Donald Trump Once Annihilated his Opponents: Today He is a One-Man Circular Firing Squad: With the midterm elections over, all political eyes are now moving to the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden remains under pressure to eschew another run, but the pressure has eased since his party avoided a red blowout and kept the Senate in Democratic hands.
The situation is not so simple on the Republican side. Determined to remain the center of political universe, Donald Trump announced before the November poll that he would make his presidential announcement afterward. However, instead of being able to surf a vast red wave, he ended up watching most of his major league endorsements lose after running minor league campaigns. Not only were their qualifications suspect and views extreme, but he expected them to talk about little other than the alleged theft of his 2020 reelection.
The shock for him and the rest of the GOP was palpable. After beginning election day debating how large its new Senate majority would be, the Republican Party failed to knock off any vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Worse, after a bizarre Trump endorsement that narrowly delivered the Pennsylvania Senate nomination to a New Jersey resident, TV doc, and snake oil salesman who was chummy with Turkish dictator wannabe Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the GOP lost an open seat in Pennsylvania against a dubious candidate disabled by a stroke that left him ill fit to hold office.
The House of Representatives, which was supposed to deliver a big, perhaps record, margin, instead gave the GOP a wafer-thin majority that wasn’t certain until days after the polls closed. Trump endorsed multiple losing state-level candidates, who campaigned on his 2020 loss rather than the 2022 economy and helped turn state legislatures over to Democrats.
Republicans found themselves being asked: Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Suddenly Republican officials with backbones of jelly, previously scared to mention Trump as anything less than entitled to fill the first vacancy in the Trinity, publicly scorned his reverse Midas touch. Shocked by an election debacle that could not be excused despite his staff’s best efforts, and unhappy at the abuse from his own party, whose leaders previously fulfilled their role as dutiful factotums and obsequious lackeys, the 45th president gave a flat announcement speech. Under pressure, he left out discredited claims of election fraud but offered no other convincing reason for his candidacy. In 2016 he was the righteous scourge of both political establishments. Today he is a discordant voice from the past.
Then Trump committed multiple owned goals by having dinner with the bizarrely disturbed anti-Semitic rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West), who later expressed his admiration of Adolf Hitler, and white nationalist activist Nick Fuentes. Trump’s four years of servility toward Israel’s government could not prevent gasps of horror from even its supporters in America. For the first time in years the backbone-challenged Republican legislative leadership felt the need to criticize Donald Trump.
In fact, appearing to ripple across the until now dutiful GOP apparatus was the horrified recognition that Trump really has not learned anything. Worse, he is incapable of doing so. He has no filter. No common sense. No interest in anyone other than himself. No criteria for acting other than self-aggrandizement. Even those inclined to set aside his personal lapses in the belief that his messes could always be cleaned up had to acknowledge that reckless disregard and contempt for even the most fundamental social, political, and moral norms respected by others was at his core.
Next came Trump’s attack on the Constitution, released on his social media site: “So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
Of course, massive and widespread fraud would represent a serious challenge to the American constitutional system. However, even his attorney general, Bill Barr—who got his political start in the Reagan administration (we were on the White House staff together early on)—found no evidence of fraud. Nor did scores of judges, many appointed by him, who uniformly rejected Trump’s election challenges. Indeed, a group of conservative leaders published their conclusion of the obvious: Trump lost, and Joe Biden won the election.
Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution allowed Democrats to pose as dedicated defenders of the nation’s founding document. Trump also undermined what long had been the strongest argument to back Trump for many on the Right: appointing as judges advocates of a more restrained reading of the Constitution, focused on the actual meaning of those who drafted and enacted the provision or legislation then rather than the desired meaning of those doing the judging now.
Indeed, it is difficult to overstate the importance of this issue. In 2016 many on the Right reluctantly backed Trump, believing that he would be guided by the Federalist Society and others with similar views in his judicial choices. The same concern animated some otherwise reluctant Trump supporters in 2020, after he had proven his judicial bona fides.
However, the inner-Trump always peaked through. It long was evident that the president believed the main qualification for judges was to rule as he wished. He reportedly considered nominating Rudy Giuliani instead of Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. Donald Trump later was upset when Gorsuch criticized his attacks on the judiciary, even contemplating withdrawing the latter. And with his losing record in election cases, Trump discovered that his nominees consistently put the law before him. Those who backed him to ensure a better judiciary now must worry that if returned to the presidency he would nominate judges in his image, pliant candidates devoted to personal rather than constitutional rule.
Moreover, his unexpected constitutional exegesis on social media gave new meaning to his grotesque misbehavior on January 6. Maybe he wasn’t just clueless and careless, as his backers suggested. Maybe he really was acting based on his determination to terminate “all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
All this and the presidential campaign hasn’t yet started! Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy is looking a bit like the Hindenburg, which went down in flames in 1937. It isn’t likely to be too long before his campaign officials start jumping from the burning airship like in real life.
Of course, he could still triumph in the primaries. Trump’s hold over the Republican Party base has been underestimated before. In 2016 desperate party officials were forced to abandon attempts to block his nomination. However, the key to his success then was never the minority made up of QAnon believers, Jewish space laser worriers, and tool of God anointers. What got him over the line was an amalgam of enthusiastic advocates and reluctant converts who saw him as the balm for past electoral disappointments and weapon for future political victories.
That meant dispersing a gaggle of Republican political hacks and compromisers, headlined by Jeb Bush, and defeating Hillary Clinton, whose dubious record went back to her time as First Lady of Arkansas. Trump emerged at precisely the right moment, proving to be the existential threat to the political establishment of both parties.
He no longer fulfills that role. First, he has remade the GOP. One-time critics have turned into shameless suck-ups, such as Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, ritualistically abasing themselves to retain voters’ favor. Those who refused to kiss his ring—Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Larry Hogan, Mark Sanford—are out of office and even politics. In many recent races, GOP primary voters appeared to make their choice on the theory, the loonier the better. At least one, Arizona’s defeated gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, is following Trump to the letter, falsely claiming that her race was stolen.
Second, because he has transformed the Republican Party, he no longer is the only potential MAGA candidate. Florida’s Ron DeSantis has leaped to the fore with blow-out reelection, but several Trump toadies, such as Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo, also are crisscrossing the country. As well as former Vice President Mike Pence, who still maintains a respectful mien when discussing the man who cheered on protesters chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
Third, many MAGA believers who revere Trump for his past role have come to believe that he is, ironically, a loser, the most hurtful epithet that he commonly throws at others. As a result, there is increased muttering among rank-and-file Republicans that it is time for him to step aside and them to move on. They want someone who will talk about the future, not the past.
Although the upcoming campaign is likely to be unpredictable, one certainty is that Trump will make it all about himself, in every way at every moment. He inevitably will assert that he was robbed, demand that the system be dismantled as recompense, and celebrate his persistent greatness. Republicans, alongside many independents and a good number of blue-collar Democrats, put up with his talk six and then two years ago. That is not likely in 2024, however, when they will have far more choices.
The political road ahead is not certain. However, as Winston Churchill noted at a critical point in World War II, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” So it likely is with Donald Trump’s political career.
It’s not over. And the Donald Trump political circus is set to go on for another two years. However, its end can finally be glimpsed. The forces that he set in motion will continue. But with new leaders determined to be Moses rather than Samson, taking America to the promised future rather than bringing down the system.
About the Author: Doug Bandow is a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and author of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington, The Politics of Envy: Statism as Theology, and Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire. He is a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor.
Steven
December 6, 2022 at 8:22 am
The fraud was there and everyone knows it. The judges rejected it because they didn’t want people “losing faith” in the system. They want to “preserve the norms”. That election was totally stollen.
ATM
December 6, 2022 at 8:53 am
Biden would like nothing more than to run against Trump. The only person that the American people trust less than Biden is Trump.
David Chang
December 6, 2022 at 9:25 am
God bless people in the world.
In the beginning, God created this world.
Because of Constitution thought of Democratic-Republican Party is the same as Jacobin club, Nazi, and Communist Party since 1776.
So Cato Institute should be under God, even if Democratic-Republican Party hate President Trump than Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and Karl Marx.
People should confess Sin, repent to God, and obey Ten Commandments,
And it’s why we oppose Jacobin club, Democratic, Nazi, and Communist Party.
God bless America.
KINGJAN
December 6, 2022 at 10:06 am
Time for your medication David Chang
Rick
December 6, 2022 at 10:35 am
Steven, you talk like a very ignorant person who wears a red MAGA hat.
David Chang
December 6, 2022 at 10:55 am
God bless people in the world.
KINGJAN prove that the constitution thought of Democratic-Republican Party is the same as Nazi, German SPD, Jacobin club, Athens Democracy, Roman Empire, and Communist Party.
So we should against you to avoid America be occupied by socialism party again.
God bless America.
Steven
December 6, 2022 at 10:56 am
Rick, you sound like someone who lives in a fantasy world who loves calling people names. Peace.
Gregorio
December 6, 2022 at 11:07 am
I cannot agree more with doug. Boy, can he write.
J.D.
December 6, 2022 at 12:11 pm
Donald Trump is a d***a**. There was no election fraud. There were questionable election rule changes that Donald Duck and his cracker jack team of sycophants failed to challenge prior to the election. He then wants to cry foul and upend the Constitution. What an insane spoiled child. Personally, I will never forgive Trump for acting like a socialist democrat by shutting down our amazing economy and ushering in fascist lockdowns, then just sitting back and letting the country burn with Marxist riots because he was afraid to invoke the insurrection act to restore order. F*** Donald Trump who speaks loudly and wields a very small stick.
James Lagnese
December 6, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Wow, a sensible republican wrote an honest article. As someone who is originally from NY, lived there 40 years, I can tell you Trump isn’t who his fans and adherents think he is. He’s not one of you, at all. He’s for himself and he got there through division, not leadership. He’s highly narcissistic in a grandiose way and has some antisocial features as well as low empathy and no boundaries of certain behaviors. He’s not a republican, but a trumpian. The reason he lost is that one, he alienated half the electorate with his extreme partisan alignment, two, he screwed up dealing with covid, three, he doesn’t know when to STFU. Four, he didn’t lead near the center and in packing SCOTUS with extreme right, set in motion the revocation of Roe, which then lead to the loss this past November. No red wave is on him. He’s so self-involved that he’s ultimately self-destructive and self-limiting. In tete a tete business deals, his native intelligence and facile skills work, but he’s entirely predictable. Leading a country isn’t swindling someone in a real estate deal.
Dr. Scooter Van Neuter
December 6, 2022 at 12:32 pm
The election was absolutely stolen, but the truth is that Trump is his own worst enemy – too often blasting off ill-considered messages and failing to come off ‘presidential.’
Jim
December 6, 2022 at 3:00 pm
The first go around there was a suspension of disbelief.
He shook things up by his style and issues, the border, trade relations, end forever wars… and an independent energy policy.
Issues a majority of Americans agree on.
But by now… that suspension of disbelief… is gone for a large number of Republican voters.
These last few weeks have not been good.
Far from the 3D chess, some said he played… Trump has walked into a number of brick walls.
(Of his own creation.)
What America needs is a full & open discussion.
Not a… (put up your dukes) “go to your corners & come out fighting!” campaign.
That kind of cartoon campaign will not promote what America needs to be successful. Both @ home & abroad.
I don’t think Trump can do that this time around… neither can Biden.
The ultimate backroom deal:
Both Trump & Biden agree not to run in some grand compromise… and America moves on.
We need it.
Roger Bacon
December 6, 2022 at 3:09 pm
The author should have just led with the bit about believing 2020 was a fair election. The3n we could have skipped the rest of the article. If you can look at the charts, the votes collected between 2:00 Am and 4:00 AM in Penn and not see a rigged election then you don’t understand math or statistics.
The election was stolen. We know it. They know we know it and they don’t care. In fact, they used the same gaem plan again in 2022.
Trump 2024.
phil stacy
December 6, 2022 at 3:20 pm
This right here, right before your eyes, is America’s enemies trying to destroy a patriot president they can’t control. The three letter federal agencies controlled by the Democrats
are among those enemies. Democrats are destroying
political opposition to create one party rule like
the CCP. Trump is the leader of patriots fighting for America and the Constitution. Trump defines traitors and patriots. Trump is the actual elected president.
Walker
December 6, 2022 at 6:20 pm
There was a lot of truth in what Hillary said. The true base of Tump was and always will be deplorable people. Those of you who took the mantle to feel good about the name while reducing the effects missed the point. And sometimes I wonder if you did it intentionally. The one group of people who will never leave Trump are the white supremacist scumbags. Trump made it possible for this group to come out openly. He let them believe that he would release them to act out their full agenda violently and they love him for it. For the Republicans who sided with Trump, I truly believe they knew this. But of course they wouldn’t accept they were working alongside this group so they took the truth as a personal affront. It was a method of cognitive dissonance to white wash this truth.
For years I watched Trump supporters lose absolute touch with reality as they were forced to justify Trumps terrible erratic behavior. Hopefully Trump will finally break his hold on such a large portion of America. It’s still bad that there are people waiting in the wings to use the evil Trump created and use it more effectively than Trump.
Trump supporters themselves never understood the real truth of Trump. He never cared for anyone but his own personal power. Once you see this, you can’t unsee it. Everything Trump does becomes obvious once you realize this.
CRS, DrPH
December 6, 2022 at 9:30 pm
Why is 19fortyfive.com spending so much time on this worthless loser Trump?? He has no redeeming values to the USA.
Stick a fork in him, he’s done.
Jim
December 6, 2022 at 9:39 pm
Walker, it’s sad what you have to say.
People were sick of the Uni-party… as perfectly illustrated by W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Romney and McCain… even Obama.
What attracted people to Trump was the force with which he said things… his policies… there was a sense he would do it… and to a large degree he did.
American policies with majority support… control the border, fix trade policy, stop forever wars… and inexpensive energy fueling a growing economy and rising wages… we had that under Trump… we don’t have it now.
And Trump figuratively sticking his thumb in the eye of the “system” that had let Americans down… and a real sense of unease about the future… for their children.
In the end, Trump was polarizing and was polarized by his critics & opponents.
That’s politics.
The skillful politician doesn’t let the opponent define him. Democrats wanted to polarize Reagan, but “teflon Ron” was too affable, too decent, too skilled to let his critics define him.
Trump wasn’t so fortunate… partly because of the ruthlessness of his opponents… and partly because of his own limitations and proclivities.
Was all of it fair… no, but again, that’s politics.
Certainly, Trump’s ego often hurt him… and he walked into quick sand more than once.
But if we as Americans are to move forward… as Americans, then criticizing fellow Americans for their political beliefs is a dead end… it’s the policies… not personalities we should focus on.
Lincoln was the most polarizing President in American History… but he always tried to hold America together and then bring America back together again… that was the purpose of the Gettysburg Address… a shared sense of sacrifice… both North & South.
Trump has failed… let it be and lets move on without the rancor against our fellow Americans.
US Army Vet
December 7, 2022 at 12:38 am
Trump is a bringer of chaos to the status quo. The chaos is packed into three word mantra chants; lock her up, build that wall, hang Mike Pence, etc. These things and the dog whistles: stand down and stand by, good people on both sides – are transparent propaganda, not at all unlike what Hitler unleashed in Germany. The simple solutions to complex problems; defeat Isis in 30 days, I know more than the generals, putting Scott Pruitt in charge at the EPA, Rick Perry at Energy, Wilbur Ross, Ben Carson, a complete circus of chaos disguising fascist intentions and actions.
If you believe the election was stolen you have been fooled.
To argue about it is insane- like your grievance with the results has any factual basis in reality, with myriad recounts and court losses and as evidence of Trump’s malfeasance is laid out for all to see you look the other way. You have been fooled, or you are a fool if you believe the election was stolen.
Trump is a traitor to our constitution and our nation. He should be hanged.
GhostTomahawk
December 7, 2022 at 3:29 am
I’ll get this out of the way right now.
There are not 2 parties. There is 1 party. These people all bend the knee to major corporations and the industrial complex groups. Then come election time they start blathering about their normal talking points. Abortion. Immigration. Free college. Gun rights. Then once you put them back in, they continue writing legislation that makes them and their masters wealthy at our expense.
I’ll show you:
General Electric the largest corporation in America has cut over 32 thousand jobs in America since 2004. And has received BILLIONS in tax refunds. After making billions in revenue
So what?
So we little people work for them and make them wealthy. THEN they use that wealth to lobby govt to create tax loops for them to skate taxes. THEN the tax money WE PAY, the Govt gave them in the form of refunds.
This behavior can only be done by complete consensus of BOTH parties.
This is why Trump lost in 2020 and his candidates lost in 2022. The establishment consensus wants the political theater status quo. Keep us watching the side show on page 1 while the reality is relegated to “conspiracy theory”.
Lately these “theories” have turned out to be true.
Walker
December 7, 2022 at 5:56 pm
Jim, it is sad. Sad but true.
I get it. I understood Trumps draw. But it was fake and shallow. No one can say they couldn’t see it. The Republicans who signed up for it not only closed their eyes to the truth, they went full down the rabbit hole of delusion that was required to support such a failed human, and they did it with complete vigor.
They can regret it now. They can say, forget it all as it was a mistake. Let bygones be bygones. But before I can forgive, I feel America deserves a full throat apology.
In 2016, the choices weren’t great. If someone voted for Trump and said, “I held my nose and voted.” I could get over it easily. But that isn’t what happened. Republicans for the full term and after treated Trump as if he was sent by god. And that isn’t even slightly an exaggeration. That was close to word for word what was said. All the time they turned their eyes from the evil and pure self promotion of Trump. They found ways to avert their eyes while Trump completely tried to take down our democracy when he didn’t get his way. Not until this election where his candidates failed did they finally start to move away from him. And that has sent him in this downward spiral.
So when people say, it’s time to move on, I fully disagree. There can be no forgiveness until Republicans admit completely that they were wrong. Not wrong necessarily for voting for Trump, but for giving Trump the license to do all he wanted. Because I feel that as things stand, it’s not that Republicans started disliking Trump, they would support him now completely if he had just succeeded. And for this, it is hard to forgive, because there is no repentance.
CRS, DrPH
December 7, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Good riddance. I wish 19fortyfive.com would focus on military & foreign policy issues, and leave MAGA politics out of the discussion.
Jim
December 7, 2022 at 7:55 pm
Walker, you never touch on policy… I invited you to do so… at this point… that’s what counts.
Do you have a problem with:
1. Control the border.
2. Fix our trade policy.
3. End the forever wars.
4. An independent energy policy.
Your rancor isn’t going to make any difference.
Walker
December 8, 2022 at 9:00 am
Jim,
As always every single Trump supporter couldn’t be more wrong.
1.) Control the border? How? by sticking up a stupid fence? Do you think humans are chickens and unable to deal with a fence? Or by separating families? Acting tough about borders doesn’t solve the problem. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have a real solution. Because a real solution is to build up the latin American world so that illegal immigration isn’t so necessary.
2.) Trade policy? trump trade policy was to replace trade deals he didn’t like with even worse deals and you all fell for it because… Trump! Trump supporters really are just that stupid.
3.) End the forever wars. Trump makes a bad deal with the Taliban and stupid Biden goes through with it and it becomes Bidens issue. Yep, they are both stupid. Or what about this war in Ukraine? At least Biden in on the right side of this conflict instead of siding with Russia.
4.) independent energy policy? What, is that is that what you think Trump had? Ignorance is not knowledge. We never had an independent energy policy. And we certainly can’t have one if we don’t expand renewables. Why you ask? Because gasoline refineries require a specific crude type they were built for. We have to import and export oil. It is the nature of the beast.
Why do Trump supporters think that Trump had any policy at all? He couldn’t care less about much of anything besides tucking classified documents into his pants while security wasn’t watching and making money off of his contact with other countries. Trump supporters used to say how benevolent Trump is, he didn’t take his 400k pay check, instead while he used that money to buy your favor, he turned around and billed the secret service millions of dollars. Trump Administration was a big scam and his supporters were never the wiser. Fool me once, shame on you, but what about being fooled every day for 6 years? That takes a special kind of stupid.
Jim
December 8, 2022 at 12:16 pm
We disagree.
A rancorous argument doesn’t persuade anyone.
(If it makes you feel better, O. K.)
I’d like to see you take that argument to the average American.
You are bitter… the more you go on… the less persuasive you are to the average American.
You might even rehabilitate Trump… that would be something.
Rob
December 8, 2022 at 3:27 pm
I wonde what triggers these articles n Trump? Is ir GOP loss in Georgia? Or have the editors decided there is a need for a new kid in town, realizing Trump is not gonna repeat his 2016 surprise.
It does not really matter.
What does matter is wether the GOP can avoid self destruction.
It is either that or death to the constitution…
Walker
December 8, 2022 at 7:10 pm
Jim,
We don’t disagree. You just don’t know what you are talking about.
Bitter? Of course, you guys talk about our country getting destroyed while you are the perpetrators of that destruction. Who wouldn’t be bitter about that? Just like you originally asked to just move on. Why? Because you want to get back to it with your Trump 2.0.
You asked about policy that you really have no idea about. When I point it out, all you can do is say we disagree. For someone who made such a point of it, that is a funny stance.
I hate to look at Trump supporters and say they are all racists. That can’t be true. Surely that can’t be it all. But whenever I talk to them, they point to policy. But can’t define it clearly. It’s just this amorphous shield. It’s like it is the replacement of “he hits back”. Which was great at making them feel good, but didn’t really do anything. And I think even they started to realize that doesn’t make them look good. So what is the underlying reason to support Trump a man so utterly bereft of a human soul?
I really have come to the conclusion that when Trump supporters fall on the crutch of policy, it’s just a buzzword to relieve themselves of guilt of what deep down they know to be true.
Do you want me to go into how one of the points always raised on border security is just a cover for racism? Well, here goes, if you were serious about it, you would look at ways to improve good immigration to make it easier to get the workers we want thereby reducing the prevalence of illegal immigration to fill that need. If there is no jobs for illegals, then there isn’t as big of draw. But was that ever part of Republican policy? Nope! The effort is to keep out all hispanics, Trump made that blatantly clear. So Republicans calling on Trumps policy on this is just an extension of Trump’s own racism. Refute that one!
Other policy points are just as poorly thought out. Let’s go back to your energy independence. There is no point to that. You think that if we make as much energy as we use that isolates us from world energy prices? Of course it doesn’t. If OPEC cuts down on production, prices go up around the world including America. The only point to it is that we pick up part of the slack thereby counteracting to an extent the effect. But that works for the whole world, not just America. Energy independence is a fallacious word that means nothing. We live in an interconnected world, borders or no.
Do you really know why the Republican Party wants more oil production? It’s not to save your pocketbook when you go to fill up. It’s to bring in cash donations from the oil industry. I could go into the evils of the Democratic Party as well, but that is for another time. Just know that we voters are pawns in the game and don’t fall for their rhetoric. It’s all lies to begin with.
The only reason I can think that you so easily give up talking policy is that maybe you know you aren’t prepared to really talk about it. It is this shield you use, but down deep know it doesn’t have any real meaning.
Next time if you want to throw out buzzwords, back them up.
And if my words make it easier for Trump’s return, well, I guess that just means what it meant to me the first time. A lot more Americans are way dumber than I was ready to give them credit for.
Bitter! Hell yeah with good reason. Too many idiots still not coming to terms with the consequences of their actions and I live in the same country as them. Not learning from the past dooms us to go through it again and I’m just a passenger on this train wreck unable to do anything really about it but yell at some guy on the internet. Now get off my lawn!
monkfelonious
December 9, 2022 at 12:39 am
I despise the trumpling, but I have no idea why this effort is here.
Bob
December 10, 2022 at 2:56 am
I don’t believe the author knows that in Lincolns time the Republicans had todays ideals the Democrats have today. He should brush up on history.
Bob
December 10, 2022 at 2:58 am
Steven? You missed the Kool-Aid served up by Jim Jones.
Thomas W Dent
December 12, 2022 at 1:28 pm
As a staunch conservative it pains me to say this. The best thing that can happen to the country today is for Trump to shut up and go home. Since he will never do that he just needs to be put in jail
Michael Rickson
December 14, 2022 at 4:51 pm
Amen and amen to your well-articulated thoughts. Trump is a cancer, an abashedly immoral individual, and utterly devoid of conscience. Every effort must be made by involved citizens to reveal him as the disgusting, degraded human being that he is. He is the primary reason for the divisive politics of our time. His political shame must be shouted from the mountain tops. He must go.
David Volpi
December 28, 2022 at 3:57 pm
The conversation we should be having is those that are in or tied into the deep state and the rest of us. Funny, that there was no credible investigation after the election of Biden. All juridical channels were shut done, did have standing after 100s of avadavats of potential fraud.
As much as you declare your independence, the press was in on it.
David Beard
December 28, 2022 at 5:49 pm
Thanks for what I thought was a really good depiction of Trump and the madness he brought forth to trash our allies, renege on promises made long ago, sullying the reputation of this country. The truth is that Trump wasn’t even remotely qualified to be President. He didn’t have any of the skills he would need, nor did he have the personal qualities like honesty and integrity. He wasn’t even smart enough to know how out of his depth he was. So, what am I saying? I’m saying that instead of allowing anybody with the money to file as a candidate for a national position. Should have to pass a test or two covering some of the basics so nobody like Trump will ever be elected in the first place. He caused billions of Damages to this country, and it will take billions more to fix it. I believe the American people have the right to know that the candidate they’re voting for can at least read and write!
Victor Leonard Bellini
December 30, 2022 at 11:55 am
Great article! Thanks for your courage to bring to light what is happening to Trump and some of his follwers and the future of America and not the past. Moving forward many times heals the past. Thank you agin ofr your courage to write this article.
ONTIME
December 31, 2022 at 10:47 am
From what I read now, the 1/6 club of TDS obsessives is backing down after breaking more Constitutional law and creating more unsupported,
malicious gossip than any other cabal in DC…..Petty hateful and unstable in thought, they showed us how socialism really works…..it really does suck…
Trump is a liar
January 2, 2023 at 4:32 pm
This is the perfect opportunity for all trump cult members to become a hero. All you have to do is prove the election was stolen. That doesn’t mean my sisters boyfriend’s dad has a friend who knows someone that has proof positive the election was stolen. All you have to do is provide verifiable proof that there was a nationwide conspiracy involving tens of thousands of republicans and democrats coordinated to hide, change or rig votes. Now, that shouldn’t be so hard if true!
I’m betting there isn’t a lunatic out there able to prove the big lie.
Paddy Manning
January 4, 2023 at 4:51 pm
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s appalling record goes back to her stint as a staffer on the Watergate Committee. Use Goglee!
I notice there is at least obneciduot in comments talking of “building up Latin America”. One has to be particularly stupid to think one can be an Economic God to a billion people. A country that doesn’t control its borders has ceased to be a country.
willowa
January 4, 2023 at 5:37 pm
Steven is right and ‘Doug’s’ biases show through glaringly.
Bill Homans
January 4, 2023 at 6:39 pm
US Army Vet,
As one Army vet to another, you are right. Donald Trump is a traitor, although I don’t foresee that he will ever be charged with that kind of crime. The fake-electors scheme and the obstruction charges are going to be as much as Merrick Garland will pull the trigger on.
Frankly, the attempt to shake down Secretary Raffensperger ought to have been the easiest, back when the impeachment procedures were happening. All America heard that crime as it happened. I have no idea why the Democrats did not pick that charge immediately.
EUGENIA DAVIS
January 5, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Why offer a reply choice on these absurd comments if it does not offer a chance to reply? I have never seen a better system for being sure no one can disagree with the trash these people write. You? Happy now? I somehow doubt that will ever be your state of mind – I find you traitorous!
Sean N.
January 6, 2023 at 1:25 am
Walker, thank you. Your writing and replies are so on point in so many ways. I was about to comment but after reading yours… well said.
Bill Epifanio
January 6, 2023 at 5:27 pm
Having read all the above comments, I’d like to summarize my position on Donald Trump:
1) DT is unintelligent.
2) Being very unintelligent, DT NEVER reads and is therefore un-knowledgeable.
3) Facts #1 and #2 have resulted in a DT who has ZERO appreciation of and respect for: History, the gravitas and responsibilities of the office of President of the United States — and his actions and inactions continually prove this, the U.S. Constitution and its importance, his own Oath of Office, and ethics.
4) All DT cares about is his own aggrandizement and enrichment.
5) DT has neither any integrity nor any sense of right and wrong. If an action serves to his benefit, the action must be “right.”
6) DT absolutely DETESTS the very supporters who attend his rallies and are foolish enough to vote for him — yet they still support him.
7) DT is a TRAITOR who should be court-martialed and appropriately punished.
8) DT is an INSURECTIONIST. He planned, enabled and encouraged the JAN 6th attack on this nation’s capital. These actions alone should justify and demand that he NEVER RUN FOR ANY PUBLIC OFFICE AGAIN !!
9) DT’s refusal to effectively and immediately act at the first sign of COVID — all because he felt admitting to COVID’s very existence would make him “Look Bad” — directly resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary U.S. deaths.
10) DT’s convincing Americans they cannot trust the news is Hitler’s Step #1 of “How a wannabe Fascist can undermine democracy and get political power.”
Yet — we still find ourselves discussing this idiot. I’m praying the Justice Department takes meaningful steps toward justly jailing DT — because: 1) the Justice Department’s doing so is the very least DT deserves; and, 2) doing so will exclude him from any future Presidential election. DT started to destroy this country. We cannot allow him to continue doing so.
Richard Haywood
January 7, 2023 at 8:16 pm
MAGA, Make America Grovel Again is what the GOP and Traitor Trump stand for. Sad how the right wing poops all over the graves of our veterans, and then, after murdering 1,500,000 Americans over the last 30 years through gun violence and disgusting actions on Covid they proudly wave the Nazi flag abd enjoy the KKK at their political gatherings. What is bad for Taitor Trump and the Republicans is great for the USA.
Malcolm Barksdale
January 8, 2023 at 6:00 pm
WOW, you nailed it!
gordon saunders
January 9, 2023 at 10:50 am
The knee jerk reaction from us basically uninformed citizens really proves one thing: keep them in the dark, and feed them….).How does anyone trust what comes out of the mouths of politicians let alone the mouths of the media who are being bankrolled by illiberal politicians. Trump was a reaction from many of us about the political irresponsibility and misguided policies of the powers that exist. While that doesn’t say much for our judgement, what else do you expect when those who have been locked in the dark begin to react.
Bill Epifanio
January 19, 2023 at 11:15 am
Totally agree !!