No one ever votes the bottom of the ticket, but perhaps M is correct: Vance changed his mind about Trump. So did you, Alex. Now, you may never like him all that much, but you can see that four more years of the Biden/Harris policies (and we have no good reason to think they will change) is not something that Americans who value their civil liberties are all too keen to keep in place. The covid response, the vax mandates, the censorship—all massive violations of American’s civil liberties. No thanks. I’ve been a lifelong democrat, but they lost me with their draconian covid/censorship policies. Like you, I didn’t vote for either Biden or Trump last time around, but I may change my mind—and may even vote for Trump. As someone put in a meme: “A Vote is not a Valentine. You aren’t professing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.”
“A Vote is not a Valentine. You aren’t professing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.” Whoever said this is a genius!
In the same vein, I've been saying to TDSers and LIVs since 2020 that "you're not voting to elect your pastor or your next door neighbor. Your vote is not an emotional thing, it's an intellectual thing, so use your f'n head for something other than a hat rack."
This is a rationale for what I did for years: held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils (and I didn't even do that from 2000 to 2016). Trump and Harris are just two different brands of the same poison - RFK, Jr. for president.
Good for you...you are voting principal over reality. "Trump and Harris are just two different brands of the same poison"?? What are you smoking? Same border policy? Same drill baby drill policy? The oil policy is one of the major reasons for the inflation, 2nd only to printing unlimited green backs! Same? One is a commie, one is NOT! Sorry you don't like everything about Trump...but you do about RFK? I too like RFK stance on vaccines and corporate capture...BUT HE WILL NOT WIN...YOU MIGHT AS WELL VOTE FOR COMMA LA. But hey...nice principals!
I didn't start out liking Trump either. I may have said a few things in private conversations that I wouldn't want President Trump or the world to know. But I've changed my mind (early on). I like Trump's policies. And he's mostly funny. He's not perfect. But he's a fighter. Too bad he had to fight everyone across the aisle and many on his own side while he was president. He has to toot his own horn because everyone's tearing him down. He may have been much softer if he didn't have to fight EVERYONE and figure out the hard way who was trying to backstab him (even within his own cabinet and party). Imagine if he had the support of all the Republican party instead of just some. And he's funny despite all the BS he's had to deal with. And talk about hard working. He's non-stop. I don't know how he can squeeze in his golf games. But he's a workaholic and he looks better than he did in 2016. And there are MANY personal stories from individuals who know and love him on a personal level. I think President Trump loves American and the people. So, I agree with M. Vance learned more about Trump. Whether it was his policies or whatever, he changed his mind. And I respect that about Vance. And like Trump, Vance is a fighter.
I voted for Trump twice on issues although I found him personally repulsive (the alternatives were even more odious). I still find him repulsive. He also failed to keep the promises he made, in particular, he failed to go after Big Pharma and instead embraced the monster. So, he was not only personally repulsive but undependable. He ran as a populist and governed as a Republican and he will do the same again. RFK, Jr. for president.
Its why the great psyop known as TDS was pushed on the non critical thinkers. TDS was brilliant and so very effective. To this day it's this deep psychosis bordering on mental illness that drives a large swath of DEM voters. The DEEP state could not "allow" the useful idiots to actually vote on policy
The TDS believers are terrified of Trump. They have been so traumatized, they can't get over it. It's like the panic porn sent out every day during Covid. There are those who will never believe the shot did not stop covid or make it less lethal. They're on their 8th shot now.
TDS was psyop implemented well before the great plandemic, but certainly amplified by the deep state from that point forward. The single greatest psyop altering minds in my lifetime for sure
When Trump descended on that escalator all hell broke loose. Despite the TDS psyop, he still was elected in 2016. The stakes are higher now. They've ramped up the TDS, let's see if more develop TDS or learned to resist.
The coordinated mockingbird media has done a great job gaslighting people into believing their lies about Trump
. These viewers really believe Trump is a power hungry dictator, worse than Hitler & just waiting to lock them up in camps once elected. I mean just listen to Robert De Niro -
Yes and who are the MSM beholden too, and told by to say in driving that indoctrination-gaslighting. Those behind the curtain...the puppeteers of it All!
This is similar to my story. I liked Obama so much I campaigned for him in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 2008! (worked in NYC at the time). Didn't like Bush and his speeches and once Trump got unexpectedly elected in 2016, I almost cried liberal tears. I went to a fancy grad school too and all my friends and family were staunch liberals (still are). But when the Covid hit I "woke up" in April 2020 - you see, I grew up in Russia - and I could smell government propaganda from a mile away. And since 2020, I happen to like Trump, his policies and actually voted for him in 2020 and will do so again this year. People do change and the American political climate can take anyone on a roller-coaster ride.
“A vote for Trump is not a Valentine for him. I’m not professing my love for the candidate. It’s a chess move to block the world I don’t want to live in, i.e. one run by the current dystopian Democrat Party Machine, even if it just delays it for 4 years….”
Sorry, but public health overrides the First Amendment. No one had any idea how deadly COVID might be, so erring on the side of caution was appropriate. During the Spanish flu, you could be jailed for spitting on the sidewalk. Would you eliminate stop lights, child car seats, crosswalks, cigarette sales to over 18 year olds, because they violate civil liberties?
Do you know about techno-monarchy and Curtis Yarvin, who heavily influenced JD? 45 doesn't know shit about crypto, or immigration, or if he does, he is lying. I can tell when 45 is lying: his lips are moving.
TDS...Big Pharma is crooked and they should all be in jail. The jab is pure poison and did not work at all. NOTHING overrides the 1st Amendment. The government, Big Pharma and Big tech censored everyone who did not agree that people should take the jab. They also hammered Drs who knew how to treat it and did all they could to make people take the jab instead of other treatments that worked. WE know when Drs like you are lying too!
Vance's come from behind as a poor WHITE kid is why he's being attacked. That kind of story only works if you are non-white. I don't get it... and I never will. Particularly from lefty Democrats. The disdain for their own skin color (talk about "weird"!) is just unexplainable.
Oh, I don’t know about disdain for their own skin color - that’s just window dressing to get votes via identity politics. Look who they hand around with - at least one of their own was a member of a whites only golf club and that raised nary an eyebrow until it became a national issue; the Black "minister" couldn’t get traction back in the 90s while the HALF black non-minister was elected president (not by me) and who hangs out on Matha’s Vineyard and the coast of Hawai’i - yet when a Black conservative / republican rises above HIS assumed station in life, well, all hell breaks loose and THEY can’t wait to attack instead of celebrate the black person’s accomplishments.
He played baseball for Yale too and was a pretty good hitter. That's not the point. I like and respect DeSantis for the way he handled Covid and Disney. However, he did not have to struggle when he grew up. He came from a stable middle class family. He didn't have the obstacles JD had.
Growing up in a stable middle class family is a plus, not a minus. Those who face struggles in life don't necessarily end up better for it. Sometimes it creates deep resentments and hostility to the society they blame for their struggles.
That's what I said, he grew up in a stable, middle class family, how could that not be a plus? I'm reacting to the comment that DeSantis is a real conservative as if JD is a fake.
Dems don't want people who come from nothing to be successful. Folks like that can't be manipulated anymore and used for votes - hence the hatred from the left.
Alex, I commented on the article and intended to write an email to say this...I do not want this to be an echo chamber or a troll haven. I want good articles that challenge the mind and thoughtful comments to provide for deeper thinking. As a red-pilled American, I love freedom of speech and thought!
Alex - if you've ever been poor (I have growing up - abject poverty) and fought your way out of it, you develop a profound fear of ever being poor again.
The fear of being poor will get your ass out of bed everyday. That's all that kid was thinking about. Vance wanted out. Isn't that the American dream?
Or is the fear of not being a supporter of the "next" thing a more noble motivator to get your ass out of bed?
Damn straight. I was homeless for a month and that was all I needed to “get my ass out of bed” it sure kicked me in the ass and from that day I changed every piece of my life. Sure, everyday hasn’t been roses but I know that’ll never happen to me again and I see all too much people fine with living off what they can get to continue making shitty choices or stay drug addled. I’m fine with those people losing that choice. Our cities would clean up real quick and the money spent housing the stubborn would be penny’s on the dollar what we spend allowing them to stay there. Appreciate your comment and it’s good to remember
Being really poor sucks. And the fear of being subjected to that again, or God forbid, your children, will absolutely motivate you. For some people it can motivate them to do anything to have power. Usually those people are the ones who have no problem debasing themselves to the current system. JD does not seem to have done that.
I hope you will keep up the good work. We need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. We would do well to be open to criticism whether we agree or not. We need to be INFORMED. Then we can make up our own minds. This is what has been missing in the legacy media, and why I have turned to you and other independent news sources. I may not agree, I may not like what you say sometimes, but I want to read it and then think and decide for myself. Thanks for doing what you do.
I agree with the commenter. In 2015 I was a radical free trade advocate. But I actually listened to Trump's position, beyond the "circus entertainer" aspect. In fact, I followed Trump's position down the rabbit hole until I found the book "Free Trade Doesn't Work" by Ian Fletcher (https://smile.amazon.com/Free-Trade-Doesnt-Work-Replace-ebook/dp/B004UI6XL8/). Without getting into too much detail in a blog post comment, the theory of free trade being optimal is based on David Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage. What Fletcher points out, and I could go on endlessly about (but won't), is that the assumptions that Ricardo *explicitly* mentions as the basis for his theory are invalid in the modern era. Ricardo's theory sounds good, and has in fact when implemented brought a lot of people out of poverty. But at the same time, while helping bring hundreds of millions of Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians, and others out of poverty, it has impoverished large sections of the US, and destroyed America's military preparedness and economic ability. Now if one is a "citizen of the world" then it doesn't bother you if for every three Chinese brought out of poverty, one American is thrust into poverty. But as an American patriot, this phenomenon bothers me A LOT.
So, yes, in a lot of ways, Trump is a buffoon. But under his buffoonery are some policies that he holds implicitly that deserve serious consideration: low, skills-based immigration, trade policies that retain American manufacturing capability, no unlimited defense guarantees to other countries as free riders, not fighting other peoples' wars unless there is a serious threat to the United States, and focusing on America first. I hated Trump in 2015. But at least I read about his instinctive policies. I've come around to being a strong MAGA-ite by 2020, though I loathed Trump's covid policies. He is an imperfect vessel for the policies I mentioned above, but these are the policies that will save America.
As far as I could tell, Trump's Covid policy was to develop and distribute a vaccine as fast as possible. He did it based on advice he got from "leading scientists." Turns out the advice and the FDAs EUA were all wrong, but Trump never supported a mandate, which was the real problem.
Right...never would or will ever support a mandate. That is 100% correct. With that said, why is IT he to this day touts the injections as a GOOD thing, and saved the day when in truth it's the exact opposite as most of us here have known for years and years. I will vote again for Trump, but this one issue sits in a very very deep dark place with me KNOWING friends and family whose lives were changed forever because of the injections. Just sayin and someone NEEDS too.
Couldn't agree more...it's the one big thing about which I SO wish he'd have a change of heart. But, his outsized ego can't go there yet. He was so proud to be the savior—The President who delivered the vax in record time. To admit to himself and the world that he actually oversaw the beginning of a true debacle, and in large part BECAUSE it happened so fast, is just too far a leap to make. And the saddest part of it all? IF he did admit it was a mistake, and acknowledge the massive pain and suffering it's caused, that candor would likely win him the election.
Hate "warp speed." Having just retired from teaching nursing pharmacology, clinical teaching today and 4 years ago is that it takes 5-7 years to develop a vaccine. Where the "best scientists" got off ignoring this is beyond me. Most vaccines trials, including the covid injection, did not include pregnant women but because of the EUA, and without concern for the unborn, pregnant women were encourage to take it? Trumps ego will not let him admit he missed this one. It would actually raise his stock with me if he admitted his experts were in the bag for the pharmaceutical industrial complex.
I do not ever see him facing the music on it unfortunately, and sooooo many LIVES effected. Calling it the greatest "allowed" crime against humanity in history is not a stretch, and to date not ONE person responsible for orchestrating it have remotely been held to account. Not ONE person on the entire planet EARTH. The absolute perfect crime. All of it was just ALLOWED.
Trump embraced Fauci and dumped an actual expert adviser: Dr. Scott Atlas. It was all downhill from there. It was pure Trumpism in action: denounce the Deep State and then appoint Deep State functionaries to important administrative positions.
In some ways Trump parallels the Elvis aura of being quite misunderstood. IF you have not known this about Elvis Presley it's a fascinating life of how he was perceived so differently by various generations and sectors of society.
Very interesting comment. I'm a big fan of the Theory of Comparative Advantage so will have to check out the book. For me free trade isn’t about selecting who you’re going to "lift out of poverty" vs who you’re going to "harm". It's about giving your innovators and consumers access to the most cost-effective products available to either enhance their living standards or allowing manufacturers the opportunity to be competitive internationally on costs. Admittedly one must be cautious about developing a dependence on hostile regimes for critical products but that is the only effective counter argument I'm aware of. Are there others you could share or are they mostly security focused?
Okay I’ll give you the canonical example that Ricardo might understand fully. The US is more efficient at producing both olive oil and aircraft than Spain is. But Spain had the comparative advantage in producing olive oil. So, Ricardo would say (and this does in fact happen today), that the US should focus on building aircraft and Spain should focus on making olive oil and then engage in mutual trade to mutual benefit. So far, this is both true and what actually happens.
And yet, what does focusing on production of olive oil really do for Spain? They become experts in making olive presses? In watering olive trees efficiently? In picking olive just exactly when they are ripe? Nothing wrong with these things, but they hardly push the country forward in any way. But the US gets a ton of externality benefits from focusing on aircraft production, including software, computers, materials, advances in aerodynamics, a highly skilled workforce of craftsman, mechanics, pilots. All of whom can now create new industries like space travel or new automotive advances, etc. Olive oil gets Spain some short term economic benefit from comparative advantage, but it’s a dead end from a long term perspective.
Second, Ricardo admits that his theory is based on the assumption that neither capital goods nor labor is highly mobile. But now, when German factories are disassembled, shipped to China, and reassembled in three months, the first is no longer true. And when Spanish aerospace engineers can simply hop over and work in the US, rather than stay in Spain, labor immobility is no longer true either. So if Ricardo was alive today, he’d be smart enough to see his assumptions are no longer true. If Spain—I pick on Spain because when researching this topic for another conversation I was surprised to see they surpassed both Italy and Greece in olive oil production—wants an aircraft industry, and there are plenty of reasons why it might want one, whether security related or simply to halt the brain drain to the US or France (where Airbus does most of its design work), then it has to nurture such an industry with tariffs or subsidies. Both are taxes on the people, and both bring down the short-term GDP per capita, I’m not going to lie to you about that. But maybe having a diversified industrial base where you can make your own aircraft (in this example) is worth a little GDP per capita in the short term.
Finally, during the pandemic we found out that almost all of our medical equipment and pharmaceuticals were made in China, so that we were essentially utterly dependent on the CCP for such minor things like ALL of our antibiotics. Does China have a comparative advantage in making antibiotics? Sure! Is this a good thing? I would think every single American would be up in arms demanding whatever it took to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US. Trump *totally failed* in this department in 2020, in fact arranging to buy *more* medical equipment and pharmaceuticals from China, not less. Why? Two reasons: 1) most drugs in the US are bought by Medicare and Medicaid and tariffs would greatly increase their prices, which would hurt both programs, and 2) all our political elites of both parties have too much money invested in China to want to stop that gravy train. For example, both Biden and McConnell are bought and paid for by China. All our big companies are, though both Boeing and Tesla are decoupling now gradually.
If we got into a war with China, we’d have no antibiotics to give our injured servicemen. Of course, China gets a lot of food from the US, and most of its oil through the Strait of Malacca, so it would be no picnic for them either. The Chinese, who are not dumb, are building an entire multi-trillion-dollar land-based trade network (the Belt and Road Initiative) to try to solve this geostrategic deficiency they have, being able to bring in Russian and Iranian oil by land rather than by sea to negate America’s seapower advantage. Food too. The US is fiddling around fighting Russia and other idiotic wastes of time and pushing DEI so hard that Taiwanese companies have totally given up on making computer chips in the US because they have to hire 3 unqualified DEI people for every one qualified person they hire under Biden Administration rules.
So you asked for more detail. I gave you both economic and security examples.
Great response! You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this. Thanks! It seems to me the world you describe is one where national leaders decide what types of activity might contribute to a nation’s overall standing in the world and then steer their citizens economic activity in that direction. That’s very different than envisioning a nation as a collection of individuals each attempting to prosper in their own way while enabled/protected by a transparent system of laws and shared infrastructure (ie roads, electricity etc.). That 2nd model is my vision as to what made America a superior country to live in. If I understand the olive oil example correctly, there were Americans who could have produced olive oil more efficiently than Spain but we’re somehow discouraged from doing so in the name of Comparative Advantage. If so that’s not how I understand the theory and I certainly disagree with that application. I totally agree that free trade must be tempered by legitimate security concerns as illustrated by your China example as applied to critical medical supplies. I’m Canadian but recognize the duty of an American government is to serve the interests of Americans. Applying tariffs to steel imports from Canada as Trump did or at least sought to do served no security objective whatsoever while advancing the interests of American steel producers at the expense of American steel consumers for what I believe to be an overall reduction in American productivity. A much more important decision from the Canadian perspective was Trump’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline which would have been a plus for America and Canada without a security downside.
Yes, America became rich in the 19th century because the government encouraged business and innovation. But America had a system of tariffs in place for most of the 19th century. Indeed, one of the causes of the American Civil War was the Whig/Republican desire for much higher tariffs at the expense of the South, whose exports of cotton would be subject to retaliation, and whose imports of European and Caribbean goods would be much more expensive. Since the South imported a lot more than the North, the South paid for a much greater percentage of the income of the Federal government. That’s why suggestions to use government funds to free the slaves met with rejection from the South: because it would be using their own money to recompense them for the loss of their (slave) property. In any event the US had serious tariffs up until the end of the Second World War. Sometimes normal (20%), sometimes punitive (60%). The punitive ones were the ones that caused controversy and economic hardship.
At the end of WWII, in the free world, essentially only the US was producing anything at all, the economies of the other European belligerents having been destroyed by the war. So the US started a policy (which continues to this day) of unilaterally lowering tariffs while allowing other countries to have higher tariffs. Even under GATT this is still true. America, in an attempt to re-energize the free nations of Europe and the Pacific, basically gave away a huge production advantage to all our new friends and allies.
(Canada is different, but the principle is still the same: Canadian tariffs on American goods are more than the reverse. I gave a computer to a Canadian friend and had to pay 20% duty on it, which was outrageous.)
So yes, the original Canadian people and the original American people are the best of friends. But 1) both our governments are at this time run by psychopaths, and 2) mass migration into both our countries means that the original English and French Canadians as well as the original European Americans—the people who love each other like brothers—are going to become minorities in our own countries. Depending on how things go, can the US really count on Canadian friendship in the future for critical items such as steel? Think about this using realpolitik. Countries don’t have friends; they have interests. And it’s in the interest of the US to have a functioning steel industry.
Government intervention in the economy tends to have negative consequences, because governments tend to be corrupt C-students. So I generally want less of it. But in the book I recommended above the author suggests a flat tariff of 10% except for a few strictly delimited military technologies, and I tend to agree with this approach.
I find little to disagree with here and much to agree with. For the record I didn't mean to come across as an advocate for Canada’s interests or it's policies. The relative merit of Canadian goverance vs the U.S. is best reflected if the fact that our per-capita productivity is roughly 30% less than yours. I only wanted to provide a couple of examples. The steel one being an example of net pain for no security gain. Perhaps it's semantics, but when you say "countries don't have friends, they have interests" I'm tempted to respond that "people have friends AND interests." Countries are not people and exist only to serve their citizens within the constitutional boundaries established by those citizens. Arbitrarily punishing some consumers within your nation (or mine) to artificially prop up some producers who can't or won't compete internationally is justified only when the international producers pose a credible threat to security of supply. I'm surprised and disappointed to learn about the tariff your Canadian friend had to pay on the computer. I thought our trade pact had eliminated all that with the unfortunate exception dairy products.
Skills-based immigration is just a code term for loading the country up with Indian and Chinese immigrants to make skilled labor cheaper. It is the same rationale as free trade and is supported by the same people: greedy business interests and the propagandists who work for them (e.g., The Cato Institute).
Immigration should be nearly zero. We can't educate and employ the people we have now. The net benefit of free trade is for those consumers whose jobs are not outsourced (typically, wealthier people). They get cheaper goods without losing their good paying jobs. For the working class, it is a disaster.
I've added the book to my list. I once saw a graph that showed that as global income in third world countries went up the average US income would go down. Do you happen to know if that graph is in the book or have a source for it?
What a great perspective! I have seen the vast difference in President Trump's outward persona, and the actions he has taken in office. I suspect JD Vance also has seen this, and changed his views on President Trump as a result. The America first movement must grow and expand to have a long term impact. JD Vance was (IMHO) a great choice to carry forward the torch President Trump ignited in 2015, when he announced his candidacy for President. Thank you Alex for posting this, and I hope you will carefully consider M's words. We have 2 possible paths forward for our country, a communist/socialist government controlled future (Harris/Walz) or a free market, individual rights centric future (Trump/Vance). I know what I will choose. The stakes couldn't be higher for all of us.
Exactly. We have two choices, stark choices. You got a horse to ride out of the war zone on. You aren't going to quibble if he has a few idiosyncrasies. Vance picked the horse that will get him to the next battle(s). You don't live the life he's led without learning how to resilient.
Do we have choices? Information suggests that the election will come down to 10,000 people in each of 7 states? There is really no major corrections in voting systems in those states? Is it possible that the Dems aren't worried that they have put up terrible candidates because it doesn't matter?
Maybe, but if you throw in the towel now, you guarantee loss. Get out there and TALK to folks. Are they voting for Open Borders? Are they voting for a Venezuelan economy? WWIII, etc.? Because there is only one clear choice if they are NOT voting for those things. Walz has never even owned a home? Paid a mortgage? GTFO.
I agree that it is possible the JD Vance has evolved--Trump too has evolved on positions he held decades earlier. Being able to change previously held views due to changing facts and circumstances is a laudable trait. I for one am willing to give JD Vance the benefit of the doubt. Given he is currently a Christian family man that is a good clue to his character.
Agreed. The man chose to leave VC and CA to put roots in Ohio. His wife is from CA. He made a conscious choice to put faith and family at the forefront of his life. As an Ohioan who relocated to CA, I admire him.
I have often made disparaging remarks about DJT because he often makes ridiculous comments about someone or something… BUT I have always voted for him BECAUSE of his policies NOT because of the way he acts/behaves or what words he utters. He didn't drain the swamp but HOPEFULLY, he will do so this time. I truly believe that American democracy (what is left of it in our corrupt political world) is doomed if the far left Democrats win another term. At 84, I don't really care happens in 2028 but for my grandkid's sake, I want to see freedom survive. I believe that the “Hillbilly” is the right person to carry the banner forward for ALL OF AMERICA.
I didn't vote Trump in 2016 (I voted 3rd party) but I did in 2020 and will this year. I don't like him (for the reasons you mention, and a few more), but the entire media's push on "Russian Collusion" opened my eyes that Trump could have achieved a lot more than he did if he had an actual 4 years to work, rather than constantly going up against the MSM in addition to the opposition, impeachments, etc. I won't forgive him for being manipulated into the lockdowns (the 15 days BS) and I haven't decided how beholden he is to the pharmaceutical industry because of the COVID vaccines and his rush to get them done. But when you look at the bigger picture and the direction of the country, it's a no brainer -- four more years of Democrat control will take our country to the brink of destruction with open borders, global unrest, and complete disdain for traditional American values and the Bill of Rights.
No ONE person any of us know could have withstood what the deep state has thrown at Trump since he walked down that escalator in 2015, and he even took a bullet for America and was steadfast DEFIANT of these MFer's after! He was the only person too walk thru such fire and has only become more empowered thru the intentional corrupted attacks using "we the people" $$ to do so. People forget WE pay for the WITCH hunt literally
Not so much about Vance but I remember 20 or 20 years ago my father met Donald Trump or at least heard him speak in a small group. Dad was very impressed with Trump because of how much he knew about the economics of real estate development and knew to the penny the costs of building materials, labor, utilities etc that ultimately determined the cost to construct something profitably. He seemed at least at the time to be business smart and not just flamboyant which impressed my father who spent a lifetime in the lumber and land business.
In 2016, Trump was my last choice for the Republican nominee for President. In 2023, I sent money to DeSantis. And now? I am buying Trump yard signs. The stark alternative is dangerous to the continuation of our country. Although, I must admit, I don't understand how JD Vance could even THINK about voting for a completely socialist, corrupt and venal Hillary, even in 2016. Perhaps watching Trump in office, and the results he got, changed his mind.
I hope M is right. Trump's foreign policy instincts are brilliant. Unfortunately, the establishment is dead set against his personal approach which at times is so upsetting and embarrassing to them. If we truly want a chance for peace Trump has to be the choice as difficult as it may seem "intellectually".
I think Trump was let down by having foreign policy staff who were beholden to the Bushes. It seems like his staff told Trump we couldn't just leave Afghanistan like he wanted and he agreed to that. Those folks should have no place in his staff if Trump wins.
Here's my story that supports M. I'm 59, worked on Republican campaigns in the late '80s and early 90s. Bush '88 and even Rudy for Mayor, 1989. (The first time when he lost.) I bailed on politics in 1992 when I realized political hacks were just that, hacks. They were not very sharp and filled with hangers on who search for the nearest coattail to jump on.
I couldn't stand Trump, and I thought his policy proposals in the 2016 campaign were simple and formulaic. My political hack friends had always said government was too complicated to simplify. I voted for Trump only because he wasn't Hillary...what do you know, simple worked. Good for Trump.
I know a lot of Never Trump and Neo-Con republicans from my time in politics. As a group, they are not the brightest bulbs on the porch. They believed that they were to inherit the Republican party, then Trump came and pulled the rug out from under them. They are bitter and resentful.
I grew up with Glenn Youngkin. He's probably the smartest person I've ever met. JD Vance is obviously whip-smart as well. America needs smart. Republicans need smart. It's not hard to see reason, but you'll never see it through the fog of bitterness, resentment and hatred.
Those establishment Republicans were sure after Jan 6th the R party would be theirs again. Mitch McConnell was salivating at the thought. (Before he froze at the podium) He withheld money from Republican candidates who supported Trump. He was fine with his party losing the midterms as long as no more Trump endorsed candidates were elected.
No one ever votes the bottom of the ticket, but perhaps M is correct: Vance changed his mind about Trump. So did you, Alex. Now, you may never like him all that much, but you can see that four more years of the Biden/Harris policies (and we have no good reason to think they will change) is not something that Americans who value their civil liberties are all too keen to keep in place. The covid response, the vax mandates, the censorship—all massive violations of American’s civil liberties. No thanks. I’ve been a lifelong democrat, but they lost me with their draconian covid/censorship policies. Like you, I didn’t vote for either Biden or Trump last time around, but I may change my mind—and may even vote for Trump. As someone put in a meme: “A Vote is not a Valentine. You aren’t professing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.”
“A Vote is not a Valentine. You aren’t professing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.” Whoever said this is a genius!
Saw it on the X this a.m.
It's been going around Facebook for quite awhile now.
In the same vein, I've been saying to TDSers and LIVs since 2020 that "you're not voting to elect your pastor or your next door neighbor. Your vote is not an emotional thing, it's an intellectual thing, so use your f'n head for something other than a hat rack."
it's true - that is why i also send actual valentines to donald trump
This is a rationale for what I did for years: held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils (and I didn't even do that from 2000 to 2016). Trump and Harris are just two different brands of the same poison - RFK, Jr. for president.
Good for you...you are voting principal over reality. "Trump and Harris are just two different brands of the same poison"?? What are you smoking? Same border policy? Same drill baby drill policy? The oil policy is one of the major reasons for the inflation, 2nd only to printing unlimited green backs! Same? One is a commie, one is NOT! Sorry you don't like everything about Trump...but you do about RFK? I too like RFK stance on vaccines and corporate capture...BUT HE WILL NOT WIN...YOU MIGHT AS WELL VOTE FOR COMMA LA. But hey...nice principals!
This lesser of two evils stuff has gotten us into the situation we are in.
I didn't start out liking Trump either. I may have said a few things in private conversations that I wouldn't want President Trump or the world to know. But I've changed my mind (early on). I like Trump's policies. And he's mostly funny. He's not perfect. But he's a fighter. Too bad he had to fight everyone across the aisle and many on his own side while he was president. He has to toot his own horn because everyone's tearing him down. He may have been much softer if he didn't have to fight EVERYONE and figure out the hard way who was trying to backstab him (even within his own cabinet and party). Imagine if he had the support of all the Republican party instead of just some. And he's funny despite all the BS he's had to deal with. And talk about hard working. He's non-stop. I don't know how he can squeeze in his golf games. But he's a workaholic and he looks better than he did in 2016. And there are MANY personal stories from individuals who know and love him on a personal level. I think President Trump loves American and the people. So, I agree with M. Vance learned more about Trump. Whether it was his policies or whatever, he changed his mind. And I respect that about Vance. And like Trump, Vance is a fighter.
"Vance learned MORE about Trump." I believe that. As did his 2015/16 campaign photographer and MANY people.
I voted for Trump twice on issues although I found him personally repulsive (the alternatives were even more odious). I still find him repulsive. He also failed to keep the promises he made, in particular, he failed to go after Big Pharma and instead embraced the monster. So, he was not only personally repulsive but undependable. He ran as a populist and governed as a Republican and he will do the same again. RFK, Jr. for president.
Its why the great psyop known as TDS was pushed on the non critical thinkers. TDS was brilliant and so very effective. To this day it's this deep psychosis bordering on mental illness that drives a large swath of DEM voters. The DEEP state could not "allow" the useful idiots to actually vote on policy
The TDS believers are terrified of Trump. They have been so traumatized, they can't get over it. It's like the panic porn sent out every day during Covid. There are those who will never believe the shot did not stop covid or make it less lethal. They're on their 8th shot now.
TDS was psyop implemented well before the great plandemic, but certainly amplified by the deep state from that point forward. The single greatest psyop altering minds in my lifetime for sure
When Trump descended on that escalator all hell broke loose. Despite the TDS psyop, he still was elected in 2016. The stakes are higher now. They've ramped up the TDS, let's see if more develop TDS or learned to resist.
Not sure at this point MORE are becoming inflicted with TDS, but those lost in the psychotic abyss have gone bye bye for sure
I hope my daughter has snapped out of it. I told her Kamala was not trustworthy because she hid Joe's dementia.
The coordinated mockingbird media has done a great job gaslighting people into believing their lies about Trump
. These viewers really believe Trump is a power hungry dictator, worse than Hitler & just waiting to lock them up in camps once elected. I mean just listen to Robert De Niro -
Yes and who are the MSM beholden too, and told by to say in driving that indoctrination-gaslighting. Those behind the curtain...the puppeteers of it All!
This is similar to my story. I liked Obama so much I campaigned for him in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 2008! (worked in NYC at the time). Didn't like Bush and his speeches and once Trump got unexpectedly elected in 2016, I almost cried liberal tears. I went to a fancy grad school too and all my friends and family were staunch liberals (still are). But when the Covid hit I "woke up" in April 2020 - you see, I grew up in Russia - and I could smell government propaganda from a mile away. And since 2020, I happen to like Trump, his policies and actually voted for him in 2020 and will do so again this year. People do change and the American political climate can take anyone on a roller-coaster ride.
“A vote for Trump is not a Valentine for him. I’m not professing my love for the candidate. It’s a chess move to block the world I don’t want to live in, i.e. one run by the current dystopian Democrat Party Machine, even if it just delays it for 4 years….”
Sorry, but public health overrides the First Amendment. No one had any idea how deadly COVID might be, so erring on the side of caution was appropriate. During the Spanish flu, you could be jailed for spitting on the sidewalk. Would you eliminate stop lights, child car seats, crosswalks, cigarette sales to over 18 year olds, because they violate civil liberties?
Do you know about techno-monarchy and Curtis Yarvin, who heavily influenced JD? 45 doesn't know shit about crypto, or immigration, or if he does, he is lying. I can tell when 45 is lying: his lips are moving.
TDS...Big Pharma is crooked and they should all be in jail. The jab is pure poison and did not work at all. NOTHING overrides the 1st Amendment. The government, Big Pharma and Big tech censored everyone who did not agree that people should take the jab. They also hammered Drs who knew how to treat it and did all they could to make people take the jab instead of other treatments that worked. WE know when Drs like you are lying too!
Vance's come from behind as a poor WHITE kid is why he's being attacked. That kind of story only works if you are non-white. I don't get it... and I never will. Particularly from lefty Democrats. The disdain for their own skin color (talk about "weird"!) is just unexplainable.
Oh, I don’t know about disdain for their own skin color - that’s just window dressing to get votes via identity politics. Look who they hand around with - at least one of their own was a member of a whites only golf club and that raised nary an eyebrow until it became a national issue; the Black "minister" couldn’t get traction back in the 90s while the HALF black non-minister was elected president (not by me) and who hangs out on Matha’s Vineyard and the coast of Hawai’i - yet when a Black conservative / republican rises above HIS assumed station in life, well, all hell breaks loose and THEY can’t wait to attack instead of celebrate the black person’s accomplishments.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Isn't DeSantis white? He served in the Navy, also went to Yale and is an actual conservative.
He didn't grow up in poor Appalachia with a meth head mom. Kind of the biggest part of the story.
He played baseball for Yale too and was a pretty good hitter. That's not the point. I like and respect DeSantis for the way he handled Covid and Disney. However, he did not have to struggle when he grew up. He came from a stable middle class family. He didn't have the obstacles JD had.
Growing up in a stable middle class family is a plus, not a minus. Those who face struggles in life don't necessarily end up better for it. Sometimes it creates deep resentments and hostility to the society they blame for their struggles.
That's what I said, he grew up in a stable, middle class family, how could that not be a plus? I'm reacting to the comment that DeSantis is a real conservative as if JD is a fake.
Pretty much NAILED it
I think it is called "virtue signalling".
Dems don't want people who come from nothing to be successful. Folks like that can't be manipulated anymore and used for votes - hence the hatred from the left.
Wow M! I haven't read something like this ANYWHERE else and I am an avid Xer. Thank you and thanks, Alex, for sharing. Wow!
I agree! Quite insightful! Thank you M and Alex for sharing!
Alex, I commented on the article and intended to write an email to say this...I do not want this to be an echo chamber or a troll haven. I want good articles that challenge the mind and thoughtful comments to provide for deeper thinking. As a red-pilled American, I love freedom of speech and thought!
we are slaves without it. good on you, man.
Alex - if you've ever been poor (I have growing up - abject poverty) and fought your way out of it, you develop a profound fear of ever being poor again.
The fear of being poor will get your ass out of bed everyday. That's all that kid was thinking about. Vance wanted out. Isn't that the American dream?
Or is the fear of not being a supporter of the "next" thing a more noble motivator to get your ass out of bed?
Damn straight. I was homeless for a month and that was all I needed to “get my ass out of bed” it sure kicked me in the ass and from that day I changed every piece of my life. Sure, everyday hasn’t been roses but I know that’ll never happen to me again and I see all too much people fine with living off what they can get to continue making shitty choices or stay drug addled. I’m fine with those people losing that choice. Our cities would clean up real quick and the money spent housing the stubborn would be penny’s on the dollar what we spend allowing them to stay there. Appreciate your comment and it’s good to remember
God bless you! Well done!
Fear of being poor is definitely a learned attribute...a good one.
me too - for several months, and was a big wake-up call.
Being really poor sucks. And the fear of being subjected to that again, or God forbid, your children, will absolutely motivate you. For some people it can motivate them to do anything to have power. Usually those people are the ones who have no problem debasing themselves to the current system. JD does not seem to have done that.
I hope you will keep up the good work. We need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. We would do well to be open to criticism whether we agree or not. We need to be INFORMED. Then we can make up our own minds. This is what has been missing in the legacy media, and why I have turned to you and other independent news sources. I may not agree, I may not like what you say sometimes, but I want to read it and then think and decide for myself. Thanks for doing what you do.
I agree with the commenter. In 2015 I was a radical free trade advocate. But I actually listened to Trump's position, beyond the "circus entertainer" aspect. In fact, I followed Trump's position down the rabbit hole until I found the book "Free Trade Doesn't Work" by Ian Fletcher (https://smile.amazon.com/Free-Trade-Doesnt-Work-Replace-ebook/dp/B004UI6XL8/). Without getting into too much detail in a blog post comment, the theory of free trade being optimal is based on David Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage. What Fletcher points out, and I could go on endlessly about (but won't), is that the assumptions that Ricardo *explicitly* mentions as the basis for his theory are invalid in the modern era. Ricardo's theory sounds good, and has in fact when implemented brought a lot of people out of poverty. But at the same time, while helping bring hundreds of millions of Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians, and others out of poverty, it has impoverished large sections of the US, and destroyed America's military preparedness and economic ability. Now if one is a "citizen of the world" then it doesn't bother you if for every three Chinese brought out of poverty, one American is thrust into poverty. But as an American patriot, this phenomenon bothers me A LOT.
So, yes, in a lot of ways, Trump is a buffoon. But under his buffoonery are some policies that he holds implicitly that deserve serious consideration: low, skills-based immigration, trade policies that retain American manufacturing capability, no unlimited defense guarantees to other countries as free riders, not fighting other peoples' wars unless there is a serious threat to the United States, and focusing on America first. I hated Trump in 2015. But at least I read about his instinctive policies. I've come around to being a strong MAGA-ite by 2020, though I loathed Trump's covid policies. He is an imperfect vessel for the policies I mentioned above, but these are the policies that will save America.
As far as I could tell, Trump's Covid policy was to develop and distribute a vaccine as fast as possible. He did it based on advice he got from "leading scientists." Turns out the advice and the FDAs EUA were all wrong, but Trump never supported a mandate, which was the real problem.
Right...never would or will ever support a mandate. That is 100% correct. With that said, why is IT he to this day touts the injections as a GOOD thing, and saved the day when in truth it's the exact opposite as most of us here have known for years and years. I will vote again for Trump, but this one issue sits in a very very deep dark place with me KNOWING friends and family whose lives were changed forever because of the injections. Just sayin and someone NEEDS too.
Couldn't agree more...it's the one big thing about which I SO wish he'd have a change of heart. But, his outsized ego can't go there yet. He was so proud to be the savior—The President who delivered the vax in record time. To admit to himself and the world that he actually oversaw the beginning of a true debacle, and in large part BECAUSE it happened so fast, is just too far a leap to make. And the saddest part of it all? IF he did admit it was a mistake, and acknowledge the massive pain and suffering it's caused, that candor would likely win him the election.
Hate "warp speed." Having just retired from teaching nursing pharmacology, clinical teaching today and 4 years ago is that it takes 5-7 years to develop a vaccine. Where the "best scientists" got off ignoring this is beyond me. Most vaccines trials, including the covid injection, did not include pregnant women but because of the EUA, and without concern for the unborn, pregnant women were encourage to take it? Trumps ego will not let him admit he missed this one. It would actually raise his stock with me if he admitted his experts were in the bag for the pharmaceutical industrial complex.
I do not ever see him facing the music on it unfortunately, and sooooo many LIVES effected. Calling it the greatest "allowed" crime against humanity in history is not a stretch, and to date not ONE person responsible for orchestrating it have remotely been held to account. Not ONE person on the entire planet EARTH. The absolute perfect crime. All of it was just ALLOWED.
My thoughts exactly.
Trump embraced Fauci and dumped an actual expert adviser: Dr. Scott Atlas. It was all downhill from there. It was pure Trumpism in action: denounce the Deep State and then appoint Deep State functionaries to important administrative positions.
In some ways Trump parallels the Elvis aura of being quite misunderstood. IF you have not known this about Elvis Presley it's a fascinating life of how he was perceived so differently by various generations and sectors of society.
Very interesting comment. I'm a big fan of the Theory of Comparative Advantage so will have to check out the book. For me free trade isn’t about selecting who you’re going to "lift out of poverty" vs who you’re going to "harm". It's about giving your innovators and consumers access to the most cost-effective products available to either enhance their living standards or allowing manufacturers the opportunity to be competitive internationally on costs. Admittedly one must be cautious about developing a dependence on hostile regimes for critical products but that is the only effective counter argument I'm aware of. Are there others you could share or are they mostly security focused?
Okay I’ll give you the canonical example that Ricardo might understand fully. The US is more efficient at producing both olive oil and aircraft than Spain is. But Spain had the comparative advantage in producing olive oil. So, Ricardo would say (and this does in fact happen today), that the US should focus on building aircraft and Spain should focus on making olive oil and then engage in mutual trade to mutual benefit. So far, this is both true and what actually happens.
And yet, what does focusing on production of olive oil really do for Spain? They become experts in making olive presses? In watering olive trees efficiently? In picking olive just exactly when they are ripe? Nothing wrong with these things, but they hardly push the country forward in any way. But the US gets a ton of externality benefits from focusing on aircraft production, including software, computers, materials, advances in aerodynamics, a highly skilled workforce of craftsman, mechanics, pilots. All of whom can now create new industries like space travel or new automotive advances, etc. Olive oil gets Spain some short term economic benefit from comparative advantage, but it’s a dead end from a long term perspective.
Second, Ricardo admits that his theory is based on the assumption that neither capital goods nor labor is highly mobile. But now, when German factories are disassembled, shipped to China, and reassembled in three months, the first is no longer true. And when Spanish aerospace engineers can simply hop over and work in the US, rather than stay in Spain, labor immobility is no longer true either. So if Ricardo was alive today, he’d be smart enough to see his assumptions are no longer true. If Spain—I pick on Spain because when researching this topic for another conversation I was surprised to see they surpassed both Italy and Greece in olive oil production—wants an aircraft industry, and there are plenty of reasons why it might want one, whether security related or simply to halt the brain drain to the US or France (where Airbus does most of its design work), then it has to nurture such an industry with tariffs or subsidies. Both are taxes on the people, and both bring down the short-term GDP per capita, I’m not going to lie to you about that. But maybe having a diversified industrial base where you can make your own aircraft (in this example) is worth a little GDP per capita in the short term.
Finally, during the pandemic we found out that almost all of our medical equipment and pharmaceuticals were made in China, so that we were essentially utterly dependent on the CCP for such minor things like ALL of our antibiotics. Does China have a comparative advantage in making antibiotics? Sure! Is this a good thing? I would think every single American would be up in arms demanding whatever it took to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US. Trump *totally failed* in this department in 2020, in fact arranging to buy *more* medical equipment and pharmaceuticals from China, not less. Why? Two reasons: 1) most drugs in the US are bought by Medicare and Medicaid and tariffs would greatly increase their prices, which would hurt both programs, and 2) all our political elites of both parties have too much money invested in China to want to stop that gravy train. For example, both Biden and McConnell are bought and paid for by China. All our big companies are, though both Boeing and Tesla are decoupling now gradually.
If we got into a war with China, we’d have no antibiotics to give our injured servicemen. Of course, China gets a lot of food from the US, and most of its oil through the Strait of Malacca, so it would be no picnic for them either. The Chinese, who are not dumb, are building an entire multi-trillion-dollar land-based trade network (the Belt and Road Initiative) to try to solve this geostrategic deficiency they have, being able to bring in Russian and Iranian oil by land rather than by sea to negate America’s seapower advantage. Food too. The US is fiddling around fighting Russia and other idiotic wastes of time and pushing DEI so hard that Taiwanese companies have totally given up on making computer chips in the US because they have to hire 3 unqualified DEI people for every one qualified person they hire under Biden Administration rules.
So you asked for more detail. I gave you both economic and security examples.
Great response! You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this. Thanks! It seems to me the world you describe is one where national leaders decide what types of activity might contribute to a nation’s overall standing in the world and then steer their citizens economic activity in that direction. That’s very different than envisioning a nation as a collection of individuals each attempting to prosper in their own way while enabled/protected by a transparent system of laws and shared infrastructure (ie roads, electricity etc.). That 2nd model is my vision as to what made America a superior country to live in. If I understand the olive oil example correctly, there were Americans who could have produced olive oil more efficiently than Spain but we’re somehow discouraged from doing so in the name of Comparative Advantage. If so that’s not how I understand the theory and I certainly disagree with that application. I totally agree that free trade must be tempered by legitimate security concerns as illustrated by your China example as applied to critical medical supplies. I’m Canadian but recognize the duty of an American government is to serve the interests of Americans. Applying tariffs to steel imports from Canada as Trump did or at least sought to do served no security objective whatsoever while advancing the interests of American steel producers at the expense of American steel consumers for what I believe to be an overall reduction in American productivity. A much more important decision from the Canadian perspective was Trump’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline which would have been a plus for America and Canada without a security downside.
Yes, America became rich in the 19th century because the government encouraged business and innovation. But America had a system of tariffs in place for most of the 19th century. Indeed, one of the causes of the American Civil War was the Whig/Republican desire for much higher tariffs at the expense of the South, whose exports of cotton would be subject to retaliation, and whose imports of European and Caribbean goods would be much more expensive. Since the South imported a lot more than the North, the South paid for a much greater percentage of the income of the Federal government. That’s why suggestions to use government funds to free the slaves met with rejection from the South: because it would be using their own money to recompense them for the loss of their (slave) property. In any event the US had serious tariffs up until the end of the Second World War. Sometimes normal (20%), sometimes punitive (60%). The punitive ones were the ones that caused controversy and economic hardship.
At the end of WWII, in the free world, essentially only the US was producing anything at all, the economies of the other European belligerents having been destroyed by the war. So the US started a policy (which continues to this day) of unilaterally lowering tariffs while allowing other countries to have higher tariffs. Even under GATT this is still true. America, in an attempt to re-energize the free nations of Europe and the Pacific, basically gave away a huge production advantage to all our new friends and allies.
(Canada is different, but the principle is still the same: Canadian tariffs on American goods are more than the reverse. I gave a computer to a Canadian friend and had to pay 20% duty on it, which was outrageous.)
So yes, the original Canadian people and the original American people are the best of friends. But 1) both our governments are at this time run by psychopaths, and 2) mass migration into both our countries means that the original English and French Canadians as well as the original European Americans—the people who love each other like brothers—are going to become minorities in our own countries. Depending on how things go, can the US really count on Canadian friendship in the future for critical items such as steel? Think about this using realpolitik. Countries don’t have friends; they have interests. And it’s in the interest of the US to have a functioning steel industry.
Government intervention in the economy tends to have negative consequences, because governments tend to be corrupt C-students. So I generally want less of it. But in the book I recommended above the author suggests a flat tariff of 10% except for a few strictly delimited military technologies, and I tend to agree with this approach.
I find little to disagree with here and much to agree with. For the record I didn't mean to come across as an advocate for Canada’s interests or it's policies. The relative merit of Canadian goverance vs the U.S. is best reflected if the fact that our per-capita productivity is roughly 30% less than yours. I only wanted to provide a couple of examples. The steel one being an example of net pain for no security gain. Perhaps it's semantics, but when you say "countries don't have friends, they have interests" I'm tempted to respond that "people have friends AND interests." Countries are not people and exist only to serve their citizens within the constitutional boundaries established by those citizens. Arbitrarily punishing some consumers within your nation (or mine) to artificially prop up some producers who can't or won't compete internationally is justified only when the international producers pose a credible threat to security of supply. I'm surprised and disappointed to learn about the tariff your Canadian friend had to pay on the computer. I thought our trade pact had eliminated all that with the unfortunate exception dairy products.
Skills-based immigration is just a code term for loading the country up with Indian and Chinese immigrants to make skilled labor cheaper. It is the same rationale as free trade and is supported by the same people: greedy business interests and the propagandists who work for them (e.g., The Cato Institute).
Whereas you're in favor of loading the country up with low-IQ immigrants to make unskilled labor cheaper?
The primary beneficiaries of free trade are consumers.
Immigration should be nearly zero. We can't educate and employ the people we have now. The net benefit of free trade is for those consumers whose jobs are not outsourced (typically, wealthier people). They get cheaper goods without losing their good paying jobs. For the working class, it is a disaster.
I've added the book to my list. I once saw a graph that showed that as global income in third world countries went up the average US income would go down. Do you happen to know if that graph is in the book or have a source for it?
What a great perspective! I have seen the vast difference in President Trump's outward persona, and the actions he has taken in office. I suspect JD Vance also has seen this, and changed his views on President Trump as a result. The America first movement must grow and expand to have a long term impact. JD Vance was (IMHO) a great choice to carry forward the torch President Trump ignited in 2015, when he announced his candidacy for President. Thank you Alex for posting this, and I hope you will carefully consider M's words. We have 2 possible paths forward for our country, a communist/socialist government controlled future (Harris/Walz) or a free market, individual rights centric future (Trump/Vance). I know what I will choose. The stakes couldn't be higher for all of us.
Exactly. We have two choices, stark choices. You got a horse to ride out of the war zone on. You aren't going to quibble if he has a few idiosyncrasies. Vance picked the horse that will get him to the next battle(s). You don't live the life he's led without learning how to resilient.
Do we have choices? Information suggests that the election will come down to 10,000 people in each of 7 states? There is really no major corrections in voting systems in those states? Is it possible that the Dems aren't worried that they have put up terrible candidates because it doesn't matter?
Maybe, but if you throw in the towel now, you guarantee loss. Get out there and TALK to folks. Are they voting for Open Borders? Are they voting for a Venezuelan economy? WWIII, etc.? Because there is only one clear choice if they are NOT voting for those things. Walz has never even owned a home? Paid a mortgage? GTFO.
I agree that it is possible the JD Vance has evolved--Trump too has evolved on positions he held decades earlier. Being able to change previously held views due to changing facts and circumstances is a laudable trait. I for one am willing to give JD Vance the benefit of the doubt. Given he is currently a Christian family man that is a good clue to his character.
Agreed. The man chose to leave VC and CA to put roots in Ohio. His wife is from CA. He made a conscious choice to put faith and family at the forefront of his life. As an Ohioan who relocated to CA, I admire him.
I have often made disparaging remarks about DJT because he often makes ridiculous comments about someone or something… BUT I have always voted for him BECAUSE of his policies NOT because of the way he acts/behaves or what words he utters. He didn't drain the swamp but HOPEFULLY, he will do so this time. I truly believe that American democracy (what is left of it in our corrupt political world) is doomed if the far left Democrats win another term. At 84, I don't really care happens in 2028 but for my grandkid's sake, I want to see freedom survive. I believe that the “Hillbilly” is the right person to carry the banner forward for ALL OF AMERICA.
I didn't vote Trump in 2016 (I voted 3rd party) but I did in 2020 and will this year. I don't like him (for the reasons you mention, and a few more), but the entire media's push on "Russian Collusion" opened my eyes that Trump could have achieved a lot more than he did if he had an actual 4 years to work, rather than constantly going up against the MSM in addition to the opposition, impeachments, etc. I won't forgive him for being manipulated into the lockdowns (the 15 days BS) and I haven't decided how beholden he is to the pharmaceutical industry because of the COVID vaccines and his rush to get them done. But when you look at the bigger picture and the direction of the country, it's a no brainer -- four more years of Democrat control will take our country to the brink of destruction with open borders, global unrest, and complete disdain for traditional American values and the Bill of Rights.
No ONE person any of us know could have withstood what the deep state has thrown at Trump since he walked down that escalator in 2015, and he even took a bullet for America and was steadfast DEFIANT of these MFer's after! He was the only person too walk thru such fire and has only become more empowered thru the intentional corrupted attacks using "we the people" $$ to do so. People forget WE pay for the WITCH hunt literally
Not so much about Vance but I remember 20 or 20 years ago my father met Donald Trump or at least heard him speak in a small group. Dad was very impressed with Trump because of how much he knew about the economics of real estate development and knew to the penny the costs of building materials, labor, utilities etc that ultimately determined the cost to construct something profitably. He seemed at least at the time to be business smart and not just flamboyant which impressed my father who spent a lifetime in the lumber and land business.
In 2016, Trump was my last choice for the Republican nominee for President. In 2023, I sent money to DeSantis. And now? I am buying Trump yard signs. The stark alternative is dangerous to the continuation of our country. Although, I must admit, I don't understand how JD Vance could even THINK about voting for a completely socialist, corrupt and venal Hillary, even in 2016. Perhaps watching Trump in office, and the results he got, changed his mind.
I hope M is right. Trump's foreign policy instincts are brilliant. Unfortunately, the establishment is dead set against his personal approach which at times is so upsetting and embarrassing to them. If we truly want a chance for peace Trump has to be the choice as difficult as it may seem "intellectually".
I think Trump was let down by having foreign policy staff who were beholden to the Bushes. It seems like his staff told Trump we couldn't just leave Afghanistan like he wanted and he agreed to that. Those folks should have no place in his staff if Trump wins.
Has the US State Department EVER acknowledged that they are supposed to represent US interests - not some other country?
I wonder if anyone else ever changed their minds on large matters in their 20’s and 30’s. Nah, just Vance apparently.
I don't usually agree with what I was thinking yesterday! 😎😁😳🤔🤯🧐
hahaha, good one!
I use to know everything when I was 13. In my late 70s I know a lot less than I use to. Life experiences sometimes cause a new line of thought.
Solid rebuttal, M.
Here's my story that supports M. I'm 59, worked on Republican campaigns in the late '80s and early 90s. Bush '88 and even Rudy for Mayor, 1989. (The first time when he lost.) I bailed on politics in 1992 when I realized political hacks were just that, hacks. They were not very sharp and filled with hangers on who search for the nearest coattail to jump on.
I couldn't stand Trump, and I thought his policy proposals in the 2016 campaign were simple and formulaic. My political hack friends had always said government was too complicated to simplify. I voted for Trump only because he wasn't Hillary...what do you know, simple worked. Good for Trump.
I know a lot of Never Trump and Neo-Con republicans from my time in politics. As a group, they are not the brightest bulbs on the porch. They believed that they were to inherit the Republican party, then Trump came and pulled the rug out from under them. They are bitter and resentful.
I grew up with Glenn Youngkin. He's probably the smartest person I've ever met. JD Vance is obviously whip-smart as well. America needs smart. Republicans need smart. It's not hard to see reason, but you'll never see it through the fog of bitterness, resentment and hatred.
Lead, follow or get out of the way.
Those establishment Republicans were sure after Jan 6th the R party would be theirs again. Mitch McConnell was salivating at the thought. (Before he froze at the podium) He withheld money from Republican candidates who supported Trump. He was fine with his party losing the midterms as long as no more Trump endorsed candidates were elected.
M’s comment displays refreshing intellectual depth.