why does such an excellent writer continue to work for THAT FOOLISH PUBLICATION..?
VDH rocks!
Trump is hated precisely for uttering the truth.
The fallout from his statements shows just how far our country and society has drifted off into fantasy land.
No. Romney would continue smiling and would back away from Hillary in a debate. Ryan would sue Trump to prevent him from excluding more Muslim terrorists from entering our country.
VDH is dead wrong here. There are no "more refined variants of his proposals." Some situations are so toxic that the only resolution is to take off an nuke it from space.
I hope the tut-tutting editorialists at National Review read this article, it might help them get a clue. Spiro Agnew had the perfect tag for such people: “effete snobs.”
The National Review is owned and operated by these guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbEu-OLMKLQ
Trump is a symptom, not a catalyst. He was created by the hyperpartisan unconstitutional overreach of Barack Obama, and by the appeasement of much of the Republican establishment, who wished to be liked and admired for their restraint and Beltway moderation rather than feared for their insistence on adherence to the Constitution and the protection of the individual from an always growing and encroaching government.
No. Everything VDH claims about 0bama here is spot-on, but Trump is not a symptom of anything except the people who have been outrageously provoked beyond the boundaries of politesse. There is no need to be polite with people who mean this country's destruction and frankly it has proven a waste of time. The mule won't listen to reason, at least until a two-by-four between the eyes has gotten his attention. Sometimes it takes repeated application. I'm fine with that.
This isn't a pillow fight. This is war, and if VDH chooses to style it some elevated faculty meeting tea party he's barking up the wrong tree. We've done that and have received what in reply? Union thugs, BLM thugs, anarchist thugs, media condescension, and a concerted effort to force us into submission to the political will of people who are not our opponents but our sworn enemies. We fight back now or it only gets worse. And that fight isn't going to be polite.
Good article. I like his examples. A couple more I think Trump’s already had a huge influence
Before his “ban all Muslims temporarily” statement (which VDH mentioned) we had 10-20 congressmen a week (including Rs) demanding we accept more Syrian refugees faster. 50,000. 100,000. up to 750,000. After his statement (and San Bernardino) not a single person said we should accept refugees for months - I was looking for it since I was pissed at the congressmen on TV every night telling us we need to be compassionate. I attribute that directly to Trump’s statement and their attacks of it that would have been embarrassing if a refugee did something. The Ds were definitely telling Obama “don’t screw up on refugees” even if they weren’t saying anything publicly.
Trump was attack by almost everyone for saying “we may need to print money and restructure our debt”. I bet we don’t have another round of quantitative easing since those attackers would either have to admit they don’t know what QE was or that their attacks on Trump were lies since that’s what it was. He has very likely forced congress to deal with the debt sooner than they’d like since it will be harder to print money next time we can’t find enough buyers of our debt without admitting that Trump was right and they were wrong.
For later.
“I’m to cowardly and precious to call things the way they really are and I’m jealous of someone who does”.
“...many suspect that they should have adopted proactive solutions well before they were nuked by Trump.”
Exactly right! The anti-Trump members of the GOPe have no one to blame but the GOPe itself, because they have NOT “proactively” addressed the myriad problems facing the country and have instead been complicit in furthering them!
So what's an example of a "bluster"?
The NRers and the MSM can keep repeating this BS, but I'm not buying. I don't think he "blusters." I think he speaks from the heart instead of from the teleprompter. And I almost always agree with him.
People who write for NR will suggest that Trump is critical of immigrants. I think this is sort of like suggesting that one is critical of bank customers because he speaks out against bank robberies.
ML/NJ
Sometimes, those who are immersed in commenting and writing about politics have a hard time wrapping their heads around something new, something that does not clearly fit into their accepted models. They’ve spent their professional lives studying these things, and Trump comes along and reveals gaps in their understanding. It took longer for VDH to start understanding the Trump phenomenon than it did for a lot of us. But at least it appears he’s beginning to understand it. I’ll give him more credit, at least, than I will to those #NeverTrumpers who aren’t open minded enough to reassess their initial reaction to Trump.
Trump never learned to speak RINO.
So NR is going from full-throated NeverTrump to undermining him backhandedly.
VDH is not ignorant enough not to know that the “loose nuclear weapon” theme plays exactly into the Clintonites’ “Daisy” strategy, which begs the question as to why he is aligning himself with that.
I like VDH but this column is a bit gutless.
In it he admits that Trump is right all the way down the line, he just doesn’t like the tone of his remarks.
But considering the issues, considering the nature of the press, considering the nature of GOP establishment politics (not to mention DNC politics) only someone who is blunt with alligator skin is going to get through and over and around the Noise Machine.
I’ve been reading VDH columns for years. Trump is the only politician left in the race who cares about the things VDH cares about and has the least intention of doing anything about the things VDH cares about. So show some courage. Admit it and do it without apology. I realize, you write for National Review, so your support for Trump has to be tucked away inside of irony and apology, but in this kind of fight that just comes across as a bit gutless, as I say.
This is commonly known as “leadership”.
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