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."

Friday, July 15, 2016

Want to Hear What Mike Flynn, 57, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), has to say about ISIS, Syria, Libya and Iraq?

Trump Foreign Policy Advisor: ‘Americans Are Fed Up With the Bullshit’


"Why the hell" did we intervene in Libya? “That's beyond stupid."
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Donald Trump advisor Mike Flynn explains why the presumptive Republican Party presidential candidate admires authoritarian leaders and considers the US foreign policy of recent years to be a disaster. 


Mike Flynn, 57, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), has served as a foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump since the autumn of 2015. For a time, Flynn had been considered as a possible vice presidential candidate for Trump before the announcement Friday that Indiana Governor Mike Pence would be made his Republican Party running mate. 

SPIEGEL: General, we are here to say goodbye.
Flynn: Why goodbye?

SPIEGEL: Donald Trump announced that if he wins the election, he will not continue trans-Atlantic relations in their current form. He has threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO.

Flynn: This is where I think the world has misread Donald Trump. He has no intention to step away without examining all relationships that we have. His intent is to relook at the way we are organized globally, where the US is sort of expected to be a global leader, but relook at these alliances and these charters that we are under to make sure that they are still viable for the 21st century. It doesn't mean that President Trump comes into office and NATO goes away. But I would say that NATO as a political alliance does need to be revoked at in terms of everything -- resourcing, capabilities.

SPIEGEL: Now you are challenging NATO after all.
Flynn: NATO was formed post-World War II. We're a little bit more than a half-century old. Do we want NATO to go on for another half-century? I think that the answer is, sitting here today: I don't know. If I had to bet on it, I would say, yeah, we have to have these alliances going forward and see who’s going to pay for them.

SPIEGEL: Germany obviously plays an important role in Trump's considerations. He addressed Germany specifically and demanded that the German government pay in the future for the security provided by the American troops stationed there -- otherwise they could be withdrawn.
Flynn: We have to look at the cost of resourcing the US military around the world. How is that cost incurred, and how is that cost paid for? I'll give you an example. The Chinese get over 40 percent of their oil from the Middle East through the Persian Gulf, but have you ever seen a Chinese aircraft carrier sitting inside the Persian Gulf? For at least 40 years, the United States of America has been guaranteeing Chinese energy supplies. Sitting here today, the US provides funds to, honest to God, 99 percent of the countries on the planet. We even give North Korea humanitarian aid. We give them food, and God knows what they do with it. They probably feed it to the crooks in the headquarters. This is not about an antagonistic relationship with Germany or NATO. This is about looking and examining what the needs are going forward for the 21st century and who is going pay for it.

SPIEGEL: In December, Trump cursed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, complaining that she was too soft in the refugee crisis. Is that not counterproductive for cooperation?
Flynn: Yes.

SPIEGEL: Beside the factual questions, he was very tough in his language.
Flynn: I think all of Europe has been too soft on the refugee crisis.

SPIEGEL: But he offended Merkel. Does that serve to strengthen alliances?
Flynn: If she was offended by it, she was offended by it. That's the business. But the point was the really incredibly poor decisions when it comes to allowing this unbelievable, unprecedented refugee crisis that's going on in Europe. Why are these people rushing to the beauty and strength of Europe and to the United States and not rushing to their own capitals or the capitals of the Muslim world? We ought to be pushing back. We ought to be putting people back on these boats and putting them back into the places where they came from and telling these leaders in the Arab world, "You have a responsibility as well." I don't think that Europe responded in a way that they should have responded, and I think that's what Mr. Trump was reacting to.

SPIEGEL: Can you explain Trump's fascination for strong leaders like Vladimir Putin or Saddam Hussein, whom he recently praised as an effective hunter of terrorists?
Flynn: He respects people who are selfish about their country. Putin is a guy who is very selfish about Russia and about the Russian federation, and he understands the history of his country. You can't say, "I don't like you." You've got to respect him. He’s a world leader.

SPIEGEL: Is Putin a reliable partner for America?
Flynn: Putin will be a reliable partner for certain things for the United States, yes. Absolutely. We need to have a relationship from the top to the bottom, same with China.

SPIEGEL: Trump just urged Saudi Arabia and Japan to become nuclear powers as well. With comments like that, is he not encouraging a dangerous nuclear arms race?
Flynn: The threat of nuclear warfare is very, very low. Trump is no fool, and he sees the world as a globalized world. In the conversation we're having right now, we're talking about historical aspects of regions of the world, so sort of world history. It's not that he needs a lesson in world history, but it's very important that you understand the history of Europe, the history of Africa, the history of the Middle East. What are the trends that we could expect to see in the next few years, like the next 10 to 50? Will there be another major war? Will there be a war between China and the United States? We talked a lot about that, and we talked about sort of what were the "What Ifs?" What are the potentials, and what are the things you need to be prepared for when you step into office?

SPIEGEL: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un endorsed Trump and pledged to support him in the campaign.
Flynn: I found it funny. I mean, the guy is smoking cigarettes while they're launching missiles. Trump probably laughed about it, like I did.

SPIEGEL: How important is foreign policy to Trump?
Flynn: His No. 1 priority is the US economy, but I would say foreign policy and national security are in the top, probably, two if not three topics.

SPIEGEL: His foreign policy speeches have sounded vague and in some parts even contradictory. Would you agree that there is no solid foreign policy program right now?
Flynn: No. Foreign policy is about US national security, it is definitely not non-intervention. It is definitely not isolationist. That's where people want to hear what they want to hear and not listen to what he says. It is about national security for the United States, and that’s fine.

SPIEGEL: Either way, he is demanding in his speeches that other countries take care of their own problems.
Flynn: And I think that's right -- that the United States should not have to intervene in every single problem around the world. The voters of this country are reacting in a very big, broad way to Mr. Trump. They are frustrated by lousy decisions made by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Look at the mess we have.

SPIEGEL: Are you speaking about the Iraq war?
Flynn: We're speaking about three incredibly stupid decisions. The first one was the invasion in Iraq. They said there was a nuclear weapons thing, but we were actually responding to the attack of 9/11. All of a sudden, somebody threw in this other, like, “Hey, maybe we can use this as an excuse."

SPIEGEL: That was Bush's decision. What about Obama?
Flynn: Obama's decision to leave, to not sustain the victory that resulted after eight years of fighting, from 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, was another incredibly stupid decision. It was totally based on politics, not based on any notion of national security. It's a nightmare for our national security. And then you have the Libya intervention.

SPIEGEL: You're speaking about the decision by NATO to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi in the fall of 2011.
Flynn: You look at Libya, and you go, "Jesus, why the hell did we do that?" That's beyond stupid. That’s so irresponsible and dangerous for our national security and frankly for the national security of Europe because you go and you look at where a lot of these refugees are coming out of, they're coming out of Misrata and Tripoli.

       The aircraft carrier        USS Theodore Roosevelt        : "Why the hell" did we intervene in Libya? "That's beyond stupid."

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt : "Why the hell" did we intervene in Libya? “That's beyond stupid."

SPIEGEL: Trump would not repeat those kinds of mistakes?
Flynn: He would avoid those stupid decisions. When you look back, history is not going to be kind to these last 16 years.

SPIEGEL: For a long time, conservatives have pushed for the export of democracy and human rights. Will that come to an end if Trump becomes president?
Flynn: Yes, because it's wrong. The United States acted under a misinterpretation of a concept that we wanted to implement the system of democracy all around the world.

SPIEGEL: After the harsh words about Muslims, many view Mr. Trump as being racist and an enemy of freedom of religion.
Flynn: The wording was sort of wrong and I would not have said it the way he said it. But I also would not try to be politically correct either. There must be a ban for individuals who espouse this notion of radical Islamism, period.

SPIEGEL: Why is Trump so harsh in his choice of words?
Flynn: Trump is a fighter. Imagine a boxing match. You go into that fight bigger than you are. And he learned a lot in the last months. The quotes you are talking about are months old. Remember the box fight: You start as a southpaw, you go back to fighting as a right-handed fighter.

SPIEGEL: How does Donald Trump react when you criticize him?
Flynn: He's a great listener, and he's a good challenger. He doesn't come across as a person who thinks he knows it all. In fact, he once told me he has had lot of things to learn.

SPIEGEL: He also says he has a very good brain or that he learned all about foreign policy during his time as a businessman. How is it possible to advise someone like that?
Flynn: I know Donald Trump as a very adaptive person. In my nearly three and a half decades of being in the military, I've had maybe one, maybe two guys that I've worked for that were that adaptive in combat. He adapts to the great challenges, with his own sort of street smarts and his instincts.

SPIEGEL: Do these personal traits make a good president?
Flynn: Definitely a better one than all the (former) governors who were in politics all their life. Trump realized that you had to drive a stake through the heart of this establishment and that millions of Americans do not feel represented by this sort of clique in Washington. Now he is on top of many polls, everything else he can learn when he has reached the White House.

SPIEGEL: So we will hear him using a more presidential tone?
Flynn: He will never give up his style, his way to target his enemies. The Americans are fed up with the bullshit they heard for many years. They want the truth, they want to believe what their leaders are saying again. Trump is such an underdog, a fighter -- a man who rebels against the establishment, against all kinds of resistance. That is what Americans love.

60 comments:

  1. The fucker is mad as a hatter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which means, coming from you, he must be as sane as a top psychiatrist.

      Delete
    2. I got to the part where it was okay to insult Angela Merkel, but not Putin.

      Delete
    3. I think that I have a similar understanding about Putin. Watch the video. See if you change your mind.

      Delete
    4. Sorry, Deuce, life's too short. :)

      Delete
    5. I've decided to pretty much avoid all ignorant, and/or crazy people. That's X number of minutes I would never get back, and I just don't have that many left to spare. :)

      Delete
    6. How in hell do you live with yourself ?

      Delete
    7. Bob Thu May 27, 12:52:00 AM EDT

      But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. After all, I had paid them nearly 20% interest for about three years. My lawyer thought it to be a hell of a good move. He got most of the money. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?


      How do you, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, after institutionalizing your Aunt to protect yourself?

      Delete
    8. 20%vfor three years, that is 60%, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you are an admitted their, looking for justification for your thievery and moral turpitude.

      In case the word turpitude is beyond your vocabulary ....

      "moral turpitude" - an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man.

      Delete
    9. Should have checked the spelling, beforehand ....

      20% for three years, that is 60%, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you are an admitted thief, looking for justification for your thievery and moral turpitude.

      Delete
  2. I think there was an underlying truth and candor in most of what he had to say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's an underlying truth about Okeefenokee; you go wading around, a moccassin bites you, and you die.

      Knowing that is useful, if you choose to live in the swamp. But, it's hardly the type of intelligence that would make you a likely POTUS candidate.

      Delete
    2. Btw, if we ever decide to stage a revolution, whattaya say, we don't hire the asshole that handled the Turkey deal, okay? :) :)

      Delete
    3. I got a hunch that he's soon going to be praying hard for a little RIP. :)

      Delete
  3. I must admit I had more experience with the Neshaminy Creek than the Okeefenokee, but Hillary Clinton owns Libya and Syria. That is the type of intelligence and decision making that would not make a good POTUS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. I'm just hoping that she's capable of learning. :)

      Delete
  4. In backing Hillary, Rufus has lost his moral compass.

    He's now willing to vote for a world class liar, fraud, and corruptocrat without any shame whatsoever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you have no moral compass, at all.

      You stole money through fraud and identity theft, then institutionalized your Aunt, a death sentence, to avoid prosecution.

      Your co-conspirator said it was "okay", so you found a morality play to 'justify' your thievery.

      Folks in glass houses should not throw stones at their betters.

      Delete
    2. Bob Thu May 27, 12:52:00 AM EDT

      But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. After all, I had paid them nearly 20% interest for about three years. My lawyer thought it to be a hell of a good move. He got most of the money. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?


      Speaking of a moral compass, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you are on the Highway to Hell.

      Delete
  5. "Americans are fed up with the bullshit they heard for many years."

    BOSTON GLOBE

    On Nice attack, Trump gets it, Clinton doesn’t

    Calling for gun control doesn’t work when a truck is the weapon of mass destruction. Calling for voters to try to understand the motivation behind such attacks is fine. But a presidential candidate must also understand those voters who aren’t students of psychology or advanced international relations.

    As they watch that long white truck roll down a palm-tree lined boulevard, the relations they are thinking of are their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/07/15/nice-attacks-trump-gets-clinton-doesn/K4BRnIH8zDD72iwCLjHCwI/story.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have to ban all explosives, and components thereof, pressure cookers, all guns, knives, box cutters, aircraft of all sorts, motor vehicles, and now trucks.

      The world's manufacturers of all these products are going to take a real hit.

      And all because these jihadis are socially disadvantaged, and need jobs.

      Delete
    2. “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.”
      ― George Orwell

      You Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson are an authoritarian, a true fascist at heart.

      Delete
  6. I guess I should just give up on Rufus.

    It's true one would have to be a perfect dumb shit to vote for Hillary, but I might as well just give up on him, and, instead of calling him a dumb shit, give him a break, and just say, as he is getting older, he's simply gone soft in the head.

    That's a kinder and gentler way of doing it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look at the upside:
      All that energy, inspiration, disgust and insight can be redirected toward Quirk.

      Delete
    2. Maybe Rufus will even take you off his shit list.

      Delete
    3. Good idea.

      I'll turn both barrels of my double barrel shotgun on the City Slicker, Quirk, instead of going one barrel each to Quirk and Rufus as I have been doing.

      Quirk will be torn apart like a forest grouse given both barrels up close.

      Delete
    4. Threatening the other commentators, aye Robert "Draft dodger" Peterson.
      So, so rude.

      Setting the standard for simpletons.

      Delete
  7. Will Trump Win In A Blowout ?

    Roger Simon July 14, 2016


    Ambulances line up near the scene of an attack in the French resort city of Nice, southern France (AP Photo/Claude Paris)


    As one who went out on a limb to say the presidency was Trump's to lose way back in August 2015, I am going to go further out on that limb -- and offer others a saw -- by saying that not only will Trump win the presidency, he will win in a blowout.

    I don't necessarily mean a blowout of Nixon-McGovern proportions, but by a significant margin. Even in the last week, the polls are beginning to show this. But now everything is intensifying.

    The reason should be evident. This is going to be a national security election. I started writing this article before the horrifying news started coming in from Nice, but even then the situation couldn't have been more obvious. As anyone paying the slightest attention knows, Islamic fundamentalism is at war with Western civilization. It's not just ISIS, but unfortunately many continually metastasizing organizations based on the same ideology. (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula recommended using a truck as was employed in the Nice attack in its magazine Inspire in an article titled "The Ultimate Mowing Machine.")

    Barack Obama's response to our civilizational enemy has been a disaster. Because of the president's deep neurotic ambivalence about his own Muslim background, he is incapable of confronting, let alone naming, the evil of jihadism. In reality, he made the problem worse and encouraged the rise of ISIS through the abandonment of Iraq.

    His anointed successor, Hillary Clinton, is a "congenital liar" -- as William Safire said years ago (1996) in the New York Times -- who seems to have little concept of the difference between right and wrong, and most people know it.

    I suspect that number is going to reach an astonishing level as the majority already think she should have been indicted for her email activities and more shoes are yet to drop. Yes, there are some in the Democratic Party with so little moral compass they are willing to vote for her anyway, even though she has lied to Congress, among many other crimes (what do these people say to their children?), but the die is cast -- while the jihadist death toll grows across the world....

    https://pjmedia.com/diaryofamadvoter/2016/07/14/will-trump-win-in-a-blowout/?singlepage=true

    I think this guy is spot on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As has been well said, 10 years ago we had them hiding in caves.

      Then along came O'bozo and Hillary....

      Delete
    2. Wrong, again, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
      They were not hiding in caves, they were organizing in Syria with the help of the Saudis, Israeli and Turks.

      You still are confused, setting the standard for simpletons.

      Delete

  8. 2 Books
    2.1 Moses Wine
    2.1.1 The Big Fix
    2.1.2 Raising the Dead
    2.1.3 California Roll
    2.1.4 The Straight Man
    2.1.5 Moses Wine as autobiography
    2.1.6 Non-Fiction Books
    2.1.7 Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown
    2.1.8 I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn't Already
    ===
    Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown[edit]
    First published as "Blacklisting Myself," this short memoir was Simon's first book-length work of non-fiction. It describes his gradual political turn from left to right as well as many personal adventures in movie business working with such well known figures as Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen and Paul Mazursky.

    I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn't Already[edit]
    An outgrowth of Simon's political writing, this book explains how moral narcissism is a threat to our republic. Unlike the conventional narcissism of a Greek youth transfixed by his handsome reflection in a pool, this is a narcissism of ideology. What you proclaim are your ideas and values, Simon warns, not their results are what makes you "good." The first chapter of this book were reprinted in Commentary magazine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_L._Simon

      Delete
    2. Never did know anything about Roger Simon.

      Sounds like a refugee from liberalism.

      Delete
  9. Pewy pewy pewy

    The smell of death has wafted into here from some dark place.

    Glad I'm heading out to the Farmer's Market....

    Cheers !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Running from yourself, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson?

      You are so, so easy to silence, all one has to do, quote you.

      Delete
  10. Talk about your corrupt politicos ...

    According to a Friday night Channel 2 report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to undergo an investigation under caution, as part of a probe into a wider, unspecified investigation surrounding alleged money-laundering.

    Members of his family too are likely to be investigated.

    The report follows Thursday's investigation of Ari Harow, Netanyahu's former chief of staff, who was placed under a five day house arrest following questioning.


    http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Report-Netanyahu-likely-to-undergo-investigation-under-caution-460529

    ReplyDelete

  11. Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in four crucial swing states, according to a new poll out Friday, good news for the Clinton campaign that has seen other surveys show the presidential race tightening in recent weeks.

    The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll finds Clinton with high single-digit leads in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. Clinton maintains these leads, though at slightly smaller margins, when third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are included.

    Clinton leads Trump in Colorado 43% to 35%. Johnson performs best in this state — he garners 12% support when included in the poll, which shrinks Clinton and Trump’s support to 39% and 33%, respectively.

    In Florida, Clinton also paces Trump, 44% to 37%. Clinton’s lead slips to 5 points with third party candidates factored in.

    Clinton is ahead of Trump in North Carolina 44% to 38%, a state which President Barack Obama won for Democrats in 2008 for the first time since 1976. It reverted red in 2012, but polling has shown Clinton competitive there, drawing significant support from minority communities.

    Finally, Clinton leads Trump comfortably in Virginia, 44% to 35%. Johnson performs well here too — Clinton leads Trump 41% to 34% when he’s included, and he draws 10%.


    So a vote for Johnson, it is a vote against Hillary.

    Vote Johnson/Weld, it matters in the "Long Run"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why do people call you Dead Beat Dad ?

      I just wanna know

      Delete
  12. Lt. General Michael Flynn called for Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, to condemn the attack.

    Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a military adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign who was briefly on the vice presidential short list, repeatedly called on a deceased Iranian leader to denounce the terrorist attack in Nice, France.

    “I want the Imam, or I want Khomeini in Iran to stand up and be counted,” Flynn told Fox’s Megyn Kelly on Thursday night. Twelve hours later, Flynn again called on the late leader to respond to the attacks.

    “I have called out for the leaders of Iran ― Khomeini ― and the leaders of the Muslim world” to denounce the terrorist attack, Flynn told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning.

    “I can tick them off if you want, there’s a bunch of countries with a bunch of so-called leaders,” said the former Defense Intelligence Agency director.

    Flynn’s offer to list Muslim leaders was significantly undermined, however, by the fact that his number-one example has been dead for almost 30 years.

    Former "DIA" Chief? Now, I'm fucking Scared

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The DIA was Rumsfeld's baby. He expanded it greatly after 9/11 hoping they would give him the answers he wanted when he couldn't get them from the CIA and other agencies.

      .

      Delete
  13. Liberals love to vilify those who don't agree with them, especially the puffington host. I'm sure he was referring to Ali Khamenei, who is currently the supreme leader of Iran. And he be alive. Smiley face smiley face.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Remember this?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1DO388jsf8

      Delete
    2. The problem is, Khomeini, with its accent on the first syllable, and Khamenei, with the accent on the last, are not pronounced anything near alike.

      Delete
    3. The accent in Khomeini is on the second syllable.

      Delete
  14. Just proves once again that Huffpo belongs on a rack by the checkout counter.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Did you miss Donald Trump's speech "announcing" Mike Pence as his running mate? No worries. The Twitter version is always more fun anyway:

    Follow
    Brian X. McCrone ✔ @BrianXMcCrone
    "Can't Always Get Want You Want" playing on the loudspeakers prior to Trump press conference introducing Pence as his running mate.
    10:13 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    37 37 Retweets 53 53 likes
    Follow
    Rich Lowry ✔ @RichLowry
    "My first choice." Has a presidential candidate ever had to make that assurance about his running mate before?
    10:18 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    16 16 Retweets 30 30 likes
    Follow
    CNN Türk ENG ✔ @CNNTURK_ENG
    #BREAKING Donald Trumps says of attempted coup in Turkey, "Hopefully it will all work out" pic.twitter.com/QmVDEBWeuo
    10:21 AM - 16 Jul 2016

    Robert Costa ✔ @costareports
    "So, Mike Pence... "
    10:24 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    20 20 Retweets 34 34 likes
    Follow
    adam nagourney ✔ @adamnagourney
    "One of the reasons i did this was party unity, to be honest." A heartfelt endorsement of Mike Pence.
    10:25 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    67 67 Retweets 53 53 likes
    Follow
    Ezra Klein ✔ @ezraklein
    So saying he chose Pence for party unity was a segue into a riff on how Trump crushed the Republican establishment in the primaries
    10:28 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    106 106 Retweets 212 212 likes
    Follow
    James Fallows ✔ @JamesFallows
    Trump: “Nafta worst trade deal in history of US”
    Pence to himself (Gulp, i supported that.)
    “Iraq war a disaster”
    (Gulp)
    10:32 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    296 296 Retweets 350 350 likes
    Follow
    adam nagourney ✔ @adamnagourney
    This is epic. I've never seen a veep roll-out quite like this. Are we sure Pence is still waiting?
    10:28 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    35 35 Retweets 32 32 likes

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jonathan Bernstein ✔ @jbview
    "Back to Mike Pence" -- Followed by absolutely nothing about Pence.
    10:31 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    16 16 Retweets 26 26 likes
    Follow
    Karen Tumulty ✔ @ktumulty
    Still not back to Mike Pence...
    10:32 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    56 56 Retweets 116 116 likes
    Follow
    adam nagourney ✔ @adamnagourney
    It's easy to tell when Trump is going to start talking about Pence: He looks down at his prepared remarks.
    10:35 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    32 32 Retweets 54 54 likes
    Follow
    Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser
    Donald Trump just said he picked Mike Pence because he’s good looking.

    And that’s the least weird part of this speech.
    10:35 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    366 366 Retweets 461 461 likes
    Follow
    Ezra Klein ✔ @ezraklein
    This feels like Trump is reading Pence's Wikipedia page for the first time.
    10:39 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    275 275 Retweets 528 528 likes
    Follow
    David Corn ✔ @DavidCornDC
    Now we know the answer to the question, can Trump give a speech on any subject other than himself?
    10:41 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    110 110 Retweets 211 211 likes
    Follow
    Shane Goldmacher ✔ @ShaneGoldmacher
    "It was more of an endorsement for me” Trump says of Pence's endorsement of Cruz.

    Phenomenal.
    10:42 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    77 77 Retweets 76 76 likes
    Follow
    Robert Costa ✔ @costareports
    Trump quickly left the stage, Pence alone at the lectern
    10:43 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    68 68 Retweets 67 67 likes
    Follow
    Rich Lowry ✔ @RichLowry
    Trump leaving stage seemed to be symbolic washing of hands of the whole thing
    10:44 AM - 16 Jul 2016
    49 49 Retweets 73 73 likes
    Follow
    Ezra Klein ✔ @ezraklein
    What is Mike Pence thinking right now? Because it is not, "this is exactly how I always imagined this moment would go"
    10:30 AM - 16 Jul 2016

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Libs would have acted like eight graders regardless of who was picked.

      Delete
    2. Rufus is in his second childhood.

      Delete
  17. Friday night’s failed coup was Turkey’s last hope to stop the Islamization of its government and the degradation of its society. Reflexively, Western leaders rushed to condemn a coup attempt they refused to understand. Their reward will be a toxic Islamist regime at the gates of Europe.

    Our leaders no longer do their basic homework.The media relies on experts-by-Wikipedia. Except for PC platitudes, our schools ignore the world beyond our shores. Deluged with unreliable information, citizens succumb to the new superstitions of the digital age.

    So a great country is destroyed by Islamist hardliners before our eyes—and our president praises its “democracy.”
    ---
    Erdogan has packed Turkey’s courts with Islamists. He appointed pliant, pro-Islamist generals and admirals, while staging show trials of those of whom he wished to rid the country. He has de facto, if not yet de jure, curtailed women’s freedoms. He dissolved the wall between mosque and state (Friday night, he used mosques’ loudspeakers to call his supporters into the streets). Not least, he had long allowed foreign fighters to transit Turkey to join ISIS and has aggressively backed other extremists whom he believed he could manage.

    And his diplomatic extortion racket has degraded our own military efforts against ISIS.

    That’s the man President Obama supports.

    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/07/16/turkeys-last-hope-dies.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. .

    Our leaders no longer do their basic homework.

    You don't need no stinkin homework. Erdogan is as obvious as it gets.

    The media relies on experts-by-Wikipedia

    Not in this case. All Erdogan's moves have been documented, analyzed, and commented on by numerous media outlets since he first came to power years ago. Since the Syrian civil war started, he has been getting more than his share of print. Maybe it's just that this FOX guy hasn't been paying attention.

    Reflexively, Western leaders rushed to condemn a coup attempt they refused to understand.

    Not from what I saw.

    Anyone who pays any attention at all knows where Erdogan stands and what he is up to. It would be hard to miss his crackdown on the opposition and the military or his recent efforts to change the constitution to give himself more dictatorial powers. And I'm not so sure that Obama was happy as hell that Erdogan did everything he could to sabotage the US efforts against ISIS in Syria. Well, until recently now that he has his own problems with them.

    But any country would be stupid to jump in and applaud a coup at the beginning no matter which side you wanted to win. The US did what most NATO and EU countries did. The waited until they could see who was going to come out on top. Until then the only comments I heard were 'We are concerned and are monitoring the events in Turkey closely'. It wasn't until it was pretty evident that Erdogan was going to defeat the coup that they started offering up platitudes about democracy.

    A wise choice. Given that Erdogan had apparently won, how would it help US' interests to condemn a current NATO member because it put down a military coup? How do you say you are standing up for 'democracy' when you support a failed military takeover. I'm sure the US would have loved to see Erdogan gone. When it appeared it wasn't going to happen you cut your losses.

    Even with Western leaders mouthing the right words, there is little doubt Erdogan will use the coup attempt to get what he couldn't get with the vote on the constitution changes. Also, it's likely that he will say the coup attempt was supported by foreigners (read the US).

    That’s the man President Obama supports.

    I doubt that very much.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He is blaming the coup on some iman in Philadelphia.

      He wants him shipped over to him in Turkey.

      This is the way he can blame the USA.

      Delete
  19. "I doubt that very much."
    ---
    His words and actions indicates he does, why do you doubt "very much?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Erdogan has screwed with the US since he took over in Turkey. He has been an obstacle rather than an asset in the US' war against ISIS.

      IMO, Erdogan is not the man who Obama supports he is the man Obama puts up with because he has little choice.

      IMO, Obama would likely not have lost much sleep if the coup had succeeded and Erdogan was gone.

      .

      Delete
  20. .

    And so it starts...

    Turkey coup: 2,700 judges removed from duty following failed overthrow attempt

    Turkey’s highest judiciary council suspends judges and members of its own board for links to reformist Muslim leader Fethullah Gülen



    The Turkish government has removed 2,745 judges from duty in the wake of a failed military coup in which over 161 people were killed.

    The decision followed an emergency meeting of Turkey’s Judges and Prosecutors High Council which was called to discuss members’ links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, the leader of a reformist Muslim movement.

    The meeting saw the dismissal of 2,745 judges along with several members of the council itself, which is Turkey’s highest judiciary board.

    Turkey’s state-run news agency said authorities have detained 10 members of the council.
    The Anadolu Agency said arrest warrants have been issued for 48 administrative court members and 140 members of Turkey's appeals court.

    The government has repeatedly blamed the influence of the Gülen movement for the coup and has said the overthrow attempt was carried out by a clique of supporters within the military.
    Turkey’s acting military chief of staff Umit Dundar earlier said: “The armed forces is determined to remove members of the Gülen movement from its ranks.”

    Mr Gülen, a preacher and former imam, was an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan until 2013. The relationship turned sour after a corruption scandal implicated Mr Erdogan, who then accused Mr Gülen of being behind the corruption investigations.

    He is now on Turkey’s most-wanted terrorist list and the country has demanded his extradition from the United States where he is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

    Mr Gülen is the founder of the Gülen movement, which teaches a moderate Islam which believes in science, multi-party democracy and interfaith dialogue between the Abrahamic religions.



    Word on the street is that Deuce's spare bedroom is currently being used a safe house for Mr. Gulen.

    .



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gulen, that's the guy I was thinking of above.

      Delete