20 Comments

Wish trump's 'motivation' would not be described as 'combat'. It's bullying. He's either being 'victimized', or looking for someone to bully. It's NOT combat.

Thanks.

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author

Fair enough. I think I describe it at least once in the write-up as "bullying." I agree that's what he does. And, he's very, very good at it.

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You did, and I do appreciate that. I simply resist describing him and his behavior as 'combat' or 'politics'. He is a conniving grifter, and always has been from the evidence I have seen.

Same way I resist he ans his minions being described as 'conservative', unless we are dumbing-down conservative to mean 'everyone to the right of...'.

Also, never understood the support 'commander bonespurs' gets from veterans after saying his Viet Nam was never catching an STD. Which I doubt, also.

Thanks. I needed a good little Monday rant. Now, you kids get off my lawn!

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I would love to see him flounder away and self combust. Grew up outside NYC, he was always in the news and couldn’t stand the lying, bullying, man-child. How he won in 2016 still stuns me. Yes, I understand how it happened but can’t fathom that anyone would vote for him. Good God, if he’s elected again we have more problems than we can even imagine. Someone else needs to win the primary, for the country’s sake.

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Sort of boring, Chris? His shtick of being a bully has been around publicly for decades and has always been infantile.

The Insurrectionist-In-Chief's core support comes from whites with self-inflicted victimhood terrified of "the colored people" increasing power economically and politically.

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Can’t stand Trump, but I don’t know that I agree with this analysis. Trump’s 2016 campaign had a message - he was going to make America great by building a wall and making Mexico pay for it, get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something unknown but great, and get rid of foreign trade agreements to revive American manufacturing. Of course these were mostly empty slogans with little or no backup in policy once he was elected but in his one successful campaign he did have an actual message.

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I think that there's truth here, Michael. My thought is that Trump was selling a tone -- combative, angry -- more than he was selling any sort of policy. And people responded, mainly, to the idea of Trump as the bomb throwing outsider willing to say stuff to shake up the squares. I think any policy ideas that gained traction were in service of that broader, tonal message.

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This is because Trumpism (and hence post-Trump conservatism) isn't a real ideology with proposed policies and an ideological framework. It is more of an attitude or posturing. The policies don't matter. Ideology doesn't matter. Posturing as tough and ornery is what it is all about. Signal that vice!

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founding

Interesting that his opponents are kind of waiting around ... it’s early, but I wonder if they are just letting him flounder

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He's a mean, vindictive, petty man, and those are the best things that can be said about him. We all know that the person he's itching to go after is Governor DeSantis of Florida. That will be downright nasty (just like the Donald himself).

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I actually think there is a real opening for someone who is not DeSantis or Trump for exactly that reason. I expect them to go after each other from the second DeSantis gets into the race. Which means that a third candidate who offers themselves as a positive alternative to all that negativity could have a chance...

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Now that would be a fine outcome!

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Possibly, but the way I see it, the Republican Party has gone full MAGA. Until/unless a MAGA candidate loses to a more "mainstream" candidate, I'm always going to bet on the "Most MAGA" candidate to win.

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Not full MAGA imo. I think the mid-term losses made the real republicans take notice that he is toxic and cannot win

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If he drops out, it will certainly be someone else's fault.

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I am going to write on this but I think one of the big problems for Republicans is that even if he loses Trump will never admit defeat. And how the hell do you get him out of the primary????

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The only hope is that someone sweeps in (Ron? Nikki?) and takes everyone's breath away, rendering him obsolete. But even then, he won't admit it.

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What is the title of your book? It didn’t work when I clicked on the link.

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author

Shoot! It's called "Power Players." Here a link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/power-players-chris-cillizza/1142234101

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