Posted on 12/19/2018 9:19:53 PM PST by Signalman
Remember the old saw about the salesman who loses money on every sale but thinks he can make up the shortfall by selling in volume?
That's what comes to mind every time I hear people say that President Trump is being shrewd by pandering to his base.
Consider last week's remarkable Oval Office meeting between Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Trump. (There is photo evidence, but no audio, to suggest that Vice President Mike Pence was also in the room.) What was supposed to be a brief photo-op turned into a dramatic confrontation when the president invited television cameras to stay for the conversation.
As always happens after one of these political reality-show spectacles, the chattering classes set out to score the bout. According to conventional rules, Pelosi and Schumer came out the winners. They got Trump to admit that if there's a government shutdown over border wall funding, it will be all his doing. (Just before the meeting, congressional Republicans were pre-spinning a "Schumer shutdown.") Pelosi solidified her claim to the House leadership while Trump made future bipartisan deals with the Democrats -- something he reportedly wants -- less likely.
According to The Los Angeles Times' Eli Stokols, even Trump realized he was taken when it was over: He "stormed out" of the meeting and threw a folder of briefing papers across the room.
Yet there was a loud contrarian analysis that said Trump came out a winner. Why? Because his base loves this stuff.
"If you are a supporter of the president's policies," wrote the Daily Beast's Matt Lewis (no Trump booster himself), "this was an especially welcome display -- a rare example of a president publicly fighting for his policy goal: a border wall."
Across Fox News opinion shows and right-wing talk radio, the view that Trump won was nearly unanimous.
Even Yahoo News' Matt Bai, a decidedly left-leaning observer, excoriated liberals for not understanding that "Trump knows that every time he flouts the staid convention of the office, every time he does the thing that seems inappropriate among the political set, he's winning with the chunk of the electorate he still has."
Sure. The problem is that chunk is not a majority.
Bai's larger observation -- that Trump is so embattled he can't afford to lose his hard-core supporters -- is a good one in the context of gaming out how Trump can survive impeachment. When looking at what advances this administration's agenda or is good for the Republican Party, however, "his base loves it" doesn't score any points.
Worse, it's self-fulfilling prophecy. As he sheds the mostly suburban voters who gave him his margin of victory in 2016, of course he clings more tightly to those who celebrate the behaviors that are bleeding the GOP of support. They're the only ones left. Proclaiming that "his base loves it" may be an explanation, but it's no excuse. And it misses the point if you care about the GOP's long-term viability or even Trump's re-election prospects. He's going to need more voters than his amen chorus
Whatever Jonah Goldberg, David Frum or Bill Kristol say, I can confidently assume the opposite is true. They put another nation’s interests first. I can say this as a Jew because it is true.
Jonah Goldberg hates Trump and hates us... remember that when you hear his ‘concern’...
Hey, FU, Jonie...
“Why isn’t Trump pandering to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?” — Jonah Goldberg
Take a hike Jonah.
19 Dec: Daily Caller: Chuck Ross: Paul Ryan Aide And Rep. Adam Kinzinger Were Early Recipients Of Steele Dossier, Documents Say
•A federal judge on Wednesday revealed just how widely Christopher Steele distributed his infamous anti-Trump dossier.
•Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Paul Ryan chief of staff Jonathan Burks received Steele’s reports in December 2016, before BuzzFeed would publish the dossier in full.
•Court documents say that Steele gave the dossier materials to Kinzinger and Burks, though Paul Ryan’s office claims that Burks has never met Steele and did not receive documents directly from the former British spy.
“Steele gave Report 166 to Kramer, an unnamed senior British security official, Ms. Wallender [sic] at the NSC, Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Chief of Staff, John Burks,” wrote Judge Ursula Ungaro, who ruled in favor of BuzzFeed in a defamation lawsuit filed by a Russian businessmen identified in Report 166, which Steele produced on Dec. 13, 2016...
The Kramer referred to in Ungaro’s memo is David Kramer, a former State Department official and longtime associate of late Sen. John McCain, who provided a copy of the dossier to BuzzFeed. Wallander is Celeste Wallander, the Obama National Security Council’s top official on Russia-related matters...
It was not previously publicly known that Steele gave his reports to Wallander. It was also not known, as Ungaro revealed, that Kramer shared the dossier with numerous reporters, in addition to BuzzFeed, and Obama State Department official Victoria Nuland...
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/19/christopher-steele-dossier-paul-ryan/
The GOP is deader than a door nail and the republic is taking its last breaths. I don’t know what this fag is going on about..
Jonah is a fraud of a conservative and a rather stupid man.
He hates Trump and always has. He has also always been wrong about Trump.
“the behaviors that are bleeding the GOP of support.”
Support of the cheap labot lobby that is!
Why wou,d suburban voters who voted for this Trump leave because of this same Trump? Makes. I sense. Did these people think they were voting for a mild mannered candidate. He’s Rrump. If he delivers on his promises, he wins re-election and reengages all the voters who showed up last time. And more who see the results.
Whoa.
Pandering to the democrat base makes no sense, Joenada,
Wm. Buckley must be turning in his grave.
His base is what elected him doofus.
Jonah Goldberg is the classic silver-spoon, entitled-attitude, spoiled brat. As far as I’m concerned, for all practical purpose he is a ne’er do well.
This guy got paid to write that garbage?
It doesn’t even make any sense
Trump’s base is the American people, I don’t see a problem with that.
He works hard for all Americans, even the ones that don’t like him or didn’t vote for him.
If he ‘panders’ to me by insisting on a Wall, by threatening and then SHUTTING DOWN the government for an extended time, that would be JUST FINE by me.
My fear is that he WILL NOT ‘pander’ to me (meaning his base) and buckles on the Wall, he’ll be left with VERY FEW supporters, when push comes to shove against the Democrats during impeachment.
Advice from a never Trumper
meh
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