Category: Politics
-
Plato on Trump
Channeled through Andrew Sullivan.
-
Conrad Black on Donald Trump
Conrad Black has written well and with insight about Donald Trump. Here is his latest. Excerpt: . . . his major foreign-policy statement on April 27 is a cogent outline of a clear definition of the U.S. national interest. It is neither impetuous as George W. Bush nor as defeatist and contra-historical as Obama. Trump…
-
Post-Consensus Politics: A Poetic Epigraph
Here is the first stanza of "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), a fitting epigraph to our entry into the twilight. But for the philosopher there is consolation: "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings at dusk." (Hegel). Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things…
-
Trump, the Board Game
But if you are thinking of not voting for Trump should he get the Republican nomination, by not voting at all or voting for Hillary, Mark Levin has some choice words for you, words with which I heartily agree: . . . I can understand ‘stop Trump’ in a primary process. But stop Trump or you’ll…
-
Dennis Prager Agrees with Me on Trump vs. Hillary
Perhaps it would be better to say that the view that Mr. Prager expresses coincides exactly with the view I have been developing over a number of posts. His piece therefore earns for him the coveted plenary MavPhil STOA (stamp of approval). There is a profoundly fascist element to the American left and the political party…
-
Brussels, Hillary, Trump: Once Again Against Abstention
According to Roger Kimball, Both are utterly unfit to be president of the United States. They are equally bad, though in different ways. Trump, not yet having access to the levers of power, has so far shown himself to be personally and professionally disreputable. Hillary, first as the appendage, latterly as the prop of her…
-
David Brooks on Donald Trump
I have on occasion praised Ross Douthat and David Brooks as worth reading among the contributors to the reliably piss-poor Op Ed pages of The New York Times. But my estimation of Brooks has dropped a notch after reading his No, Not Trump, Not Ever. Donald Trump is a deeply flawed candidate as any half-way…
-
Is it Rational to be Politically Ignorant?
There are those who love to expose and mock the astonishing political ignorance of Americans. According to a 2006 survey, only 42% of Americans could name the three branches of government. But here is an interesting question worth exploring: Is it not entirely rational to ignore events over which one has no control and withdraw…
-
Hillary Apologizes for Using ‘Illegal Immigrants’
Here. The problem is not that Hillary is too stupid to grasp the distinction between legal and illegal immigration; the problem is that she is a corrupt leftist out for her own personal gain at the expense of her country. Chris Hedges over at Truth Dig is worried about the rise of American fascism. But…
-
Trump versus Hillary: Abstain or Take a Stand?
Robert Royal, writing in The Catholic Thing: Democrats advance a woman, a serial liar, a self-proclaimed feminist who trashed multiple women for political gain, an ideological ambulance chaser who will follow votes anywhere, who compromised state secrets and amassed a fortune while serving in the Cabinet, partly through suspect dealings with donors in foreign nations.…
-
Is There Any Place for Gentlemen in Post-Consensus Politics?
We are in the age of post-consensus politics. We Americans don't agree on much of anything any more. As our politics comes more and more to resemble warfare, the warrior comes more and more to replace the gentleman. Here is the best description of a gentleman I have encountered: The True Gentleman is the man…
-
Which is Worse: Trump or the Republican Establishment?
The latter argues John Hawkins.
-
Is One a Fool to Take Politics Seriously?
Some think so. The following from Thomas Mann's Diaries 1918-1939, entry of August 5, 1934: A cynical egotism, a selfish limitation of concern to one's personal welfare and one's reasonable survival in the face of the headstrong and voluptuous madness of 'history' is amply justified. One is a fool to take politics seriously, to care…
-
The Central Axiom of Partisan Politics
According to Charles Krauthammer (Things That Matter, Crown Forum, 2013, p. 64), To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. Robert Paul Wolff unwittingly provides corroboration: On Easter Sunday, it is only fitting that the reliably despicable Ross Douthat…