The Idiot

The Idiot is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Like most Russian literature, it is a big book full of complicated characters, with funny names. The central character of the novel, Prince Myshkin, is a young man whose good intentions and decency are taken to be stupidity by the worldly characters of the novel. The title is intended to be ironic. His naivete is assumed to be due to stupidity. The novel is a study of what happens when such a person is put in a world populated by people lacking basic decency and morality.

Our cultural elites use something similar to promote the values of the ruling classes through movies and television. The movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the classic example. The twist our betters put on it is the innocent adventurer taking on the corrupt system holds all of the values cherished by our actual ruling class. Meanwhile, the fictional villains are always people who sound like the critics of managerial state democracy. Even so, the basic theme is the same. We have the naïf versus the cabal of the cynical.

Whether as propaganda or psychological study, the central question is whether a corrupt and malignant system can be changed or defeated by a morally good person. The Hollywood version will on occasion have the white hat defeated, for the purpose of reinforcing some element of the one true faith. Usually though, the good guy triumphs over the system. This propaganda has been so effective, most American honestly think that by assiduously obeying every rule they will one day have their country back.

One of those Americans seems to be President Trump. The back story to his run is that he was motivated to run, after being disrespected by various on-line propagandists like Jonah Goldberg. Trump could not understand why a billionaire like him was mocked, by guys like Goldberg, who are nothing more than servants to rich men like Trump. To Trump, this made no sense. He was motivated to run in order to prove to these people that he could do anything they can do, but even better. There is nothing bigger than President.

Since his victory, Trump has been searching around for some way to be accepted by the political class. He assumed that winning the election would also win him the respect of official Washington. Instead, they locked shields to oppose him, even installing a special prosecutor to dig around in his life for a way to impeach him. Unable to figure out why he is treated like a skunk at the picnic, he has flailed around looking for something to give away in order to get the respect he craves.

Now, he is willing to fink on his voters by breaking every promise he made during the campaign. That is why he is dealing with Chuck Schumer. The sole reason for Schumer to exist in Washington is to guide troublesome Republicans through the process of committing political suicide. In the case of Trump, that means going for amnesty, abandoning the wall and supporting candidates who hate him. It is not enough that Trump fink on his voters. He must humiliate himself in front of them as well.

This is not to say that Trump is just a craven liar. He is one of the few people in the financial elite who embraces those old ideas of civic responsibility and fair play that used to define the American elite. Trump is from an age when it was your duty to uphold the rules and be a good example to others. He naively thinks that is how things still work. They do not, which is why the ruling elite looks at him as odious interloper. They do not hate him as much as they hate what he represents. They also think he is an idiot because of it.

One of the main critiques, from the Dissident Right, of Buckley Conservatives, is that they naively cling to ideas that are no longer applicable. Waving around the Constitution, for example, when the document is now interpreted to mean the opposite of what the Founders intended, is idiotic. The foolish embrace of principal, when it means sure defeat, is proof that the alleged opposition to the managerial state is either composed of fools, or traitors sent to subvert any real opposition to the status quo.

Now, much of what comes from the alt-right is ignorant chanting that is not based in anything but frustration with their fringe status. Even so, they are not wrong to point out that the Civic Nationalists and the alt-lite are naive and foolish to think they can talk the other side into turning away from their suicidal course. Every attempt to affect change within the system, is bound to fail, as the rules of the system are designed to protect and perpetuate the status quo. The people in charge are not going to quit on their stool.

“We’re not voting our way out of this” is a popular way of making this point. That is not entirely true, but it is a useful way to put it. Simply electing people who say the right things is not changing a system that has been corrupted to defend the interests of the two percent. The system, as it stands, must be subverted and destabilized. That does not happen at the ballot box. That is what we are seeing with Trump. He is being swallowed up by a system designed for that purpose. You do not beat it by playing by the rules.

It is hard to know if Trump will pull out of his death spiral. He has shown a willingness to reverse course if he feels he has made an error. It is also possible that he fears Mueller has something on him or his kids and he is hoping to trade away your future for his dignity and freedom. Maybe it all just part of the chaos that Trump seems to enjoy. Regardless, it is another reminder that the people putting their trust in the system are idiots. The system is not the solution to out problems as a society. The system is the problem.

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Member
7 years ago

In Soviet Murica, Swamp drains You.

Member
Reply to  Owen_Lynn
7 years ago

This morning over at Taki’smag, “Where Are the Vikings” said “You cannot drain concrete.” She’s right. That is going to require a jackhammer and considerable TNT.

Teapartydoc
Member
7 years ago

Trump is either a first step, or simply an interlude. If we can’t win by playing by the rules, I’d like to know how we are going to win otherwise. Since we’re on Dostoyevsky, I guess one way is to play the waiting game that the radicals in his novels played. Watching everything go bad and not raising a finger to help, perhaps even pushing things along. A kind of Cloward-Piven right wing. I drove through campus today. Half or more of the kids have no business being there, and within ten years probably won’t be. That means the pool… Read more »

SWRichmond
SWRichmond
Reply to  Teapartydoc
7 years ago

College is part of the USA debt bubble. When the debt bubble pops, or when the currency pops, enrollment collapses. This is yet another reason to wish for it to happen.

Kids go to college and major in debt and activism, then graduate with a useless degree and want to recruit help voting for debt forgiveness. Fedgov is now directly in the student loan business, to the tune of over $1 Trillion.

Moar free shit please.

Dr. Mabuse
Reply to  SWRichmond
7 years ago

The leftists running the culture never honestly state that the reason they want young people to go to college is to recruit them as future moles or stormtroopers. When times are good, the selling point is “the experience”: exposure to a bigger world, widening horizons, meeting people of different backgrounds, exposure to different ideas, etc. When times are hard, it’s a ticket to employment: “Competition for jobs is stiff! You’ve got to distinguish yourself from everyone else! Employers will only choose the best, and a degree will give you a leg up on the competition!” But now that practical advice… Read more »

Observer
Observer
7 years ago

I went through a full rage-cycle about Trump’s DACA shenanigans last week.

But now it seems pretty clear: when Trump said the the Legislature should create the amnesty terms & he would sign it, that’s pretty indicative that he doesn’t really want the amnesty.

Betting on Congressional dysfunction & gridlock & cowardice is about as close as you can get to a sure thing in DC.

Rod1963
Rod1963
Reply to  Observer
7 years ago

DACA is a political tarbaby for the GOP – if they reform it and grant amnesty they will be primaried out of existence.. So they won’t mess with it. In a couple of weeks a new story will dominate capitol hill and DACA will be forgotten.

David Wright
Member
7 years ago

I had no high hopes when I voted for this man. I really feared a Hildebeast presidency and was elated for her defeat. To see her rushed out ghost written bs book makes it that much sweeter.

That said, I figured we get something thrown our way reasonably often. Once in a blue moon more like it. God only knows what this strange man will do.

Member
Reply to  David Wright
7 years ago

Trump seems to be a reflection of voters’ desires and our fears. Whatever it is that voters are looking for, there he is. It’s fun to root for the underdog. Just don’t bank on it.

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

I’ll say what I’ve maintained from the start of his election – he’s the 2nd coming of Reagan and that means primarily GRIDLOCK. People put on rose colored glasses when they remember him and the 80s, but what I remember was him constantly bitching over and over and over and over about how he couldn’t get anything done because of Congress. Oh, and making deals with the “other” party, man that brings back memories of Reagan too. I guess we can look forward to Pence giving his best impression of “Read mah lips” in 2024? One can only hope. Or… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Owen_Lynn
7 years ago

Reagan took down Soviet communism, so he did a world of good. Maybe all Trump gets is one good thing done, be it a takedown of the Norks or Iran, or maybe something real on immigration. One is better than none.

Member
Reply to  Dutch
7 years ago

Cynically, it happened to happen on his watch, they were going to collapse no matter what. Low oil prices is what did them in, just like it’s doing in Venezuela.

Member
Reply to  Owen_Lynn
7 years ago

Uh, I disagree Owen. Just no. It took Reagan, Thatcher, the Pope and Walesa. Remove any of those and no, the Soviet Union does not collapse. Also, to be fair, Gorby.

SDN
SDN
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

Reagan basically had the good sense to listen to his advisors (Jerry Pournelle was one) who told him we could overextend the Soviets. We did, and they fell sooner.

Rhino
Rhino
Reply to  Dutch
7 years ago

Yes, there is always someone who comes along to point out that Reagan was president during some of the last years of the USSR and to indicate that correlation is causation in this case.

The USSR would have collapsed anyway. St. Reagan just had to keep us from collapsing.

Thag
Thag
Reply to  Rhino
7 years ago

I was there. The general mood of the country in the last Carter years was one of absolute despair. The Democrat elites were (then as now) trying to manage the eventual surrender to the Soviets.

Reagan alone was standing against that mood. Read some of Jerry Pournelle’s older books (the non-fiction sections of There Will Be War vols 1-8 are a good intro).

As for the “USSR would have collapsed anyway” – tell that to the various factions in the Bush (Sr.) State Department, who spent the best part of the administration trying to keep the Commies afloat.

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

My sense is that DACA amnesty of sorts is the trade-off for the wall. Trump wants to do two things. One is to stop the conflation of “immigration” and “illegal immigration”. Two is to find a path to citizenship for those who contribute, and block it for those who sponge off the system. An actual wall mostly stops illegal immigration, and DACA is the Trojan horse for amnesty for some who are already here. Go back and listen to what Trump has always said. He has never been against amnesty for those who contribute. The rest of it is positioning… Read more »

Member
Reply to  Dutch
7 years ago

In stopping illegal immigration, the wall is less important than any amnesty because amnesty is the golden ring drawing illegals in the first place. Moreover, forty percent of illegals arrive via airports anyway. Nevertheless, build the wall. What the country needs is an end to the immigration epoch period. We have enough people in the country, and it will have to end at some point anyway. On that score, Trump is the only president or presidential candidate in my lifetime to even approach that subject when he advocated a reduction in legal numbers. The American Immigration Lawyers Assn (which allows… Read more »

miforest
Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

My smiling suit 2 term congressman, trott just announced he will not run for re-election. The GOP is collapsing . rove and the bushes, who control the PC money and much of the Deep state will not let JEB! be dismissed the way he was. They want revenge on the party base. I don’t think they understand, or care, that we have been their voting base. I voted for bush’s in 4 presidential elections, but I would never vote for another one. If it were JEB and Hillary in 2020 , I’m for her. I don’t pretend to understand trump… Read more »

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  miforest
7 years ago

imo Trump has not made one even modestly competent cabinet pick. maybe davos but that’s about it.

forest grump
Member
Reply to  Karl McHungus
7 years ago

How could he? the republican senate will NOT confirm anyone they don’t suggest to him. the mainstream media didn’t report it but the GOP senate majority leader refused to officially adjourn the senate , thereby preventing trump from making any recess appointments. that is borderline treason , and certainly outright sabotage . they will soon throw him from office.

walt reed
walt reed
Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

The establishment Republicans seemed to believe they had the President boxed in a corner. The President pivots to the Democrats for support. Like Reagan, Trumps bargains. He wins a few, loses a few. The majority party loses seats in the house because of gross stupidity, hubris, and entitlement. The Mueller thing will implode. The Dems have more to fear than President Trump, in this matter.

Al from da Nort
Al from da Nort
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

Z Man; The really big get that *might* make some kind of a deal on DACA semi-OK would be to end ‘chain migration’* and ‘birthright citizenship’** for ALL immigration. The diabolical DACA trap is that just as soon as ‘dreamers’ have legal status, they can legally bring in their parents, who brought them here illegally, via ‘chain migration’: Not to mention bringing their elderly relatives to live on social security disability payments and medicare just like the ‘red dot’ (not ‘red feather’) Indians do. As evidence: Why would any same parent put their unaccompanied minor child on top of a… Read more »

Member
Reply to  David Wright
7 years ago

I notice NObody trying to suggest we should have voted for Hillary. Or Bernie Or Goofy Johnson. Or that Stein woman. So that leaves us with a GOP candidate. Which of the GOP candidates running would have been able to A. actually beat the Democrat machine and get elected, and then, B. organize a more acceptable administration?

Jeff Baxter
Jeff Baxter
7 years ago

Everyone needs to consider things not by appearance until that is unavoidable. We are nowhere near than with Donald. His goal was to “draining the swamp” – to dismantle the PTB in DC. He is doing so – all the while not letting the real “idiots: know what he is doing. We so often are superficial in our judgments of things. Here are several differing point of view that ought to be considered: Conservativetreehouse.com. Sundance has been spot on. https://www.spartareport.com/2017/09/scott-adams-explains-trumps-daca-ploy-get-wall-built/ Scott Adams, likewise. And this jewel: https://www.spartareport.com/2017/09/daca-panic-backstabbing-politics-and-betrayal-hysteria/ We’re but 8 months in, Trump has taken so much flak that would… Read more »

Brigadon
Member
Reply to  Jeff Baxter
7 years ago

I would much rather look at his history of ploys… so far he has been playing everyone and forcing them to show their hands and true allegiances. This whole Daca situation just…feels exactly like the previous ploys.

I voted for Trump. I never assumed he was the alt-right choice, but the alt-right choice could never have gotten elected. So far he is still doing the Job we hired him for, setting in place the mechanisms for breaking the power structure, and maybe giving a REAL choice a chance. I am pleased with his performance so far.

Val
Val
7 years ago

I think you’re wrong on Trump. I see him using the good ol’ “bait and switch” and “move the goalposts” sorts of shenanigans that the Left have used over and over against the hapless Republicans to trip them up. It’s a relief seeing someone on “our side” use it against the Left! Trump is *not* looking for “affirmation,” but I’m pretty sure he (as he has most of his life) wants to go down in the books as a “winner” President. He’s smart enough to realize that granting some sort of amnesty to the DACA scum would be *instant* political… Read more »

Andy Texan
7 years ago

Trump was the best could have hoped for. Hopefully he will see the foolishness of trading away his credibility with 60 million voters for a handful of foreigners. Unfortunately Sessions is really to blame. If not for Mueller Trump could have booted the deep state holdovers. Now he has to bend the knee. We are screwed.

Member
Reply to  Andy Texan
7 years ago

Not the best. But the only outsider willing to step forward and demonstrate to us just how rigged the whole system is. I suspect that wasn’t his real goal, but that’s what we’re getting once you total it all out.

TRX
TRX
7 years ago

Donald Trump is a New York Democrat. At least, virtually all of his social and business partners were. He bought himself a Republican nomination, for reasons that still aren’t clear to me, and ran against the Wicked Witch, who was formerly one of his compadres. Masses of yellow-dog Democrate held their noses and used their secret ballots to vote against the Wicked Witch, et voila, El Presidente Trump. Did I expect Trump to fulfill his campaign promises? Since I first voted in 1980, I’m not sure any of the incumbents even *tried.* Did I expect him to put up even… Read more »

Occasional Commenter
Occasional Commenter
7 years ago

Z-Man said: “the Civic Nationalists and the alt-lite are naive and foolish to think they can talk the other side into turning away from their suicidal course. Every attempt to affect change within the system, is bound to fail, as the rules of the system are designed to protect and perpetuate the status quo.” Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy writ very large, in letters of fire over the road. That’s why I think his best course of action is to reduce the federal bureaucracy by wholesale personnel reductions. Simply carve off large chunks of the individual Departments by redefining their… Read more »

Member
Reply to  Occasional Commenter
7 years ago

I don’t see most of the people having a taste for the full dissolution of the country and abandonment of the structure/system we have in place, and believe we will see most of the federal bureaucracy implode as the money dries up for one simple reason : The primary earners who pay most of the taxes aren’t getting the stability it was supposed to provide, and the number of people who depend on the system have demanded benefits/payoffs far larger than can be sustained. At some point the cost of shooting the peasants will be lower than paying the protection… Read more »

PRCD
PRCD
7 years ago

Due to our decadence, we are entering the post-nation-state era. The elites are tearing up the rulebook and what comes afterward will be a combination of vague, meddlesome, and useless global governance by corporations and perhaps the UN and anarchy at the street level for those outside the Cloud. We see this in most Latin-American nation-states today, though it will intensify as the stable examples of nationhood are eroded. It could start to look like the collapse of the late Bronze age circa 1177 BC when there were large numbers of people – such as the Sea Peoples – on… Read more »

Caleo
Caleo
Reply to  PRCD
7 years ago

Excellent comment. I think we are closing in on the end of a larger civilizational cycle, not just the end of America as it was known in the 50’s. The West is in a terminal phase, everyone who reads sites like this knows it. How fast, in the age of the internet, this all unravels is arguable, but it is coming to a head. It won’t happen next week or even next year, but a larger systems breakdown is approaching, and the collapse of the late Bronze Age is a fine example. A great bifurcation is coming, and the fate… Read more »

Occasional Commenter
Occasional Commenter
Reply to  PRCD
7 years ago

“…local leaders can make national leaders do their jobs because local leaders derive their right to rule from the people… ” This is why I think one avenue of attack is to repeal the 17 Amendment and get the senators back to responding to their states’ governments. Keep yapping at Congress to do it, and/or push for an Article V Convention of the States to get it done. Don’t let up on this issue. If a future senator votes to make the US Chamber of Commerce happy and his vote runs counter to his state’s sentiments, his state government call… Read more »

SWRichmond
SWRichmond
Reply to  Occasional Commenter
7 years ago

The solution is a kind of “Minority Report” scenario where the precogs find anyone who ever, in any future timeline, utters the words “vote for me” or “elect me”, and then those people are all immediately rounded up and shot.

Montefrio
Member
Reply to  PRCD
7 years ago

I live in a Latin American nation state and I strongly disagree with your observation. Europe (where I lived previously) yes, but South America, no. Unless you’ve spent considerable time here and are fluent in the language spoken, these countries are very difficult for an outsider to attempt to analyze.

PRCD
PRCD
Reply to  Montefrio
7 years ago

As far as how I’m wrong, I’m all ears. Chile is an exception isn’t it?

Montefrio
Member
Reply to  PRCD
7 years ago

Outside of the principal cities (megalopoli, really), “globalism” is a concept entirely lacking. “Anarchy” is confined to cities as well, by and large. Chile (under Bachelet) is allowing Haitian (!) refugees in, but countries like Argentina, Colombia, Perú have turned away from the left and are attempting to strengthen their national identities, not dilute them. I live in the interior of Argentina and even federal gov presence is nearly non-existent.

PRCD
PRCD
Reply to  Montefrio
7 years ago

This is largely true in the US also. The cities are where non-whites are given handouts and the countrysides are full of whites. This is why they hate the countrysides. I’ve been reading books on rural economic development and am planning to move to such an area. Argentina and Peru have had their fill of Leftism. I’m surprised Argentina didn’t turn into a dictatorship under Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. ARgentine missionaries report that crime is still very high in ARgentina and FerFAL reports that it’s high in the countryside. I don’t know if I believe FerFAL. Peru, of course, dealt… Read more »

Member
7 years ago

Uh…. I think you’re misreading this whole thing. Dealing with the Dems has the Dem-rabid-base furious! Trump has pivoted to ” getting stuff done” or appearing to try.. A majority of citizens are unhappy with what DC has become. The more DC hates on Trump, the more is seen as an authentic, non-partisan patriot… trying to knock the table over. There is no deal on DACA. It’s just BS talk. The press HAVE to put a wedge in somewhere between Trump and his voters. You mentioned Mr. Smith Goes to Washington… Remember the pols deciding the way to stop young… Read more »

Pimpkin\'s nephew
Pimpkin\'s nephew
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

In 1970 I watched ‘MSGTW’ on tv and thought it maudlin and dated (I was 9 at the time). A couple of years ago my wife and I watched it again on YouTube, when it was up for a day or so, and I was stunned by how dark, and hopeless, and true it all was. Kudos to Frank Capra, a man who loved this country intensely but who also saw how the system is stacked against everyday people. As a GOP voter, I can revel in all the “victories” we’ve enjoyed. The elimination of funding for Planned Parenthood and… Read more »

Mark Auld
Mark Auld
7 years ago

A hard assessment,but probably valid. It may be too late to restore the USA to what it was;and I can’t think of examples in history when it happened. “We have met the enemy, and they are us”. I fear it could be a very hard fall from grace.

Caleo
Caleo
Reply to  Mark Auld
7 years ago

Historically, it’s always a hard fall. The termites have eaten away at the foundation, there are too many holes to fill at this point. Trump could be a minor restoration, depending on what direction his presidency takes, but I see him as more of an interlude. As Zman said above, the Left and the globalists are not going to give up. If anything, Trump has forced them to push the peddle to the floor. The pendulum will swing back, and seeing as how the Left has been artificially holding it in place for years now, when it swings back in… Read more »

Member
7 years ago

A week or two ago when news leaked out that Trump was meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, I reminded friends that Trump said he would do exactly this if the GOP could not get its act together and put legislation on his desk. And this week, just today, we get word that there is a GOP Obamacare bill that is something like one vote short in the Senate. It’s basically a block-grant bill, which is what most sane observers think Obama and the Democrats could have done in 2010 which would not have turned 2/3rds of their elected offices over… Read more »

Ron
Ron
7 years ago

Voting for a hero to reform Washington is akin to sending fresh virgins to a brothel in a vain attempt to reform it. Few can work in Babylon before succumbing to its’ tempting fleshpots. Well-intentioned crusaders soon become part of the problem instead of the solution, suborned by the likes of Schumer, devoted servant of Mephistopheles.

james wilson
james wilson
7 years ago

Scott Adams believes Trump is still playing them (Democrats). IMO he is playing Rhinos as much if not more. http://blog.dilbert.com/post/165334092961/i-explain-the-persuasion-techniques-president

Gary
Gary
7 years ago

No talk about subversion and rebuilding a legitimate system can be had without settling the Debt Question. How many Americans, the smart and the conservative included, are in financial debt? How many have structured their lives on top of promises on top of promises?

TomA
TomA
7 years ago

The first step on the road to redemption is to see reality with clarity. A few can see it from miles away, but most will only take notice when the proverbial 2 x 4 hits them upside the head. And we are still a long way from that awakening. In the mean time, work to improve your resilience, self-reliance, basic skills, and keep the powder dry. Trump is neither Messiah nor traitor. At best, he will become a catalyst that hastens the day of reckoning.

sirlancelot
sirlancelot
7 years ago

No one man is going to un-F the mess that is Washington DC. I think going to the Democrats was a beautiful move. It puts all the Rhinos out there on Front Street for their constituents to see. At the end of the day it’s “We the People ” that are responsible for getting those traitors out of office. Unfortunately half the country will still vote for Chucky and Nancy, but now their constituents are angry for having the audacity to cut a deal with President Trump. The Donald is a Wily coyote I say we give him more time… Read more »

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  sirlancelot
7 years ago

Even if incumbents are voted out of office, the entire political/government apparatus has been set up around the donors and their money. The donors control who runs and wins office with their money. Once in office, the donors control the legislation in Congress with their money. You cannot improve our system without limiting the donors and money. But Americans have been convinced through more beautiful propaganda from the very-best-consultants-money-can-buy that money in politics is free speech.

Shrugger
Shrugger
7 years ago

Concur with most of this, but I have a feeling that “he caved on immigration” might go down with “he’ll never be president.”

Member
Reply to  Shrugger
7 years ago

He has no path. He doesn’t have the organization! He is behind on spending! … This is the best time ever… all the masks are dropping… Trump is blessed by his detractors. They all keep doubling down…. authenticating him and defining him as a true apostate of Big Government Get-a-long… The more crap he takes, the clearer it is that he is in fact an enemy of the swamp and the PC media/Universities. More please

Baltbuc
Baltbuc
7 years ago

“Since his victory, Trump has been searching around for some way to be accepted by the political class. He assumed that winning the election would also win him the respect of official Washington. Instead, they locked shields to oppose him”

Thank you for describing Trump in a couple sentences. A great line.
People get wrapped around the axle trying to figure him out as if he has a grand plan. You nailed it very simply.

Tim
Tim
Member
7 years ago

A common financial cliche is “Trees don’t grow to the sky.” When the money go ’round stops, and the markets tank, then I think it will get real and politics will shake out. Trying to predict it is impossible. All that is possible is to try to connect with real people and support sound people. I find commentators like Sailer, Zman and Ramzpaul sensible. I don’t find Trump particularly sensible but voted for him as the only alternative to a very evil leftist. What would happen if the economy nosedives and Trump gets saddled with that. Gets real then. Problem… Read more »

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Tim
7 years ago

One way to keep your movement from being subverted is to keep your movement unpalatable to the people who would subvert it by infiltration or by using funding in coercive ways, as was done to the Tea Party. If sharing social space with Nazis is what it takes to do this, it’s worth a shot.

This is part of the reason why I distrust people who are trying to build a brand while dabbling in alt right politics.

Tim
Tim
Member
Reply to  Teapartydoc
7 years ago

Distrusting people who have a private agenda, who are self-aggrandizing, is smart. Sharing social space with Stormers who rant about hook nosed Jews isn’t. They get to rant and rave if they like. I believe in the first amendment, which isn’t the same as telling them they are a vanguard, or serve a useful purpose. Tim

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Tim
7 years ago

You’re right. Our first concern should be looking smart. Let’s start a conservative think tank.

Tim
Tim
Member
Reply to  Teapartydoc
7 years ago

No, being smart shoudld be our first concern. No stormers, no think tank money, no people looking to make big money off it.

Ivar
Ivar
Reply to  Teapartydoc
7 years ago

What a unique idea! 🙂

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Teapartydoc
7 years ago

and wear bow ties

Tired of the savages
Tired of the savages
7 years ago

FYI…Facebook is blocking your site from sharing.

I did enjoy sharing your posts.

When do you think someone will start up a competing site?

Thanks for your continued efforts

MrP
MrP
7 years ago

The “Bourne” movies are an excellent example of the propaganda you mention: “Yes, the intelligence agencies serve corporate organized crime cartels and are packed with dillusional sociopathic warmongers, but a few God-fearing, American-value warriors remain, are fighting the good fight, and they’re winning!, so worry not — it’s all going to be okay.”

Member
7 years ago

Not once has the pundictocracy ever gotten Trump right. Maybe there is nothing to “get.”

Eclectic Esoteric
Eclectic Esoteric
7 years ago

Twitter Rival GAB Served Notice its Registrar Will Seize its Domain if Not Changed Due to GAB Promoting Free Speech.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/09/twitter-rival-gab-served-notice-that-domain-registrar-will-seize-domain-if-not-changed-due-to-gab-promoting-free-speech/

YIH
YIH
Reply to  Eclectic Esoteric
7 years ago

Vox Day’s been on it: http://voxday.blogspot.com/search?q=Gab The problem Gab is having is much like the one https://infogalactic.com/info/8chan had; allowing/leaving up/not banning posts that were, at best, of very dubious legality. The registrar pulled 8chan’s domain over it, thinking they might get in legal trouble if they didn’t.

Sam J.
Sam J.
7 years ago

What you said is EXACTLY what I think. The people that run our country are looting it into the ground, I believe it’s very likely that they have at least half the legislature blackmailed with at the minimum sex with prostitutes and likely in a large number of cases sex with under-aged girls and boys. They use the financial system to financialize all aspects of life and their closeness to the FED to print themselves unlimited amount of money, remember the junk bonds of the 80’s, means they own most ALL productive parts of the economy. It’s going to take… Read more »

Heartlander
Reply to  Sam J.
7 years ago

I agree with you that blackmail based on sex with underage girls and boys is a huge, hidden factor in our politics. I’ve read about the Franklin scandal, and other things over the years have convinced me that part or all of the Pizzagate mess is real. Podestas are sickos for sure. Ann Barnhardt claims that homosexuality and pederasty and the associated blackmail and extortion extend far beyond Washington, DC, and are factors in Vatican politics and amongst the globalist financiers as well. There’s no doubt that people at the highest levels of power, political and financial, are involved with… Read more »

Richard Kreul
Richard Kreul
7 years ago

Bingo

Issac
Issac
7 years ago

I’ve always held to the view that presuming to know what makes someone tick is a wasted effort. Whatever he thinks, the proper response is to register displeasure with amnesty to the system via all available channels. If that comes to naught, nobody can be said to have missed an opportunity. For feint or folding, Trump is the last of the civic nationalists.

Dutch
Dutch
7 years ago

So “playing by the rules” is futile under the current conditions, and “not playing by the rules” turns Trump, and us, into those we seek to counter. So what is “door number 3”?

Sharrukin
Sharrukin
Reply to  Dutch
7 years ago

There is no door number 3.

And not following the rules doesn’t make us the mirror image of leftists anymore than the Founding Fathers were Antifa because they decided they were not going to do what they were told.

SWRichmond
SWRichmond
Reply to  Sharrukin
7 years ago

When it comes to liberty there is no such thing as honorable defeat.

YIH
YIH
7 years ago

Another gem from Sailer: http://www.unz.com/isteve/nfl-team-calls-off-dna-day-for-fans
Which team? The Bodymore Ravens. Steve quips: ”Retired Ravens legend Ray Lewis probably doesn’t want anyone getting a copy of his DNA, just to be on the safe side.”

Jimmy
Jimmy
7 years ago

A simple “here here!”

Member
7 years ago

“The system is not the solution to out problems as a society. The system is the problem.”

What system are you talking about? If it is the political system, then you are saying something like this to someone planning to go on a diet: “The alimentary system is not the solution to your problems as an obese person. The alimentary system is the problem.

sirlancelot
sirlancelot
7 years ago

Went to a ” Boston Breakers ” USFL game many moons ago. Cablevision was giving away tickets every time somebody got a new cable box. We sat in the 90-degree heat on aluminum bleachers at BU’s Nickerson Field. We left at the half . The blazing sun and heat was too much. Went back home and watch the rest of the game in the air-conditioned house. Back then the New England Patriots were known as the patsies, but even that couldn’t have helped the Boston Breakers. Not a big football fan but from what i rememberd people simply hated the… Read more »

YIH
YIH
7 years ago

Especially this time of year the crash-and-burn of the USFL comes to mind: https://priceonomics.com/donald-trumps-misadventures-in-professional/ Which yes, was Trump’s fault. Before he came on the scene the USFL was gaining credibility, buoyed by the rise of ESPN (back when it was still Entertainment and SPorts) hungry for content, and baby boom demographics in their prime which pulled Crysler, Disney and Harley out of their late 70’s-early 80’s doldrums. Trump’s goal was to force an NFL/USFL merger in the same fashion as the NBA/ABA merger a few years prior. It failed miserably. IMHO, had Trump left it alone, it’s quite possible that… Read more »

Pimpkin\'s nephew
Pimpkin\'s nephew
7 years ago

In 2016 what I wanted was an egotistical billionaire headquartered in Manhattan to be President. My view was that such a person best represented the country.

Imagine my joy when I found DJT on the ballot.

So here we are, enjoying the fruits of republic that Mark Levin writes books about.

Ben Simon
Ben Simon
7 years ago

The problem is that Trump voters are fake Americans Let me explain-America is fast becoming a country of freedom, of equality, of justice, of COLOR It is becoming a good country in fact not only in theory and myth Trump voters are fighting against that. To them those who aren’t white christians are not real people. To trump voters America coming to terms with its land theft and slavery is a bad thing. As the country takes down racist monuments starts to teach the truth about history and holds whites accountable for their evil ways Trump voters are fighting tooth… Read more »

Tim
Tim
Member
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

So, then, a good country can only be one which isn’t white? That’s good to know. You’ve made a choice based on skin color. Pardon me for laughing when that bites you on the a**.

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Tim
7 years ago

Watch it. You are starting to sound like a Nazi.

Dan
Dan
Member
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

I think it is no coincidence that the initials of your handle are “B.S.”

Jeff Baxter
Jeff Baxter
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

You have interesting views . . .

Fallacious as hell, but interesting. So – whose bucket of tar and brush are you using with that fine bit of sociological and political philosophy?

You should have stopped above with “I would like to think…”

Perhaps you skipped a lot of Civics classes, or your school(s) never had one, but this country was founded on principles that permit us to ignore those like you, who purport to tell the rest of us what we should think.

Member
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

I think this is what the kids call “low quality bait” these days…

Caleo
Caleo
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

I see Tiny Duck has decided to pay us another visit. I’ll be OK with America “coming to terms with it’s land theft and slavery” when the Turks pick up their greasy asses and vacate Anatolia, move back to Central Asia and we re-brand Istanbul Constantinople. And they pay reparations for hundreds of years of slavery and land theft and cultural appropriation. When Arabs vacate their colonial holdings in North Africa and the Levant and relocate to the Arabian peninsula, and apologize incessantly for hundreds of years of slavery and land theft and cultural appropriation, then we can talk about… Read more »

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Caleo
7 years ago

you forgot to mention “and the negroes go back to africa”

Member
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

Absurd agitprop, lame, shallow cartoon characterization of our situation . Stick to smoking crack or biting off chicken heads or whatever you do.

Pimpkin\'s nephew
Pimpkin\'s nephew
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

This is a joke, right?

David Wright
Member
Reply to  Ben Simon
7 years ago

Written in perfect troll language. Reminds me of a small duck I used to know.