Posted on 02/28/2016 11:40:05 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
The stakes in 2016 are huge and the party is fractured. The rhetoric reflects a Trump Derangement Syndrome in which Trump is either a monster or a savior, instead of a politician. On the left, Bush Derangement Syndrome expressed itself in the conviction that he was unalterably and uniquely worse than every other president and would get around to declaring martial law and ruling forever.
The danger of exaggeration is that previously unacceptable views suddenly become acceptable. Bush Derangement Syndrome made it acceptable for Democrats to descend into open treason by making common cause with Saddam Hussein, the Sunni terrorist groups that evolved into ISIS and Assad.
Bush Derangement Syndrome made him seem so terrible that every other evil could be justified by comparison. The exaggeration of Trump Derangement Syndrome is doing that all over again.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is driving some conservatives to call for destroying the Republican Party and conservatism, and even to usher in eight years of left-wing rule, in order to stop Trump.
Under pressure from Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton is now adopting positions well to the left of Obama. On racial issues, she’s already more extreme than he is. Ponder that for a minute. Both Democratic candidates are now airing blatantly racist views about white privilege. Sanders and Clinton are also scrambling to get to the left of Obama on terrorism, socialized medicine and a raft of other issues.
The switch from “Anyone But Hillary” to “Anyone But Trump” is a sign of fundamentally misplaced priorities.
Political campaigns can get ugly and Trump’s style is, at times, to get as nasty as possible, but it’s a sign of misplaced insider priorities to allow personal animus to matter more than the war against the left. It’s not unreasonable for some conservatives to be angry at Trump and his tactics. It is unreasonable to let that anger turn into a petulance that would let the left rule the nation for another eight years.
We are not in the conservative movement to settle our personal scores. Stopping Trump at any cost is not acceptable just as stopping Romney or McCain at any cost was not considered to be acceptable. Conservatives cannot always have conservative candidates or achieve conservative policy goals. But they can still prevent the left from winning a complete victory in any given election.
Bush Derangement Syndrome began when Democrats decided not to accept the results of an election. Everything else emerged naturally, logically and treasonously from that conclusion. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a preemptive call not to accept the results of political primaries in the Republican Party.
Proponents of the “Anybody But Trump” school argue that his nomination would be catastrophic for conservatism. That may be true, but conservatism as a national program is more likely to survive Trump than it is Hillary or Sanders.
There are important lessons in the rise of Trump. Learning those lessons would make conservatives stronger, not weaker. And refusing to learn those lessons will not make conservatism any stronger.
The most basic of those lessons is to fight hard. Voters choose fighters over ideological purists. That’s human nature and conservatives, unlike liberals, have always recognized the reality of human nature. If conservatives want to win ideological victories, they have to fight harder politically, but without losing sight of the things that they are fighting for above the ordinary pettiness of the political contest.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is obsessive and unhealthy. Critics match what they see as Trump’s inflated sense of self-importance with an equal conviction of his importance as a destroyer. But Trump cannot destroy the conservative movement. Only conservatives can do that.
Bush Derangement Syndrome destroyed the Democratic Party. Even moderate Democrats were suddenly willing to make common cause with the most radical elements of the left and Islam out of the conviction that President Bush had to be stopped at any cost. They lost sight of the real threats to the country, handed over their political party to leftist radicals and billionaires, and gave us Obama.
Trump Derangement Syndrome could give the country eight years of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Or someone even worse. Conservatives understand human weaknesses and the importance of overcoming them. Trump Derangement Syndrome is not a conservative response. And if it allows the left to win, then it becomes treason against conservative ideals and the conservative movement.
The man is certainly flexible, and so are his supporters.
He disavowed Duke a dozen or more years ago, back when he had thought about running before. Then on Friday night, BEFORE Sunday night, he disavowed Duke again.
Look... what YOU are seeing as wishy-washy vacillation is actually something entirely different. It's a 40-year, finely tuned talent for getting media attention. He manipulates the media. Have you not seen them talking to each other in exasperating terms, acknowledging ON-AIR how they know they're being manipulated, but yet they still cover him every time he pulls this stuff?
Trump plans these things in advance. In fact, I saw this on the news just today, where someone (CNN?) was saying this is why he seems so back-and-forth on a lot of issues -- it makes the media chase after him for clarification. With the Duke thing, of COURSE he could have disavowed him again, 2 days later on national TV, but if he did, you and I and half the world wouldn't be talking about Trump, now would we?
Another trick he does with the media: He ALWAYS overstates/exaggerates at first, then backs off a little after he's gotten good press coverage and about a million dollars worth of ad time on TV.
To normal people, it would mortify us to think that half the world thinks we're racist. But he sees it as free publicity that keeps everyone talking about him. This is why he became so well-known in the first place, even back in the 1970s. He learned it early and has used it well, keeping himself in the spotlight, which then increases his income. It's a form of salesmanship flamboyance that has helped make him wealthy. Along with a lot of hard work.
Actually, he's pretty much an "empty suit", who will lie and cheat about anything and everything. He also isn't likable at all and you need to appear to be "likable" to get ahead in politics.
Oh, come on... don't make it personal. If anything, we are all morons living in an alternative world, because the world we are living in right now is about as alternative as it can get, and only morons would tolerate it (which we have done so far). We have a ruling class made up of pederasts, homosexuals and criminals and a liar under investigation for felonies and treason running for Office of President.
CW may be hard headed, and I may totally disagree with CW on many points, but I don't believe for a second that CW is a moron. Seems to be fairly intelligent. As intelligent as anyone else here.
Besides, what fun would a DEBATE FORUM be if there was not someone to take the OPPOSITE SIDE on the issues ?
While I may not always agree with the style CW uses, I respect CW sticking to her guns.
He's manipulating you.
Trump:
["Art of the Deal"]: The final key to the way I promote is bravado.
I play to people's fantasies.
People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do.
That's why a little hyperbole never hurts.
People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.
I call it truthful hyperbole.
It's an innocent form of exaggeration - and a very effective form of promotion.
A non-ideologue who is driven by a need for order and competency in an otherwise insane geopolitical atmosphere, an atmosphere that -- if not corrected -- will directly impact his legacy, his life's work, and worst of all, his children and grandchildren.
Then there's also the fact that he loves a challenge, and he knows he can fix this
Uh.... did you feel the karma ? You posted those photos and text twice, and got the bottom sentence wrong twice.
Are you listening, Cincy?
We're compassionate conservatives, but compassion has its limits.
lets all vote for a hillary supporter to prove were against hillary
lets all vote for a democrat fundraiser and lifelong democrat money man to prove were not beholden to insiders
lets all support an adulterer to prove were against bill clinton despite the fact that this adulterer is buddies with clinton
lets all vote for a man who wore a costume for 4 years in high school and then told veterans he knows more about being in the military than many veterans just to prove we honor veterans
lets all abandon our morality and vote for trump
“I play to people’s fantasies.
People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do.
That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts.
People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.
I call it truthful hyperbole.
It’s an innocent form of exaggeration - and a very effective form of promotion.”
Seems to me the same thing could be said about every TV show, every Movie, every NEWS show and TALK show you have ever seen. And especially the WEATHER channel.
It’s really more of an explanation of human psychology.
Go easy on Cobra64. Those pictures were distracting and may have caused his typos.
I appreciate your stand for free speech.
For me, being told to vote for Trump (or I’m a “traitor”) is on par with Nancy Peolsi telling the country that “You’ll have to vote for the bill, to find out what is in the bill.”
People who were paying attention KNEW what was in the bill.
And they voted NO.
You're right, and thank you for your support. :-))
Where did i say that I admire him for manipulating the media? I’m not sure where you got that one. It’s an old salesman’s technique. Dale Carnegie type of stuff, New York style.
Yes, he manipulates the media; they realize it’s happening to them; and they seem to get frustrated because it’s their JOB to follow him around and cover everything controversial he says. They can’t NOT cover him, which is the key to his success in getting free advertising. How do you think he’s managed to be on top and yet spending the least amount of money?
By you having that quote handy, it shows that you already know what he’s doing. So if you and I are aware of what he’s doing while he’s doing it, exactly how are we being manipulated?
Unless one has some grand illusions that he’s Superman who can change our country in a few short years, then i’m not seeing the manipulation. All i want is the damn wall, a stop to political correctness that’s being used by the Left to destroy us, freedom from being invaded by hordes of jihadists, and the ability to say “Merry Christmas” again. Anything more and it’s icing on the cake.
If the immigrant invasion and PC crud isn’t stopped NOW, we’ll never make it until the next election. It’s THAT bad. And even if we did make it another 4 years, we would have millions and millions of newly-legalized, formerly-illegal immigrants who would be voting for their newfound entitlements. Like i said, no more United States.
If you can’t see that, well... I can’t open your eyes for you.
Walls keep people in too.
And what if "anything more" isn't icing but dictates?
You okay with that?
You mean he decided to run as a Republican after Obama’s last victory because he knew he’d be a disaster and another Democrat wouldn’t likely win the next one. So he went for the party that he thought had the best chance of winning. He could have easily run as either party and few would have blinked an eye, especially after his Reform party attempt in 2000.
Funny how he thought Obama was doing great not long after his first victory...
You are probably right. I'm going to go back and look at those pictures some more. Again.
And how would you suggest we get around the fact that there are no longer enough conservatives to elect a President who is a pure fiscal and social conservative?
There are 2 separate and distinct issues here:
1. Who is more fiscally and socially conservative?
2. Who can rally enough people to vote for him so he can beat Hillary?
If we cannot find one person who fits BOTH criteria, then we must choose.
1. Choose this one, and he loses in November. There aren’t enough of us left!
2. Chose this one, and we can save the Republic from socialism and/or Revolutionary War II. After a few years of Reaganesque economic growth, at least 2 generations of young people will see for the first time in their lives how prosperous a nation can be if run correctly by a fiscal conservative. THEN we can find another fiscal and social conservative and have a chance at winning the 2024 election.
Now choose.
Because they were the ones who made the bill. They all knew.
I understood Pelosi's comment to mean that the public would not be allowed to know what was in it until it was passed.
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