DeSantis flounders. Nikki Haley claps back. And the 38-year-old political newbie surges. But does Ramaswamy actually have a shot? A report from the GOP debate.
One thing I noticed and admired, when asked a question involving raising a hand, Vivek didn’t first look around and see what the others did. His hand went right up. That says he knows his position and isn’t afraid to say it.
Vivek was the only one on that stage that articulated the concerns of most everyday Americans. With the exception of DeSantis, the rest of the major players came off as establishment re-treads dutifully parroting their corporate talking points. Paramount among them was the demand that we continue to provide unquestioned financial and military support for a corrupt Ukraine government that is losing its war with Russia. Haley in particular came off as a screeching, unhinged ex-wife. The most comical line was when she accused Vivek of being a foreign policy amateur while ignoring that Ukraine has suffered over 350,000 casualties, an army that is running out of men as the promised spring offensive becomes a nightmare, millions of fleeing citizens and an infrastructure that is being systematically decimated. Anyone old enough to have lived through the Vietnam War knows where policy geniuses like Haley is leading us. Never mind that Russia is stronger militarily and financially today than before the war started and a once unthinkable Russia/China alliance is blossoming before our eyes.
Vivek is offering a vision of hope where the oppressed are freed of their shackles, where the power of self-determination is returned to the people. His historical perspective is correct, that power will not be willingly relinquished any more readily than it was in 1776. The enemy is no longer clad in redcoats, but $1,000 designer suits and their weapon of choice is division and chaos. After last night, I think it’s clear who is on our side.
I don't think Haley came off like that at all. I think she came off well, at least to me. Why do descriptors like "screeching" and "unhinged" have to be applied to the only woman on the panel? Pence screeched a lot too.
Screeching is what I call the high-pitched interruptions that Haley rudely employed in her Ukraine exchange with Vivek. Absent the annoying tonal qualities, Pence's interruptions were just as rude and baseless.
Unhinged is what I call someone who can ignore the gruesome realities I listed above and demand we remain complicit in fighting a lost war that will inevitably end in Ukraine’s utter destruction and loss of an entire generation of its men.
I've not seen or heard anything from her that would lead me to believe she will improve the lives of Americans and her Ukraine obsession will only make things worse. The only thing that separates her from candidates like Pence and Christie is a pair of ovaries. Her smug Margaret Thatcher quip, “If you want something done, ask a woman” may resonate with some but I think she lost more support last night than she gained.
Great assessment of Haley and Pence. Well-done. The Seventies called and wants its "If you want something done, ask a woman" back.
On Ukraine, though. Not that I want to fight a bloody and endless war in Ukraine that is costing us billions of dollars. However, if we acquiesce to Vivek's vision of "let Putin have Ukraine," along with "let China have Taiwan" and withdraw, the bullying will be seen to have worked, and encourage others to have at it. That will destroy the relative peace the West has enjoyed since World Wars I and II.
Simply put, we and the rest of the West decided in the wake of WWII that neighbors will not be allowed to brutally invade and conquer neighbors, because once that shit starts fresh, Europe goes medieval again and millions more die as a result. We have a vested interest in making sure that doesn't happen.
That's why I support helping Ukraine kick Putin back to Moscow. I certainly could live with--and would encourage--a Putin-Zelensky agreement that cedes the most Russian-centric zone of eastern Ukraine to Russia in exchange for a peace treaty. I just can't fathom telling Putin, "This car's all yours, pal, be sure to change the plates to your own state."
Why is it that when someone questions our involvement with Ukraine, the answer is we either spend those billions in defense aid or “let Putin have Ukraine”? Why can’t we pressure both sides to the negotiating table?
If you say the only acceptable solution is for Russia to give back all the land it’s seized and just pack up and go, then you are not serious about ending a conflict that is ravaging a country and further calcifying the relationship between two U.S. adversaries. Why would Russia ever come to the negotiating table let alone accept those terms, especially if they are winning on the ground? Why wouldn’t they just say forget it, we can occupy parts of Ukraine and keep the West embroiled in this for years? What do we do then?
Disagree - Nikki Haley is not who I would choose overall over Vivek BUT I found her to be very poised, with seriousness and polish and she made some excellent points about foreign policy. She is not obsessed with Ukraine and she is not a screecher, hysterical, etc. In fact, as much as I like Vivek, she had the most clear and and effective manner and communication style up there. For her, experience has made her a polished candidate who could show up anywhere on the world stage. Her positions and policies are something different, but it's not fair to characterize her as out of control. Not at all. I like Vivek, but he doesn't have this advantage yet.
I don't know which debate you watched, but in the one I saw Vivek interrupted more than any other candidate on the floor. I came in rooting for Vivek and left disappointed. He's smart, but not smart enough to keep the smirk off his face. His brash arrogance reminded me of an unguided missile. I hope his time will come, but it's not now.
p.s. Those high pitched interruptions you hear around you are called women--most likely women you have interrupted. Call me when you hold men to the same standard you require of Haley.
“Call me when you hold men to the same standard you require of Haley”
Perhaps you missed this part of my post “Absent the annoying tonal qualities, Pence's interruptions were just as rude and baseless”.
Decorum and delivery aside, it’s Haley’s foreign policy proscriptions, made obvious in her exchange with Vivek that disqualifies her from my consideration. Ironically, she was part of the Trump administration that managed to restrain Putin and every other authoritarian regime from becoming the boogeymen Haley insists they are.
Instead of embracing Trumps approach, it’s obvious that Haley is part of the warmonger wing of the Republican Party, and the fact that she has ovaries instead of testicles doesn’t make her any less dangerous to the well being of this country.
I appreciate your comment. If I were to give you a call, or converse over a glass or two of Pinot Noir, I suspect we could have a respectful and engaging discussion on the state of the country and our perceptions of who is best suited to move it in a positive direction. Contrary to your presumption, I wouldn’t interrupt what you have to say, but I would challenge anything I don’t agree with. I hope those ground rules would be acceptable.
Sorry maybe should have put "screeched" in quote marks. Just repeating the commenter's own characterization, not stating I agreed with it. Pence had bombast I guess is what I was trying to convey.
(That's $5000.00 designer suits Sir.) If this is what the Republican Party is fronting they've lost. I tried to watch the debate and quit about half-way through. I felt no sense of Party cohesion or clarity and I really wanted too. I'm not a Trump guy and would willingly support another candidate, but verbally throwing him under the bus at this point is, win or lose, capitulation to the vipers nest known as the DNC. America is rightfully outraged at the corruption of its DOJ and Judiciary. The candidates should have been united on that. It is indeed time for a generational passing of the political torch but when looking at Ramaswamy I couldn't help thinking of Obama and the old Waylon Jennings line "be careful of something that's just what you want it to be."
For me, it may have been the format and the number of the candidates on the stage, but subscription journalism has allowed Americans to go beyond "sound bite" politics. The American future is on the line. We deserve a better discussion. Europe has entered a dark age. Courts and political systems captured, thought and speech crime arrests and prosecutions, open criminal assault on citizens, billions to house refugees, nothing for its people. It is the intent of DNC/CCP/EU/Davos fascism to bring this Republic to its knees. And they're doing it. We've been hostage to a lie for over a decade now. Our cities are war zones, economy in ruins, the EU/Davos planned flooding of our Continent with illegals well underway. Our children can't read. And, the totalitarian Marxist "woke" D.E.I., which destroys good lives every day of the week, has decided that "we the people" are deplorable terrorists. Eight more years of DNC wicked and it's not going to matter anymore.
We need a candidate that understands the real implications of the Assange/Snowden travesty, the J/6 surveillance state psyop and the in your face corruption of the DNC/DOJ Trump prosecution. The assault on journalism and freedom of speech and saying it like it is, as with Russia Gate, the attempted Banana Republic imprisonment of viable political opposition to steal an election. It's not something else. The fats in the fire and if the DNC stays in power we are all going to burn.
Mike, I agree with most of what you say! But I would add RINOs to your list of the corrupt.
As far as Vivek’s price of suit. HE bought & paid for it, like Trump always has, yet that irks many people. I’m not distracted from his message by that. Like Trump, he’s coming into this fight not as a “polished politician” bought & paid for.
It may not be his time, but we desperately need & deserve better than what we have, or have to choose from.
Wow Mike you are exactly on point in this post. Where to from here, your last sentence says it all - we are going to burn if the Democrats come in again with Joe Biden at the helm. This election is the most important of our lifetime we have got to vote the current rubbish out!
Thank you for this clear articulation of what terrifies so many of us in this moment! I don’t care how much people hate Trump or each other. For all that is good and true in this world, we MUST unite and fight this evil. We can make a stand together, or be enslaved alone.
I agree with much of what you say here. But the GOP has ceased to be a serious party. With no platform, denial of climate change, openly hostile to women (a gun effectively has more right in some states) and a clownish, indicted dotard as their chosen "leader," Americans who long for actual, sensible governance remain SOL. I predict the wheels come off the bus this "election" cycle.
Mike R., to your comment about Obama and be careful...I voted for Obama once and Trump twice and yes I was "played" as many of us were, w Obama. But was surprised w Trump- I do not like his "style" ( I am being nice!) But liked his Policies- he Accomplished a Lot despite being new to Washington and being lied to, manipulated, deceived, its surprising he got anything done.
Having said all that, it's time for him to step away - let Vivek lead. I DO feel he is more than capable. Listen to any number of interviews he's done on YouTube:
All In Podcast, Grant Cardone, Bari Weiss 😉 & Honestly, Russell Brand. He had ties to no one
The Glenn Greenwald RUMBLE interview with VR was my first look. His focus on the Constitution has my interest. He is certainly saying the right things.
I disagree with this characterization of Ms. Haley. She is not my choice but I thought she did an outstanding job standing up to Vivek, who is my choice, and taking him on without coming across as a bitch. She went toe to toe with him in an inspiring display of skill and strength. Very similar to how she called out Trump back then.
I agree. She’s not my candidate and she may or may not be corrupt but she IS level-headed and has a reasonable view of how politics actually works. Also, I’ll never forget how she stood up and defended the USA fearlessly at the UN. Respect.
Why is there so little news coverage of this war? The media were all over Vietnam in the ‘60s and ‘70s. We are being lied to about Ukraine. If there were great victories why aren’t we seeing them?
“Why is there so little news coverage of this war”
You and I both know why Maureen, Ukraine is losing badly. Unlike the Vietnam era, the media has become corporatized and dutifully turns a blind eye. The media, deep state and compliant politicians have chosen to join in an incestuous circle jerk that facilitates perpetual war. Last night exposed the republican participants
Seriously, a Harvard/Yale multi-millionaire with zero public service credentials who couldn't even be bothered to participate in our illusion of democracy by voting in recent years...How does such a man offer 'a vision of hope" to the oppressed? I'm truly curious. Because to me he came across as an ego-driven pharma bro.
I noticed that too..... and clearly DeSantis was looking around for clues then raised his hand halfway. Vivek did a great job portraying how the rest of the candidates really are business as usual politicians who will enact zero change. Now he needs to own up to the stupid 9/11 comment, bury that, and move on to garner all of this momentum. If he leaves that out there for another 24 hours, MSM will hammer him for a year on it....”This guy thinks 9/11 was a government plot, etc, etc.”.
Maybe it's just me but I understood his 9/11 comment to be an analogy to January 6, saying that if there were federal agents on board the flights, we would have a right to know, just as we have a right to know if (as if it's in doubt) there were federal agents in the J6 crowd. And I think overall anyone who believes, after the last 7 years at minimum, that we the public get the whole story from the government about any topic, especially one that precipitated decades of war and the Patriot Act, is naïve at best.
Talk about whispering down the lane... Having watched Vivek address this issue during an interview, my understanding is that the involvement of the Saudi government has been suppressed by our government. This has directly affected the families of 9/11 victims suing the Saudi government for damages. In todays world of government complicity in censorship, propaganda and classifying everything remotely embarrassing to the deep state as "top secret", I share his concerns.
Good points, Timothy. Anyone who thinks we ever got the full story on 9/11 is in dreamland. Maybe it is not politically smart for Vivek to bring this up, but it needs saying, by somebody.
Vivek has the skills to overcome the 9/11 item. Besides, he isn't in a fight for the general election.
He has to win over more in his party. And no one articulates the reality of the woke ideology better than Vivek. El Salvador's president, Nayib Ortez, has done a remarkable job and he is about Vivek's age. I understand this is a poor parallel, but there are a very few individuals who can perform at the highest level even when relatively very young. Go Vivek!
Do you really think for an instant we will get any truth out of this government? The same government that hid the involvement of the USG in the Kennedy assassinations? Please...
Exactly. Anyone who has bothered to look into Vivek's concerns about 9/11 knows that he isn't a 'Truther.' What he wants to know is what the involvement of the Saudis was. And that is a legitimate question, considering that the plot was hatched and carried out largely by Saudi citizens (if they can be called citizens; aren't they more like subjects?). The speed with which the Bush Administration shielded the Saudis was deeply worrisome to me at the time.
I have no doubt the Saudi government is up to its eyeballs in 9/11. That said, Vivek is an idiot to pursue 9/11 Trutherism. One can want complete transparency on the Saudi role without thinking 9/11 was some plot hatched by federal agents to Steal our Precious Bodily Fluids.
Agreed on the overall idea. Unfortunately he went on CNN and aggressively said he was taken out of context by the original journalist, and demanded they release the actual audio. Then when you listen to the audio, he basically said what the journalist said he did. Just a strange mini hill to die on in that situation I thought. Could've been handled better, but overall shouldn't be a big issue. I just wanted him to put it to bed immediately so there's zero reason to talk about it.
I watched CNN after the debate, just to see the other side. They were surprisingly not terrible and actually made a few valid points. At least that was my take for the 10 minutes I gave it. I won't touch the demon spawn at MSNBC.
There are three groups of people with regard to 9/11: those who have spent zero time studying the scientific evidence of controlled implosion, which is irrefutable with regard to at least Tower 7 (which they also dont know about; those who HAVE studied the evidence and reached the only defensible conclusion, which is that this was a very large and complex conspiracy, and that at least some parts of our government lied to us; and the people who DID it.
47 Story skyscrapers do not collapse at near freefall velocity straight down because the curtains and a few file cabinets are on fire.
The core purpose of social conditioning has obviously been achieved when people demand to be told what they just saw. Criminals, equally obviously, are only too happy to comply.
It's good to be decisive but it also shows that he's bull-headed. Many of his ideas are unrealistic and unattainable. A leader needs to listen to his/her advisors and demonstrate a sense of reason. Character matters and I didn't see that in him.
Wasn’t the question about whether they would be against sending more aid to Ukraine? Desantis said that Europe has to step up but Vivek directly raised his hand as a “No more aid”.
That was my recollection. Vivek had his hand high in the air, which prompted the moderator to ask him for his opinion why first..... DeSantis sort of did a look-then-go halfway hand raise. Then mumbled something about Europe paying their share......
"Former president Trump has been indicted in four different states [DC not a state] on 91 counts. He will be will be processed tomorrow at the Fulton County jail for charges relating to the 2020 election laws."
Bret:
"You all signed a pledge to support the eventual republican nominee. If former president Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you would."
I’m in the same boat. I like Vivek but his position on the vaccine is troubling. He’s against mandates, but he made his drug development, and I think he’s in with big pharma. But I prefer him to trump, who is way too old and weighed down for my taste. Need new blood.
Forget the "Big Pharma" line! That's a Dem talking point and you are feeding into it. Yes. the pharmaceutical industry is in it for the profits, but what about the "Big Unions", and "Big Law"? Are you not concerned that those with the deepest pockets are influencing your vote? Look at their goals, to gain more power over government policy that negates your REAL concerns! See the enemy for what they are, not what the latest media hit pieces say!
Erin a bit naive at this point Robert, and also sounds a bit young. Everybody grows up eventually however, we still got to make the correct choices for 2024.
Ohhh... I didn't watch the debates, but sounds like Vivek might be the new top candidate. Who's in with Big Pharma? Hmmm... I may write an article called "why voting for the lesser of two evils is STILL evil"
I share some of those sentiments here, because I see some struggling with voting
I think trying to see political choices as a choice among evils is theologically mistaken. Jesus isn't running. We must always vote for the best imperfect candidate. Some years the options are simply better than others.
Correct. A greater sense of our history would help with a better objectivity. There is no perfect candidate. What matters is the survival of the Republic and the Constitution. The DNC is controlled by a band of international financial grifters. If the Republic and the Constitution stand, no matter what, so shall we.
Actually, there is a word for "voting for the lesser of two evils"--democracy. The whole process is way less frustrating when viewed through that lens, at least it is to me.
I heard him say on a podcast he picked up drugs that the Big Pharma was not interested in. I think he said five have received FDA clearance. His words.
I'm not sure what the "BIG " Deal is here- Big Pharma needs a huge ROI on the drugs they bring to market- they do an analysis during their research and then they determine if its worth pursuing. If not, the research becomes open to someone else. And there's a smaller market for that. Don't see a conflict.
It's like saying there's something "suspect " about me, if I happen to take a drug made by "Big Pharma"? Lol
My understanding is he picked up failed drugs and ran new studies in them that also mostly failed. But he made money along the way. He has a very snake oil salesman feel.
The case was against the Sackler family, the doctors and Curtis Lewis who worked for the FDA who passed the approval of the drug and then promptly went to work for Purdue. Watch Painkiller on Netflix it’s quite good.I’m in agreement with you about the people abuse, what worries me is the free flow of Fentanyl coming across our southern border from Mexico distributed by China to kill Americans. Nobody is doing anything about that. SF distributes free needles and safe places to shoot up just one of the big cities affected by this terror, least of all the current Democrat administration. I think we need new leadership to deal with America, not leadership that is more interested in a foreign war then “US”.
Problem is, addiction occurs even when you don't misuse.
Oxy, and even more with Fentanyl, is so potent that even people taking them under medical supervision become hooked. Sometimes after a few days, sometimes after just a few doses, bam, addicted.
Killing the severe pain for which these drugs were designed makes the reward worth the risk in many cases, but "misuse" is not even the primary reason so many millions became addicted. It's the nature of drugs that are hundreds or thousands times more powerful than morphine.
There's a reason the narco cartels sprinkle fentanyl into their bags of weed. the additive creates addicts who'd kill grandma for just one more reefer, and instantly. My wife needed fentanyl in her final days of metastatic cancer. Once, I accidentally touched a patch with one ungloved finger. My brain went cloudy, and my sisters, who were with me in her final days, saw me stagger. One little touch.
There are question marks. Every chance you get, he should be told he will have his feet to the fire. No 'Hundred Days'; he represents YOU; or he gets lost.
There’s no comparison. Obama was an empty suit of zero accomplishments. He fulfilled the left’s need for a black president. All the dirt dug up on him meant nothing, he was the left’s black Jesus.
Vivek has lots of ideas, some controversial, but he’s unafraid. We need something new. We need to get past Trump. I like the fact that Vivek acknowledges Trump’s accomplishments but then says, he’s 80. Let’s move on.
Agree, MCMaureen! Obama had NEVER built a company or ran a business. Lawyer, yes, (Harvard Law School), but his claim to fame was mostly “Community Organizer” Plus, a great orator!
Vivek Ramaswamy also has a J.D. from Yale Law School (BA from Harvard), and is a great orator! Unlike Obama, BEFORE becoming President, Vivek is an entrepreneur in his own right.
Forbes list Vivek’s net worth at around $1 Billion (last week’s report), so he is not “beholden to Big Donors” like Obama was. And Obama, like most politicians, got his wealth (became rich) off being a politician.
Also, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, Vivek’s wife, is a “doctor of medicine” (Yale School of Medicine), resident physician at NY Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia and Cornel. Currently, she’s an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Ohio State University. She’s also mother to two small children, and a very hands on, involved mother, as Vivek is a father.
In my humble opinion, Jill Biden (doctorate in education University of Delaware 2007), being referred to (mostly SINCE becoming 1st Lady) as “Dr. Jill” is a bit misleading and a far cry from “Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy.
Please, before ANY criticism, I absolutely give Jill Biden credit where credit is due! However, I have many friends AND relatives who have multiple Master Degrees along with their Ph.D. (My sister in law has two from University of Rhode Island, in English Literature and Philosophy), getting those while raising a toddler and being pregnant. She’s also a registered nurse, practicing when not lecturing in college).
Literally NONE of them go by “Dr.” but certainly Ph. D. is ALWAYS noted after their names. Even my s-i-l has her students call her Ms., Mrs. or by her given name. She certainly could be called Dr. if she chooses.
Would it be acceptable to use “Dr.” when being introduced? Absolutely, of course, and well deserved, but most will clarify with, “Please don’t, else I’ll be asked where I practice medicine, and I can’t deliver your baby or stitch your cut” followed with a laugh! So, I mean nothing derogatory or demeaning toward Jill Biden, Ed.D., doctorate in education.
If we are comparing and contrasting the two men, let’s look at their names. Barack Hussein Obama decided to use his African name, by his own admission, while at Occidental College, a predominantly white liberal arts college. Saying that “gave rise to awakening from a slumber of indifference and to his activism” and that “he wanted to reinvent himself in a more grownup way” Until then, being raised by his White mother & Grand parents, he was Barry Soetoro (Soetoro being his stepfather’s last name).
Also, he admits he enjoyed AND inhaled marijuana, alcohol and sometimes “getting high on cocaine” but realized his “fear of becoming addicted, like so many other Black men”. He did and does still smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, like many others!
Note: ironically, it was Hillary Clinton who brought up Obama’s drug use, when she was his chief Democrat rival, saying it would make him “vulnerable to Republican attacks if he became the party’s nominee”. Gotta love Hillary (the pot calling the kettle black)! Kinda like Kamala calling out Biden as a racist BEFORE being chosen as his VP.
Vivek Ramaswamy, like Obama, is also a “man of Color” Tho, like ALL Conservative people of Color, the Democrats refer to them as “White Supremacist People of Color” & Democrats won’t acknowledge Vivek’s race, because that’s only reserved for Blacks.
There is a lot of negative views of Vivek Ramaswamy from both Left & Right, but no mention, yet, of early drug use, or changing his name to help his image. Born and raised by Hindu parents, in Ohio & attending a Catholic High School, he’s not from a broken home or blended family. He was raised with a strong emphasis on education, developing a moral compass and work ethic. None of which will be viewed as benefit to him in this Presidential race, or Politics. Duh!
I don’t think he has a chance of becoming our President, but I would vote for him in a heartbeat over Biden, Kamala (Heaven forbid), Newsom OR Trump. (Sorry Trump supporters, but I fear the ever growing divide in our Country will only widen if Biden OR Trump become President, again! Their supporters are too angry!)
Lastly, Vivek is being ridiculed as naive, too young, NOT A Politician (that right there earns my vote!), etc. Plus, he does believe there are some “controversial drugs” he thinks should not be denied to Vet’s with PTSD, as well as some mentally ill patients.
Sorry for my TOO LONG post today! Now, on to prepare for the next Government shutdown crisis, since we have an election in the near future!
I want a president who gets America from A to B on time, within budget, with genuine warmth and humor, and when the occasional emergency derails the train, he or she knows how to mutter, "Aw, hells, that sucks," roll up his or her sleeves, and put it back on track without social media melodrama.
Right now, nobody on either side. I don't know that somebody that qualified to be our president would ever run for the job. Presidents have to take vast oceans of crap from everyone on everything--"I cured cancer!" "Yeah, dipshit, what about my hemorrhoids, huh, you worthless POS!"--and have little power without Congress on his or her side.
Who of any genuine worth would want such a job? It's why we get Biden vs. Trump instead of Jesus vs. Moses.
That’s Ron DeSantis. Period. Get over the personality issue. He can plow through the bs and knows how to get stuff done without having tantrums and his political opponents trying to toss him in jail.
You can’t run a country with constant impeachments and indictments from. Your enemies. It’s not fair, but it’s reality.
Sure, DeSantis gets stuff done. But Mussolini made the trains run on time and I think as little of his policies as I do those of DeSantis. Add the sour personality and he's a no-fly zone.
I'm not sure about the warmth part, but DeSantis seems to check your other boxes. He has governed through hurricanes and pandemics and taken a LOT of *&^*&^ thrown his way and he does not care.
Actually, I don't care what color he was, I just wish Obama had had better ideas rather than the ones he had. He did not improve life for anyone except himself and his family. He inflamed racism and made it worse when he should have been working for reconciliation. He did not leave the country a better place when he left it.
My impression of Vivek was less favorable. He has no experience in government at all, and experience counts in every profession. He insinuated that the other candidates were all "on the take" or in the pocket of special interests, which was baseless and unnecessarily insulting. We already have a candidate who specializes in baseless attacks. He seems to be bristling with ideas, but I doubt he would be able to enact much when he runs into Washington realities. And most of his substantive ideas are shared by the other candidates. He's glib, too. Christie's remark about Vivek being like Obama hit home with me.
I agree with you. He is like a young Dictator. Very Robotic and no understanding of humans. Right out of a Silicon Valley playbook. I thought he made Nikki Haley shine. She should be the new face of the Republican Party.
Big Noise, do you really believe those on stage with Vivek haven’t benefited from merely being politicians?
There are some, I hope, but once elected they all become wealthy and not from their salaries. Plus, with no term limits and unlimited job offers in DC, none are forced to return home to live in the real world of what they help create.
Unless or until Special Interest, PACs, Big Tech, Unions, etc., etc. are stopped, we will continue to have the best politicians money can buy!
Last point. All the money the candidates pull in from donors they get to put in their “War Chest” and that should be outlawed, in my humble opinion.
Seems running for office pays well.
I respect Vivek, like Trump, having their own money & aren’t dependent on Big donors. Yet, anyway.
I don't share the belief that they're all crooks, or just in it for money, though many certainly are. DeSantis, for example, has a very low net worth. As a Harvard educated lawyer with a compelling back-story, he would have made far more money with a silk-stocking law firm. And I don't care if a politician makes big dough after his days of public service are over. We can't expect top people to work for BS money. I just don't like them cashing in during their term of service, like Biden or Pelosi or Hillary. There are a lot of ethical rules that could be tightened.
I am okay with glib as long as there is a plan to back it up. Otherwise as much as I like what he has to say, and I do, I think he would be swamp chum in DC. I actually think Trump's lack of experience there is what did him in.
What did Trump in wasn't the lack of experience; that lack could have been made up for with a solid team and solid advisors around him. What did him in was right up until the votes were called he hadn't expected to win. The run was all about his ego and making personnel bank in his actual environment. He had a look of "WTF am I supposed to do now?" on Victory Night.
At least he has made his own big money. Did Barack ever make his own money in anything other than govt? And I am asking because I wasn't watching politics in the Obama lead up years. So maybe he had a real job outside of govt? I am sure Google would know.
Barack Obama worked as an attorney in Chicago for a small left wing law firm for 10 years. Before Tony Rezco gave Obama a sweetheart deal on his home, Rezco was an Obama client. Obama's practice focused on real estate financing of low income housing funded by the government and non-profits. This position was crucial to Obama for forming his political base.
After college, Obama went to Chicago and did work as a community organizer. He had entree to the left from his mentor in Hawaii Frank Marshall Davis, who was the publisher of the Chicago Star and a card carrying Communist. When Obama decided to go to Harvard Law School he set his sights on a political career.
For this information and more, turn to a series of 10 short articles by the Washington Examiner published in 2012 on the early life of Obama. To access, google Bishop Brazier and look for article 4 that focuses on Brazier. That should gain you access to the other nine. Brazier was a left wing activist, mentor and client to Obama. Look at the Woodlawn transactions.
I found these articles because I wanted to know how this young man from Hawaii formed his political base. This series tells you how he did it and it leaves you admiring his political skill.
I read “Radical in Chief”, a book that detailed his socialist ties during his early years in Chicago. Also another biography that did a deep dive into his past. No doubt born in Hawaii, but very likely his real father was the commie Frank Marshall Davis. I also have a book jacket bio from the 1990s where he states, “born in Kenya”. So Obama himself invented that lie early in life to increase his social cache. I remember the hilarious explanations that were offered to explain that book jacket bio during his campaign---oh, some confused copy editor wrote it, no one caught it. Uh huh.
Did you read them? I read the first one and sent him an email saying I hope you are what you say you are. The response was; send money. I didn't vote for him.
I read some excerpts. I saw nothing that made me want to read further. But that is sad that your genuine feedback was used to solicit money. My email, and sometimes texts, are filled with beggars. I consider that bad behavior and I learned long ago not to reward bad behavior. ;)
KTon, I posted about this! You are correct about Obama. Like many / most politicians, they get filthy rich from being politicians! We have the best ones money can buy!
Of course, Obama makes megabucks, like the Clintons & others from his invitation only speeches now.
He doesn’t rely on “big money”, if by that you mean wealthy donors. He’s spending his own money, which he has a lot of. He was a precocious venture capitalist who has done well for himself as the founder of several companies, especially Roivant Sciences, a biotech company that acquired several FDA patents before he sold his shares.
I’m neither defending nor rejecting him, but it’s obvious that the liberal media now lies about him incessantly, because that’s how they roll. I recommend doing your own research and maybe reading his book, Woke, Inc., which I found instructive, if a little over my head in the venture capitalism department.
That is the big query: he didn't make his money except by being creative in the buying and selling of companies; in the stockmarket. Not as a real entrepreneur.
To this point, a bulk of Vivek's funding has been self funding. I like Ramaswamy and Haley. Vivek seems to rely too much on prepared talking points, while Nikki seems to be able to speak off the cuff on most subjects. They both bring very different skill sets to the table. At this point, I would like to see a Haley/Ramaswamy ticket.
Or. And stay with me here. The Media wants to see Vivek (and Trump) further divide the GOP to ensure a Biden 2024 re-election. Neither candidate can win a general election but what they can do is generate lots of ad-revenue for the Media.
I have mixed feelings about that. One, I do not care for political dynasties. Two Iam troubled by the junkie thing. I have dealt with some heroin addicts and IMO they are permanently altered people. That being said, never say never.
Ben, Vivek hasn’t done a thing until he confronts the man he wants to replace, Donald himself. Vivek (2.0) has to defeat Trump (1.0) - and in order to do that he has to tell the MAGA lytes that he can do better than Trump and he has to say why he can by indicating where Trump went wrong. Until he does that, I won’t be convinced he’s a serious candidate. Vivek has been walking on eggshells trying not to upset Trump’s base - but in order to win, he has to go there and call a spade a spade. Maybe he’s hoping the indictments will do all that dirty work for him..
Yes Ben. VR is what the country needs. His non-political resume and previous anonymity allow him to say what he thinks. As voters get to know him let's hope they realize perfection doesn't exist.
Disagree. Those running the country have the experience and are not doing it well. Experience is only one trait. Courage, intelligence, understanding human nature and history are as, if not more, important.
We'll have to agree to disagree. I have all the traits you mention, plus very experienced in my profession, and that doesn't qualify me to be the President.
Nah the sunset is not enough. I wish Trump all the best health but things won't change for the better for the republican party until he heads off to the big Mar-a-Lago in the sky.
“This is somebody who can unite us, not further divide us.’ There’s so much acrimony in our country, and it’s not just about a party. It’s about a message.”
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Hate this sooooooo much. I do not want unity with you people I want freedom. You know where they have a shitload of unity? North Korea.
Mao Zedong’s roadmap for revolution was called ‘Unity Criticism Unity’. First you create the desire for unity and then you criticize everything relentlessly in order create a mandate for unity under a new framework and then you eliminate everyone who won’t conform. Unity is a cult.
If you don’t want unity, what/who do you want? Just curious. Do you like the strong division amongst the media? Maybe unity that would die down with a little bit more unity. I’ll take turning down the heat a little any day!
You will *never* turn down the heat until Washington DC is dismantled. Every year $7 trillion is at stake and they will kill you for it.
Back to the states. Everyone back to their corners.
Without that the heat will continue to be turned up until they have enough chaos to justified enforcing unity/conformity/totalitarianism with real crackdowns on dissent.
People who are ‘exhausted’ with all the ‘fighting’ and who don’t realize what is being done will support the crackdowns.
Yes he has done the best job of articulating this plan of anyone. DeSantis would be second.
But I don’t think it can be done under current circumstances which is why I am lobbying for a scenario where we have a catastrophic collapse with Democrats fully in control.
Doesn’t take much lobbying because I think this will happen regardless. A Republican cannot win the Presidency.
But Kevin is right I think. It cannot be done from.DC. If we had a strong Congress maybe, but we do not. I am thinking judiciary and Constitutional amendments.
Lynn, my fear, if the WOKE Left Democrats are successful, we won’t have judiciary not bought & paid for + no one to make those Constitutional amendments. (Right isn’t much better!). Plus the Dems are hell-bent on destroying the Supreme Court as we know it.
I’ve been saying for years we NEED term limits, but once a politician gets a toehold you can’t dynamite them out!
I think elections are bought and paid for, certainky federal elections. I understand your pount and agree to an extent but the only hope of combatting centralized control is the states. States can pass Constitutional amendments. And in my opinion Trump's legacy will be his judicial appointments and nominations.
What is “the division amongst the media” exactly? I’m not seeing it at all. MSM are in unity that Trump is competing with Hitler as the most vile human in history and pretend Biden is competent. Regurgitated talking points that thinly disguise the disgust they have for the unwashed half of the country “stupid enough to vote for Trump, a convicted felon” is a bizarre way to promote unity. Trust in media is on par with trust in our politicians which is near 10% last I checked. Unity might as well be a derivation from the word unicorn.
DMang, the MSM is nothing but the propaganda arm of the WOKE Left! You’re absolutely right in your assessment!
If the Left (and RINOs) could somehow get rid of the “Deplorable, Ignorant, gun toting White Supremacist (which includes Conservative people of Color) they could continue printing worthless money, sending billions overseas while neglecting the masses here, continue forcing ridiculous EVs & 15 Minute Cities on us, continue with wide open borders, which is making us a 3rd World Country they so naively believe is impossible under THEIR regime.
We desperately need a sincere uniter as President. I’m feeling very pessimistic.
I don’t disagree with you…but you didn’t mention any conservative news media. And there lies the division…dem media vs conservative media. Sure they all have their narratives that they follow, but now it’s just so blatant. They’re the cause of the division in this country. They promote it. Democrats are disgusted with Fox News, all conservative radio and more…and republicans are disgusted with cnn, msnbc, abc, nbc, cbs, npr..and many more. It’s all so so gross.
According to polls over 90% of people in news identify as liberal. So let’s not pretend Fox and conservative radio are on an even playing field with the left. Most of the garbage presented as news comes from liberal journalists and news organizations who log roll and quote each other. If people continue to believe them they’ll have no reason to stop lying to us. They have no interest in ‘healing the divide’ because that shit makes money! The division isn’t a left-right thing anyway. That’s a diversion the wealthy elites created to keep you from paying attention to the real problem; us against them. And they have plenty of useful idiots in the press to protect them. They manufacture news to keep us at each other’s throats and tell us to stare at our IPhones and eat bugs while they dine on Filet Mignon in private jets.
The reality is, unity has been killed off possibly forever. Maybe I’m wishful thinking, but I think Vivek is campaigning on basic values that used to make this country a success but have been lost. We need that foundation back for the USA to be looked at with respect. Currently, we’re a joke across the globe.
SOMEONE reads history (Thumbs Up!). I think its not Unity that people want its Respect(?), Disagree without being Disagreeable(?), Something we used to be able to do.
Dear Kevin...there is truth in your comment...but...as BHO proved in '08 and '12 the ONLY thing that matters is winning..."unity" is a soft and squishy concept that means nothing but will pull in a large percentage of the population which has become weary of the 24/7, media driven, apoplectic anger that seems to dominate every walk of life today...Vivek is very smart and he seems to have figured that out and has made it part of his strategy...it seems to be working so far in these early days...g.
“"unity" is a soft and squishy concept that means nothing but will pull in a large percentage of the population“
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Most people are easily manipulated adolescent scumbags and that’s why we are doomed? Agreed. A point of unity!!
If you remember what happened after Obama was elected in the midterms after he was exposed as a con artist with shitty plans; that is why I have suggested letting Democrats win and let them do all of their communism full tilt, which 100% will fail catastrophically.
BUT the upside is, if they are fully in charge they will get blamed. I would not suggest this if we weren’t already -$35 trillion with hyperinflation and a supply chain held hostage; but that’s where we are so we are probably already doomed and our best strategy is making it obvious who destroyed the country so we can rebuild properly.
We do not want to be fighting over the steering wheel when we crash into the iceberg. We want everyone to be watching Democrats firmly holding the steering wheel when we hit the iceberg.
Kevin- what makes you think they will get blamed? Has anyone blamed them for Hillary's emails/Russian collusion? or the dismissal of Hunter's laptop, and the total corruption of the Biden family in general? Yes- we talk about it here, and Matt Taibbi and Glen Greenwald etc. are voices that speak the truth, but are the majority of voting Americans listening, or are they listening to NYT, NPR, WaPo and MSNBC?
Kate, I was lamenting over the same stuff until my hubby pointed out to me - with facts! - that the majority of Americans in fact do not listen to left wing media- or even MSM (largely the same thing now). We are way past everyone hanging on every word out of Cronkite’s mouth. Just look at subscription rates and viewership numbers. It’s tiny - even cumulatively. Vast majority of Americans are tuning out left leaning rags and outfits.
Fox dominates - but even then (and Fox is questionable now anyway), the reality is that “news” and opinion sources are coming now mostly online, and it is a hugely segmented space. Substack is just one of now literally thousands of sources. Media is much more democratized - which is a very good thing. It will be impossible for the left to squash every corner of dissent. They can try - and are trying - but it’s whack a mole. Good luck to them!
Thanks for giving me a little hope Sarah! I'm in a "blue bubble" world, and am amazed at how no one will say a word against Biden! They all parrot MSNBC and NPR!
Absolutely. I’m in a dark blue city, big blue bubble, too. It’s nonstop crazy.
Emblematic: A woman from church borderline accosted me in the grocery store saying “Racism is everywhere - it’s in the air we breathe! It’s in everything. Don’t you see that??? Why can’t you see it’s in all of us? Every white person is guilty!” She was practically spitting. We were at a freakin grocery store. 🙄 Big MSNBC and NYT gal. I feel for these people. They’re being driven into madness.
It’s easy to think everyone is equally insane all across the country. But if you want some peace of mind, just look at the voting map by county. There is common sense and sanity outside of the blue-core cities.
A point to be made is how the Democrats & MSM are floating the idea that another “shutdown is coming with mask and all the trimmings”. Which of course makes sense with another big election coming soon!
Shutdowns = mail in voting
and as someone once said, “It doesn’t matter who votes. What matters is who counts the votes”
This is why I referenced Obamacare. They had supermajorities and they passed it and then they got smoked. It doubled everyone’s insurance premiums.
The media will try to cover as always but sometimes they just can’t. It has to be really obvious because most people are stupid. But if it’s really obvious they will lose.
What there is zero doubt about is that 51-49 tug of war results in them winning gradually without anyone being able to tell why things are worse.
Good point! But I do find most people seem to prefer to live in a delusional world- where they put up a Ukranian flag and say "We stand w/ Ukraine" and support cluster bombing, but are uncomfortable crushing an invasive spotted-lantern fly because they don't believe in killing living things! I think most people don't like to face reality!
Obamacare was just the tip of the insurance iceberg. Property and casualty insurance is about to follow the same course. Just wait until the McMansions can't be insured for replacement values. Insurance is truly a free market creature and is about risk assessment between knowledgeable insurers and the insured. It does not work with guv'mint regulation.
Most people are stupid? You weaken yourself by throwing mean-spirited jabs. I don't want to end up in a world filled with hate, othering, and finger pointing. You might want to check yourself there - your points will have a lot more power.
Kevin, as much as I enjoy your posts, you are dead wrong on this! If the Dems take full charge and FAIL, the MSM will inevitably blame the GOP. And since most of the voters in this country are disconnected from reality, they will go with the loudest and most insistent voice, the standard Democrat talking points. NEVER give up power and fight like hell to keep it!
Yes! Drowned people don't care who was at the wheel when the ship hit the iceberg. Joe Biden and friends will take the lifeboats and leave the rest of us to sink.
I disagree. Those in the water know who was at theHelm.
I think that is why there is such a push to destroy the GOP now. Four indictments of a former President reveals the sheer desperation. Winter is coming for the Democrats and unless they destroy the competition it will be all on them.
Kevin, I wish I had your confidence the Left & RINOs would implode, but I well remember their supporters saying, “I’d rather see us in another recession than let Orange Man Bad win again”
Ironically, the 2 main “voters” for the Left are 1) Elites, who won’t be effected up in their mega million mansions 2) Those who depend on Government checks & Food Stamps and who live off the Government tit … meaning pretty much ALL Government employees, teachers, College Professors, Climate Change Activist, ALL other Activists, and the list goes on!
Every time anything negative happens under the Democrat rule, it’s just deflected with “But, But, But Trump whataboutism” or “Putin did it” or “It’s Climate Change” or just fill in the blank, but don’t blame them.
Maybe people really are stupid. They certainly think we are.
I'm still holding faith that a new American national fact/truth based dialogue is having an effect. E.Musk would have had no platform for the Twitter Files without subscription journalism. And, it scared the perps into a Congressional hearing. Another "tell" is the general acceptance that the MSM holds no credibility. There is power in a rise in citizen consciousness. A Republican presence strong enough to hold the House, or even capture the Senate would be a start. The fight is the psyop holding the conversation in thrall. I think we've made a start.
Yes, you make an excellent point. Since the Left controls the narrative, unity means the Democrats in power. But there is no reason to bring Jesus into this unless you are trying to piss off people who would otherwise support you.
Thanks! Made my day. 1984 was all about unity. I can't find the exact quote, but something Karl Popper said about science comes to mind. Science advances through disagreement, not consensus. The same thing applies to a lot of things including culture and politics.
I think the unity we need is behind core principals. Not total ideology. A big issue I see is that there are people who flat out do not want America to be America. They want to do away with Free Speech and Freedom of Religion, etc. I want unity behind the core values that the country is supposed to be founded on. Disagreeing past that is fine and normal. But if we have significant portions of people trying to take away the founding principals, then we cannot function as a democratic society.
Well maybe he could unify those of us who want freedom?! The haters are not gonna join you... don't worry. They are too far gone into orange mad bad psychosis.
Exactly. That "destroying our democracy" BS as they play footsie with the FBI which shows they do not know what democracy is, much less what Constitutional republic means.
Then call it citizenship or something more palatable. Would you recommend the chaos we have now over a country where the citizens believe we are going in the right direction, who support the government, whose media are objective, whose experts stay in their lane and provide unbiased advice? I would!
The chaos we have now is 100% all because we have tried to unify government power in Washington DC and tried to eliminate the concept of red states and blue states. Just the United States!!
(Obama is such a duplicitous sack of shit)
If you have 50 people living in a house with ONE television you’re going to notice a dramatic uptick in fights over the television.
We need DIVISION, actual diversity, not unity. We are DIVIDED into fifty states on purpose and the totalitarians among us have been on an unrelenting propaganda campaign to equate this with divisiveness and promote ‘unity’ which means conformity which means totalitarianism.
"Actual diversity" would be nice. Nebraska has a new childcare course (funded by covid dollars of course) and the instructor was raving about the diversity of the first class. Out of 12 people, there were 10 Hispanics, one black, and one unknown. This is what the left calls "diversity."
I’m staying in a hotel in NY that costs $10,000 per month and a Catholic (communist) nonprofit showed me how to sign up for $2200/mo in cash benefits and I get to vote now!!
How’s the thing in Hawaii going? Are they still shooting down private drones that fly near the origin of the fire?
Okay here goes. 1) "[R]idding ourselves of slavery" resulted in an entire class of people being cast out without food, clothing, shelter, or the means to survive. While there were some talented people who did okay and some private charity that provided assistance many, many, many humans were left to languish. Some to this day so stop blowing that ridding ourselves of slavery horn as if it were Gideon's trumpet. Also there is an abundance of t4aff8cked persons in this nation and that is slavery. 2) Big businesses up north profited from slavery, and arguably have really, really, really profited from the explosion of federalism post-war. To the point where we are very close to every citizen being told which plantation (corporation) to report to. Pull your head out of the sand before it is too late.
Dividing populations into groups and inciting them to fight amongst each other is also one of the traditional tactics that is used to dominate and oppress. And consequently, one of the keys to throwing off the oppressors is to get the various groups to understand that their primary opponent isn't each other, but rather the oppressor.
As a reform movement, MAGA will never succeed unless it brings in large numbers of Blue Tribe people. A big reason that MAGA is as powerful as it is today is because it has already brought in many formerly blue people.
No Nation can survive without some form of foundational unity. That is what makes it a Nation distinct from some other Nations. In most places, this unity is derived from ethnicity and a shared cultural heritage. The US is not an ethnic state, so we're somewhat more fragile in that sense, but we still have shared political and cultural traditions, which we used to celebrate and inculcate into the population. This doesn't at all mean that all Americans need to think alike, just that they need to share a commitment to liberal democracy and constitutional government and the various related things. And by the same token it doesn't mean conservatives continually compromising principles in order to get along with the Dems.
The country needs greater unity under the positive principles Vivek articulates. That's as far from North Korea as you can get. There's nothing positive about the hatred and acrimony that every day seem to increase.
I agree. Freedom!! Because we are definitely being fk'd with. I can believe VDH or my eyes. The assault on the middle class and "we the people" is intentional. The pro-corporate anti-community Covid shut down. The imposition of the anti-small business narrative that accompanied it. The we're looking the other way riots that burned small business to the ground. The DNC conflation of revolution with crime. The encouraged we ain't prosecutin' looting, car jacking and murder to make the streets and public transportation unsafe for the citizen. The capture and distortion of language. Thinking there is no method behind the madness is naive in the extreme. As in Europe now, the message that the victim of crime is as likely to be persecuted as the perp is also in the mix. We are all experiencing the death by a thousand cuts warfare on our civilization. Platitude's no longer serve. The realpolitik is and will remain the Constitution and the free citizen. The rest is smoke and mirrors.
He acts like he just came down from the mount. It’s ok if you think you’re better than everyone else, you basically have to if you run for President, but he finds a way to communicate his disdain for normal folks with every long, slow breath he takes.
Yeah, Pence and Christie (and Hailey to some extent) seemed so stale. Their time has passed. I found it especially gross for Pence to take credit for the “Trump Pence administration” while also moralizing about his vaunted loyalty to the constitution on January 6th. What he did was a ceremonial action and a no-brainer, and anyone would have done it.
“Anyone would have done it” there were literally thousands of Trump supporters outside the capital and loads of Trump administration people inside the Whitehouse that were vehemently trying to do the opposite. Give credit where it is due, Pence stood up to his own party, his own President and his own supporters to do the right thing and avoid a constitutional crisis.
Yes, as I was listening to Pence last night I viewed him as a humble servant. But upon reflection and reading some comments, I’m of the opinion that he was more arrogant than humble.
His dismissal of Vivek was out of character if one is to believe his devotion to the church and humility.
I watched part of the debate with my 96 year old neighbor. She looked at me and said about Pence, and Christy, they both think they're the cock of the walk. Lol.
Pence’s earnestness that people dislike is his earnest desire to win with decency and integrity and compromise…….with communists. This cannot be done, especially when your opposition has a totalitarian grip on all the necessary levers and is willing to slice your throat and will paint you, successfully, as human trash no matter how decent and fair and compromising you are.
The glibness of Carlson and Trump that people like is not glibness; it’s derisiveness and mockery of the idea that we are just doing normal politics at this point. We are not.
You might have lots of normal friends who still vote for Democrats. That’s not who we are up against and that is not who controls the levers. The people controlling the levers are all elite progressive Marxist parasite sacks of shit. This is not a negotiation.
As an example, Mayorkas is not going to secure the border if you compromise and offer amnesty in exchange. He’s going to take the amnesty and tell you to fuck yourself and keep the border open and ask Congress to raise your taxes to pay for the illiterate gangbangers he’s importing. Then he’ll laugh when your daughter gets killed by a drunk driver from El Salvador.
I am fine with glib if it can be backed up. But I giggled at your comment (not at you, just the comment) because I find Carlson's earnestness annoying. I like Pompeo's straightforward brand of earnestness.
Pence was outstanding during the latter part of the debate. National Review expressed amazement that he seemed to be winning it, so counter-intuitive, but he was very strong even if audience hated him.
The moderators were quite incompetent. In future debates, get rid of he silly bell to signal the end of time. Just turn off the microphone when time's up, that shouldn't be hard.
I thought I was the only person thinking that. Pence to me has always been as exciting as wet toast. He certainly isn't the shiny new thing but in my mind he held his own. I don't care that he found Jesus and I try to look at the complete ticket. Pence/Haley?
I find myself supremely surprised to be in the position of defending Pence, but I thought he did really well. I went into the debate expecting to not even consider him and yet I consistently found myself nodding along to his answers. Even on abortion! I am a GenZ woman and I was shocked that he took a moderate position that many can agree on! I have immense respect for anyone that is willing to put the needs and desires of this country above their own personal beliefs. I like Vivek but honestly, American needs a leader who can work with those they disagree with and I think Vivek showed that he’s not that guy.
You and I agree that rolling over your opposition is not productive for this country.
But I think that you are wrong to imply that working across the aisle makes a leader a “sucker”. America won’t survive as a Democracy if we elect someone who sees half of Americans as losers who need to be “re-educated” and this applies to BOTH parties.
We all need to remember that Twitter, Substack, and the internet in general, doesn’t represent people at their best. When I walk out my front door, I find that the majority of Americans want to work together.
We absolutely can disagree and still work together. That is the beauty of a free country, we don’t have to hold the same beliefs.
Appreciate the support! I’m hopeful that my generation is starting to draw away from hyper polarization. I’ve seen a lot more discussion about the effects of constant social media use on our perception of ourselves and each other.
I used to be pretty far left until I took a break for social media and started paying attention to those I encountered in real life. I found that even when I disagreed with someone’s politics, we could almost always find common ground on our values and hope for this countries future. America is tough, we will find a way forward together.
I couldn’t help but laugh last night thinking about Joe and Mika in high drama form this morning. I used to check in to see them, but I know the first half hour is dedicated to Trump! They sure loved him before 2016!
I thought Nikki Haley’s response to the abortion topic was excellent, something republicans have needed to say for decades! It’s so simple, but instead republicans would rather lose an election because of this one topic than compromise. But I’m still a Vivek fan.
Yeah, being practical is not popular at this moment in history. A singularly stupid moment. Andrew Klavan of The Daily Wire said something along the lines that, while the Republican base thinks that voting for anything short of full abortion bans is evil, what is actually evil is voting in such a way that more abortions happen because you virtue-signaled instead of winning.
Voting for mothers to murder their children (at any stage of development) in order to boost a party’s odds of winning a political contest is most certainly evil. Better to lose the nation than your soul.
I certainly hope for Heaven and appreciate your good wishes. Nonetheless, if it’s ok for mothers to kill their children at any point then those little lives are worth nothing. Aborted children are just as dead at six-weeks prior to birth as they are at six-months prior to birth -- or indeed if they are killed after delivery. Think of it: mothers in this country demanding the continued “right” to kill their children while political parties negotiate over when those children can be killed. We’re a nation of the damned and deserving of any fate that befalls us.
A 6, 12 or 15-week abortion ban is better than the Democrat view that abortion should be allowed up to the time of birth. Holding out for a complete ban will result in the Dems' position winning the day. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Disagree from a Utilitarian perspective. I'd rather save 100,000 children than 0 children. I'd rather save every child murdered in the 2nd or 3rd trimester (and mourn those aborted in the first trimester) than allow unrestricted abortion up until birth because the platform is politically untenable. If it's about saving lives, saving those lives is a far greater purpose than making a statement.
Ultimately, it's about saving as many lives as is possible, not about pretending the impossible is possible.
Amen. My mind was changed. I used to kind of think abortion was none of my business. Then, 2 things happened: I saw this awful feminist comedian do a “comedy” routine actually CELEBRATING abortion. I literally almost threw up. I couldn’t believe the inhumanity. Next, a friend of mine told me that he wants to commit suicide when he’s “too old to enjoy life anymore”. I suddenly saw that our entire culture has become a death cult. We just can’t change that by ramming down laws that we don’t even have the power to pass. Just as actual civil rights for non-whites took 100 years to accomplish and was incremental, abolishing abortion will be the same, if we are to succeed. When you don’t have the biggest “army”, you have to use strategy and tactics to win.
Unfortunately in the realm of politics we don’t get to vote for Jesus. Only for imperfect humans in an imperfect world. It’s always about voting for the least evil thing. True good is never on the ballot.
She also said India and China needed to bow to our preachy foreign policy-that deducts points for countries that aren’t on the woke bandwagon-to reverse the climate crisis. “Be like America” isn’t selling well around the globe anymore.
Haley was the runner-up for sure. She came off as the most personable and electable candidate; some cross between populism and practicality without the oiliness of DeSantis (even though I'm a huge fan of DeSantis on policy).
However, her unabashed support for Ukraine is the one platform I can't get behind. American money - and lives - should not be spent on a creepy totalitarian state on the other side of the world.
“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero.”
If this is 9/11 Truther territory (which in common usage implies that Israel and/or the US government set bombs in the Twin Towers, and similar) then the definition is changing. I think the agreed / decided negative media message against Ramaswamy will be something else, not enough meat here.
Listen to Megyn Kelly's analysis of Vivek's comments (episode 613 on YT). Her take is that he was pandering to the truthers in the party. Which is almost as bad as believing it. And what's with the Truth slogan? Copied from Trump, and looking a lot like Pravda.
They took his quote out of context, a type of misquoting. He is not actually proposing or musing that federal agents were on the hijacked 9/11 airplanes, he is asking about federal agents in the crowd on the Jan 6 riot and stating that the Federal gov't lies about important events (which is factually clear, including the 9/11 events - sometimes for good reason and other times perhaps now).
I thought Vivek! pretty much self-destructed with his hey, look at me! I am the smartest kid in the class routine.
I agree that Haley did well, I thought Scott came across as mature and thoughtful (he appears to be the only candidate that understands that 6 week abortion bans are a political killer),and I thought DeSantis was better than I expected (he was the best by far on the border issues and combatting drug trafficking).
Pence and Asa were awful, Christie is a bad standup comedian, and the Governor of ND seems like a smart, earnest guy who has no chance.
I’m not a R so I don’t get to choose, but any of the top three with Biden on a debate stage would an ugly sight for Dems.
Interesting how different the takeaways from the debate can be.
On Vivek - Christie called him amateur hour and Christie was right. Pretty clear he's just riding on Trump's coattails. Also, to say that he is going to give Trump a pardon NO MATTER WHAT when he gets into office is just gross.
Haley for me won the debate. She was strong, thoughtful, and clear and I appreciated that she was willing to speak the truth even it it wouldn't play to the crowd. Scott had some good answers but missed a chance to insert himself into the conversation.
DeSantis also had some decent lines but also some bad moments where he looked indecisive and didn't answer the question. He still looks like he's trying to force it rather than being genuine and I say this as a full-throated DeSantis supporter.
Asa is done after tonight. And while I think Burgum is one of the more interesting candidates he's just a bit too unknown and he didn't gain much traction.
Disagree with you on Pence and Christie. Were they amazing? No, but certainly not awful. Christie is still the only one for me who is willing to take on Trump.´
Yours reflects my take too. I'm in entire agreement with you. Don't know how old you are. i'm GenX. So with that said, I think our take is irrelevant. I think Vivek's the only one who understands our country and world has fundamentally changed, and to win is to be a social media star. He really is Trump 2.0 in that respect and he's the only one from last night who I think came out looking to have a breathing chance of stealing the spotlight from Trump.
People today want a lot of superficial social media play with a dose of crazy. Vivek looks like he got just the right touch without crazy going overboard. I'm saying this objectively. For me his behavior looked not seriously presidential but I guess being seriously presidential is so yesterday. And after Trump and worse Biden maybe the White House is permanently a clown house now.
I'm a millennial. And I agree that it's pretty disheartening to see a guy who is so obviously unserious on so many issues steal more of the spotlight. That said, politics has always been about charisma, connecting with voters, and bringing yourself into the limelight and Vivek is very good at that. Also in fairness to him: I agree with some of the things he says and he is clearly a very smart guy.
I just think in today's climate it's a mix of what you're saying (social media) mixed with a large part of the GOP base that is so deeply "anti-establishment" that "being presidential" is seen as a bad word, not something to be cherished. And there's a lot of airtime for a guy like Vivek who (in my opinion) lacks substance on serious issues but is not part of the "establishment." He is, as you say, a kind of Trump 2.0.
And herein lies the issue for DeSantis and his performance last night. He's trying to win Trump voters without having the charisma or the natural political talent to do so. In trying to do that, he is coming off as very inauthentic and almost awkward at times. He's pushing away anti-Trump voters (like myself) who are moving to Christie/Haley/Scott, while also being not MAGA enough to win Trump's base who are either sticking with Trump or supporting Vivek.
"I just think in today's climate it's a mix of what you're saying (social media) mixed with a large part of the GOP base that is so deeply "anti-establishment" that "being presidential" is seen as a bad word, not something to be cherished."
"and to win is to be a social media star" ... you mean, to win a GOP primary. Neither of these guys are winning a General Election. Trump lost to a 80-yr old zombie in 2020 who couldn't even tell you what social media is. And it'll happen again in 2024 if these clowns win the GOP primary.
No, sorry. 2020 is in the past. Whatever happens to Vivek, he's a glimpse into the future. All you need is to look around at the kind of jobs in the market that old hats like me can never get a foot in anymore. There's a new economy happening as we speak. Another thing is how the TikTok generation communicate. Even a regular user with an account is a master of PR like none in my generation could ever be (or ever wanted to be). Vivek has a pulse on what's happening going into the future. Things are not going back to the Biden era. The Dems are going to end up taking a page out of their playbook when Biden finally gets out of the way.
I honestly say this as someone who probably line up more with you than them.
Christie has a spur in his saddle because he sucked up to Trump and got nothing for it. So, he’s on the revenge tour. Not saying he isn’t serious, just that his angle is deflecting votes away from Trump--and ideally towards himself instead, but I think if had a hand in keeping Trump off the ticket, it would be “mission accomplished.” Kind of funny that he’s the one demanding accountability for Trump; wasn’t Christie the guy who caused hours-long traffic on a bridge just to screw over a political rival? He does give off a bit of a Kingpin vibe.
That said, from a pure spectator standpoint, he’s very good at these things. From the quick wit to the casual, podium-engulfing stance, he’s certainly entertaining. He has some good points, and winning two terms in a blue state is a bonus when it comes to Getting Things Done. Did you see when Martha asked if he’d “send back” the remaining illegal immigrants and he said, “Yes”? She was tongue tied lol as it was so unexpected.
Haley had some good points and did well, but is too unabashedly neocon.
Desantis is thd best to win the election against a Democrat. No other candidate on state. Not Vivek not anyone else. Independants won't come out for Vivek.
Republicans always think about the primary and never the whole election
As an Independent I can vouch for that. Vivek is a used car salesman, and a grifter. When your platform starts with “God is real” you don’t deserve to be taken seriously.
I’m on board with Ralph; I must have watched a different debate. Vivek had his ass handed to him by nearly everyone and Christie’s line about Vivek being ChapGPT was the most memorable line of the night and a perfect summary. Vivek looked like a shallow, cheesy used car salesman. His lines seemed like he was reading a teleprompter with the latest polling numbers to determine his answers. Personally I will vote for any republican over Biden except if Vivek is the nominee and I’ll just stay home.
His line about bringing on more coal plants made him look like a halfwit. It doesn’t take an energy expert to know that coal needs to be phased out for natural gas and nuclear electric generation, even for those of us who think wind and solar aren’t viable solutions. He’s just another financial sector parasite and pharma bro with more money than sense and the populist movement was ignited partially by the 2008 financial crisis and the lack of accountability by the perps.
Listening to Bari’s interview of him where he spoke at her rather than to her, along with his smug demeanor persuaded me he’s got some kind of cluster b personality disorder. Like that’s just what the republicans need, another authoritarian, personality disordered candidate.
DeSantis seems like a stiff, but managed to avoid any new damage. He’s probably the best of the bunch at management capability as demonstrated by his leading Florida through the last three years in better shape than almost any other state. Of all the candidates, he has the best odds of getting the country back on course. But he sucks at campaigning and has all the charisma of a mud turtle, and his 6 week abortion ban was an unnecessary shot in his own foot, particularly after seeing the red wave collapse before the midterms in the aftermath of Dobbs.
Haley did well, coming across as knowledgeable and high integrity until she went on her shrieking rampages, when she seemed like the republican version of Kamala. And her war hawk policies make her a dinosaur after 50 years of stupid, wasteful foreign forever wars.
Scott seemed competent and smart, but he also answered the questions he made up rather than the questions asked, and so seemed like a typical evasive politician.
Overall this debate was just an awful spectacle and confirmed my suspicions that this country is utterly lost. We knew before the debate that Trump would be the nominee, and nothing last night demonstrated any reason to believe otherwise.
It’s hard to believe the the republicans could put that many people on stage and not have any stars emerge. RFK, jr is looking better all the time.
Good observations. The “war hawk” was evident for sure. I’m kinda surprised that all of the candidates did not ban together to try and convince their R constituents that Trump can’t win vs. the democrats. He lost 2018, 2020 and 2022. But none of them did this. Stupid in my opinion. Especially because Trump was not there to defend himself. What better way to attack ?
Haley will get us into war over Taiwan for microchips which is hilarious because going to war for the microchips………immediately takes said microchip production offline at which point we are screwed AND in a second war.
The military is currently run by perverts parasites and intellectuals. We ran out of ammunition 18 months into a medium-sized proxy war despite having a $900 billion annual military budget plus $120 billion supplemental for the proxy war. Do you have any idea how much corruption has to be going on for that to happen? We cannot fight until that place is totally cleaned out.
That was a Vivek response to her attacking him on Ukraine. I’m from SC too and was pretty disappointed if unsurprised at the poor showing from Scott and Haley. Neither of them seem to seriously think they can win. Haley legit seems to be in it for campaign cash and/or a future lobbying gig for the MIC, and Scott’s probably angling for a diversity VP pick
Not sure what you were watching. Haley won the debate running away. Vivek did not acquit himself well - his foreign policy positions were amateur hour and he exposed himself as a flip-flopper. Pretty clear he's just trying to ride Trump's coattails into some kind of a cabinet position.
He wants to win. Anyway and anyhow. I'm finding him more and more like St. Paul: wanting to be all things to all men and not beat the air. I'm leaning more to he wants the White House to make bank like Lincoln wanted to save the Union. Whatever makes bank for him is probably what he'll do in the White House; just as Lincoln wanted the Union saved; and whether or not slavery was ended or fortified was irrelevant. The man sounds more and more the phony to me.
That wasn't my impression. I think Haley did really well. Other than Vivek, she was the only one IMO who came out looking better. Before the debate I thought she was a lightweight. Last night she proved herself to be much more IMO. She gave great answer at every turn, and her decent stage presence. Honestly she came out looking stronger and for old hat GenX me she convinced me to get behind her. What she lacks is the understanding that the world has changed. People are not looking for serious or looking presidential anymore. Vivek I thought got the pulse of our crazy new world. Unless she can somehow figure that out and play to the social media age audience, she won't move a needle. But I have a totally different impression than you about Haley. And substantively her answers won the whole debate for me (not talking about positions, just talking about how a candidate would go about solving problems beyond "I would do this" without explaining how.) But again, people aren't looking for that.
Tim Scott was disappointment. Going in I was rooting for him. He lost me when he went off emotionally begging for people to care about stopping abortions after 15 weeks. Policy wise I actually can get behind that. But the emoting freaked me out. And when he said he wanted to impose this in Chicago and NY and LA and whatever, he must be out of his mind to think that'll fly. He just lost all the moderate women voters right there.
Good assessment. Haley went from borderline middle class / broke as Gov to…Kiawah (our expensive yankee enclave). She has learned how to parlay her deck into income. Scott is a good man and may yet get that VP ticket.
Vivek said that. It didn’t land squarely, but it was a better line than the unfair “I’m the only one here who isn’t bought and paid for.” And of that crowd on the stage I like Vivek and DeSantis.
It’s a good line because it’s probably literally true about Haley. Also, since media likes “firsts”, the first Indian American vs Indian American political zinger?
That line seemed to me like a way to game the time system. Force others to indignantly respond, possibly opening themselves up to a counter punch, but by responding to him specifically Vivek was guaranteed an extra 30 seconds of speaking time for each time he was addressed.
Breitbart News’s John Binder reported that former United Nations Ambassador Haley raked in more than $256,000 as a member of Boeing’s Board of Directors during her tenure.
There were seven canned politicians on stage, and one young energetic contrarian.
Vivek knows the Ukraine situation well, I’ve listened to him be interviewed about it. Christie, Haley—-lecturing us about American leadership and how we need to defend democracies around the world. Puleeze.
He knows nothing about it. It is actually painful to listen to him talk about foreign policy. The naivete is staggering. Its like watching a fifth grader talking about the challenges of balancing a career and family (or pick another grown up topic a fifth grader would know nothing about). I say this as someone that agrees with Vivek's take on most domestic policy issues, and would love to be a stronger supporter of his, but... I cannot bring myself to support a candidate so patently clueless on the world beyond America's borders.
No, you can tell that he doesn't understand what he is talking about it. But, you know, feel free to make childish projections. You do sound silly though, like a fifth grader trying to participate in an adult conversation.
I’m sooooo done with the American leadership and freedom lectures. Do they really think this is 1993? I thought Vivek illustrated how similar and outdated those messages are.
Vivek recognizes one thing none of the other candidates did: America is in a dark, dark place right now. All the other candidates act like it's 1980, that the dollar is the world's currency, that most people are still marrying and raising kids together, that Americans are still mostly Christian, that we are still the top of the world in education and productivity, that people can still afford to buy houses, that there's still a middle class or upward mobility for the poor, etc. They think we're in some utopia.
Vivek appeals to the depressed doomer in me. Americans *can't* afford houses, they can barely afford basic necessities. China is the new world leader in education, finance, technology, and productivity. Fertility rates are at 1.7, many zoomers don't want to date/marry, and the whole concept of the family is on life support. Inflation and taxation have essentially devastated the middle class by redistributing their money to the poor (while the top 5% just get richer and richer). People - old and young, but especially young - have become nihilists living in the moment instead of building for a better future or finding a higher calling. Mental health issues are off the charts and physical health is declining rapidly as well.
Democrats acknowledge this, then come out to blame it on climate change, white supremacy, systematic racism, patriarchy, transphobia, etc, etc. Democrats know how to tap into the disaffected and p***ed off by giving them an enemy - a tangible, easily identifiable enemy. Trump kind of did that too, but his enemy was elites and "the swamp". Vivek taps into the same feelings of despair, acknowledges them, but then says "hey, there's a better way to solve this than just to strike out at enemy -- there's still some chance of rekindling a spirit of civic pride."
Ultimately, I think he's wrong. The rot and divide in our culture is just too strong, and growing too fast. But at least Vivek acknowledges the rot is there.
Hailey, Pence, and Christie disqualified themselves for me by saying we need to continue spending billions killing Ukrainians and Russians for the benefit of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
And if we did bleed Russia dry, what would happen? I assume they’d just be a stronger China ally for us to contend with. It’s so gutless and shitty that our neocons and the cia and the left/media don’t care how many Ukrainians and Russians die so they can stick it to Putin.
The main goal goes way beyond that. Ultimately, we're currently in a sort of 'world war 3' that most people are unaware of: uni-polar (prioritizing a NWO) vs multi-polar (prioritizing sovereign nations). The former comprises the West/NATO, and the latter includes Russia, BRICS, Iran, and increasingly more Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries that are fed up with Western hegemony. When viewed through this lens, it's easy to recognize what the CIA, MIC, MSM et al are up to.
Maybe we didn't watch the same debate. I love Vivek, but yeah, his rawness in this sort of arena did show last night. But mostly that's just Vivek being Vivek. He's a powered up energy machine. What I love about him is that he brings new ideas, a new perspective of a younger generation. We need that. But...he didn't win the debate last night. DeSantis did. And, though the press demands he smiles more (and apparently so do his advisors) that's just not who he is. It looks like it hurts him to do it. But that doesn't bother me. He's a serious guy. What he is, is someone who gets things done. He is completely a man of action. I think he showed it by his comments last night. And frankly, along with Nikki Haley, was the only one who appeared to be a serious Presidential level candidate. I think Vivek will get better at this. I would not slough him off and even if someone else wins, they should find a slot for Vivek in the cabinet (if he'd take it). He's a massive idea machine.
But the person who will go in there and get things done, without smiling or telling stories that have nothing to do with where we're going, is Ron DeSantis. And I think he showed well last night.
Nice story. I also enjoyed the interview with Ramaswamy. But. I am concerned about his lack of experience, particularly foreign policy. We live in a dangerous world, among governments that, to put it mildly, don't have our best interests at heart. Among that crowd, I was most impressed by Haley.
I understand the concern, but considering the trend of the last 20 years, I think long experience and immersion in what passes for foreign policy thinking these days is more of a liability than anything. Biden has plenty of foreign policy experience, but don’t underestimate his ability to fuck things up. Ditto Hillary, Bush, and the rest of the old guard.
Also, as Peter Zeihan has pointed out, we are at the end of an era. What comes next will be completely new, and I worry that career politicians will be too constrained in their thinking to adapt to the new normal.
Great comment. Forever wars, nation-building, democracy-spreading are done as a platform, but the GOPe can’t seem to grasp this or are simply too entrenched with the defense industry. I appreciate that the world is complex and that many foreign policy challenges are not so cut and dry. Further, I want a healthy defense budget, but that has to be spent wisely and on more “asymmetrical” and cost-effective measures. It can’t just be about planes and ships anymore. And the days of the $1,000 army hammer have to be over.
When we engage militarily, it must be done with a clear purpose, measurable success criteria, and a defined exit strategy.
The last person with a clue about foreign policy was HW Bush. Clinton was clueless like Vivek. W had zero foreign policy experience (and tragically, his presidency was defined by it). Obama bested Clinton on the foreign policy cluelessness front. Trump was way out of his depth. Geopolitics is more complicated than business. And Biden, well... like Robert Gates has said, Biden has been on the wrong side of every foreign policy issue over the past 40 years. So, no, we haven't had anyone with a clue since January 1993. And that hasn't turned out so well for the United States.
You misunderstand the implications of what Zeihan says. Because it will be new, figuring out the new world order will require understanding of how the world (geopolitics, beyond America's borders) works. Vivek displays a stunning lack of any clue in this domain. Charting a new course in this area will require a deep understanding of how the this part of human domain functions. One will not be able to ride the guardrails of the world order that has been in existence for the past 80 years. And having a clueless dilettante charting this course for the US will be suboptimal. We already had one of those in Wilson, and another one of those in Truman. Each made tremendous mistakes and errors in judgement that caused decades of conflict and millions of lives. The Cold War is a direct outcome of the cluelessness of Truman in 1945-1952. The Second World War is a direct outcome of the cluelessness of Wilson in 1919 (that wasn't the only reason, but a fundamental contributing factor). This will be the third time the world will be rearranged in a major way since 1914. It would be great if the US was represented by someone with a clue for a change.
I appreciate the depth of your response, even though I disagree. My support for Vivek in this is based on his understanding that charting a course requires an understanding of what we are doing here. So much of our foreign policy "experts" seem to think that their job is finding ways to make sure defense contractors never see a decrease in profits, by "expanding democracy" (in many cases by removing democratically elected leaders of a nationalist bent, and propping up pro-western replacements; see Victoria Nuland, 2014).
As for the new era post-collapse that Zeihan predicts, I think there is minimal utility in a president with a Bismarckian understanding of geopolitics, simply because the collapse of global trade and major demographic shifts will simply wipe some countries off the map and see new ones arise. The US will need to work much more closely with Mexico, Canada, the UK, and some Central American states to get what we need, but a decade of onshoring manufacturing will necessarily mean a turning inward of our focus. In the 2040's I can see a newly dominant US needing to focus more on international relations, but we need intense focus on domestic policy to best position ourselves for the storm to come.
The trope about democratically elected leaders with a nationalist bend being replaced is vintage Tucker/Putin BS. That election was riddled with rampant fraud, paid for by $3B of Russian cash, to have Yanukovich declared the winner. Everyone in Ukraine knew about it, it was blatant, and Ukrainians didn't want another 4 years of total corruption for Yanukovich cronies to continue to plunder whatever was left of the country. So they rebelled and threw him out. Sound familiar? Nuland had zero influence on any of that, beyond getting on the plane to go to Kiev, and sounding "important" in her phone calls back to the clueless people back in DC. The fact that you think the Nuland trope has any reflection on what actually happened displays a fundamental misunderstand of US capabilities and modus operandi in other countries. The CIA is not as omnipresent and all-powerful as the latest Netflix series would like people to think. Just like the rest of the DC administrative state, it is a deeply bureaucratic, risk-averse organization, where everyone is busy covering their own ass less they loose the awesome benefits, perks, and pensions. The fact that you think that Obama, who cowered in fear of enforcing a red line with Assad on the use of chemical weapons, would actually green-light a regime change in Russia's backyard in Kiev, supports the conclusion above about fundamental misunderstandings.
Regarding post-collapse, I disagree. Bismarckian understanding of geopolitics is exactly the requirement to chart the course to the benefit of the US. That's exactly what Bismarck did, during the time of major change, when countries were disappearing, new countries and alliances were appearing, new economic shifts were being created, and new political ideas were upending centruies old social orders, he crafted a course for his country that best enabled it to get to the end goal it saw as its national strategy. That's exactly the leader we need at this moment, when everything will be up in the air. The one that has a clear understanding of how things work, and can use that understanding to create the new order in our best interests. I struggle how you arrive at the opposite conclusion.
I mean, lets say baseball rules are about to be thrown out and redrafted anew. Are you saying you wouldn't want a Dusty Baker or a Joe Torre representing you (that know the ins and outs of everything that has anything to do with baseball), but some guy that went to a few baseball games and has read the rulebook?
Lastly, you can't intensely focus on domestic policy to the detriment of international policy. The world just doesn't work like that. You must walk and chew gum at the same time. You can't neglected the world beyond, and focus on navel gazing. Because there will always be another country (practically any country will happily play the part) that will spend the same decade building its military capabilities to come across and take over the awesome manufacturing you've built while neglecting foreign "stuff".
I don't know of anyone unfortunately. Out of all of the people on that stage, Hayley sounds like she has the right combination of executive experience and foreign policy competence. But I haven't followed her closely and don't know anything about her beyond a Wikipedia article.
Vivek spoke of a Revolution (political not physical), and I hope he is right. But he strikes me as the Thomas Jefferson, the philosophical leader. We need to find the George Washington- the practical leader who guides and solidifies the foundation of the new direction. And like Thomas Jefferson, Vivek can take the reins later when the Revolution is complete.
Learn to walk and chew gum. We won’t have world peace - or the tax savings which will be enjoyed as a result - until we recognize as a first principle that all borders need to be inviolate. The people coming into America were invited by a lawless President. The Russian troops who are waging war on Ukraine were not invited.
Fuck Ukraine. I really don't care what happens to those crooked pieces of shit who think they bought our president and have rights to endless unaccountable American money
You make the same mistake as the isolationists of the 1930s did, thinking the US will not be impacted. They were proven wrong and that lesson has been learnt. But everyone obviously can choose to play the role of the class dummy that spent their history class fiddling with their fantasy league, or WoW, or whatever other fantasy world they chose to live in.
It is out to take over as much of it as it will be allowed to take. Seriously. I struggle to see how this isn't clear to a serious observer. (oh, unless you are buying Putin's Ukraine justification bullshit, is that is?).
Obama was making fun of Romney during the 2012 debates, when Romney was pointing out Russia's danger. That didn't age well.
I hate that trite sentiment that Pence and Haley keep trotting out. It's fine to say in theory, but the fact is that for 2-3 decades, we have been both tripping and choking on our gum. There is zero evidence that our current politicians are as competent as they claim to be.
The problem is that Russia and China want the world. Their strategy seems to be one country at a time. What passes for Russia’s justification for invading Ukraine is having a buffer against democracy. But if Russia succeeds, then Ukraine becomes part of it, so it needs another border state. And another. And another.
The analogy to Hitler overrunning Europe is clear. Churchill saw this and drew the only line he could: the English Channel. FDR sold lend-lease to Congress by analogizing it to lending a neighbor a water hose to stop a fire before it reached ~their~ house. No one wants to fight a shooting war in his own country.
We need to be the bouncer who stops the rowdy, brawling drunk from coming into the metaphoric bar. It's a lot harder to throw him out than to prevent him from coming in. And while he’s inside, he hurts people and breaks things.
Just ask a living WW II vet. Or anyone living in Normandy.
Maybe it’s time we start realizing our enemies don’t have to fire a shot to bring us down. China is doing it with fentanyl, IP theft, infiltrating our universities and borders, and threatening to deny us micro chips and pharmaceuticals. What happens to America if the dollar stops being the international currency?
Maybe the idea of traditional warfare is what keeps the neocons and military industrial complex happy, but us not safer. I think Vivek thinks about these issues while Christie and Haley sputter about the Ukrainian children.
I think Russia wants Ukraine for its massive food production capabilities and access to the Black Sea port. This will allow them to set up trade routes to the Middle East and Africa that are independent of European influence. Russian oil production is sure to fall off soon because they have relied on US and European know-how, which is going away. So they need oil from the Middle East. The Russian farm equipment stock is old and decrepit, and they don't have the money to buy new combines at the scale required for high-acreage farming, so they need Ukraine to feed their citizens. And Africa is rich in both labor and raw materials needed for manufacturing.
In sum, I think this is less a NATO issue than securing resource supply lines to weather what is coming. There is no world in which Russia can be the dominant power. There are quite a few where Russia as a political entity crumbles into dust. Staving that off seems to be the priority, but I don't see how American interests are at stake.
I see your points, but respectfully disagree. The US was strongly isolationist in the 1930s. No one believed that Hitler was anything but an incompetent clown. And Germany was no real threat. The only bouncer in the game was England. If they hadn’t mounted the defense they did in the Battle of Britain, Germany would have crossed the Channel by the end of 1939. That would have made it vastly more expensive in resources and blood to get rid of Hitler. If it could have been done at all.
Had it not been for England—with our grudging help—things would almost certainly have gone far worse than they did. Everywhere.
That's a fine point about 1930's America and Hitler, but I don't see it as any kind of analogy to Putin in 2023. Putin has a few years left to live at best, then there will be a massive knife fight for the presidency. Hitler was young and anticipated decades to enact his vision. Germany in the 30's was a young country with a great manufacturing base and lots of fighting-aged males. Russia has a limited and aging manufacturing base and declining demographics, which take them out of the picture as a long-term threat. I think more needs to be said about the continuous US-led provocation of Russia by NATO, in express opposition to our previous agreements with them. RFK does a great job explaining that Putin is far from a power-hungry madman, and the US is far more culpable in provoking this confrontation than many are willing to admit, if they're even aware.
What provocation? Apart from European wars in the 20th century, no one has wanted anything to do with invading Russia since Napoleon got his ass handed to him. Other than leaving stabilizing forces after wars, what has the US ever, in our entire history, done that smacks of colonialism? We’ve even forgone the Monroe Doctrine, which I think was a big mistake.
I flat mistrust Putin. The only encouraging thing I’ve seen recently is that Russia has had to hire mercs fight. That says a lot about a country’s army. Unless it was a feint, it’s a bad sign.
BoB was 1940. We were under zero threat of invasion for the whole of the war on account of the Hun never having the means. There was a fleeting moment when we might have been strangled by the U-boats; but an 18 year old Wren showed the way to fixing that. Your view of the world and history is largely delusional.
In the 1930s hun was impotent to cross the Big Water. How long do you suppose it would have taken Germany to arm up and decide that they couldn't stand the threat of American democracy developing technology? I'd say maybe 3 years, maybe less. They were going gangbusters developing jet aircraft. If they could have afforded to stop fighting long enough to reload, things would have gotten ugly, and real quick.
The Japanese decided not to wait. And what did Germany do a couple days after we declared a state of war with Japan?
Sorry, but that makes zero sense. Russia has its own Black Sea ports (you know, the 2014 Olympics that were in Sochi, thats on the Black Sea). No one in Russia is planning on its oil production falling off and shipping oil in from the Middle East (just googled it to be sure I wasn't missing something, but no, still no one in Russia is planning on bringing in oil from the Middle East). I don't know where one could even get that idea. Russia was developing its off-shore oil fields in the Arctic, with technologies that the Exxons and BPs of the world were more than happy to provide prior to the Ukraine war sanctions. Russian farm equipment is brand new John Deere and Caterpillar financed by Russian oil revenues leased out to farmers at 2% APR in Rubles which inflate on average at 8-9% (i.e. subsidized). Where are you getting all of these ideas that sound like they come from a person that has never read one word of Russian?
They want Ukraine because they thought they could get it easily. Just like a thug grabs a purse, simply because they can. Its a huge NATO issue, because once this works out for them, they will continue grabbing the next one and the next one and the next one.
I was surprised that none of the candidates mentioned the BRICS summit this week. It is an alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Those leaders were pictured holding hands and smiling at the end of the meeting. An alliance of nations with the largest populations with the largest land masses is something that should raise concerns for all of us.
Does anyone not care that we hand over millions/billions to the corrupt hands of zilensky at his request, and we have no idea what the money is being used for? Nikki Haley could’ve at least mentioned that.
The southern border is not open because we are sending money to Ukraine. The southern border is open because Joe Biden wants it open to import more Democrat voters, and it will remain open regardless of what happens anywhere else.
Vivek's Ukrainian position is MY Ukrainian position. His foreign policy is defend the United States against all foreign threats and stay out of foreign entanglements in which the US doesn't have a dog in the fight. Channeling George Washington's policy. Good enough for me!
George Washington was stating a foreign policy for one of the weakest countries in the world that needed to consolidate at home and build up its resources. He would be the first one to say that once the US became the strongest country in the history of the world, its foreign policy would need to adjust accordingly. You know, when facts change, the smart person changes their opinion type of thinking...
I would say that we've come full circle, we're back to our beginnings. America has become a weak country that needs to consolidate at home and build up our resources. Ukraine is a lost cause or endless war, there is no exit definition or strategy, other than pour money into a corrupt country.
That is incredible naive on many levels. America is by far the strongest country in the world. America's interests require it to play a major role in the world. America's investment in Ukraine is a rounding error in terms of money. Harping on that point is designed to draw off the attention of gullible people from other more important topics. The US has done many things stupidly in foreign policy. That doesn't mean that 100% of its actions are incorrect. This is one such example. Ukraine is no more corrupt than any other country in the world. They don't have the presidents son selling amateurish art for millions of dollars to his father's donors. Or a popular TV host shilling Putin's talking points to the detriment of his own country. The said host is shown endlessly on TV propaganda channels in Russia is he gives credence to their propaganda machine. So be careful when you take your input from him, he says exactly what the Kremlin wants you to hear/think. And if one thinks the Kremlin has America's interests at heart, I've got a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell to that person.
Apples and oranges. Ukraine was historically part of the Russian state before there was a United States. When VA and the other Southern states seceded in 1861. Lincoln sent my great-grandfathers into VA to return it to the Union. In the process; they destroyed the state's infrastructure abd terrorized the population. War is a NASTY business.
You are guilty of the apples and oranges comparison yourself. 1861 and 2023 are very different eras, where very different solutions are acceptable. If VA were to secede today, no Union army would be sent. Ukraine was never part of the Russian state. It was part of the Russian empire, of which Russia and Ukraine were constituent parts. That was then transformed into the USSR of which again both were constituent parts. Which they then decided to dissolve and go their own separate ways. With Russia signing three friendship and alliance treaties with Ukraine recognizing its territorial borders as specified in 1991, with the latest update signed by Putin in 2003.
If you hire the same, you will get the same. How did we get here...with more of the same. I think we need a new way and Vivek seems well read, smart, articulate. He is no dummy for sure. I think he could be a good disrupter in that he isn't embedded.
Agree - I really like Vivek mostly because he is engaging and can be very thoughtful in his answers and positions. I am a big believer in opening up the floor to someone intelligent, thoughtful and willing to toss their hat into the ring. I'm not American so there isn't a lot I can comment on comprehensively, but it is sad to see such a great country as the US offer up Biden and Trump as your 2 serious candidates. I know there are Trump fans here but although he's got some guts he is WAY too impulsive and unprofessional to be a statesman. Never mind the other issues. But give him credit for speaking up and being willing to say things. Biden is mentally frail and doesn't stand as a statesman either. I feel sorry for him, he shouldn't be there.
HOWEVER, all that said - Haley DOES have some credentials with foreign policy that are based on hard reality and a view of the world and America's role in it which actually she is 100% right on. America needs to be in a position of strength on foreign policy - not just for its own survival but to command respect. Your "rivals" and enemies play extremely, extremely dirty. I actually thought Nike Haley did well - she has poise and seriousness, polish and a realists view. Not sure how far that will take her but agree with your comment.
Experience can, indeed, be valuable. The question is whether people learn from it. Some people will have 20 years of experience. Other will have one year of experience 20 times. Seven of the eight are only capable of the latter category. VR looks to me to be the only one who can learn.
The people with "experience" have a horrific record of American decline. They could hardly be said to have done a worse job when it comes to legislation, finances, culture, foresight, sustainability - by almost any expectation of a successful government our "experienced" leaders have been profound, historic failures.
I wish the Free Press would do follow up interviews or articles with all candidates who didn’t get a chance to answer the debate questions. I leave every debate wishing I heard what each person had to say on the different topics.
On the debate stage, they just attack each other. I want to hear about what their actual plan is for those things using their own words.
Yes, and so out of touch. They are basically MSNBC with a coating of red paint. All shills for the establishment. January 6th is history and we are done with the whole “insurrection” bs...enough already. And having people raise their hands like kindergartners. Ugh.
Advertising-sponsored media is the problem here: FULL STOP. The elites run the companie, and the companies are in-bed with China. Fox used Trump's lies when they needed them to stop the ratings bleed. They let go Tucker because his ads were not selling, because China hates the man. I actually hate him too, but I'm not gonna pretend he was fired because of imaginary principles that I share with Rupert Murdoch.
I listen to the Ruthless podcast (give it a listen, it's funny and has a good mix of content) but now they're interviewing each presidential candidate (Tim Scott is the only no-show). A 45 minute interview is WAY more valuable, candidates can flesh out and explain their positions thoroughly. A debate, to me, is next door to useless.
Don't assume they have actual plans. That's the biggest problem with republican candidates - they attach woke culture, which is easy, and make fun of things democrats fail at, but have no program of their own.
The mainstream press is largely left so if they're mobbing Vivek and ignoring Haley, you know it's because they're handpicking the opposition they think is most likely to lose.
Just as they back far right candidates who have no chance of winning local elections.
They are going for the candidate that will sell the most newstime, a disruptor, and someone whose flirtations with conspiracy theory will allow him to be mocked and dismissed by swing voters.
The mainstream media are already crafting the narrative and Republicans are eating it up. You're being played. Haley is the only one who can compete in a presidential election and have any chance of beating a Dem. I lean moderate and liberal but that's not what the Dems have stood for in a long time and I've become sympathetici f not outright supportive of conservative arguments over the last 10 years. So I'm talking from experience when I tell you that Haley is the only one that many liberals concerned with the direction of this country will be able to justify voting for.
She is the smartest of the lot, has a proven track record, and the press will struggle to malign her character. That's why they are ignoring her and swamping Vivek. Haley is the real threat to the Biden dynasty.
If CNN and NBC are courting Vivek, do you think they have a Republican win in mind? Quite the opposite. And they think Republican voters are just dumb enough to fall for it. So please, focus on the long game.
You're still focusing on the wrong wins. Dems don't care if the Reps argue better unless theyre saying things Dems can connect to. Haley has that ability I think. Trump is shackled one way or another and that boat has unfortunately sailed. With so much partisanship at play, the only way you could appeal to swing moderates on both sides is to present the smartest candidate with the most sense and best arguments. Haley is part of the establishment but she is strong, honest, and would run a tight ship. The Dems look like bullies when they attack her for her Indian name and other such below the belt strategies.
The biggest mistake you can make is to underestimate Biden and the blind partisanship that protects him. You need to pick the candidate with the potential to beat him on the stage and at the polls. The language and thinking of Dems is different- how you speak counts. Look at Obama. Look at Clinton. Well-spoken, great speeches, cultured, charismatic but never aggressive. Haley has all that.
Don't ignore the turnout issue. Haley isn't anyone's idea of an exciting candidate. Were she the nominee against Biden, I think we could see voter participation drop to a multidecade low, which would probably redound to the Democrats benefit.
Maybe. But that's why it's important for Reps to look beyond the circus and excitement and get serious. Dems low turnout could be a bonus if Haley is failing to inspire fear and indignation in them. It would be a weakness to go all gaga for Vivek and get all hyped on the hat wearing again. He seems as naive about foreign policy as Obama was when he stepped into the ring. That leads to disastrous foreign policy based on agenda and ideology rather than reality.
I think he has some interesting things to say. But so does Vivek. Similarly, both of them flirt with conspiracy theories and draw outside the lines. I think this makes for charismatic figures who get us thinking, call out and challenge the establishment, and bring a dynamism and breath of fresh air to the table. Very seductive. But people mistake these aspects for leadership qualities when maybe there's less depth and strategy and more just rebel charisma. I think that rfk dusts things up a little and that may work to keep things interesting. But at the end of the day, I'm not sure he has what it takes to lead this country.
Seriously? Putin? Get a new smear. And do you think any amount of money and materiel sent to ukraine will accomplish anything but killing more Ukrainians and Russians? All our “aid” had accomplished is to kill way more people than necessary and stimulate the global arms industry. Israel’s former prime minister just said he has worked on 17+ drafts of a Russia-ukraine treaty only to be shut down by the us and uk, who want to stick it to Putin no matter how many dead Ukrainians it takes.
Ukraine is clearly winning the war. Prighozin rebelled because Russia is losing. Abandoning Ukraine is myopic. The savings which will result from the coming defeat of Russia will be tremendous. Russia will be defeated without one American combat boot being needed.
If you think Ukraine has a hope of winning, might I suggest you crack open a history book and look at Russia's first two years in any war dating back over 150 years? Start slow, poor organization, poor to moderate materiel, but over time they gear up and throw bodies at the problem until they overwhelm the opposition. Russia doesn't really lose wars of attrition because they sacrifice lives like very few other nations.
What you state is wrong. Russia has lost more wars than it's won. In the last 150 years it has lost the Crimean War in 1856, the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, First World War in 1918, its attempt to reconquer the newly independent Poland by force was soundly defeated in 1920, as was its attempt to reconquer the newly independent Finland in 1940, as was its attempt to conquer Afghanistan in 1989. So yeah, cracking open a history book is good advice. Amazing how much defeatist attitudes thrive on ignorance.
And Tulsi Gabbard, smeared as a Russian agent, was the only one showing up in Maui. Where is Biden’s FEMA? Another disaster for his administration. I wonder if Buttigieg ever got off his laptop and went to East Palestine? Did Kamala Harris ever get to the border? What a joke the Biden administration is, especially their much vaunted claim of being compassionate.
Putin is thanking his lucky stars that Biden is in office, because he wouldn't dare attack Ukraine with Trump in power. Not only did Trump directly threaten retaliation against Moscow, Putin needed Biden to overturn Trump's bipartisan sanctions against Russian oil so he could fund the war.
(which is what Biden did on Day #1 with an executive order, if you didn't know that)
Two problems I have with Ramaswamy; 1. he never talk about how he will accomplish anything, 2. He sounds like a fast-talking, loud-mouthed carnival barker. It one thing to have ideas, and it's another thing to make them work.
He's been all over the podcast circuit explaining the why's and the how's of all of his positions! And contrary to other comments, he explains his positions on foreign policy and "forever wars" knowledgeably and articulately. Furthermore, he talks to EVERYONE.. left, right or center...!
I've listened to him on podcasts and no, I still haven't heard him explain exactly how he would get Congress and other people on board to accomplish everything he says. But I also think none of it matters because that's what all politicians do and it doesn't win elections to have any actual practical answers on the hows. The public wants a media star right now and he's hit a home run.
You’ll know he’s is a serious candidate when the mainstream media starts attacking him.
I’m all on board for for my man, Vivek.
If I have to vote for Trump again, I will, but I think he should ride off into the sunset at this point.
One thing I noticed and admired, when asked a question involving raising a hand, Vivek didn’t first look around and see what the others did. His hand went right up. That says he knows his position and isn’t afraid to say it.
Vivek was the only one on that stage that articulated the concerns of most everyday Americans. With the exception of DeSantis, the rest of the major players came off as establishment re-treads dutifully parroting their corporate talking points. Paramount among them was the demand that we continue to provide unquestioned financial and military support for a corrupt Ukraine government that is losing its war with Russia. Haley in particular came off as a screeching, unhinged ex-wife. The most comical line was when she accused Vivek of being a foreign policy amateur while ignoring that Ukraine has suffered over 350,000 casualties, an army that is running out of men as the promised spring offensive becomes a nightmare, millions of fleeing citizens and an infrastructure that is being systematically decimated. Anyone old enough to have lived through the Vietnam War knows where policy geniuses like Haley is leading us. Never mind that Russia is stronger militarily and financially today than before the war started and a once unthinkable Russia/China alliance is blossoming before our eyes.
Vivek is offering a vision of hope where the oppressed are freed of their shackles, where the power of self-determination is returned to the people. His historical perspective is correct, that power will not be willingly relinquished any more readily than it was in 1776. The enemy is no longer clad in redcoats, but $1,000 designer suits and their weapon of choice is division and chaos. After last night, I think it’s clear who is on our side.
I don't think Haley came off like that at all. I think she came off well, at least to me. Why do descriptors like "screeching" and "unhinged" have to be applied to the only woman on the panel? Pence screeched a lot too.
Screeching is what I call the high-pitched interruptions that Haley rudely employed in her Ukraine exchange with Vivek. Absent the annoying tonal qualities, Pence's interruptions were just as rude and baseless.
Unhinged is what I call someone who can ignore the gruesome realities I listed above and demand we remain complicit in fighting a lost war that will inevitably end in Ukraine’s utter destruction and loss of an entire generation of its men.
I've not seen or heard anything from her that would lead me to believe she will improve the lives of Americans and her Ukraine obsession will only make things worse. The only thing that separates her from candidates like Pence and Christie is a pair of ovaries. Her smug Margaret Thatcher quip, “If you want something done, ask a woman” may resonate with some but I think she lost more support last night than she gained.
Great assessment of Haley and Pence. Well-done. The Seventies called and wants its "If you want something done, ask a woman" back.
On Ukraine, though. Not that I want to fight a bloody and endless war in Ukraine that is costing us billions of dollars. However, if we acquiesce to Vivek's vision of "let Putin have Ukraine," along with "let China have Taiwan" and withdraw, the bullying will be seen to have worked, and encourage others to have at it. That will destroy the relative peace the West has enjoyed since World Wars I and II.
Simply put, we and the rest of the West decided in the wake of WWII that neighbors will not be allowed to brutally invade and conquer neighbors, because once that shit starts fresh, Europe goes medieval again and millions more die as a result. We have a vested interest in making sure that doesn't happen.
That's why I support helping Ukraine kick Putin back to Moscow. I certainly could live with--and would encourage--a Putin-Zelensky agreement that cedes the most Russian-centric zone of eastern Ukraine to Russia in exchange for a peace treaty. I just can't fathom telling Putin, "This car's all yours, pal, be sure to change the plates to your own state."
Why is it that when someone questions our involvement with Ukraine, the answer is we either spend those billions in defense aid or “let Putin have Ukraine”? Why can’t we pressure both sides to the negotiating table?
If you say the only acceptable solution is for Russia to give back all the land it’s seized and just pack up and go, then you are not serious about ending a conflict that is ravaging a country and further calcifying the relationship between two U.S. adversaries. Why would Russia ever come to the negotiating table let alone accept those terms, especially if they are winning on the ground? Why wouldn’t they just say forget it, we can occupy parts of Ukraine and keep the West embroiled in this for years? What do we do then?
Disagree - Nikki Haley is not who I would choose overall over Vivek BUT I found her to be very poised, with seriousness and polish and she made some excellent points about foreign policy. She is not obsessed with Ukraine and she is not a screecher, hysterical, etc. In fact, as much as I like Vivek, she had the most clear and and effective manner and communication style up there. For her, experience has made her a polished candidate who could show up anywhere on the world stage. Her positions and policies are something different, but it's not fair to characterize her as out of control. Not at all. I like Vivek, but he doesn't have this advantage yet.
TK,
I don't know which debate you watched, but in the one I saw Vivek interrupted more than any other candidate on the floor. I came in rooting for Vivek and left disappointed. He's smart, but not smart enough to keep the smirk off his face. His brash arrogance reminded me of an unguided missile. I hope his time will come, but it's not now.
p.s. Those high pitched interruptions you hear around you are called women--most likely women you have interrupted. Call me when you hold men to the same standard you require of Haley.
“Call me when you hold men to the same standard you require of Haley”
Perhaps you missed this part of my post “Absent the annoying tonal qualities, Pence's interruptions were just as rude and baseless”.
Decorum and delivery aside, it’s Haley’s foreign policy proscriptions, made obvious in her exchange with Vivek that disqualifies her from my consideration. Ironically, she was part of the Trump administration that managed to restrain Putin and every other authoritarian regime from becoming the boogeymen Haley insists they are.
Instead of embracing Trumps approach, it’s obvious that Haley is part of the warmonger wing of the Republican Party, and the fact that she has ovaries instead of testicles doesn’t make her any less dangerous to the well being of this country.
I appreciate your comment. If I were to give you a call, or converse over a glass or two of Pinot Noir, I suspect we could have a respectful and engaging discussion on the state of the country and our perceptions of who is best suited to move it in a positive direction. Contrary to your presumption, I wouldn’t interrupt what you have to say, but I would challenge anything I don’t agree with. I hope those ground rules would be acceptable.
Your final word defeated your argument about Haley.
Sorry maybe should have put "screeched" in quote marks. Just repeating the commenter's own characterization, not stating I agreed with it. Pence had bombast I guess is what I was trying to convey.
"too?"
:-)
Yes. She said she d8d not do it but then said Pence did it too. I was not opening whether Haley did or not.
(That's $5000.00 designer suits Sir.) If this is what the Republican Party is fronting they've lost. I tried to watch the debate and quit about half-way through. I felt no sense of Party cohesion or clarity and I really wanted too. I'm not a Trump guy and would willingly support another candidate, but verbally throwing him under the bus at this point is, win or lose, capitulation to the vipers nest known as the DNC. America is rightfully outraged at the corruption of its DOJ and Judiciary. The candidates should have been united on that. It is indeed time for a generational passing of the political torch but when looking at Ramaswamy I couldn't help thinking of Obama and the old Waylon Jennings line "be careful of something that's just what you want it to be."
For me, it may have been the format and the number of the candidates on the stage, but subscription journalism has allowed Americans to go beyond "sound bite" politics. The American future is on the line. We deserve a better discussion. Europe has entered a dark age. Courts and political systems captured, thought and speech crime arrests and prosecutions, open criminal assault on citizens, billions to house refugees, nothing for its people. It is the intent of DNC/CCP/EU/Davos fascism to bring this Republic to its knees. And they're doing it. We've been hostage to a lie for over a decade now. Our cities are war zones, economy in ruins, the EU/Davos planned flooding of our Continent with illegals well underway. Our children can't read. And, the totalitarian Marxist "woke" D.E.I., which destroys good lives every day of the week, has decided that "we the people" are deplorable terrorists. Eight more years of DNC wicked and it's not going to matter anymore.
We need a candidate that understands the real implications of the Assange/Snowden travesty, the J/6 surveillance state psyop and the in your face corruption of the DNC/DOJ Trump prosecution. The assault on journalism and freedom of speech and saying it like it is, as with Russia Gate, the attempted Banana Republic imprisonment of viable political opposition to steal an election. It's not something else. The fats in the fire and if the DNC stays in power we are all going to burn.
Mike, I agree with most of what you say! But I would add RINOs to your list of the corrupt.
As far as Vivek’s price of suit. HE bought & paid for it, like Trump always has, yet that irks many people. I’m not distracted from his message by that. Like Trump, he’s coming into this fight not as a “polished politician” bought & paid for.
It may not be his time, but we desperately need & deserve better than what we have, or have to choose from.
Wow Mike you are exactly on point in this post. Where to from here, your last sentence says it all - we are going to burn if the Democrats come in again with Joe Biden at the helm. This election is the most important of our lifetime we have got to vote the current rubbish out!
Thank you for this clear articulation of what terrifies so many of us in this moment! I don’t care how much people hate Trump or each other. For all that is good and true in this world, we MUST unite and fight this evil. We can make a stand together, or be enslaved alone.
I agree with much of what you say here. But the GOP has ceased to be a serious party. With no platform, denial of climate change, openly hostile to women (a gun effectively has more right in some states) and a clownish, indicted dotard as their chosen "leader," Americans who long for actual, sensible governance remain SOL. I predict the wheels come off the bus this "election" cycle.
Mike R., to your comment about Obama and be careful...I voted for Obama once and Trump twice and yes I was "played" as many of us were, w Obama. But was surprised w Trump- I do not like his "style" ( I am being nice!) But liked his Policies- he Accomplished a Lot despite being new to Washington and being lied to, manipulated, deceived, its surprising he got anything done.
Having said all that, it's time for him to step away - let Vivek lead. I DO feel he is more than capable. Listen to any number of interviews he's done on YouTube:
All In Podcast, Grant Cardone, Bari Weiss 😉 & Honestly, Russell Brand. He had ties to no one
The Glenn Greenwald RUMBLE interview with VR was my first look. His focus on the Constitution has my interest. He is certainly saying the right things.
I disagree with this characterization of Ms. Haley. She is not my choice but I thought she did an outstanding job standing up to Vivek, who is my choice, and taking him on without coming across as a bitch. She went toe to toe with him in an inspiring display of skill and strength. Very similar to how she called out Trump back then.
I agree. She’s not my candidate and she may or may not be corrupt but she IS level-headed and has a reasonable view of how politics actually works. Also, I’ll never forget how she stood up and defended the USA fearlessly at the UN. Respect.
You're hot today, Tim K!
He is!
Well said!
Why is there so little news coverage of this war? The media were all over Vietnam in the ‘60s and ‘70s. We are being lied to about Ukraine. If there were great victories why aren’t we seeing them?
“Why is there so little news coverage of this war”
You and I both know why Maureen, Ukraine is losing badly. Unlike the Vietnam era, the media has become corporatized and dutifully turns a blind eye. The media, deep state and compliant politicians have chosen to join in an incestuous circle jerk that facilitates perpetual war. Last night exposed the republican participants
🎯
Incestuous circle jerk. Oh my, can I use that?
Seriously though, how can so many people not see through the chest thumping act?
Well said TK!!
Great post!
Seriously, a Harvard/Yale multi-millionaire with zero public service credentials who couldn't even be bothered to participate in our illusion of democracy by voting in recent years...How does such a man offer 'a vision of hope" to the oppressed? I'm truly curious. Because to me he came across as an ego-driven pharma bro.
I noticed that too..... and clearly DeSantis was looking around for clues then raised his hand halfway. Vivek did a great job portraying how the rest of the candidates really are business as usual politicians who will enact zero change. Now he needs to own up to the stupid 9/11 comment, bury that, and move on to garner all of this momentum. If he leaves that out there for another 24 hours, MSM will hammer him for a year on it....”This guy thinks 9/11 was a government plot, etc, etc.”.
Maybe it's just me but I understood his 9/11 comment to be an analogy to January 6, saying that if there were federal agents on board the flights, we would have a right to know, just as we have a right to know if (as if it's in doubt) there were federal agents in the J6 crowd. And I think overall anyone who believes, after the last 7 years at minimum, that we the public get the whole story from the government about any topic, especially one that precipitated decades of war and the Patriot Act, is naïve at best.
Talk about whispering down the lane... Having watched Vivek address this issue during an interview, my understanding is that the involvement of the Saudi government has been suppressed by our government. This has directly affected the families of 9/11 victims suing the Saudi government for damages. In todays world of government complicity in censorship, propaganda and classifying everything remotely embarrassing to the deep state as "top secret", I share his concerns.
Good points, Timothy. Anyone who thinks we ever got the full story on 9/11 is in dreamland. Maybe it is not politically smart for Vivek to bring this up, but it needs saying, by somebody.
Vivek has the skills to overcome the 9/11 item. Besides, he isn't in a fight for the general election.
He has to win over more in his party. And no one articulates the reality of the woke ideology better than Vivek. El Salvador's president, Nayib Ortez, has done a remarkable job and he is about Vivek's age. I understand this is a poor parallel, but there are a very few individuals who can perform at the highest level even when relatively very young. Go Vivek!
Do you really think for an instant we will get any truth out of this government? The same government that hid the involvement of the USG in the Kennedy assassinations? Please...
100% share the concerns too.
Exactly. Anyone who has bothered to look into Vivek's concerns about 9/11 knows that he isn't a 'Truther.' What he wants to know is what the involvement of the Saudis was. And that is a legitimate question, considering that the plot was hatched and carried out largely by Saudi citizens (if they can be called citizens; aren't they more like subjects?). The speed with which the Bush Administration shielded the Saudis was deeply worrisome to me at the time.
I have no doubt the Saudi government is up to its eyeballs in 9/11. That said, Vivek is an idiot to pursue 9/11 Trutherism. One can want complete transparency on the Saudi role without thinking 9/11 was some plot hatched by federal agents to Steal our Precious Bodily Fluids.
Agreed on the overall idea. Unfortunately he went on CNN and aggressively said he was taken out of context by the original journalist, and demanded they release the actual audio. Then when you listen to the audio, he basically said what the journalist said he did. Just a strange mini hill to die on in that situation I thought. Could've been handled better, but overall shouldn't be a big issue. I just wanted him to put it to bed immediately so there's zero reason to talk about it.
Exactly
Excellent point.
Why you still watching MSM it has not an ounce of credibility left.
I'm not, but I do see their ridiculous snippets via other sources..... Greenwald, Megyn Kelly, etc, etc.
👍🏻
I watched CNN after the debate, just to see the other side. They were surprisingly not terrible and actually made a few valid points. At least that was my take for the 10 minutes I gave it. I won't touch the demon spawn at MSNBC.
I don’t watch any of them, they cause to much anxiety in my home. I also get snippets on social media, it’s actually enough for me.
Ron DeSantis has done more then all of those people combined for the state of Florida. He’s a doer, not a big talker.
There are three groups of people with regard to 9/11: those who have spent zero time studying the scientific evidence of controlled implosion, which is irrefutable with regard to at least Tower 7 (which they also dont know about; those who HAVE studied the evidence and reached the only defensible conclusion, which is that this was a very large and complex conspiracy, and that at least some parts of our government lied to us; and the people who DID it.
47 Story skyscrapers do not collapse at near freefall velocity straight down because the curtains and a few file cabinets are on fire.
The core purpose of social conditioning has obviously been achieved when people demand to be told what they just saw. Criminals, equally obviously, are only too happy to comply.
Yeh, Vivek was the first hand up.
Others looked then leaped.
It's good to be decisive but it also shows that he's bull-headed. Many of his ideas are unrealistic and unattainable. A leader needs to listen to his/her advisors and demonstrate a sense of reason. Character matters and I didn't see that in him.
Good observation, NCMaureen.
What was the question?
Wasn’t the question about whether they would be against sending more aid to Ukraine? Desantis said that Europe has to step up but Vivek directly raised his hand as a “No more aid”.
That was my recollection. Vivek had his hand high in the air, which prompted the moderator to ask him for his opinion why first..... DeSantis sort of did a look-then-go halfway hand raise. Then mumbled something about Europe paying their share......
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
Awww.....still can't debunk the data/article can you?
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2047697/real-secret-asian-success-america-was-not-about
Now, you're buried and stuck on repeat
Now we have an explanation for all that California success, don't we?
1. Get paid like white people
2. Get benefits denied to others.
Sorry, Pete - I don't take mental health advice from people who have OD'd on Xanax. Which means you.
My advice. Don't wear your insanity on your shirtsleeve. See help ASAP. You need it.
No, Peter. Let's keep going. I can do this all year.
Awww.....still can't debunk the data/article can you?
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2047697/real-secret-asian-success-america-was-not-about
Now, you're buried and stuck on repeat
Now we have an explanation for all that California success, don't we?
1. Get paid like white people
2. Get benefits denied to others.
Sorry, Pete - I don't take mental health advice from people who have OD'd on Xanax. Which means you.
The article gave you the answers to all that California success you were crowing about, didn't it? So, you've been buried and owned.
You overdosed on Xanax, so when it comes to giving others mental health recommendations, you should probably shut the f-ck up. My advice.
Martha:
"Former president Trump has been indicted in four different states [DC not a state] on 91 counts. He will be will be processed tomorrow at the Fulton County jail for charges relating to the 2020 election laws."
Bret:
"You all signed a pledge to support the eventual republican nominee. If former president Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you would."
https://youtu.be/9JlWvp4R0i0?t=6
"You all signed a pledge to support the eventual republican nominee"
And yet Vivek was the only one to unflinchingly keep his word.
I’m in the same boat. I like Vivek but his position on the vaccine is troubling. He’s against mandates, but he made his drug development, and I think he’s in with big pharma. But I prefer him to trump, who is way too old and weighed down for my taste. Need new blood.
Forget the "Big Pharma" line! That's a Dem talking point and you are feeding into it. Yes. the pharmaceutical industry is in it for the profits, but what about the "Big Unions", and "Big Law"? Are you not concerned that those with the deepest pockets are influencing your vote? Look at their goals, to gain more power over government policy that negates your REAL concerns! See the enemy for what they are, not what the latest media hit pieces say!
Erin a bit naive at this point Robert, and also sounds a bit young. Everybody grows up eventually however, we still got to make the correct choices for 2024.
Ohhh... I didn't watch the debates, but sounds like Vivek might be the new top candidate. Who's in with Big Pharma? Hmmm... I may write an article called "why voting for the lesser of two evils is STILL evil"
I share some of those sentiments here, because I see some struggling with voting
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/why-we-should-appreciate-desantis
Looks like I'll be eyeing this Vivek guy and if I see something on him, an article will be coming :)
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/
I think trying to see political choices as a choice among evils is theologically mistaken. Jesus isn't running. We must always vote for the best imperfect candidate. Some years the options are simply better than others.
Correct. A greater sense of our history would help with a better objectivity. There is no perfect candidate. What matters is the survival of the Republic and the Constitution. The DNC is controlled by a band of international financial grifters. If the Republic and the Constitution stand, no matter what, so shall we.
I generally agree but would put it differently. The majority of the time we vote against somebody as apposed to for someone.
And that's OK, M Hutcheson!
"I'll be eyeing this Vivek guy and if I see something on him, an article will be coming"
You might want to start by watching a replay of the debate.
Actually, there is a word for "voting for the lesser of two evils"--democracy. The whole process is way less frustrating when viewed through that lens, at least it is to me.
I heard him say on a podcast he picked up drugs that the Big Pharma was not interested in. I think he said five have received FDA clearance. His words.
I'm not sure what the "BIG " Deal is here- Big Pharma needs a huge ROI on the drugs they bring to market- they do an analysis during their research and then they determine if its worth pursuing. If not, the research becomes open to someone else. And there's a smaller market for that. Don't see a conflict.
It's like saying there's something "suspect " about me, if I happen to take a drug made by "Big Pharma"? Lol
My understanding is he picked up failed drugs and ran new studies in them that also mostly failed. But he made money along the way. He has a very snake oil salesman feel.
Well then the FDA is culpable if those five meds getting approval is bogus. So there’s the rub.
I get that vibe myself; moderately so, but it is there.
So did OxyContin receive FDA clearance.
A good idea, a useful drug. If people misused it, that's their fault.
The case was against the Sackler family, the doctors and Curtis Lewis who worked for the FDA who passed the approval of the drug and then promptly went to work for Purdue. Watch Painkiller on Netflix it’s quite good.I’m in agreement with you about the people abuse, what worries me is the free flow of Fentanyl coming across our southern border from Mexico distributed by China to kill Americans. Nobody is doing anything about that. SF distributes free needles and safe places to shoot up just one of the big cities affected by this terror, least of all the current Democrat administration. I think we need new leadership to deal with America, not leadership that is more interested in a foreign war then “US”.
Problem is, addiction occurs even when you don't misuse.
Oxy, and even more with Fentanyl, is so potent that even people taking them under medical supervision become hooked. Sometimes after a few days, sometimes after just a few doses, bam, addicted.
Killing the severe pain for which these drugs were designed makes the reward worth the risk in many cases, but "misuse" is not even the primary reason so many millions became addicted. It's the nature of drugs that are hundreds or thousands times more powerful than morphine.
There's a reason the narco cartels sprinkle fentanyl into their bags of weed. the additive creates addicts who'd kill grandma for just one more reefer, and instantly. My wife needed fentanyl in her final days of metastatic cancer. Once, I accidentally touched a patch with one ungloved finger. My brain went cloudy, and my sisters, who were with me in her final days, saw me stagger. One little touch.
It’s bona fide for pain relief. Abusing Oxy (or any drug) is not.
In short, the DNC fascist machine, has as planned, lie after lie, beaten everyone to the point of senseless and hopeless despair.
*made his money in
Erin P, what gives you the impression he's 'in w Big Pharma?
There are question marks. Every chance you get, he should be told he will have his feet to the fire. No 'Hundred Days'; he represents YOU; or he gets lost.
But his pharmacy ethical experience could provide him insight into that culture. It does not mean necessarily he is owned by it.
My first thought after seeing the hype that Vivek is bringing is:
"Is Vivek the new Obama? Young, hip, cool guy. Coming outta nowhere, with big money behind him?"
Hmm... I'll be looking into this. https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/
There’s no comparison. Obama was an empty suit of zero accomplishments. He fulfilled the left’s need for a black president. All the dirt dug up on him meant nothing, he was the left’s black Jesus.
Vivek has lots of ideas, some controversial, but he’s unafraid. We need something new. We need to get past Trump. I like the fact that Vivek acknowledges Trump’s accomplishments but then says, he’s 80. Let’s move on.
I call the Golfer in Chief, the messiah because that is what all the glassy eyed, chin drooling left thought he was.
You are right he was an empty suit and a racist to boot.
He and his wife.
Yip she was a big part of the gaslight!
Agree, MCMaureen! Obama had NEVER built a company or ran a business. Lawyer, yes, (Harvard Law School), but his claim to fame was mostly “Community Organizer” Plus, a great orator!
Vivek Ramaswamy also has a J.D. from Yale Law School (BA from Harvard), and is a great orator! Unlike Obama, BEFORE becoming President, Vivek is an entrepreneur in his own right.
Forbes list Vivek’s net worth at around $1 Billion (last week’s report), so he is not “beholden to Big Donors” like Obama was. And Obama, like most politicians, got his wealth (became rich) off being a politician.
Also, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, Vivek’s wife, is a “doctor of medicine” (Yale School of Medicine), resident physician at NY Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia and Cornel. Currently, she’s an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Ohio State University. She’s also mother to two small children, and a very hands on, involved mother, as Vivek is a father.
In my humble opinion, Jill Biden (doctorate in education University of Delaware 2007), being referred to (mostly SINCE becoming 1st Lady) as “Dr. Jill” is a bit misleading and a far cry from “Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy.
Please, before ANY criticism, I absolutely give Jill Biden credit where credit is due! However, I have many friends AND relatives who have multiple Master Degrees along with their Ph.D. (My sister in law has two from University of Rhode Island, in English Literature and Philosophy), getting those while raising a toddler and being pregnant. She’s also a registered nurse, practicing when not lecturing in college).
Literally NONE of them go by “Dr.” but certainly Ph. D. is ALWAYS noted after their names. Even my s-i-l has her students call her Ms., Mrs. or by her given name. She certainly could be called Dr. if she chooses.
Would it be acceptable to use “Dr.” when being introduced? Absolutely, of course, and well deserved, but most will clarify with, “Please don’t, else I’ll be asked where I practice medicine, and I can’t deliver your baby or stitch your cut” followed with a laugh! So, I mean nothing derogatory or demeaning toward Jill Biden, Ed.D., doctorate in education.
If we are comparing and contrasting the two men, let’s look at their names. Barack Hussein Obama decided to use his African name, by his own admission, while at Occidental College, a predominantly white liberal arts college. Saying that “gave rise to awakening from a slumber of indifference and to his activism” and that “he wanted to reinvent himself in a more grownup way” Until then, being raised by his White mother & Grand parents, he was Barry Soetoro (Soetoro being his stepfather’s last name).
Also, he admits he enjoyed AND inhaled marijuana, alcohol and sometimes “getting high on cocaine” but realized his “fear of becoming addicted, like so many other Black men”. He did and does still smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, like many others!
Note: ironically, it was Hillary Clinton who brought up Obama’s drug use, when she was his chief Democrat rival, saying it would make him “vulnerable to Republican attacks if he became the party’s nominee”. Gotta love Hillary (the pot calling the kettle black)! Kinda like Kamala calling out Biden as a racist BEFORE being chosen as his VP.
Vivek Ramaswamy, like Obama, is also a “man of Color” Tho, like ALL Conservative people of Color, the Democrats refer to them as “White Supremacist People of Color” & Democrats won’t acknowledge Vivek’s race, because that’s only reserved for Blacks.
There is a lot of negative views of Vivek Ramaswamy from both Left & Right, but no mention, yet, of early drug use, or changing his name to help his image. Born and raised by Hindu parents, in Ohio & attending a Catholic High School, he’s not from a broken home or blended family. He was raised with a strong emphasis on education, developing a moral compass and work ethic. None of which will be viewed as benefit to him in this Presidential race, or Politics. Duh!
I don’t think he has a chance of becoming our President, but I would vote for him in a heartbeat over Biden, Kamala (Heaven forbid), Newsom OR Trump. (Sorry Trump supporters, but I fear the ever growing divide in our Country will only widen if Biden OR Trump become President, again! Their supporters are too angry!)
Lastly, Vivek is being ridiculed as naive, too young, NOT A Politician (that right there earns my vote!), etc. Plus, he does believe there are some “controversial drugs” he thinks should not be denied to Vet’s with PTSD, as well as some mentally ill patients.
Sorry for my TOO LONG post today! Now, on to prepare for the next Government shutdown crisis, since we have an election in the near future!
Great insight! Thank you. Agree 100%
We don't need a brand new car we need reliable transportation.
Best line of the whole thread, Mike, and so true.
I want a president who gets America from A to B on time, within budget, with genuine warmth and humor, and when the occasional emergency derails the train, he or she knows how to mutter, "Aw, hells, that sucks," roll up his or her sleeves, and put it back on track without social media melodrama.
Yes, Shane, but WHO is that??
Right now, nobody on either side. I don't know that somebody that qualified to be our president would ever run for the job. Presidents have to take vast oceans of crap from everyone on everything--"I cured cancer!" "Yeah, dipshit, what about my hemorrhoids, huh, you worthless POS!"--and have little power without Congress on his or her side.
Who of any genuine worth would want such a job? It's why we get Biden vs. Trump instead of Jesus vs. Moses.
That’s Ron DeSantis. Period. Get over the personality issue. He can plow through the bs and knows how to get stuff done without having tantrums and his political opponents trying to toss him in jail.
You can’t run a country with constant impeachments and indictments from. Your enemies. It’s not fair, but it’s reality.
Sure, DeSantis gets stuff done. But Mussolini made the trains run on time and I think as little of his policies as I do those of DeSantis. Add the sour personality and he's a no-fly zone.
I'm not sure about the warmth part, but DeSantis seems to check your other boxes. He has governed through hurricanes and pandemics and taken a LOT of *&^*&^ thrown his way and he does not care.
Sounds very reasonable- we just want to go from A to B. The problem is in the details of exactly what are A and B?
On such details mighty thunderliners derail and plunge into the river far below.
NC Maureen- YEP! The DNC Marketed Obama almost as much as The Govt Marketed the Covid Vax!!!
Vivek is being supported by NO Inside or Outside Interests. $15 Mil of his own money to start and " so far" all Small donor and no SuperPacs.
"He fulfilled the left's need for a black president."
Well, guess they also defeated your need to make sure there never would never be a black president.
Actually, I don't care what color he was, I just wish Obama had had better ideas rather than the ones he had. He did not improve life for anyone except himself and his family. He inflamed racism and made it worse when he should have been working for reconciliation. He did not leave the country a better place when he left it.
Lol!! There's another classic.
"Inflamed racism"
Yeah, we were all living in a racial Kumbaya until Obama came along with his radical, Nat X, black nationalists ideology.
Yes, this magical, mythical "reconciliation" that no one was interested in until Obama got elected. Lol.
Please share how you think Obama "inflamed racism" and blocked "reconciliation."
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
You are so transparent as to becoming invisible!
He is invisible.
Lol. Then should feel especially pathetic. Owned by an invisible person.
But still you make him visible by acknowledging his comment, lol
Transparent? Why?
Because I responded perfectly accurately to an assertion/comment?
No. What is "transparent" is that every time someone complains about "People only voted for Obama because he was black, etc."
You can be sure that is 100% the same reason they didn't vote for him. ;)
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
That's not what it means at all. It means: that was the main reason why many on the left voted for him.
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
Awww.....still can't debunk the data/article can you?
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2047697/real-secret-asian-success-america-was-not-about
Now, you're buried and stuck on repeat
Now we have an explanation for all that California success, don't we?
1. Get paid like white people
2. Get benefits denied to others.
Sorry, Pete - I don't take mental health advice from people who have OD'd on Xanax. Which means you.
My advice. Don't wear your insanity on your shirtsleeve. See help ASAP. You need it.
Big diff is that its his own money. Obama used the presidency to get rich...
Exactly, Chris!
My impression of Vivek was less favorable. He has no experience in government at all, and experience counts in every profession. He insinuated that the other candidates were all "on the take" or in the pocket of special interests, which was baseless and unnecessarily insulting. We already have a candidate who specializes in baseless attacks. He seems to be bristling with ideas, but I doubt he would be able to enact much when he runs into Washington realities. And most of his substantive ideas are shared by the other candidates. He's glib, too. Christie's remark about Vivek being like Obama hit home with me.
I might be wrong but pretty sure trump had no governmental experience before being elected.
I agree with you. He is like a young Dictator. Very Robotic and no understanding of humans. Right out of a Silicon Valley playbook. I thought he made Nikki Haley shine. She should be the new face of the Republican Party.
Big Noise, do you really believe those on stage with Vivek haven’t benefited from merely being politicians?
There are some, I hope, but once elected they all become wealthy and not from their salaries. Plus, with no term limits and unlimited job offers in DC, none are forced to return home to live in the real world of what they help create.
Unless or until Special Interest, PACs, Big Tech, Unions, etc., etc. are stopped, we will continue to have the best politicians money can buy!
Last point. All the money the candidates pull in from donors they get to put in their “War Chest” and that should be outlawed, in my humble opinion.
Seems running for office pays well.
I respect Vivek, like Trump, having their own money & aren’t dependent on Big donors. Yet, anyway.
I don't share the belief that they're all crooks, or just in it for money, though many certainly are. DeSantis, for example, has a very low net worth. As a Harvard educated lawyer with a compelling back-story, he would have made far more money with a silk-stocking law firm. And I don't care if a politician makes big dough after his days of public service are over. We can't expect top people to work for BS money. I just don't like them cashing in during their term of service, like Biden or Pelosi or Hillary. There are a lot of ethical rules that could be tightened.
I am okay with glib as long as there is a plan to back it up. Otherwise as much as I like what he has to say, and I do, I think he would be swamp chum in DC. I actually think Trump's lack of experience there is what did him in.
What did Trump in wasn't the lack of experience; that lack could have been made up for with a solid team and solid advisors around him. What did him in was right up until the votes were called he hadn't expected to win. The run was all about his ego and making personnel bank in his actual environment. He had a look of "WTF am I supposed to do now?" on Victory Night.
Good point.
"...swamp chum...". Brilliant!
At least he has made his own big money. Did Barack ever make his own money in anything other than govt? And I am asking because I wasn't watching politics in the Obama lead up years. So maybe he had a real job outside of govt? I am sure Google would know.
Obama once worked at an ice cream shop. So there’s that.
Cash only ice cream shop? Ha ha ha
😂😂😂
I heard his favorite flavor was chocolate chip
Barack Obama worked as an attorney in Chicago for a small left wing law firm for 10 years. Before Tony Rezco gave Obama a sweetheart deal on his home, Rezco was an Obama client. Obama's practice focused on real estate financing of low income housing funded by the government and non-profits. This position was crucial to Obama for forming his political base.
After college, Obama went to Chicago and did work as a community organizer. He had entree to the left from his mentor in Hawaii Frank Marshall Davis, who was the publisher of the Chicago Star and a card carrying Communist. When Obama decided to go to Harvard Law School he set his sights on a political career.
For this information and more, turn to a series of 10 short articles by the Washington Examiner published in 2012 on the early life of Obama. To access, google Bishop Brazier and look for article 4 that focuses on Brazier. That should gain you access to the other nine. Brazier was a left wing activist, mentor and client to Obama. Look at the Woodlawn transactions.
I found these articles because I wanted to know how this young man from Hawaii formed his political base. This series tells you how he did it and it leaves you admiring his political skill.
I read “Radical in Chief”, a book that detailed his socialist ties during his early years in Chicago. Also another biography that did a deep dive into his past. No doubt born in Hawaii, but very likely his real father was the commie Frank Marshall Davis. I also have a book jacket bio from the 1990s where he states, “born in Kenya”. So Obama himself invented that lie early in life to increase his social cache. I remember the hilarious explanations that were offered to explain that book jacket bio during his campaign---oh, some confused copy editor wrote it, no one caught it. Uh huh.
Yep. Nuts and bolts.
he made his money by writing books. He taught at Chicago Univ. and was a community organizer. He was a poor President.
Not anymore! I would like to see presidents generating money for the middle class and not ending up rambling around mega-mansions.
I agree, and how would they do that?
Obama was "was a community organizer"
That's what he was called by his disciples. In truth, he was nothing but a community agitator.
The books were very mediocre at best and were in essence the pay off for being the perfect Democrat lap-dog.
Did you read them? I read the first one and sent him an email saying I hope you are what you say you are. The response was; send money. I didn't vote for him.
I read some excerpts. I saw nothing that made me want to read further. But that is sad that your genuine feedback was used to solicit money. My email, and sometimes texts, are filled with beggars. I consider that bad behavior and I learned long ago not to reward bad behavior. ;)
KTon, I posted about this! You are correct about Obama. Like many / most politicians, they get filthy rich from being politicians! We have the best ones money can buy!
Of course, Obama makes megabucks, like the Clintons & others from his invitation only speeches now.
That's on the people who pay to attend. No one forces them too.
He doesn’t rely on “big money”, if by that you mean wealthy donors. He’s spending his own money, which he has a lot of. He was a precocious venture capitalist who has done well for himself as the founder of several companies, especially Roivant Sciences, a biotech company that acquired several FDA patents before he sold his shares.
I’m neither defending nor rejecting him, but it’s obvious that the liberal media now lies about him incessantly, because that’s how they roll. I recommend doing your own research and maybe reading his book, Woke, Inc., which I found instructive, if a little over my head in the venture capitalism department.
That is the big query: he didn't make his money except by being creative in the buying and selling of companies; in the stockmarket. Not as a real entrepreneur.
Beeswax, I am for him, tho I don’t think he has a chance in this upcoming election.
I think you're probably right.
Isn't it his big money, not big donors with money?
To this point, a bulk of Vivek's funding has been self funding. I like Ramaswamy and Haley. Vivek seems to rely too much on prepared talking points, while Nikki seems to be able to speak off the cuff on most subjects. They both bring very different skill sets to the table. At this point, I would like to see a Haley/Ramaswamy ticket.
I think that would be the worst of all choices; if not in all probability toxic.
M Palmer, agree. Isn’t the difference btw them is politician vs not a politician, yet.
Or. And stay with me here. The Media wants to see Vivek (and Trump) further divide the GOP to ensure a Biden 2024 re-election. Neither candidate can win a general election but what they can do is generate lots of ad-revenue for the Media.
Well to be fair, I want to see RFK, Jr. split the Democrats.
I want him to split the Democrats AND take the White House.
I have mixed feelings about that. One, I do not care for political dynasties. Two Iam troubled by the junkie thing. I have dealt with some heroin addicts and IMO they are permanently altered people. That being said, never say never.
I could go for that, Steven! Just please NO MORE Biden!
YES, Lynn this👆
Time for both Trump and Biden to be done.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joelelorentzen/p/noblesse-oblige?r=1p5p1m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Perfect comment. Wish I could like it more than once.
Agree. Love Trump but at almost 80, it's time for someone new.
Who knows? I think it's time to move on, but the Orange Man's time may not be done yet.
Ben, Vivek hasn’t done a thing until he confronts the man he wants to replace, Donald himself. Vivek (2.0) has to defeat Trump (1.0) - and in order to do that he has to tell the MAGA lytes that he can do better than Trump and he has to say why he can by indicating where Trump went wrong. Until he does that, I won’t be convinced he’s a serious candidate. Vivek has been walking on eggshells trying not to upset Trump’s base - but in order to win, he has to go there and call a spade a spade. Maybe he’s hoping the indictments will do all that dirty work for him..
Yes Ben. VR is what the country needs. His non-political resume and previous anonymity allow him to say what he thinks. As voters get to know him let's hope they realize perfection doesn't exist.
Perfection doesn't exist but experience does, and he has none. That didn't work out too well with 45.
Experience (political) cuts both ways. Our current national pols are very experienced and disgustingly inept, corrupt and out of touch.
That's a different type of experience and has nothing to do with running a country.
Disagree. Those running the country have the experience and are not doing it well. Experience is only one trait. Courage, intelligence, understanding human nature and history are as, if not more, important.
We'll have to agree to disagree. I have all the traits you mention, plus very experienced in my profession, and that doesn't qualify me to be the President.
Nah the sunset is not enough. I wish Trump all the best health but things won't change for the better for the republican party until he heads off to the big Mar-a-Lago in the sky.
“This is somebody who can unite us, not further divide us.’ There’s so much acrimony in our country, and it’s not just about a party. It’s about a message.”
—————————————————
Hate this sooooooo much. I do not want unity with you people I want freedom. You know where they have a shitload of unity? North Korea.
Mao Zedong’s roadmap for revolution was called ‘Unity Criticism Unity’. First you create the desire for unity and then you criticize everything relentlessly in order create a mandate for unity under a new framework and then you eliminate everyone who won’t conform. Unity is a cult.
Cut the unity shit, people. Jesus.
If you don’t want unity, what/who do you want? Just curious. Do you like the strong division amongst the media? Maybe unity that would die down with a little bit more unity. I’ll take turning down the heat a little any day!
You will *never* turn down the heat until Washington DC is dismantled. Every year $7 trillion is at stake and they will kill you for it.
Back to the states. Everyone back to their corners.
Without that the heat will continue to be turned up until they have enough chaos to justified enforcing unity/conformity/totalitarianism with real crackdowns on dissent.
People who are ‘exhausted’ with all the ‘fighting’ and who don’t realize what is being done will support the crackdowns.
Nailed it.
$7 trillion is the prize.
Disgusting.
Isn't dismantling Washington DC Vivek's plan?
Yes he has done the best job of articulating this plan of anyone. DeSantis would be second.
But I don’t think it can be done under current circumstances which is why I am lobbying for a scenario where we have a catastrophic collapse with Democrats fully in control.
Doesn’t take much lobbying because I think this will happen regardless. A Republican cannot win the Presidency.
If only the egotist would stop rapping. If he gets elected, do we call him the Rapper in Chief?
Good Grief!
Agreed. The fact that anyone enjoys rap is a downside to me.
But Kevin is right I think. It cannot be done from.DC. If we had a strong Congress maybe, but we do not. I am thinking judiciary and Constitutional amendments.
Lynn, my fear, if the WOKE Left Democrats are successful, we won’t have judiciary not bought & paid for + no one to make those Constitutional amendments. (Right isn’t much better!). Plus the Dems are hell-bent on destroying the Supreme Court as we know it.
I’ve been saying for years we NEED term limits, but once a politician gets a toehold you can’t dynamite them out!
I think elections are bought and paid for, certainky federal elections. I understand your pount and agree to an extent but the only hope of combatting centralized control is the states. States can pass Constitutional amendments. And in my opinion Trump's legacy will be his judicial appointments and nominations.
DC is London 1775 2.0
I think they'd like open revolt as an excuse.
What is “the division amongst the media” exactly? I’m not seeing it at all. MSM are in unity that Trump is competing with Hitler as the most vile human in history and pretend Biden is competent. Regurgitated talking points that thinly disguise the disgust they have for the unwashed half of the country “stupid enough to vote for Trump, a convicted felon” is a bizarre way to promote unity. Trust in media is on par with trust in our politicians which is near 10% last I checked. Unity might as well be a derivation from the word unicorn.
DMang, the MSM is nothing but the propaganda arm of the WOKE Left! You’re absolutely right in your assessment!
If the Left (and RINOs) could somehow get rid of the “Deplorable, Ignorant, gun toting White Supremacist (which includes Conservative people of Color) they could continue printing worthless money, sending billions overseas while neglecting the masses here, continue forcing ridiculous EVs & 15 Minute Cities on us, continue with wide open borders, which is making us a 3rd World Country they so naively believe is impossible under THEIR regime.
We desperately need a sincere uniter as President. I’m feeling very pessimistic.
I don’t disagree with you…but you didn’t mention any conservative news media. And there lies the division…dem media vs conservative media. Sure they all have their narratives that they follow, but now it’s just so blatant. They’re the cause of the division in this country. They promote it. Democrats are disgusted with Fox News, all conservative radio and more…and republicans are disgusted with cnn, msnbc, abc, nbc, cbs, npr..and many more. It’s all so so gross.
According to polls over 90% of people in news identify as liberal. So let’s not pretend Fox and conservative radio are on an even playing field with the left. Most of the garbage presented as news comes from liberal journalists and news organizations who log roll and quote each other. If people continue to believe them they’ll have no reason to stop lying to us. They have no interest in ‘healing the divide’ because that shit makes money! The division isn’t a left-right thing anyway. That’s a diversion the wealthy elites created to keep you from paying attention to the real problem; us against them. And they have plenty of useful idiots in the press to protect them. They manufacture news to keep us at each other’s throats and tell us to stare at our IPhones and eat bugs while they dine on Filet Mignon in private jets.
Embrace the heat. Winter kills way too many complacent fools
The reality is, unity has been killed off possibly forever. Maybe I’m wishful thinking, but I think Vivek is campaigning on basic values that used to make this country a success but have been lost. We need that foundation back for the USA to be looked at with respect. Currently, we’re a joke across the globe.
Joe Biden a joke? You're giving hm way too much credit
BS. Heat kills. Wind kills. Rain kills. The problem is not the weather. It is the complacency.
SOMEONE reads history (Thumbs Up!). I think its not Unity that people want its Respect(?), Disagree without being Disagreeable(?), Something we used to be able to do.
Disagreement without hatred would be nice....
Dear Kevin...there is truth in your comment...but...as BHO proved in '08 and '12 the ONLY thing that matters is winning..."unity" is a soft and squishy concept that means nothing but will pull in a large percentage of the population which has become weary of the 24/7, media driven, apoplectic anger that seems to dominate every walk of life today...Vivek is very smart and he seems to have figured that out and has made it part of his strategy...it seems to be working so far in these early days...g.
“"unity" is a soft and squishy concept that means nothing but will pull in a large percentage of the population“
———————————————
Most people are easily manipulated adolescent scumbags and that’s why we are doomed? Agreed. A point of unity!!
If you remember what happened after Obama was elected in the midterms after he was exposed as a con artist with shitty plans; that is why I have suggested letting Democrats win and let them do all of their communism full tilt, which 100% will fail catastrophically.
BUT the upside is, if they are fully in charge they will get blamed. I would not suggest this if we weren’t already -$35 trillion with hyperinflation and a supply chain held hostage; but that’s where we are so we are probably already doomed and our best strategy is making it obvious who destroyed the country so we can rebuild properly.
We do not want to be fighting over the steering wheel when we crash into the iceberg. We want everyone to be watching Democrats firmly holding the steering wheel when we hit the iceberg.
Kevin- what makes you think they will get blamed? Has anyone blamed them for Hillary's emails/Russian collusion? or the dismissal of Hunter's laptop, and the total corruption of the Biden family in general? Yes- we talk about it here, and Matt Taibbi and Glen Greenwald etc. are voices that speak the truth, but are the majority of voting Americans listening, or are they listening to NYT, NPR, WaPo and MSNBC?
Kate, I was lamenting over the same stuff until my hubby pointed out to me - with facts! - that the majority of Americans in fact do not listen to left wing media- or even MSM (largely the same thing now). We are way past everyone hanging on every word out of Cronkite’s mouth. Just look at subscription rates and viewership numbers. It’s tiny - even cumulatively. Vast majority of Americans are tuning out left leaning rags and outfits.
Fox dominates - but even then (and Fox is questionable now anyway), the reality is that “news” and opinion sources are coming now mostly online, and it is a hugely segmented space. Substack is just one of now literally thousands of sources. Media is much more democratized - which is a very good thing. It will be impossible for the left to squash every corner of dissent. They can try - and are trying - but it’s whack a mole. Good luck to them!
Thanks for giving me a little hope Sarah! I'm in a "blue bubble" world, and am amazed at how no one will say a word against Biden! They all parrot MSNBC and NPR!
Absolutely. I’m in a dark blue city, big blue bubble, too. It’s nonstop crazy.
Emblematic: A woman from church borderline accosted me in the grocery store saying “Racism is everywhere - it’s in the air we breathe! It’s in everything. Don’t you see that??? Why can’t you see it’s in all of us? Every white person is guilty!” She was practically spitting. We were at a freakin grocery store. 🙄 Big MSNBC and NYT gal. I feel for these people. They’re being driven into madness.
It’s easy to think everyone is equally insane all across the country. But if you want some peace of mind, just look at the voting map by county. There is common sense and sanity outside of the blue-core cities.
Hang in there, Kate!
Sarah, good point & I pray your husband is right!
A point to be made is how the Democrats & MSM are floating the idea that another “shutdown is coming with mask and all the trimmings”. Which of course makes sense with another big election coming soon!
Shutdowns = mail in voting
and as someone once said, “It doesn’t matter who votes. What matters is who counts the votes”
This is why I referenced Obamacare. They had supermajorities and they passed it and then they got smoked. It doubled everyone’s insurance premiums.
The media will try to cover as always but sometimes they just can’t. It has to be really obvious because most people are stupid. But if it’s really obvious they will lose.
What there is zero doubt about is that 51-49 tug of war results in them winning gradually without anyone being able to tell why things are worse.
Good point! But I do find most people seem to prefer to live in a delusional world- where they put up a Ukranian flag and say "We stand w/ Ukraine" and support cluster bombing, but are uncomfortable crushing an invasive spotted-lantern fly because they don't believe in killing living things! I think most people don't like to face reality!
They don't. Which is why it will take hitting rock bottom across the board for them to wake up or be totally destroyed.
Invasive spotted lantern fly 😂
Obamacare was just the tip of the insurance iceberg. Property and casualty insurance is about to follow the same course. Just wait until the McMansions can't be insured for replacement values. Insurance is truly a free market creature and is about risk assessment between knowledgeable insurers and the insured. It does not work with guv'mint regulation.
Most people are stupid? You weaken yourself by throwing mean-spirited jabs. I don't want to end up in a world filled with hate, othering, and finger pointing. You might want to check yourself there - your points will have a lot more power.
Agree, Kate!
Kevin, as much as I enjoy your posts, you are dead wrong on this! If the Dems take full charge and FAIL, the MSM will inevitably blame the GOP. And since most of the voters in this country are disconnected from reality, they will go with the loudest and most insistent voice, the standard Democrat talking points. NEVER give up power and fight like hell to keep it!
Yes! Drowned people don't care who was at the wheel when the ship hit the iceberg. Joe Biden and friends will take the lifeboats and leave the rest of us to sink.
I disagree. Those in the water know who was at theHelm.
I think that is why there is such a push to destroy the GOP now. Four indictments of a former President reveals the sheer desperation. Winter is coming for the Democrats and unless they destroy the competition it will be all on them.
🥲🥲
You left out lie like hell to keep it.
EXACTLY!!
Yip that’s the Democrats strategy they will never give up power even if we vote them out. It looks like they here forever.
Kevin, I wish I had your confidence the Left & RINOs would implode, but I well remember their supporters saying, “I’d rather see us in another recession than let Orange Man Bad win again”
Ironically, the 2 main “voters” for the Left are 1) Elites, who won’t be effected up in their mega million mansions 2) Those who depend on Government checks & Food Stamps and who live off the Government tit … meaning pretty much ALL Government employees, teachers, College Professors, Climate Change Activist, ALL other Activists, and the list goes on!
Every time anything negative happens under the Democrat rule, it’s just deflected with “But, But, But Trump whataboutism” or “Putin did it” or “It’s Climate Change” or just fill in the blank, but don’t blame them.
Maybe people really are stupid. They certainly think we are.
I'm still holding faith that a new American national fact/truth based dialogue is having an effect. E.Musk would have had no platform for the Twitter Files without subscription journalism. And, it scared the perps into a Congressional hearing. Another "tell" is the general acceptance that the MSM holds no credibility. There is power in a rise in citizen consciousness. A Republican presence strong enough to hold the House, or even capture the Senate would be a start. The fight is the psyop holding the conversation in thrall. I think we've made a start.
Yes, you make an excellent point. Since the Left controls the narrative, unity means the Democrats in power. But there is no reason to bring Jesus into this unless you are trying to piss off people who would otherwise support you.
Thanks! Made my day. 1984 was all about unity. I can't find the exact quote, but something Karl Popper said about science comes to mind. Science advances through disagreement, not consensus. The same thing applies to a lot of things including culture and politics.
I think the unity we need is behind core principals. Not total ideology. A big issue I see is that there are people who flat out do not want America to be America. They want to do away with Free Speech and Freedom of Religion, etc. I want unity behind the core values that the country is supposed to be founded on. Disagreeing past that is fine and normal. But if we have significant portions of people trying to take away the founding principals, then we cannot function as a democratic society.
Well maybe he could unify those of us who want freedom?! The haters are not gonna join you... don't worry. They are too far gone into orange mad bad psychosis.
"Well maybe he could unify those of us who want freedom?!"
Define Freedom? Something James Lindsay says "Progressive use the same language, but a different dictionary."
Exactly. That "destroying our democracy" BS as they play footsie with the FBI which shows they do not know what democracy is, much less what Constitutional republic means.
Then call it citizenship or something more palatable. Would you recommend the chaos we have now over a country where the citizens believe we are going in the right direction, who support the government, whose media are objective, whose experts stay in their lane and provide unbiased advice? I would!
“Would you recommend the chaos we have now”
————————————————
The chaos we have now is 100% all because we have tried to unify government power in Washington DC and tried to eliminate the concept of red states and blue states. Just the United States!!
(Obama is such a duplicitous sack of shit)
If you have 50 people living in a house with ONE television you’re going to notice a dramatic uptick in fights over the television.
We need DIVISION, actual diversity, not unity. We are DIVIDED into fifty states on purpose and the totalitarians among us have been on an unrelenting propaganda campaign to equate this with divisiveness and promote ‘unity’ which means conformity which means totalitarianism.
"Actual diversity" would be nice. Nebraska has a new childcare course (funded by covid dollars of course) and the instructor was raving about the diversity of the first class. Out of 12 people, there were 10 Hispanics, one black, and one unknown. This is what the left calls "diversity."
When they say diversity they mean:
1) each person is a Marxist
2) fewer whites
But you are just allowing the co-opting of what diversity means. That situation is not diversity and you know it. Do not play their stupid game.
Very interesting.
Other than your musings on this on Substack, are there any recent books or articles that discuss this phenomenon you are addressing ?
Jesus! I had no idea you commented on the Free press comment line welcome
No it’s Jesus. I’m an illegal immigrant.
I’m staying in a hotel in NY that costs $10,000 per month and a Catholic (communist) nonprofit showed me how to sign up for $2200/mo in cash benefits and I get to vote now!!
How’s the thing in Hawaii going? Are they still shooting down private drones that fly near the origin of the fire?
Double shot of caffeine thus morning, Kevin? Your energy could charge a Tesla today.
Something's gotta charge them. Half the fucking windmills aren't actually spinning
Don’t even get me started on the windmill fraud.
It'd probably be easier to get you started than all the broke windmills
and the poor whales that are likely dying from them!!
Don't confuse uniformity and unity. Unity by definition requires freedom.
and we didn't rid ourselves of slavery through unity!
Okay here goes. 1) "[R]idding ourselves of slavery" resulted in an entire class of people being cast out without food, clothing, shelter, or the means to survive. While there were some talented people who did okay and some private charity that provided assistance many, many, many humans were left to languish. Some to this day so stop blowing that ridding ourselves of slavery horn as if it were Gideon's trumpet. Also there is an abundance of t4aff8cked persons in this nation and that is slavery. 2) Big businesses up north profited from slavery, and arguably have really, really, really profited from the explosion of federalism post-war. To the point where we are very close to every citizen being told which plantation (corporation) to report to. Pull your head out of the sand before it is too late.
Dividing populations into groups and inciting them to fight amongst each other is also one of the traditional tactics that is used to dominate and oppress. And consequently, one of the keys to throwing off the oppressors is to get the various groups to understand that their primary opponent isn't each other, but rather the oppressor.
As a reform movement, MAGA will never succeed unless it brings in large numbers of Blue Tribe people. A big reason that MAGA is as powerful as it is today is because it has already brought in many formerly blue people.
No Nation can survive without some form of foundational unity. That is what makes it a Nation distinct from some other Nations. In most places, this unity is derived from ethnicity and a shared cultural heritage. The US is not an ethnic state, so we're somewhat more fragile in that sense, but we still have shared political and cultural traditions, which we used to celebrate and inculcate into the population. This doesn't at all mean that all Americans need to think alike, just that they need to share a commitment to liberal democracy and constitutional government and the various related things. And by the same token it doesn't mean conservatives continually compromising principles in order to get along with the Dems.
The US foundation was respect for the Rule of Law. The summer of love, covid, and indictments of political opponents have all but destroyed that.
The country needs greater unity under the positive principles Vivek articulates. That's as far from North Korea as you can get. There's nothing positive about the hatred and acrimony that every day seem to increase.
I agree. Freedom!! Because we are definitely being fk'd with. I can believe VDH or my eyes. The assault on the middle class and "we the people" is intentional. The pro-corporate anti-community Covid shut down. The imposition of the anti-small business narrative that accompanied it. The we're looking the other way riots that burned small business to the ground. The DNC conflation of revolution with crime. The encouraged we ain't prosecutin' looting, car jacking and murder to make the streets and public transportation unsafe for the citizen. The capture and distortion of language. Thinking there is no method behind the madness is naive in the extreme. As in Europe now, the message that the victim of crime is as likely to be persecuted as the perp is also in the mix. We are all experiencing the death by a thousand cuts warfare on our civilization. Platitude's no longer serve. The realpolitik is and will remain the Constitution and the free citizen. The rest is smoke and mirrors.
Yes, the democrats don’t want unity they want conformity.
But with Vivek’s 10 points neither will happen
Good point, Kevin, but when we say “unity” it’s because the divide is SO deep & wide, to near Civil War level with just the slightest provocation!
Freedom should always be most important, and our freedoms have surly suffered.
As usual I was watching MSNBC and unanimously they believed that DeSantis lost the debate and was a failure. So DeSantis won.
Having a resource like MSNBC that is always the exact opposite of the truth is just as good as having access to the truth.
According to the WSJ, Pence had a good night. No, really.
Pence was more irritating than Chris Crispy, and that takes effort. He takes himself FAR too seriously.
Pence doesn’t need a podium, he needs a pulpit.
He acts like he just came down from the mount. It’s ok if you think you’re better than everyone else, you basically have to if you run for President, but he finds a way to communicate his disdain for normal folks with every long, slow breath he takes.
Yeah, Pence and Christie (and Hailey to some extent) seemed so stale. Their time has passed. I found it especially gross for Pence to take credit for the “Trump Pence administration” while also moralizing about his vaunted loyalty to the constitution on January 6th. What he did was a ceremonial action and a no-brainer, and anyone would have done it.
“Anyone would have done it” there were literally thousands of Trump supporters outside the capital and loads of Trump administration people inside the Whitehouse that were vehemently trying to do the opposite. Give credit where it is due, Pence stood up to his own party, his own President and his own supporters to do the right thing and avoid a constitutional crisis.
Yes, as I was listening to Pence last night I viewed him as a humble servant. But upon reflection and reading some comments, I’m of the opinion that he was more arrogant than humble.
His dismissal of Vivek was out of character if one is to believe his devotion to the church and humility.
So true.
How did Asa Hutchinson get on the stage and Larry Elder didn’t? He was by far the most out of touch and lost on the stage. Embarrassing
Elder is suing because of what happened.
I watched part of the debate with my 96 year old neighbor. She looked at me and said about Pence, and Christy, they both think they're the cock of the walk. Lol.
It was funny when Pence told Vivek “I’ll speak slowly so you can understand” - I don’t think it’s possible for that guy to speak slower.
Wish Vivek would have said "I'd rather you speak faster so you can stop getting buzzed." So incredibly condescending for a guy at 3%
Arrogance doesn’t look good on Pence.
Pence did have a good night, but he is too earnest for America which prefers the glibness of Trump and Carlson.
Pence’s earnestness that people dislike is his earnest desire to win with decency and integrity and compromise…….with communists. This cannot be done, especially when your opposition has a totalitarian grip on all the necessary levers and is willing to slice your throat and will paint you, successfully, as human trash no matter how decent and fair and compromising you are.
The glibness of Carlson and Trump that people like is not glibness; it’s derisiveness and mockery of the idea that we are just doing normal politics at this point. We are not.
You might have lots of normal friends who still vote for Democrats. That’s not who we are up against and that is not who controls the levers. The people controlling the levers are all elite progressive Marxist parasite sacks of shit. This is not a negotiation.
As an example, Mayorkas is not going to secure the border if you compromise and offer amnesty in exchange. He’s going to take the amnesty and tell you to fuck yourself and keep the border open and ask Congress to raise your taxes to pay for the illiterate gangbangers he’s importing. Then he’ll laugh when your daughter gets killed by a drunk driver from El Salvador.
This is not a negotiation.
I agree Kevin.
Too many people can’t see this.
Very scary the ignorance of the electorate.
I am fine with glib if it can be backed up. But I giggled at your comment (not at you, just the comment) because I find Carlson's earnestness annoying. I like Pompeo's straightforward brand of earnestness.
I got from the Carlson RFK Jr. interview that Pompeo needs a bullet in the back of the head.
I did not see that. I read Pompeo's book though and I liked it and liked him better for it.
What?? Why??
Pence was outstanding during the latter part of the debate. National Review expressed amazement that he seemed to be winning it, so counter-intuitive, but he was very strong even if audience hated him.
His constant talking over the other candidates was very annoying to me. He channeled the worst of Trumps first 2020 debate.
He has a bad habit of talking over the time limit.
The moderators were quite incompetent. In future debates, get rid of he silly bell to signal the end of time. Just turn off the microphone when time's up, that shouldn't be hard.
I thought the same. And that hand-raising thing. I hate that.
👍👍
Vivek did the same thing. Repeatedly.
I thought I was the only person thinking that. Pence to me has always been as exciting as wet toast. He certainly isn't the shiny new thing but in my mind he held his own. I don't care that he found Jesus and I try to look at the complete ticket. Pence/Haley?
DeSantis / Haley. Though Pence talks tough, we have examples of what DeSantis actually did in Florida that were excellent.
I find myself supremely surprised to be in the position of defending Pence, but I thought he did really well. I went into the debate expecting to not even consider him and yet I consistently found myself nodding along to his answers. Even on abortion! I am a GenZ woman and I was shocked that he took a moderate position that many can agree on! I have immense respect for anyone that is willing to put the needs and desires of this country above their own personal beliefs. I like Vivek but honestly, American needs a leader who can work with those they disagree with and I think Vivek showed that he’s not that guy.
To democrats, “work with” means “we roll you”.
Tired of the suckers.
You and I agree that rolling over your opposition is not productive for this country.
But I think that you are wrong to imply that working across the aisle makes a leader a “sucker”. America won’t survive as a Democracy if we elect someone who sees half of Americans as losers who need to be “re-educated” and this applies to BOTH parties.
We all need to remember that Twitter, Substack, and the internet in general, doesn’t represent people at their best. When I walk out my front door, I find that the majority of Americans want to work together.
We absolutely can disagree and still work together. That is the beauty of a free country, we don’t have to hold the same beliefs.
I agree with you that ordinary citizens can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.
My point was more about the R’s in Congress extending their hand to the D’s in good faith, then getting whacked by Pelosi.
The world needs more Gen Zers like you.
Appreciate the support! I’m hopeful that my generation is starting to draw away from hyper polarization. I’ve seen a lot more discussion about the effects of constant social media use on our perception of ourselves and each other.
I used to be pretty far left until I took a break for social media and started paying attention to those I encountered in real life. I found that even when I disagreed with someone’s politics, we could almost always find common ground on our values and hope for this countries future. America is tough, we will find a way forward together.
They wrote that before the debate so they could take the night off?
Pence was very annoying IMO and acted like a desperate child.
It’s really interesting to hear that perspective, since my impression was so different. What moments did you find childish?
hahahahahahaha
I couldn’t help but laugh last night thinking about Joe and Mika in high drama form this morning. I used to check in to see them, but I know the first half hour is dedicated to Trump! They sure loved him before 2016!
Remember when Trump would call into the show in 2016 and they were his buds? I do. Then they literally went off the rails......
Yes!! That’s what I mean!
As Jim Cramer is to investing, MSNBC is to Republican politics.
I thought Nikki Haley’s response to the abortion topic was excellent, something republicans have needed to say for decades! It’s so simple, but instead republicans would rather lose an election because of this one topic than compromise. But I’m still a Vivek fan.
Yeah, being practical is not popular at this moment in history. A singularly stupid moment. Andrew Klavan of The Daily Wire said something along the lines that, while the Republican base thinks that voting for anything short of full abortion bans is evil, what is actually evil is voting in such a way that more abortions happen because you virtue-signaled instead of winning.
Voting for mothers to murder their children (at any stage of development) in order to boost a party’s odds of winning a political contest is most certainly evil. Better to lose the nation than your soul.
... and you can go to Heaven after what is hopefully a long happy life knowing you prevented zero babies from being aborted.
I certainly hope for Heaven and appreciate your good wishes. Nonetheless, if it’s ok for mothers to kill their children at any point then those little lives are worth nothing. Aborted children are just as dead at six-weeks prior to birth as they are at six-months prior to birth -- or indeed if they are killed after delivery. Think of it: mothers in this country demanding the continued “right” to kill their children while political parties negotiate over when those children can be killed. We’re a nation of the damned and deserving of any fate that befalls us.
May God bless and strengthen you.
I disagree. If the baby appears healthy and can live outside the womb, it can be adopted to a family who wants the child. No need to kill it.
A 6, 12 or 15-week abortion ban is better than the Democrat view that abortion should be allowed up to the time of birth. Holding out for a complete ban will result in the Dems' position winning the day. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Disagree from a Utilitarian perspective. I'd rather save 100,000 children than 0 children. I'd rather save every child murdered in the 2nd or 3rd trimester (and mourn those aborted in the first trimester) than allow unrestricted abortion up until birth because the platform is politically untenable. If it's about saving lives, saving those lives is a far greater purpose than making a statement.
Ultimately, it's about saving as many lives as is possible, not about pretending the impossible is possible.
Hearts are won a personal, not national, level. Stopping people from supporting abortion takes changing hearts. Politics will never accomplish that.
Amen. My mind was changed. I used to kind of think abortion was none of my business. Then, 2 things happened: I saw this awful feminist comedian do a “comedy” routine actually CELEBRATING abortion. I literally almost threw up. I couldn’t believe the inhumanity. Next, a friend of mine told me that he wants to commit suicide when he’s “too old to enjoy life anymore”. I suddenly saw that our entire culture has become a death cult. We just can’t change that by ramming down laws that we don’t even have the power to pass. Just as actual civil rights for non-whites took 100 years to accomplish and was incremental, abolishing abortion will be the same, if we are to succeed. When you don’t have the biggest “army”, you have to use strategy and tactics to win.
Unfortunately in the realm of politics we don’t get to vote for Jesus. Only for imperfect humans in an imperfect world. It’s always about voting for the least evil thing. True good is never on the ballot.
She also said India and China needed to bow to our preachy foreign policy-that deducts points for countries that aren’t on the woke bandwagon-to reverse the climate crisis. “Be like America” isn’t selling well around the globe anymore.
Agreed. Her best moment.
Agree there.
Haley was the runner-up for sure. She came off as the most personable and electable candidate; some cross between populism and practicality without the oiliness of DeSantis (even though I'm a huge fan of DeSantis on policy).
However, her unabashed support for Ukraine is the one platform I can't get behind. American money - and lives - should not be spent on a creepy totalitarian state on the other side of the world.
How is DeSantis oily? He seems normal to me. Pretty down to earth.
I agree, her message on this topic was perfect.
Did MSNBC label Vivek a 'Russian Agent', yet? If not, it's coming!
They’ll be receiving their messaging instructions soon. 9/11 Truther trial balloon is already up.
How dare they accurately report what he said on tape.
“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero.”
If this is 9/11 Truther territory (which in common usage implies that Israel and/or the US government set bombs in the Twin Towers, and similar) then the definition is changing. I think the agreed / decided negative media message against Ramaswamy will be something else, not enough meat here.
Listen to Megyn Kelly's analysis of Vivek's comments (episode 613 on YT). Her take is that he was pandering to the truthers in the party. Which is almost as bad as believing it. And what's with the Truth slogan? Copied from Trump, and looking a lot like Pravda.
And Megyn was pissed about his comment too.
Yeah...I think they accurately quoted him, he lied and said they didn't....then The Atlantic released the tape, showing he was accurately quoted :)
I think the agreed/decided message is that the media is always "taking people out of context" and don't believe your lying ears.
They took his quote out of context, a type of misquoting. He is not actually proposing or musing that federal agents were on the hijacked 9/11 airplanes, he is asking about federal agents in the crowd on the Jan 6 riot and stating that the Federal gov't lies about important events (which is factually clear, including the 9/11 events - sometimes for good reason and other times perhaps now).
No. The Atlantic released the audio. He was quoted accurately.
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
Awww.....still can't debunk the data/article can you?
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2047697/real-secret-asian-success-america-was-not-about
Now, you're buried and stuck on repeat
Now we have an explanation for all that California success, don't we?
1. Get paid like white people
2. Get benefits denied to others.
Sorry, Pete - I don't take mental health advice from people who have OD'd on Xanax. Which means you.
A word to the wise. Don't post proof of your severe Psychosis / Schizophrenia online. Quotes from Comprof2.0.
"Easiest non-white immigration experience ever!" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"Easiest non-white immigration experience in American history" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
“A 2-4 year stint living on a military base” (referring to the internment camps that some Japanese-Americans were sent to)
“Geography is irrelevant”
“The GI Bill is what made them successful” (in California where most JA men didn’t get it)
"Yes. Easiest. Can you tell me of any other group that had an easier immigration experience?" (referring to Japanese-Americans)
"I've explained the tremendous advantages given to J-A immigrants over all others"
“police shootings are irrelevant’”
I wrote
“Saying crazy stuff (‘police shootings are irrelevant’)
Vivid hallucinations (‘ONE GROUP’)
Delusions of grandeur (‘You're buried’)
Blaming others (‘upset’)
These are all classic symptoms of Schizophrenia. See help ASAP.”
The mental health links below might help you. You badly need them.
https://www.samhsa.gov/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/tools-resources/index.htm
https://nursinglicensemap.com/resources/mental-health-resources/
Yes, K Street is working on the email now.
Or he caused climate change a school shooting ...you get the point🤣
I watched a different debate.
I thought Vivek! pretty much self-destructed with his hey, look at me! I am the smartest kid in the class routine.
I agree that Haley did well, I thought Scott came across as mature and thoughtful (he appears to be the only candidate that understands that 6 week abortion bans are a political killer),and I thought DeSantis was better than I expected (he was the best by far on the border issues and combatting drug trafficking).
Pence and Asa were awful, Christie is a bad standup comedian, and the Governor of ND seems like a smart, earnest guy who has no chance.
I’m not a R so I don’t get to choose, but any of the top three with Biden on a debate stage would an ugly sight for Dems.
Interesting how different the takeaways from the debate can be.
On Vivek - Christie called him amateur hour and Christie was right. Pretty clear he's just riding on Trump's coattails. Also, to say that he is going to give Trump a pardon NO MATTER WHAT when he gets into office is just gross.
Haley for me won the debate. She was strong, thoughtful, and clear and I appreciated that she was willing to speak the truth even it it wouldn't play to the crowd. Scott had some good answers but missed a chance to insert himself into the conversation.
DeSantis also had some decent lines but also some bad moments where he looked indecisive and didn't answer the question. He still looks like he's trying to force it rather than being genuine and I say this as a full-throated DeSantis supporter.
Asa is done after tonight. And while I think Burgum is one of the more interesting candidates he's just a bit too unknown and he didn't gain much traction.
Disagree with you on Pence and Christie. Were they amazing? No, but certainly not awful. Christie is still the only one for me who is willing to take on Trump.´
Yours reflects my take too. I'm in entire agreement with you. Don't know how old you are. i'm GenX. So with that said, I think our take is irrelevant. I think Vivek's the only one who understands our country and world has fundamentally changed, and to win is to be a social media star. He really is Trump 2.0 in that respect and he's the only one from last night who I think came out looking to have a breathing chance of stealing the spotlight from Trump.
People today want a lot of superficial social media play with a dose of crazy. Vivek looks like he got just the right touch without crazy going overboard. I'm saying this objectively. For me his behavior looked not seriously presidential but I guess being seriously presidential is so yesterday. And after Trump and worse Biden maybe the White House is permanently a clown house now.
I'm a millennial. And I agree that it's pretty disheartening to see a guy who is so obviously unserious on so many issues steal more of the spotlight. That said, politics has always been about charisma, connecting with voters, and bringing yourself into the limelight and Vivek is very good at that. Also in fairness to him: I agree with some of the things he says and he is clearly a very smart guy.
I just think in today's climate it's a mix of what you're saying (social media) mixed with a large part of the GOP base that is so deeply "anti-establishment" that "being presidential" is seen as a bad word, not something to be cherished. And there's a lot of airtime for a guy like Vivek who (in my opinion) lacks substance on serious issues but is not part of the "establishment." He is, as you say, a kind of Trump 2.0.
And herein lies the issue for DeSantis and his performance last night. He's trying to win Trump voters without having the charisma or the natural political talent to do so. In trying to do that, he is coming off as very inauthentic and almost awkward at times. He's pushing away anti-Trump voters (like myself) who are moving to Christie/Haley/Scott, while also being not MAGA enough to win Trump's base who are either sticking with Trump or supporting Vivek.
My two cents anyway.
"I just think in today's climate it's a mix of what you're saying (social media) mixed with a large part of the GOP base that is so deeply "anti-establishment" that "being presidential" is seen as a bad word, not something to be cherished."
You nailed it! Said it better than me.
"and to win is to be a social media star" ... you mean, to win a GOP primary. Neither of these guys are winning a General Election. Trump lost to a 80-yr old zombie in 2020 who couldn't even tell you what social media is. And it'll happen again in 2024 if these clowns win the GOP primary.
No, sorry. 2020 is in the past. Whatever happens to Vivek, he's a glimpse into the future. All you need is to look around at the kind of jobs in the market that old hats like me can never get a foot in anymore. There's a new economy happening as we speak. Another thing is how the TikTok generation communicate. Even a regular user with an account is a master of PR like none in my generation could ever be (or ever wanted to be). Vivek has a pulse on what's happening going into the future. Things are not going back to the Biden era. The Dems are going to end up taking a page out of their playbook when Biden finally gets out of the way.
I honestly say this as someone who probably line up more with you than them.
Christie has a spur in his saddle because he sucked up to Trump and got nothing for it. So, he’s on the revenge tour. Not saying he isn’t serious, just that his angle is deflecting votes away from Trump--and ideally towards himself instead, but I think if had a hand in keeping Trump off the ticket, it would be “mission accomplished.” Kind of funny that he’s the one demanding accountability for Trump; wasn’t Christie the guy who caused hours-long traffic on a bridge just to screw over a political rival? He does give off a bit of a Kingpin vibe.
That said, from a pure spectator standpoint, he’s very good at these things. From the quick wit to the casual, podium-engulfing stance, he’s certainly entertaining. He has some good points, and winning two terms in a blue state is a bonus when it comes to Getting Things Done. Did you see when Martha asked if he’d “send back” the remaining illegal immigrants and he said, “Yes”? She was tongue tied lol as it was so unexpected.
Haley had some good points and did well, but is too unabashedly neocon.
Desantis is thd best to win the election against a Democrat. No other candidate on state. Not Vivek not anyone else. Independants won't come out for Vivek.
Republicans always think about the primary and never the whole election
As an Independent I can vouch for that. Vivek is a used car salesman, and a grifter. When your platform starts with “God is real” you don’t deserve to be taken seriously.
I’m on board with Ralph; I must have watched a different debate. Vivek had his ass handed to him by nearly everyone and Christie’s line about Vivek being ChapGPT was the most memorable line of the night and a perfect summary. Vivek looked like a shallow, cheesy used car salesman. His lines seemed like he was reading a teleprompter with the latest polling numbers to determine his answers. Personally I will vote for any republican over Biden except if Vivek is the nominee and I’ll just stay home.
His line about bringing on more coal plants made him look like a halfwit. It doesn’t take an energy expert to know that coal needs to be phased out for natural gas and nuclear electric generation, even for those of us who think wind and solar aren’t viable solutions. He’s just another financial sector parasite and pharma bro with more money than sense and the populist movement was ignited partially by the 2008 financial crisis and the lack of accountability by the perps.
Listening to Bari’s interview of him where he spoke at her rather than to her, along with his smug demeanor persuaded me he’s got some kind of cluster b personality disorder. Like that’s just what the republicans need, another authoritarian, personality disordered candidate.
DeSantis seems like a stiff, but managed to avoid any new damage. He’s probably the best of the bunch at management capability as demonstrated by his leading Florida through the last three years in better shape than almost any other state. Of all the candidates, he has the best odds of getting the country back on course. But he sucks at campaigning and has all the charisma of a mud turtle, and his 6 week abortion ban was an unnecessary shot in his own foot, particularly after seeing the red wave collapse before the midterms in the aftermath of Dobbs.
Haley did well, coming across as knowledgeable and high integrity until she went on her shrieking rampages, when she seemed like the republican version of Kamala. And her war hawk policies make her a dinosaur after 50 years of stupid, wasteful foreign forever wars.
Scott seemed competent and smart, but he also answered the questions he made up rather than the questions asked, and so seemed like a typical evasive politician.
Overall this debate was just an awful spectacle and confirmed my suspicions that this country is utterly lost. We knew before the debate that Trump would be the nominee, and nothing last night demonstrated any reason to believe otherwise.
It’s hard to believe the the republicans could put that many people on stage and not have any stars emerge. RFK, jr is looking better all the time.
Nailed it.
Yes. Agreed. Well said.
Good observations. The “war hawk” was evident for sure. I’m kinda surprised that all of the candidates did not ban together to try and convince their R constituents that Trump can’t win vs. the democrats. He lost 2018, 2020 and 2022. But none of them did this. Stupid in my opinion. Especially because Trump was not there to defend himself. What better way to attack ?
I agree, this gives you the ticket: DeSantis / Haley, which can beat Biden / Harris, if they are the chosen candidates for the blue team.
"DeSantis was better than I expected (he was the best by far on the border issues and combatting drug trafficking)."
Is it OK if Mexico or Canada send their special forces into USA when they don't like how we are performing on an issue that affects them?
“I wish you well in your future board positions at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.” I lost it at that. Haley is such an obvious neocon warmonger.
Vivek is the warmonger. Haley will prevent wars.
Haley will get us into war over Taiwan for microchips which is hilarious because going to war for the microchips………immediately takes said microchip production offline at which point we are screwed AND in a second war.
The military is currently run by perverts parasites and intellectuals. We ran out of ammunition 18 months into a medium-sized proxy war despite having a $900 billion annual military budget plus $120 billion supplemental for the proxy war. Do you have any idea how much corruption has to be going on for that to happen? We cannot fight until that place is totally cleaned out.
How could you possibly come away with that conclusion? Did you watch the debate through a funhouse mirror, or possibly on heavy narcotics?
I don't have a bun in your fight; but looking on "All the way with RFK" would be my slogan; for EITHER ticket.
Oh! Who said that? Haley is our former SC Governor and is always auditioning for her next role. As is our SC-01 Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
That was a Vivek response to her attacking him on Ukraine. I’m from SC too and was pretty disappointed if unsurprised at the poor showing from Scott and Haley. Neither of them seem to seriously think they can win. Haley legit seems to be in it for campaign cash and/or a future lobbying gig for the MIC, and Scott’s probably angling for a diversity VP pick
Not sure what you were watching. Haley won the debate running away. Vivek did not acquit himself well - his foreign policy positions were amateur hour and he exposed himself as a flip-flopper. Pretty clear he's just trying to ride Trump's coattails into some kind of a cabinet position.
He wants to win. Anyway and anyhow. I'm finding him more and more like St. Paul: wanting to be all things to all men and not beat the air. I'm leaning more to he wants the White House to make bank like Lincoln wanted to save the Union. Whatever makes bank for him is probably what he'll do in the White House; just as Lincoln wanted the Union saved; and whether or not slavery was ended or fortified was irrelevant. The man sounds more and more the phony to me.
I saw the same debate you did.
Interesting how comments here can be so different.
Humans are so bazaar.
That wasn't my impression. I think Haley did really well. Other than Vivek, she was the only one IMO who came out looking better. Before the debate I thought she was a lightweight. Last night she proved herself to be much more IMO. She gave great answer at every turn, and her decent stage presence. Honestly she came out looking stronger and for old hat GenX me she convinced me to get behind her. What she lacks is the understanding that the world has changed. People are not looking for serious or looking presidential anymore. Vivek I thought got the pulse of our crazy new world. Unless she can somehow figure that out and play to the social media age audience, she won't move a needle. But I have a totally different impression than you about Haley. And substantively her answers won the whole debate for me (not talking about positions, just talking about how a candidate would go about solving problems beyond "I would do this" without explaining how.) But again, people aren't looking for that.
Tim Scott was disappointment. Going in I was rooting for him. He lost me when he went off emotionally begging for people to care about stopping abortions after 15 weeks. Policy wise I actually can get behind that. But the emoting freaked me out. And when he said he wanted to impose this in Chicago and NY and LA and whatever, he must be out of his mind to think that'll fly. He just lost all the moderate women voters right there.
Haley is a very experienced diplomat and it showed up last night.
Very knowledgeable about many complex topics.
A very strong VP candidate indeed.
But, I just don’t believe that she would accept the VP spot if Trump were the #1 on the ticket.
Good assessment. Haley went from borderline middle class / broke as Gov to…Kiawah (our expensive yankee enclave). She has learned how to parlay her deck into income. Scott is a good man and may yet get that VP ticket.
Vivek said that. It didn’t land squarely, but it was a better line than the unfair “I’m the only one here who isn’t bought and paid for.” And of that crowd on the stage I like Vivek and DeSantis.
It’s a good line because it’s probably literally true about Haley. Also, since media likes “firsts”, the first Indian American vs Indian American political zinger?
That line seemed to me like a way to game the time system. Force others to indignantly respond, possibly opening themselves up to a counter punch, but by responding to him specifically Vivek was guaranteed an extra 30 seconds of speaking time for each time he was addressed.
Vivek said that. Great line.
Breitbart News’s John Binder reported that former United Nations Ambassador Haley raked in more than $256,000 as a member of Boeing’s Board of Directors during her tenure.
There were seven canned politicians on stage, and one young energetic contrarian.
Vivek knows the Ukraine situation well, I’ve listened to him be interviewed about it. Christie, Haley—-lecturing us about American leadership and how we need to defend democracies around the world. Puleeze.
He knows nothing about it. It is actually painful to listen to him talk about foreign policy. The naivete is staggering. Its like watching a fifth grader talking about the challenges of balancing a career and family (or pick another grown up topic a fifth grader would know nothing about). I say this as someone that agrees with Vivek's take on most domestic policy issues, and would love to be a stronger supporter of his, but... I cannot bring myself to support a candidate so patently clueless on the world beyond America's borders.
“He knows nothing about it” = “I disagree with him.” 🤡
No, you can tell that he doesn't understand what he is talking about it. But, you know, feel free to make childish projections. You do sound silly though, like a fifth grader trying to participate in an adult conversation.
You already used your clever fifth grader simile when talking about Vivek. Mix it up a little more!
Because he's not a forever-war hawk? Lemme guess, you work for the MIC.
No country with a state-controlled media can be properly called a democracy.
Our primary media outlets confer directly with Democratic party officials on how to script their messaging. This is the death of democracy.
I’m sooooo done with the American leadership and freedom lectures. Do they really think this is 1993? I thought Vivek illustrated how similar and outdated those messages are.
Vivek recognizes one thing none of the other candidates did: America is in a dark, dark place right now. All the other candidates act like it's 1980, that the dollar is the world's currency, that most people are still marrying and raising kids together, that Americans are still mostly Christian, that we are still the top of the world in education and productivity, that people can still afford to buy houses, that there's still a middle class or upward mobility for the poor, etc. They think we're in some utopia.
Vivek appeals to the depressed doomer in me. Americans *can't* afford houses, they can barely afford basic necessities. China is the new world leader in education, finance, technology, and productivity. Fertility rates are at 1.7, many zoomers don't want to date/marry, and the whole concept of the family is on life support. Inflation and taxation have essentially devastated the middle class by redistributing their money to the poor (while the top 5% just get richer and richer). People - old and young, but especially young - have become nihilists living in the moment instead of building for a better future or finding a higher calling. Mental health issues are off the charts and physical health is declining rapidly as well.
Democrats acknowledge this, then come out to blame it on climate change, white supremacy, systematic racism, patriarchy, transphobia, etc, etc. Democrats know how to tap into the disaffected and p***ed off by giving them an enemy - a tangible, easily identifiable enemy. Trump kind of did that too, but his enemy was elites and "the swamp". Vivek taps into the same feelings of despair, acknowledges them, but then says "hey, there's a better way to solve this than just to strike out at enemy -- there's still some chance of rekindling a spirit of civic pride."
Ultimately, I think he's wrong. The rot and divide in our culture is just too strong, and growing too fast. But at least Vivek acknowledges the rot is there.
Agree
Well said.
Hailey, Pence, and Christie disqualified themselves for me by saying we need to continue spending billions killing Ukrainians and Russians for the benefit of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
Well to be fair it's _also_ to ineffectively try to bleed Russia dry.
Ironically, China's goal is to do the same to us, and it's working because Americans are stupid and don't understand financial math.
And if we did bleed Russia dry, what would happen? I assume they’d just be a stronger China ally for us to contend with. It’s so gutless and shitty that our neocons and the cia and the left/media don’t care how many Ukrainians and Russians die so they can stick it to Putin.
The main goal goes way beyond that. Ultimately, we're currently in a sort of 'world war 3' that most people are unaware of: uni-polar (prioritizing a NWO) vs multi-polar (prioritizing sovereign nations). The former comprises the West/NATO, and the latter includes Russia, BRICS, Iran, and increasingly more Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries that are fed up with Western hegemony. When viewed through this lens, it's easy to recognize what the CIA, MIC, MSM et al are up to.
100%
Maybe we didn't watch the same debate. I love Vivek, but yeah, his rawness in this sort of arena did show last night. But mostly that's just Vivek being Vivek. He's a powered up energy machine. What I love about him is that he brings new ideas, a new perspective of a younger generation. We need that. But...he didn't win the debate last night. DeSantis did. And, though the press demands he smiles more (and apparently so do his advisors) that's just not who he is. It looks like it hurts him to do it. But that doesn't bother me. He's a serious guy. What he is, is someone who gets things done. He is completely a man of action. I think he showed it by his comments last night. And frankly, along with Nikki Haley, was the only one who appeared to be a serious Presidential level candidate. I think Vivek will get better at this. I would not slough him off and even if someone else wins, they should find a slot for Vivek in the cabinet (if he'd take it). He's a massive idea machine.
But the person who will go in there and get things done, without smiling or telling stories that have nothing to do with where we're going, is Ron DeSantis. And I think he showed well last night.
I would add Scott to your list. DeSantis, Scott and Haley are clearly the people who could run the country.
I agree!
Nice story. I also enjoyed the interview with Ramaswamy. But. I am concerned about his lack of experience, particularly foreign policy. We live in a dangerous world, among governments that, to put it mildly, don't have our best interests at heart. Among that crowd, I was most impressed by Haley.
I understand the concern, but considering the trend of the last 20 years, I think long experience and immersion in what passes for foreign policy thinking these days is more of a liability than anything. Biden has plenty of foreign policy experience, but don’t underestimate his ability to fuck things up. Ditto Hillary, Bush, and the rest of the old guard.
Also, as Peter Zeihan has pointed out, we are at the end of an era. What comes next will be completely new, and I worry that career politicians will be too constrained in their thinking to adapt to the new normal.
Great comment. Forever wars, nation-building, democracy-spreading are done as a platform, but the GOPe can’t seem to grasp this or are simply too entrenched with the defense industry. I appreciate that the world is complex and that many foreign policy challenges are not so cut and dry. Further, I want a healthy defense budget, but that has to be spent wisely and on more “asymmetrical” and cost-effective measures. It can’t just be about planes and ships anymore. And the days of the $1,000 army hammer have to be over.
When we engage militarily, it must be done with a clear purpose, measurable success criteria, and a defined exit strategy.
Better yet, how about reconstituting the DEFENSE industry back to its namesake (ie DEFENSE only) so that NO exit strategy is even necessary?
The last person with a clue about foreign policy was HW Bush. Clinton was clueless like Vivek. W had zero foreign policy experience (and tragically, his presidency was defined by it). Obama bested Clinton on the foreign policy cluelessness front. Trump was way out of his depth. Geopolitics is more complicated than business. And Biden, well... like Robert Gates has said, Biden has been on the wrong side of every foreign policy issue over the past 40 years. So, no, we haven't had anyone with a clue since January 1993. And that hasn't turned out so well for the United States.
You misunderstand the implications of what Zeihan says. Because it will be new, figuring out the new world order will require understanding of how the world (geopolitics, beyond America's borders) works. Vivek displays a stunning lack of any clue in this domain. Charting a new course in this area will require a deep understanding of how the this part of human domain functions. One will not be able to ride the guardrails of the world order that has been in existence for the past 80 years. And having a clueless dilettante charting this course for the US will be suboptimal. We already had one of those in Wilson, and another one of those in Truman. Each made tremendous mistakes and errors in judgement that caused decades of conflict and millions of lives. The Cold War is a direct outcome of the cluelessness of Truman in 1945-1952. The Second World War is a direct outcome of the cluelessness of Wilson in 1919 (that wasn't the only reason, but a fundamental contributing factor). This will be the third time the world will be rearranged in a major way since 1914. It would be great if the US was represented by someone with a clue for a change.
I appreciate the depth of your response, even though I disagree. My support for Vivek in this is based on his understanding that charting a course requires an understanding of what we are doing here. So much of our foreign policy "experts" seem to think that their job is finding ways to make sure defense contractors never see a decrease in profits, by "expanding democracy" (in many cases by removing democratically elected leaders of a nationalist bent, and propping up pro-western replacements; see Victoria Nuland, 2014).
As for the new era post-collapse that Zeihan predicts, I think there is minimal utility in a president with a Bismarckian understanding of geopolitics, simply because the collapse of global trade and major demographic shifts will simply wipe some countries off the map and see new ones arise. The US will need to work much more closely with Mexico, Canada, the UK, and some Central American states to get what we need, but a decade of onshoring manufacturing will necessarily mean a turning inward of our focus. In the 2040's I can see a newly dominant US needing to focus more on international relations, but we need intense focus on domestic policy to best position ourselves for the storm to come.
The trope about democratically elected leaders with a nationalist bend being replaced is vintage Tucker/Putin BS. That election was riddled with rampant fraud, paid for by $3B of Russian cash, to have Yanukovich declared the winner. Everyone in Ukraine knew about it, it was blatant, and Ukrainians didn't want another 4 years of total corruption for Yanukovich cronies to continue to plunder whatever was left of the country. So they rebelled and threw him out. Sound familiar? Nuland had zero influence on any of that, beyond getting on the plane to go to Kiev, and sounding "important" in her phone calls back to the clueless people back in DC. The fact that you think the Nuland trope has any reflection on what actually happened displays a fundamental misunderstand of US capabilities and modus operandi in other countries. The CIA is not as omnipresent and all-powerful as the latest Netflix series would like people to think. Just like the rest of the DC administrative state, it is a deeply bureaucratic, risk-averse organization, where everyone is busy covering their own ass less they loose the awesome benefits, perks, and pensions. The fact that you think that Obama, who cowered in fear of enforcing a red line with Assad on the use of chemical weapons, would actually green-light a regime change in Russia's backyard in Kiev, supports the conclusion above about fundamental misunderstandings.
Regarding post-collapse, I disagree. Bismarckian understanding of geopolitics is exactly the requirement to chart the course to the benefit of the US. That's exactly what Bismarck did, during the time of major change, when countries were disappearing, new countries and alliances were appearing, new economic shifts were being created, and new political ideas were upending centruies old social orders, he crafted a course for his country that best enabled it to get to the end goal it saw as its national strategy. That's exactly the leader we need at this moment, when everything will be up in the air. The one that has a clear understanding of how things work, and can use that understanding to create the new order in our best interests. I struggle how you arrive at the opposite conclusion.
I mean, lets say baseball rules are about to be thrown out and redrafted anew. Are you saying you wouldn't want a Dusty Baker or a Joe Torre representing you (that know the ins and outs of everything that has anything to do with baseball), but some guy that went to a few baseball games and has read the rulebook?
Lastly, you can't intensely focus on domestic policy to the detriment of international policy. The world just doesn't work like that. You must walk and chew gum at the same time. You can't neglected the world beyond, and focus on navel gazing. Because there will always be another country (practically any country will happily play the part) that will spend the same decade building its military capabilities to come across and take over the awesome manufacturing you've built while neglecting foreign "stuff".
I like a person who knows their history. Well said.
who would you have in mind that might fit the bill??
I don't know of anyone unfortunately. Out of all of the people on that stage, Hayley sounds like she has the right combination of executive experience and foreign policy competence. But I haven't followed her closely and don't know anything about her beyond a Wikipedia article.
it's tough to find leaders to respect. At least she's not an embarrassment like so many of the others!!
Perfectly said. Experience in foreign policy-- which by the way has been unsuccessful-- is not an attribute at this time IMO.
Vivek spoke of a Revolution (political not physical), and I hope he is right. But he strikes me as the Thomas Jefferson, the philosophical leader. We need to find the George Washington- the practical leader who guides and solidifies the foundation of the new direction. And like Thomas Jefferson, Vivek can take the reins later when the Revolution is complete.
Who is his Sally Hemmings?
Please don't compare Vivek to Thomas Jefferson!
Only in terms of being an idea man, but maybe not the action man. I did not mean that he is equivalent in stature.
Protect OUR border, not Ukraine’s.
Learn to walk and chew gum. We won’t have world peace - or the tax savings which will be enjoyed as a result - until we recognize as a first principle that all borders need to be inviolate. The people coming into America were invited by a lawless President. The Russian troops who are waging war on Ukraine were not invited.
Fuck Ukraine. I really don't care what happens to those crooked pieces of shit who think they bought our president and have rights to endless unaccountable American money
You make the same mistake as the isolationists of the 1930s did, thinking the US will not be impacted. They were proven wrong and that lesson has been learnt. But everyone obviously can choose to play the role of the class dummy that spent their history class fiddling with their fantasy league, or WoW, or whatever other fantasy world they chose to live in.
Do you really think Russia is out to take over the world? Seriously?
It is out to take over as much of it as it will be allowed to take. Seriously. I struggle to see how this isn't clear to a serious observer. (oh, unless you are buying Putin's Ukraine justification bullshit, is that is?).
Obama was making fun of Romney during the 2012 debates, when Romney was pointing out Russia's danger. That didn't age well.
Do you doubt Putin wants to recreate the Soviet empire? Seriously?
Fuck your naïveté.
I hate that trite sentiment that Pence and Haley keep trotting out. It's fine to say in theory, but the fact is that for 2-3 decades, we have been both tripping and choking on our gum. There is zero evidence that our current politicians are as competent as they claim to be.
How about both?
The problem is that Russia and China want the world. Their strategy seems to be one country at a time. What passes for Russia’s justification for invading Ukraine is having a buffer against democracy. But if Russia succeeds, then Ukraine becomes part of it, so it needs another border state. And another. And another.
The analogy to Hitler overrunning Europe is clear. Churchill saw this and drew the only line he could: the English Channel. FDR sold lend-lease to Congress by analogizing it to lending a neighbor a water hose to stop a fire before it reached ~their~ house. No one wants to fight a shooting war in his own country.
We need to be the bouncer who stops the rowdy, brawling drunk from coming into the metaphoric bar. It's a lot harder to throw him out than to prevent him from coming in. And while he’s inside, he hurts people and breaks things.
Just ask a living WW II vet. Or anyone living in Normandy.
China's strategy is wary more than 1 country at at time. Look at all their projects in Africa. Tell me that's just for "the greater good"!!!
China wants to take over the world without firing a shot, with economic espionage. But if China has to, it will use its military might as well.
Agreed. I like them just a little less than Russia.
Maybe it’s time we start realizing our enemies don’t have to fire a shot to bring us down. China is doing it with fentanyl, IP theft, infiltrating our universities and borders, and threatening to deny us micro chips and pharmaceuticals. What happens to America if the dollar stops being the international currency?
Maybe the idea of traditional warfare is what keeps the neocons and military industrial complex happy, but us not safer. I think Vivek thinks about these issues while Christie and Haley sputter about the Ukrainian children.
Yes, China is using its economic might to wage war.
It’s painfully obvious.
Painfully excellent points. The operational saying is that "the army is now ready to fight the last [previous] war."
I think Russia wants Ukraine for its massive food production capabilities and access to the Black Sea port. This will allow them to set up trade routes to the Middle East and Africa that are independent of European influence. Russian oil production is sure to fall off soon because they have relied on US and European know-how, which is going away. So they need oil from the Middle East. The Russian farm equipment stock is old and decrepit, and they don't have the money to buy new combines at the scale required for high-acreage farming, so they need Ukraine to feed their citizens. And Africa is rich in both labor and raw materials needed for manufacturing.
In sum, I think this is less a NATO issue than securing resource supply lines to weather what is coming. There is no world in which Russia can be the dominant power. There are quite a few where Russia as a political entity crumbles into dust. Staving that off seems to be the priority, but I don't see how American interests are at stake.
I see your points, but respectfully disagree. The US was strongly isolationist in the 1930s. No one believed that Hitler was anything but an incompetent clown. And Germany was no real threat. The only bouncer in the game was England. If they hadn’t mounted the defense they did in the Battle of Britain, Germany would have crossed the Channel by the end of 1939. That would have made it vastly more expensive in resources and blood to get rid of Hitler. If it could have been done at all.
Had it not been for England—with our grudging help—things would almost certainly have gone far worse than they did. Everywhere.
That's a fine point about 1930's America and Hitler, but I don't see it as any kind of analogy to Putin in 2023. Putin has a few years left to live at best, then there will be a massive knife fight for the presidency. Hitler was young and anticipated decades to enact his vision. Germany in the 30's was a young country with a great manufacturing base and lots of fighting-aged males. Russia has a limited and aging manufacturing base and declining demographics, which take them out of the picture as a long-term threat. I think more needs to be said about the continuous US-led provocation of Russia by NATO, in express opposition to our previous agreements with them. RFK does a great job explaining that Putin is far from a power-hungry madman, and the US is far more culpable in provoking this confrontation than many are willing to admit, if they're even aware.
Uhm... have you actually looked at Nazi Germany? It was a dysfunctional basket-case politically and economically the entirety of its' existence.
What provocation? Apart from European wars in the 20th century, no one has wanted anything to do with invading Russia since Napoleon got his ass handed to him. Other than leaving stabilizing forces after wars, what has the US ever, in our entire history, done that smacks of colonialism? We’ve even forgone the Monroe Doctrine, which I think was a big mistake.
I flat mistrust Putin. The only encouraging thing I’ve seen recently is that Russia has had to hire mercs fight. That says a lot about a country’s army. Unless it was a feint, it’s a bad sign.
BoB was 1940. We were under zero threat of invasion for the whole of the war on account of the Hun never having the means. There was a fleeting moment when we might have been strangled by the U-boats; but an 18 year old Wren showed the way to fixing that. Your view of the world and history is largely delusional.
In the 1930s hun was impotent to cross the Big Water. How long do you suppose it would have taken Germany to arm up and decide that they couldn't stand the threat of American democracy developing technology? I'd say maybe 3 years, maybe less. They were going gangbusters developing jet aircraft. If they could have afforded to stop fighting long enough to reload, things would have gotten ugly, and real quick.
The Japanese decided not to wait. And what did Germany do a couple days after we declared a state of war with Japan?
Maybe not so delusional after all.
Sorry, but that makes zero sense. Russia has its own Black Sea ports (you know, the 2014 Olympics that were in Sochi, thats on the Black Sea). No one in Russia is planning on its oil production falling off and shipping oil in from the Middle East (just googled it to be sure I wasn't missing something, but no, still no one in Russia is planning on bringing in oil from the Middle East). I don't know where one could even get that idea. Russia was developing its off-shore oil fields in the Arctic, with technologies that the Exxons and BPs of the world were more than happy to provide prior to the Ukraine war sanctions. Russian farm equipment is brand new John Deere and Caterpillar financed by Russian oil revenues leased out to farmers at 2% APR in Rubles which inflate on average at 8-9% (i.e. subsidized). Where are you getting all of these ideas that sound like they come from a person that has never read one word of Russian?
They want Ukraine because they thought they could get it easily. Just like a thug grabs a purse, simply because they can. Its a huge NATO issue, because once this works out for them, they will continue grabbing the next one and the next one and the next one.
The trouble with that? The US IS "the rowdy, brawling drunk". Do one, please.
I was surprised that none of the candidates mentioned the BRICS summit this week. It is an alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Those leaders were pictured holding hands and smiling at the end of the meeting. An alliance of nations with the largest populations with the largest land masses is something that should raise concerns for all of us.
Because its not an alliance at all. It does not have any signs of an alliance, beyond the photo ops for the impressionable.
Does anyone not care that we hand over millions/billions to the corrupt hands of zilensky at his request, and we have no idea what the money is being used for? Nikki Haley could’ve at least mentioned that.
That's because we don't. There, solved that anxiety for you...
The southern border is not open because we are sending money to Ukraine. The southern border is open because Joe Biden wants it open to import more Democrat voters, and it will remain open regardless of what happens anywhere else.
No, but when your debt exceeds GDP, it’s time to prioritize spending.
I think Texans and Arizonans need defending more than Ukrainians.
Vivek's Ukrainian position is MY Ukrainian position. His foreign policy is defend the United States against all foreign threats and stay out of foreign entanglements in which the US doesn't have a dog in the fight. Channeling George Washington's policy. Good enough for me!
George Washington was stating a foreign policy for one of the weakest countries in the world that needed to consolidate at home and build up its resources. He would be the first one to say that once the US became the strongest country in the history of the world, its foreign policy would need to adjust accordingly. You know, when facts change, the smart person changes their opinion type of thinking...
I would say that we've come full circle, we're back to our beginnings. America has become a weak country that needs to consolidate at home and build up our resources. Ukraine is a lost cause or endless war, there is no exit definition or strategy, other than pour money into a corrupt country.
That is incredible naive on many levels. America is by far the strongest country in the world. America's interests require it to play a major role in the world. America's investment in Ukraine is a rounding error in terms of money. Harping on that point is designed to draw off the attention of gullible people from other more important topics. The US has done many things stupidly in foreign policy. That doesn't mean that 100% of its actions are incorrect. This is one such example. Ukraine is no more corrupt than any other country in the world. They don't have the presidents son selling amateurish art for millions of dollars to his father's donors. Or a popular TV host shilling Putin's talking points to the detriment of his own country. The said host is shown endlessly on TV propaganda channels in Russia is he gives credence to their propaganda machine. So be careful when you take your input from him, he says exactly what the Kremlin wants you to hear/think. And if one thinks the Kremlin has America's interests at heart, I've got a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell to that person.
Defending against foreign threat entails more than responding when shot at. Kinda like spending the Soviet Union out of existence like Reagan admin.
Apples and oranges. Ukraine was historically part of the Russian state before there was a United States. When VA and the other Southern states seceded in 1861. Lincoln sent my great-grandfathers into VA to return it to the Union. In the process; they destroyed the state's infrastructure abd terrorized the population. War is a NASTY business.
You are guilty of the apples and oranges comparison yourself. 1861 and 2023 are very different eras, where very different solutions are acceptable. If VA were to secede today, no Union army would be sent. Ukraine was never part of the Russian state. It was part of the Russian empire, of which Russia and Ukraine were constituent parts. That was then transformed into the USSR of which again both were constituent parts. Which they then decided to dissolve and go their own separate ways. With Russia signing three friendship and alliance treaties with Ukraine recognizing its territorial borders as specified in 1991, with the latest update signed by Putin in 2003.
Do you see the difference with the VA secession?
I believe that if a state were to secede today, the USG would take the same.action that it took in 1861. That's what nation states do.
If you hire the same, you will get the same. How did we get here...with more of the same. I think we need a new way and Vivek seems well read, smart, articulate. He is no dummy for sure. I think he could be a good disrupter in that he isn't embedded.
Agree - I really like Vivek mostly because he is engaging and can be very thoughtful in his answers and positions. I am a big believer in opening up the floor to someone intelligent, thoughtful and willing to toss their hat into the ring. I'm not American so there isn't a lot I can comment on comprehensively, but it is sad to see such a great country as the US offer up Biden and Trump as your 2 serious candidates. I know there are Trump fans here but although he's got some guts he is WAY too impulsive and unprofessional to be a statesman. Never mind the other issues. But give him credit for speaking up and being willing to say things. Biden is mentally frail and doesn't stand as a statesman either. I feel sorry for him, he shouldn't be there.
HOWEVER, all that said - Haley DOES have some credentials with foreign policy that are based on hard reality and a view of the world and America's role in it which actually she is 100% right on. America needs to be in a position of strength on foreign policy - not just for its own survival but to command respect. Your "rivals" and enemies play extremely, extremely dirty. I actually thought Nike Haley did well - she has poise and seriousness, polish and a realists view. Not sure how far that will take her but agree with your comment.
She would make quite a good Secretary of State. But not a president.
Obama had no foreign policy experience and look how great he did. Oh wait, yeah never mind, you have a valid point!
Experience can, indeed, be valuable. The question is whether people learn from it. Some people will have 20 years of experience. Other will have one year of experience 20 times. Seven of the eight are only capable of the latter category. VR looks to me to be the only one who can learn.
The people with "experience" have a horrific record of American decline. They could hardly be said to have done a worse job when it comes to legislation, finances, culture, foresight, sustainability - by almost any expectation of a successful government our "experienced" leaders have been profound, historic failures.
"We live in a dangerous world, among governments that, to put it mildly, don't have our best interests at heart." -- Including our own!
I wish the Free Press would do follow up interviews or articles with all candidates who didn’t get a chance to answer the debate questions. I leave every debate wishing I heard what each person had to say on the different topics.
On the debate stage, they just attack each other. I want to hear about what their actual plan is for those things using their own words.
Lex Friedman and Bari Weiss should host a presidential debate. I'd watch the shit out of that
Fox's questions were terrible.
Yes, and so out of touch. They are basically MSNBC with a coating of red paint. All shills for the establishment. January 6th is history and we are done with the whole “insurrection” bs...enough already. And having people raise their hands like kindergartners. Ugh.
Advertising-sponsored media is the problem here: FULL STOP. The elites run the companie, and the companies are in-bed with China. Fox used Trump's lies when they needed them to stop the ratings bleed. They let go Tucker because his ads were not selling, because China hates the man. I actually hate him too, but I'm not gonna pretend he was fired because of imaginary principles that I share with Rupert Murdoch.
Moderators lost control very quickly.
I listen to the Ruthless podcast (give it a listen, it's funny and has a good mix of content) but now they're interviewing each presidential candidate (Tim Scott is the only no-show). A 45 minute interview is WAY more valuable, candidates can flesh out and explain their positions thoroughly. A debate, to me, is next door to useless.
Don't assume they have actual plans. That's the biggest problem with republican candidates - they attach woke culture, which is easy, and make fun of things democrats fail at, but have no program of their own.
Vivek! Finally someone who has ideas that will help fix our Country! GO VIVEK!
The mainstream press is largely left so if they're mobbing Vivek and ignoring Haley, you know it's because they're handpicking the opposition they think is most likely to lose.
Just as they back far right candidates who have no chance of winning local elections.
They are going for the candidate that will sell the most newstime, a disruptor, and someone whose flirtations with conspiracy theory will allow him to be mocked and dismissed by swing voters.
The mainstream media are already crafting the narrative and Republicans are eating it up. You're being played. Haley is the only one who can compete in a presidential election and have any chance of beating a Dem. I lean moderate and liberal but that's not what the Dems have stood for in a long time and I've become sympathetici f not outright supportive of conservative arguments over the last 10 years. So I'm talking from experience when I tell you that Haley is the only one that many liberals concerned with the direction of this country will be able to justify voting for.
She is the smartest of the lot, has a proven track record, and the press will struggle to malign her character. That's why they are ignoring her and swamping Vivek. Haley is the real threat to the Biden dynasty.
If CNN and NBC are courting Vivek, do you think they have a Republican win in mind? Quite the opposite. And they think Republican voters are just dumb enough to fall for it. So please, focus on the long game.
🤔 very interesting and thought proviking comment, clearly much more to come
Anyone on that stage will wipe up the floor with Biden. It's the Republican's election to lose.
And 3 time loser Trump just may deliver.
You're still focusing on the wrong wins. Dems don't care if the Reps argue better unless theyre saying things Dems can connect to. Haley has that ability I think. Trump is shackled one way or another and that boat has unfortunately sailed. With so much partisanship at play, the only way you could appeal to swing moderates on both sides is to present the smartest candidate with the most sense and best arguments. Haley is part of the establishment but she is strong, honest, and would run a tight ship. The Dems look like bullies when they attack her for her Indian name and other such below the belt strategies.
The biggest mistake you can make is to underestimate Biden and the blind partisanship that protects him. You need to pick the candidate with the potential to beat him on the stage and at the polls. The language and thinking of Dems is different- how you speak counts. Look at Obama. Look at Clinton. Well-spoken, great speeches, cultured, charismatic but never aggressive. Haley has all that.
Don't ignore the turnout issue. Haley isn't anyone's idea of an exciting candidate. Were she the nominee against Biden, I think we could see voter participation drop to a multidecade low, which would probably redound to the Democrats benefit.
Maybe. But that's why it's important for Reps to look beyond the circus and excitement and get serious. Dems low turnout could be a bonus if Haley is failing to inspire fear and indignation in them. It would be a weakness to go all gaga for Vivek and get all hyped on the hat wearing again. He seems as naive about foreign policy as Obama was when he stepped into the ring. That leads to disastrous foreign policy based on agenda and ideology rather than reality.
Outside of his presidential bid, what do you think of rfk?
I think he has some interesting things to say. But so does Vivek. Similarly, both of them flirt with conspiracy theories and draw outside the lines. I think this makes for charismatic figures who get us thinking, call out and challenge the establishment, and bring a dynamism and breath of fresh air to the table. Very seductive. But people mistake these aspects for leadership qualities when maybe there's less depth and strategy and more just rebel charisma. I think that rfk dusts things up a little and that may work to keep things interesting. But at the end of the day, I'm not sure he has what it takes to lead this country.
What are your thoughts on rfk?
Kennedy/Ramaswamy 2024!
Putin agrees with you.
This “anything I don’t like is Putin” line is not smart. And remember, Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset!
Seriously? Putin? Get a new smear. And do you think any amount of money and materiel sent to ukraine will accomplish anything but killing more Ukrainians and Russians? All our “aid” had accomplished is to kill way more people than necessary and stimulate the global arms industry. Israel’s former prime minister just said he has worked on 17+ drafts of a Russia-ukraine treaty only to be shut down by the us and uk, who want to stick it to Putin no matter how many dead Ukrainians it takes.
Ukraine is clearly winning the war. Prighozin rebelled because Russia is losing. Abandoning Ukraine is myopic. The savings which will result from the coming defeat of Russia will be tremendous. Russia will be defeated without one American combat boot being needed.
If you think Ukraine has a hope of winning, might I suggest you crack open a history book and look at Russia's first two years in any war dating back over 150 years? Start slow, poor organization, poor to moderate materiel, but over time they gear up and throw bodies at the problem until they overwhelm the opposition. Russia doesn't really lose wars of attrition because they sacrifice lives like very few other nations.
What you state is wrong. Russia has lost more wars than it's won. In the last 150 years it has lost the Crimean War in 1856, the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, First World War in 1918, its attempt to reconquer the newly independent Poland by force was soundly defeated in 1920, as was its attempt to reconquer the newly independent Finland in 1940, as was its attempt to conquer Afghanistan in 1989. So yeah, cracking open a history book is good advice. Amazing how much defeatist attitudes thrive on ignorance.
Exactly. What is our end goal in Ukraine?
The end of Russian imperialism without any American combat troops being used.
Russia is a toothless, paper tiger, a boogey man. And no, I'm not a Putin supporter....
It’s not a smear. Ramaswamy doesn’t have the good sense to oppose Russian imperialism.
And Tulsi Gabbard, smeared as a Russian agent, was the only one showing up in Maui. Where is Biden’s FEMA? Another disaster for his administration. I wonder if Buttigieg ever got off his laptop and went to East Palestine? Did Kamala Harris ever get to the border? What a joke the Biden administration is, especially their much vaunted claim of being compassionate.
Biden doesn’t need to send FEMA to Hawaii. They’ll vote for him anyway.
That’s what the Dems thought, but I wouldn’t bet on it any more. Personal tragedy changes perspective, the platitudes don’t sound so good.
Putin is thanking his lucky stars that Biden is in office, because he wouldn't dare attack Ukraine with Trump in power. Not only did Trump directly threaten retaliation against Moscow, Putin needed Biden to overturn Trump's bipartisan sanctions against Russian oil so he could fund the war.
(which is what Biden did on Day #1 with an executive order, if you didn't know that)
I have been saying Putin for president. He stopped COVID. Why not have him be our next prez.
He’s been pulling the strings to the White House puppet, so he’s already effectively the president.
Like all viruses, Covid stopped itself.
I was looking for your comment on this so I could like it!
Two problems I have with Ramaswamy; 1. he never talk about how he will accomplish anything, 2. He sounds like a fast-talking, loud-mouthed carnival barker. It one thing to have ideas, and it's another thing to make them work.
He's been all over the podcast circuit explaining the why's and the how's of all of his positions! And contrary to other comments, he explains his positions on foreign policy and "forever wars" knowledgeably and articulately. Furthermore, he talks to EVERYONE.. left, right or center...!
I've listened to him on podcasts and no, I still haven't heard him explain exactly how he would get Congress and other people on board to accomplish everything he says. But I also think none of it matters because that's what all politicians do and it doesn't win elections to have any actual practical answers on the hows. The public wants a media star right now and he's hit a home run.
There are many long form interviews with more details.