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 ...
Nate says:
I was floored with how poor Jindal's speech was. I wasn't expecting the world – nobody wants to follow up an Obama speech, and a response is always difficult – but this was like putting Tay Zonday on after Bruce Springsteen. The "Jindal 2012" crowd just got a lot smaller. Maybe by 2032 people will have forgotten his Kenneth the Page like qualities.
Mike says:
That Brooks clip is amazing – look at how confused and KAPOWed Brooks' face looks when trying to process what he just saw. He called it Nihilism!
You know the GOP is in trouble when David Brooks is taking the Ginandtacos Position – an insane fixation on things that may have been effective in 1982 – on what is ailing the GOP.
Mike says:
Re-watching it, Brooks basically outlines what you did in "Bad Bets" below. An enterprise is in trouble when even the cheerleaders on the payroll are calling BS.
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this – but I had heard a lot, and been worried about, the extremely awesomez potential of Jindal, but just realized I had never heard him talk. Does he always sound like that?
Ed says:
I do not think there is anything to be ashamed of. It is not hard to make Jindal sound like an intimidating candidate. The reality fails to measure up to the sum of the parts on his resume, though.
The consensus among Republicans I like is that this was an atypically poor performance for Jindal. He is usually Much Better than this, I am told. I have never been impressed with him and while the stilted and over-coached nature of his speech may be atypical, substance-wise this is about all you will get from him.
merl says:
I have a cousin in Louisiana. When I asked her how Jindal got elected Governor, she said he was the best of a bad bunch. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.