head profession on Fox and the GOP isfamiliar with is made out by experts at spending a couple of billion donor dollars on advertising and banking their cut. He and his friends are about to become as overboard as Goldie Hawn.

Che Dolf said...

We've had months of this almost perfectly empty staring at the blunt fact of Trump's existence.

This is a confession, right? You mean, "I've spent months of almost perfectly empty staring at the blunt fact of Trump's existence."

You could explore why Trump is popular. That would beat another year of empty staring. You'll never figure out how to make him disappear if you don't first understand why he's winning.

eric said...

I don't care for Trump because I think he's dishonest and has absolutely no idea how he would run this government if given the chance (and seems to think it would come down to "putting in the right people", whoever they are) but it doesn't really matter because when he gets nominated they're going to pop open champagne at DNC headquarters. As much as the Democrats are sadly resigned to running Hillary, along comes the one thing that could practically guarantee a victory for her.

But no one has accused the GOP of being the smart party. They've created this mess and now we get to watch the slow motion disaster. For other Trump critics, I say--relax! People tend to get what they deserve in democracies. We apparently deserve Hillary Clinton. At least take solace in the fact that Trump will make this disaster somewhat amusing. He is a showman, after all.


Concern troll alert.

I have news for you Brando, you're not a prophet.

Anonymous said...

President Trump is so unpredictable that even Putin is scared of him, a bombastic Strong Horse that will call a terrorist attack a terrorist attack after psychoanalyzing the terrorists as sub-human killers.

Crazy Trump trumps incompetent Hillary.

tim maguire said...

I still don't take Trump seriously as a candidate: 1. I don't believe he'll do the legwork of getting on the ballots and politicking locally; 2) Most people claiming to be Trump supporters aren't. He's still THE protest candidate; and 3. Sure, he has a large lead, but that's in part because there are so many other candidates dividing the electorate. His actual claimed support is not particularly high. As the other candidates start dropping out, few or none of their supporters will go to Trump.

That said, like Palin, he does have all the right enemies.

Hagar said...

"Gawdammit, General! Siddownindaboat, already!"

Sammy Finkelman said...

...." But by the 4th listen, it was absolutely clear that he said: "And if no one can do that, yeah, you better man the lifeboats...."

Is theer a problem with re recording, or did he not pronounce the Y sound clearly or completely, and also use a different vowel that was neither the "e" of he or the "oo" of you?

Sammy Finkelman said...

I don't see why anybody thinks Trump an win the nonination. No candidate, except possibly Ted Cruz, is going to throw his support to Donald Trump.

Sammy Finkelman said...

WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE

HE SAW HIS RAGGED CONTINENTALS ROW

A HARD, HOWLING, TOSSING WATER SCENE

THE COLD WATERS SWASHING ON IN RAGE

A WET CREW GAIN HESSIAN STRONGHOLD

Anonymous said...

The accompanying painting is racist. No crew diversity.

Paul said...

"I still don't take Trump seriously as a candidate"

Sometimes smart guys like you are the dumbest of all. I'm afraid you are in for a rude and painful awakening.

Balfegor said...

Re: Mike Sylwester:

I don't think it would be sufficient for someone like Bush III or Rubio to adopt those positions, because voters simply wouldn't find them credible. Part of the appeal of Trump's wall is that it creates facts on the ground that can't be erased with a mere stroke of an executive pen the way a "virtual" fence or enhanced ICE activity can be. You'd need actual bulldozers. And the reason that's appealing is that the voters simply don't trust politicians on the subject of immigration anymore. Politicians have simply been too obvious about their desire to supplant the natives with colonists.

Bob Boyd said...

In a ship analogy, Trump follows the advice of Admiral Nelson, "Never mind maneuvers, go straight at 'em."

But the Republican ship was in trouble long before Trump showed up. These guys have been drilling holes in the bottom of the boat to let the water out for years.

Brando said...

"Concern troll alert."

Concern troll? If you're implying that I would like Hillary to be our next president you must be unfamiliar with anything I've ever wrote. Or maybe you just throw that term around, like some sort of concern troll troll.

"I have news for you Brando, you're not a prophet."

That's not news to me, but as I've predicted that if Trump is the GOP nominee, the GOP will lose the presidency next year, let's see if my prediction holds up. I'll own up if I'm wrong, somehow.

glam1931 said...

"I don't see why anybody thinks Trump an (sic) win the nonination (sic). No candidate, except possibly Ted Cruz, is going to throw his support to Donald Trump."
Nobody gives a crap about any of those other candidates, so their endorsement is irrelevant. And Cruz in angling for VP, and Pres. in 2020, which he will win in a walk if Trump is even halfway successful as Pres.

Brando said...

"I still don't take Trump seriously as a candidate: 1. I don't believe he'll do the legwork of getting on the ballots and politicking locally; 2) Most people claiming to be Trump supporters aren't. He's still THE protest candidate; and 3. Sure, he has a large lead, but that's in part because there are so many other candidates dividing the electorate. His actual claimed support is not particularly high. As the other candidates start dropping out, few or none of their supporters will go to Trump."

I'm not so sure--the nomination this year is going to be a real crap shoot. He sucks up the media attention, and if those who want some other candidate cannot solidify behind someone else soon enough he can build momentum going into the primaries. It could still go the way you predict, but the field is still pretty large and there's enough funding out there to keep a lot of them in the game pretty late.

"That said, like Palin, he does have all the right enemies."

The concept of "people I can't stand also can't stand this person, so this person must be ok" only goes so far. I'm sure the SJW/leftists/elitists don't care for swine flu, but I'm not about to go march in support of swine flu either.

damikesc said...

I keep hearing that "Trump only wins because he's saying what the others should be saying" but this isn't really true--if you want to come down hard on illegal immigrants, it's not as though there aren't several other candidates saying the same thing. It's a typical Trump lie that "no one was talking about this before me" (Tom Tancredo made his name on this). There's something more at play here, and I think it's this--Trump is "alpha male" over these other guys, because he consistently talks down, brags, insults, and refuses to back down on anything. Some of those can be good qualities if you want boldness, but each of those are weaknesses too (note some of these could be applied to our current Commander in Chief). But it's hard to get behind another candidate who seems to be getting all the downwind bluster from Trump. Maybe people don't like bullies, but they don't like bully victims either.

Backing down in front of media criticism is always a mistake. Especially since the media always obsesses over issues that simply demonstrate Trump's point (nobody argued that Muslims didn't celebrate 9/11...just the numbers who did so). The press had worked hard to stifle the video of Palestinians celebrating and now, it's all coming out again. And some American Muslims ALSO did so. And the number seems higher than I remembered it being.

He's also the death knell of the GOP Establishment. If they refuse to support him, their demands that conservatives unite behind their preferred loser is DOA ("Support your guy? Like you did with Trump, you mean?").

Anonymous said...

Tim Maguire said:

I still don't take Trump seriously as a candidate: 1. I don't believe he'll do the legwork of getting on the ballots and politicking locally,

Tim, July called and it wants its meme back and you out. Won't do the legwork? Who is the candidate that appears at yuuuuuuuuggggggeeeee rallies four or five times a week, calls all the conservative radio shows, and makes it on all the Sunday snooze fest shows so people like Althouse can nod her head that she's performed her public duty of keeping informed? I don't see any other candidate doing the legwork that Trump does. And the won't file his paperwork? Remember the, hasn't filed his financials, hasn't paid his fee in South Carolina, and all the other non-stories involving the suspected non-seriousness of candidate Trump?

In New Hampshire Hillary! had the Secretary of State patted down before he could go into his own office to accept her paper work to be put on the ballot. Trump held a press conference outside, signed autographs, and talked to the voters the whole while. Tim, our system give you the power to pick who you want as the next president, don't eff it up.

Dan Hossley said...

Too many trigger words for so little bang thoughts.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I have some serious misgivings concerning Trump, but I am amazed at just how much the establishment doesn't understand Trump's popularity.

I'm reminded of discussion among the SETI set that if we ever did encounter aliens that meaningful communications beyond mathematical and physical principles would be impossible. That we would lack a common frame of reference necessary to communicate abstractions.

Maybe its because I was born into a poor, working class family. Or that I work in an industry where my position is in constant danger of being outsourced or filled with an H1B visa holder. Perhaps its because I don't have a sweet government pension and am going to have to rely on a 401k and a few other investments (and don't expect to see much money from social security.) Who knows why, but I have no problem whatsoever understanding Trump's appeal.

Brando said...

"He's also the death knell of the GOP Establishment. If they refuse to support him, their demands that conservatives unite behind their preferred loser is DOA ("Support your guy? Like you did with Trump, you mean?")."

That'd also be the silver lining in all of this--if the GOP takes a bath next year, it might be enough to shake them up and rebuild. Three straight losses should be a wakeup call.

I think a lot of people who say they'd never vote for the nominee if it isn't their guy (whether they're on the left or right of the GOP spectrum) ultimately come around when faced with the prospect of the other party winning. The only question is how many we're talking about. And no matter what, a damaged candidate starts from a deeper hole come next summer, as Mitt Romney had to learn the hard way.

holdfast said...

I will say that I think Trump loves the retail politicking - I think he might have even surprised himself with how much he enjoys it. That he's good at it is no surprise.

He's still not my first (or second or third) choice, but if he is the nominee, I will donate to his campaign and volunteer my time. Maybe Hillary will win, but I want to at least be able to tell myself that I personally did what I could to stop her.

Qwinn said...

Cruz is now beating Trump in Iowa, 24-19.

Can we start talking about Cruz now please? Dozens of posts on Trump is getting dull.

Curious George said...

"LarsPorsena said...
The accompanying painting is racist. No crew diversity."

Now there is, UW style.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=w2om4o&s=9#.VmXe57grK70

Anonymous said...

"....newly emerging — he's (probably) going to get the nomination and then what will we do?"

Lose the election to Hillary Clinton in a 'uggggge' way. It will be a monumental embarrassment to Republicans for years to come, as Trump already is. If Republicans aren't embarrased by this clown, well, then they deserve what they get.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The argument that beats Donald Trump is that he can't beat Hillary Clinton. Right now, only Marco Rubio and Ben Carson beat Hillary in general election match-ups. Trump loses, as does Ted Cruz, which is why Cruz won't overtake Trump, unless that changes.

That argument doesn't count for much now but it's power will increase as the early states start voting and the general gets closer. But, if none of the candidates come to be seen as Hillary-beaters, then there is no reason for Trump supporters not to stay with him.

Someone may have to demonstrate the sort of devastatingly brutal attacks ads Hillary will be able to run against Trump. That someone will probably be Jeb Bush, and that's the reason he is not dropping out.

mccullough said...

Because of guys like Lowry, we get candidates like Trump (and Jeb, etc.).

The Republicans need better conservative commenters, journalists, and reporters.

Writ Small said...

There's a scene in Caddyshack where the Rodney Dangerfield character drops his anchor through Judge Smail's (played by Ted Knight) sailboat and then says "Hey, you scratched my anchor!"

Trump IS the Dangerfield character from Caddyshack. His wealth frees him to make polite-society-shocking statements, and this, shall we say, "impresses" his fans.

"Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity."

Someone could probably write a piece relating Caddyshack to the current election. Jeb Bush is the Ted Knight character (or worse, he's the overweight son of the Ted Knight character who expects to be given things based on his family connections). Rubio is the caddy Danny who comes from the Irish working class and is trying to rise. Cruz is the Italian-American caddy with a chip on his shoulder competing with Danny. Is Carson is the Zen-calm Ty Webb played by Chevy Chase? Or is he the Bishop who loses faith when God fails to let him complete his perfect game? Who is Bill Murray? Well these analogies only take you so far.

Michael K said...

"I don't believe he'll do the legwork of getting on the ballots and politicking locally;"

I think he is doing it and it is a sign that he is in this seriously. I thought he was just indulging himself but that is not what I see.

I still don't like him and worry that he is risky as a president. On the other hand Hillary is a disaster and there is no Democrat with the slightest evidence of seriousness about policy. Trump has been putting out position papers that sound serious to people I respect.

The next few years will be tumultuous. I expect a major terrorist attack in the next few months. Women I know who have never owned or used a gun are signing up for gun safety classes and talking about which gun to buy.

Anonymous said...

Mike Sylwester:

The establishment can begin by adopting many of Trump's positions on the immigration issue.

* Complete the border barrier.

* Resumption of normal rates of deportations.

* Revocation of birthright citizenship (by Constitutional amendment, if necessary).

* No citizenship ever for current illegal immigrants unless they go home and apply to immigrate properly.

* No H-1B visas for positions that can be filled by US citizens.



And if your grandmother had balls she'd be your grandfather.

If the GOPe were willing to do any of those things (instead of being beholden to the big donors who are balls-to-the-wall dead set against all of them), Trump wouldn't have a campaign. They truly, madly, deeply, qu'ils-mangent-de-la-brioche are not willing, so here we are.

As for the earnest folk still buying or flogging the "but if we don't vote for the GOPe candidate we'll get Hillary", I hope you are taking notice of reports of "conservative" big guns, now muttering about how, gosh durn it, they may just have to transfer their support and money to Hillary if that dreadful Trump fellow should get the nomination. Draw what lessons you will from that. Me, I'm looking forward to the "real conservatives prefer Clinton" op-eds, should the "serious" people fail to persuade the electorate to be get "serious" for the primaries.

FullMoon said...

I watch "the Apprentice"
The whole point of the show is that whoever performs best moves on up, until one person survives and winsa bundle for their charity.

Joan Rivers was up against Professional poker player Annie (something) It was stressed taht the whole thing would come down to who brought in the most money for charity while performing some forgotten task.

Annie destroyed Joan Rivers, a total bitch, by the way, byt Trump picked Rivers anyway. Had to be because she was a friend.

Anyway, Hillary is a much bigger prick. I would hope Trump would appoint competent advisors and department heads to make up for his lack of political smarts.



Drago said...

Donald Trump is to Marine Le Pen as Ivanka Trump is to Marion Le Pen.

Bank on it.

eric said...

I hope you are taking notice of reports of "conservative" big guns, now muttering about how, gosh durn it, they may just have to transfer their support and money to Hillary if that dreadful Trump fellow should get the nomination.

I don't think that will happen. It will just be too obvious of a V8 moment for Republicans around the US. They did what?!

Instead, they'll push a third party candidate in. Someone conservative. And they'll pretend to support that cnadidate. Like Cruz or Carson. And they'll do it just to undermine Trump and teach a lesson to us uppity Conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Michael K: The next few years will be tumultuous. I expect a major terrorist attack in the next few months. Women I know who have never owned or used a gun are signing up for gun safety classes and talking about which gun to buy.

My husband was cursing himself this morning for not having bought Smith & Wesson stock last year.

eric said...

Blogger Amanda said...
"....newly emerging — he's (probably) going to get the nomination and then what will we do?"

Lose the election to Hillary Clinton in a 'uggggge' way. It will be a monumental embarrassment to Republicans for years to come, as Trump already is. If Republicans aren't embarrased by this clown, well, then they deserve what they get.


You and Brando should get together and tell each other how moderate you are.

Please tell me Hillary voter, what should we do? I'm on the edge of my seat wanting to hear your concern to tell me the right thing to do here.

Michael K said...

"My husband was cursing himself this morning for not having bought Smith & Wesson stock last year."

The stock price for Ruger, which is based in Southport, Connecticut, increased even more than the price of Smith & Wesson shares. Since January 20, 2009, Ruger’s share price has increased by an eye-popping 800 percent. Monday’s share price of nearly $57 is more than nine times higher than Ruger’s opening share price of $6.25 on the day of Obama’s 2009 inauguration.

S&W was almost as good.

Smith & Wesson’s stock price has increased nearly 700 percent since January 20, 2009, according to a list of historical daily prices provided by Yahoo! Finance.

When Bill Clinton was elected I bought gold and did well. I did not see this coming either, I'm sad to say.

Anonymous said...

Paul: Sometimes smart guys like you are the dumbest of all. I'm afraid you are in for a rude and painful awakening.

There are two kinds of people who "don't take Trump seriously", but they aren't both dumb. There are smart guys who don't think much of Trump the individual as a prospective POTUS, but who recognize that that his candidacy is a harbinger of a serious political re-alignment coming our way, and aren't clueless about why it's coming (and blame the GOP for sucking, not the voters for refusing to vote for a party that refuses to stop sucking). The dumb ones think Trump just represents a populist-tantrum blip, that the GOP represents the interests of ordinary Americans, and has a future (once the rubes learn their place and start accepting "serious" candidates again).

I have no idea if Trump himself can or will pull off any kind of rude and painful electoral awakening next year, but I think the rude awakening has already begun.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Someone could probably write a piece relating Caddyshack to the current election.

Someone has:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/cinderella-story-outta-nowhere/405547/

The Godfather said...

If we have another terrorist attack in the US, and/or if Obama and his administration keep pushing gun confiscation, then I think there's a good chance that Tromp will be unstoppable and will win the Republican nomination. Could he beat Hillary!? Of course he could. Does anyone think she could out-argue him in a debate? Does anyone think she'd have more success playing the experience/competence game against Tromp than she had against Obama? If American voters in November 2016 still fear that we live in a dangerous world, if they still worry that here at home the government is more of a negative factor in the lives of regular folks than a positive one, if they are more impressed by someone who made millions building buildings than selling influence, then Tromp will tromp Hillary!

I still hope another Republican candidate -- Rubio or (more likely right now) Cruz -- will supplant Tromp. And either one, as well as one or two of the others, would beat Hillary! I don't think Tromp has the abilities the Presidency requires in this challenging time, even if he has the skills needed to win the job -- just like Obama, and we know where that got us.

Achilles said...

"I hope you are taking notice of reports of "conservative" big guns, now muttering about how, gosh durn it, they may just have to transfer their support and money to Hillary if that dreadful Trump fellow should get the nomination."

We already had one Billionaire in Miami take out a front page ad saying this exact thing.

Trump is winning because he is bringing in the Blue Collar voters to the republican party. These are people who have voted for democrats for decades and have realized the government is screwing them. If you couple them with the republican base which is tired of getting screwed by the GOPe you are looking at a silent majority landslide.

The chattering class/politicians we have now are the worst leaders in history. Hillary is a truly disgusting human being.(and so is anyone that votes for her) All the billionaires and concern trolls can go over and hitch up to her wagon. It will show us all who you really are and you can stop lying about what you support. That goes for the cronies at the chamber of commerce who are going to dump money to fight Trump. The democrats are the party of the wealthy and Trump is making that clear.

Anonymous said...

Eric, I'm not a moderate at all. I'm a liberal and proud of it.

Anthony said...

>Trump is winning because he is bringing in the Blue Collar voters to the republican party.

I am not sure about that. Blue collar whites it seems have been voting GOP nationally for a while now.

Sammy Finkelman said...

"I don't see why anybody thinks Trump an (sic) win the nonination (sic). No candidate, except possibly Ted Cruz, is going to throw his support to Donald Trump."



I'm speaking about a situation after the primaries, if Trump as about 35% of the delegates or so. The other candidates will not release tgheir delegates and endorse Trump. Their chosen delegates will care.



Steven said...

Trump's popularity is incredibly easy to explain; he adopts whatever is the populist position among the Republican primary electorate (however stupid it might be as an actual governing policy), often after three or four attempts at dialing it in, and then says it brashly and boldly. It's blatant pandering on a scale that makes Bill Clinton look like a principled hardliner.

The only thing even slightly hard to understand about it is that anybody is stupid enough to think the fact that he says them boldly and brashly now is evidence he'll adhere to them after the November election. Other politicians at least have an occasional core belief they'll adhere to in public; the closest Trump comes is his continuing affection for nationalized health care.

SukieTawdry said...

Is it actually coming down to a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump? Where are the writers? I want to see the writers. This plot sucks eggs.

Brando said...

"You and Brando should get together and tell each other how moderate you are."

Very rich--so anyone who doesn't buy into Trump's promises of "trust me" and "it'll be huge" and "details later" and "I'll have top people take care of this" must secretly be a leftist, because why exactly? I guess assuming that about anyone who disagrees with you on Trump is a lot easier than considering just maybe your candidate isn't all you think he is.

I can't speak for Amanda but I would be fine with a conservative president. I think Trump is a charlatan. If those two statements cannot be reconciled for you then I don't know what to tell you. Life has its enigmas.

Rusty said...

Blogger Amanda said...
"....newly emerging — he's (probably) going to get the nomination and then what will we do?"

Lose the election to Hillary Clinton in a 'uggggge' way. It will be a monumental embarrassment to Republicans for years to come, as Trump already is. If Republicans aren't embarrased by this clown, well, then they deserve what they get.

Oh. Amanda. Sweet, sweet Amanda. My dearest Amanda. I don't care how many times you vote Hillary is no going to the White bHouse to sit in the oval office unless the president asks her to. I love the liberal total disconnect from reality. The only way Trump could lose right now is if someone even more consevar=tive comes along. I'm not saying Trump is a conservative, but he sure makes people like you nervous. And that alone is worth all the 0vertheiop Trumpisms.
Cheers Amanda.