July 14, 2016

The dramatic arc of Sessions' rise to VP

A comment I left at Conservative Treehouse:

I’m impressed by how well Trump is able to stage the VP stakes that even his diehard followers are on the edge of their seats — when there has never been any possibility other than Jeff Sessions. I understand the media all falling for it — they’re gullible and desperate for gossip. But he clearly knows what kind of drama the electorate wants as well.

Act I: Sessions is introduced and made familiar to the audience, and portrayed as an unlikely hero. First as the intro speaker during the Mobile rally of 35,000, then once Trump has dominated so many primaries, Sessions makes the rounds of the Sunday news shows.

Act II: Sessions is withdrawn from public view, to create dramatic arcs about him wavering in his resolve, unsure whether he has the courage to govern as VP. After the nomination is locked up, the decoys are deployed, who seem more capable and eager to accept the job, if he doesn’t step up and take the role that is made for him.

Act III: Sessions emerges from temporary obscurity, having firmly resolved to throw down the gauntlet against the Establishment, as the decoys are withdrawn.

Trump knows that the most compelling hero narrative involves an intermediate period of wavering, planting doubt in the mind of the audience and heightening the tension — will he heed the call or not? It makes his ultimate acceptance of the role a bold deliberate choice, rather than just being blown along by the winds of fate.

I don’t mind spoiling this before the movie is over, since some of you seem like you’re about to commit suicide if it’s an awful pick! O ye of little faith…

36 comments:

  1. And of course that's the dramatic arc that Trump fashioned for his own campaign -- first making his personality and his views familiar in the 2012 season, retiring into relative obscurity, and then coming back with a decisive bang in 2016.

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  2. I am afraid that you are not considering the immense pressure trump is under right now to conform to the advice of his oh-so-establishment campaign team.

    Even with his iron will, those on his staff who think they know better are constantly trying to make him fit into their neat little boxes and the VP pick is one box they are not going to let go of easily.

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  3. Trump must understand that an establishment darling VP would be a Hinkley magnet.

    PA

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  4. For me, it's now three VP candidates:

    1. Jeff Sessions

    2. Ann Coulter

    3. Rudy Giuliani---but only if his immigration is solid.

    Giuliani came in only recently for me, because he's a great law-and-order/terrorism guy who speaks the truth about black crime. If Giuliani comes out strongly against illegals and immigration---and there is no hint he has been compromised or had soft views in the past---he's as good as Sessions or Coulter for me. But that's a big if.

    But the bottom line is that what Trump needs most is assassination insurance. That insurance is that his VP is even stronger on immigration and terrorism than Trump is, to insure that TPTB (i.e. Soros's minions) don't kill Trump---because the VP would go on a rampage doubling down on Trump's policies with the moral force of the public behind him/her.

    If Trump goes with Newt or Christie or, heck, any of the cucks he ran against he's as good as dead---or else he's giving up on immigration. That doesn't sound like him, of course.

    P.S. Blogspot's commenting hoops are very onerous and annoying.

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  5. Looks like Trump is going with Pence...a boring establishment pick. I am disappointed but he could have done worse.

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  6. Pence, like Trump, has been on record before as supporting a "touchback" amnesty policy before. So not really that surprising.

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  7. The Pence thing is interesting, but I'll believe it when the campaign confirms it (for now they deny it). It could be a legit leak, or it could be a fake leak Trump is doing to make the media dance to his tune. Too early to say yet.

    Pence seems like a weird pick in that he's mostly associated (in my mind at least) with culture war issues like gay marriage, which Trump has tried pretty hard to avoid as they're irrelevant to his commonsense populist themes.

    Ultimately as long as Trump doesn't get assassinated it won't matter much in the long term.

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  8. lexie - Trump has never advocated for a "touchback amnesty". His position on this has been perverted in order to undermine his candidacy. This deceit has been promoted by his rivals for the GOP nomination, NeverTrump douchenozzles and degenerate leftists (among others).

    The offending position statement was made by Trump in the 2nd GOP debate in reply to a question by the moderator Maria Bartiromo and it was as follows:

    "Maria, we’re a country of laws. We either have a country or we don’t have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back."

    Clearly, his point here is that upon repatriation to Mexico, any of the deportees would be able to avail themselves of the normal process which a foreign national would undertake if they wanted to legally immigrate to
    America.

    "Touchback amnesty" refers specifically to a streamlined process or preferred status for re-entry to the USA being afforded to those Mexican citizens in exchange for voluntarily returning to Mexico.

    Now, he does not advocate for those deported to face some monetary or time based penalty before applying for a visa but it is not "touchback amnesty".




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    Replies
    1. BioCultBeamDelta7/14/16, 5:35 PM

      Regardless, we still need to repeal the 1965 Immigration Act, and reinstate the 1921 and 1924 Immigration Acts.

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  9. Pence would be a huge let down, but there's the possibility he's just trying to placate the plutocratic establishment rather than signalling any kind of ideological alignment.

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  10. If Pence holds, my husband's reticence when Pence came up will have been justified. I guess we'll see...

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  11. Pence and Newt make zero sense -- they are opposed to Trump's main programs (immigration, trade deals, protection from Islamic terrorism).

    I think he's dragging them both out into the spotlight in the hopes that their betrayal of populist and nationalist causes will be brought out into the open. Journalists should be asking, "Why on Earth would Trump's VP be someone who was for amnesty when they were in Congress?" Or, "Why would he pick someone who loved NAFTA when they were in Congress?"

    Pence betrayed Trump before the Indiana primary with his quasi-endorsement, and Newt has publicly stabbed him in the back several times (while praising him at others). I think Trump was trying to bring those personal betrayals back into the spotlight.

    Publicly highlighting their failures and betrayals is a form of punishment for what they did wrong, and a deterrent to any other politicians not to get any funny ideas, lest they suffer the same public discrediting.

    Trump tries not to make points directly, but to let the audience figure it out for themselves, so they don't feel like they're being lectured, nor that their beliefs are just imbibing what the leader is spoon-feeding them.

    Unfortunately, the media and even 99% of his supporters are taking Pence and Newt totally seriously, and are not bringing their failures to light. I think he should have kept Sessions at least half-way in view, to alleviate concerns.

    Trump is not a naive baby, and knows damn well that choosing any Establishment figure would get him assassinated during his first year by the globalist elites. They learned from trying to bump off Reagan in favor of the globalist Bush -- this time they'd set off multiple bombs, not just fire a handgun.

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  12. It's been delayed. Are we being strung along, as planned, or is Trump and his team having a genuinely tough time figuring it out? I wonder if they planted the Pence hype to see how it would be received. Maybe it didn't get the expected enthusiasm. I definitely think that team Trump is reading alt-right blogs and forums.

    Pence is at least from Trump country (e.g., established before the late 1800's), as are the other candidates. We need to stop concerning ourselves with the Lutheran belt and the plains/mountain shallow flakes (Trump is polling pretty bad right now in Colorado) and get to work on tipping old-school states toward Trump. Choosing a Sessions or Gingrich would work too in terms of sending a message that we've got to put the East back on it's feet instead of shrugging our shoulders as strivers head to Texas, Colorado, Cali etc.

    One possible benefit of Pence is that he's from the rust-belt. If the VP pick is supposed to help tip states, then it makes more sense to pick someone from the battleground studded midwest. A pick from out West isn't going to do anything for Easterners, while a pick from the South is unnecessary since Trump has the South locked down. And the transplants in NC and Virginia aren't going to care who the VP is.

    By the way, there's an unusual level of angst towards the election this year in MN. A huge decline in bumper stickers compared to the previous post 9/11 elections. With Hillary embracing every loony PC issue (esp. the black stuff), and Trump boldly cutting out the culture war/religious crap, the Nordic and flake belt has nothing to fire them up. We might see a lot of either non-voters or 3rd party voters in these areas.

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  13. Trump is also causing Team Hillary to waste many millions of dollars in oppo research, designing attack ads, etc., in preparation for the so-called possibilities of Newt, Pence, etc.

    They probably started a meager file on Sessions in the primaries, but put it on the back burner as he faded from public view.

    All part of the strategy to drain Crooked Hillary's war chest. She's already pissed away tens or hundreds of millions on ads, with *decreased* poll results to show for it.

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  14. "I wonder if they planted the Pence hype to see how it would be received."

    Trump hasn't pandered on anything so far, so I doubt he's choosing his VP based on how it focus-tests with the voters.

    In fact, I'm certain that he didn't decide to throw his hat in the ring unless he had a firm commitment from a running mate, in the event he won the nomination. He's a master strategist, and that is one major area where he would want to leave nothing to chance at the outset.

    Given that his only history is with Sessions, and given how early he was rolled out (last August), it must be Sessions.

    Christie is the only other one who he has a history and loyalty with, but he would severely cripple the campaign by overdosing the level of NYC-metro brashness, not to mention his involvement in Bridgegate.

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  15. Put it this way: the only way it's not Sessions is if he himself got the most crippling case of cold feet at the last moment, or was threatened, or something very grave, so that anyone not named Jeff Sessions is a last-minute substitute for Trump's first pick the whole time.

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  16. It's Pence

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/753965070003109888

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  17. BioCultBeamDelta7/15/16, 11:10 AM

    It's officially Pence. Unless Trump changes VP during his second term, we're screwed. Bush 41 all over again.

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  18. Didn't you say months ago it might not be Sessions because Trump might be able to use him in congress?

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  19. Just trying to attract Cruz voters?

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  20. I listened to some Roger Stone interviews, and indeed it seems that it was Sessions who had recently gotten cold feet and backed away from being the running mate. That's why Pence appeared out of nowhere.

    Someone must have some real dirt on Sessions for him to get spooked (I have a little idea, based on the kinds of facial expressions Sessions tends to make, if you catch my drift).

    Unexpected, and a let-down from Sessions, but there's one key difference between Trump-Pence and Reagan-Bush -- Trump knows about Reagan-Bush and will be on heightened alert. He may have already explained it to Pence himself, putting him on watch, saying what would happen from the Trump family and political colleagues if anything were to happen to DJT and then Pence began undo-ing his agenda.

    Without impeccable assassination insurance, Trump won't be leaving the White House very often, which may let him get more work done.

    Anyone who says this kind of insurance doesn't matter, that the VP is a mostly ceremonial role, etc., has forgotten that Trump has already been the target of an attempted assassination in Nevada, and perhaps as well at the Dayton OH rally where that guy rushed the stage.

    Ditto for insurance against impeachment by a renegade Congress at any time during his administration.

    I don't think Pence affects the electability of Trump or his ability to govern as Pres. But it does leave a large degree of downside in the more-likely-than-usual case where Trump is no longer Pres for one reason or another.

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  21. It's also possible that part of the deal Trump struck with the RNC, delegates, etc., was that he'd not nominate another anti-Establishment guy like Sessions, in exchange for full cooperation from the Establishment leading up to the Convention and throughout the general election.

    In that case, I hope he manages to get Pence to resign early in his administration (Pence saying that it's he himself who is choosing to step down for whatever reason), nominate Sessions as the replacement, and that he gets confirmed by Congress.

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  22. It turned out not to be Sessions, but Pence does fulfill the "Trump as neo-McKinley in 1896" prophecy that I fleshed out in January:

    "If history is any guide, Trump will go with someone close to the Great Lakes, and more likely from a state that entered the Union early through the Northwest Territory than later on through the Louisiana Purchase. That would still preserve the geographic balance of McKinley and Hobart -- just switching which one was from the Great Lakes and who was from the Mid-Atlantic. He won't be a local favorite son, either, but a low-key independent who may have been a solid Democrat not too long ago."

    http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2016/01/trump-as-re-born-mckinley-with-neo.html

    Pence isn't a former Democrat himself, but he does come from a solid Dem family.

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  23. Deleted some cuck's comments that took a parody Trump account to be true, then whined about how Trump needs Establishment $ -- despite being ahead in polls while spending orders of magnitude less.

    No cucks allowed here.

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  24. Trump isn’t serious.

    He nominated a cuck as his VP.

    He’ll either not follow through on his immigration promises ...

    ...OR ....

    ....he’ll be shot dead by a “lone assassin” when he tries to implement them. Pence will take over, announce a national mourning, declare he will “end hate”, and quietly amnesty ten million more “refugees”…and order the border opened.

    Abandon all hope rape!

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  25. Settle down -- it doesn't show insincerity. He knew what type of VP was needed to be maximally effective -- someone like Sessions -- but that person backed out for whatever reason. Trump doesn't deserve the blame for that, and is trying to find the least worst replacement.

    Pence can do damage if Trump is no longer Pres (killed, impeached, etc.), which is the real downside. Electability, etc., doesn't matter.

    Like I said, as long as he more or less never leaves the White House, he improves his odds against assassination (he's already said he doesn't want to spend any time on leisure, since you only get so many man-hours to change the country while in office).

    Surviving impeachment will be tougher for him -- that'll be on us, to remove cuckservatives and limperals from Congress.

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  26. One of the more persuasive pro-Pence arguments I've seen is that he's meant to appeal to mid-Westerners and attacks on Pence will be seen by that portion of the electorate as personal attacks on them.

    Helps motivate them toward bigger turnout, especially throughout the Cuck Belt.

    PA

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  27. I'd still rather have Pence as pres. than Hillary or Obama. The Dem elite circles have become so enslaved to non-white ID politics (primarily because it means successively greater electoral dominance as the country darkens) that we need a good 20 year (at least) moratorium on Dems in the White House.


    We need at least two things to diminish poisonous efforts to flood America with foreigners and enable bitter blacks. First of all, soaring crime and terrorism rates that are so disgusting that the majority of liberals don't dare defend soft on dangerous people policies. Secondly, a reduction in rootless liberal striving and overall fragmentation/alienation. If people had a stronger sense of bonding with their home and their people, we wouldn't see the kind of flippancy and self-loathing that we've got right now with so many Gen-X and Millennial whites. We're way overdue for huge swaths of pencil neck white post-Boomers to start identifying more with their uncle/grandpa and less with Muhammed, Tyrone, and Jose.

    We know Boomers aren't shy, and hopefully Gen X-ers (later ones in particular) and Millennials won't continue to squelch the vigilance of elders by just screaming "Trump is a RACIST" crap over and over again.

    Obviously the GOP has some sell-outs, but I don't think they match the malignance of Obama/Hillary. "Our" president is openly sympathizing with blood thirsty parasites. The black militant wet-dream of open warfare with the cops (and hence, the "white" establishment) is being fulfilled largely because of decades of media cheer leading and entitled blacks being given too much power.

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  28. Is your view that Hinckley was acting on orders? I have never heard that theory before. Since the attempt failed, Reagan remained in power and could have made sure anyone else associated with it was caught. As far as I'm aware, he genuinely regarded Hinckley as a lone gunman, and he was hardly more of a naive baby unaware of his own shooting relative to Trump.

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  29. Hinkley's family was close friends with the Bushes. Acknowledged fact. Make of that what you will.

    PA

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  30. Roger Stone's idea about the motive:

    “I think it is more than possible because one has to understand the backdrop here and that is this story is missing from Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Reagan book entirely. Al Haig, Reagan’s Secretary of State and Vice President George Bush are fighting over control of foreign policy. George ‘Poppy’ Bush is for the ‘New World Order.’ Haig has the quaint notion that he’s Reagan’s man. This is supposed to be Reagan’s foreign policy, more conservative than what Bush wants. There are two different executive orders sitting on Reagan’s desk. One giving authority to Haig. One giving authority to Bush…Then there’s an assassination attempt on Reagan and he comes back, three days into his hospital stay he signs the order putting George Bush in charge of the machinery.”

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  31. Sheriff Clarke just RAPED Don Lemon on primetime, Don cuts to the longest commercial break ever, then gets RAPED again on the other side. About how BLM is a hateful ideology preaching anti-cop rhetoric, leaving the media enablers with blood on their hands.

    Don tries to hide behind "I'm just a journalist, I neither side with nor condemn the hateful anti-cop rhetoric," etc.

    The media are getting called out for their role in propagating all this bullshit, now on their own broadcasts. U scared?

    I seriously thought when the commercial was over, Sheriff Clarke would be one-hand choking Light-Loafers Lemon, talkin' 'bout SIT CHO BLACK AZZ DOWN AND DISAVOW BLACK LIVES MATTER, DISAVOW YOU PUNKAZZ LITTLE BITCH.

    Never a dull moment in 2016.

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  32. Never a dull moment in 2016

    Well, it is the Year of the Shitlord.

    PA

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  33. So by this view, Reagan is aware his shooting was the result of a plot against him by pro-Bush people, and he simply knuckled under and gave them what they want rather than trying to retaliate. Not very Trump-like, but I suppose in keeping with his decision to withdraw from Lebanon after the marine barracks was bombed.

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  34. Trump's a seasoned vet of the cutthroat culture of the last 40 years and god knows how much he's had to deal with already. At this point he's got a lot of goons on his side and Trump himself is no doubt familiar with all the tactics used to threaten, bribe, intimidate, coerce, etc.

    Reagan, like many G.I.s, lived a fairly comfy life and was shaped by being born in the progressive era. I'm not sure he ever really appreciated how nasty things were getting by the time he was shot. The NWO faction really preyed on that.

    They wouldn't dare pull this kind of crap with Trump. They wouldn't have the nerve to even ask him to sign authority over to a traitor/competitor, let alone coerce him or try to kill him.

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  35. Holy shit, Chris Hayes on MSNBC reporting on the Roger Stone / Alex Jones rally. Interviewing attendees, too -- guy in American flag shirt & bandana who voted for Obama twice, registered Dem until now, was voting primarily against Bush / neo-cons (says "I didn't vote for him because he was a black man"), now voting for America-first / populist Trump.

    From what little I've seen, Fox Business and MSNBC are the only decent coverage. Fox News had a good host (Varney) but many speakers were cucks or Jew shrew Democrats (Julie Roginsky).

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