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America's Left in the Grip of Insanity
Townhall.com ^ | Jan 03, 2018 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 01/02/2018 9:15:24 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom

President Trump is unpopular. He's unpopular because he's boorish, crude and silly; he's unpopular because he has a unique capacity to turn winning news cycles into referenda on his use of Twitter. But the United States under President Trump hasn't seen any serious anti-liberty revanchism. In fact, under Trump, regulations have dropped precipitously; the economy continues its pattern of growth; and press freedoms have actually been strengthened. Despite popular opinion, women aren't on the verge of enslavement into Vice President Mike Pence's "Handmaid's Tale," nor are black Americans in danger of resegregation or political disenfranchisement.

Yet while Iranians protest against a regime that reportedly hangs homosexuals from cranes, members of the hard left in the United States insist that protesters against the Trump administration demonstrate bravery similar to that of Iranians risking death by an Islamist regime. Huffington Post political commentator Alex Mohajer tweeted: "The #IranianProtests, the #Resistance, and @WomensMarch are all the same. Across the world, people are fighting autocracies and oppressive regimes. @realDonaldTrump is NO DIFFERENT than the oppressive Ayatollahs in Iran." Oddly, that movement of solidarity hasn't prompted those who walked in the Women's March on Washington to say a single word in support of the Iranian protesters to this point.

This idiocy doesn't merely spring from hatred for Trump but from a deep-seated need to justify the Obama administration's feckless Iran policy. Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times reported that violence broke out in Iran after the demonstrators ignored "pleas for calm from President Hassan Rouhani" and termed Rouhani -- a tool of the mullahs -- a "moderate." Meanwhile, one CNN anchor fretted that Trump might put a "finger on the scale" against the Iranian regime. Members of the Obama administration took to Twitter to tell Trump to be quiet (Susan Rice, former national security adviser), chide Trump for failing to take in Iranian refugees (Samantha Power, former U.N. ambassador) and suggest that American policy has nothing to do with Iran's protests (Ben Rhodes, former national security adviser and architect of the Iran nuclear deal narrative). All of these administration members did nothing as President Obama watched dissidents die in the streets in 2009, and all of them actively abetted the maximization of Iran's regional power.

Herein lies the insanity of the left. Only nutcases on the right believed that Barack Obama's governance was morally equivalent to the Iranian government. In the main, conservatives thought that Obama pursued bad policies domestically and horribly immoral foreign policies. But many on the left seem to believe that Trump is merely steps removed from the ayatollahs. The ayatollahs agree, and they use that nuttery for public-relations leverage: No wonder Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted: "The U.S. gov. commits oppression inside the U.S., too. U.S. police murder black women, men, & children for no justifiable reason, and the murderers are acquitted in U.S. courts. This is their judicial system! And they slam other countries' and our country's judicial system. #BLM."

Trump isn't Khamenei. And the only recent administration to help build Iran's power is the Obama administration. Comparing the Trump administration to Iran's regime isn't just delusional; it's insulting and counterproductive. And the only people it helps are America's enemies.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 0bamaworstpresever; iranianspring; looneyleft; presidenttrump; shapiro; tds
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To: Kaslin
What he was was a skeptic and there in nothing wrong with that.

I could take his "skepticism" much better if he actually associated it with an occasional datum so we wouldn't have the guess at what he considers "boorish, crude, and silly."

41 posted on 01/03/2018 11:46:54 AM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: dirtboy
...but at the end of the day he takes the fight right to liberals...

Which doesn't mean a damn thing when your fight is on "principle," but you reverse course on "practical."

42 posted on 01/03/2018 11:54:04 AM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: papertyger

I see you are one of those folks who get in a twist about someone being on your side only 80 percent of the time. Reagan had some choice words about that.


43 posted on 01/03/2018 11:56:47 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: papertyger

44 posted on 01/03/2018 12:02:36 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
I see you are one of those folks who get in a twist about someone being on your side only 80 percent of the time. Reagan had some choice words about that.

And when they give "aid and comfort" to your enemies the other 20 percent, what do you think Reagan would call them?

In case you haven't noticed, this country is NOT in a "disagreement."

45 posted on 01/03/2018 12:05:49 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: papertyger

Where is Shapiro giving aid and comfort to my enemies?


46 posted on 01/03/2018 12:07:20 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
Where is Shapiro giving aid and comfort to my enemies?

I just told you in so many words.

He's validating the Left's "mean girl" tactics by using them, as well as their (lack of) taking responsibility by providing substantive content.

If the Democrats ever got anywhere close to being able to impeach Trump, who do you think they're going to point to on our side for legitimacy and a "bi-partisian" toupee?

47 posted on 01/03/2018 12:21:43 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: papertyger

Oh, spare me that nonsense. Trump is strong enough to take some critiques from folks who are otherwise allied with him. And the left doesn’t need to run to Ben Shapiro for affirmation of their delusions.


48 posted on 01/03/2018 12:27:19 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
Blow out out your tailpipe, pinhead.

Oh, bite me.

49 posted on 01/03/2018 12:32:11 PM PST by Lazamataz (It is known.)
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To: dirtboy
Drama queen much, bucko?

Go bury a fish.

50 posted on 01/03/2018 12:33:00 PM PST by Lazamataz (It is known.)
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To: dirtboy
Oh, spare me that nonsense

Just go suck the bitter pill.

51 posted on 01/03/2018 12:33:39 PM PST by Lazamataz (It is known.)
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To: dirtboy
Trump is strong enough to take some critiques from folks who are otherwise allied with him.

So show me the critique.

critique | kriˈtēk |
noun
a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory.

Until then, Shapiro is participating in a "Bork"ing, and YOU'RE defending it as a "disagreement."

52 posted on 01/03/2018 12:37:55 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: Lazamataz

Isn’t there a fly somewhere around your house that needs its wings pulled off?


53 posted on 01/03/2018 12:39:38 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: papertyger
Until then, Shapiro is participating in a "Bork"ing, and YOU'RE defending it as a "disagreement."

Wow. Comparing Shapiro's comments about Trump's mannerism to Borking. Hyperbole much?

54 posted on 01/03/2018 12:40:42 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy

You could send him some of the ones buzzing around your argument....


55 posted on 01/03/2018 12:41:07 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: dirtboy

Go map potholes, ya fink.


56 posted on 01/03/2018 12:43:40 PM PST by Lazamataz (It is known.)
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To: dirtboy

Funny how you skate right by the whole “critique” (your word, not mine) request, and go straight to building a straw man.


57 posted on 01/03/2018 12:44:18 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: papertyger

I don’t waste time with your attempts at nitpicking. You are aptly demonstrated that you are the kind of person Reagan was addressing with his 80/20 comment. You may have the last nitpick, er, word.


58 posted on 01/03/2018 12:46:07 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy

BTW, I didn’t make a comparison; I said he was participating in it.


59 posted on 01/03/2018 12:46:33 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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To: dirtboy
I don’t waste time with your attempts at nitpicking.

Funny how asking for the critique you maintain Shapiro's criticism constitutes is "nitpicking" now that you've been called on it.

If such things didn't matter, Trump would have been ignoring the media all this time.

60 posted on 01/03/2018 12:52:21 PM PST by papertyger (Bulverism: it's not just for liberals anymore.)
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