The Bet On Trump
Incidentally, I've been thinking about this thought for awhile:
The bet on Trump maybe went something like this:
Which now seems like a pretty sensible argument to me. Though I thought it was crazy in '16.
Thing is: everything didn't remain more-or-less normal. Trump was put to the test in an extraordinary way by the pandemic. He's failed the leadership test because he's kind of a nut who can't control his temper or his mouth. We needed an Obama--or some similar steady hand and voice--and we got, basically, the opposite.
As for his substantive decisions: we don't know yet how he did. Our hysterical, cultishly progressive media is even less good at its job than Trump is at the leadership part of his job. So we aren't just in an information vacuum, we're in a mis-/dis-information pressure chamber. Certainly he closed down travel faster than a Democrat would have, since he's more immune to pervasive, bullshit accusations of racism, xenophobia and the like. And that undoubtedly helped a lot. I'm skeptical of the claim that, say, an HRC would have done better than Trump. She'd have been slower to shot down travel, and I don't know of anything she'd have been better at. But, again: we don't know. Maybe we'll have a good guess someday.
But now my worry is this: if China actually did inflict this on us quasi-intentionally...which we know they did because we know they lied crucial lies...I fear that puts us in the Trump danger zone again--a situation in which war with a nuclear power is a real and relevant possibility. China will have to be punished somehow. And they're kinda ****ing crazy.
Well, anyway, that's one of the things I've been fretting about.
OTOH, Trump has maybe proven himself to be the best president in...how long? Five decades?...so far as starting and ending wars goes. So that's not nothing.
The bet on Trump maybe went something like this:
The Dems have lost their minds, and if they get the presidency again we know for sure that the country is going to go at least another mile down their preferred road to perdition. A bet on Trump is risky...he might lose his cool and get us into a war or something...but if everything remains more-or-less normal while he's in office, we'll be better off than we'd be under a Democrat. We won't go any farther down this particular road to perdition, at least.
Which now seems like a pretty sensible argument to me. Though I thought it was crazy in '16.
Thing is: everything didn't remain more-or-less normal. Trump was put to the test in an extraordinary way by the pandemic. He's failed the leadership test because he's kind of a nut who can't control his temper or his mouth. We needed an Obama--or some similar steady hand and voice--and we got, basically, the opposite.
As for his substantive decisions: we don't know yet how he did. Our hysterical, cultishly progressive media is even less good at its job than Trump is at the leadership part of his job. So we aren't just in an information vacuum, we're in a mis-/dis-information pressure chamber. Certainly he closed down travel faster than a Democrat would have, since he's more immune to pervasive, bullshit accusations of racism, xenophobia and the like. And that undoubtedly helped a lot. I'm skeptical of the claim that, say, an HRC would have done better than Trump. She'd have been slower to shot down travel, and I don't know of anything she'd have been better at. But, again: we don't know. Maybe we'll have a good guess someday.
But now my worry is this: if China actually did inflict this on us quasi-intentionally...which we know they did because we know they lied crucial lies...I fear that puts us in the Trump danger zone again--a situation in which war with a nuclear power is a real and relevant possibility. China will have to be punished somehow. And they're kinda ****ing crazy.
Well, anyway, that's one of the things I've been fretting about.
OTOH, Trump has maybe proven himself to be the best president in...how long? Five decades?...so far as starting and ending wars goes. So that's not nothing.
posted by Winston Smith at
2:30 PM
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