The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
Mark says:
I'm sure he'll do us all proud by explaining his sacking as a part of the liberal/socialist agenda to keep right-wing "journalists" out of the media.
I particularly like the part of his opinion piece about how the conservative policies of the "Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush" years have worked so well…. It must be nice to be able to make a living out of writing without ever having to cite sources or facts to support your views.
Mark says:
Kristol is beyond a pathological liar, he's a purposeful liar, a Goebbels of the 2000's. I don't read the Times, purposely because it's such a propaganda tool. I was tempted to read Kristol on occasion to see how low the Times would go to maintain it's heap of propaganda.
Good Riddance! I'm sure glad I'll never be tempted to read the Times again, and I won't see Kristol's absurdities popping up as headlines on TruthDig or RawStory ever again.