COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Seriously, I think Trump wants a graceful out

Former Trump super-PAC director: Donald doesn’t even want to be president

March 28, 2016

The top strategist for Donald Trump’s short-lived super-PAC says the Republican frontrunner does not want to become president — and that he had launched his “protest” bid for the GOP nomination simply to prove a point: that he could come close.

“Almost a year ago,” Stephanie Cegielski writes in an lengthy letter to Trump supporters published by the website XOjane.com, “I sat in Trump Tower being told that the goal was to get The Donald to poll in double digits and come in second in delegate count. That was it.”

Cegielski, former communications director for the Make America Great Again super-PAC, says the expectations for the real estate mogul’s campaign were incredibly low.

“The Trump camp would have been satisfied to see him polling at 12 percent and taking second place to a candidate who might hold 50 percent,” Cegielski writes. “His candidacy was a protest candidacy. It pains me to say, but he is the presidential equivalent of Sanjaya on ‘American Idol.’ President Trump would be President Sanjaya in terms of legitimacy and authority. I am now taking full responsibility for helping create this monster — and reaching out directly to those voters who, like me, wanted Trump to be the real deal.”

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, dismissed Cegielski’s assertions:
This person was never employed by the Trump campaign. Evidently she worked for a Super PAC which Mr. Trump disavowed and requested the closure of via the FEC. She knows nothing about Mr. Trump or the campaign and her disingenuous and factually inaccurate statements in no way resemble any shred of truth. This is yet another desperate person looking for their fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is running for President because he is the only one who will Make America Great Again. 
Cegielski, who began working for the Trump-connected PAC last summer, said she was inspired by Trump’s performance during the first Republican debate in Cleveland, where he sparred with Fox News host Megyn Kelly.
Stephanie Cegielski says the Republican frontrunner had no real interest in becoming president. (Photo: XOJane)

“The exchange with Megyn Kelly was like manna from heaven for a communications director,” she writes. “She appeared like yet another reporter trying to kick out the guest who wasn’t invited to the party. At the time, I felt excited for the change to the debate he could bring. I began realizing the man really resonates with the masses and would bring people to the process who had never participated before. That was inspiring to me.”
But the inspiration was short-lived.

“It wasn’t long before every day I awoke to a buzzing phone and a shaking head because Trump had said something politically incorrect the night before,” Cegielski writes.
Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Arizona in March. (Photo: Matt York/AP)
Inside the campaign, staffers had a slogan for dealing with the brash billionaire’s belligerent interviews: “Let Trump Be Trump.”

Yet, to Cegielski’s amazement, Trump’s steady rise in the polls continued.
“I don’t think even Trump thought he would get this far,” she continues. “And I don’t even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all. He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver’s seat, and nothing else matters.”

Cegielski says she was particularly dismayed by Trump’s blustery response to the recent terror attacks in Brussels and Pakistan.

Another radical Islamic attack, this time in Pakistan, targeting Christian women & children. At least 67 dead,400 injured. I alone can solve“A devastating terrorist attack in Pakistan targeting Christians occurred on Easter Sunday,” she writes, “and Trump’s response was to tweet.”

Take a moment to appreciate the ridiculous, cartoonish, almost childish arrogance of saying that he alone can solve. Does Trump think that he is making a cameo on Wrestlemania (yes, one of his actual credits)? This is not how foreign policy works. For anyone. Ever. Superhero powers where “I alone can solve” problems are not real. They do not exist for Batman, for Superman, for Wrestlemania and definitely not for Donald Trump.

“He doesn’t want the White House,” Cegielski writes. “He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House.”

After the super-PAC was disbanded in October — a decision consistent in keeping with Trump’s “outsider” persona — Cegielski remained a supporter of his campaign. But she slowly realized Trump the candidate was really Trump the reality-show character.

“I wanted Trump to be real, too. He is not,” she writes. “I began to hear and evaluate him more critically and skeptically as a member of the voting public rather than a communications person charged with protecting his positions.”
“I no longer felt that he was the leader the country was looking for, and I found myself longing — aching, really — for policy substance that went beyond building a wall and making Mexico pay for it,” Cegielski continues. “What were once bold — although controversial — statements now seemed to be attempts to please the crowds, not direction to lead this country to a better place.”

Just as troubling for Trump’s former adviser was his arrogant unaccountability:
When there was a tweet that contained an error, he would blame it on an intern; when there was a photo containing a World War II Nazi Germany background, he would blame it on an intern; when he answered questions in an overtly controversial fashion, he would claim he did not properly hear the question. He refused to take responsibility for his actions while frequently demanding apologies from others.

Cegielski is now urging Trump’s supporters not to elevate him to the world’s most powerful position: U.S. commander in chief.
“Don’t let our country pay that price,” she writes.

19 comments:

  1. New theory among anti-Trumpers: He’s deliberately sabotaging his campaign


    posted at 10:01 pm on March 30, 2016 by Allahpundit


    This theory isn’t new, really, but it is more prominent among #NeverTrumpers on social media lately thanks to Trump’s recent hot streak — insulting Heidi Cruz, defending Corey Lewandowski and doubling down on attacking Michelle Fields, and today’s latest master stroke, taking a dump on national TV on 40 years’ worth of carefully constructed pro-life messaging. The best statement of the theory I’ve seen lately is this Twitter tirade by Lachlan Markay. If Trump was trying to blow up his own campaign, would he be doing anything different right now?


    Here’s a frightening thought in light of the last few days: what if Trump is actively attempting to sabotage his own candidacy? Bear with me

    I don’t think he ever actually wanted to be POTUS. He just wanted to be able to say he *could* be if he chose to do so. Winning, etc.

    And now he realizes what a sh*t job this would be. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not entirely sure that he’s up to the immense task.

    But he can’t just drop out. He’s a winner after all. And he needs to preserve his winner persona, for the sake of his ego if nothing else.

    So he triples down on the Michelle Fields fiasco, says some crazy sh*t about abortion, Cruz crushes it in WI, momentum shifts.

    He’s banking on a brokered convention. He wants to be robbed so he can say that he was actually the winner but the establishment f*cked him.

    He would maintain his public persona, cement his status as an anti-establishment hero, but never actually have to do any icky governing.

    Come 2017, his brand is hotter than its ever been and he can do pretty much whatever he wants – which I don’t think is actually politics.

    Of course this would completely tear apart the GOP, but if it’s not totally clear by now, Trump does not give two sh*ts about the party.

    So the Party of Lincoln would be dead, Hillary would be president, but at least we’d steer clear of the American decline he’d precipitate.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://hotair.com/archives/2016/03/30/new-theory-among-anti-trumpers-hes-deliberately-sabotaging-his-campaign/

      I don't believe it though.

      He's too much of an egotist.

      He wants it.

      Delete
  2. An Estonian, sitting in a space capsule, orbiting Pluto, could script it out from here.

    Hillary wins the Presidency fairly easily, may even get 50 votes in the Senate for a couple of years, and then greets an overwhelming Republican Congressional Majority following the 2018 Midterms, when the Dem. coalition reverts to its non-Presidential year, non-voting form. It's the Modern American way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. .

    No matter how this turns out, the presidential approval polls (with positive exceptions around the annual Easter egg hunt and the pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey) will be in the tank, views on the economy will be worse, and those for Congress will continue to struggle to get out of single digits. Negative commentaries on the next presidency will pretty much write themselves.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'll say it again.

    It is a grand plan between between Clinton and Trump to get Clinton in the White House. They are working as a team.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      To get us this?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y

      .

      Delete
    2. Arf arf arf arf arf tehetehetehe


      O Lord, have mercy upon us.....

      Delete
  5. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Cruz appeared in Madison, Wis., to introduce a “Women for Cruz” coalition. He was joined by his wife, Heidi; his mother, Eleanor Darragh, who is seldom seen on the campaign trail; and Carly Fiorina, a high-profile supporter.

    For much of the event, Mr. Cruz sat quietly behind a modest floral arrangement, allowing the women to speak on his behalf during a forum that seemed aimed at a rival whose name was scarcely mentioned.

    “I just wanted to say one thing about Ted,” Heidi Cruz said near the end. “I want all of the women here in Wisconsin and across this country to know how supportive Ted has always been of all the women in his life.”


    :)

    That is actually a pretty funny statement.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted may well have been very financially supportive of Madame X and all them hookers.

    National Enquirer often gets it right.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stephanie Cegielski Was Not Donald Trump's top strategist. - Snopes

    http://www.snopes.com/stephanie-cegielski-letter-trump/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Judge Napolitano says that if the prosecutor pursues the case against Cory there's no Judge in the county that will allow it to proceed.

    Basically called it 'frivolous'.

    Michelle Fields does have the option of suing Corey in civil court for damages, however.

    How that would go is anybody's guess. Maybe The Donald would sue her back

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    Unlocked iPhone Worthless After F.B.I. Spills Glass of Water on It

    WASHINGTON (Satire from The Borowitz Report)—Moments after successfully unlocking the San Bernardino iPhone, the F.B.I. rendered the phone permanently useless by spilling a glass of water on it, an F.B.I. spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

    Calling the accident “one of the biggest embarrassments in F.B.I. history,” bureau spokesman Harland Dorrinson told reporters, “There’s no way to express how bad we feel about what happened to that phone.”

    Walking reporters through the mishap, Dorrinson said that shortly after the iPhone was unlocked, “There were a lot of high-fives, which led to the unfortunate spilling of the water.”

    After repeatedly attempting to reboot the phone with no success, the F.B.I. consulted several Apple support forums for tips on fixing a waterlogged iPhone. “I wish I could report that any of them worked,” the spokesman said.

    In a possible thawing of relations between Apple and the F.B.I., Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook offered to replace the damaged iPhone for seven hundred and forty-nine dollars, or two hundred and ninety-nine dollars with a two-year contract.


    http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/unlocked-iphone-worthless-after-f-b-i-spills-glass-of-water-on-it?intcid=mod-most-popular

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well hell, no computer company has offered to buy me a new computer after I've spilled liquids on three or four of them.

      I am now keeping my liquids on a separate desk.

      There is an insurance policy you can buy that covers 'spills' but I didn't know it at purchase time.

      Delete
    2. Here's a slow motion video of the vicious assault on Miss Bitch Fields.

      Delete
    3. Here's a speed of light video of the vicious assault on Miss Bitch Fields.

      Delete
  10. PA voter party-switching unprecedented...

    180K join GOP.....Drudge


    No movement the other way.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Did you know you can rate you Uber driver AND your Uber driver can rate you ?

    ReplyDelete
  12. The 03/31/2016 Jihad Watch Daily Digest:




    Belgian vice PM admits: Muslims celebrated in the streets after Brussels jihad massacre, media ignored them

    By Robert Spencer on Mar 30, 2016 08:25 pm

    Belgian vice PM admits: Muslims celebrated in the streets after Brussels jihad massacre, media ignored them

    Yet European authorities are betting the future of their nations upon the assumption that these Muslims will assimilate and become loyal citizens of a secular society. There is absolutely no basis for this assumption, and it could mean the death of Europe as a home of free societies. “Belgian vice PM acknowledges street celebrations following […]
    Read in browser »

    ReplyDelete
  13. Did you know that you can create short links with LinkShrink and earn dollars from every visitor to your short urls.

    ReplyDelete