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Was Trump Our Captain Queeg?
American Greatness ^ | 27 Nov, 2022 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 11/28/2022 5:40:58 AM PST by MtnClimber

And will the NeverTrumpers finally be exposed to have been as contemptible as the NeverQueegers were in The Caine Mutiny?

The Left, the NeverTrump Right, and many independents are tiring of Donald Trump’s recitations of prior, however justified, grievances at the hands of the media, the Democratic Party, the administrative state, and hard-core Left.

The conventional wisdom runs that Trump’s whines and victimization recitations reveal deep paranoias, and increasingly to an obsessive degree. We are told that his near neurotic obsessions with the unfairness of his critics are alienating the independent voter, who finds Trump’s strolls down 2020-21 memory lane the same-old, same-old ad nauseam.

True, Trump’s occasional recklessness contributed to many of his misadventures. At least at some point, friendly critics suggest, he might have realized that his nationalist/populist agenda, his orphaned outsider status, his lack of prior political experience, and his estrangement from the Republican political hierarchy, bipartisan Washington, D.C. media and government fixtures gave him no margin of error—despite what prior presidents and our current commander-in-chief have been accorded.

The haters would have hated Trump regardless, But his tweets and ad hominem retorts served to disguise their peremptory venom while instead highlighting his own retaliatory crudity.

“Fact-checkers” doted on every Trump statement, nitpicking them to find some exaggeration, or untruth. Fine. But then these same hypercritics simply went comatose during the Biden Administration, with little care that Biden spins fantasies daily, from a son lost in the Iraq War to insulting claims that he passed his student loan amnesty in the Congress by a close vote, and on and on. With Trump, voters got real achievement with coarseness, with Biden utter failure with near senility.

The media lied about supposed felonious behavior of the two Trump sons during the Russian collusion mania.

(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: nevertrumpers
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To: MtnClimber
Trump is a savvy guy, but he doesn't seem to realize that he needs to appear magnanimous in the public eye. If he wants exact payback from his attackers (and who doesn't), do it in private. Complaining in public does nothing to achieve payback. It can only backfire.

There is no doubt that he has been attacked like no other president in history, but what did he expect? He's not just attacking the Democrat Party, he's attacking the Establishment itself (which contains plenty of members from both parties).

Of course he's going to be attacked.

I was taught a million years ago (and surely someone taught Trump this), never say anything in public that doesn't contribute to the success of your strategic plan.

We all realize that Trump is a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy, but you don't expose your underbelly to your enemy EVER (unless it's a feint).

21 posted on 11/28/2022 6:21:05 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: AFret.

You are suggesting that everyone in government is corrupt and “turned on” him. Does that seem reasonable?

Or, if you were talking about anyone else, would you think maybe it was that person?

There is the old conundrum where a person says they are “surrounded by idiots.” If they were so much smarter…how did they allow themselves to get surrounded?


22 posted on 11/28/2022 6:21:43 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: AFret.
Just imagine what President Trump would have accomplished if members of his own party had not resisted and defeated his every initiative.

The Deep State/Establishment is counted among the enemy. That includes many Republicans, particularly in the Senate.

Of course those Republicans are going to resist Trump.

It isn't disgusting. It's war.

23 posted on 11/28/2022 6:24:31 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: MtnClimber

Yeah Captain Queeg was the most successful officer in the navy…


24 posted on 11/28/2022 6:24:59 AM PST by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Leaning Right

When was the last time a U.S. President ever vetoed a Federal budget?


25 posted on 11/28/2022 6:26:37 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("It's midnight in Manhattan. This is no time to get cute; it's a mad dog's promenade.")
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To: Vermont Lt; All

Pretty close. I remember the Reagan years. Aside from the armed forces the US government collectively loathed ‘that stupid cowboy’. Every time I was in DC or had a conversation with a fed it always seemed to get to ‘God Reagan is stupid’ at some point, followed by ‘Reagan is a senile fool who is going to cause WW 3, just watch.’ Other constant memes were ‘Reagan hates women’, Reagan hates blacks’. ‘Reagan, the wrinkled old man with a warm voice and a cold heart’


26 posted on 11/28/2022 6:32:06 AM PST by robowombat
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To: TalBlack

He was the Captain of the USS Caine. Not too shabby.


27 posted on 11/28/2022 6:33:09 AM PST by Lisbon1940 (I don’t see why they would)
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To: MtnClimber
The ONLY way Trump wins in 2024 is if he quits talking about 2020. The 2020 election should never pass his lips, even if asked about it.

2024 needs to PUBLICLY be all about fixing the crap the DemonRats have foisted upon the US and our people.

You can't remove the swamp if you don't get into a position to do it. Trump needs to understand this.
28 posted on 11/28/2022 6:38:20 AM PST by glaseatr (Father of a Marine, Uncle of SGT Adam Estep. A Co. 2/5 Cav. KIA Thurs April 29, 2004 Baghdad Iraq)
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To: Varsity Flight

Some parallels to the Tale Of Two Cities character, I guess. Though I don’t see DJT as being a self-loather, and no one can ever accuse him of being a drunkard, for sure. For he has supposedly never imbibed any alcohol at all in his lifetime. 🙂


29 posted on 11/28/2022 6:39:55 AM PST by Robert DeLong
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To: MtnClimber

The real case for Trump 2024 is back stabber Paul Ryan. Only a fool would vote for a lily livered establishment Republican. Not to mention, after getting rid of Trump, the left will savage any Republican who follows. Trump deserves his chance to get revenge. I’m voting for revenge,


30 posted on 11/28/2022 6:45:46 AM PST by DeplorablePaul ("..)
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To: Alouette; BatGuano; beaversmom; Brian Griffin; Cathi; cgk; ClearCase_guy; ...
Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

A Confederacy of Connivers

We forget that far before 2020, the original election deniers were led by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic hierarchy. The former urged Joe Biden never to concede in 2022 should he lose the popular vote. Leftist journalists have outlined how the voting process was warped by changing voting laws, vast infusions of dark money to absorb state responsibilities in key precincts, and modulating the street protests of Antifa and BLM to wax or wane depending on Joe Biden’s electoral fortunes.

Major U.S. institutions were corrupted by their obsessive loathing. James Comey and Andrew McCabe, FBI directors, disgraced themselves by either lying under oath or feigning amnesia. Their bookends, Robert Mueller and Christopher Wray, reminded the nation that Comey and McCabe were emblematic of deeper FBI pathologies. Retired four-star military officers systematically violated codes of military conduct in comparing their commander-in-chief to Nazis and fascists.

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson

***

Excellent, excellent and excellent. Simply a great read at the link.

Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.

As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.

31 posted on 11/28/2022 6:53:31 AM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: robowombat

> The deficit peril has become the laughing stock of bankers and finance. <

I’m not quite sure what that means. Are the bankers laughing at the absurdity of the federal deficit? Or are they laughing at those who worry about the deficit?


32 posted on 11/28/2022 6:53:54 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Alberta's Child

> When was the last time a U.S. President ever vetoed a Federal budget? <

That’s a good question. I just did a quick search, and could find no information on that. Anyway, suppose it’s been a century. That doesn’t vindicate Trump in this regard. It just means that all of them have been negligent.


33 posted on 11/28/2022 6:56:32 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: MtnClimber

I’m just wondering about those who say President Trump should forget 2020 were ever BOUNCED OUT OF A JOB, and later found out that a relative of the boss, BOUGHT YOUR JOB by deception, lying, threatening and even bribing.

If this happened to anyone I knew, I would be sympathetic and try to help.

But I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THAT.


34 posted on 11/28/2022 7:08:01 AM PST by Maris Crane
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To: MtnClimber

The Never Trump mob don’t live in the real world and nobody knows what it is except it’s a zone of no logic or reasoning and a lot of screaming.


35 posted on 11/28/2022 7:23:36 AM PST by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: MtnClimber

When everybody is untrustworthy, it’s hard to get anything done. Yet he did more good than any President since Reagan.


36 posted on 11/28/2022 7:47:08 AM PST by NTHockey (My rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: MtnClimber
Roe v Wade was overturned and the Bruen decision is poised to restore the Second Amendment. These two Supreme Court decisions alone constitute a great accomplishment by Trump.

Yet even Trump’s supporters seem oblivious to the benefit to our nation of settling, or nearly settling, the two most divisive issues of our time.

37 posted on 11/28/2022 8:14:15 AM PST by William Tell
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To: Leaning Right
The Trump administration issued a formal budget proposal every year he was in office.

The budgets Congress passed bore little resemblance to what he proposed.

That's why U.S. presidents don't veto budgets. Congress controls every penny in Federal expenditures. Budgets proposed by presidents are little more than political grandstanding.

38 posted on 11/28/2022 8:17:07 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("It's midnight in Manhattan. This is no time to get cute; it's a mad dog's promenade.")
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To: MtnClimber

Trump is more like Julius Caesar, knifed in the back .


39 posted on 11/28/2022 8:26:31 AM PST by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: MtnClimber; Georgia Girl 2; Varsity Flight; ArtDodger; Altura Ct.; FlingWingFlyer; Leaning Right; ..
When I saw this, I very much appreciated the tack that Mr. Hanson took with this criticism.

Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny" is one of my all-time favorite movies. To me, it has always been a movie that is less about a mutiny, and more about leadership.

There are a lot of parallels in the treatment of Trump by the Republican Party and the treatment of Captain Queeg by his own crew, in particular, the officers of the USS Caine.

The fictional Captain Queeg character was a flawed man, there's no doubt about that. But the truth of the matter is, history is full of flawed men who have to perform jobs under difficult conditions. Trump isn't mentally ill, which makes the disgusting turn of the backs (when they weren't openly plotting against him) by the GOP in general, both nauseating and discouraging.

In "The Caine Mutiny", the crew (including the officers) talks about Captain Queeg behind his back, makes up derogatory songs about him, offers him no support, and generally leaves him out to dry. In this treatment of Captain Queeg by his crew, we expect this behavior from the enlisted crew, in the same we expect this behavior from Democrats and the Media. But as in the fictional movie, where we don't expect this juvenile backstabbing from the Officers of the Caine, we don't expect this from the members of his own party.

In the movie, it is hard to keep and hold a grudge against LT Maryk the Executive Officer who relieved the Captain. His heart was in the right place, and his reasoning, even if flawed, had rationale to it that one can appreciate. He is an officer, a young man with only a few years experience, still learning the ropes but largely getting it right. I could take this view with some portion of his own party who opposed him on this issue or that, because I believe that is the way things should work.

An officer corps should always be able to speak their mind to their leadership. It isn't as corrosive as insubordinate officers, or as openly catastrophic as officers who work in shadows to subvert their superior officers in the military, but officers who are "Yes Men" can be every bit as dangerous to both the mission and the lives of the sailors, soldiers, or Marines under their command.

It is in this prism that I view those Republicans who opposed Trump in his various endeavors. We must have internal debates, for as General George S. Patton famously said, "If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." there is far too much blood and treasure involved when people don't think.

So I hold a degree of contempt for those politicians who may have agreed with Trump on specific issues, but cravenly closed their office doors and shut their mouths because they were afraid of losing office.

Furthermore, those politicians in the Republican Party, Collins, Murkowski, McConnell, Graham, and most egregiously, Romney, and McCain, are deserving of every malediction we can heap on them. They have a set of values, to be sure, but their values are not those of Americans, Republicans, or even Judeo-Christians. They are Collins-Murkowski-McConnell-Graham-Romney-McCain values. They are abhorrent.

This putrid Republican Cabal, all of them, are the various equivalents to the LT Keefer in the exchange below. Their motives against Trump may not have been those of LT Keefer (played by Fred MacMurray) of hatred of all things military and a desire to get rich and marry a movie star, but their motives for betrayal are far more base, ranging from greed and personal animus, to fear of losing power or even blackmail.

It is in this frame that I appreciate the similarity between the movie and the reality of the Republican Congress between 2015 and 2022 in their dealings with President and Ex-President Trump.

I have always enjoyed and appreciated the ending of the movie, when they are celebrating their acquittal of mutiny charges, and their Marine lawyer (brilliantly played by Vince Ferrer) barges in on their celebration. The following dialogue takes place:

LT. GREENWALD: Well, well, well. The officers of the Caine in happy celebration.

LT. MARYK: You're kind of tight.

LT. GREENWALD: I've got a guilty conscience. I thought the wrong man was on trial, so I torpedoed Queeg for you. I had to torpedo him. And I feel sick about it.

LT. MARYK: Take it easy.

LT. GREENWALD: When I was studying law, and Mr Keefer was writing his stories, and Willie was tearing up the playing fields of Princeton, who was standing guard over this country of ours? Not us. we knew you couldn't make any money in the service. Who did the dirty work for us? Queeg did, and a lot of other guys. Tough guys who didn't crack up like Queeg.

LT. MARYK: Queeg endangered the lives of the men.

LT. GREENWALD: (said fiercely and venomously) He didn't endanger any lives. You did. A fine bunch of officers.

LT. MARYK: You said yourself he cracked.

LT. GREENWALD: That's a very pretty point. I left out one detail in court. It wouldn't have helped our case. At one point, Queeg came to you for help, and you turned him down.

LT. MARYK: Yes, we did.

LT. GREENWALD: He wasn't worthy of your loyalty. So you turned on him. You made up songs about him. If you'd been loyal to Queeg, do you think all this would have come up? I'm asking you, Steve. Would it have been necessary to take over?

LT. MARYK: It probably wouldn't have been necessary. If that's true, we were guilty.

LT. GREENWALD: You're learning. You don't work with the captain because of his hairstyle, but because he's got the job, or you're no good. The case is over. You're all safe. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Now we come to the man who should have stood trial. The Shakespeare whose testimony nearly sunk us all. Tell them, Keefer.

LT. KEEFER: You're telling it better.

LT. GREENWALD: You should read his testimony. He never even heard of Queeg.

LT. MARYK: Let's forget it.

LT. GREENWALD: Queeg was sick. But you're real healthy. You didn't have one tenth the guts he had.

LT. KEEFER: Except I never fooled myself.

LT. GREENWALD: I want to drink a toast to you. You always hated the Navy. Then you thought up this idea. You managed to keep your skirts nice and clean even in the court martial. Maryk will be remembered as a mutineer...you'll publish your novel, make a million bucks, marry a movie star, and live with your conscience. If you have any. Here's to the real author of "The Caine Mutiny". Here's to you. (throws drink in LT Keefer's face) I'll be outside. I'm drunker than you are, so it'll be a fair fight.

40 posted on 11/28/2022 8:49:40 AM PST by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
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