(12-18-2021 08:04 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote: These are all very good responses. And, for the record, my batting average on political predictions is well below the Mendoza line.
But why do most (but, happily, not every) comment in response to mine take it as a given that Donald Trump is the best candidate that the Republicans can put forward in 2024? Why are so many taking it as a given that no one else can reproduce what Trump did, and in fact improve on it? That MAY have been so in 2016. But it is surely not the case now.
Quoting some other smart poster on some other thread on this forum (I don’t recall who), Donald Trump kicked the door down in 2016. It is now dangling off its hinges. Pretty much any credible candidate can now push their way right through, and sneer at the media flacks as they stroll right by.
—> Thanks to Trump, the media has a lower public approval level than attorneys. Think about that.
—> Thanks to Trump, people no longer scoff dismissively when someone makes a comment about the deep state. That is a sea change from what the public in general used to assume was just conspiracy nonsense.
—> Thanks to Trump, we only have to point back a few years to cite the advantages of sensible capitalism over insane socialism.
Fine, all glory to Trump for what he achieved. But he is now done as a leader. Not because leftists and the media were sneaky and dishonest, although they were. But instead because he did himself in. He is that uncontrolled. He is that politically blind. He is that stupid.
We get it that you are a never Trumper. It's been obvious for a long time now. You may never understand those of us that believe that Trump did what no other GOP politician could or would do. He was an outsider and saw things that needed fixing while others would just go along to get along. Same as it ever was. Is he perfect? No. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely. Did he get things done to make this country better and stronger? Yes - more than any President in my lifetime.
He made it obvious that even the GOP doesn't want the applecart upended. They are too comfortable with their arrangement as the Washington Generals, the lovable losers who pretend to oppose the left and love the perks that go with the corruption.
When faced with adversaries that are no longer fearful of showing who and what they are (marxists, socialists and/or outright commies) and what they want, he is not afraid to tell people that he loves this country. Those who wish to tear down this country need to be confronted and outed. Some people think that there are others who can do this work. I see nobody other than DeSantis that would even attempt that project.
This is not the time to go soft again. That is how we ended up in this situation. By not paying attention to what the opposition is doing, infiltrating and destroying public confidence in all our institutions.
Trump is still needed. If he weren't effective, the political opposition would not have mobilized all the tools of government to sideline him. Yet there are still folks like yourself that say his time is over, let the jayvee team members take over. That's a recipe for disaster and losing this country to the extremists on the left, from which recovery will be nearly impossible.
Trump is smarter than most in D.C. and shrewd. He is tired of watching the right lose ground continually to the leftists intent on bringing the country down. He is a man. Imperfect but far more effective than any others the GOP puts up.
You call him stupid. Look in the mirror.
