September 24, 2016

"When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."

"When I presented that thought to him, he paused again, 'Now that’s interesting.'"

From "Taking Trump Seriously, Not Literally/The Republican candidate took his case to a shale-industry gathering, and found a welcoming crowd," by Salena Zito in The Atlantic.
The 70-year-old Republican nominee took his time walking from the green room toward the stage. He stopped to chat with the waiters, service workers, police officers, and other convention staffers facilitating the event. There were no selfies, no glad-handing for votes, no trailing television cameras. Out of view of the press, Trump warmly greets everyone he sees, asks how they are, and, when he can, asks for their names and what they do.

“I am blown away!” said one worker, an African American man who asked for anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. “The man I just saw there talking to people is nothing like what I’ve seen, day in and day out, in the news.”

Just before [Trump] takes the stage, I ask whether there’s one question that reporters never ask but that he wishes they would. He laughs. “Honestly, at this stage, I think they’ve asked them all.”

Then he stops in his tracks before pulling back the curtain and answers, so quietly that is almost a whisper: “You know, I consider myself to be a nice person. And I am not sure they ever like to talk about that.”

97 comments:

MD Greene said...

Things nobody ever said about HIllary Clinton.

sojerofgod said...

and never will

Tank said...

A friend of mine met him at a wedding at one of his resorts and described his behavior and demeanor in just this way. She (my friend) reluctantly liked him ... a lot. He was just so ... nice, to everyone. She has a picture of her and him on her cell phone which she is happy to show anyone.

David Begley said...

“The man I just saw there talking to people is nothing like what I’ve seen, day in and day out, in the news.”

I believe it. In private Trump is not an arrogant, condescending Wall Street prick. He's a guy from Queens who happens to be rich.

Chuck said...

Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/10/28/donald-trump-john-kasich-cnbc-gop-debate-fracking-vstan-jnd-orig-sot.cnbc

traditionalguy said...

Social intelligence is a beautiful thing when seen in action. And the addition of KellyAnn Conway added that social intelligence into Trump's political campaign big time.

IMO what we are seeing is the secret to Trump's success. He genuinely wants to see good things happen for everybody. And that kind of persona will fill a large tent.

robinintn said...

The press pretends to take him literally. "Trump thinks Hillary and Obama founded ISIS!!!!!!!!!". They think we're that stupid.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Out of view of the press...

Then what exactly is Salena Zito from The Atlantic?

MadisonMan said...

The more people see of Trump, especially in person, and not through the distorting filter of press coverage, the more they like him.

The more people see of Hillary, despite the rose-colored filter of press coverage, the less they like her.

SayAahh said...

Something about catching bees with honey vs. vinegar
It is about achieving a goal.
Deal making.
Whatever it takes.
Read the book.

tim in vermont said...

Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"? - Chuck

You tell me why they would care Chuck. Remember that understanding stuff like that requires an ability to read and understand normal human emotion. Just saying Chuck. Why would this matter more to them than Hillary's anti energy extraction position, from calling to shut down coal mines to killing Keystone XL.

tim in vermont said...

Tell me four things that Trump has done that are worse than shutting down Keystone XL, Chuck.

alan markus said...

Last night I listened to the spouse of a distant relative talking about work - union construction worker in SE Wisconsin - big projects like office towers. He was asked if the union was telling him to vote for Clinton. He said that everyone at work, and he meant EVERYONE at work, is all in for Trump. I think they look at a guy like Trump versus someone like Clinton and they see jobs coming down the pike.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Chuck said..."Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?"

You're working at this Trump hate thing too hard. This one makes no sense.

Birkel said...

tim in vermont:

I can channel the impotent rage of lifelong Republican Chuck.

Trump beat Republican establishment opponents in the primaries.
Trump ignored the super geniuses that gave us presidents McCain and Romney.
Trump doesn't care fuck-all about impotent Chuck.
Trump may beat Hillary Clinton.

That is four.

Tommy Duncan said...

Meanwhile on the campaign trail: "Hillary Clinton has cancelled her trip to Charlotte after protests over the deadly shooting Keith Lamont Scott entered a fourth night."

Imagine, if you will, the healing she could have promoted if only she had visited Charlotte.

Gahrie said...

You're working at this Trump hate thing too hard. This one makes no sense.

1) He has a quota to make.
2) It doesn't matter.......they managed to make Romney's promise to hire women to work for him into an attack on women...remember?

They think we're that stupid.

Why not? They managed to make Romney's promise to hire women to work for him into an attack on women...remember?

Gahrie said...

I condemn myself for using the word "they".

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Chuck may be coming down with rare sympathetic Parkinsons symptoms. We just need to be kind to him, and hold him up when he experiences a balance problem from coughing up anti-Trump bile.

dreams said...

He doesn't have a mean bone in his body I heard a CEO say on CNBC a few months back. And before he decided to run for president, I had read enough about Trump to know that he wasn't the man the public perceived. Based on what I had read I saw him as a likable and honorable man, a stand-up guy and the voters see it too which is why I think he is going to win.

Curious George said...

"Chuck said...
Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?"

"That's a clown question, bro."

I cannot imagine they care one bit. Can you explain why they would care?

I know shilling for Hillary must be exhausting, but you're just phonin' it in now.

Curious George said...

If you want see this likeable TRump watch this Feherty interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aAyvtO_KDQ

hiswiserangel said...

Tommy Duncan, Hillary cancelled her Charlotte fundraiser before the shooting and riots.
I think, like the day before, without explanation or comment. Curious.

Sebastian said...

"When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."
This is a good insight.

Stories about Trump's niceness trickling out through the MSM cordon sanitaire are all well and good, but the real proof of his personal qualities comes from what they don't say. If there was evidence of meanness, we'd hear about it endlessly. After all, that mean bastard Mitt Romney once bullied someone in high school, and put Seamus on the car roof. Imagine what they could do to Trump. But apparently, they have nothing to work with. So they have to resort to taking him literally. Aided and abetted by the man himself, of course.

madAsHell said...

Can't we just ignore Chuck?

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Somehow the main stream media have gotten, selectively stupid. The media elites are Not able to detect rhetorical statements, hyperbole, purposeful exaggeration to make points, sarcasm or humor when it comes from Trump.

Meanwhile they are working long and hard to explain away everything Clinton has actually done and says.

The elite abhor Trump, know Trump is Hitler and are doing everything to stop Trump/Hitler.

Wince said...

Blogger Chuck said..."Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?"

Vindicated? Trump's point is that Kasich was taking credit for state government performance that was largely attributable to the private sector success of the shale industry. Hence, the "being lucky, because he struck oil" that the fracking industry produced.

Chuck is proof that it isn't whether Trump's opponents in the press take him literally or seriously, it's that they consistently try to twist what he says as offensive to one voting block or another in the furtherance of a partisan goal.

Chuck said...

No, I stand by this point; it was such an essentially weird, personal anti-Republican attack, on Trump's part. It was the elevation of Trump's own personal need (to attack a rival) over well-accepted Republican principles.

Yes; Trump (following a great many Republicans) has pointed out the Democrats' (and especially Obama and Clinton) hostility to domestic energy industries. No doubt about it. It is true. We Republicans favor the, uh, energetic development of American energy. Trump is no different, I suppose.

This is more stylistic, than substantive policy. And I was particularly sensitive to this (one of countless) Trump personal attacks on other Republicans. Nasty personal attacks. Because with Kasich, who'd be a much better president, Trump seemed to be making light of the policy basis for developing shale gas. Like Kasich somehow hit the jackpot at a Trump casino slot machine.

All the Trumpkins want other Republicans to forgive and forget all the stuff he said in the primaries, about other Republicans. Not me.

Chuck said...

madAsHell said...
Can't we just ignore Chuck?


I wish a large number of Althouse's newly Trumptastic commenters would ignore me.

William said...

By the standards of real estate developers, Trump is soft spoken and rather saintly. By the standards of professional politicians, Hillary is shrill and a hideous gargoyle.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

???Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?

They felt like Trump was telling the truth.

tim in vermont said...

No, I stand by this point; it was such an essentially weird, personal anti-Republican attack, on Trump's part. - Chuck


How would you be able to judge something as "weird"? Do you think any of your attacks on Trump are "weird"? Certainly a word like "weird" suggests judgements that are in the eye of the beholder. Nothing is objectively weird, I don't think. By that standard a lot of people found your attack on Trump here weird. He made a comment that suggested a deeper truth. Some people with, for example, Asperger's, have a hard time understanding that way of speaking, all the figurative language. Other people are deliberately obtuse and pretend or refuse to understand figurative speech when it serves their aims not to do so.

khesanh0802 said...

Chuck You must be one of the five people outside of Ohio who thought Kasich would be a better president. Wait, maybe, it was six. I get confused with high numbers like that.

Birkel said...

Chuck, the Hillary Clinton supporter, wants Republican politics to be beanbag.

jacksonjay said...

So, Trump is a phony too?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Chuck said: well-accepted Republican principles.

LOL...ahahahahaha. "Well accepted" Bwahahaha "principles." Teee heee.

buwaya said...

A highly social, professional celebrity like Trump has lived his whole life under observation by all sorts of people, servants, service workers, the press. He has no real privacy and is by necessity "on" at all times.

Crimso said...

“The man I just saw there talking to people is nothing like what I’ve seen, day in and day out, in the news.”

"[I]n the news."

That pretty much sums up the reason why this country is where it is today. Reporters (and, by extension, those who are their supervisors, editors, headline writers, etc.) are supposed to inform the public, not shape their opinions. Reporters seldom flatly lie to their readers. They are often ignorant to the point of malpractice (see comments by Crichton and Rhodes), which is not necessarily malicious. But they do actively engage in "telling the truth, just not all of it."

I have personally observed this repeatedly and often, and those reporters ARE lying to their audience. (I heard an NPR reporter some months ago describe what the IRS did as "alleged targeting of conservative groups." Is it correct to call it alleged when they apologized for doing it, and have settled at least one lawsuit against them for having done it?)

jg said...

by the time he's president, he'll seem so normal you'll forget the press+global-technocrat-elite ever unanimously hallucinated a micropenised clown hitler in his place

buwaya said...

As a point of substance - the Trumpian energy and environmental policy as laid out in both this speech and in the position papers is a solid and substantial difference vis a vis the current administration and the likely policy of a Clinton administration, vague as that actually tends to be. The Trump official positions btw are more concrete and specific than the Clinton ones.
The modern Democrat energy and environmental policies are directly a major drag on the economy, increasing energy costs and reducing energy use, and a huge generator of the mass of ancillary "compliance" regulation, process and overhead that is a further drag.
Its a disastrous, deranged impulse to economic destruction.
Now, I dont think that even an active and well-meaning administration has the power, in this culture, to prune this all back, as most of it comes from fundamental decadence of the people, but this policy is precisely what you need in order to slow the decline.

tim in vermont said...

The Trump official positions btw are more concrete and specific than the Clinton ones.

That's because Clinton hasn't let us know which tranche of her supporters she is lying to yet, the climate change true believers, or the unions involved in energy extraction.

Original Mike said...

"That's because Clinton hasn't let us know which tranche of her supporters she is lying to yet, the climate change true believers, or the unions involved in energy extraction."

True, but we all know which one it is.

buwaya said...

Also an important and substantial point re unemployment rates and the employment-population ratio, which Zito raises in Trumps claim of 58% black youth unemployment.
This is one of those statistics, and those arguments, that are fundamental to a correct understanding of the economic situation. Simply put the official unemployment rates are extremely misleading because, even putting the best case on it, they are unsuited to tracking conditions where the bottom drops out of the labor force. It meant something when labor force participation was stable or rising, but entirely misses a collapse in the labor force, which happened over the last decade. Even the chiefs of the Fed and Bernanke have acknowleged the lack of utility of the official unemployment rate, and its why the St Louis Fed puts some effort into tracking the pop-employment ratio.
The complaint about Trump using pop-employment ratios is either dreadfully ignorant or disgustingly disingenuous.

grackle said...

Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?

Evidently the folks in Ohio feel pretty good about it. Trump is surging in Ohio. Kasich, meanwhile, pals around with Obama in the Whitehouse.

http://tinyurl.com/zvufen8

jacksonjay said...

The media did not make-up the stories about asshole Trump. Nice guy Trump dishonored John McCain's heroism. Nice guy Trump retweeted the picture of Heidi Trump. Nice guy Trump went after Ted's dad as an accomplice, even after Ted dropped out. Nice guy Trump mocked the disabled reporter. Nice guy Trump offered to pay legal bills for those assaulting protesters. Nice guy Trump called Rosie O'Donnel a big fat pig. Nice guy Trump heaped praise on Vlad the Putin and Saddam Hussein. Did he call Megan Kelley a bimbo? If so, that is true, but....!

To be cruelly neutral, is the media dishonest and corrupt? Is the media in an all-out panic now that the monster is alive? Yes! But, this Trump reputation for being an asshole was created by The Donald.

Birkel said...

jacksonjay votes with Chuck, that politics on one side should be beanbag.

The other side be damned.

buwaya said...

The media is as a whole a centralized political machine serving a social and economic clique whose interests are incompatible with the interests of the great majority of the US population.

Energy policy is a very significant case in point. The US population benefits from cheap energy resulting from free exploitation of plentiful natural resources and the leveraging of technology. The interests would rather collect monopoly profits from a licensed, highly regulated industry that deliberately suppresses both natural resource usage and technological development in order to keep prices high.

This is not visible in the press, though it is neon-lit obvious to anyone in the affected industries.

MaxedOutMama said...

RE Trump's personality - they have been so unable to find employees/contacts/old friends who are willing to run the man down that I have to believe he is nice. He must be able to gain loyalty.

It's really quite amazing. He simply cannot have been nasty or even less than considerate to people he dealt with from a superior position. All that racist/sexist/homophobic crap doesn't have a chance of being true.

Note: He does have a track record of stiffing bankers, but I think the country as a whole is not that fond of the bankers he stiffed. No sympathy there. If the bankers talked about it, it would probably just gain Trump more votes.

buwaya said...

As to why I say Trump cant fix this - the destructive environmentalist mania is deeply planted in the US elites, a childhood programming that cannot help but be expressed. They cannot be persuaded out of it no matter what disasters it brings and no matter what rational or empirical arguments are used. The only way to change such minds is to wait for them to die and be replaced by a new generation, which is not yet even showing the slightest sign of appearing, because the childhood programming is still working.
Therefore decadence and decline will inevitably continue.

MaxedOutMama said...

khesanh0802 - seven. I was okay with Kasich until the very end. I wasn't wildly for him, but I would have been glad to vote for him in the general until he kind of blew himself up late in the game.

jacksonjay said...

Jacksonjay destroyed by Birkel! Great argument! Jacksonjay votes neither!

jacksonjay said...

Look up Tony Schwartz for a Trump critic!

Birkel said...

Trump critic. Oh my. Given the binary choice I will vote for Trump. At worst he will be opposed by Democrats and Republicans.

Let's hear it for obstructionism!!

Birkel said...

By the way, the people who know Kasich uniformly say he is a prick.

Much like what was said of Governor Carter before he became President Carter by the people who knew Carter.

fwiw

readering said...

He comes across as nice. Name me another politician who comes up with endearing nicknames like Trump that he picks and uses over and over, just like certain kids in school: low energy Jeb, lying Ted, little Marco, crooked Hillary. What did I call such kids back then? Probably bully Donnie.

David said...

If Trump is so nice, why doesn't he have any friends?

Birkel said...

David:

Do you mean the people who invite Trump to weddings, like the Clinton's?

amielalune said...


David: Why do you say Trump doesn't have any friends? Because you don't know who they are? Who are Hil-liar-y's friends? John McCain's? John Kerry's? Obungles?

JAORE said...

The Trump statistic on unemployed black youth (as nicely explained above) is a lot more valid than the unquestioned:
Women earn 72 (or 78, or) percent of what a man earns,

OR

4 out of 5 women will be sexually assaulted in college.

And yet, I miss the push back on those statistics... Funny that.

Gahrie said...

well-accepted Republican principles.

1) Lie to your base

2) Roll over for the Democrats

3) Attack Conservatives and your base

4) Attend Washington cocktail parties

5) Cower in fear from the MSM

Gahrie said...

this Trump reputation for being an asshole was created by The Donald.

Frankly I think we need an asshole in charge for a while......

The last eight years with a pussy in charge has almost ruined us.

cubanbob said...

If genuine niceness was a real factor then Hillary certainly wouldn't be in the running.
I'm not interested in niceness, I'm hiring a manager. I don't have to like the help, all I care about is whether or not the help can do the job adequately. Trump has a history of being overall successful in business. Hillary has a history of being an overall failure (other than running a criminal enterprise). It's not a complicated choice.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Chuck said...blabbity blah

Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/10/28/donald-trump-john-kasich-cnbc-gop-debate-fracking-vstan-jnd-orig-sot.cnbc

9/24/16, 7:30 AM

Buck Buck Chuck, why would they care? Explain the logic where that reflects badly on the workers in the Marcellus play. If anything they would probably agree, Kasich didn't get dirty on a rig, he sat there and basked in the dollars.

Do you even know how desperate you seem now? Why don't you date Gail Collins? You're just like another Unknown or Inga or shiloh at this point.

Michael K said...

"I can channel the impotent rage of lifelong Republican Chuck."

I am starting to wonder about "chuck."

You keep hearing these "lifelong Republicans" call Rush Limbaugh and tell him some DNC talking point.

I would suggest people read Victor Davis Hanson's essay on Elites.

It's a pretty good explanation of why Trump is doing well.

jacksonjay said...

Gahrie is on to something with his list! Only problem is, Ted isn't guilty of any of those accusations! Ted did fight the Dems, the Republicans and the media! As Limbaugh said the other day, Republicans rejected conservatism in the primaries!

damikesc said...

Geeze I wonder how the people working in Marcellus shale gas extraction felt about Trump after he went after Ohio's governor for "being lucky, because he struck oil"?

Life-long Republican Chuck, folks.

He doesn't have a mean bone in his body I heard a CEO say on CNBC a few months back. And before he decided to run for president, I had read enough about Trump to know that he wasn't the man the public perceived. Based on what I had read I saw him as a likable and honorable man, a stand-up guy and the voters see it too which is why I think he is going to win.

Effective leaders know it is wise to have a public persona that is different than a private persona. Nixon got a lot of stuff done internationally because people felt he was a madman who would nuke anybody and when ended up not being that, they listened more willingly. Ditto Reagan.

Note: Obama has the same persona in public and private. And NOBODY likes him.


No, I stand by this point; it was such an essentially weird, personal anti-Republican attack, on Trump's part. It was the elevation of Trump's own personal need (to attack a rival) over well-accepted Republican principles.


When, precisely, did Republicans not openly blast each other to win an open nomination? I've only followed these things since 1988 and it never happened. I know Bush Sr ripped on Reagan's policies in 1980.

Because with Kasich, who'd be a much better president

You mean the asshole who demanded OH expand Medicaid, which they cannot really afford, over the objections of the Republican legislature?

THAT guy?

Hell, given your hatred of Trump, you should REALLY hate Kasich. He did more than anybody else to get him elected. It wasn't a coincidence that he ended his campaign shortly after Cruz ended his.

Trump seemed to be making light of the policy basis for developing shale gas. Like Kasich somehow hit the jackpot at a Trump casino slot machine.

OH's economic growth was largely based on the luck of that shale formation.

jacksonjay said...

VDH is great! How about the recent criticism by Robert Gates, an academic who actually has been in the fight? I quote, "unfit'", "unqualified", "beyond repair", and "stubbornly uninformed." I think Gates might qualify as a lifelong Republican. He is not just a critic.

Michael K said...

Chuck need not worry. The Obama Administration has a backup plan in case it looks like Trump will win the election.

They will indict him for dealing with Russia. Hillary seems to be aware of this plan as she has introduced the topic a few times, in spite of her own Russian connection. There is no chance the Obama DoJ would be interested in her activities. See the FBI "investigation" if you doubt this.

It's OK chuck, the fix is in.

Michael K said...

"I think Gates might qualify as a lifelong Republican. "

I have great regard for Gates. It seemed from his book (Have you read it ?) that he liked Hillary.

I doubt he has ever met Trump.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Blogger jacksonjay said...
Gahrie is on to something with his list! Only problem is, Ted isn't guilty of any of those accusations! Ted did fight the Dems, the Republicans and the media! As Limbaugh said the other day, Republicans rejected conservatism in the primaries!
9/24/16, 12:42 PM


Well, your master, Ted, said to vote for Trump so get out of the foxhole and get with the program.

Fabi said...

I'm starting to think that Chuck is actually John Kasich.

jacksonjay said...

Have not read Gate's book! I suppose that make me unfit and unqualified. Has Gates endorsed Hillary? Will your respect for Gates disappear if he does? I suspect Gates would find DJT charming and nice but, would he change his opinion of the public Trump?

jacksonjay said...

Bad Lieutenant,

I voted for Little Marco in the Texas Primary! I did vote for Ted in 2012, because I am a lifelong Republican! Having the wisdom to be born in Texas, I'm ridin my high horse on election day and stayin home! Of course, you totally missed the point or more likely refuse to cede the point! Ted was everything you guys claim to be looking for, he did fight the good fight, and he lost!

Gahrie said...

Gahrie is on to something with his list! Only problem is, Ted isn't guilty of any of those accusations! Ted did fight the Dems, the Republicans and the media!

John Bolton was my first choice, Ted Cruz was my second. I think Ted would make a far better president than Trump. I'm not voting for Trump. For the first time I am thankful that I live in a state where my presidential vote doesn't matter, and I can write my own name in without guilt.

But Ted hurt himself in my eyes with his treatment of Trump...especially at the convention.

The only two endorsements I give Trump are:

1) He's better than Hillary.
2) He pisses off all of the right people.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dear jacksonjay:

Ted was everything you guys claim to be looking for,

I preferred a American, and insisted on a winner.

he did fight the good fight,

He was a sneak, a dirty fighter, and when he met his match, he whined about it.

and he lost!

Now you've got it! Indeed he lost. And would, I was and am convinced, lose to Hillary. The nominee had to be the strongest, and the man capable of dealing with the Dems' structural advantages and not merely winning, but charting a course for future victories.

The Dem advantages of the stranglehold on the media and minorities had to be neutralized. Was Cruz going to do that? No, Cruz would have at best ground out a base turnout, opposition suppressing nail biter, to be overwhelmed at the next demographic shift.

Now we don't have to hope that black people die off, because now black people may vote for us. Now we don't have to tremblingly await the arrival of our new La Raza overlords, because finally we will push back on the creeping invasion of people who only want to take and have nothing to give but slave labor at slave wages. Now the media can be laughed at, refuted, gotten to change their tune.

You can have many fine plans which will never come to fruition because you're being drowned in a toilet. Let Trump get our heads out of the toilet, then we can afford to dream some more conservative dreams.

chuck said...

> I am starting to wonder about "chuck."

Excuse me. I'm chuck and this is my first comment on this thread. What the H3ll is there to wonder about?

harrogate said...

"I consider myself to be a nice person."

Think about that sentence.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Do you consider yourself to be a nice person, harro?

jacksonjay said...

Trump's latest conservative dream, laid out just last week by the curvy blond, was PAID maternity leave! Ivanka used all the Democrat buzzwords, such as wage inequaity and single mothers. Hell, the Democrats are mad that Donald stole their issue! Yeah Lieutenant, dream on!

grackle said...

VDH is great! How about the recent criticism by Robert Gates, an academic who actually has been in the fight? I quote, "unfit'", "unqualified", "beyond repair", and "stubbornly uninformed." I think Gates might qualify as a lifelong Republican. He is not just a critic.

Gates? A progressive tool who is angling for a job in Hillary’s administration.

A better gauge would be James Woolsey, who was the head of the CIA for 2 years under Bill Clinton.

Trump’s commitment to reversing the harmful defense budget cuts signed into law by the current administration, while acknowledging the need for debt reduction, is an essential step toward reinstating the United States’ primacy in the conventional and digital battlespace.

Woolsey, who served as Bill Clinton’s first CIA director from 1993 to 1995, says that as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “demonstrated a complete lack of understanding and an inability to lead the agency she headed in such a way as to maintain its mission and security.

Based on the emails thus far released we know that Secretary Clinton also lacks the ability to lead her senior managers while complying with and maintaining the basic protocols designed to protect our government’s sensitive and classified information,” Woolsey said. “Trump understands the magnitude of the threats we face and is holding his cards close to the vest.

Trump has come out on two things that I think are important: first of all, he seems to be very much more so than his opponent in favor of a strong defense budget and we’ve got a lot of space to make up problems that have been left in defense by the Obama administration,” Woolsey said when asked to explain why he supports Trump over Clinton.

“The other is that he seems willing to keep a secret and not to blab everything to the public and to our opponents when he comes up with something about national security that ought to be kept quiet. I think that’s good. You can’t go yakking about everything that you’re interested in, you have to keep your counsel.”


http://tinyurl.com/zfutb7t

mockturtle said...

From Robert Gates' NNDB bio: It is known that Gates was a career Soviet analyst who had no notion that the Soviet Union was about to collapse until, like other Americans, he saw it on TV. This has been the story for Gates. Clueless and weak. His opinions are worth nothing.

mockturtle said...

Excuse me. I'm chuck and this is my first comment on this thread. What the H3ll is there to wonder about?

What? Another chuck? But this one is lower case so he's probably OK. Sorry, chuck, but you have an infamous predecessor. ;-)

harrogate said...

Probably most people consider themselves to be nice people and most people are doing their best to be such.

There's something odd about just saying this about oneself tho. You don't hear people say how nice they are. But then you also don't hear people often say they know more than the Generals about ISIS. But he's so wonderful, he's the most presidential person ever, he's the smartest person, he's the most Christian, he's the best businessman, he's the best negotiator, and he's super nice.


Just ask him.

Bad Lieutenant said...

jacksonjay said

Hey jj, you won't vote for him so he has to go out and get those votes someplace. You piss on him and then OMG he's going to jink left? Guarantee H's plan will be worse on every level. Trump gets out there and isn't just a me-too.

Bad Lieutenant said...

He's saying that he's being unfairly demonized. That seems quite accurate. You don't know him but you're happy to believe or say whatever you think will enjoy his chances in November.

I'm really not getting where you think this is some kind of a kill shot. You couldn't be nastier to him if you tried. And I know that's a challenge you will accept.

buwaya said...

The best reason to vote for Trump is that he and the clique he brings in stand a chance of slowing down the decline of your economy and culture. The matters discussed in this article (the Salena Zito piece in the Atlantic, other than the comments on the candidates character) are the whole thing in a nutshell - he understands the situation and he promises to slow down or reverse a slew of disastrous economic policies that have contributed to creating and perpetuating it.

Anyone prefering the present situation, which seems like a bizarre position, but there is no limit to the perversity we can expect out of human nature, should prefer Clinton as she promises to retain the status quo, given that she is backed by their beneficiaries.

Anything else, really, is marginalia, footnotes, gossip-page fodder, ephemera.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

There's something odd about just saying this about oneself tho. You don't hear people say how nice they are

@ harrogate

Trump was remarking on this, his feeling that he thinks of himself as a nice guy. True people don't usually remark on this EXCEPT that Trump has been constantly beat up by the press and had story after story, hit piece after hit piece all about what a horrible, mean, racist, homophobe, islamophobe, woman hater that he is. When you are confronted with this you would need to defend yourself and express your view that you are a nice person.

That is only a normal reaction. I think he is showing remarkable restraint. I would not be anywhere as nice or as calm about being character assassinated by the associated morons in the press.

harrogate said...

I didn't say it was this big huge thing. It's just yet another self-aggrandizement. Nothing more, nothing less.

I do hope he doesn't win. But I suspect we will weather it if he does. So spare me the analysis of my motives.

chuck said...

> but you have an infamous predecessor. ;-)

I've been here for years, "Chuck" is the noob who has shadowed my bright name.

SukieTawdry said...

One of Trump's sons talked about his dad taking him to construction sites when he was a kid and how tight he was with the hardhats. He seems to have a common touch. Hillary, on the other hand, seems to have no touch at all.

Gospace said...

Gahrie said...

The only two endorsements I give Trump are:

1) He's better than Hillary.
2) He pisses off all of the right people.


Enough reason for me to vote for him. Actually, #1 on your list is enough reason, #2 is just extra.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger harrogate said...
"I consider myself to be a nice person."

Think about that sentence.


I don't think that Hillary thinks of herself as a nice person. At least not reflexively. She might think "I need to think of myself as a nice person."
Hillary seems to be the kind of person who has lived her life as though she had to be as mean and tough, and as much of a liar, as the worst of them to get ahead. Forgivable in a person who grew up hardscrabble, but not for a kid who grew up in Park Ridge and went to Wellesley & Yale.

Chuck said...

chuck said...
> but you have an infamous predecessor. ;-)

I've been here for years, "Chuck" is the noob who has shadowed my bright name.


Interesting question: Who has been an Althouse commenter for longer?

Is there some digital answer to that question? Some way to search accounts and determine simply who was the first to comment?

I know from my email, how long I have been corresponding with Professor Althouse, back and forth. More than 100 emails, dating back to September 9 of 2011. I'm certain I was posting comments on her blog for quite a long time before I had the temerity to email her with a note about preparing witnesses for depositions in the context of a then-active controversy involving Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Gabelman and Bradley. My opening line to Althouse in September 2011 was that I was "an ardent but mostly silent admirer of you and your blog."

I offered her a kind of an illustrative practice tip about witness preparation; she (needlessly, but graciously) asked if she could use and naturally she was welcome to it.

So perhaps lower-case chuck has been here longer; and that would be fine. Can anybody figure that out?

But it really is fascinating, after having been a regular commenter on the Althouse Blog for more than five years, some think my history here only dates back to the Donald Trump campaign of the last 14 months. And that (despite all evidence to the contrary) I am a closet liberal Democrat, because of my criticism of Trump. You'd get nothing like that from any of my posts pre-dating the Trump campaign.

Achilles said...

harrogate said...

"I didn't say it was this big huge thing. It's just yet another self-aggrandizement. Nothing more, nothing less.

I do hope he doesn't win. But I suspect we will weather it if he does. So spare me the analysis of my motives."

That means you want Hillary to win. There are several reasons why only a disgusting human being could support her. Your motives are evil.

Jon Ericson said...

It's not possible that Chuck is sincere.

Birkel said...

Closet liberal?

No, just a Hillary Clinton supporter.