Despite his protestations that “anybody is better than Hillary Clinton,” I don’t believe for a second that Jeb Bush really thinks that Donald Trump can be entrusted with the nuclear codes. Appearing this morning on Face the Nation, Jeb was unsparing in his criticism of Trump.
“Look, I just think he’s uninformed…in these really serious times, he’s not a serious leader.”
“…I have great doubts about Donald Trump’s ability to be commander in chief. I really do. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt to see how the campaign unfolded. But if you listen to him talk, it’s kind of scary, to be honest with you, because he’s not a serious candidate. He doesn’t talk about the issues at hand that are of national security importance for our country. To keep us safe is the first priority of the president. And he’s all over the map, misinformed at best and preying on people’s fears at worst.”
Yet, he says he’ll support Trump if he is the nominee.
I know he probably feels that he has to say that, but I wonder if it will turn out to be true.
I think it damaged the Republican party when so many prominent Republicans felt compelled to pretend Sarah Palin was a legitimate choice for a Vice President. I can’t imagine what it would do to the party if Trump were the nominee.
We’re in a post-truth era. I guess you didn’t get the memo.
Well, conservatives elites are the faction that’s least likely to suffer under a fascist regime. Many (though, of course, not all) members of the German aristocracy did quite nicely under Hitler after all. At least until the bombs started dropping, but they’ll be able to stop a fiasco like that from repeating.
If it comes down to a battle of social democrats v. the right wing, I’d suspect that most of the conservative elites are going to take a chance with Trumpism.
The lies are no longer noticeable to the Rep at large. But Jeb has a certain familial experience with foreign policy and the inner workings of govt which I’m sure are scaring the bejesus out of his family right now as they watch Trump. Will he pucker up and kiss Trump’s feet like he said before things got serious or will Jeb figure his political career is over anyway and back away from a Trump endorsement? Bush’s aren’t well known for their courage, political or not, so he may just slink away from any commitment.
Watched a few minutes of Trump clobber Chuck Todd this morning. No one can win against a bully with a head on attack and Chuck certainly hasn’t learned that.
“No one can win against a bully with a head on attack “
On the contrary, it’s the only way.
To attack a bully it’s best to get them off center by knowing their weakness, their buttons to push so that they become emotional. Just calling Trump a liar won’t get anywhere; he’s lied all his life and enjoys what he sees as an opportunity to push his agenda as part of his comeback. Needle him with questions like ‘why do you feel it so important to lie and exaggerate’ will rile him. And then there’s his use of the victim card
Do you REALLY think that’s going to work? That’s VSP thinking, that respectability and consistency and esteem in the eyes of the corporate whore media is what people like Trump really crave.
If your strategy for dealing with Trump doesn’t include a plausible answer to the question of “so what if Trump insults you, tells you to fuck off, then goes back to his followers with more claims of MSM persecution” then I claim that you don’t have a strategy at all. The MSM has for months been trying to take down Trump in ways that don’t involve attacking his center of gravity and I don’t see evidence of any of those plans working.
You want to take down Trump? You have to convince his followers that he doesn’t have their best interests at heart. You can either paint him as a N*-lover (or at least a squish on the issue of white supremacy) or you can make a case that he’s just another one of the establishment’s masks and he’s yukking it up with Bush and Rubio about fooling the marks. Until the MSM learns to do this, Trump will not be taken down on their terms.
Exactly. You can’t go at him one lie at a time, you have to get the followers to understand what he gets out of the lies and how they are the mark. But just Chuck Todd MSM version of one lie then let Trump talk his way through it to his own benefit will just make the marks believe he’s stronger than the truth. And they do.
You’re still talking like a VSP. Of course Trump’s followers are being lied to for nefarious purposes. Most of them are varying flavors of authoritarians; they value security and ‘getting things done’ more than honesty. Getting an authoritarian to turn on their leader on the grounds that the leader is self-serving and manipulative and grifting and even ineffective is a recipe for failure.
There’s only two ways to get an authoritarian to turn on their leader. The first is to show that the leader really isn’t one of them. This is very difficult, as anyone who has tried to take down a televangelist can tell you, but it’s doable. The other way is to show that the authoritarian leader betrayed them or plans to. And I don’t mean betray in an abstract sense like spend too many of their taxes or raised the child mortality rate or even failed to carry out what they said they were going to do, I mean betray them in a direct sense like doing favors for abortion clinics or groveling before a terrorist leader.
His fans like him because he’s a bully, uncouth and politically incorrect, and say’s “so what?” in response to weak attacks on him. Plus he’s rich and too many Americans admire and respect those with money regardless of how they got it.
Trump not such a tough guy — Smoking Gun Trump — Armed Forces Physical exam – 9/17/68 – DISQ. Notation; birthmarks on both heels.
You and I are saying the same thing. Again.
No, we’re not. You’re saying that the path to unmasking Trump is to point out his lies and show the marks what he gets out of his lies. I’m saying that his base doesn’t give a shit that Trump lies nor what he lies about as long as his lies soothe their authoritarian neuroses.
Making his base distrust Trump as a culture warrior is only tangentially relevant to painting him as a liar — and that’s only if you think that you can convince the base that Trump is outright lying about making the promotion bucolic WASP revanchism his number one priority. Good luck with that one. Indeed, even if Trump is suddenly and absolutely sincere in his neo-fascism, it’s still completely irrelevant to how you’d tear him down. Even if Trump reveals under mind-control that he’s absolutely sincere and is willing to sabotage every other aspect of his Presidency, that still doesn’t change the game plan.
Why construct ways in which we need to decrease the number of Trump supporters? He has nowhere near 50% of the GOP base electorate, even after many of Carson’s former supporters leaked over to the Donald this week. And even if he figures out a way to put together a campaign infrastructure strong enough to successfully navigate the GOP primaries, something I consider unlikely but possible, he will have severely alienated so many large blocs of general electorate voters for so long that he will get clobbered in the general election.
I think a Trump candidacy that makes it to November 2016 would be very, very bad for the national discourse, but someone needs to explain how it would become a credible threat to win the Presidency. Recent electoral results which best support the prospect of a Trump win are the gubenatorial electoral victories by Schwarzennegger and Ventura, but those elections and their campaigns were so very different in their own peculiar ways that they provide no real support for Trump’s chances.
Trump’s base are a lost cause and the fact that they have stayed steadily in his camp for this long leads to the conclusion that they’re not going to move.
But there are undecided voters who are still capable of hearing Trump’s stories for what they are, lies. Those are the voters Trump can lose for himself and his Party.
You can’t get a bully to back down with a non-crippling head-on attack as long as you’re not willing to go as far as the bully.
Similarly, Chuck Todd’s status and livelihood is dependent on obsequiously tossing the salad of his corporate pimpmasters, so he can only go so far in attacking Mr. Fascism while still remaining in the good graces of his pimps. And as long as the MSM’s quislings are bound to the code of ‘maintain a veneer of upper-middle class WASP sensibility at all times, never cross the upper class even if it’s for their long-term benefit’.
If Chuck Todd and the rest of the media kapos were allowed to attack Trump from the left on his economics and/or attack him from the right on his cultural supremacy, they might have an opening. But until they’re willing to go that far, direct attacks are going to bounce off of him.
EDIT: And as long as the MSM’s quislings are bound to the code of ‘maintain a veneer of upper-middle class WASP sensibility at all times, never cross the upper class even if it’s for their long-term benefit’, this will be the case for all of Todd’s colleagues.
Trump-Bush 2016?
Who would be Trump’s VP?
Cruz.
Pimping my diary on Dem’s #2 and inviting you to write on (R) #2.
I couldn’t find a diary for (R)#2.
That said, my reply above this one basically states why I view Cruz as a kind of establishment version of Trump that could allow him to somewhat darkhorse his way to the nomination.
Is Trump stupid enough to do that? Cruz is a true believer. Killing Trump to become president might seem like a godly thing to him.
Well, I think Cruz is Trump’s natural successor.
He’s loathed by the establishment, says stupid things with a big ol’ smirk on his face, and is regarded as some kind of super conservative hero.
I can forsee Trump destroying the typical Republican establishment candidates and allowing Cruz to mop up the “anyone but the establishment” base that are still apprehensive about Trump, while also allowing Cruz to gather a lot of the establishment Republican voters who won’t vote for Trump, but see Cruz as a sitting US Senator, and by extension, a “sorta establishment” Republican.
So, in my opinion, I can see a Trump/Cruz ticket, and Cruz/Trump ticket, or a Trump/X or Cruz/X ticket.
In essence, a Boxed Bet, rather than an Exacta Bet, to borrow horseracing terms (apt, no?).
Can’t see Trump taking second place to anyone, not anyone. His ego is simply too vast to play second fiddle. So, Trump/Cruz could happen, but not the reverse.
Might depend on who signs up to work in the Trump admin after he gets the nomination. If it’s the old BushCo team, then of course Jeb? (who really doesn’t matter at all) will endorse him. If it’s those that would have been happy to serve in a Palin admin, he won’t.
US News Secret Service to begin protecting Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson this week.
How about a new rule — candidates that spew racist, sexist, hateful bile will have to wait until she/he wins the nomination to get that Secret Service protection.
How much did it cost the US in SS protection for Carson’s secret jaunt to a “very nice refugee camp” in Jordan? Who the hell sponsored his press excluded trip?
I don’t believe for one moment that Jeb would endorse Trump if the rubber meets the road.
I think there is no limit how low a Bush will go.
How about a new concept — applicants that spit racial, prejudiced, hateful bile will have to hold back around until she/he victories the nomination to get that Key Support security.
How much did it price the US in SS security for Carson’s secret jaunt to a “very awesome refugee camp” in Jordan? Who the terrible subsidized his media omitted trip?
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