The moral authority of the presidency is in tatters
The moral authority of the presidency is in tatters
Vice President Pence’s obsequiousness at a recent Cabinet meeting — “Thank you for seeing, through the course of this year, an agenda that is truly restoring this country. . .” and on, and on — might be appropriate at a Communist Party Central Committee meeting or at a despot’s birthday party. But it is not the language of any self-respecting republic.
The divestment of self-respect is a qualification for employment in the Trump administration. Praising the Dear Leader in a Pence-like fashion seems to be what the Dear Leader requires — not in the way we might need dessert after dinner, but in the way an addict needs drugs. President Trump divides the world into two categories: flunkies and enemies. Pence is the cringing, fawning high priest of flunkiness. It is hard to know whether to laugh or puke (and difficult to do both at the same time).
It is precisely the claim of miracles by mediocrities that makes it hard for some of us to judge Trump’s first-year record with any objectivity. Compared with his claims of world-historic change, Trump has accomplished little. But how does his record compare with more realistic expectations?
The Republican case for Trump comes down to: the appointment of conservative judges, including Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; the “defeat” of the Islamic State; and tax and regulatory reform. Whatever your views of the merits of these actions, they are consequential. Add to this the facts that Trump hasn’t blown up the world or suspended the legislature, and Trump is gaining a strange new respect among some conservatives.
There is less here than meets the eye. Trump chose Gorsuch from a Federalist Society list and didn’t fatally undermine Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) careful confirmation effort. The demolition of the Islamic State was largely the continuation and culmination of an Obama-era strategy. And the tax overhaul, with serious virtues such as the cut in corporate rates, also has serious distributional and deficit problems.
This agenda was remarkable only for being so typical. Any Republican president from the 2016 primary field would have appointed conservative judges, continued the offensive against the Islamic State, and cut taxes and regulations. (He or she would also, in all likelihood, have succeeded at an Obamacare replacement.) But this is precisely the point. Trump spent the political capital of his first year — the highest it will ever be — on a few, generic GOP goals. Despite the fulminations of the left, this is not as frightening as some of the alternatives.
It is important to count our blessings, even when they are meager. But for Republicans and conservatives, it is also important to count the costs — the tonnage on the other side of the balance.
The war against terrorism has been rebooted on the basis of anti-Muslim bigotry, which undermines domestic law enforcement and anti-radicalization efforts. Authoritarian regimes around the world — now shielded from human rights criticism — feel more secure. Dissidents and democratic activists feel more lonely and abandoned. Fleeing refugees feel more desperate and friendless. The president is conducting delicate nuclear negotiations with demeaning pet names. Morale at the State Department is in collapse, leading to the hemorrhaging of diplomatic talent and experience. Trump has alienated important allies with demands for protection money. The United States has stepped back from effective economic competition in Asia, leaving China a more dominant regional power. Russia, in all likelihood, has helped elect a favorable U.S. president in the largest intelligence coup of modern history.
Trump has tried to undermine the credibility of important institutions — the courts, the FBI, intelligence agencies, the media — that check his power and expose his duplicity. He has used his office (and Twitter account) to target individual Americans for harm without due process. He attacks the very idea of truth in a daily torrent of despicable lies. The moral authority of the presidency is in tatters. He has made our common life more vulgar and brutal, and complicated the moral education of children. Racists are emboldened and included in the GOP coalition. He has caused a large portion of Republicans to live in an alternate reality of resentment and hatred, which complicates the possibility of governing and is likely to discredit the party among the young, minorities, women and college-educated voters for decades to come.
Trump’s domestic agenda . . . requires another column. But after a year, this much is clear: Almost all of Trump’s accomplishments are the work of traditional Republican policy staffers and congressional leaders. Almost all of Trump’s failures are functions of his character. And that isn’t going to change.
Think of the biggest jerk, asshole, you have known in your personal life. Would you want that person to be leading the nation?
Trump is the biggest jerk, asshole, you have ever seen involved with the presidency. There has never been a flattering biography book or magazine article written about Donald Trump, unless he paid for it. He no more belongs in the presidency of the United States than any random person on Newstalkers does.
You do know this is an OPINION piece right?
An opinion piece written by a long time conservative.
An opinion piece nonetheless.
A review of the FP will reveal that much of it is filled with opinion pieces. At least this one is cogent.
It does to the fraternity. Only conservative viewpoints are worthy.
Actually, you're the one who is confused. There most assuredly is a fraternity HERE and they dismiss anything and everything that is not based on RW ideology. Haven't you pleaded yet?
If they accept that as your pledge, their standards are subterraneanial.
Reading is fundamental goose.
I stated:
HERE goose. While the fraternity HERE may in fact have delusions of grandeur, I seriously doubt that they have the capacity or desire to take on your dystopic agenda. Keyboard warriors rarely do.
But hey, perhaps with your leadership that could change.
Tell me when you have your pinning ceremony so I can watch for the uprising.
But don't worry that the writer is a conservative, Jeremy, he's probably one of those communist conservatives who think Barack Obama is an American citizen.
It could have been written by Mother Theresa. It's still an opinion piece.
And?
What is your problem(s)?
Keep the list to a manageable figure please.
No problem. Just pointing out that you are trying to pass an opinion piece as fact.
I know. You can't handle more than one thing at a time. Skirting the CoC [ph]
Every seeded article speaks for itself. Most people understand that and see if it is opinion or reporting or a combination.
skirting the CoC [ph]
Bullshit, the link at the top of the seed clearly states "opinions".
First of all, the title of the seed "The Moral Authority Of The Presidency Is In Tatters" is by nature an opinion. Moral authority is not a measurable commodity, it is in the eye of the beholder.
Jeremy and BF are just trying to derail this seed. What else is new when they see something they don't like and can't stomach the truth of.
General warning:
The topic is not if it's an opinion piece but the content of the piece. Discuss that or discuss or leave the seed.
That was not to you alone BF. There were 3 of you in that thread off topic and there is no way to make a comment in a thread without making it look like I was addressing it to a person. That is why I put general notice.
Not trying to derail. I ask you a simple question. All you had to do was respond "yes" or "no". YOU decided to go off on another tantrum.
you got away with a coc violation. be thankful
I did. And the very people on this one whining about derailing doing just that to that one.
My apologies for trying to assist in adding a little levity to this place.
God knows it could use it.
Contacting the moderator to MODERATE is the appropriate action is it not?
It seems like y'all are referring to another seed in which the seeder failed to moderate and also failed to contact a moderator about questionable 'behavior'. Perhaps you should talk to the seeder in question and request that he moderate his seeds more closely. You two coming on to this seed and whining about what John may have done elsewhere looks a lot like stalking. It also reads as quite petulant.
...yet.
It’s really disappointing to see what Bezos has done with the Post. Everyone knows he hates Trump and two of them have been feuding.
Dean, you don't have to be feuding with Trump to see he is a piece of shit. It's sort of obvious.
How many American citizens has Trump assassinated?
How many countries has he attacked without Congressional approval?
Oh....so NOW you want to talk about "moral authority".
Hmmmm........
Have a read.
The seed is about the moral authority of the presidency. Y'all just can't let the last election go can you?
Not only are they sore losers, Republicans are sore winners too. They're just plain sore!
You don't imagine the moral authority of the presidency was eroded when a sitting president sexually harassed an intern and then perjured himself about it?
And who is "y'all"? Just exactly what group do you imagine me to be part of?
*eyeroll*
Claiming the moral authority of the presidency is being eroded simply because the current president is an asshole and you don't like him but pretending it wasn't eroded by sexual misconduct and perjury of a previous president simply because he was on your "team" is just idiotic.
It's like a Republican attacking Clinton while defending Nixon. It's just an indefensible kind of stupid.
Hmmm... Really now?
So I guess those women Donald Trump described in his now infamous recording came with their "real estate billionaire knee pads"?
Now....supposedly..... Matt Lauer's consensual affair was " an abuse of power ". But Bill Clinton's was Monica's fault. How does that work, exactly?
No ridiculously hypocritical inconsistencies here at all.
Whatever happened to "Just say NO"....and....."No means NO" !
Did Bill have a Brain Tumor ? After all, Bill "WAS" married then !
Informative as "USUAL" !
If true (big if) damned good choice from where I sit...........
Where did I pretend that? I didn't say or imply ANYTHING about Bill Clinton. What the fuck are you babbling about?
There is nothing to defend since NOWHERE in the seeded article is there any attempt to defend Clinton or compare Trump to anyone. So the only pretense is in the content of your post.
It's quite telling that y'all invariably devolve to attacking Clinton or Obama instead of holding your Great Leader accountable.
Just couldn't leave it as it was could ya.........
I don't imagine that is relevant to the discussion in this seed. BTW, Lewinsky NEVER claimed she was harassed, sexually or otherwise and Bill Clinton wasn't charged for perjuring in connection to Lewinsky.
The fraternity here that posts on any seed about Trump and deflects it to the Clintons or Obamas. You're posts prove that you are a member.
Everything Trump admitted to in 'his now infamous recording' was about NON-CONSENSUAL acts the HE committed. False equivalency.
Matt Lauer violated Corporate policy.
It was a mutual consent relationship. No fault.
Plenty of false equivalencies and deflections though...
Odd....his direct quote was "And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything." How terribly inconvenient for your "false equivalency" theory.
Whereas Whitehouse employee policy clearly states that screwing the intern is A-OK. *eyeroll* Are you listening to yourself?
So was Lauer's. So was Trump's fondling of the gold-diggers. Yet you only seem willing to defend the one approved by the Democratic Party.
Funny how "false equivalency" has become the leftist millennial substitute for stamping one's feet and shouting "did not either" whenever one doesn't want to stare into the abyss of one's own hypocrisy.
So you admit Clinton's behavior and Trump's are similarly amoral. Excellent. Then I guess Trump's "termination" should come after 8 years in office, just like Clinton's did?
Personally, I didn't give a sh*t about Clinton's affair and still don't. As long as the economy is that good, we could have moved him into the Playboy Mansion for all I care.
But this talk that somehow Trump has damaged the "moral authority of the presidency" more than Clinton did is just stupid liberal hogwash.
Of course it is. Unless the real discussion of this seed is just hyper-emotional Trump bashing bullshit. BTW...it's not like you've run out of legitimate reasons to bash him.
And the Trump gold-diggers from the famous recording?
OH....is THAT the new rule? You didn't do something unless you were charged for it. I see. That's going to put a serious kink in your anti-Trump railing, don't you think?
That quote starts with "You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful... I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait."
NOW you can add your quote and then I get to add what he stated next:
Trump said: "Grab them by the p****. You can do anything."
Odd that you seem incapable of recognizing the LACK of CONSENT in those freaking admissions.
Again, Lewinsky never claimed she got screwed either.
Lie.
Sighting FACTS does not equate to defending.
Funny that you would assume that I am a millennial or would use a characterization that isn't tried and true. I labeled you comment a false equivalency because it WAS a false equivalency. If you had an argument to the contrary, you would have made it rather than post a failed attempt to demoralize.
Actually, no it isn't.
If that is you impression of the seed, yes.
That can't happen because he is probably tweeting something outrageous as we speak.
He only named one woman in that famous recording, Nancy O'Dell. Since she shut him down, which he admits in the recording, why are you calling her a gold-digger?
If you use a LEGAL charge [perjury], a LEGAL charge is required.
Doubtful.
No, I don't think so at all.
compared to the leftwing nuts and anti trumpers? the moral authority of the president is untouchable and thankfully trump is kicking leftwing butt daily.
you think 2017 was bad for the left? hint: it gets no better in 2018.