This is a brilliant exchange. Both as an insightful panorama of the current geopolitical stage (and how we got here) and as a compass through the current anti-democratic cacophony and geopolitical news flow.
God, this is good. Worth reading + sharing again and again. A bounty of wisdom that underscores timeless truth claims while raising new ones. One the latter (mixed metaphor alert): I've long banged the drum for raising the curtain on Russian influence on the GOP and, by extension, its elected representatives. As one whose ancestors (4) fought in the Continental Army and were members of / public servants in the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike, it appalls me how what once was noble has declined. My hope is that exposure + transformation will occur, not extinction. May it be so, pronto. Again, deep thanks for this master class. 🙏🏾
Very Very Nice Article..... first time I heard "The imperative to get beyond “crotch” politics" .....a focus on the trivial. She makes a great deal of sense and her arguments are well-reasoned. Interesting observation about the "greatest generation" being the parents of WWII generation...who lived through WWI and the Great Depression. One wonders if there is a cycle of sentiment which underlies human behavior. Hard times train a population and engender key values (kindness, humility, etc) which serve as the basis for good times. Good times train the population with key values (arrogance, indifference, etc) ...which can lead to hard times. It is interesting that immigrants often serve as a dose of reality in good times.
This is one of the best articles I've read on your Substack!
"The connection between their personal well-being with a rules-based order at home and abroad" - there's a couple of isolationists on Twitter that need to realize this.
Absolutely spectacular! I am a 65 year old, white, former Marine officer. Oh, and a devout Christian. Not exactly the ideal profile for the Democratic Party. In fact, a lot of the sub-intellectual thinking from the elite left over the last 25 years has deeply troubled me. But I am also someone who believes the U.S. is the greatest and most wonderful democratic experiment the world has ever known (with all the horrible disclaimers - genocide and a brutal system of slavery among the most notable). I am praying with all my might that Trump will not be reelected. I might have some minor differences with Dr. Paine but she is largely spot on. If Trump returns to the Oval Office it will be a disaster for the country and the world that I believe could ultimately resemble Old Testament prophecy or sci-fi. I know the internet is filled with folks that think their hair is on fire. I hate that and really have almost never done that. But when I see the guy that was responsible for 1/6 as the “presumptive nominee” for the Republican Party my head starts feeling uncomfortably warm.
Before you go high-fiving me let me be clear. I think gender abolition is not “following the science”. CRT is an absurdly naive ideology and Judeo-Christianity laid the foundation for the Enlightenment, Democracy and the end of slavery. But I am pragmatic. A vote for Trump is a vote against this upward arc.
This was great but still depressing for me - the level of support for Trump suggests we don’t yet understand the gravity of our geopolitical situation let alone domestic.
I’ve noticed a few CnC positions available in my area (some with Kratos) and toyed with the idea - I think those would be very helpful in a time of conflict. But future job growth in that sector is nearly stagnant and there are ample opportunities elsewhere.
At a personal level I struggle with how to help/prepare but I dearly want to mostly because I fear what’s to come. I’m getting back into shape, eating better, shooting more, and planning to buy some drones. I’m making faraday boxes for those close to me.
But I don’t think Americans want to change their minds yet.
When buying drones--it's very hard to source non-Chinese drones. Do your homework on all your drone parts, and test everything to the best of your ability to make sure your drones can't report any data back to other countries. You probably won't need to go as far as buying off the Blue List (a list of federally cleared drones), but that may be a place to start.
I stopped reading when she started in with the hate speech against Republicans.
Who has misused the DOJ, the IRS and the FBI to push for banana republic absolute control? Not Republicans. I hear America's most intellectually myopic people, progressives, routinely tell me that the way to save democracy is to persecute your opponent. Have they ever read Machiavelli?
Over approximately 200 years we have seen both parties embarrass themselves with mindless idiotology, but persecuting the opposition and trying to break them thru abuse of the judicial system is a first. It's a first in the USA, that is. It's common practice under Putin. Jinping, Maduro, Mugabe and others. And now, it's common practice under Biden. Biden must be stopped. Period. This country and this world face no bigger threat than a Biden regime with unstoppable power. If you can't see that that is the Biden regime's objective, you must be a progressive.
I felt the same way. Her international analysis felt accurate and apolitical mostly. But her domestic analysis suffered from a pretty severe case of TDS.
Come to think of it, that makes me wonder about how accurate her international analysis is too.
This is the sort of response I would expect from a disinfo shop in St Petersburg. But perhaps it is real, which is the sadder conception: that it is difficult to decide which is more plausible; Russian disinformation versus sincere Republicanism.
Who am I to suggest a rugged individualist should adopt my conception of what constitutes partisan special pleading and what is revealed as PsychWar disinformation - when they become hard to distinguish?
You know, metaphorically sticking your fingers in your ears instead of actively listening to those who disagree with you sounds like a really effective way to make the world a better place. We should cancel these people because they're academics and progressives and therefore have no valuable insights to share!
WRT your point: "persecuting the opposition and trying to break them thru abuse of the judicial system is a first. It's a first in the USA, that is." -- what evidence do you have to support this claim? Does the phrase "Lock Her Up" ring a bell? Speaking of persecuting a politician through the abuse of the judicial system, perhaps this Wikipedia article will refresh your memory on the story of Merrick Garland and the 80 other federal judgeships nominated by Obama who failed to be approved by the Senate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_judicial_appointment_controversies
Notwithstanding the fact that you may have some valid points and there are valid criticisms to be made of her perspectives on the Republican party, it certainly isn't useful to stop reading and to tell everyone else to stop reading with ad hominem attacks of progressivism against the speaker. How will you ever be informed of her argument well enough to create an evidence-based counter-argument? When she wrote this line, "When only one opinion is acceptable and others are either shouted down or threatened with violence, that is called dictatorship—when the nastiest person least willing to play by the rules dictates to everyone else," she could easily have been pointing a finger at the progressive left, and she absolutely failed to do so. This diminishes her credibility, and that is a regrettable loss in an otherwise outstanding interview.
However, to further quote the article at a point which you may not have read to: "Democracies outperform dictatorships in global war and in peacetime economic growth in large part because of their citizens’ capacity to engage with each other’s differing ideas through argument, counterargument, and rebuttal, and engage not based on gotcha-moments over unfortunate word choices but based on a thoughtful engagement with the available evidence supporting one’s views AND a willingness to change one’s views as new evidence becomes available. Reassessment is not a flaw but a virtue."
"Lock her up".... Did that ever happen? No. Was Hilary ever prosecuted, much less persecuted? No. Did Trump EVER use the DOJ, the IRS or the FBI to go after political opponents? No.
Was the federal government of the United States of America, regardless of who was president, ever called a banana republic prior to Biden? No.
I am not convinced that Putin will attack NATO countries. the fact that so many experts take jt as given imply they think he’s mad. There is a Biden video explaining the red line in the early 90s that Putin says was crossed. Many experts completely disagree with the interviewee here.
Also the Trump animosity in the interview and comments are hard to understand, as he was the only president in recent memory not to get involved in a new war, proxy or otherwise, as well as creating normalization of relations between Israel and some Middle East countries. I don’t think people even understand why he got elected in 2016, and likely will this year. Most of the dictator-staying-in-power vibes come from the side with the guy in public office for 50-odd years and refusing to step aside.
Seriously? If Trumps approval of Jan. 6 and denial of election results doesn't convince you of his dictatorial ambitions perhaps his puppy love of N Korea style political leadership will. I get this all the time from my Trump friends, "no man, you just don't understand him", like the photo journalist defending Kurtz in 'Apocalypse Now'.
Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group analyzed the 900+page Heritage Foundation document for systematically dismantling US democracy if Trump is reelected.
There is no way to downplay the danger.
Trump doesn't care about the US or democracy. He simply wants criminal impunity, money and power. The dark money pulling the strings want to eliminate all corporate regulations and taxation, right-wing religious extremists want to impose their religion on the country, and right-wing White supremacists want to roll back civil rights.
Trump cares more about crushing dissent at home than ideological adventures abroad. But that goes hand in hand with his indifference to the international order. Mussolini made the same arguments, blaming his enemies for World War 1. In the end he got dragged into war anyway and was on the wrong side of it because he, like Trump, loved strongmen.
DJ, where do you see evidence that Trump wants to "crush dissent at home"? COVID was a wanna-be dictator's wet dream: a public health emergency that could be leveraged for maximum personal power to crush dissent. He did not. Given every opportunity to aggregate power to himself, he deferred to states and governors, instead using federal authority to drive the one thing it needed to do: deliver a vaccine.
Trump's rhetoric worries me too. But actions speak louder than words. But despite chanting "lock her up" in 2016, he never tried to have his DOJ imprison Hillary Clinton or Comey or any other prominent Democrats. And he could have -- a federal prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. However the Biden administration is pulling out all the stops to imprison Trump. Makes you wonder which side really has dictatorial ambitions.
This is just gaslighting. Supporting Jan 6 is not evidence of crushing dissent? The Georgia "find me the votes" call isn't evidence? And of course, he is crushing dissent first and foremost within the Republican party, destroying any and all candidates who do not kiss his ring.
Screaming "gaslighting" is a sign someone has has no actual answer to an argument.
And "crushing dissent with the Party" is exactly what every primary candidate in every political party has always done. That's literally the job in a primary.
I will say it again: Trump had every opportunity in 2020 to become a dictator. He took none of them.
Grand juries and juries are not, "The Biden Administration." Have you gone commie on us and don't even support the great system of justice we have in this nation?
Trump absolutely tried to put Hillary and others in prison. Don McGahn and his team wrote a memo explaining they had no basis and that if he did it we would likely be impeached.
Since then he's been impeached twice, but with no consequences in the Senate. He "learned his lesson" that he can act with impunity as long as there are fewer than 67 senators willing to convict.
Re: the Biden DOJ -- after January 6 multiple Senators and congressman said Trump should face legal consequences. The vast majority of the witnesses for the January 6 committee were Republicans *who worked for Trump.* It would be malpractice *not* to investigate.
The Fani Willis shenanigans in Georgia stink to high heaven.
In both cases, these "prosecutors" ran for office promising to be persecutors: "I'll GET Donald Trump!" That alone is a terrible red flag. I would never vote for a DA or AG who promised to use the office to "go after" a particular person, regardless of how reprehensible I found that person's political views. It's just wrong.
Is it justice for a jury to give $80M to a aging advice columnist who allegedly lost her job because Trump "defamed her" by saying that he hadn't raped her at some unspecified time in the past that she can't remember? That whole case is just Kavanagh all over. And the NY Legislature passed a law to make the case possible, a law that appears to have been targeted to a single man: Donald Trump.
Trump is an ass. Trump may even be a criminal. But this process is reprehensible. If the Democrats are allowed to get away with this, lawfare will be their new standard campaign tactic for the next generation. Why run an campaign when you can use friendly prosecutors to tie up your opposition in court cases the whole time?
And it won't stay with Democrats. Republicans won't like it, but if those are the new rules, they will start doing the same thing. Do you really want to live in a banana republic? Because that's what we're creating here.
The Manhattan DA trial is specious, I'll grant that.
9 people voted to find Trump guilty. Take it up with them. The purpose of that verdict is show him that defamation has consequences, something he didn't learn from the first trial.
The NY AG trial is loooooong overdue. Allegations of shady behavior by the Trump Organization were talked about long before he was president. Most banks had stopped lending to him because of it.
The Georgia trial is a natural consequence of his attempts to intimidate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and only possible because he correctly guessed that recording Trump's call with him was the best way to protect himself. He and the former Lt Governor have had to hire personal security for their families because of Trump's threats.
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger have spoken about how several House members told them they wanted to vote for impeachment but feared for their safety. There is no analog for that on the left.
It clearly is the left that has done all it can to play COVID into an excuse for ever-increasing central control of everybody and everything. Let's all remember that the federal government was meant to have little to no influence in our personal lives. It is the states that have the authority to initiate health mandates, educational mandates, or whatever mandate is being mandated. I keep repeating the word 'mandate' to emphasize the degree to which we are being 'mandated' in a country that used to be known as the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I keep asking the TDSers to name one law that Trump violated on Jan 6. I get boatloads of hyperbole, but no real answers. In a free country, if there is no law against it, you are free to do it. It is in totalitarian countries that you must tow some invisible line, or they will come and get you. And that's how it is under progressivism. Remember, Hitler was a progressive. Progressives will deny that, of course. But that doesn't mean it's not true.
Amit, I understand where you’re coming from; it’s easy to take Putin’s words at face value. Still, I would invite you to reconsider your position. Take these words, for example:
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.” [1]
To be clear, Putin sees Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, etc. as wayward citizens. While he didn’t explicitly state so in the quote above, it’s clear that he sees them “as one people” in some of his other writings, such as his infamous essay “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”. [2] In his mind, the Russian Empire itself (“Russkiy Mir”) is the “rightful home” of all slavic peoples, and it is his job of restoring it to its former glory. Putin also voraciously reads Ivan Ilyin [3], a fascist, and follows his teachings to the letter to the extent that he can.
If Ukraine falls, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are next. Likely Poland, too, in order to close the Suwałki Gap (the area that keeps the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad inaccessible by land from Belarus and therefore, by proxy, from Russia).
Insightful comment! I'd also point to Peter Zeihan's geographic analysis, which he (very) briefly synopsizes here: https://youtu.be/rkuhWA9GdCo?si=f08PibSeWQFbsbAq (this is a short 3.5 minutes long spotlight from a longer presentation he did in 2017).
Trump escalated Yemen and we were having as many combat casualties as we are having now under Trump. So this Iran proxy terrorist group killed troops in March of 2020 after we took out an Iranian general. And Iran also shot down a commercial plane half full of Canadians as retaliation for Trump killing the general.
I found her thesis entirely unsatisfactory. This is nothing more than narrative history which Noah had criticised in the past, but now accepts without any push back. She points to no data. Just a bunch of case studies at best. Again, just a narrative. When Noah asks if there is any evidence for maritime powers being more democratic, she provides nothing. The only data point she uses is the one about the importance of shipping and coastal economies. She creates this entire thesis just from this one data point. She's not an academic. She's at best a narrative historian which is nothing more than a propagandist.
To all those might want to label a far rightist or leftist. I'm not. Although I'm not American I do support most of her prescriptions.
She didn't point to any data about maritime powers tending to be more democratic than continental powers because it's too apparent. U.S, UK, Japan are the only maritime powers and all of them are democratic, while Russia and China are authoritarian regimes. In the past, the U.K and U.S adopted democracy at a comparatively earlier time compared to continental powers like France, Prussia, all other empires in Europe and all other empires around the World.
It's not narrative history just because she wants to reach out to broader audiences, many of whom has no expertise in this area, by making it easier and more interesting to read.
This is a brilliant exchange. Both as an insightful panorama of the current geopolitical stage (and how we got here) and as a compass through the current anti-democratic cacophony and geopolitical news flow.
God, this is good. Worth reading + sharing again and again. A bounty of wisdom that underscores timeless truth claims while raising new ones. One the latter (mixed metaphor alert): I've long banged the drum for raising the curtain on Russian influence on the GOP and, by extension, its elected representatives. As one whose ancestors (4) fought in the Continental Army and were members of / public servants in the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike, it appalls me how what once was noble has declined. My hope is that exposure + transformation will occur, not extinction. May it be so, pronto. Again, deep thanks for this master class. 🙏🏾
Agreed- let the party owned by the Chinese win!
Excellent! And thank you for making it freely available.
Very Very Nice Article..... first time I heard "The imperative to get beyond “crotch” politics" .....a focus on the trivial. She makes a great deal of sense and her arguments are well-reasoned. Interesting observation about the "greatest generation" being the parents of WWII generation...who lived through WWI and the Great Depression. One wonders if there is a cycle of sentiment which underlies human behavior. Hard times train a population and engender key values (kindness, humility, etc) which serve as the basis for good times. Good times train the population with key values (arrogance, indifference, etc) ...which can lead to hard times. It is interesting that immigrants often serve as a dose of reality in good times.
This is one of the best articles I've read on your Substack!
"The connection between their personal well-being with a rules-based order at home and abroad" - there's a couple of isolationists on Twitter that need to realize this.
This is one of the best articles I’ve read on ANY Substack.
Superb. But now you’ve whetted our appetite for the experts Paine mentioned--on European defense, US production, et al.
As Paine might say, this was not the dessert but the delicious hors d’oeuvres for the banquet we’re now expecting from you in 2024.
She is so good at interviews. Clear explanations of concepts. No vanity or blabla. Just good analysis. A true role model for analysis.
Absolutely spectacular! I am a 65 year old, white, former Marine officer. Oh, and a devout Christian. Not exactly the ideal profile for the Democratic Party. In fact, a lot of the sub-intellectual thinking from the elite left over the last 25 years has deeply troubled me. But I am also someone who believes the U.S. is the greatest and most wonderful democratic experiment the world has ever known (with all the horrible disclaimers - genocide and a brutal system of slavery among the most notable). I am praying with all my might that Trump will not be reelected. I might have some minor differences with Dr. Paine but she is largely spot on. If Trump returns to the Oval Office it will be a disaster for the country and the world that I believe could ultimately resemble Old Testament prophecy or sci-fi. I know the internet is filled with folks that think their hair is on fire. I hate that and really have almost never done that. But when I see the guy that was responsible for 1/6 as the “presumptive nominee” for the Republican Party my head starts feeling uncomfortably warm.
Before you go high-fiving me let me be clear. I think gender abolition is not “following the science”. CRT is an absurdly naive ideology and Judeo-Christianity laid the foundation for the Enlightenment, Democracy and the end of slavery. But I am pragmatic. A vote for Trump is a vote against this upward arc.
Thanks for this. Many thanks.
What a find! A true veteran of the 20th century with all its heaven and hell.
I also discovered her on Dwarkesh's podcast, ordered her book, and now am glad to see this 💚 🥃
This was great but still depressing for me - the level of support for Trump suggests we don’t yet understand the gravity of our geopolitical situation let alone domestic.
I’ve noticed a few CnC positions available in my area (some with Kratos) and toyed with the idea - I think those would be very helpful in a time of conflict. But future job growth in that sector is nearly stagnant and there are ample opportunities elsewhere.
At a personal level I struggle with how to help/prepare but I dearly want to mostly because I fear what’s to come. I’m getting back into shape, eating better, shooting more, and planning to buy some drones. I’m making faraday boxes for those close to me.
But I don’t think Americans want to change their minds yet.
When buying drones--it's very hard to source non-Chinese drones. Do your homework on all your drone parts, and test everything to the best of your ability to make sure your drones can't report any data back to other countries. You probably won't need to go as far as buying off the Blue List (a list of federally cleared drones), but that may be a place to start.
I stopped reading when she started in with the hate speech against Republicans.
Who has misused the DOJ, the IRS and the FBI to push for banana republic absolute control? Not Republicans. I hear America's most intellectually myopic people, progressives, routinely tell me that the way to save democracy is to persecute your opponent. Have they ever read Machiavelli?
Over approximately 200 years we have seen both parties embarrass themselves with mindless idiotology, but persecuting the opposition and trying to break them thru abuse of the judicial system is a first. It's a first in the USA, that is. It's common practice under Putin. Jinping, Maduro, Mugabe and others. And now, it's common practice under Biden. Biden must be stopped. Period. This country and this world face no bigger threat than a Biden regime with unstoppable power. If you can't see that that is the Biden regime's objective, you must be a progressive.
To quote former Congressman Barney Frank:
On what planet do you spend most of your time?
I felt the same way. Her international analysis felt accurate and apolitical mostly. But her domestic analysis suffered from a pretty severe case of TDS.
Come to think of it, that makes me wonder about how accurate her international analysis is too.
The US navy should stick to Alfred Thayer Mahan!
I pity newly minted navy captains! Tactics and logistic poor, and strategy misguided.
She has no interest in US national policy on the "one China"!
She is wholly bought in to the 'domino theory' and that Xi and Putin are Hitler/Genghis reincarnated.
She is better suited to work for neocons and ISW than Naval War College.
This is the sort of response I would expect from a disinfo shop in St Petersburg. But perhaps it is real, which is the sadder conception: that it is difficult to decide which is more plausible; Russian disinformation versus sincere Republicanism.
I'm sure you have a point. Would you mind explaining what it is?
Who am I to suggest a rugged individualist should adopt my conception of what constitutes partisan special pleading and what is revealed as PsychWar disinformation - when they become hard to distinguish?
You know, metaphorically sticking your fingers in your ears instead of actively listening to those who disagree with you sounds like a really effective way to make the world a better place. We should cancel these people because they're academics and progressives and therefore have no valuable insights to share!
WRT your point: "persecuting the opposition and trying to break them thru abuse of the judicial system is a first. It's a first in the USA, that is." -- what evidence do you have to support this claim? Does the phrase "Lock Her Up" ring a bell? Speaking of persecuting a politician through the abuse of the judicial system, perhaps this Wikipedia article will refresh your memory on the story of Merrick Garland and the 80 other federal judgeships nominated by Obama who failed to be approved by the Senate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_judicial_appointment_controversies
Notwithstanding the fact that you may have some valid points and there are valid criticisms to be made of her perspectives on the Republican party, it certainly isn't useful to stop reading and to tell everyone else to stop reading with ad hominem attacks of progressivism against the speaker. How will you ever be informed of her argument well enough to create an evidence-based counter-argument? When she wrote this line, "When only one opinion is acceptable and others are either shouted down or threatened with violence, that is called dictatorship—when the nastiest person least willing to play by the rules dictates to everyone else," she could easily have been pointing a finger at the progressive left, and she absolutely failed to do so. This diminishes her credibility, and that is a regrettable loss in an otherwise outstanding interview.
However, to further quote the article at a point which you may not have read to: "Democracies outperform dictatorships in global war and in peacetime economic growth in large part because of their citizens’ capacity to engage with each other’s differing ideas through argument, counterargument, and rebuttal, and engage not based on gotcha-moments over unfortunate word choices but based on a thoughtful engagement with the available evidence supporting one’s views AND a willingness to change one’s views as new evidence becomes available. Reassessment is not a flaw but a virtue."
"Lock her up".... Did that ever happen? No. Was Hilary ever prosecuted, much less persecuted? No. Did Trump EVER use the DOJ, the IRS or the FBI to go after political opponents? No.
Was the federal government of the United States of America, regardless of who was president, ever called a banana republic prior to Biden? No.
I am not convinced that Putin will attack NATO countries. the fact that so many experts take jt as given imply they think he’s mad. There is a Biden video explaining the red line in the early 90s that Putin says was crossed. Many experts completely disagree with the interviewee here.
Also the Trump animosity in the interview and comments are hard to understand, as he was the only president in recent memory not to get involved in a new war, proxy or otherwise, as well as creating normalization of relations between Israel and some Middle East countries. I don’t think people even understand why he got elected in 2016, and likely will this year. Most of the dictator-staying-in-power vibes come from the side with the guy in public office for 50-odd years and refusing to step aside.
Seriously? If Trumps approval of Jan. 6 and denial of election results doesn't convince you of his dictatorial ambitions perhaps his puppy love of N Korea style political leadership will. I get this all the time from my Trump friends, "no man, you just don't understand him", like the photo journalist defending Kurtz in 'Apocalypse Now'.
Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group analyzed the 900+page Heritage Foundation document for systematically dismantling US democracy if Trump is reelected.
There is no way to downplay the danger.
Trump doesn't care about the US or democracy. He simply wants criminal impunity, money and power. The dark money pulling the strings want to eliminate all corporate regulations and taxation, right-wing religious extremists want to impose their religion on the country, and right-wing White supremacists want to roll back civil rights.
Trump cares more about crushing dissent at home than ideological adventures abroad. But that goes hand in hand with his indifference to the international order. Mussolini made the same arguments, blaming his enemies for World War 1. In the end he got dragged into war anyway and was on the wrong side of it because he, like Trump, loved strongmen.
DJ, where do you see evidence that Trump wants to "crush dissent at home"? COVID was a wanna-be dictator's wet dream: a public health emergency that could be leveraged for maximum personal power to crush dissent. He did not. Given every opportunity to aggregate power to himself, he deferred to states and governors, instead using federal authority to drive the one thing it needed to do: deliver a vaccine.
Trump's rhetoric worries me too. But actions speak louder than words. But despite chanting "lock her up" in 2016, he never tried to have his DOJ imprison Hillary Clinton or Comey or any other prominent Democrats. And he could have -- a federal prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. However the Biden administration is pulling out all the stops to imprison Trump. Makes you wonder which side really has dictatorial ambitions.
This is just gaslighting. Supporting Jan 6 is not evidence of crushing dissent? The Georgia "find me the votes" call isn't evidence? And of course, he is crushing dissent first and foremost within the Republican party, destroying any and all candidates who do not kiss his ring.
Screaming "gaslighting" is a sign someone has has no actual answer to an argument.
And "crushing dissent with the Party" is exactly what every primary candidate in every political party has always done. That's literally the job in a primary.
I will say it again: Trump had every opportunity in 2020 to become a dictator. He took none of them.
Grand juries and juries are not, "The Biden Administration." Have you gone commie on us and don't even support the great system of justice we have in this nation?
Trump absolutely tried to put Hillary and others in prison. Don McGahn and his team wrote a memo explaining they had no basis and that if he did it we would likely be impeached.
https://apnews.com/article/060ca2399a744b4a9554dbd2ec276a90
Since then he's been impeached twice, but with no consequences in the Senate. He "learned his lesson" that he can act with impunity as long as there are fewer than 67 senators willing to convict.
Re: the Biden DOJ -- after January 6 multiple Senators and congressman said Trump should face legal consequences. The vast majority of the witnesses for the January 6 committee were Republicans *who worked for Trump.* It would be malpractice *not* to investigate.
DJ, can you honestly tell me that the NY fraud trial is "justice"? Even AP News is questioning that.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-business-law-courts-banks-lending-punishment-2ee9e509a28c24d0cda92da2f9a9b689
The Fani Willis shenanigans in Georgia stink to high heaven.
In both cases, these "prosecutors" ran for office promising to be persecutors: "I'll GET Donald Trump!" That alone is a terrible red flag. I would never vote for a DA or AG who promised to use the office to "go after" a particular person, regardless of how reprehensible I found that person's political views. It's just wrong.
Is it justice for a jury to give $80M to a aging advice columnist who allegedly lost her job because Trump "defamed her" by saying that he hadn't raped her at some unspecified time in the past that she can't remember? That whole case is just Kavanagh all over. And the NY Legislature passed a law to make the case possible, a law that appears to have been targeted to a single man: Donald Trump.
Trump is an ass. Trump may even be a criminal. But this process is reprehensible. If the Democrats are allowed to get away with this, lawfare will be their new standard campaign tactic for the next generation. Why run an campaign when you can use friendly prosecutors to tie up your opposition in court cases the whole time?
And it won't stay with Democrats. Republicans won't like it, but if those are the new rules, they will start doing the same thing. Do you really want to live in a banana republic? Because that's what we're creating here.
The Manhattan DA trial is specious, I'll grant that.
9 people voted to find Trump guilty. Take it up with them. The purpose of that verdict is show him that defamation has consequences, something he didn't learn from the first trial.
The NY AG trial is loooooong overdue. Allegations of shady behavior by the Trump Organization were talked about long before he was president. Most banks had stopped lending to him because of it.
The Georgia trial is a natural consequence of his attempts to intimidate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and only possible because he correctly guessed that recording Trump's call with him was the best way to protect himself. He and the former Lt Governor have had to hire personal security for their families because of Trump's threats.
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger have spoken about how several House members told them they wanted to vote for impeachment but feared for their safety. There is no analog for that on the left.
It clearly is the left that has done all it can to play COVID into an excuse for ever-increasing central control of everybody and everything. Let's all remember that the federal government was meant to have little to no influence in our personal lives. It is the states that have the authority to initiate health mandates, educational mandates, or whatever mandate is being mandated. I keep repeating the word 'mandate' to emphasize the degree to which we are being 'mandated' in a country that used to be known as the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I keep asking the TDSers to name one law that Trump violated on Jan 6. I get boatloads of hyperbole, but no real answers. In a free country, if there is no law against it, you are free to do it. It is in totalitarian countries that you must tow some invisible line, or they will come and get you. And that's how it is under progressivism. Remember, Hitler was a progressive. Progressives will deny that, of course. But that doesn't mean it's not true.
Amit, I understand where you’re coming from; it’s easy to take Putin’s words at face value. Still, I would invite you to reconsider your position. Take these words, for example:
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.” [1]
To be clear, Putin sees Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, etc. as wayward citizens. While he didn’t explicitly state so in the quote above, it’s clear that he sees them “as one people” in some of his other writings, such as his infamous essay “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”. [2] In his mind, the Russian Empire itself (“Russkiy Mir”) is the “rightful home” of all slavic peoples, and it is his job of restoring it to its former glory. Putin also voraciously reads Ivan Ilyin [3], a fascist, and follows his teachings to the letter to the extent that he can.
If Ukraine falls, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are next. Likely Poland, too, in order to close the Suwałki Gap (the area that keeps the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad inaccessible by land from Belarus and therefore, by proxy, from Russia).
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7632057
[2] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Ilyin
Insightful comment! I'd also point to Peter Zeihan's geographic analysis, which he (very) briefly synopsizes here: https://youtu.be/rkuhWA9GdCo?si=f08PibSeWQFbsbAq (this is a short 3.5 minutes long spotlight from a longer presentation he did in 2017).
Trump escalated Yemen and we were having as many combat casualties as we are having now under Trump. So this Iran proxy terrorist group killed troops in March of 2020 after we took out an Iranian general. And Iran also shot down a commercial plane half full of Canadians as retaliation for Trump killing the general.
I found her thesis entirely unsatisfactory. This is nothing more than narrative history which Noah had criticised in the past, but now accepts without any push back. She points to no data. Just a bunch of case studies at best. Again, just a narrative. When Noah asks if there is any evidence for maritime powers being more democratic, she provides nothing. The only data point she uses is the one about the importance of shipping and coastal economies. She creates this entire thesis just from this one data point. She's not an academic. She's at best a narrative historian which is nothing more than a propagandist.
To all those might want to label a far rightist or leftist. I'm not. Although I'm not American I do support most of her prescriptions.
She didn't point to any data about maritime powers tending to be more democratic than continental powers because it's too apparent. U.S, UK, Japan are the only maritime powers and all of them are democratic, while Russia and China are authoritarian regimes. In the past, the U.K and U.S adopted democracy at a comparatively earlier time compared to continental powers like France, Prussia, all other empires in Europe and all other empires around the World.
It's not narrative history just because she wants to reach out to broader audiences, many of whom has no expertise in this area, by making it easier and more interesting to read.
Outstanding
Excellent observation,