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Wow! New York Times NeverTrump columnist Bret Stephens comes around on Trump’s brilliance
americanthinker.com ^ | Thomas Lifson

Posted on 11/04/2018 3:53:57 AM PST by RoosterRedux

I was shocked reading this column (non-paywalled version here) appearing today in the New York Times, written by a true NeverTrump conservative, Bret Stephens.

...

After briefly excoriating Trump for running on “fear” instead of basking in his accomplishments (which contradicts the political wisdom that voters rarely vote out of gratitude), Stephens gets to the nub of his semi-confession: Trump is really smart. Of course, he has to present that revelation in disparaging terms, but it is a couple of steps better than “Trump is an idiot.”

The mystery of Donald Trump is what impels him to overturn the usual rules. Is it a dark sort of cunning or simple defects of character? Because the president’s critics tend to be educated and educated people tend to think that the only kind of smarts worth having is the kind they possess — superior powers of articulation combined with deep stores of knowledge— those critics generally assume the latter. He’s a bigot. He’s a con artist. His followers are dumb. They got lucky last time. They won’t be so lucky again.

...

[But] there’s more than one type of intelligence. Trump’s is feral. It strikes fast. It knows where to sink the fang into the vein.


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


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bretstephens; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; epiphany; nevertrump; nevertrumper; nevertrumpers; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; thomaslifson; whatishisfrnick
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To: ClearCase_guy
Nonsense. Dimmocrats are very intelligent.

Here's an example...


21 posted on 11/04/2018 4:28:47 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

3 Nov: Breitbart: Suspect in Vandalism Attack on New York Synagogue Is Democrat Activist
by Joel B. Pollak
James Polite, the 26-year-old man who was arrested Friday for allegedly vandalizing a synagogue in Brooklyn Thursday, is a Democratic activist who once worked for New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and also volunteered for Barack Obama...

The synagogue had been scheduled to host a Democratic Party event. The Daily Caller notes that Democrats, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, had used the vandalism in political messages — until the arrest...
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/11/03/suspect-in-vandalism-attack-on-new-york-synagogue-is-democrat-activist/


22 posted on 11/04/2018 4:29:53 AM PST by MAGAthon
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To: RoosterRedux

I don’t think the article is complimentary to Trump in even a back-handed way. He’s accusing Trump of possessing a low animal cunning. The kind that allows a mongoose to kill a cobra or the family dog the to steal a Thanksgiving turkey.

If he were acknowledging Trump’s smarts without acknowledging education or experience, he’d say Trump possesses a “keen political sixth sense.”


23 posted on 11/04/2018 4:33:09 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Ann Archy

OOPSIE! I was wrong! He was born with that name.


24 posted on 11/04/2018 4:33:16 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: bankwalker

“Never, ever, confuse education with intelligence ... They are two VERY different things.”

Yes and Donald John Trump has BOTH real intelligence and real education.


25 posted on 11/04/2018 4:35:24 AM PST by RipSawyer
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To: RoosterRedux

Why should I give a damn what Stephens thinks or writes?

He is a neocon loser. He is a never Trumper, late to the game.

F him.


26 posted on 11/04/2018 4:36:44 AM PST by bkopto
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To: RoosterRedux

That reads to me more like a warning about Trump having some sort of unwitting evil genius — that all the more needs to be stopped than is realized.

Stephens is crap. Supposedly one of the NYT’s two “conservative” op ed writers. He’s really a war-mongering, neocon globalist.


27 posted on 11/04/2018 4:40:04 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: RoosterRedux

Agreed—it debases his due before giving it to him and then issues yet another dire warning.


28 posted on 11/04/2018 4:40:52 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: RoosterRedux

“[But] there’s more than one type of intelligence. Trump’s is feral. It strikes fast. It knows where to sink the fang into the vein.”

He’s trying to communicate the respect that a big game hunter might have for his prey. This is a very shallow sort of respect: he still wants to shoot it dead.


29 posted on 11/04/2018 4:41:52 AM PST by rightwingcrazy
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To: RoosterRedux
Because the president’s critics tend to be educated and educated people tend to think that the only kind of smarts worth having is the kind they possess — superior powers of articulation combined with deep stores of knowledge— those critics generally assume the latter.

I don't agree with this definition. An intellect uses stored knowledge to make rational decisions and draw reasonable conclusion. The left uses this so called knowledge to fit their collective meme. That is not intelligence, that is evil.

30 posted on 11/04/2018 4:44:00 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: RoosterRedux

The easy way to figure out what Stephens is saying is to remember that he is a worthless piece of shit.


32 posted on 11/04/2018 4:51:53 AM PST by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: palmer

Read Art of the Deal....Bad press can turn in your favor if you turn out to be right and the press is wrong..


33 posted on 11/04/2018 4:55:21 AM PST by Hojczyk
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To: Ann Archy
OOPSIE! I was wrong! He was born with that name.

Close but no cigar! His bio is textbook CIA . . . like a leftwing WFB.

34 posted on 11/04/2018 4:56:36 AM PST by Oratam
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To: RoosterRedux
"BRILLIANT" is a vast understatement.

Trump has danced circles around ALL who opposed him, from the Republican Primary challengers, to Hillary and the entire corrupt Democrat Party, the corrupt News Media, Academia, Hollywood, foreign interferers--ALL OF THEM--not to mention Soros and his community organizer puppet!

And all this from a man who built a multi-billion dollar international financial empire, then risked it all in order to save America--and the rest of the world, if he can--from destruction, and especially from the suicidal decadence of Western Civilization--

--All witness to this: President Donald Trump is the intellectual superior--by far--of those who would destroy him, and also their moral and spiritual superior!

Donald Trump as already proven that he is the greatest President in US history.

35 posted on 11/04/2018 5:04:56 AM PST by Savage Beast (Trump is by far the intellectual, moral, and spiritual superior of those who seek to destroy him.)
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To: combat_boots
Dave's Site

Trump’s is feral .

Scary
36 posted on 11/04/2018 5:18:07 AM PST by RedMonqey ("Those who turn their arms in for plowshares will be doing the plowing for those who didn't.")
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To: combat_boots

Awesome quote. That is a mindset I need to cultivate.


37 posted on 11/04/2018 5:37:56 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: RoosterRedux
The failure to discuss, much less understand, "MAGA" shows how little both authors understand about Trump

Both authors, the original and this commentator, ignore Trump's true genius, which is that he is a brilliant strategist. He first figures out what he is trying to get done and how it can be done.

What is strategy? Well it is three things: 1. an analysis [of the problem to be solved], 2. a set of principles and 3. a short prescription of what is to be done [cf. Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy] It is figuring out how to align resources and what you want to get done [see anything by Colin Grey]. [for an example of brilliant strategy, see MAGA]

That is where the entire DC establishment, including the #fakemedia fail. They don't know what they want to get done with the resources available and in accordance with the principles of the People. They try prog solutions to problems most of us don't agree we have, depending upon resources we don't have and in a country whose productive people are individuals and individualists, who cede power neither to the political nor corporate nor financial nor journalistic elite, nor the "thought leaders" or public performance whores.

And then they claim their critics don't understand the nuances.

Who would have figured that the guy who built Trump Tower and got the Post Office redevelopment concession brought us MAGA. First Trump listed the problems we all agree we have - stole them right out from under the noses of the hardcore progs, the go along for a cut of the deal GOPeers, and the "true conservatives." Then he proposed how we were going to deal with them.

Let's see - illegal immigration - the left and the right argued both about means and ends, and confused one with the other while arguing that enforcing our boarders is not the kind of people we are. Trump - "build the wall." It's actually a lot more complex and nuanced. You need a wall, you need ICE with correct ROEs, you need to laws that work and you need to enforce them. But "build the wall" is a good short hand that everyone can agree with. The DC policy mechanicians tried arguing details to defeat the premise - and they are losing for it.

Or ISIS- As Mattis said - work with State because you sure don't want to be working with me. New strategies, new ROEs and suddenly a lot of folks have discovered that working with Mattis is the worst day of their lives, if it isn't the last day of their lives.

Or fixing the economy - Trump didn't actually do anything. He recognized that ruinous taxation, ruinous regulation and ruinous trade policies were stifling productive Americans. He didn't tell Americans what to do - recognizing that is a free-market decision. He just did everything in his power to stop the government from telling them to stop doing anything. Simple, any idiot knew that stuff, except that Noble Prize winner Paul Krugman is not any idiot. He is a first class horse's arse of a magnitude matched by few. The prog's view of "the greater good" was working to ensure that there wasn't any good at all except maybe in Penthouses in NY and London and private islands in the Caribbean.

Oh MAGA was also great branding - you know like you look at the Vegas skyline and the first building that hits your eye is marked "TRUMP." Ain't my style, but ....

But a great brand is part of any great business strategy.

Bottom line - if you miss MAGA and its genius you miss Trump's genius.

They may have figured out that Trump strikes and they think it is like a wild animal, a snake. That is because they have not analyzed when he strikes, how he strikes or why he strikes. That's why this analysis is banal.

It utterly misses the point. Utterly, completely and entirely. The point is MAGA. All there in a nice neat package.

38 posted on 11/04/2018 5:52:12 AM PST by AndyJackson
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To: RoosterRedux

And now that this nobody has smartened up, this means what to me? Nada.


39 posted on 11/04/2018 6:11:23 AM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberal is lies.)
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To: Oratam

I thought I had heard that!! Thanks!!


40 posted on 11/04/2018 9:17:56 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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