Trump’s courage and cunning confound his opponents

Asia Times ^ | December 11, 2017 | David Goldman

[billorites]

After less than a year in office, President Donald J. Trump has exceeded the expectations of his supporters and confounded his enemies.

Economic growth is accelerating, stock prices are rising, and consumer confidence is soaring. The only distressed asset in the US market is conventional wisdom, which dismissed the former real-estate developer and reality TV star as a blundering amateur.

On the contrary, Trump evinces a shrewdness about American voters better than that of any politician of his generation. Even more importantly, he has the nerve to take risks in order to draw his opponents into battles that he thinks he can win. I can think of no politician with his combination of courage and cunning since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to whom I compared the then president-elect in a December 2016 essay for Standpoint.

In the past week alone:

– The White House shepherded its tax cut bill through the Senate and probably will have reconciled legislation from the House and Senate on the President’s desk before year-end;

– The mainstream media’s efforts to tar Trump with the charge of collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 elections flamed out in some of the most embarrassing blunders in television history;

– Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Trump collusion ran into land mines as evidence of political conflicts of interest surfaced; and

– Most impressively of all, Trump appears to have inflicted punishing losses on the National Football League, which suffered a sharp drop in viewers after the president attacked team owners for allowing players to refuse to stand for the national anthem.

It’s one thing to take on the Senate Republicans or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, quite another to persuade Americans to turn off football.

[shelterguy]

That is not how thew clowns at msnbc put it this morning. They seemed to think he was the worst president in the history of the universe.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

President Trump has a larger following.

[polymuser]

1. He’s a smart businessman that gets things done to succeed, to win.
2. He has no problem being with his worker class people, he knows them.
3. He had discipline and military training as a young man.
4. Most importantly and beneficially, he is NOT a lawyer. Thank God.

[UCANSEE2]

“It’s one thing to take on the Senate Republicans or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, quite another to persuade Americans to turn off football.”

Trump didn’t convince us to turn off football. The players did.

[shelterguy]

5. He works for the people and does what they want.
6. He doesn’t care what some pissant liberal says about him.

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent read! His one week Trump summary is great!

In the past week alone:

– The White House shepherded its tax cut bill through the Senate and probably will have reconciled legislation from the House and Senate on the President’s desk before year-end;

– The mainstream media’s efforts to tar Trump with the charge of collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 elections flamed out in some of the most embarrassing blunders in television history;

– Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Trump collusion ran into land mines as evidence of political conflicts of interest surfaced; and

– Most impressively of all, Trump appears to have inflicted punishing losses on the National Football League, which suffered a sharp drop in viewers after the president attacked team owners for allowing players to refuse to stand for the national anthem.

It’s one thing to take on the Senate Republicans or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, quite another to persuade Americans to turn off football.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Now that Faux Snooze has followed PMSNBC, CNN, ABC & CBS down the anti-Trump, anti-Moore, pro-anything democrat/progressive, thanks to the Murdick Boys, they are nearly unwatchable!

[daler]

You watched MSNBC this morning?

Wouldn't getting a root canal be a bit more pleasant?

[canuck_conservative]

They seemed to think he was the worst president in the history of the universe.

Of course they do, most Big Media people are bleeding-heart leftists, and President Trump is doing everything they oppose.

Plus, he's making them all look like a bunch of monkeys in the process.

So, of course they're ticked off.

[Dustoff45]

quite another to persuade Americans to turn off football

The best leaders I have ever worked for had a grasp for both the goal (the endgame) and a strategy of how to get there. A lot of that strategy was understanding the people and what they were really thinking.

I had already turned off the NFL, But DJT was able to highlight my decision, plus give permission to millions of others to follow their own thoughts as well.

A year ago I thought the Deep State was just a few individuals with a conspiratorial bent. Today, I understand the Deep State to be a mindset.

DJT was a leader when he quoted the words of Lincoln - Of the People, By the People, and for the People. The motto of the Deep State was best summarized with the campaign motto - I'm with Her.

Each and every day, the cancer of the swamp is being revealed and excised. MAGA!

[DoughtyOne]

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President Donald J. Trump and the Free Republic of the United States of America
President Donald J. Trump's address to the United Nations on 09/19/2017.

Ramirez political cartoon:  the Roy Moore Compass LARGE VERSION 12/11/2017: LINK  LINK to regular sized versions of his political cartoons (archive).
Garrison political cartoon:  Moore or Less LARGE VERSION 12/11/2017: LINK  LINK (scroll down) to regular sized versions of his political cartoons (archive).

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[shelterguy]

“””You watched MSNBC this morning?

Wouldn’t getting a root canal be a bit more pleasant? “”””

Every great now and then I watch for a few minutes. Then when
I hear them constantly say President Trump is the devil and the Russia thing will put him in prison I chuckle and go about my day.

[Fhios]

“I love it when a plan comes together” — George Peppard in the ‘A-Team’.

[polymuser]

OAN and Fox Business for me now. And FR, natch.
No more FAUX News; it’s become unbearable to watch and hear the ignorant, left- heading narcissistic prima donnas there.

[El Cid]

Watch OANN for TV news. They’re very good.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

OAN and Fox Business for me now. And FR, natch.

Unfortunately, we don't get OAN here. But, FB is pretty darn good! Especially, Lou Dobbs!

[Parmy]

Winning! Winning! Winning! And the swamp is working hard to drain itself. Media, state department, academia.

Granted, it is still a trickle, but the best is yet to come.

And, not only is Mueller a 'horse-face', he is a 'horse's ass'.

[kanawa]

7. He loves his country and talks it up, not down. He doesn’t think it is “fundamentally flawed” and needs to be “fundamentally transformed”.

[Balding_Eagle]

Trump was the catalyst.