Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

FIGHTING THE LAST WAR: TRUMP NEEDS TO CHANGE HIS MESSAGE NOT HIS MEDIUM

Twitter LogoThere is an old axiom that “Generals always fight the last war.”  Such was the case  in World War I with the failure to anticipate the impact of machine guns or, in World War II, the image of Polish cavalry charging German Panzer tanks with lances. Politicians can often fall victim to the same strategic blindness. This week, President Trump again declared that he would not stop tweeting and specifically noted that tweeting was key to his winning the election. In other words, the last war. Yet, the issue is not really Twitter but tactics.

In his latest Tweet storm, Trump insisted that his use of social media “is not Presidential—it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!” He also told his followers that “the FAKE & FRAUDLENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media—but remember, I won … the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media. I had to beat #FakeNews, and did. We will continue to WIN!” He later followed the tweet with a disturbing altered video clip of his physically attacking a CNN figure.

The fact is that Trump may have changed modern politics but not necessarily the modern presidency. There is a difference and that lesson can be found in the presidency of none other than Bill Clinton.

There is a tendency in the media to paint the current political position of the Administration as an unprecedented “disaster” and “trainwreck.” However, Trump’s polling now stands around 40 percent. In fairness to Trump, he has been more popular than Bill Clinton at this point in his presidency. (Clinton hovered around 39 percent). Moreover, Trump is not the first president who won on the margin and then tried to govern from the margin. Clinton famously adopted the “triangulation” strategy of his advisor Dick Morris — a strategy that positioned himself outside of the two parties (including his own) and openly attacked the establishment while president. The result was great for Clinton but devastating for his party, which lost control of Congress in 1994. Triangulating secured Clinton his second term but, to do so, he had to virtually garrote his own party members.

In this sense, Trump is partially right and partially wrong. There is no reason that he should stop tweeting. The problem is not the means, it is the message. The fact is that his allies are encouraging him to stop tweeting because they do not believe that he can exercise restraint on instant social media. Trump won the last election through unrelenting and personal attacks. Trump has been successful in forcing his opponents to become the very stereotypes that he paints in his attacks. What is most surprising about Trump baiting opponents is that they continue to take the bait. It has even worked with journalists and judges – and political opponents by the gross. He calls media “fake” and biased. The response from some news organizations is to be unrelenting parts of the “resistance.”

While the negative branding of opponents it may be working, it is not succeeding. The reason is that he is now President. It is very hard to run the government that you head as an outsider warring with every institution and even your own lawyers and agencies. It is like trying to drive a car from the outside. It can be done, but not very well.

Just ask Bill Clinton. Clinton shows that playing the margin will not ultimately succeed as a president. It can get you re-elected but at the cost of losing many of your congressional allies and one or both of the houses of Congress. You can be left with a hostile Congress with subpoena authority and inexhaustible rage.

Twitter fits Trump. Where FDR could reach millions with a weekly Fireside Chat on the radio, Trump has a Twitter following in the tens of millions and his tweets reach ten times that number through media pings. While Barack Obama has succeeded in maintaining a much larger audience of over 87 million, Twitter’s short burst, 140 character structure was ideal for Trump’s populist message. It gives him direct and immediate access to his supporters in pressuring the establishment and countering political opponents.

It is still not clear if Trump won because of this strategy or despite this strategy. Bernie Sanders may be correct that Trump did not win the election as much as the Democrats lost it. They lost it by selecting the ultimate establishment candidate with huge negative polling on truthfulness and dragging three decades of scandals.

Let’s assume for a second that the branding and tweet attacks were at least successful on the margin (and in a close race, you only need the margin). It is clearly not succeeding now. Some 71 percent of people say that Trump’s tweets are hurting him, his Administration, and his party. A majority of Republicans hold this view. Republican leaders have lined up to denounce Trump’s tweets targeting people like MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and have said publicly that the tweets are proving costly to the GOP legislative agenda.

The problem is that the constant barrage of personal attacks has left both Trump’s staff and allies constantly in a deep bunker. It is impossible to gain ground in a bunker, let alone move an ambitious legislative agenda. What may have been successful on the campaign (and continues to resonate with 40 percent of the public) is not enough to actually lead and govern.

To make matters worst, the content of these tweets is undermining the Administration on the world stage and in the courts. There have been glaring conflicts between presidential tweets and Administration policies. In litigation, Trump’s tweets were used by various courts to rule against his Administration and Trump even directly contradicted his own Justice Department in representations being made to the Courts in the immigration litigation.

Calling for the President to stop tweeting is like demanding calling on Truman stop using pen and paper after his threatening a critic of his daughter as a singer. It is not the medium but the message, but allies clearly do not believe that Trump can control the message . . . so they want to close the medium. That is perhaps the most alarming aspect of this controversy.

In the end, shutting down the President’s Twitter account will achieve little. He is the President of the United States and he only has to walk to a nearby window to be heard around the world. The only thing that will end this cycle is for Trump to realize that being on the margin is no longer a strategic advantage. If he repeats Clinton’s mistake and plays the margin, he might secure a second term but cripple his presidency. Or he can fight the war that he is in.

193 thoughts on “FIGHTING THE LAST WAR: TRUMP NEEDS TO CHANGE HIS MESSAGE NOT HIS MEDIUM”

  1. Amazing , JT is writing about how to be a presidential politician, like our esteemed “journalists” tell us every day . Can I have the credentials of everyone who does this , to support this undertaking ?

    1. Most intelligent thing your programmer has come up with all day. Even cleaned up the de rigueur langage grossier. I see The Party is panicking again at the thought of the Houses passing a “Read The Bills Act.” Why? Because they aren’t allowed to read as part of the Collective.

  3. OT – I watched the documentary “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press” last night. It was interesting but predictable – no mention of the liars and power players behind the liberal MSM.

    1. Squeeky, did you see the cast of characters he was in front of? I laughed my assets off, the Dums are shot in the you know where, sad.

        1. Shot in the foot
          It’s plain to see
          Dems give brains
          A Bad Name.

  5. This July 4th holiday weekend, President Trump tweeted himself beating up on “CNN.”

    A year ago on July 2, President Obama tweeted “Elie Weisel was a great moral voice of our time and a conscience for our world. He was also a dear friend. We will miss him deeply.”

    Happy 4th of July and long may our institutions survive and thrive.

    1. Yeah, and this Fourth of July, Obama is cautioning Americans about being too patriotic! Sure wouldn’t want us Americans being proud of ourselves, you know. The stupid twit never really was our President. He was too busy trying to be the President of Mexicans, and President of the World.

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

        1. I know, oh don’t I know! Most ex-American Presidents keep a low profile, and don’t stick their nose into politics for a while. But not Obama! Because he wasn’t really ever an American President. He was trying to be President of the World, so of course the normal rules don’t apply to him.

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporters

          1. Squeeky – now he is giving the South Koreans advice on how to deal with Trump. That is chutzpah!!!

              1. Interfering would be one but aren’t they supposed to stay out of politics for a time certain? Don’t suppose O’Blew it spent all this publishing advances on five months of vacations trying for his 1% merit badge. ?

              2. TBob – I actually think there is a law against it. However, Obama is so ignorant he would not know.

                1. He would ignore it anyway just like always. Nothing new there. In his lexicon there is Obama and hen the universe.

            2. Like overunder said, Obama is sooo predictable! And don’t forget about “hubris”, since you are throwing out Yiddish words. Obama has a lot of hubris, too. Even though, in 1961, he was probably circumcised.

              Squeeky Fromm
              Girl Reporter

            3. Barrack Hussein Obama was the best President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces since Truman. Bank on that.

              1. Why stop at Truman?
                If you’re going to engage in wild,farcical hyperbole, why not declare him the best President in the last century?
                Or the last two centuries?

              2. He agrees. He is so arrogant that he had his Defense Secretary Ash Carter award him the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service as a token of appreciation before he left office. OMG. Are you getting a little sick to your stomach yet? Did Obama really do that? Oh yes he did.

              3. I am a Truman fan. I read a book about him which was very fair and sometimes critical of him. I yak about Truman on this blog– perhaps too often. Give em Hell Harry!

                1. Truman was the best prez in my lifetime. The MSM hate that Trump is like Truman in that he says what he thinks w/o handlers telling him what to say. So, they ignore the obvious comparison.

                  1. Truman’s and Trump’s policies are the exact opposite. Truman was a strong pro-union guy. Lucky for Harry Truman that he does not have to see this oligarch as president.

                    1. Learn history. Though Truman at times was favorable to unions such as vetoing the Taft Hartely Act he didn’t have the greatest relationship with them. When there was a threat of a railroad strike he had the army man the railroads. Before the steelworkers strike he nationalized steel. When the miners were threatening to strike he siezed the mines.

                      The problems I find with your feelings towards the present President is not that you have objections to certain specific policies rather you don’t know your history and thereby have inconsistant views that are foolish. That is a problem when you let specific news media such as Media Matters do your thinking for you. What you end up doing is regurgitating whatever junk you hear and then have to be corrected by someone else.

                1. Paul, Mark M sounds like another leftist that doesn’t know his history. Truman would probably put Obama in jail and throw away the key. Mark M. is one of those that worships failure.

                    1. Assuming he borrowed money from Russian oligarchs, why is that bad? (Obama sent $150Billion back to Iran the country that is the number one state sponsor of terrorism).

                      One of the ways, if we could get rid of the foolishness in Washington, to use soft power against an agressive Russian government is to economically challange the Russian oligarchs. They (their families and friends) buy very expensive homes, boats and planes in the US along with having financial dealings with U.S. citizens. If we threatened to take away that cherished financial interest and threatened to stop them from living here that could ameliorate some of the problems we face. Trade can be used to reduce hostilities between nations.

                      Frankly, it is important to think a bit further than the tip of one’s nose.

                  2. Trump said he would not hire poor people and instead hired six Goldman Sachs bankers to run the government…not Truman like at all.

                    1. Why don’t you tell us who Truman hired and what they did. Generally history is a good predictor of what one will do in the future. Trump has hired some of the best with a history of being some of the best. I love Harry Truman. Go ahead and make your comparisons and let us see if you can prove your case or if you are once again saying things whiile knowing little or nothing about what you are talking about.

                2. There are so many Trump policies I disagree with. Let’s start with Trump’s desire to destroy clean air and clean water. Next, move on to the tax cuts for the rich. Trumpcare is a disaster. His immigration policy is punitive and accomplishes little. He is expanding the wars in the mideast. He is anti lbgqt. I won’t even start on his attitudes toward women as I have sleeping house guests.

                  1. Frankly, do you shower? You destroy clean water. Do you breate? YOU destroy clean air. Farmers destroy clean air and water. Cars destroy clean air and water. The question is, in total is an action better or worse for water, air and people? One has to include people when asking that question.

                    Trump DOESN’T WANT to destroy clean air and clean water. He passes policies to promote American welfare. His policies might be good or bad.

                    Tell us how he destroys clean air and clean water and what a better alternative would be.

                    “His immigration policy is punitive and accomplishes little. ” Prove it. He has already reduced illegal immigration substantially.

                    I’ll just discuss these two questions and leave the rest for another post.

                    1. Done with Trump for the day. Hosting a family gathering and need to get ready. Won’t be thinking about Trump unless he nukes North Korea in a fit of rage.

                    2. As expected Frankly, all talk without knowledge.

                      Enjoy your 4th of July that represents America’s independence, not dependence. I too am waiting for the party to begin.

                    3. On the immigratin we’re within about 500 of Trumps limit of 50l,000. for the year. After that the entire immigration system belongs to the courts and is their operation. .Congress, President are out of it unti lsometime after October. i irecently posted the current figures and the source in the thread on immigration but if you need them again it’s Refugee Resettlement Watch

                      https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/today-we-reached-49255-refugees-745-away-from-trump-50000-cap/

              5. That bank account is overdrawn and has been writing NSF checks for years. I’ve been alive since President Roosevelt was in office, and I served on active duty under every president from Kennedy to Clinton. President Carter was the worst during my watch, and President Obama wasn’t half that good. It’s hard for me to tell which of these is greater: your hyperbole or your delusion.

      3. Easier to be President of The World, Mexico is not known for welcoming the darker shades of pale. Unless they have lots of money.

        Eas

  6. The Polish cavalry vs Panzers is probably a myth. However, the Panzers used in Poland were a mere shadow of the Panzers we think of.

    1. The big problem was that this scenario was in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland to start World War II. JT surely knows this and his World War I reference was merely a typo.

      1. David Benson – there is no proof of an cavalry attack reported by Panzers during the Polish invasion. You know what great record keepers the Germans were during WWII.

        1. Better yet, there is actual proof no tanks were involved in the Charge at Krojanty which merely was a cavalry charge to disrupt German infantry. It did and then the brave Poles came under subsequent attack from machine gun fire from armored cars operated by German advance recon teams. The Poles retreated but the charge delayed the German advance. The myth grew out of German propaganda and a duped Italian journalist.

            1. I’ve done a lot of research and the most I came up with was 130,000 cavalry with rifles and lances but used mostly to move troops to the the front or some battle position coupled with some embellishments just as the Germans did to justify invading Poland.

              There was heavy use however in WWII byii US, USSR, Polish and others it turns out the Italian Cavalry performed the last charge against a position but not against tanks.

              The best answer I found was

              http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/08/19/war-horses-the-cavalrys-contribution-to-second-world-war/

              Still the use of horse cavalry in their last known mass charge was in the 1990’s in Afghanistan detailed in the book “Horse Soldiers” and also Lions of Kandahar by Bradley

            2. This seemed like a good place to bring up a related subject “Is Congress In or Out of Session.” Schrodingers cat was used as one analogy.

              Here’s mine.

              Short and simple. 50% to 50% They are or they aren’t’

              The longer and more entertaining poetic version goes like this.

              James Clerk Maxwell
              Scientist
              James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE was a Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics. His most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing … Wikipedia

              Black bodies give off radiation.
              And do it continuously.
              Black bodies give off radiation.
              And do it continuously.

              Bring back. Oh Bring back.
              Oh bring back that old continuity.
              Bring back. Oh bring back.
              Oh bring back Clerk Maxwell to me,

              Though now we have Schrodinger Functions
              Dividing up ‘H by 2 pi.’
              That damn differential equation
              Still has no solution for psi or phi

              Well Heisenberg came to the rescue,
              Intending to make all secure.
              What is the result of his efforts?
              We are absolutely unsure.

              Dirac spoke of energy levels,
              Both and minus and plus. Oh, how droll!
              And now, just because of his teachings.
              We don’t know our mass from a hole.

              The answer in the long version is contained in the last line of the last verse preceded by Heisenberg and Schrodinger.

              Only The Cat knows for sure.

  7. It would be nice to see you write as many long paragraphs detailing the dangers of the progressive democrats and news agencies no longer reporting news but acting as their propaganda arm. Obama was popular because the media made him popular. Can you imagine if each day they attacked his agenda of change, “fair share” and went after his family. Obama didn’t need twitter nor would President Trump if news was reported not left wing propaganda.

    1. If the mainstream media ever personally attacked or criticized Obama or his family, they would have been considered racist or bigoted!

      1. Hmmm, Fox news. Every day. For 8 years. They are corporate MSM .

  8. The pretty boy, vapid, PM of Canada can’t even name the provinces of Canada. He forgot, Alberta, one of the best provinces. Hell, Obama named all “57 states” didn’t he?

  9. Best news this weekend is that both R and D secretaries of states are refusing to comply with his phony election fraud committee. Remember, Trump used twitter to tell the lie that there is significant voter fraud and that he actually won popular vote. My favorite by far is the Mississippi SoS who told them to jump in the Gulf of Mexico. I wish our GOP congresspeople had such courage.

    Our country is being held hostage by the psychopathology and deformed ego of our president and his tweets prove it over and over again. This is as sad for him as it is for the country. He will continue to tweet and he is NEVER going to change the message. In fact, the message will get worse and worse as he continues to decompensate due to stress from his incompetence, and his fear of the enlarging investigations.

    1. To much MTV? The lefts programmers are in high gear since they couldn’t go the beach probably getting 10Cents for tomorrow but still producing less than a nickel. So now they all of a sudden want to protect the local election fraud tabulations …which means….they have something to hide End of conversation wasn’t that hard to figure out and they can use the same BS they have been repeating for the last year.

      They are soooooooooooooooo playing stupid in the rush hour traffic

      The rest was boring..

      Do you know that with their transparency on display the bichi party should be even easier to beat than we thought.

      Here’s another problem they aren’t addressing. The RINO contingent of the left is slowly coming around but still talks of changing votes of Democrats (lumping their six or seven fractions together, the Republicans and they now admit to three fractions. Conservative, Tea Party and what they call moderates but the rest of us call Republicans in Name Only aka the right wing of the left.

      Now here’s the fun part. Both sides to lump them together split 60% of the vote. 40% went to the independents and the self governing and the moderate Constitutional Centerists and that number is climbing . while the fractions numbers are diminishing.

      But the self governing that control who gets in or put out of office have no representation . So who do you think they are going to NOT support besides the extremist left and the RINO’s Tune in to the mid term elections especially the primaries.

      There are some incumbents who are going to be replaced especially those that don’t bring up the pork and bacon the moochers demand.

      Greetngs from the Phantom Army aka the counter revolution against left wing fascist socialism and their foreign ideology.

  10. Charles Blow hits the nail with his hammer in today’s TNYT op-ed.

    1. LOL!! Blow is an affirmative action child and even more thin skinned than Trump.

      1. But Trump is supposed to act like the President of the United States. How is this so difficult to comprehend. . .

    2. TNYT.com doesn’t work. Are you that ashamed you can’t provide some tiny minor clue or should we just mark it down as blow hard meaningless propaganda? Seriously. You don’t have to stop at 140 minus. No matter what your programmer says. Oh I forgot I’m conversing with a machine.

      1. TNYT: as everybody who is anybody knows,
        The New York Times.

        1. Oh…that outta town muckraking phony story yellow journalism rag . WHY would it rate an honorific The.?

          Well no point in reading propaganda …..now back to real life.

          Not just anybody but a somebody. unlike the parts of The Collective.

          1. “The” is part of the name as the observant know and the ignorati do not.

            1. The is part of the name, but even style manuals do not use it for an acronym.

            2. One they have no style. Two no sense of the grammatical but Three in their defense what need do they have with style and grammar? I’ve seen that rag. Takes a pickup truck and 95% of it is advertising. No one needs that much fire starting material unless it’s not a cozy wood fire to help pollute the air. So much for your non skills in being observant. Now Programmer what other junk you going to make this poor Robo Collective Clone take the blame for?

        2. Most everyone refers to it as NYT. I’ve personally never heard it called TNYT. Ever.

            1. J is for Journalism. Almost embarrassed to even say it these days 😉

              1. They would be SOL in Ukraine or Russia No articles. Ukraine means The Edge as in edge of the empire but in NY it means …..T is for Illiterate.

                1. I don’t follow what you said there. I read your words and got to ‘The Edge’ and my mind went to. ‘oh yeah The Edge from U2’?….but I don’t think that’s what you were getting at.

                    1. In Russian the language Ukraine translates as The Edge (of the Empire) the furthest reach of Catherine The Great and Company. as much as it can since the Russian language apparently does not use Articles as a part of Speech..

                    2. Interesting, so maybe that is where “The Edge” from U2 got his stage name?

          3. I second TBob. NEVER seen TNYT until this ham n’ egger used it here.

    3. Used to have a lot of respect for Blow – I loved his autobiography – painful and honest. But he caved completely to Slim and the corporatists when he begain shillin’ for HIl. Pathetic sell out.

      1. Speaking of sell outs, how is your Bernie or bust mantra working out? Hard to understand how tRump is your fall back position, comrade.

  11. Or, maybe President Trump is using Twitter and social media in new and masterful ways that prove him to be a skilled tactician and strategist. He definitely dominates the news cycles with his tweets as reflected by you and others still reacting to something he did days ago. According to you and the majority of the media and talking heads, the altered video was disturbing, and you’re entitled to have that opinion. You’re also justified to note that in your blog and other opinion-based items. The media, however, are not entitled, nor should they include “disturbing” or similar terms in what they present as straight news. President Trump tweeted an altered video. That’s the fact. I happen to see it as humorous, in that it’s clearly fake, he and CNN weren’t involved, it depicts an already fake venue (wrestling), and no one was actually attacked. It seems to me anyone who rails about the video is really just using it as a vehicle and excuse to attack President Trump. Absent the video, the attackers would still be attacking. The major difference would be that they, rather than the president, would be in control of the news cycle. For that reason, it’s not surprising his opponents try to get him to stop doing what he’s doing. Your claim he’s fighting the wrong war is merely the latest iteration of arguments used to achieve the goal of shutting down the president. Many of us on the other side think he’s right to ignore you. It seems clear he’s using prestidigitation and misdirection in masterful ways. All the while he’s dominating the media and news cycles by guiding the media to chase ridiculousness, he’s actually accomplishing much the media isn’t covering. Back to your analogy, he’s using video, rather than real people, to lead a frontal attack on the tanks, so in the end, the cavalry isn’t actually destroyed. And while his enemies focus on the false battle, he’s massing and using his real forces to defeat his opponents. That makes for brilliant thinking, tactics, and strategy. For examples of what’s happening off stage, behind the scenes, and out of sight–because the media refuse to seek out and report on real news–see the link below. In the future, when “General Trump” knows the time is right, he’s going to employ his amassed forces to crush those in the tanks. They, not he, are the ones engaged in the last war–the one they conjured up where the victor was going to be Hillary Clinton.
    https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pggbpz/all-the-laws-and-executive-orders-trump-has-signed-so-far

  12. Trump tweets because he lacks the skill to handle an actual news conference, which requires the ability to think on his feet, something he can’t do. [Did you see today’s interview with Tarren Killim, who discussed how Donnie couldn’t stay on track during rehearsals for his appearance on SNL?] More importantly, he has failed at just about everything he’s tried to do so far, and isn’t as skillful as lyin’ Kellyanne at spinning his multiple failures and pivoting the blame to President Obama and Hillary Clinton. He wants to use the media to get out his stupid messages, but without having to be accountable in the form of questions and answers like every other President, so he tweets. This is not the product of being smart, but a perfect example of a bully who isn’t very smart. His tweets prove this, plus how thin skinned and vindictive he is.

    His tweets reveal how little comprehension he has regarding the decorum and dignity citizens have a right to expect from their President. You claim he “won” the election–no, he “won” the Electoral College, but lost the election. Of course, his mental illness won’t allow him to admit this, so now he’s trying to intimidate voters by creating a federal database of voter information. Most states, including really dumb ones, like Indiana, home to homophobic Mikey Pence, have refused him because, you see, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. There may be evidence of some small number of errors, but not widespread fraud. Never forget that the purpose for this exercise is because Little Donnie cannot accept the truth that he lost the popular vote. You claim he has “populist” support and a “populist” message. Maybe you haven’t seen the polls: more people support his impeachment than approve of his job performance. Oh, yes, I know: fake news, biased media.

    Chump is so mentally deranged, so utterly unfit for office, and is doing such a consistently poor job that it would be biased for the media to ignore all of his flaws and failures and pretend that he’s wonderful and doing a good job. The majority of voters voted against him, and even more now do not approve of him or the job he’s doing. The story about how the Russians helped him “win” is still being developed. Stay tuned.

    You claim that “Trump has been successful in forcing his opponents to become the very stereotypes that he paints in his attacks. What is most surprising about Trump baiting opponents is that they continue to take the bait”. No, this would require a level of intelligence and strategy Chump lacks. He’s not “baiting” his multiple opponents, which include just about everyone, to get them to look bad. He’s just running off at the mouth. The large number of recipients of his tweets include news organizations and others who are not necessarily supporters, but observers of this ongoing train wreck of a Presidency. It is literally shock after shock at how unqualified, vindictive, petty and emotionally ill this person is. He lost the popular vote, so assuming that his thin electoral college win is reflective of anything is a huge stretch.

    1. Great comment Natacha. Starting with your unquoted use of the name Trump, and ending with…oh who am I kidding; ending right there. Bwahahahaha!

    2. His tweets reveal how little comprehension he has regarding the decorum and dignity citizens have a right to expect from their President.

      Comprehension? Good luck finding that right. Let me guess, you consider it part of your pursuit of happiness natural right? You and issac would do well to pick up some U.S. civics study material. Good luck in your pursuit over the next 3.5 years. 😉

      1. No, Donnie will be gone long before then–they’ll either be closing in on him for his collusion with the Russians, so he’ll resign if he can’t easily or quickly fire Mueller, or articles of impeachment will be brought and Donnie will resign in lieu of being forced out, just like Nixon.

        Tell me, Olly: would the Marines allow an officer to publicly discuss the size of his penis, or call women “fat pigs” or “dogs”, or accuse a woman who complained about misogynist comments as being on her period, or what would they do if an officer bragged about sexually assaulting women–more than one? Shouldn’t more be expected of the Commander in Chief? Just askin’

        1. You haven’t spent much time in the military, have you? Anyway, good for you Natacha. hopefully you are beginning to understand what a right is. When you get around to the part of the constitution that explains the separation of powers, I would recommend paying close attention to the limits of each branch. Then, when you can explain to me the abuses of power (in a comparison format) from the previous administration and the current one, we’ll see if you really do get it.

        2. Wrong. Who are you listening to? Auntie Maxine? Donnie won’t be long gone. He’ll finish four years. He may go for eight, but I kind of doubt it. I see him as only putting in one term – by choice. And he will finish it on a high note for the country. He may end up going for eight. Not sure. But he will successfully finish one term. No doubt about it.

    3. Lable that deranged rant as personal opinion without foundation. 55% to 45% was enough to Kill Hill and your national popularity poll gave you zero percent. Now be a good little machine part, check in with the programmer and go play stupid in rush hour traffic.

    4. Natacha – HRC didn’t give any news conferences for months – while Bernie was out there being decimated by the MSM for “sexism” (daring to run against her in the primaries) and then all the newz folks wanted to know when he was quitting.

      Why didn’t the globalist darling give any conferences? Because every time she did her ratings fell even further.

      F^ck the Establishment Dims and good luck bringing the Donald down.

    5. Very astute Natacha. Of course, all thinkers are aware of the many, many shortcomings of Donnie and his complete lack of fitness for any public office; much less the most important one in the world. Your missive is spot on, but wasted with this “audience.” Although, they are fun to play with at times. Sometimes you can nearly see the spittle hitting their little monitors.

      1. However I have yet to see any riposte other than your mirror image description of …yourself? Did it get any distance or did it dribble? Glancing down through the challenges one can only consider the source and hope you got your monies worth from Yoda’s Agent Manuals or are you still seeing elephants? How does it feel to be a puppet without a clue? Punch him Judy!

  13. I still think the problem with Trump’s Tweets is that upper-middle class Whites are just not comfortable with coming right out and saying something in a direct fashion. For example, it isn’t that various trade deals weren’t stupid, because they were. It’s just that in White People Land, you aren’t supposed to say something is stupid, or directly state that someone is stupid or incompetent.

    White Folks of a certain societal status just expect diplomacy, and beating around the bush as a social manners thing. That is why you get all the “Trump is a pig!” and “Trump is vulgar!” It’s not what he’s saying but how he says it. Sooo, upper-middle class White Folks’ panties are in a wad.

    I say “Screw them, and the Mercedes they rode in on!” It is time for frank talk, and brutal honesty in the country. IMHO, Trump has not gone far enough.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. I couldnt beat that with a Louisville Slugger !!!! But I did strike a blow for accuracy and fake propaganda. Read on!

      1. and against fake propaganda. As for me. Stupid is as Stupid does and if the left doesn’t like it remember only their ruling class and their robo machine is allowed to see any of this The Collective is out playing stupid in rush hour traffic.

    2. I’ll fix this right now by being brutally honest: “Your” President is a lying, racist, homophobic misogynist, thin skinned, vindictive, petty, incompetent loser who not only sexually assaults women, but brags about it to a reporter, and who lost the popular vote but can’t accept the truth. That’s why he’s a pig, but also because he’s fat and hides his scalp reduction procedure with an absurd pompadour, yet he criticizes certain women for their looks and being overweight. He is ridiculous in appearance and demeanor. He accused Megyn Kelly of being on her period after she directly quoted him saying rude, outrageously insulting things about women. Would Abraham Lincoln have done that? How about JFK, FDR, either of the Bushes or Reagan?

      He hides his tax returns because he’s so deeply in debt that if he disclosed the documents, we’d see he’s nowhere near as wealthy as he would have us believe. See, to be a good President, it doesn’t really matter how wealthy someone is. Except to Chump, who needs to feel superior to others, but who probably isn’t nearly as wealthy as we’ve been led to believe; therefore, he must hide the returns so we can’t discover that he’s probably been lying about his wealth, too. He has serious emotional problems, and people like you who think his lack of respect for the Presidency and his outrageous behavior is refreshing or “telling it like it is” don’t get it. You have a lot of rage for middle class people, and you think we need to be told off because we “expect” diplomacy. No, we expect the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of this country to at least be a gentleman, to respect the traditions and history of the office and to be someone we could be proud of for their dignified bearing commensurate with respect for the office and what it means, regardless of whether we agree with his policies or not. These are personal characteristics. Chump is a realty TV star, not Presidential material. He lacks the intelligence, education and emotional stability to do the job. He has actually discussed the size of his penis! He is a disgrace and a laughingstock for the rest of the world, and it’s because of his behavior and the things he says. He is no role model for children. It isn’t just the occasional mis-step: he shoots off his mouth and embarrasses himself and the country, too, on a daily basis. He is supposed to be the face of America to the rest of the world. The sight of this fatass loser makes my stomach hurt.

      P.S.: At least we middle class folk wear underpants.

          1. Just for technical reasons. This was about your short comment ‘She’s an excellent driver.’ posted to me as 5:08 EDST so for me 2:08 MDST. but the notification of the post came through at 3:20 MDST or over one hour later. Having already read the post the notification was to late to be useful

      2. Now the real intellect of the left comes out. Say were you that air head who asked Bubba boxers or briefs?

        So much for one of the sexist victimizers of women.

        One thing is true you made my stomach hurt from laughing at your pathetic attempt to speak for the world. Who appointed you GOD menshevik?

      3. None of which would have mattered to you, because if Jeb Bush had won the Presidency, you would still have a mouthful of bad things to say about him. Because that is pretty much what Democratic Party cultist and shills do. Bad mouth Republicans, because if they didn’t blame somebody else, they might have to look in the mirror and see their own blame for the way things are.

        For example, it is easier for a Democrat to blame Institutionalized Racism than Institutionalized Illegitimacy for problems in the black community. Because if it is Institutionalized Illegitimacy (Let’s try over 50 years of a 70+% black illegitimate birth rate!), then gee, who thought it was a great idea to pay women to have illegitimate children??? Hmmm. Ponder. Ponder. Lightbulb! DEMOCRATS!

        And no, the mistake was NOT “well-intentioned.” LBJ knew exactly what he was doing! Buying Democratic Party Votes with Welfare! Same as with the illegal immigrant’s “pathway to citizenship.”

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        1. LBJ knew exactly what he was doing! Buying Democratic Party Votes with Welfare! Same as with the illegal immigrant’s “pathway to citizenship.”

          In the critical-thinking world of the Left, those two things have nothing in common. You see the former was all about helping an extremely disadvantaged segment of our society, the latter, well they are helping an extremely disadvantaged segment of some other society.

      4. Wow, Natacha, this one was better than the first one I came to. What I said above is applicable as if I restated it here.

          1. Beggars would ride but saying is not doing and that aside we have not much to fear from the words of the left, they have nothing to offer and all that is left is nothing ness but their couch and their clicker so..? Go ahead and snicker.

            TBOB I will give you a present on how to accomplish what you want and to let you know we figured that out twenty years ago in Fort Bragg NC and began preparing to conduct a ‘legal’ counter revolution.

            It involves dumping two parties that have over stayed their welcome and creating new one’s and all quite legally. Something the so called resistance of the left’s now failed revolution cannot claim.

            First prepare for and help create the conditions. look around at the shattered splintered left and left leadersless except for Sanders an Klein and their former leaders increasingly left with no followers. Clinton was are first target the Democrats were second. Third was the RINO faction of the the left . Now it’s their turn.

            To fully appreciate all of this you would need some years of experience in revolutionary and counter revolutionary warfare with psyops, and a grounding in area studies, backed by a good deal of philosophy , moral philisophy and applied history. Nowadays that can be obtained in a few months and at no cost except the experience from hillsdale.edu or ARI.org the campus section.

            What got me started. I’l give credit to Madonna, the media and my college professors who couldn’t explain their way out of a wet paper bag much less a minefield. The question was … just to think about it ….Why would a die hard don’t you wish you were rich enough to be a liberal like Madonna play the part of and lionize Evita Peron when Evita was an out and out Nazi. Answer: Internatinal Socialism begat National Socialism and not leave a stone unturned…secular progressivism.

            I then found out their definitions didn’t work and later why they didn’t work. That led to a system which did work and one we quietly adopted before the events of last November.

            Left – Government Over Ciizens – as a new aristocracracy (See Plato but don’t forget he denied his creation in the end)

            Center – in a Constitutional Republic with a foundation of democratic principles the center is the Constitution just like it says in our oath of office

            Right – Citizens over government – taking the place of the ‘divine right of kings’ as self governing human beings. The ultimate power with government as temporary employees.

            Our motto was and is Ballots Not Bullets (contributed by someone in the military)

            Our plan was simple.

            Quit Enabling
            Take Control
            Make Changes

            With the help of the internet and the blogs it worked better than we had hoped and left us along with many others from many other start points with 40% of the vote

            Our targets wiere Clinton, Democrats, Rinos in that order.

            and to this day one cell does not know another or it’s members – thus the Phantom Army

            Our weapon of choice. A political outsider who like us did not give a damn about politicians phony sensitivities as they did not give a damn about us – because you see none of us were represented by any party but ….we ended up controlling the outcome.

            But not to be like the left there is more as you asked.

            Left can use the same system but they won’t so it’s ok to talk over their heads.

            For us the Constitutional Center unrepresented moderates we are currently working on the primaries as a way of dumping RINOs and DINOs.

            So on to the former land of the GOP. who for the last few decades were never the right wing of anything escept right wing of the left and their single Government Party system.

            Quietly form an in house movement to become the Constitutional faction and then the Constitutional Party. at the point when you don’t lose all the power and powerful seats in committees. That is ongoing as the RINOs scramble to become known as moderates…they are not. or Hil Republicans whatever that means.

            At the same time begin a Constitutional Centrist Coalition which attracts much more than current GOP members especially thos ealready elected. but don’t forget the Libertarians, the IDC faction of the Democrats some times called Blue Dogs and others looking for a home where A. they are comfortable with keeping one hand or foot in the real center per Path of Office and B. still have the ability to take leave on certain issues important to them. Not so hard to do if you can offer a seat at the table or in the front row instead of being called upon only when it’s time to follow dictatorial vote instructions then be discarded.

            Trading on the success of Nov 8th and ithe good wil lof it’s major supporters – the US Military combat arms who voted as I stated above 80% with us and we in support of them .Create a new party and a new set of committee participants and a new set of constituents across the nation.

            What it takes it the will to act not just talk and definitely not just accept status quo.

            There is more and you will see me post it from time to time. Recalls, Initiatives, political raiding and the like….and all legal.

            How so? The left began the third revolution in 1898 but our military is charged with protection the constitutional and our constitutional Republic against all enemies foreign and domestic. This is the required and legal counter revolution against an illegal revolution. An important point as it Ballots Not Bullets.

            Kept it as short as I could but think about it try to hook up to like minded on other blogs and expand the network. the key phrase is you don’t need a party to be self governing but it doesn’t hurt to have on when it’s time for congress to vote – or be voted out.

            Pass it on.

            1. Thanks for that. Will pass it on. Also, this —>

              “WaPo’s David Ignatius has just returned from a week in Syria. He was almost apologetic in prefacing his remarks: “I’m going to say something that in some ways is sympathetic to Trump.”

              He then proceeded to say that he was told by top US commanders that “the most daring and decisive” attack in the battle of Raqqa would not have happened if it hadn’t been for President Trump’s decision to delegate authority to commanders in the field.

              Ignatius’ contrasting depiction of the Obama administration was incredibly damning: “under Obama, that would have taken a couple of weeks of White House meetings and they still wouldn’t have made up their mind.”

              Ignatius also said that the name Trump was cheered whenever it was mentioned during meetings Ignatius had with Syrian forces trying to take out Assad. One Syrian commander praised Trump for having what Ignatius described as a vulgar term that in Spanish is “cojones.”

              http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/07/wapos-ignatius-fighters-in-syria-cheer-at-mention-of-trump-name/

              1. TBob – that article must have shriveled the tiny cojones of the liberals who read it. 🙂

      6. I just skimmed your comment and all I come away with is that “at least you wear underpants.” Okay good for you. Whatever the hell that means.

        1. It’s the bubba boxers or briefs syndrome common in the leftist way of thinking.

    3. Sorry, I am not an upper class white. I am a retired health care professional, lower middle class southern white who drives a 17 year old Chevy. And I think his behavior is deplorable, crude, gross and he is completely unqualified for the job. He has thoroughly debased the office of president in just five months, and this is his greatest accomplishment so far.

      2. I should have added “Democrats” and “upper middle class White wannabees” and “older White People who were trained by their parents to emulate the upper classes” to the mix. If one of those three categories doesn’t fit you, then I guess you are just an outlier.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

      3. No problem and how was candy striping for a living? Assuming the last sentence is true it put him miles ahead of his predecessor and Michelle Antoinette.

        But if you were really a middle class white you would have stated I a GRIT. So I have to mark you down as an imposter but definitely part of The Collective.

    4. ” It’s just that in White People Land, you aren’t supposed to say something is stupid, or directly state that someone is stupid or incompetent.”

      Unless they’re badwhites in flyover country (which is a metaphor-it includes Staten Island.) Then you can say those things whether they’re true or not. This is war between different tribes of white people, like the first Civil War.

        1. No war among the true elites. Kelly Anne and other Trump officials were spotted at a Washington Post editor’s home at the Hampton’s.

        2. SWM has her marching orders from Hillary. She’s been pushing this Soros/Ivanka/Kushner meme all over her blogroll. She’s as shallow as the wading pool I just took my granddaughter. But, not nearly as fun.

          1. Shhhhh You don’t want the word out that TRUMP KUSHNER family are a bunch of elitists that gave money to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton supporters were there, too They were dancing up a storm while Trump tweeted about bloody men and women so all you Trump cultists could get riled up and fantasize that he and his family members are there for you.

            1. Shhhhh, you may not realize it but you are actually making a very strong case for having not elected Clinton. Thank you Captain Obvious.

              Nicely done!

          2. Hillary? Guess the has been was not invited to the event. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin also worked for Soros. Check it out.

    5. Squeek – not Mercedes – TESLA which is existing still due to subsidies.

  14. Seems like if you just won the American presidential election and

    four special elections, you have a good message.

    1. If anyone should change his message it is Obongo.

      As a former official with no authority, meeting with a foreign head of state

      immediately subsequent to an official reception by the President

      constitutes insurrection and treason.

      Obongo should be arrested and prosecuted for his many multiple crimes while in office,

      from Eric Holder’s illegal and congressionally censored gun-running,

      the Benghazi lie and cover-up, assisted by Susan Rice, and the IRS abuse of power,

      featuring Lois Lerner, to political surveillance, the “wiretapping” of Donald Trump

      and “unmasking” for political purposes conducted by, once again, Susan Rice,

      and for conspiracy and attempting to execute a coup d’etat in America.

  15. What?? First of all, the Professor alludes to the wrong war. Second, the Professor cites imagery that is almost entirely myth and propaganda.

    This hardly seems the forum to revive propaganda current during the first 30 to 40 years after WW2 probably disseminated to obfuscate the stunning collapse of France in May/June 1940 and to insult the Communist Poles. Anyone familiar with the 1939 German campaign in Poland, Soviet perfidy, and the incredible sacrifices of Poles throughout the War would never make such an unintelligent and insulting statement.

    How about we talk about the Polish fighter pilots serving in the Battle of Britain along with their companion French pilots? Let’s see. There were about 145 of the former, and about… oh, 14 of the latter! Well, you have to take into account that France ended up a quasi ally of Nazi Germany. There were more Polish pilots than ANY other nationality, including from any of the Dominions.

    1. Late 1990’s Afghanistan 700 horses and riders. Get an education…starting with learning how do basic research.

    2. Warspite2, Polish ability on the battlefied has history. One such Polish leader saved Europe once and may be needed again in the near future, Sobieski.

    3. Nice but as a diversion unecessary. Instead try correcting the inaccurate statement about horses charging tanks and artillery.

      I’ts posted twice and not hard to find.

    4. Thanks for setting the record straight. Let us also not forget that Polish units took the fortress at Monte Cassino, fought in North Africa, and participated in the Normandy invasion. Oh, and I forgot, the Poles broke the German codes, too. Let me know if I left something out. And, with apologies to Charles De Gaulle, the French did what, now?

      The American Heroes Channel (a/k/a the WWII Channel) has a fascinating series on Nazi collaborators in the occupied and allied countries. There are programs on Finnish, Lithuanian, Ukranian, Norwegian, Belgian, Croatian, Dutch and, of course, French collaborators. There were no Polish collaborators. Tells you something, doesn’t it.

  16. Politicians can often fall victim to the same strategic blindness.

    There are at least two sides to every war. When exactly did Trump’s enemies cease hostilities? It certainly wasn’t when he was declared the victor in the last war; it certainly wasn’t when he was inaugurated. So when did the losers in the last war put down their weapons? Or is President Trump now just being mean to the refugees of the last war, you know, the victims that have returned from the battlefield that are only looking to live peacefully among us?

    Sound familiar?

    1. Last I looked Bush got the permission of Congress using the required War Powers Act and Obama just continued….but then no Democrat has ever got permission from the War Powers Act they put in place. Two Republicans did exactly that. So much for the war monger party and it’s leftist ideology.

      1. Conservatives are in a war with the progressive ideology and President Trump was elected to lead in that effort. I have two conventional requirements regarding how he conducts this war; 1. Respect the rule of law, and 2. Respect the separation of powers. If his unconventional communication tactics are offending and weakening the enemy, then he has my full support.

  17. dispatcdhed Damn only one word this time? dispatched. It is not uncommon for my old unit then and now to use whatever is at hand and useful but hot damn I can ride the ponies and surely wish I had been still in my prime and not in my dotage. In the photo what looks like some kind of sword or sabre are riding crops. But swords were regularly carried by the locals. Most of their weaponry were left overs from the Russians. But some item swent back to the days of British Colonialism.

    You should have studied history and philosophy and then learned to use google …less tripping over your tweetie that way.

  18. Whether it’s Tweeting or merely speaking, Mr Trump is a dysfunctional personality. While dysfunctional people like Trump are a challenge for the rest of us, they are ubiquitous, a dime a dozen. The problem is the political system that put a highly dysfunctional person in a position of power.

    1. That’s your opinion. I see it as the rant of a bunch of losers whose dysfunctional understanding of basic civics and inability to function as independent thinking and reasoning citizens leaves only the programming of the extremist left …national or international socialism.

      The problem is – to put it in a nutshell. The left prefers stupid people and keeps them that way. In the society of Marxist Leninism or in their joined at the hip National Socialist offspring self governing citizens are not accepted nor allowed which means only the classless societies ruling class controls and the result is the entire system of the left is dysfunctional and that is being kind.

      My point of view won the day on November 8th …yours became mensheviks.

      Go complain to Yoda Lykoff and his Elephant Book.

      You were set up at $9.95 a copy Kindle Edition.

      Hint. All of what you champion traces back to Plato. The last thing Plato determined and the one part Kant, Hegel, Marx, Engels etc. do not tell you is this: “It won’t work, my fellow Greeks are too independent to accept a dictatorship and be disenfranchised.”

      Subjective other world mysticism without need for proofs other than ‘The Party said,’ leads to dysfunctional statemehts and are not acceptable in our Representative Constitutional Republic with it’s bed rock of democratic principles but does not make it a democracy.

      You might consider going back to your school and jackslapping the teachers for cheating you and then do the same for yourself for being so gullible.

      1. Haha. Please post more materials such is this. The disconnected randomness of the proper nouns you used and the lack of any coherent message makes me think there’s a drinking game in here some where.

        This is to Aarethun, referring to the 3:27 post.

  19. The first time the US went; into Afghanistan in a big way one battalion of US Army 5th Special Forces was dispatcdhed to the northern end of the country as adviser trainers. Their exploits included using the local non-Taliban types who routinely traveled by horseback. As part of that your mind is about five or ten wars back Poland vs. Germany. So it’s education timel The book reference is “Horse Soldiers.”

    now pay attention Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in AfghanistanMay 5, 2009
    by Doug Stanton
    Kindle Edition
    $ 13 99
    Paperback
    $ 10 08 $18.00Prime
    Only 1 left in stock – order soon.
    More Buying Choices
    $0.98(237 used & new offers)

    One of the events was a full bore cavalry charge of some 700 into the the machine gun and artillery fire of the Taliban and the rest of how that group was driven out of Afghanistan is provided in detail.

    As witnesses the US advisers called in USAF bombing support so ….now you can be updated and perhaps quit calling magazines clips and other common mistakes.

  20. That cavalry-charging-panzers is a myth, and you got it in the wrong war anyway.

    1. ebungalow:

      Thanks for setting the record straight. We have gone from fake news to fake history.

      1. that’s not ebungalows fault the fault is of a faulty school system with fake teachers and the fake left wing news media which doesn’t do news but just propaganda and programming.

        How to keep from being dysfunctional in one easy lesson? Do as Frank Zappa admonished. Go to school to get laid for an education go to the library …and sometimes it comes out as read a book. Here is the book and the library…

        now pay attention Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in AfghanistanMay 5, 2009
        by Doug Stanton
        Kindle Edition
        $ 13 99
        Paperback
        $ 10 08 $18.00Prime
        Only 1 left in stock – order soon.
        More Buying Choices
        $0.98(237 used & new offers)

        All it would have taken was learning how to do research and use google or Amazon books.

        So just to really set the record straight the last episode of a cavalry charge against an enemy armed with heavy machineguns, artillery and tanks was in the 1990s.

        By the way very few weapons use clips except to load magazines. Most use magazines.

        Wanna try a silenced revolver bet to explode another myth? Developed by the Russians originally it didn’t work so well but was solved by Smith And Wesson and used during the Vietnam War.

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