(I originally started this as a reply to a comment by Brian K on Booman’s article Getting Bullied. It grew.)
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Brian K wrote:
As soon as I first heard Trump refer to Jeb Bush as “low energy,” I knew it was one of the best political attacks of my politically conscious life. Trump didn’t use surrogates, didn’t use any dog whistles or implications, he just insulted him in the most potent and unusual way imaginable.
I have been referring to Trump in my circles as the Issac Newton of Republican politics since then. Not that I respect Trump, but it’s like he has the equivalent of the Principia of how to run a Republican campaign in these times, and no else has developed a full understanding of the language yet. Josh Marshal had a couple of articles about tactics that get at the same basic idea.
Expanding out a bit from that premise, I think one of the non-explcitly stated reasons Trump has so upset the GOP and the other candidates specifically is that he has totally disrupted the official established order of operations as to how the Repubican process was supposed to go. By this I mean Jeb Bush and his people had sized up the field and assessed their threats and their plans of action around fundraising, the debates, the first caucuses and primaries, etc. Same for Huckabee, Walker, Rubio down the line. They had their expectations about the order of things, and Trump came in and quickly and shockingly lit the whole thing on fire. That’s what we are seeing with Walker specifically, in my opinion. He and his people had no sense of what was coming, and they have no answer. In contrast, Carson and Fiorina have just ridden the Trump wave, and will do so until the sharp winds of reality blow them akimbo.
The only candidate on the Republican side squarely set to accept the reality Trump brought was Cruz, who stood to lose the most if the establishment order had held.
Lastly, and on a side note, this weekend I listened to both Mark Levin and Michael Saveage’s response to the Republican debate on 8/6/15, and I’m sure now that that is why Megan Kelly had to take a break. Those two junkyard dogs, let alone the countless other talk radio goons gave approval to their awful audiences to go after her, and I bet she received, and continues to receive vileness we cannot fully comprehend in her inbox. Funnily enough, Glenn Beck was the one sounding the voice of reason there. Strange times.
This got me to thinking.
My response:
Indeed. Compared to Trump, they are all low-energy. Dems too, so far….including Unca Bernie. Elizabeth Warren could stand up to him, though. Biden? I dunno.
Warren would have three things going for her.
1-She actually believes in what she is saying. Never discount the power of the truth.
2-She is a national figure. Name recognition is a huge part of national politics, and she already has a good start..
3-She appears to be strong enough physically, mentally and emotionally to make it through the grind.
Read on for more.
No one else currently in real contention…not HRC, not Trump, not Sanders, not Biden…has all three of those strengths. HRC is running on fumes. She’s just about all used up physically and emotionally. Plus she is caught in a massive web of lies that date back to Bill’s presidency and maybe even further. Every time she opens her mouth she has to backcheck to see if she’s giving away some damaging info. Spontaneity? Difficult under the circumstances, to say the least. Trump? He doesn’t believe a word of what he is saying. Not really. Most of it has no basis in fact whatsoever. No plans, no nuthin’. Just winging it. Bernie? Sorry…he’s too damned old. End of story. Look what the presidency did to Obama, and he was young and strong when he moved into the White House. Biden? He’s in great shape for his age and he’s a pro, so I think he’d handle the rigors of the presidency pretty well. Plus he has the emotional wherewithal to battle Trump with real joy.
Like dis:
Now, take our magnificent RAF lads. They grin when they fight. Ah, yes, they grin when they fight. I like a man who grins when he fights. -Winston Churchill
But…he has his share of lies with which to deal. More than his share after decades in the Senate and 8 years as VP. Lies a’plenty. Bet on it. That’s the name of that game, longterm. Bet on it.
If Trump manages to make it through the convention and wins the nomination, only Warren stands a chance of saving the day for the Dems. And she’s not exactly a PermaGov fave.
Is she.
—snip—
So let me say this to anyone who is listening at Citi[group]. I agree with you Dodd-Frank isn’t perfect. It should have broken you into pieces!
If this Congress is going to open up Dodd-Frank in the months ahead, then let’s open it up to get tougher, not to create more bailout opportunities. If we’re going to open up Dodd-Frank, let’s open it up so that once and for all we end too big to fail and I mean really end it, not just say that we did.
Instead of passing laws that create new bailout opportunities for too big to fail banks, let’s pass… something… that would help break up these giant banks.
A century ago Teddy Roosevelt was America’s Trust-Buster. He went after the giant trusts and monopolies in this country, and a lot of people talk about how those trust deserved to be broken up because they had too much economic power. But Teddy Roosevelt said we should break them up because they had too much political power. Teddy Roosevelt said break them up because all that concentrated power threatens the very foundations of our democratic system.
And now we’re watching as Congress passes yet another provision that was written by lobbyists for the biggest recipient of bailout money in the history of this country. And its attached to a bill that needs to pass or else the entire federal government will grind to a halt.
Think about that kind of power. If a financial institution has become so big and so powerful that it can hold the entire country hostage. That alone is reason enough to break them up.Enough is enough.
Enough is enough with Wall Street insiders getting key position after key position and the kind of cronyism that we have seen in the executive branch. Enough is enough with Citigroup passing 11th hour deregulatory provisions that nobody takes ownership over but everybody will come to regret. Enough is enough
Washington already works really well for the billionaires and the big corporations and the lawyers and the lobbyists.
—snip—
Wow!!! Talk about truth-telling!!!
I wonder if she’s having second thoughts about running. If I were her, I would. She’d beat the pants off of Trump.
Like I said…never discount the power of the truth. Especially when the opposition is the King of Lies.
Let us pray.
AG