Trump tweets again
I’ve said before that I’ve given up on covering every little thing Trump does.
It’s wearying, and it doesn’t really affect the big picture. Then again, each incident does have some small effect, perhaps cumulative. And some of the incidents are depressing.
Such as, for example, the Trump news du jour. I’ll leave it to others to deconstruct the details—and there are plenty of articles at that link I just gave, if you care to follow it closely. But suffice to say that Trump has tweeted something about the so-called “travel ban” (currently being considered by SCOTUS for a ruling) that is designed to make his base happy, outrage and delight the opposition (“delight” because they think it will hurt his cause), and confuse and exhaust just about everyone else.
I fully expecteded the Trump presidency to be replete with incidents like this. It has been. What their ultimate effect will be I do not know. His defenders will say he’s a wily fox playing 10-dimensional chess again. His detractors will say he’s nuts, power-mad, and destructive.
“His defenders will say he’s a wily fox playing 10-dimensional chess again. His detractors will say he’s nuts, power-mad, and destructive.”
I don’t think it’s either. It’s just Trump doing what he always does. This is who he is.
For example, his willful misunderstanding of what the Mayor of London meant by “no reason to be alarmed”. Think whatever you want about London’s mayor, Trump took what he said out of context.
He has a need to over and over again remind everyone of who the alpha dog is. He’s a bully, so he doesn’t just screw you over, he takes your dignity. All that kind of stuff.
I don’t think his tweeting is inconsequential. He’s hurting his case in the SC by calling it a “Travel Ban”. He’s infuriating our allies.
Now, it can be OK to infuriate your allies if the cause is important enough. But he’s just jerking their chains for . . . the fun of it, I guess. And to excite and delight his followers.
I for one wish he had a tweet editor.
Bill,
I too think djt needs a filter, but in many instances I think his tweets (I don’t twitter but read many of them second hand) are aimed at trolling the leftists. In this particular instance he was not commenting to the mayor’s actual message. However, Khan has stated in the past that Londoners and the EU in general have to accept a level (undefined) of terrorism. That is what is worthy of a negative comment.
And yes, Trump will be Trump. Almost every POTUS is a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Parker
Time will tell. Maybe this stuff resonates with a majority of voters. It doesn’t resonate with me.
Regarding the mayor of London: if Trump was referring to past statements he should have said so. He has no class.
It’s a little weird to have a troll for a President.
If Neo is making a point, it seems to be her conclusion
“that [Trump’s tweet] is designed to make his base happy, outrage and delight the opposition (“delight” because they think it will hurt his cause), and confuse and exhaust just about everyone else.”
I do not care about tweets, by or for anyone, and suggest she join me.
In this particular case, Trump is bringing public pressure on both the DoJ lawyers handling the appeal process and on SCOTUS to take the case as an emergency action.
I strongly suspect that many in the DoJ are actively slow-walking every single part of this process hoping to drag it out until the Supreme Court adjourns for the Summer. Without the tweets, there is literally zero pressure to do anything else because the media won’t be talking about it otherwise.
Bill: Khan is a pig, and Europe is full of fools and leftists (often the same thing). Jihad is the new normal indeed…. as per a Muslim mayor of London. Who has no “class”?
Bill —do you actually believe the average Londoner doesn’t know that the reason there are armed police on the streets is because there are terrorists roaming free?
A good tweet may be a brilliant display of logic, given how much needs to be packed into few words or it may be an emotional outburst.
I don’t follow twitter, but I read many of his tweets that have been extremely clever, My immediate reaction to the travel ban tweet was actually positive. I judged it real.
I didn’t think it was political, he wasn’t playing the Washington game, of professing one thing while pushing the other thing. Did it hurt the case? Probably not.
I’ve read a couple of theories why Trump tweeted about the travel ban and it pretty much follows form. The critics thing it was horrible, Here’s a critic that doesn’t think it will affect the SC ruling though.
Paul Mirengoff at Powerline, not exactly a Trump enthusiast:
“This Wall Street Journal editorial claims that the president’s tweets “sabotage the legitimate legal basis for the travel ban.” It says the president “has given liberal judges Twitter evidence to conclude that his motives may be suspect.”
The Twitter evidence is that Trump would like to go further than he did to limit travel. The Twitter evidence is that Department of Justice lawyers reined him in.
It would be unprecedented, I think, for the Supreme Court to strike down an act of the president (or of Congress) because in his heart of hearts he would like to have gone further than he did. And, as I suggested above, a Court that would act in such an unprecedented way doesn’t need Twitter evidence.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/06/trumps-tweets-and-the-travel-ban-case.php
While the leftists on the court will imagine some precedent to affirm the lower courts “New Evolving Constitution” and the conservatives aren’t paying any attention to Trump the Tweeter anyway, he may be daring Kennedy to join the Dark Side, That is if you think it’s 4D chess.
Trump may have just decided he got bad advice from the lawyers.
I like Yancey Ward’s take on it at 4:53..
Richard.
I figure Londoners know what’s going on.
That wasn’t really my point.
Bill: :no reason to be alarmed,” and discussion of a deadly terrorist attack have no business being together. No matter how one tries to spin it, Trump was right. Khan’s words lacked careful forethought and Trump rightfully jumped on the likely Freudian slip.
Does a good/strong leader tell their people to panic?
I’m not here to defend London’s terror strategy. Obviously England is in a tough spot and there is plenty of room to criticize.
My belief is that Trump was wrong to pile on after the terrorist attack. It was classless but basically predictable. Many/most of you may disagree with me.
What I’m not sure about, but what his voters need to be thinking about, is does his twitter behavior help or hurt his cause regarding his hoped-for agenda? Is it earning him votes for 2020, or more importantly is it helping his party’s cause for 2018? Will it help pass the health care bill or his travel ban or etc?
I know it works with you, his supporters. Is it working outside that demographic?
Honest questions.
Hi Bill…re President Trump & Twitter…
“Is it earning him votes for 2020, or more importantly is it helping his party’s cause for 2018?” Not just honest questions…excellent questions…and the best I have is a shot at an answer.
If you look at the county-by-county electoral map of the 2016 win by Trump, I’m going to assume (I have no way of knowing this one for sure) his across-the-board voter base is expanding because so much of what he says now is either right, or resonates with what his base already accepts as true, and the left isn’t helping the folks in the middle by their on-going revolt & revolting behaviour.
Khan, as London mayor, hosts a party for nations that ban Israeli immigration, but attacks the idea (and idea holder) that Islamic trouble spots should have restrictions on immigrant flow.
Khan assumes terrorism is here to stay. And as others have noted, this isn’t terrorism it’s jihad…those who are blowing themselves & children up, running over & stabbing innocents, & shooting cartoonists are jihadis…for them it is war.
So…I say “Yes” Trump is capitalizing on events & public islamists like Khan and the newly self-martyred & making people more inclined to agree with him. The next regional elections should be the bellwether.
The real interesting thing will be the UK elections this week.
Could I be completely wrong? Yes.
Trump is nuts, power-mad, and destructive but he thinks he is a wily fox playing 10-dimensional chess.
So apparently do his supporters…
Slightly off topic, but if SCOTUS does take one of the travel ban cases I would love to see the lawyer for the US make an oral motion at the hearing that RBG recuse herself. Fireworks!
Why every time a supposedly tolerant and welcoming liberal man disagrees with what someone’s saying the first thing he says back to the person is “you are not welcome” yup，lets fight russia leakings with more leakings，lets fight intolerant with more intolerant and fight racism with more racism. Dont liberals like to claim they are better people？ you should listen to hillary’s good friend michelle obama’s words of wisdom when they go low you go high
Cornhead – I think conservative media is starting to bring that issue up so more people are aware of it and perhaps it does become a bigger issue during the SCOTUS hearings.
I think Trump has toned down his tweets. I am not concerned about them since the more the press has a fit about the small stuff, then they are seen as being petty. And, things are getting down or not down – http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2017/06/06/trump-achieving-historic-reduction-regulation-costs/
I think Americans are more than a little informed about euphemisms in the court, in politics, in schools, in science, etc. Case in point: Pro-Choice. Everyone knows what happens behind the close doors of an abortion chamber. Too many good Americans, I suppose; and not a few Twilighters.
Also, [class] diversity, congruence (“=”), separation of Church (i.e. organized faith, e.g. twilight, organized religious/moral/behavioral protocols) and State, redistributive change, consensus/flat earth science, etc.
So, Trump trolls them, exposes them, and the People ignore them, in the press, in the schools, in the alt-left cultures from coast to coast, and ivory towers, too.
I am not much given to idealizing human beings, having known too many too well, but I adore what President Trump represents and what he is trying so hard to do.
Is he a flawed, venal, impulsive human being?
Yes, indeed. But as Churchill, (whom I see many of your commenters rightly admire), was fond of quoting: “Great men are seldom good men”.
(By the way, it ought never be overlooked by those of us from the political center to the right that those condemning President Trump most hysterically for his character flaws supported a candidate in Hillary who was by many orders of magnitude far more venal and flawed).
And while I’m at it: how dare those same progressives insult the world by declaring it to be axiomatic that HRC was the best qualified person since Washington to ever run for the presidency when she wasn’t even remotely as qualified as the man who immediately succeeded him.
Progressives of course aren’t ignorant of the achievements of your pantheon of great presidents from Adams, Jefferson and Madison through Lincoln and the Roosevelts to Reagan. It just goes with the territory for cultural commissars to underestimate the public and assume that they will swallow everything they are told.
Would I have wished Donald Trump elected in good, routine, happy times? Certainly not.
He is a most unusual man but that doesn’t make him crazy or evil or unworthy of the presidency in this particular inch of time.
President Trump possesses, along with his flaws, a number of personal qualities that are as rare as they are beneficial and which are vital if he is to be the change-agent the US and the west desperately need at this time.
Put at its most basic, President Trump is the “re-set button” that the western world desperately needs right now.
Taking on the western world’s entrenched political culture means doing battle with the immensely powerful interests invested in sustaining it. That is not overblown – it is simply the truth and all reasonable people know it.
A majority of Americans in a majority of the states recognized this and voted for him despite knowing that the polls all promised that a vote for Trump was a wasted vote. I, myself, reluctantly accepted that was truth as I surveyed the polls between the two conventions and the election. Yes, the gulf narrowed in the polls when things were looking worst for Hillary, but he never overtook her.
In such circumstances, voting for Trump was just not rational and that it nevertheless happened indicates that the people were so dispirited and alienated from the political culture that they would rather have torn down the structure than acquiesce to more of the same.
In a society where that is the case things must change and for things to change ideas and safe, settled notions must first change.
The Trump candidacy would never have succeeded if the times were not so desperate. The times called forth the right man as it has so often seemed to do through US history.
At this point in history moral courage, a brash willingness to upset the settled order and to endure the resulting scorn of the influential – along with a commitment to speaking the forbidden truths that all reasonable people recognize but are forbidden to utter are the primary requirements for a meaningful tenure in “the bully pulpit” of the American Presidency.
To those who say Trump is “crazy” or ignorant of the duties of his office I would point them to one of the most astute of your many astute postings, Neo.
That posting deals with your remarks following Trump’s appearance on election night/the wee small hours of the following day when he claimed victory.
In Trump’s demeanor in that first speech to the people as President Elect, like you I recognized a man who was awed and humbled by the honor paid to him by his countrymen and who responded instinctively with great dignity, decorum and humility. There was nothing fake about his presentation and nothing in him that indicated he felt that the office was somehow owed to him because he was bigger than it or better than everyone who had gone into it before.
Many may feign it, but only a man with basic common sense and a sound perspective can actually feel genuine humility.
That President Trump, through his boldness, raw animal energy and political inexperience will sometimes, (perhaps even often), get the balance wrong is something that he should be forgiven for just as we forgive our imperfect selves and our equally imperfect friends their limitations because we know that they mean well for us.
Just as with our friends we cannot have the talents of this extraordinary man without the flaws.
Regards,
Donald Trump loves this country, in an old fashioned way that turns PC on it s head and that s a good thing. Plus he is beholding to nobody out there, nobody ! Do you realize how rare that is ? Like he said in one of his speeches “I work for you people”
Well put, Steven Ippolito and Molly NH!
Parker: You’re making good progress too. Keep at it and you’ll become the Victor Davis Hanson of wherever it is you hoe your lonely rows of corn in Flyover Land. No… seriously… I’m impressed that you appear to be more grounded than some of the folks here who still prance and preen about their scruples and nuance and good taste making Trump so hard to bear.
Pray consider, good folks, that some of your finely calibrated scruples may not in fact suggest that you carry the genes of Cato the Censor – they may just be symptomatic of our present state of civilisational decay. Cue “Sire, the peasants are revolting!”, etc.
Anything Trump does to wind up or excoriate the execrable Khan and anyone who tells us that “Terrorism is the New Normal” and that we should just bend over and take one for the team is FTW. That simple. No nuance need apply within.
I’m with you, Molly.
The amazing thing is that with the unemployed, the working class and the lower-middle class all doing it so very tough for so very long throughout the American heartland it took a privileged Manhattan billionaire real-estate developer to stand up and speak up for them.
All this while the party that is supposed to look out for them lambasted them as “deplorables” and “haters” as if to want to just work or live in a viable and safe community were a hateful thing.
Quite extraordinary!
Professor Victor Davis Hanson, whom I discovered through Neo’s blog, considers it among the most significant political occurrences of the age.
Prof Hanson is an eloquent and informed defender of much of what President Trump represents and has done.
His website really repays the occasional visit: http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/
Zigzag: “No… seriously… I’m impressed that you appear to be more grounded than some of the folks here who still prance and preen about their scruples and nuance and good taste making Trump so hard to bear.”
Im just looking for some outward sign of maturity here. Since his role isnt dictator he’d get more accomplished with more support of the voters if he didnt come off as crude and unbalanced. Make sense?
I am grateful though that some of his supporters here arent pretending he’s a secret genius thats running intellectual rings around liberals, because he isnt.
Harry – we’ll said.
In addition, he is now the face and voice of America to the rest of the world. What his supporters see as awesomeness the rest of the world sees as Biff Tannen.
Maybe we’re enough of a big dog that it doesn’t matter.
But maybe alliances mean more than that and diplomacy (and even that now passe value, “scruples”) are needed in our dangerous world.
*well said*
Stephen, zigzag, Ken spot on
People we have weathered 8 years in the gulag of Obama we deserve some well directed unconventionality !!!!
“In addition, he is now the face and voice of America to the rest of the world. What his supporters see as awesomeness the rest of the world sees as Biff Tannen.” – Bill
I would quibble with your assertion, Bill.
The leftists of the world are aghast– which is nearly all of the Democrat party and old Europe. Trump represents a new nationalism which is a threat to the EU. His colorful character just gives them cover.
Even if he were a seasoned, cagey politician, old Europe would be just as opposed to the president. At least it’s in the open. Unlike when Europe did everything possible to undermine the sanctions against Saddam while professing support.
Authoritarian countries, the middle east for example, many Asian countries respond to a projection of authority.
Old Europe didn’t respect Bush the Younger, so I don’t take much stock in their opinions anyway. They fell all over themselves for Obama. That even lowered my opinion of them a notch.
Why did they fawn over Obama? Their agenda’s aligned.
Trump could be the most cagey political type and they would undercut him just as much as they did Bush.
Cornhead:
There’s a delicious irony here.
I don’t think that under the Supreme Court’s procedural rules an appellant can move for a justice’s recusal. But the Trump team could make a preliminary motion for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself. The grounds would be that her “out of court” statements critical of President Trump expressed her pesonal animosity towards him, necessarily tainting her ability to excercise her constitutional duties in an impartial manner. The irony is that that is precisely the issue in the case before the Court: the 4th Circuit held that Trump was motivated by his expressed personal animosity to Muslims when he issued the executive order. It would be rank hypocrisy for RBG to hold that Trump’s personal animosity invalidated his EO, while her personal animosity was somehow not a factor in her decision making.
Whether RBG would recuse herself or not, raising the issue would provide pundits with fodder for many columns, and might also delay the case until the next term. That might be enough time for Justice Kennedy to retire, to be replaced by Justice Ted Cruz.
If this thing plays out along the above lines, I’m going to need more popcorn.
Here’s what the Russians thought of Obama, and I suspect much of Europe.
“It was always difficult to believe that Putin would take seriously a directive by Obama to “cut it out” (“it” being anything Putin wanted to do). As I reported in 2009, the Russians concluded, based on what they witnessed during Obama’s visit to Moscow, that the president was a lightweight. As one source told me, they felt they could “steal his pants.””
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/06/did-obama-tell-the-truth-about-russias-election-meddling.php
Europe has had centuries to perfect the art of double-dealing, back stabbing and political intrigue.
While the art of the deal may pale in comparison, it’s comforting to know that the current president at least understands his “allies”.
Brian E
If you’re going to put scare quotes around “allies” and talk about Europe like they aren’t our allies…. Well, who are our allies?
These are Democratic governments we’ve been allied with for a long, long time. Particularly England, who were a large part of Bush’s coalition.
I’m not sure the new diplomatic strategy of treating them the way Trump does is going to work.
So, who are our true allies, in your view?
I fully expecteded the Trump presidency to be replete with incidents like this. It has been. What their ultimate effect will be I do not know. His defenders will say he’s a wily fox playing 10-dimensional chess again. His detractors will say he’s nuts, power-mad, and destructive.
My response – who cares? The only ones gnashing their teeth over this stuff are pundits, who make a living doing it. As for the media – they earned their scorn in spades, so I don’t feel a bit of sympathy for them whining about being bypassed.
As for you – why do you let this bother you so much? It’s just a communication medium – nothing more. When I voted for Trump, I didn’t want a father, a statesman, a Miss Manners, or any of the like. I wanted someone who was going to push the issues as best he can. And so far, he’s done just that.
For NeverTrumpers, that isn’t that good enough. For the life of me, I don’t understand why.
Old Europe (continental) isn’t our ally. We have strategic interests that align. That’s not particularly a new concept, since we ally with countries around the world that have unique different needs that align. We even align with our enemies from time to time.
I don’t consider Great Britain part of old Europe and I consider them a reliable ally. I consider Australia and Canada an ally.
I guess I would look at the countries that supported our invasion of Iraq as true allies. That would be England, Australia and Poland.
Even our invasion of Afghanistan (the good war) was supported by the Europeans mostly with lip service. They were dragged into supporting the effort, and I previously provided a link to the dismal support they actually provided. Using casualties in Afghanistan as a metric of their support, more British troops were killed than all of old Europe combined.
I might call old Europe fair weather friends.
RBG ain’t going’ nowhere. She would never recuse herself. Her stubbornness, or egotism, prevented her from following the democrats’ suggestions that she retire during the Obama administration in order for a liberal justice to be appointed. If she wouldn’t step down for them, she sure as heck won’t for conservatives.
Fair enough Brian.
If Great Britain is a true ally (and you and I both believe they are) Trump would be doing us all a service by not being a jerk to them. Unless we’re in a post-diplomacy world.
And regarding the Russians taking advantage of Obama.
I’m no fan of Obama, but he never suggested we get rid of NATO and he never seemed to be on an intentional path to weaken ties between the US and Europe.
I think the Russians are plenty happy with Trump.
Bill, Obama wanted ties with old Europe. & the EU because
Obama and they are the same political ilk. O& his wife fancy themselves USA version of European aristocracy they deserve their positions in life because it s a birthright. Like Hillary us common folk are the deplorable that need their largess to survive. What Europe really has is updated feudalism not truly democracy.
Of course Russia prefers Trump, he represents the way Russia likes to do business, Christian, outspoken, & not looking to have to pony up cash, like Hillary was constantly badgering everybody for. Hillary and her tiny cup what an embarrassment!
Actually her “tin” cup, I am sure it’s not tiny.
Hmmmmm, would the Russians be more happy with Hillary since they gave her a lot of money and she gave them a lot of uranium. I think the Russians loved Obama since it appears that to them he was weak and wishy washy when he drew a line in the sand.
As for Trump and his tweets which annoy me about half the time, he gets his message out and I know the media would garble anything he said were he to only use press releases. Time will tell if his gains outweigh his losses as he moves his agenda along. So far he has exceeded my expectations and I have no idea how he keeps smiling when he is getting crap thrown at him from a lot of directions.
The leaky mess should never have happened and when it involves any secret material I would like to see some leakers doing time in federal prison. Any pretense of good manners and gentle behavior went out the window years ago with the Democrat shenanigans.
MollyNH
This is a side issue, but what evidence is there that Trump is a Christian? And by that I mean someone who has repented and turned to Christ for salvation.
I’ve said it before: I understand people who pulled the lever for Trump because he was the better of the two options or lesser of two evils.
I have less understanding of people who believe he’s a genius playing n-dimensional dungeons and dragons.
I’m completely baffled by people who believe he’s a godly family man (or even that he is somehow King Cyrus or King David sent to us by God to bless America).
Bill,
Here’s a statement by Dr. Dobson prior to the election:
“..Only the Lord knows the condition of a person’s heart. I can only tell you what I’ve heard. First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit. I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ.
“Do I know that for sure? No. Do I know the details of that alleged conversion? I can’t say that I do.
“But there are many Christian leaders who are serving on a faith advisory committee for Trump in the future. I am among them. There are about 45 of us that includes Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Jack Graham, Ben Carson, James Robison, Jerry Johnson, and many others whom you would probably know.
“We’ve all agreed to serve. How will that play out if Trump becomes president? I don’t know. It is a good start, I would think.
“If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act. All I can tell you is that we have only two choices, Hillary or Donald. Hillary scares me to death….”
Do you remember when Bob Dylan got saved in the 70’s? He even performed on one of Green’s albums. It was reported he’d backed away somewhat, but Al Kasha, who led him to Christ said in 2012 he never rejected his faith.
I don’t know about Dylan. Don’t know about Trump. Fortunately, it’s not up to me.
Bill, I was referring to Russia as a Christian nation and the USA, as opposed to dealing with anti Christians. Only God knows the heart of a person, whatever faith he holds BTW there is good evidence that Abe Lincoln considered Christ merely a man, Jefferson ascribed to that too. There needs to be no public display of a person’s religiousity, that just opens you up to one falter and the opposition will chant the hypocrite
Mantra.& beat him with it
Hmmm, my response isn’t showing up, but I meant Russia & USA as Christian versus dealing with anti. Christian governments
Oops then it did show up. Lol. Gremlins at work here?
“…Trump would be doing us all a service by not being a jerk to them.”
Bill, I don’t think this is much of an issue, though PM May did defend the London mayor.
I’ve read the comments section of a couple of British stories, and it appears Kahn isn’t a universally loved guy.
Watch this interview with Piers Morgan grilling Kahn. British on British.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/watch-piers-morgan-grills-mayor-khan-jihadis-coming-uk-where-are-they
It’s interesting that Morgan is more conservative than his time on CNN would indicate.
And this spat between Trump and Kahn goes back a year after Trump had proposed a Muslim ban. Kahn said this:
On May 10, the BBC asked Khan what he thought Trump’s remarks that he would be an “exception” to the proposed ban. He replied: “I think Donald Trump has ignorant views about Islam. It’s not just about me. … It’s about my friends, family, and others, from all around the world … and my concern is he’s playing into the hands of extremists who say it’s not compatible to be Western and mainstream Muslim.”
And, as if to reinforce his rejection of Trump, Khan added he was supporting Hillary Clinton. “I hope that she trounces him,” he said.
—
Is it dignified for the President to get into a tweeting insult with a mayor of a foreign country? Probably not.
I think Trump should add a new cabinet post: Secretary of Tweet. Get rid of the press secretary, quit the daily briefings and tweet away.
He (Dylan) even performed on one of Green’s albums.
That would be Keith Green on his album “So You Want to Go Back to Egypt”.
That’s a good album!
The psychiatric-clinical term for Trump’s behavior:
King Baby
__________________________
Pounding out tweeties of classic Infantile Defiance
at bats**t hours of the morning???
King Baby on steroids!!!
ZigZag,
Oh, wow! I am blushing that you approve of my opinions. Now I scrap you off my boots you condescending blow hard.