tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post1341871872966319659..comments2024-03-27T23:28:20.274-04:00Comments on Face to Face: Trump rollercoaster still going: It's going to be a bumpy eight yearsagnostichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-185579122131576642017-05-12T17:19:55.294-04:002017-05-12T17:19:55.294-04:00John Miller wants to know if Julian Assange's ...John Miller wants to know if Julian Assange's reward is guaranteed... <br /><br /><br />https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/863088282686472192Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-67552671257184281292017-05-11T09:42:38.083-04:002017-05-11T09:42:38.083-04:00Nice intro article from December 2016
https://cons...Nice intro article from December 2016<br />https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/31/trump-and-revenge-of-the-realists/Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-45897226257199055742017-05-11T09:27:13.406-04:002017-05-11T09:27:13.406-04:00I want to clarify this some because I made it soun...I want to clarify this some because I made it sound like the motive was juvenile and really don't believe that is the case.<br /><br />Trump would have no love lost for the guy who has tried to destroy him at every turn, of course, and having Kissinger there is a message to McCain that the Realists will be in charge. But it is also a message to all the people -pundits, intellectuals, other- in movement conservatism who might be inclined to Neoconservatism that everything is going to be okay. Only someone of Henry Kissinger's stature can move conservatives back closer to the center. Keep in mind, Kissinger and McCain are roughly on the same side ideologically, but McCain became a neocon on steroids. Kissinger being with Trump sends the message that Trump's vision is tenable within conservatism and Russia isn't something to be feared.<br /><br />Yesterday was the biggest day of Trump's presidency in the foreign policy arena. Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-63473725177237017192017-05-11T08:46:45.551-04:002017-05-11T08:46:45.551-04:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfarussia/
Henry. ...https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfarussia/<br /><br />Henry. Having Henry by his side while discussing Comey was the biggest F-U to McCain and co. whiLe reassuring America with a serious calming presence. Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-41265671477044486852017-05-10T22:52:48.655-04:002017-05-10T22:52:48.655-04:00What's going on at this moment with the neocon...What's going on at this moment with the neocons is very reminiscent of the coup against Trump in October, ostensibly over the AH tape, before the election (Blind Gossip said it was a coup long in making by "former presidential candidate" whom we now have figured out was John McCain).<br /><br />Like back then, the neocons are frantically spinning a yarn about Trump losing it, "crazy", isolated, etc., and will hopefully have about the same effect as last time.<br /><br />Of course, Trump started it this time and has been more than ready: the entire point of having Kissinger at his side today. Brutal.<br />I do expect that McCain and his neocon media allies will make better use of neoliberals this time around, though, whom they've been cultivating.<br />FOCUS and buckle up!Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-83971946506500097232017-05-10T19:55:11.894-04:002017-05-10T19:55:11.894-04:00So it's more accurate to describe Trump's ...So it's more accurate to describe Trump's followers as "over-reactive" instead of "backwards reactive".<br /><br />When things are truly heading in the wrong direction -- re-birth of Cold War, no progress on The Wall -- it's the wrong take to dismiss this bad news as "yet more blackpilling". Maybe the 20 year-olds are *over*-reacting negatively, but are they supposed to react positively? That's the backwards reaction.<br /><br />When there's good news, like firing Comey or threatening to re-negotiate NAFTA, the 20 year-olds are going to be high as a kite. That's an *over*-reaction, since Comey is just one piece of a larger Deep State machine, and threatening to re-negotiate NAFTA is not the same as actually having gutted or terminated it -- especially when our worthless GOP Congressmen have stalled the nomination of the US Trade Rep, Lighthizer. But how are they supposed to react -- negatively? Of course not, that would be a backwards reaction.<br /><br />That said, I still see more danger from dismissing the blackpill over-reaction than from dismissing the whitepill over-reaction. If Trump followers are insufficiently hyped up about altering NAFTA or killing TPP, it doesn't exactly kill the movement -- just not a great big love-in like during the campaign.<br /><br />If Trump's followers are insufficiently harsh when the warmongers from the Pentagon hijack foreign policy, then we could get into multiple Iraq Wars, and this time with a nuclear adversary who wasn't there the first time around. Nuclear war, or even just more conventional wars in the same vein as the past 70 years -- not impossible, and catastrophic if we're heading that way.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-65447706673476782032017-05-10T19:37:53.315-04:002017-05-10T19:37:53.315-04:00Having said that, it's wrong to brush off any ...Having said that, it's wrong to brush off any criticism from Trump's followers as just a mood swing in the depressive direction, or any praise as just a mood swing in the manic direction.<br /><br />We need to take a more objective look at what's going on, and not just ask whether some interpretation resonates with my current emotional state -- a downer interpretation if I'm in a blackpill mood, or an upper interpretation if I'm in a whitepill mood.<br /><br />Given how emotionally driven conservatives are, I don't expect them to be the best at assessing what's going on. Obviously the flaming libs are going to give their kneejerk hateful whining take no matter what. It's going to be people who are more moderate on the moral dimension who can strike a balance between being rational (liberal) enough to accurately see what's going on, but also emotional (conservative) enough to be open to Trump's message and goals.<br /><br />E.g., are they skeptical of sky-high enthusiasm during the upper phases, and are they not wallowing in misery during the downer phases. Not getting swept up emotionally.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-87073467979207282232017-05-10T19:23:18.621-04:002017-05-10T19:23:18.621-04:00It's not Trump who is switching on a regular c...It's not Trump who is switching on a regular cycle -- he tries this, he tries that, but he's always the same Trump. It's his followers who are interpreting him as a face or a heel, according to their own emotional swings and not necessarily due to any real shift from Trump.<br /><br />Conservatives are already more emotional than rational, and now we've got this never-ending emotional rollercoaster that's going to make them even more unbalanced. It's turning them into one great big menstrual cycle, crashing down the White House hallways like that scene in The Shining.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-172355607781256232017-05-10T14:24:16.895-04:002017-05-10T14:24:16.895-04:00Back in the days when Trump was with the WWF he pl...Back in the days when Trump was with the WWF he played a Heel and at other times he's played the Face<br /><br />Switching off between those facets is nothing new to him A.B. Prospernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-76704132626587299172017-05-10T09:10:16.540-04:002017-05-10T09:10:16.540-04:00Before reading this, I made a comment at Steve'...Before reading this, I made a comment at Steve's floating a hypothesis that Trump himself is what causes his enemies to have trouble becoming mentally well again, that perhaps he understands this on an intuitive level and therefore keeps them off-balance by sometimes becoming an antagonist...<br /><br />Maybe, maybe not, but we both seem to agree that Trump himself is a stimulating source, an active locus.Dahlianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-35833507486946618902017-05-10T09:02:18.971-04:002017-05-10T09:02:18.971-04:00Yes! I've been wondering if this wasn't s...Yes! I've been wondering if this wasn't still going on, too; it sure felt like it.<br />When Trump's numbers went down around the time of Ryancare, I strongly felt that it had more to do with an ebb in this cycle than Paul Ryan or the bill itself. Just being in tune, one could feel the "going down" already...<br />It was *perfect* timing and I'm incredibly grateful.Dahlianoreply@blogger.com