Some interesting observations from Republicans

[PJMcK]

Last edited Thu Oct 1, 2020, 12:28 AM - Edit history (1)

In today's NY Post, ultra-Conservative columnist Michael Goodwin wrote:

Yet the bulk of the blame falls on Trump, who came with a clear plan and executed it flawlessly. Unfortunately, it was a very bad plan.

From the get-go, the president was determined to rattle Biden by being a persistent interrupter, rarely letting the former vice president finish two consecutive sentences. On occasion, his interjections were smart, but mostly, they made him look boorish.

Also in the Post, former editor John Podhoretz wrote:

But the simple fact of the matter is that Trump was incredibly unpleasant to watch, and Biden wasn’t.

It was painful and sordid and cringe-inducing, and that was almost entirely Trump’s doing.
(snip)
And face it: If you didn’t love Trump when the evening started and weren’t already a fan of his WWE approach to politics, there had to be at least one moment, maybe two, when you listened to the leader of the Free World and thought, “What a jerk.”

At The National Review, Kevin D.Williamson wrote:

The debate was a remarkable example of the fact that Donald Trump, the most self-serving man in America, doesn’t know how to do himself any favors.

Also from NR is Jim Geraghty's column:

The debate was bad for Trump... bad for moderator Chris Wallace, bad for the viewers at home, and bad for our system of government. The only people who had a good night were the far-right extremist Proud Boys.

In a year that has been a dumpster fire in so many ways, this debate fit in perfectly.

Here's the rest:
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-debate-dumpster-fire/

An editorial in The Wall Street Journal:

The benign explanation for the President’s performance is that like other incumbents in their first debates he was overconfident and underprepared. A less benign view is that he grew flustered as the debate went on and lost his cool and whatever focus he had at the start. He was so scattershot with his answers that he rarely offered a sustained case for his own policies. When Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump had called veterans ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ Mr. Trump didn’t refute it but brought up Hunter Biden.

A last one from Charles Hurt at The Washington Times:

And this is precisely where Mr. Trump failed Tuesday night.
(snip)
But instead of making his case strategically to the millions of people watching on television, Mr. Trump tried to win the room. The room was nearly empty. Half the crowd was stacked against him. And they were wearing masks. Oh, and ordered not to clap or boo.
Yet he flails away talking about Russia and Hunter Biden and rigged elections like he’s whipping up a crowd at a monster rally with Air Force One behind him.

It's fascinating that there is so much criticism of Trump's performance last night coming from the Establishment Right Wing. One senses that Republicans can feel the end of the Trump Era rushing at them.

I take it as an harbinger of significant change.

[Fla Dem]

1. When Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham

join this list of RW Trump criticizers, then I’ll be doing backflips.

Thanks for taking the time to post all these excerpts. Very enlightening.

[PJMcK]

5. You're welcome

I try to read some of the mainstream right-leaning perspectives. It helps to know our opponents.

McConnell and Graham are too far down the rabbit hole. It would be blissful if one or both lost their seats in November.

[MyOwnPeace]

22. "McConnell and Graham are too far down the rabbit hole."

One can only hope that they are WAY down there cowering and shivering!

To paraphrase Twain: "I would never intentionally wish anything bad on them, but if something "bad" were to happen to them I would take some pleasure in reading of the details."

[minidriver]

33. UPVOTE

[SeattleVet]

38. That's not the only hole they're deep into.

And I don't think that they can get their noses any further up there.

[PJMcK]

48. !

Thanks for starting my day with a chuckle!

[ArizonaLib]

55. Those 2 do whatever it takes to live to fight another day

Especially McConnell. He is a cockroach with black mold spores for a soul.

[Ferrets are Cool]

57. The position of POTUS has too much damning information on those two for them to betray him

This, of course, is thanks to Cheney's wiretapping and illegal surveillance.

[RussellCattle]

2. Fucking John Podhoretz. Haven't heard from that asshole in a long time. He should...

...disappear again, please. Here's a happy thought. When Trump crashes and burns in November, a lot of idiot commentators on the right will hopefully have to shut up for at least a little while. But then, I'm an optimist. Hannity will no doubt be interviewing lame duck Donald until inauguration day and beyond.

[PJMcK]

7. I like you characterizations of Podhoretz

Still, he's an excellent writer who can express his political views succinctly.

I try to read points of view that differ from my own. First, it keeps me from living in a bubble. Second, it helps me to clarify my own thoughts. Lastly, it's always good to know what our opposites are thinking.

[RussellCattle]

10. You're right of course. I just got carried away. I too read the opposition to try to stay...

...better informed. Maybe the "Pod Man" makes me a little crazy because he does write well. Thanks for the reality check.

[PJMcK]

12. He's still a dick! (n/t)

[RussellCattle]

13. Oh, absolutely. World class dick.

[erronis]

27. Also makes me think of Charles Krauthammer or Wm. Buckley - good wordsmiths with evil philosophies

[SergeStorms]

35. Krauthammer, with the black, soulless eyes.

Like a shark's eyes. That guy is straight-up evil.

[PJMcK]

49. Yeah, he was a world-class dick

Still, he was an excellent writer even though I almost never agreed with him. After all, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

At the end of his life, he was opposed to Trump so he gets a very small pass from me.

[BComplex]

18. Trump will be given his own show on fox and fiends.

[KS Toronado]

24. Can they do that from a prison cell? Asking for my fiend Hair-Doo.

[BComplex]

36. from you lips to god's ears!

I really hope this man goes to prison.

[Generic Brad]

40. They'd have to rename it "Faux and Friendless" then

[OnDoutside]

52. Glad I haven't heard from that asshole too. Sad news that that other slimeball, Noah Rothmann

showed up on MJ today for the first time in a while.

[RussBLib]

3. and still crickets from the GOP Senate

shameless
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shameless

[PJMcK]

8. Certainly you didn't expect a comment from those spineless cowards?! (n/t)

[RussBLib]

16. well, yeah, eventually

We are exploring the dizzying depths of their depravity. Is there no blow too low?

I cannot imagine being that craven. Obviously would not have flourished in politics.

[AZ8theist]

59. Not quite crickets....

They just blocked a resolution condemning white supremacy, so there's that...

[Caliman73]

4. A take on your last two sentences...

They don't see it, they WANT it. Trump is bad for conservatism because he espouses what conservatives actually want but he is ugly and brutish and lays conservatism bare for all to see.

They want Reagan, who was the nice old grandpa who chuckled and told folksy stories while funding right wing death squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua. They want Gerald Ford who was doddering while, pardoning the treasonous Nixon. They want the nice face and the horrible policies. Trump is the horrible face with the horrible policies who will tell people that he just wants to take money from the people and use it because he deserves it, because he is better than everyone else and deserves to be on top.

I do not think that conservatives can change. They have a very fixed idea of what their ideal world is, and it entails rich White, Christian, men running the show, and everyone else serving that power structure.

You never see them admit that Conservatism as an ideology is wrong, but that people fail the ideology. That is what they are thinking here, but the reality is that Trump is the id, the raw, exposed avarice of Conservatism, exposed.

[PJMcK]

11. Good observations

McConnell is probably done with Trump. He's gotten all the judges he could want and might even get another SCOTUS seat.

Graham is fighting for his political life. Trump is probably a net-negative for him between now and the election.

The faceless, wealthy white men in the shadows who actually run the show are probably tired of Trump's ineptitude and boorishness. He's not a good frontman for their efforts.

Those shadowy PTB will never admit that Conservatism and raw Capitalism are terrible ideas for a civilization because then they would lose their wealth and power and social standing. You're right that Trump exposes the id of the Right. His rise to power in the Republican Party was probably inevitable given their history and trajectory over the past 40 years.

[TexasProgresive]

29. My Dad, a decorated anti fascist called Reagan a

Smiling fascist

[Caliman73]

31. Most definitely!

But there was the veneer of caring, of folksy wisdom. There is no doubt that Reagan was a horrible president for anyone but the wealthiest White people, but you could still front the facade.

With Trump, what you see is what you get. Trump is a complete liar, but there is a truth to him. His vulgarity, his open disdain for democratic process and traditions. His hatred of, but lust for women, his disgust for people of color and LGBT people. That is conservatism. They are as depraved as the monarchies and aristocracies that preceded them, but they have always tried to hide it away behind social propriety.

They don't like Trump because he is showing everyone what the ideology is really about.

[TexasProgresive]

39. I can dig it!

[JI7]

32. Reagan would not win in today's America. Not enough white people in this country.

[Caliman73]

34. Republicans in general shouldn't be winning.

They represent far fewer people in terms of actual policy. They win because they have focused on the process of voting, not on the policies and government.

Republicans win because they have districted themselves into winning the majority of representation with fewer voters. White people still make up the majority of voters in the US, so it isn't about White people per se, but about the politicians choosing their voters rather than the voters choosing their representatives.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

60. They also have a vast propaganda network, exemplified by fux spewz.

The nonstop hateful, lying propaganda machine makes sure that people remain disinformed and whipped up with anger aimed at shadowy, scary “Libs”.

[moonscape]

6. Wonder how many Republican Senators will be secret

votes for Biden? They want to retain the Senate, and their jobs, but am thinking even they might be relieved if this comes to an end.

[GusBob]

9. The comments from Hurt are spot on

and something I had not considered nor heard before. He was working the room not the living rooms. Shifty shifty eyes

The irony is, Trump a TV president, was not playing for the camera, while Biden, when he could, looked into the camera, and spoke to the country

[PJMcK]

14. VP Biden's comments to America were inspirational

He looked us in the eye (so to speak) and spoke of us as one country. He spoke with hope and ideas. He spoke of our families and our needs. He spoke like an empathetic leader.

Those were VP Biden's strongest moments last night, in my opinion.

[GopherGal]

41. Dirty Donnie was in rally mode...

playing to his base, many of whom probably think he "won" the debate by being loudest and talking over Biden and Wallace.
Given the mismatch to the audience and the no booing or clapping rules, he couldn't get his narcissistic supply from slavering MAGAts. And his manner, precisely calibrated to elicit howls of approval from his base, is nearly as certain to put off independents and those mythical suburban women he thinks he has a chance of winning over.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

15. The TRUMPTANIC hit the iceberg last night, going down at the head.

The Republicans going down with him.

[D_Master81]

17. Many of my GOP acquaintances

I know a lot of republicans living in a deep red part of red Indiana. That said, while most will still vote for him, many are saying how embarrassing trump was. 1 even openly posted “I’ve tried to convince myself to vote for trump but I can’t do it”.

[brooklynite]

19. One small point: "TNR" is seen as an abbreviation for "The New Republic"

National Review is abbreviated as "NR"

[PJMcK]

43. Oops. Thank you!

I'll fix it right now.

[Escurumbele]

20. This is from the article, one was said by a smart man, the other by an ignorant brat

Which is more persuasive — something like this . . .

Since 2005, national greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 10 percent, and power sector emissions have fallen by 27 percent — even as our economy grew by 25 percent . . . From 2005 to 2018, total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell by 12 percent. In contrast, global energy-related emissions increased nearly 24% from 2005 to 2018 . . . U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell about 2 percent in 2019 . . . The 2019 drop was driven by a nearly 10 percent fall in emissions from the power sector, the biggest decline in decades.
~~ VP Joe Biden (soon to be president)

Or what the president said last night: “We have now the lowest carbon — if you look at our numbers right now, we are doing phenomenally.”
~~ donald the con trump

[Aristus]

21. They've got their SCOTUS majority. Trump is a liability now.

They'll probably be relieved not to have to explain all the time what the guy who Tells It Like It Is actually meant.

[MyOwnPeace]

25. Simple, quick analysis.........

and from where I see it, SPOT ON!!!!!

[yonder]

58. I'll just go ahead and borrow that frame:

"...the guy who Tells It Like It Is" always having to have someone explain what he really meant.

[lindysalsagal]

23. Thanks for consolidating lots of reading. Really appreciated.

Glad the idiot gop pundits can at least admit this much. magat's a rabid racoon.

[PJMcK]

44. You're welcome

And you're right. Republicans are idiots.

[Cosmocat]

26. I am sorry, but anything short of

"This country was exposed in its fullest display a madman want to be dictator" is it nothing more than the right wing vapidly enabling the destruction of American democracy.

Poor Trumpy Bear can't get out of his own way ...

[yonder]

28. Good post and thanks for compiling these.

[PJMcK]

45. !

[jcgoldie]

30. "..Mr. Biden said Mr.Trump had called veterans 'suckers' and 'losers,' Mr. Trump didn't refute it.."

"...but brought up Hunter Biden."

Pretty sure that wasn't a misstep that was by deflection by design...whenever they start talking about taxes or covid or military "losers"... you go immediately to Hunter Biden...

[FakeNoose]

37. I'm certain that Chump lost some voters last night

I don't know how many, we'll see when the polls come out. He cannot possibly have gained any new uncommitted voters, and certainly turned at least some people off.

Biden can hold his head up, I think he acquitted himself well. He got a few zingers in when he got the chance. He kept his temper and his wits, and he made great spontaneous answers to Chump's insults.

This is definitely a win for Joe, but I don't ever want to see another "debate" like this again.

[PJMcK]

50. Trump certainly didn't gain any voters from his debate performance

We've heard of people who voted for Trump in 2016 but won't vote for him in 2020.

Have you ever heard of anyone who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but has decided to vote for Trump in 2020?

Trump doesn't understand a key element of electoral politics: It's about adding voters to your base. You can't win by erasing your numbers.

Trump is an idiot.

[Cha]

42. trump's his own worst enemy.. from the WaTimes..

And this is precisely where Mr. Trump failed Tuesday night.

(snip)
But instead of making his case strategically to the millions of people watching on television, Mr. Trump tried to win the room. The room was nearly empty. Half the crowd was stacked against him. And they were wearing masks. Oh, and ordered not to clap or boo.

Yet he flails away talking about Russia and Hunter Biden and rigged elections like he’s whipping up a crowd at a monster rally with Air Force One behind him.

I mentioned before the debate that he would treat it like he was at one of his hate-fest rallies.

[Demovictory9]

46. kick

[Brother Mythos]

47. You, obviously, put a lot of effort into preparing this summary. Thank you for posting it.

[PJMcK]

51. Cheers, Brother

It's often instructive to read what our political opponents have to say. I was fairly surprised when I started to see how many GOP voices were offended by Trump's debate performance.

Enjoy your day!

[William Seger]

53. "On occasion, his interjections were smart"

On occasion, Michael Goodwin sounds like an idiot.

[PJMcK]

54. Almost always, Goodwin sounds like an idiot

His columns are uninformed, biased and usually stupid.

My reason for quoting him was simply because he was so critical of Trump. As were quite a few other Right leaning voices.

[eppur_se_muova]

56. If only ONE of them would just add ... "But of course, we knew what he was like all along".

Therein lies the difference between Ds and Rs.