Chaos as revolutionary tactic – Donald Trump and Abbie Hoffman
The chaos may consume Trump’s campaign as well.
Enough has been written about how Donald Trump is breaking or rewriting or ignoring all the rules. Or operating in 3 dimensions while everyone else is operating in 2 dimensions.
I see something in Trump, though, that is very familiar to me. It’s the concept of creating chaos in your opponent’s house as a revolutionary tactic. Or to put it another way, being a disrupter.
The now deceased Abbie Hoffman and Trump seemingly have little in common. While Hoffman rejected capitalism Trump embraces it.
Yet they both employed the same tactic. Hoffman tried to create chaos in the economic system, but never really succeeded. Trump has succeeded in creating utter chaos in everyone else’s house (Republican Party, Fox News, other candidates, basically anyone who crosses his path).
That’s only half the equation, though. It’s not just enough to create chaos in others. The second part is to create community within your own house. Hoffman never was good at that; in business Trump has been good at building his own house.
I first wrote about this just after Obama took office, using a passage from Hoffman’s book, Steal This Book. (Text here) Here’s my post, from February 9, 2009, “Steal This Country”:
…
As an early teen, I was fascinated with Abbie Hoffman’s “Steal This Book.” The book, by the 60’s radical Yippie, was a guide to using the capitalist system to destroy the capitalist system. Hoffman gave advice on how to cheat various institutions, such as the post office (e.g., mail an envelope to yourself without a stamp, with the return address of the person you want it to go to, and the post office will send it “back” to the returnee for free) all with the goal of disrupting civil society. For someone growing up in a nice suburb, this was mind-blowing stuff.
The introduction to Steal This Book lays out the philosophy of how to destroy the system from within by attacking those who benefit from capitalism (the “rich”) to give to all others by creating chaos:
Steal This Book is, in a way, a manual of survival in the prison that is Amerika. It preaches jailbreak. It shows you where exactly how to place the dynamite that will destroy the walls.
The first section-SURVIVE!-lays out a potential action program for our new Nation. The chapter headings spell out the demands for a free society. A community where the technology produces goods and services for whoever needs them, come who may. It calls on the Robin Hoods of Santa Barbara Forest to steal from the robber barons who own the castles of capitalism. It implies that the reader already is “ideologically set,” in that he understands corporate feudalism as the only robbery worthy of being called “crime,” for it is committed against the people as a whole. Whether the ways it describes to rip-off shit are legal or illegal is irrelevant. The dictionary of law is written by the bosses of order. Our moral dictionary says no heisting from each other. To steal from a brother or sister is evil.To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.
Community within our Nation, chaos in theirs; that is the message of SURVIVE!
The thing is, the chaos never got Hoffman very far, despite some fame. Ultimately the chaos consumed his own house too.
Similarly, just because Trump has succeeded so far in creating chaos in everyone else’s house doesn’t mean the chaos won’t consume Trump’s campaign as well.
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T-rump is consuming this election cycle’s opportunity to promote conservative ideas.
He’s making everything about Donald Ducks, and that, of course, works in the present media-crazed environment.
We are not talking about tax reform, shrinking government, ending market distortions, or how to really “make America great again”.
Just bullshit about T-rump, Mr. Establishment, the Progressive, narcissistic, lying fraud.
Rags you are free to make all your posts about tax reform and the rest of your laundry list of items but instead YOU CHOOSE to make all your posts about Mr. Trump and your laundry list of key phrases that you get from Cruz’s people.
It isn’t Trump that is making you and Cruz talk about Trump. YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT.
Trump dwells rent free in RagsFrog’s mind.
Really? All of Ragspierre’s posts are about Trump?
Pretty much yeah. Maybe 2/3’s would be my guess. He was omplaining afterall that all anyone us talking about is Trump.
Trump is playing 3D chess against both the Republican and Democrat establishments and is cleaning their clocks. Meanwhile raghead is playing checkers against himself and losing.
ROFL. Best line of day so far !
Sorry Professor I just don’t get it. I don’t see Hoffman as saying anything about creating real chaos, just some small ball college level pranks.
I do see how it could be said Donald Trump creates in other camps some chaos, but that is a natural result when a camp that is supposed to be winning by all measures of past experience is getting their butt handed to them.
There’s that the silly, tired “you just don’t get it” line in defense of the Trump cult. Trummpbots just can’t see why the rest of us stubbornly persist in examining facts and putting them together in logical ways.
We “just don’t get” why any sentient being would see the most obnoxious egomaniac in the campaign as the best presidential material, or the most selfless and pure of them all.
We “just don’t get” why the most Democrat-leaning candidate is hailed as our savior from the damage done by Obama and the Dems, or by Republicans who cave to Dems.
We “just don’t get” why the candidate who has shifted his supposed principles the most could be considered the most reliable — while governors with a proven record of acting on principle were pushed out.
We “just don’t get” why Trump fans insist that Trump is the only one who will certainly do things he doesn’t even talk about doing.
We “just don’t get” why anyone would vote for someone who tells you that you’re “stupid” if you’re leaning toward another candidate.
Yes, it’s true: many of us “just don’t get” how irrationality can be accepted as gospel truth, and facts shoved so firmly aside. But it sure as heck isn’t because we’re dumber than you.
Except I didn’t say “you just don’t get it” I said “I just don’t get it”.
I guess you had your little list of talking points all canned up and ready to go and couldn’t wait to paste them in somewhere.
Radegunda is a democrat who supports Hillary/Bernie and fears 5rump more than any other GOP candidate.
But as to the major premise of your post. You make a list that is largely of phony straw men and then argue against them, but yes you just don’t get it.
Poor idiot Britt.
STILL…after being schooled on this rather simply concept…CANNOT understand OR identify a “straw man fallacy”.
But he DOES have the lying ad hominem down PAT…!!!
And he uses it every day. Like it’s all he knows…
The only thing you are qualified to school anyone on is how to be unlikable child with a potty mouth in need of a good mouth washing with soap by your mommy.
They are not “debates”, anyway. They are a platform for the liberal media to present their views through questions. Trump has done more good for this country running for president, then the last several presidents did for the country by being president. The average Joe understands that, but the elite don’t get it.
Trump will be having a special event for veterans tomorrow evening in Des Moines, Iowa. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/donald-j-trump-special-event-for-veterans-des-moines-ia-tickets-21070010970
What’s funny is that may even believe that on some level.
Donald Ducks could have “an event” any day he chose. But he doesn’t.
He could give a tithe of his REPUTED fortune. A billion dollars would go a VERY long way toward helping veterans in need.
Wouldn’t it? It’s kind of like his instant and brand new concern about illegal aliens, when he has never been bothered to do anything about them these many, many decades during which he had the enormous power of his wealth and
“deal making”.
It makes you think. Or it WOULD…
Trump has said that he will debate Cruz one-on-one if and when there are only the two of them left in the race.
I agree with this, because otherwise, it’s a side show and a waste of time.
“Trump has said that he will debate Cruz one-on-one if and when there are only the two of them left in the race.”
Sounds just like a boxing champ that is scared of the young up and comer. They try to make it seem like the other still doesn’t have the chops to take them on but really they are just SCARED that they will get their ass kicked.
I think it would be refreshing to see a Republican pre-primary debate with just Republican candidates. We haven’t had one of those, yet.
That said, the identity of the Republican candidate will be decided before I ever get a chance to vote in a primary. If turns out to be Trump, I will vote for him, because the Democratic Party needs a visit to the wilderness to straighten itself out.
I am also reminded of the derision to which Ronald Reagan was subjected. The Democrats painted him a a crazy cowboy (The Doonesbury stripcalled him Ronnie Ray-Gun). That actually worked out well for us. The Donald is a cartoon, and I do not trust anybody whose platform is that he will do what he damn well pleases. On the other hand, I think the rest of the world would distrust him more than I do, and that’s a good thing.
I am “the rest of the world” and I distrust him.
More likely Trump remembers this speech:
“Now there’s another thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything — except the enemy. We’re going to hold onto him by the nose, and we’re gonna kick him in the ass. We’re gonna kick the hell out of him all the time, and we’re gonna go through him like crap through a goose!” George Patton speech to the Third Army as presented in the movie Patton.
This is where Trump gets his inspiration, guys like Patton who were always on the offense. Trump understands the value of taking the offensive and he also understands that the modus operandi of the Republican establishment is duck and cover. The Rs for the past twenty or more years have been devoted to being a less strident Left instead of an unapologetic Right. Trump understands this and rejects it. As such, Trump constitutes an existential threat to the naval gazers at NR and the rest of the establishment which is why they are so opposed to him. Like Trump, Lee Atwater understood how these losers think and the key to Lee’s success was his ability to work around them. Were he alive today he’d be applauding Trump.
LOL! Draft-dodger trump was not inspired by Patton nor any other military person.
He might fantasize about being a great military leader, but he was far too cowardly to serve. If trump had a thought about himself being a military leader, it would definitely be one of his secret Walter Mitty moments in which he imagines himself as the “greatest” “most terrific” “YUUUUGGEE!” leader the world has ever seen, with everyone fawning over and praising him, bowing at his feet. He may actually be past that point, though, where he’s actually moved into his Elwood P. Dowd self in which he actually BELIEVES it’s all true and real that he’s a leader.
I don’t know how old you are but virtually everyone tried to avoid the draft and going to v I etnam in the 60’s. The only method of avoiding the draft that was considered dishonorable waz running away to Canada. I don’t know if Trump tried to avoid draft or not but if he did I say good for him and everyone else who managed to do i5. Say like Bill Clinton for instance. Cruz being a younger natural born canadian didnt have to worry about it now did he.
Ted Cruz was not even two years old when the last draft lottery was held. It would not have mattered if he was born on the White House lawn or in Timbucktoo: the USA was not interested in calling one-year-olds into service.
I think likening him to a draft dodger is a little bit of a stretch.
Except I sa I d he was too young for vietnam and didn’t liken Cruz to anything other than Canada.
Well, maybe in your circles, most of my family didn’t wait for the draft notice, and faking bone spurs for 2 years I still do not consider honorable.
While others ran away from the fight during the Vietnam war, others ran towards it as was the case in my family including me.
Yes, I am a US Navy Vietnam era veteran, 8 years. My father bombed the crap out of Nazis in WWII in a B-17 and stuck around for the Korean war and Vietnam and served in country in both.
He, like me & my two brothers, entered service voluntarily in time of war. My youngest brother served in Desert Storm in AWACS radar planes.
My family served in vietnam as well. We are talk8ng about vietnam not other wars. I 2ent to a high school of 4000 students in Chicago and yes there were a few who couldn’t wait to get to the war I assure all the rest were looking for ways not to to a war that the USA was not fighting to win.
Some got draft deferrments for college. Some a very few managed to get into the national guard and the rest the vast majority faced the draft, but none of us who faced the draft thought badly of those few who managed to find away out of it (except as I said those who ran away to Canada rather than play by the rules. Those rules included bone spurs and national guard service).
Understood. I remember well those years and the years following.
50,000+ in our generation lost their lives in that fight and I will never forget.
I don’t judge others on what their decisions were then. Fighting is for warriors and not everyone is suited to that.
“Fighting is for warriors and not everyone is suited to that.”
But pretty much all of us ARE suited to serve in uniform, since only a small percentage of our military are ever actual “warriors”.
The military even accommodated conscientious objectors all through the end of the draft.
oh, I agree with you, Rags. Not everyone was or will be the tip of the spear. I wasn’t. My father and youngest brother were.
I “fought” in the Cold War against the USSR during the Vietnam Era in a supporting role of sea-launched ballistic missile submarines.
But, I also believe a majority who enter service during war time realize they face their mortality by doing so.
“It’s not a matter of getting along with people and cutting deals,” Levin said. “It’s a matter of moving the country, persuading the country, persuading the Republican party to follow you,” Levin continued. “That’s what a statesman does. That’s what Churchill did. That’s what Thatcher did. That’s what Reagan did. That’s what you have to do, or you might as well vote for Jeb Bush. I bet he would get along with Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer. Lindsey Graham gets along with them great. Marco Rubio got along with them great. For some people this is perfectly fine. I’m troubled by it.”
As everyone who calls themselves “conservative” should be troubled.
Except Cruz’s time in Senate shows he is wholly incapable of getting people to join him inbanything. He was never able to get a single bill passed. So Cruz is the opposite of what Levin describes.
Trump has shown in primaries that he is exactly the best candidate at using bully pulpit to build support for things.
Levin is just too busy shouting shut up you dummy at and then hanging up on his listeners to notice.
“Except Cruz’s time in Senate shows he is wholly incapable of getting people to join him inbanything. He was never able to get a single bill passed. So Cruz is the opposite of what Levin describes.”
Except that’s a lie, and you are the liar we all know and despise. Cruz LED both chambers in STOPPING several Obama/Collectivist moves, including the amnesty bill/Dreamer/immigration reform that your man-crush was pushing in 2013, you lying SOS. He and Sessions have teamed up a good deal.
“Trump has shown in primaries that he is exactly the best candidate at using bully pulpit to build support for things.”
Things like government run/funded “health care”?
Continuing the Federal ownership of the Western states?
Funding with Federal dollars for Planned Abortionhood?
Continuing crony capitalism WHEREVER it exists?
Making deals with Deemocrats?
Trashing the First Amendment?
“Levin is just too busy shouting shut up you dummy at and then hanging up on his listeners to notice.”
You’re SUCH an idiot liar. People here who ARE conservatives OR who will have the integrity to listen to the actualities of his broadcasts know you for the slimy POS you are, and your character assassination of REAL conservatives in the service of your man-crush won’t fly, butt boi.
Not that you’ll dream of stopping. BTW, I’ve converted several T-rump supporters to Cruz, using, among other things, you posts.
Americans HATE liars.
Then there is the camp I’m in that is good to go with both Trump & Cruz.
I wont attack one or the other but have defended Cruz from Trump. Since Cruz trails behind Trump, I don’t defend Trump from Cruz.
Ideally, I would prefer they both serve as POTUS & VPOTUS together.
But, that’s just me. Others’ mileage varies.
Where did you get this? Trump was a draft-dodger who has publicly equated being sent to prep school with actual military service.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=61759
I have nothing against him for avoiding service during the Vietnam War. But the notion that boarding school is the same as military service is such a howler, I wonder about his judgment.
Your copy of Steal This Book looks a tad more dog-eared than mine. But I didn’t really study it all that attentively … really, I just looked at the pictures.
The thing is, the chaos never got Hoffman very far, despite some fame. Ultimately the chaos consumed his own house too.
Similarly, just because Trump has succeeded so far in creating chaos in everyone else’s house doesn’t mean the chaos won’t consume Trump’s campaign as well.
This is like saying that two guys who walk up to total strangers, slice them open with knives, and rearrange their viscera may be pretty much the same … and so they might be if we don’t note that one is a ripper murderer and the other is a surgeon. Hoffman’s chaos was that of a frustrated child; there seems little reason to think (or hope) that Trump’s is, too.
“…doesn’t mean the chaos won’t consume Trump’s campaign as well.”
Another prediction of trump’s demise. I’ll file it with all the (many) others.
Frankly, the McConnells and Grahams of the party could use some chaos. However, I think Cruz is perfectly capable of a more distinguished kind of chaos with more substance after the dust settles.
Money quote from today’s Debate Chaos:
“I don’t like being taken advantage of,” Trump said. “In this case I was being taken advantage of by Fox. I don’t like that. Now when I’m representing the country, if I win, I’m not going to let our country be taken advantage of. … It’s a personality trait but I don’t think it’s a bad personality trait.”
go check the pages of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals… same stuff…Plus more
Surprise is an event that takes place in the mind of an enemy commander. Jerry Pournelle.
Chaos has been in the arsenal of most successful military commanders since Hannibal.
It is also the goal of one side or the other in every second of virtually every sporting match.
These aren’t “debates”. They are infotainment at worst and mass superficial interviews at best. All about selling advertising and “ratings. The journolists think they are the stars and that it’s candidates versus them — who can do a gotcha (and they win if they can instigate “good TV” and some kind of brawl, or an badly-worded comment on said on the fly.)
And the musik and the art and the tah-dah… like some kind of beauty contest, and who can flap at the mouth most fabulously.
We’re not looking to hire a stage actor or a “debater”. Neither George Washington, who mumbled, nor Abraham Lincoln who also spoke quietly and with a thin voice would not have lasted past debate #1 were they running for election today. Ditto Truman who made decisions that ended WWII. And ditto a good percentage of the pre-TV rest.
When you consider it, it’s mostly rot. No one actually needs, in these days of widespread video media, to see these events in order to get to “know” the candidates.
It’s time for a complete overhaul of these things. With each election season, they become more absurd. They are not supposed to be entertainment!
Perhaps the candidates should submit the questions they want the others to respond to, and the moderators should be nothing more than readers. Perhaps they should be held in neutral forums, and covered by whatever press wants to cover them. And the moderators absolutely should not be persons with a ratings conflict of interest.
Everything’s become an idiot game show.
Three dimensions, perhaps. We seem to be operating in one dimension, at best.
Everything’s become an idiot game show.
It is presented, taught, scripted, reported, and marketed as the people’s choice. I wonder if that’s true.
“Neither George Washington, who mumbled, nor Abraham Lincoln who also spoke quietly and with a thin voice would not have lasted past debate #1 were they running for election today. Ditto Truman who made decisions that ended WWII. And ditto a good percentage of the pre-TV rest.”
Just to speak up for history, that’s bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.
Washington (no teeth, remember): http://www.brandpointcontent.com/PrintSite/education-and-careers/did-george-washington-sound-like-a-wimp-,21993
Lincoln: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/speaker.htm
Every word was clear and audible as the ringing and somewhat shrill tones of Lincoln’s voice sounded over the vast concourse.
–Noah Brooks in Washington in Lincoln’s Time
And an opinion by a guy on a blog about how Washington “mumbled”…??? (WHich YOU said, not the blogger.)
How stupid are you?
I pulled two cites quickly for you. If you were well-versed in history, you wouldn’t be arguing this. I don’t have the time to educate you.
“Neither George Washington, who mumbled, nor Abraham Lincoln who also spoke quietly and with a thin voice would not have lasted past debate #1 were they running for election today. Ditto Truman who made decisions that ended WWII. And ditto a good percentage of the pre-TV rest.”
Let’s see where Donaldo fits in history.
Ah, yes. Donaldo fits in history with Jerry” Springer, Maury Povich and Morton Downey, Jr.
Okay. I see the problem. Your primary knowledge of Trump (and apparently of others too) comes from watching entertainment TV shows.
Trump’s success, in business and politics, comes from his willingness to bet it all and roll the dice. The problem is not what happens when he wins, but when he loses. He gets on his plane and flies off to the next deal. Those who invested in him are left to straighten out their lives. If he is the nominee and loses the general election, conservatism will be left in shambles, even the ineffective opposition of the Republican party will be destroyed and the democrats will not only be spared a long trip to the wilderness, but also will have a new resurgence. Donald will get on his plane and go make another deal.
Donald’s disruptive tactics work now in part because the media loves to watch Republicans fight among themselves and are more than willing to give him press. When the race gets down to Dem v Rep, the media will quickly unite behind the dem. His lack of substance, his flip flops and changes in position, his billionaire status – all will be targets of a coordinated and concerted attack by the media and the left. His natural in-your-face, doubling down response to being attacked will be portrayed as bullying, and I fear his nature will aid and abet the enemy.
I have 2 problems with Trump. 1- I am not convinced that he is committed to conservative principles. Billionaires get to be billionaires by looking out for number one, and by having flexible principles. 2- we are being asked to place an existential bet on his candidacy. Losing, he still has his deals. Will we still have our ideals?
Equally troubling is the question of what happens if he is elected and becomes the deal maker he says he will be. What if he fails to live up to the high standards his supporters believe he will. What effect will it have on conservativism if the idolized leader is viewed as just another sellout – a traitor?
Trump is not all evil, but he’s not all good either. He has strengths, but also has weaknesses. Whether or not he was the perfect candidate to shake up the establishment, he is the one who did it. Having gotten us to half time, it’s reasonable to ask whether he’s the best choice to finish the game. Our country depends on the answer.
“Trump’s success, in business and politics, comes from his willingness to bet it all and roll the dice.”
The U.S. is not his casino.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/267287-cruz-lays-out-plan-for-one-on-one-debate-with-trump
Super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz say they will donate $1.5 million to charities committed to helping veterans if rival Donald Trump agrees to a one-on-one debate with Cruz.
“Not only would this be a heck of a debate, but it would also be a terrific opportunity to generate millions of dollars for the veterans,” the Keep the Promise I and II PACs said in a joint statement Wednesday night.
The groups’ statement came just as Cruz announced he set a time and location for his proposed one-on-one debate with rival Donald Trump.
“He and I are the leading candidates in this state right now, so how about the two of us, in a one-on-one debate, mano y mano?” Cruz said Wednesday at a rally in West Des Moines.
“And I’m going to propose a venue, Western Iowa Tech in Sioux City,” he added. “We already have it reserved — 8:00 Saturday night, a two-hour, one-on-one debate.”
The challenge comes in response to Trump’s plan to skip Thursday’s GOP presidential debate because of his feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who is co-moderating the debate.
Cruz maintained that Trump is skipping the debate because is “very, very scared” of Kelly, referring to the real estate mogul several times as “gentle Donald.”
“And, you know, Donald is a fragile soul,” he said. “She might ask a mean question, and who knows what could happen — his hair could stand on end.”
As for the moderator of the one-on-one debate, Cruz suggested a number of prominent conservative radio hosts, including Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.
He also threw out the possibility of a town hall in which Iowans ask questions of the candidates.
“And if gentle Donald is frightened by Mark and Sean and Rush, then we’ll have no moderator whatsoever. A town hall of Iowans,” he said.
“And I’ll tell you what, Donald, you can invite half the people and control half the tickets, we’ll invite half the people and half the tickets, and each of us will alternate, asking questions from the men and women of Iowa who are going to vote in the caucus on Monday night,” he added.
“So we have a venue, we have a time. All we’re missing is a candidate.”
Heh…!
I like Cruz. He FIGHTS.
“And, you know, Donald is a fragile soul,” he said. “She might ask a mean question, and who knows what could happen — his hair could stand on end.”
I’d pay to see that!
Cruz has thrown down the gauntlet. Tbump has thrown down his lip.
Now that Trump holds a veteran’s fundraiser, others start jumping on board mimicking the idea.
Trump is a leader. Our front runner would have been Jeb Bush if Trump hadn’t jumped into the race to destroy that candidacy.
Dismays me that so many people here really seem to have little concept of how these primaries and elections are manipulated behind the scenes.
Except this isn’t cruz fighting it is somebody else stepping in to fight for him. And his protectors are cynically trying to use veterans as a pawn in their BS gaming.
If they got money for vetsvthan they should just give it to the vets and stop using the vets as a pawn in their game playing.
This is digusting and reflects very poorly on Cruz. Lije 8 said slimy slick willy lawyer. He doesn’t care about veterans or anyone except getting elected.
#CruzDisgusting
Some veterans say that the billionaire has been AWOL when it comes to helping veterans. “Donald Trump is not a leader in veterans’ philanthropy, unless he’s donated a lot of money that nobody knows about,” Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the New York Times in July. “We were founded in New York. We are headquartered in New York. I’ve been here 10 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen Donald Trump.”
Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “If offered, @IAVA will decline donations from Trump’s event. We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts.”
—Patterico (a conservative)
You are a lying moron.
#SuckTrump Harder, harder…
That’s a fair criticism.
(I am assuming that Trump’s previous donation of $1 mil to NYC Nation’s Day Parade doesn’t count for much.)
What have the other candidates done for veterans? A lot more? Just asking.
So Riekhoff of IAVA doesn’t want money from political stunts. So he must share my revulsion at Cruz offering 1.5 million BUT only if Cruz can personally gain from it.
Will you Rags join me and Riekhoff whom you quote in condemning the disgusting Cruz stunt, made even more disgusting because it seeks to use vet donations as a political stunt BUT ONLY IF CRUZ CAN GAIN PERSONALLY FROM THE DONATION.
BTW, I don’t Riekhoff has to worry about turning down any money. He knows he isn’t going to get any. There is a reason he has never seen Trump. His group is a political organization that is organized to get Riekhoff on TV as opposed to actually raising and spending money on Vets.
I’m sure the money from Trump’s event will go to far more worthy causes that actually spend the money on Vets like Wounded Warriors charities.
#CruzDisgusting
#SuckTrump
How ’bout you lead off by deploring Donald Ducks gimmick using vets, puke?
Then we can agree that vets should not be used by either side.
#SuckTrump Harrrrrddddd…
And LONG, right, butt boi?
I think there’s a swing on the swing set available now, Rags. Or how about the monkey bars. Go play, sweetie.
Trump has been talking about the plight of our vets and the need to do something about it as one of the centerpiece’s of his campaign from the very beginning and at every campaign appearance. It isn’t like this is something new to his ideas. He has pushed for the TV media companies sponsoring debates to contribute excess profits to the vets from the very beginning.
CRUZ NEVER JOINED TRUMP IN CALLING FOR DEBATE MONEY TO GO TO VETS, AND CRUZ DOESN’T MAKE VETS A CENTERPIECE OF HIS ELECT ME I’M THE MOST CONSERVATIVE CANADIAN
“Campaign conservative” T-rump has a HISTORY of talking about lots of stuff.
DOING…??? Nope.
Well, unless you count supporting COllectivists and their causes.
Then, yeah….
I think maybe we’re giving Trump too much credit. All he’s doing is the well-established entertainment schtick of shock PR – being outrageous to draw the camera lens and microphones away from the less outrageous, something media falls for every time. Think Kardashian, Kanye, Lady Ga Ga, Madonna, etc. He learned it during his time as a reality TV star.
Meant to add – Megan Kelly is just a handy scapegoat, Trump having tangled with her before. What Trump fears is debating Cruz just before the Iowa primary because there isn’t enough time to recoup from getting his ass waxed by Cruz and the rest of the field. It is traditional for the field to go after the leaders. The Great Fighter will not fight. Wisely.
Let’s assume you’re right. What kind of stupid move would it be to walk into a pile-up and set-up.
I’m sure that Cruz et al. are disappointed. Childish taunts aren’t working.
Trump has said now repeatedly that he will debate Cruz one-on-one at such time as only Trump and Cruz are left in the race.
Knowing full well that there will be others in the race until the bitter end, there is zero danger of having to break that promise.
Trump’s decision to avoid the debate is a tactical one, not a moral one, regardless of whether some will react to it through some moral lens. Whether skipping the debate will detract from Trump’s “he fights” mantra remains to be seen.
To me, it seems an unnecessary risk. Trump has always been a mediocre debater at best, but his poor performance at these events hasn’t harmed him much, or for long. I think the one thing Trump has to be careful of is to avoid damaging the persona he’s created around himself lest people wake up one morning and realize he’s just another politician. That would be fatal.
If Trump feels he cannot best Cruz and Megan Kelly, you’re right, he should run away from that. Congratulations to all Trump supporters on his wise move.
HH, you’re forgetting the rest of the set-up. Pro-Rubio debate chair at Fox. Anti-Trump “ordinary citizen” questioners. Every other candidate wanting yet another chance to do a pile-on.
How many times does Trump have to play this game?
These “debates” are jokes. Not to mention that Cruz is being used as a tool right now in the hopes that he will injure Trump and that will clear the way for Rubio to trounce Cruz New Hapshire and in South Carolina.
Cruz is being short-sighted, and so are his supporters. If Trump is out of the race, Cruz himself is finished. Like it or not.
“HH, you’re forgetting the rest of the set-up. Pro-Rubio debate chair at Fox. Anti-Trump “ordinary citizen” questioners. Every other candidate wanting yet another chance to do a pile-on.”
So what you are saying is that Trump KNOWS he can’t answer the questions that will be asked without exposing himself for the fraud that he is. Got it.
He’s already done it. Repeatedly. And successfully. He has nothing to gain, whereas everyone else was looking forward to using him as a punching bag to elevate themselves vis a vis the others.
Dana Loesch endorses Ted Cruz…and not the man who brags that he could shoot anyone on a NY corner and receive poll stimulation from it.
(Oops, I think Tpump meant pole stimulation.)
Miss Johnson!
Yeah carnival barker Loesh is going to work some plugs in for Cruz during her next “Beet Juice” a Micracle Cure for all that ails everyone infomercial.
See? It’s infallible…!!!
Let a solid conservative NOT plant their lips on T-rump’s ass, and YOU will slime them.
Just like Collectivists do. Which is what you are, you lying POS. The culture of personal destruction.
Yep, “Hands Off My Gun” Dana Loesch for NRA “Moms like Me”.
MTlump is selling his Beetlejuice act.
Holy Moly! U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina announced his endorsement of Cruz’s candidacy this week.
Read more at http://www.fitsnews.com/2016/01/28/ted-cruz-gets-big-conservative-endorsement-in-north-carolina/#rehJ5LBUEMzRTsv2.99
Who?
Mark Meadows has the advantage of not having ever had to actually work with Cruz.
Still ZERO senators to endorse Cruz. They didn’t have Mark Meadows advantage.
Now, the freshman senator has pledged to do everything he can to ensure that Palin’s pick for the GOP presidential nomination is defeated.
Sasse is campaigning with both of his upper chamber colleagues, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in the hope that one of them can defeat The Donald.
The Nebraska senator told MSNBC this morning that he’s campaigning against Trump because “I’m pro-Constitution and I want to make America great again.”
“And the best way to do that is by uniting around the things that bring us together and that’s not one guy’s ego, that’s a system of laws and limited government,” Sasse said. “So if being pro-Constitution makes me anti-Mr. Trump, I think that’s his problem.”
“The guy talks constantly about how he’ll get everything done alone. He said recently that if he’s elected president he’ll be able to do whatever he wants. That’s pretty much what the American Revolution was about. We already have one party in this country that’s gone post-constitutional. We don’t need another one.”
Sasse noted that “a lot of people really, really appreciate that he’s accurately diagnosing a lot that’s wrong, but that’s not the same as telling us what he’s for.”
“I think that Donald Trump is really entertaining. I think that Donald Trump would be a great guy to have a beer with. I get that you guys have him on everyday because he makes for great television,” he continued. “…I want to make America great again and I’m glad Donald Trump will attack all of that nonsense. But frankly I’m not really sure what he’s for. That’s what people actually say on the street. And I’ll tell you, the oath I took is to a Constitution. I want to make America great again as well, and the way you do that is by a nation of limited government.”
–PJMedia
So, there goes another Gaghdad Bob lying point…
Good for Sasse. He’s honest, as opposed to the GOP establishment who are a bunch of frauds pretending they like Trump because he is supposedly more electable.
You know they are lying frauds by looking at national polling.
The graph here shows Cruz is now beating Hillary in national polling, with an upward bias in the trend:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_cruz_vs_clinton-4034.html
The graph for Trump v Hillary, however, shows that Trump has NEVER beaten Hillary heads up in national polling. She now beats Trump by three points. Trump seems to have a ceiling on his support.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html
Yet the disgusting Republican establishment are pretending they prefer Trump over Cruz because they want the stronger candidate, Cruz, taken out first. If Trump wins both Iowa and NH, then they will unleash a propaganda campaign saying Cruz is mortally wounded. (Notice how Democrats have set expectations so that if Hillary loses Iowa and NH, it is no big deal. She will do well later on, they claim.)
But the corrupt Republican establishment want it to be framed that if Cruz loses those states, he is finished. That’s because they want the strongest candidate out first. Then later they can unload the dump trucks full of opposition research they have on Trump to take him out in the important “winner take all” states. With Cruz weakened first and after they unload on Trump shortly thereafter, they have Jeb! or Kasich untainted by the corrupt establishment’s mudslinging garbage to save the nomination for the corruptocrats.
If I am right and this is how it plays out, I want nothing to do with the Republican Party. I promise you I will vote Democrat for the first time in my life in November. Not because I want Hillary or Bernie to win, but because the corrupt GOP establishment will have taken out the most conservative candidate who the national polling show CAN win for their own selfish reasons. Screw ’em.
And yet Sasse like every other senator refuses to endorse Cruz because they havexworked with Cruz and knowvfirst hand he is a phony slick willy lawyer.
Oops
But, stupid, he’s campaigning FOR Cruz and AGAIST Donald Ducks.
You’ll lie about anything.
But no endorsement. A transparent ploy to use Cruz to try to take down Trump because that will clear the field in the bigger primaries for the GOPe’s new Rubio (Bush replacement) pick. (Ditto the COGe PAC donors to Cruz.)
He’s campaigning against Trump not for Cruz. He does NOT endorse Cruz. Nobody likes Cruz who has actually met him and worked with him. That’s why he has to have crony political jobs and run for office. Nobody will actually HIRE him.
Sasse is also one of those republicans that was elected to office as supposedly a new tea party conservative and immediately turned into an establishment crony of McConnell voting consistently against tea party and conservative principles. He knows he will be lucky to get out of the primary next time he runs.
There you go again…
Ben Sasse has a CR92% rating, but he isn’t sucking T-rump ass, you YOU (non-conservative lying SOS) slime him, and LIE about the FACT he’s campaigning FOR CRUZ so he can ape the Donald Ducks LYING bullshit about Cruz.
#SuckTrump
If Sasse is for Cruz then provide the link to his endorsement announcement !!
He is against Trump but he is FOR BUSH/RUBIO
He is an anybody but Cruz anti-Trump guy. Just like the rest of the senate.
Cruz can’t get a single endorsement out of the senate. Out of 55 republican senators he doesn’t even have 1 friend.
Monkey bars. Or how about the sandbox?
Sasse is CAMPAIGNING for Cruz, liar.
Not JUST against the lying Progressive SOS you suck, but FOR CRUZ.
You’re just chanting that Donald Ducks nasty-ass lie.
It’s what you do, and everyone here knows it.
Naptime?
Trump Campaign Manager Reveals Fox News Debate Chief Has Daughter Working for Rubio
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/28/trump-campaign-manager-exposes-that-fox-news-executive-in-charge-of-debates-has-daughter-working-for-marco-rubio/
Between the undisclosed conflict of interest with Rubio, the selection of anti trump YouTube questioners, and the debate moderator who has been bashing Trump for months, I think Trump made the right call to skip this debate.
Fox has been quite liberal the last few years. It’s filled with Bushies and its part of the Establishment that has to be reformed.
Don’t forget they just added David Gregory from NBC to their staff of commenters.
Fox has gotten so bad they have basically 3 shows on Fox News and Fox Business worth watching.
Varney & Company
Cavuto
Lou Dobbs
It has gotten so bad that I am forced to watch CNN half the time because that is how often CNN is providing some political coverage that is better than what is on Fox. And I hate CNN.
Gary, I understand the allure of the argument “everyone is doing it,” whose appeal has been universal to kids through the ages when attempting to convince their parents that they should be allowed to do something.
Objectively, whether literally everyone does it or nobody does it, neither circumstance or anything between is direct evidence of moral behavior. “Everyone” was raping in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, and yet rape is still wrong.
To a young man who spent much of his childhood apart from his father who was serving in Vietnam, anyone who actively avoided service was a coward. As an old guy now, my condemnation is doubled.
You and I served honorably Gary. Neither of us knew when we volunteered whether the years ahead would put us in harm’s way, yet we were willing to carry on the proud tradition of our fathers. We were mostly peacetime soldiers, but the guys today are ones who volunteered knowing they’d likely be sent somewhere shooting is going on. These brave young heroes deserve a CinC who didn’t run.
Oddly, I wasn’t aware of Donald’s draft dodging until today. I should have thought about it obviously, but those dark days have long since receded from my consciousness.
Ipso facto we are so much better off today because “draft dodger Romney” didn’t win in 2012 and Indonesian adoptee Barry Soetoro did.
But T-rump knows MORE about warfare than the generals because he “watches the shows” (meaning the Sunday talking heads shows).
Really.
Whereas Ted Cruz doesn’t let either blemish his military non-expertise.
(Perhaps you should have supported Graham.)
Cruz never pretends military expertise.
T-rump DOES.
Cites?
These Debates are not really Debates. They are Media Shows and the Moderators are trying to make themselves stars. This is mainly a platform for Liberal Regressive New Democrats to attack Conservative Republicans. There are Candidates on that stage that can hardly be called Conservative. The Republicans have fielded a ” Diverse,” group. The Democrats , who claim to be SO DIVERSE, don’t show it in their Lineup of Politicians. Throw in a Bitter Latino, And hateful Islamist, ( Which has no business there ) I would not fall into these traps. I think Trump is smarter than they thought.
Roll Call: Jeff Sessions and Trump—the Working Partnership
David Hawkings at Roll Call details the growing relationship between Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
80%
and Republican populist presidential candidate Donald Trump.
From Roll Call:
In August, Jeff Sessions was the first lawmaker to appear with the billionaire businessman at a campaign rally, where he was photographed sporting a “Make America Great Again” ball cap. Soon afterward the senator, who’s chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, acted as ghostwriter for Trump’s hard-line immigration platform. Then the pair adopted almost identical language for castigating the Iran nuclear deal. Sessions got the only one-on-one meeting when Trump came to Capitol Hill in the fall. This month, Sessions approached conservative opinion leaders to volunteer effusive praise for Trump’s protectionist trade agenda.
Capping it all off, this week the senator gave one of his top aides for the past seven years, Stephen Miller, an indefinite leave of absence to join the Trump campaign as a senior policy and communications adviser.
(Miller was behind a memo Sessions sent to other GOP senators in 2013, which foreshadowed the genesis of Trump’s candidacy by urging the party to embrace an “honest populism” designed “to speak directly to the real and legitimate concerns of millions of hurting Americans whose wages have declined and whose job prospects have grown only bleaker.”)
Sessions’ office won’t say when, or even if, he will formalize his support, but his enthusiasm clearly stands out as far more overt than any other lawmaker’s.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/28/roll-call-jeff-sessions-and-trump-the-working-partnership/
NBC/Marist Polls out today.
Confirms Trump leads in Iowa by 7%
Trump leads by 19% in Hew Hampshire
Trump Leads by 20% in South Carolina
Fox News Vice President has a daughter working for the Sen. Marco Rubio campaign.
Fox News is directly aligned with an open borders organization the Wall Street Journal, a clear conflict of interest with one of the primary policy proposals being forwarded by the GOP frontrunner.
Fox News is caught seeding the debate questioners with a Muslim advocate who “describes Donald Trump as a bigot and who visually portrayed him as being in agreement with national socialist Adolf Hitler.”
Fox News seeds the debate with a question from an illegal immigrant.
Fox News is guilty of every taunt, insult, conflict-of-interest, and sandbag listed above. And everyone knows that if this was NBC News instead of Fox News that everyone on the political right — including Fox News — would right now be blasting NBC News.
Where is the integrity?
Where is the intellectual and moral consistency?
Where is the credibility?
Trump doesn’t take bad deals. Not for himself and NOT for the USA
#Trump2016
That’s a cultist myth.
T-rump has a history of sucking the BIG one in business. Repeatedly.
And then lying about it!
Huckabee and Santorum will Join Trump in support of veterans tonight.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/28/mike-huckabee-to-attend-donald-trump-event-during-fox-news-debate/
Wait…
How many times have you lyingly attacked me because I referred to the NYT, you lying SOS?
And I predicted the OTHER lying BIG GOVERNMENT Progressive sack of shit (Hucksterbbbeeeeeee) would kiss up to Duh Donald.
So no surprise there…
Plus, a convocation of losers. Meh.
here’s something Trumplutionary:
http://thefederalist.com/2016/01/28/trumps-new-pro-veterans-website-directs-all-donations-to-trumps-personal-foundation/
Irrelevant because Trump has promised every penny of donations will go to the vets without deduction for any costs, expenses or administrative costs.
You can’t create a charity in 2 days that can accept tax deductible donations. Having the donations route through the foundation just allows the donors to be able to claim a tax deduction for the gifts.
Being able to offer a tax deduction means more people will give more money, which means more vets are helped.
All perfectly normal except to people who know less than nothing and write blog posts to misinform others.
“Having the donations route through the foundation just allows the donors to be able to claim a tax deduction for the gifts.”
Just like Hillary.
An old word gains new life:
sTrumPet
http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/28/donations-to-trumps-pro-vet-website-go-to-his-personal-foundation-which-gave-heavily-to-the-clintons/
Donations To Trump’s Pro-Vet Website Go To His Personal Foundation, Which Gave Heavily To The Clintons
Donald Trump says that the event he is holding Thursday in Iowa opposite the Fox News GOP debate will raise money to help veterans. But as the event’s donation website shows, the money will first go through Trump’s personal charity, which appears to have contributed more money to the Clinton Foundation than to veterans groups.
Irrelevant because Trump has promised every penny of donations will go to the vets without deduction for any costs, expenses or administrative costs.
You can’t create a charity in 2 days that can accept tax deductible donations. Having the donations route through the foundation just allows the donors to be able to claim a tax deduction for the gifts.
Being able to offer a tax deduction means more people will give more money, which means more vets are helped.
All perfectly normal except to people who know less than nothing and write blog posts to misinform others.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/28/exclusive-jeff-sessions-to-debate-moderators-you-must-ask-candidates-about-whether-they-support-obamatrade/
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/28/geller-i-support-cruz-but-the-war-on-trump-is-extreme-and-repulsive/
Anti-Trump pro jihad muslim questioner at tonight’s debate is a BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER. Yeah Fox Is Fair And Balanced. Trump should NEVER do another Fox News Debate (Fox Business OK)
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/01/28/2885208/