Below is my column in the Hill on the rise of delusional politics in America — a problem captured vividly on New Year’s Eve as Mayor Bill de Blasio dancing with his wife to a virtually empty Times Square. This is not Chicago where Sinatra sang about seeing a “guy dancing with his wife.” It is New York and the only one dancing seemed to be de Blasio.
We are watching as both parties seem blissfully and utterly detached from reality.
Here is the column:
At midnight at the start of the new year, if you listened hard, you could almost hear the teeth of an entire nation grinding, or at least of those watching coverage from New York as Mayor Bill de Blasio danced in a nearly empty Times Square. Millions watched as he dipped his wife in a romantic flourish to Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York.” At least Nero made his own music.
The scene drew angry rebukes. Andy Cohen said it made him feel sick. “I did not need to see that at the start of 2021. Do something with this city! Honestly, get it together!”
In fairness to de Blasio, it probably seemed harmless. Who would object to a guy dancing with his wife? But sometimes a predictable photo turns into a cursed image. Just ask 1988 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis after he took a spin in an army tank. The image captured what many considered as his faux commitment to a strong defense. He and his campaign failed to think of how driving around looking like Mickey Mouse on a battle tank would only drive home the criticism of his defense policies.
For de Blasio, dancing in a nearly empty Times Square came across not as amorous but as delirious in a city in lockdown with a collapsing economy and soaring crime rates. For many, it reinforced the crisis both parties now face. We have become a nation that seems untethered from all reality. In one of the most liberal cities on earth, de Blasio cannot break 40 percent in popularity. But he, like many others, plays to the extreme wings of his party. As crime raged, he pushed to reduce the police budget by $1 billion and eliminated the plain clothes division. New York has had a 50 increase in homicides and almost a 100 percent increase in shootings.
He also closed public schools despite overwhelming scientific evidence of little risk for coronavirus exposure, notably for elementary students. He finally caved to the pressure from parents and experts, admitting there was little risk in having the schools reopen. He supported the closing of restaurants, sending many to insolvency, despite the fact that they contribute to less than 2 percent of confirmed infections.
With New York losing money, de Blasio said the federal government could bail out City Hall and local businesses by simply printing more money, a statement both fiscally and politically delusional. As many highly taxed residents continue to move out of New York, de Blasio voices his “tax the hell out of the wealthy” policy. He recently declared that the purpose of public schools is the redistribution of income.
The eerie image of de Blasio dancing in a dead Times Square captures what could await us in 2021. Even if the pandemic is curtailed with the vaccines, cities like New York have been devastated by the lockdowns. There is no way that the federal government can bail out every business and landlord in one city, let alone the entire country.
At the same time, last year ended much as it had gone on for months. In Portland and Philadelphia, federal buildings were attacked by rioters and looters. In Washington, both parties deadlocked and, regardless of what happens in the Georgia Senate runoffs, that division will likely continue. Joe Biden and others have called for massive new spending in a country with $27 trillion in debt. Yet our lawmakers in Washington continue a kind of ghostly dance, oblivious to the costs and hazards ahead.
Meanwhile, reporters are unlikely to return to the standards of objectivity and independence after years of open bias against Donald Trump. Some journalism professors now reject the very concept of objectivity in favor of open advocacy. Columbia University journalism dean Steve Coll has denounced what he says is freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment now being “weaponized” to protect disinformation. Many reporters are invested in the next administration, including downplaying or ignoring those scandalous allegations against Hunter Biden and Eric Swalwell. Networks actively tailor their coverage to offer their viewers “safe spaces” without opposing facts or stories.
It is not just politicians and the press who have not changed. The reason 2021 will not be much different than 2020 is because we as a nation have not changed. We are still divided right down the middle, and the space between is filled with blind rage. Democrats have called for blacklists, disbarments, and other actions against those “complicit” in the Trump years, while over 70 percent of Republicans believe the presidential election was rigged and that Biden did not lawfully win.
Many among us sadly do not want any of this to change. Rage seems to be addictive. It becomes a license to hate. While few will admit it, the Trump years were a release from decency and civility. We have become a nation of conflict junkies. Even worse, we all live in artificial spaces which are a dangerous delusion because we face this economic crisis, international conflicts, and rising violence in our cities. That is why de Blasio dancing in New York could prove the ultimate embodiment not of 2020 but of 2021. Unless the middle can come out stronger, we all will be dancing with de Blasio in a dead space where the country once thrived.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates online @JonathanTurley.
As usual, and as predictable, the only criticisms Turley has are for Democrats–Dukakis and DiBlasio. Meanwhile his hero is attempting to browbeat the Republican Secretary of State into “finding” 11,000+ votes. Every argument Trump made about voting machines and their contents gone missing, votes for Biden getting counted three times, and ballots being shredded was shot down, but did he stop whining, cajoling or threatening–no. He’s a spoiled brat and narcissist. That’s what we expect from Trump, who has proven that his “presidency” is all about him–power, glory, adulation. And, BTW, for you Trumpsters, even if Trump could coerce Georgia into throwing out perfectly valid ballots and votes, he still will lose the election. There was no massive vote fraud. Trump is lying to you again–not only did he lose–he lost by a landslide in the most heavily-monitored election in US history.
But, the bigger story in terms of America’s political situation, IMHO are the Republicans who have announced their intention to “object” to Biden’s victory. Not only is this legally and morally wrong, this tactic will this not succeed. And, they know it. However, it is a sad reflection of the fact that these unpatriotic Republicans appreciate the depth and extent of stupidity and blind allegiance of Trumpsters. He got over 70 million votes–just think of that–their stunt will provide free political support from this many dumbasses.who will believe any lie, beginning with the lie that Trump was a successful businessman, that only he could turn around America’s problems, that he is the master of the “art of the deal”, that he gets to bang a supermodel young enough to be his daughter, which proves his virility and enormous wealth (if you ignore the 6 bankruptcies). They want to latch onto the support enjoyed by that loser of a man-child who has proven his incompetence, lack of integrity and lack of leadership in the most-tangible ways possible–an economic recession, high unemployment, record trade deficit and daily COVID infection and death rate records. America is too close for comfort to rationing health care. Yet, the faithful still believe whatever comes from the mouth of that pathological liar. So, these completely unethical Republicans will try to latch onto that gravy train. Just think of all of the free publicity and credibility with the deplorable dumbasses. They stood up for their hero.– they tried to “stop the steal”. Facts be damned.
JT resists the people who resist the freedom of others.
BTW, he probably agrees with you more than me on non-legal issues. That doesn’t stop him from being intellectually honest.
If only Mr. Turley would allow himself to be bound by his own reasoning. While his analysis of the delusional nature of Prog-Marxist is correct, he somehow fails to name it correctly. He wants to imply this is somehow a bipartisan phenomena when in fact, it’s all coming from the Left. Like many, he still feels the need to spread the blame when in fact it’s insane Dems who are shutting down the lives of over 100 million Americans to ensure they regain political power. It was the left that was rioting and looting with the blessing of Dem elected officials.
But now our righteous rage at these and many other predations is made equivalent to the insanity of DiBlasio. He also is far to charitable to DiBlasio – he’d been waiting for that moment for his entire life. Just him on a stage, showing off his fake wife (she’s a political prop, their public appearances are just propanda – she’s a lesbian with a full time girlfriend, lol) – cuz she’s black. Pretending everything is fine when it isn’t – this is what communist apparatchiks dream of.
Turley is capable of reason – yay, it’s rare among our elite. But he’s very confused morally, hence cannot properly assess who’s accountable for what so he falls back on the “both sides” BS. Do better, Jonathan – not being a liar and partisan hack isn’t good enough.
WHAT THE LEGAL SCHOLARS SAY..
ABOUT TRUMP’S CALL TO GEORGIA
After The Washington Post on Sunday published an extraordinary phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), many observers shared one question: Did Trump break the law?
During that hour-long call on Saturday, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat and threatened him with vague legal consequences, seemingly encouraging his fellow Republican to fix the election results.
‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor
As the sole Democrat on Georgia’s state election board on Sunday urged Raffensperger to investigate the president over the call, some lawyers and legal scholars say Trump’s actions indeed appeared to violate both state and federal criminal statutes.
On social media, much of the conversation among legal observers and Trump critics revolved around a federal statute, 52 U.S. Code 20511, that makes it a crime to “knowingly and willfully” deprive or defraud a state’s residents of a free or fair election — or to attempt to do so.
The question, according to Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University, is whether Trump was “knowingly and willfully” pressuring Raffensperger to count nonexistent votes when he told the GOP official, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”
In other words: Does Trump actually believe that 11,780 ballots in his favor were cast but not counted?
Considering that two recounts, an audit and several judges have upheld President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Georgia, Levitt said it is clear Trump was not pushing for an “honest tally” of the votes.
Michael R. Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general, put it more bluntly on Twitter: “His best defense would be insanity.”
Other legal scholars said that Trump possibly violated 18 U.S. Code 241, which makes it illegal to participate in a conspiracy against people exercising their civil rights. That long-standing statute has been used frequently to prosecute acts of voter intimidation, especially those committed by the Ku Klux Klan against Black voters.
But charging Trump under that code would require prosecutors to show that someone else on the phone call was also aiding and abetting a scheme, Levitt said.
Additionally, Trump’s apparent threat of criminal consequences if Raffensperger failed to act could be seen as an attempt at extortion, The Post reported.
On the state level, Trump’s call could also have violated a Georgia statute.
Leigh Ann Webster, a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, told The Post that in Georgia, Trump could run afoul of a state law that makes it illegal to cause someone else to partake in election fraud — by soliciting, requesting or commanding it.
That’s the same statute cited Sunday by David J. Worley, the Georgia election board member who asked Raffensperger to investigate Trump. In his email to the GOP official, Worley said that “probable cause” may exist to find violations of that law.
Georgia elections board member calls for probe into Trump’s call seeking to pressure Raffensperger
“It’s a crime to solicit election fraud, and asking the secretary to change the votes is a textbook definition of election fraud,” Worley said in an interview with The Post.
Edited From: “Did Trump Break The Law In His Call To Georgia’s Secretary Of State? Some Lawyers Say Yes”
The Washington Post, 1/4/21
Our blog host, Professor Johnathan Turley, is frequently featured as a ‘legal scholar’. Yet for some peculiar reason he has no desire to opine on a development which should greatly interest him.
Why should he write about Trump and his crimes, he would lose most of his Trump supporting readers.
It’s not enough for DEMONKRAP operatives like you that 80% of the posts here condemn your host and point out his alleged error. You and your ilk are the scum bags this article condemns, and you certainly live up to your hellish billing.
And I’m not a Trump supporter. I may now hate him as much as Biden. I already posted that this latest Trump call is akin to Sherman burning the south, at least politically if not in human tragedy and loss.
Anonymous, do you seriously take Wa Po seriously?? Who’s deluded?
Gulfcoastcommentary, is blog troll Estovir. He’s in the process of opening an attack with his puppet brigade. 10 minutes from now there will be a parade of names we’ve never seen disputing and dismissing the above post. Then we’ll get the predictable posts about meth addictions in WeHaw; like somehow those replies can undo the hour-long tape documenting Trump’s call.
Knowingly and willfully depriving a state of a free and fair election? You must be reminding us of a fallacious document that was used to undermine an election and destroy the following administration. By now you must have picked up on the document I refer to. If you haven’t figured it out I’ll enlighten you. It is known as the Steele Dossier. Please direct us to you outrage over this attack on the populace. We would love to read your words of genius. Anxiously awaiting!
Well, one thing is for sure: that’s the only time you’ll see DeBlasio ‘lead”.
Very funny. I must however dispute. There are many who he is leading around by the nose.
The middle has a tough row to hoe if Greenwald is correct. 🙁 I still contend it ain’t just the billionaires. Plenty of others gladly deal in power or influence if they don’t have cash.
“Whether the U.S. was a democracy in any meaningful sense prior to Trump had been the subject of substantial scholarly debate. A much-discussed 2014 study concluded that economic power has become so concentrated in the hands of such a small number of U.S. corporate giants and mega-billionaires, and that this concentration in economic power has ushered in virtually unchallengeable political power in their hands and virtually none in anyone else’s, that the U.S. more resembles oligarchy than anything else:
‘The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.
The U.S. Founders most certainly did not envision or desire absolute economic egalitarianism, but many, probably most, feared — long before lobbyists and candidate dependence on corporate SuperPACs — that economic inequality could become so severe, wealth concentrated in the hands of so few, that it would contaminate the political realm, where those vast wealth disparities would be replicated, rendering political rights and legal equality illusory.”
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-threat-of-authoritarianism-in
The Founders definitely wanted a hidden plutocracy. They intended to become aristocrats by a new name, citizen.
They designed a government that would be minimally functioning, and unable to do much to touch the rising power of money. And oh how well it has worked.
Now the billionaires are in charge and we can see how they play with current events to deepen every aspect of their control over us
Sorry but I am done lionizing them.
Saloth Sar
Anon Saloth Sar, Which political party received the most money from your hated billionaires. Only one party received the most contributions by far. However, you never name or criticize the party that is sucking up the billionaire money. The big money is going to those who espouse your centralized government position. Your answer to centralized control by the billionaires is centralized control by government. You will always get centralized control by the government and the billionaires (Oligarchs) under your Utopia. It must be difficult to live in such a state of contradiction. First you have to figure out that you live there. On day at a time Solath. One day at a time.
You must not have been here that long Thinkitthru. My predecessor Mr Kurtz pointed out time after time that the Democrat party leadership gets the lion’s share of billionaire donations. And a majority of them give to it. Not a mere plurality, an actual majority.
moreover Hillary was also a champ at getting their donations
Kamala was an early leader among billionaires, also Pete Butt, then Biden
You can see they prefer the Democrat party as their vehicle., for obvious reasons.
Centralized government you called it,. You could have called it socialism
Let me introduce an idea that people will not like
Socialism or not is not the question. The US has had since FDR significant “Socialist” programs. LBJ and ever presidential cycle since has seen increases of one sort or another, in “socialism”
The tendency of all governments and law is to grow, to increase social control, and impose the order desired by ruling cliques
There is simply no way around this dynamic. One can slow it but never end it. That is liberterian fantasy.
The most important thing, is to gain control. Oh yes, there is no substitute for gaining power
This insight is keenly understood by Democrats, which is why they keep on winning in spite of their obvious and constant failures to govern well.
The billionaires are smart: they want to control the party that is actually more competent at politics. Thus, they control all the deep state bureaucracies and so forth.
Trust me, there will be no way to undo the plutocratic death-grip the billionaires have on government– EXCEPT BY GOVERNMENT– that is to say, by the power of laws that kick in their teeth and neutralize them for good.
this seems like a paradox but it isnt. History makes it clear.
Saloth Sar
Im going to be clear here. Gain control of the government and then use it to make laws that defang the billionaire serpents.
That can be asset forfeiture via judicial means,. or it can be taxation, or it can be regulation
Wise to try all three, actually
If you shy away from using government power on billionaires, for whatever reason, then you are their permanent slave. They have you right where they want you. They will lock you down, impoverish you, sicken you, destroy your culture, family, children, and if that all doesnt work, they will vaccinate you with some poison that finishes you off.
See, they are ready to cull the herd. It’s coming. I laid it all out before. They need a global depopulation event and we can easily guess what it will be after 2020
Destroy them or they destroy us. Seize government power and use it to stop them. Don’t be stopped by any phony slogans or any dusty tomes. Oh they could care less about slogans and constitutional restrictions. So nor should you. This is very simple. Gain power and stop them. Because if we do not they will do us dirty and dirtier than ever.
That is not complicated.
Saloth Sar
Anon Solath Sar. Your hate is not really directed at the billionaires. You really despise the wealthy. At one time in the U.S. anyone making over $1,000,000 was taxed at a rate of 90%. Why stop at the billionaires. Where should we start. If your making $25,000 per year you think that someone making $100,000 is wealthy. What your really trying to tell us is that they somehow stole it from the people. The Russians said the same thing about the Ukrainian farmers and the Germans said the same thing about the Jews. To use your words, how do we deal with these “Serpents”. If they are really serpents the final solution in dealing with them is to confiscate their property and put a bullet to the back of their heads. How can “Serpents” be allowed to live. There’s no way they would go that far they said. But they did. Read a book!.
I left out your other words. “Kick them in the teeth”. Your heavy jackboot will do a fine job. I would be willing to bet that if you sat in on a Klan meeting you would here the exact same rhetoric.
Ha ha Think you ANTIFA? Worried about kluckers and fascists and all that. Sad.
Sal Sar
No, Thinkitthrough, I have never said any such thing. You are putting words in my mouth
Actually I have said very clearly that I do not even consider people under $20 million rich.
And maybe that’s a little low. But the rich are not the enemy.
Scale matters, size matters, and when I say billionaires, I mean billionaires. The group. Not this one or that one, but the group as such.
I realize that we are conditioned as Americans not to think of groups. And yet we do, all the time. We are taught we can think of groups of football fans, or groups of brand name consumers. that’s ok. But social groups, oh no, that’s naughty.
But the powerful ALWAYS think of groups because it is GROUPS that interact in society not merely individuals
Kulaks were not “Billionaires.” Ukraine is a poor example.
German Jews, were not “Billionaires.” I believe we had a conversation about that last week under a different user name of yours
For us regular Americans right now, I don’t really care if you like it or not, the strategic situation is simple: BILLIONAIRES ARE THE ENEMY
if that pisses you off, tough luck. Go cry to Jeff Bezos and see how much sympathy he has for you. Do you think Bill Gates cares about your fate? He doesn’t know we exist. Prattling on here like so many ants below him, he cuts a fart and it has more consequence than our opinions do. Why would you want to protect the top 1% of the top 1% of the top !%? They don’t need your help! It’s regular people who need help.
If you are the user I think you are, then you are pro-Israeli. I got news for you. The billionaires are cancelling Trump for a whole host of reasons and one of them, is they want to get into the Iranian stock market. That’s right. They want to milk that one in a lifetime opportunity as Biden has plans to “open it up.”
sure, you have a couple or maybe a few billionaires that like Israel. Shelden Adelson and a few others.
Most of them dont. The fact that many of the billionaires today, are Jewish, doesn’t matter,. They could care less about the military security of Israel. Does Soros care? Does Bloomberg care? Does Steyer? Then there is Les Wexner and Seth Klarman. the Haaretz says they care about Israel, but hate Trump anyways.
Now, Im not Jewish, and I think Israel is swell, I like it, but I am an American. These side issues are not my concern. I simply want to point out to you, since you were baiting me as a crypto-nazi before, and you’re basically calling me a klucker tonight, well, you reveal your emotional triggers, and I am interested in getting you to look past your emotional triggers. Maybe life is more complicated than you have sized it up to be.
But the politics of the moment is simple. If you are a regular American, billionaires are the enemy. That one is easy
Saloth Sar
Read a book. The farmer in the Ukraine were considered to be very wealthy in comparison to the general populace who were lucky to get one meal per day. Grain was the primary wealth of the nation. Stalin used jealousy of the farmers to justify starving them and confiscating their property. The farmers were imprisoned if it was found that they had eaten one grain of their own produce. Stalin sent factory workers into the fields to take their place. The result was 6,000,000 people who died of starvation in “The bread basket of the world”. You always have an answer that has nothing to do with the reality of history. Caring about “the people” is your phony motivation for the continued echo in your 55 gallon drum.
Ha ha, obviously I have read a book or two. Kulacks to the rest of the Soviet population, is not an apt comparison to billionaires and the rest of us. Not even close. Not even close. Again you are weak at math, obviously.
Lazar M. Kaganovich, you know who that was? Hey, wander down this path a little farther and you’ll really get pissed off. If you think you can intimidate me with your bs name calling, you mistaken.
I said billionaires, not the rich. You’re arguing with your own imagination
Rich people are not the problem. The billionaires, are. The order of magnitude matters
But hey i got it. Here we got a guy who sees a potential commie or fascist anytime somebody brings up economics.
one day it’s the socialists and then it’s the fascists. Oh, they’re all the same, I forgot!
See here is the third rail. One can’t get too serious about economics, and apply that to politics. That’s not allowed.
Who doesn’t allow it?
The billionaires. and their LACKEYS. Mostly paid professors and presstitutes, but some work for free.
Sal Sar
The billionaires, are. The order of magnitude matters
Why? What is it that billionaires do that millionaires can’t?
I realize that we are conditioned as Americans not to think of groups. And yet we do, all the time.
Kurtz, Interesting that you think we’re conditioned to not think of groups and yet we do all the time. The reality is people are conditioned to think of groups. They’re controlled that way. The census, surveys, political parties, alma maters, geography, health groups (cancer, diabetics, etc), snowbirds, coastal elites, flyovers, and on and on.
Question: Which is worse: Billionaires able to buy influence, or Influence being for sale? Put another way, if you eliminated billionaires, would influence peddling go away?
Anon, Solath Sar, you say that anyone making under $20,000,000 is not rich. Maybe you should ask the regular guy on the street if he considers someone who makes even $1,000,000 per year wealthy. Just wondering, have you now moved the goalposts from billionaire to $20,000,000 As a new level to attack. I am sure that their will be others to blame.
Anon Solath Sar. Now I understand what you are saying. Now I understand your solution. Drain the swamp. Very creative.
His name is Kurtz Think – he hid out after Trump lost – can’t face reality – and now came back as anti-billionaire even though his heor claims to be a billionaire and gave them and corporations a huge tax cut in his only significant piece of legislation. Kurtz is shell shocked and beyond coherence.
Joe, I really am shell shocked by 2020, I will give you that. But I’ll keep moving anyways
Saloth Sar
Joe f. So he was Trumps buddy and now he hates billionaires. Huh. Say what. How do you somehow not realize that you are both speaking the same hate the rich language.
Think, you used the word rich. I didn’t. I said “Billionaires”
Grow up and learn some math. A billionaire has a net value of a thousand millions.
That’s a whole order of magnitude larger than “Rich”
You got a real misplaced sense of loyalty, Think. Whose side are you on? Regular people, or the billionaire boys?
I have read, the world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet’s population. You can vet that statistic if you “think” it’s wrong
Is that really a just society? I don’t think so. Not even close.
We’re not talking rich here, we are talking monstrously wealthy
They are “richer” than any of the kingly tyrants of old, that we are taught were so naughty!
It’s amazing anybody would like their boots. But hey Think get to licking, lick lick lick, they don’t even know you are there, licking away, like an ant nibbling on one of their sneakers
Saloth Sar
Anon Solath, same tripe, if you are not in agreement that we should “Kick their teeth in” you must be a bootlicker. If you don’t think that we the blessed should be allowed to confiscate property you must be a sneaker sniffer. If you don’t think that we should use “Any means necessary” such as a firing squad you must be a lackey. The follow up answers are as predicable as the sun rising in the morning. Don’t forget “Any means necessary if they resist”, Comrades.
“drain the swamp” is a failed slogan. i don’t have cute slogans. i am not a fan of marketing approaches. but there are plans
1. key insight: billionaires are the enemy
2. gain power of government is the goal
3. immediately use all tools to destroy billionaires. and when they fight back
4. grow new tools in government to finish them off, and take their stuff
5. renew a just society
This program is not all that new or insightful
The essential difference is that I name the enemy.
this is the one enemy that actually is to be feared, and is the most dangerous to attack
if people can’t do that, then they are not on the same team. we need to know, who has the guts to fight the real bad guys
we gotta know, who’s on the team or not
it’s gearing up. doesnt really matter what you call it, it’s populism versus elite managerial control. in a nutshell.
the populism can come from left or right, that doesn’t matter either.
but it’s coming, because, some people have instincts and are not quite dead yet, and can fight back
folks just need to know, who is the enemy, and that there is hope.
what hope? the enemy shot callers are few, so few, less than a thousand warm bodies. for now.
their teeming hordes of lackeys and allies are not to be feared. they are lemmings and will switch sides if they see sufficient strength
once January is over, I will have some thoughts to share about how Trump failed.
but for now, in a nutshell, it’s very simple. He wasnt the bad guy they made him out to be. he was too easy!
if he had been the bad guy they said he was, well, he would have done differently, and he might have won
Saloth Sar
This program is not all that new or insightful. The essential difference is that I name the enemy.
You haven’t named an enemy, you’ve named a wealth threshold. It’s no better than saying get Whitey or Muslims are terrorists. Maybe our enemy want to be known as rogue movie Colonels or genocidal monsters from the Viet Nam era.
once January is over, I will have some thoughts to share about how Trump failed.
Alrighty then.
Anon Solath Sar. I quote you again, “Use all tools to destroy billionaires”. Which caliber would you recommend. Some are less messy than others. You tell us that you will stop at 1000 people. Surely you must have other demons that must be dealt with dear leader.It has taken awhile but at last your true dementia has been exposed.
Nothing’s been exposed except your inability to conceptualize and take into regard economics, politics, history, and apply insight about orders of magnitude and social groups
You may be weak at math perhaps, or maybe deluded by a lifetime of right wing BS that stopped you from understanding that groups actually matter
Now, feel free to inhabit a fantasyland of liberterian individualism in your own mind if you like,. but I am out here in the world seeing that groups matter
Saloth Sar
That’s right your the sane enlightened one with your “Kick em in the teeth” Antifa rhetoric. Down the line who else will you decide needs to be kicked in the teeth. You say that you are only considering the billionaires for your expungement but you know that in your centralized utopia only strict equality will be allowed. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that you will be one of the resulting oligarchs. I know that you and your comrades will remain altruistic. Altruistic in the “Kick em in the teeth” kind of way.
What’s it like, “Think,”: cheering for less than 1000 billionaires who don’t even know your name?
Guys that pick the leaders of nations, based on who will shine their apple best?
Do you think Joe Biden wasn’t picked by billionaires perhaps? Are you a Biden fan now?
Maybe Joe Friday can introduce you at a cocktail party! To someone who knows one at least. 7 degrees of kevin bacon.
You guys could get autographs or something!
If I gotta pick a team, it aint billionaires, I tell you that. My group is Americans, regular Americans. That’s it. Nobodies from flyover. We know who we are.
You can call me whatever names you like. I picked a pen name to make it clear, I m not afraid of being called a monster. and you wont be the first.
Now, get on out there, and “think:” of some more pointless arguments to stir up with somebody else. John say will be checking in soon I am sure. Unlike him I wont oblige you with a page after page of replies.
Saloth Sar
Saloth Sar. Thank you for assuring us that you will stop at 1000. What will you do if someone tries to hide them. “Kick in the teeth” for anyone who comes to their rescue. The penalty must be severe for any of the collaborators. We must assure their confessions.
So, Jonathan Turley — the last objective and unbiased journalist remaining in America — thinks it’s more important to write about a US congressman using a silly word and the mayor of NYC doing a silly dance, than the POTUS telling Georgia election officials, “All I want to do is find 11,780 votes.”
What
A
Joke
Turley might be the most self-deluded journalist in America.
Turley is not a journalist. He is a law prof, and Trump partisan.
With this blog. he’s also functioning as a journalist. Did you miss this recent post?
“Happy New Year to all of our blog community from around the world. As has been our tradition on this blog, with the start of 2020, I thought I would share our annual “State of The Blog” statistics from the last year. It has been a great year for the blog with the highest traffic in the history of our blog. We continued our expansion internationally.”
Hey Moly, all your journalist are the partisans on CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post disguised as journalists. Turley always presents his positions as opinions. He doesn’t wear the cloak of disguise to try to fool you like the media you use to support the positions you think we all should accept as sacrosanct. He does avoid such wizardry.
Think,
JT is a Constitutional scholar. He writes his posts as legal opinions on current events. He has always centered his opinions on the law and he provides citations to support his opinion. It is funny how the Left believe they are insulting JT by calling him a Trump partisan. They don’t realize what they are actually doing is complimenting Trump for being aligned on the constitution. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.
For the records I view Trump’s latest phone call with Georgian officials as Sherman burning the South. He’s a worthless scum bag of the highest order. Trump is doing everything a spoiled child would do not granted his desert for his earlier misdeeds that day: pouting, screaming, huffing, etc. The worst thing about this call is that it helps to destroy any future hope of a more sensible future GOP member winning the POTUS.
That said, every single MSM now covers that phone call 24/7, condemning Trump, helping their DEMONKRAP party win in GA. And yet that’s not enough for TDS dorks like you who DEMAND OBEISANCE AND WHEN THEY DON’T GET IT ACT JUST LIKE TRUMP THE DERANGED ONE THEY SAY THEY HATE. You are the problem just like Trump is. You are the person Turley condemns in this article.
Your post is all you have to contribute, more Trumpian BS.
See my reply to ‘Paul’, below.
He supported the closing of restaurants, sending many to insolvency, despite the fact that they contribute to less than 2 percent of confirmed infections.
How can you call that a “fact”?
Good morning doofus! Let’s learn a new two word phrase this morning: “contact tracing.”
Because it’s a fact of the data NY collected via contact tracing. Are you actually so stupid that you’d ask this question as though there some point to be made other than you are a loudmouthed ignoramus?
I will once again state the most simplistic point of view that even a Democrat could understand. I think. This is Prof Turley’s blog! He, by definition, is able to address or not address any subject HE wants! If you want to elevate your causes for public consumption, START YOUR OWN BLOG!!!! Otherwise address the subject chosen by Prof. Turley or STFU!!
A journalist can’t comment on everything. What he chooses to comment on — that is, what he considers most “newsworthy” on any particular day — is affected by his biases. The problem with Turley isn’t that he’s biased, we all are, including every journalist. The problem is that he’s constantly criticizing other journalists and the media for their biases without realizing his own.
https://jonathanturley.org/2020/12/30/former-public-radio-reporter-among-those-charged-in-molotov-cocktail-attack-against-police-vehicles/#comment-2041897
Paul, nothing on this blog states that the subject of the column MUST be discussed. Prof. Turley being fierce advocate of free speech has to contend with people wanting to speak of whatever they want on his blog.
I, like half of the country live in “Realville”…and do not wish to have anything to do with a Leftist Utopia that is not a dream as the Left thinks….but is a nightmare that has haunted other nations ever since the Russian Revolution in the early 1900’s.
My kind of folks work for a living, pay the ever growing Taxes imposed by corrupt and inefficient government, raise our children to believe in the good of American and teach them the lessons of our history.
We also teach them critical thinking skills and encourage them to seek answers and form their own views considering all sources possible.
Yes we are a divided Nation today….we were at the time of our Founding and again in the 1860’s…..it took War each time to resolve those conflicts….which tragic as it is seems to be what happens when the radicals on each side are not dealt with appropriately by those who share similar but not equal views.
Either we come together in Peace without War….or we shall come together in Peace after War.
For me, I know what I shall defend…..that which I took the Oath to do on several occasions……the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
Those God given Rights the Document that enshrines them, and those who join me are the People that can rely upon my fidelity and support.
I prefer the Peace without War path….as I have seen War and anyone that has understands the ugliness of it all.
So….stand with those that are genuinely working to bring people together in compromise where compromise is possible….embrace that which bonds us together as a People….and let’s find a way to resolve the remaining differences.
Otherwise….there is no compromise and no coming together except to form warring armies.
That Tree of Liberty looks like it is. suffering from a drought…..is it going to be water or blood that nourishes it?
That ultimately is the final option…the final choice for all of us.
We are there….what shall it be?
NIce try Ralph, but Americans are much closer on the issues than they were in the 60’s. The “divisions” are cultural BS seeded and tended by those who make money on it – 24/7 cable news, talk radio, and politicians. Virtually no one believes in segregation anymore, all believe in equal opportunity, all believe in capitalism and argue about how much socialism we want on needs not met by the market, and everyone roots for their Big State U, defends SS and Medicare, love Oprah Winfrey and the Rock, and grow long hair and dye it pink no matter if they are in Omaha or Venice Beach. We all have gay friends or relatives and love them too.
WTF would there be a revolution about?
Joe you live in a bubble. Not everybody is like that.
Anyhow, there are major policy issues and changes and they will have momentous effects on our coming lives.
You think you’re safe. I tell you, you’re not safe. Sure, life may be safer now than it was when you were little. But you’re not safe, none of us is, because, life is always fraught with hazards. This is the human condition. That is existence. There will be no “singularity” and if it ever comes it will probably mean our extinction.,
None of us are truly “safe,” Not safe from crime, not safe from pathogens, and not safe from the schemes that “public health officials” will impose on us to “protect us” from pathogens”
We’re not safe from global warming’s effects– or maybe one is ok wherever you may live, or maybe not– but most of all global warming or not– you’re not safe from what the big shots do in order to “combat global warming”
Here, let’s take a look at one frank statement of the goals of the green activists. I’ll interpolate a couple obvious things in parens, and then restate them loudly in caps. I hope people find that annoying. It annoys me that people can’t do math and make obvious extensions from open policy statements held by all the global elites. So Im gonna “YELL” about it
Saloth Sar
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/climate/
“Time is short, but it not too late to stop runaway global warming. Economy-wide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to a level that brings atmospheric CO2 back from 386 parts per million to 350 or less, scaling back first-world consumption patterns, (THAT MEANS US, WE IN THE WEST USE TOO MUCH POWER. ENERGY RATIONING COMING) and long-term population reduction (REDUCTION MEANS DIEOFF. THIS IS A ONE GENERATION LONG TIME FRAME. THAT MEANS NOT MORE CONTRACEPTION, THAT MEANS PEOPLE GOTTA DIE. AND THAT MEANS US, THEY WANT US TO DIE, EVEN MORE SO THAN THIRD WORLD PEOPLE WHO USE LESS POWER) to ecologically sustainable levels will solve the global warming crisis and move us to toward a healthier, more stable, post-fossil fuel, post-growth addicted society.”
LET ME SPELL THIS OUT. THEY WANT A CARBON NET NEUTRAL ECONOMY
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT 2 THINGS. not one but BOTH
1. A DRASTIC DECLINE IN LIVING STANDARDS IN THE WEST, BY FORCED ENERGY CONSUMPTION REDUCTION, NOT JUST DRIVING HABITS, BUT RADICAL CHANGES LIKE WE’VE SEEN WITH LOCKDOWNS.,.. AND EVENTUALLY, FOOD, TOO.
2. A DRASTIC DECLINE IN GLOBAL POPULATION. So, who’s going to win the lottery? Do you think the billionaires don’t have a plan to cut population? Oh yes they do. And it’s not just via more abortions and contraceptions either. So who’s got to go?
Well, stick around folks, I guess we’re gonna find out!