Not impressed with the smear-job tone of this article: "he whom half the nation bows down to." Seriously? The description of Masters calling out gang violence as "blam[ing] black people for America's gun problem" and the claim that Masters "didn’t not praise [Göring]."
This is not the level of journalism I look for on Common Sense. All I really know about Blake Masters after reading this article is that Peter Savodnik hates him and thinks he's "literally Trump" (who is, of course, "literally Hitler").
Perhaps Savodnik should stick with writing about problems on the Left (which he seems to be much better at) instead of attempting to write anything about the Right.
I'm disappointed by the slant of this piece. There are several attempts at painting a picture which require ignorance of the facts. 2 examples are:
- Masters didn't "blame black people" for America's gun problem. That is a completely biased interpretation of the actual quote from the article WHICH THE AUTHOR LINKS TO. The actual quote was:
"We do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it's gang violence," Masters said on "The Jeff Oravits Show" in April. "It's gangs. It's people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly. And the Democrats don't want to do anything about that."
To reduce that quote to "blaming black people for America's gun problem" is willfully reductionist and absurd.
- He also didn't "praise the Unabomber". He, along with other thinkers, have said it is important to read the Unabomber's manifesto. That isn't an endorsement, it is opposition research. It is the same reason it is important to read the manifestos of serial killers and school shooters. In order to understand these tragedies, it is necessary to understand the self-described worldview of the people involved, some of whom, like the Unabomber, who are highly intelligent.
These are just two examples and other commenters have pointed out more. This is far below the quality of the content that I expect from Common Sense.
What’s not to like? Someone who wants to upend all the progressive BS sounds good to me.
Do get tired of writers using poorly defined terms like populist and nationalist to subliminally disparage.
And writers doing this—-Oooh, he likes MTG! must be a loon! Oooh, he went to Stanford, must have a silver spoon in his mouth! Oooh, he downplayed gays, must be a homophobe! Ooooh he quoted a Nazi, must be a white supremacist. Really Mr Savodnik? Yawn.
I am taken aback by the condescending tone of the article. Did it intend to smear Blake Masters or introduce him? If anything, Masters has come out as a potentially viable candidate to me.
What do I know? I do know that I was in the local Stop and Shop supermarket in supposedly tony Westport CT late yesterday afternoon. Shelves half bare. Mostly impersonal self check out. Surly or disinterested employees and customers looking like they wandered in from the depths of Appalachia. Clearly something is wrong with America. We have a dazed, confused and demented leader and, like a fish, the rot starts at the head. Can we reverse it? I'm not certain but we damned well better try. Ronald Reagan is not a quaint antiquity. He showed that we don't have to wallow in misery. That we don't have to accept mediocrity or second class status. And he showed that the resurrection of America begins with America's working men and women. So maybe Masters, Vance, Hawley and the like are imperfect. But they're trying. Which is a hell of lot more than the corporatist losers and China sycophants who are now running things.
This shouldn’t be that hard to understand: Masters is the only candidate who has *been* talking about things that actually matter to Republicans. He has been loud in his opposition to lockdowns, masks, vaccine mandates, illegal immigration and harmful trade policies. What has Mark Brnovich said about the 1000s of service members being kicked out of the military for refusing to be experimented on? Nothing. Lamon’s record is nearly just as sterile. Masters hasn’t shied away from any of the things that make traditional Republicans squirm. And considering how loud he’s been about his positions, it feels easier to hold people like him accountable.
Trumpism without Trump is the next wave of republican philosophy. Masters, DeSantis, are just a few of the new representatives of that philosophy.
Consider that the republicans are attracting more minorities and are becoming the party of the working class and that these candidates reflect that change.
Is it that the republicans are changing and attracting a new set of voters OR is it that the democrats have so changed they are alienating these voters, these voters move to the republicans in our binary party system, and in doing so, change the party?
It is probably a bit of both.
But, I would be not at all surprised if the next black president or the first Latino president, is a republican.
The democrats have nobody but themselves to blame. They sold out to Wall Street and Silicon Valley and became the party of far left wing social activists who only know how to maintain their social status by proving the bon fides through constantly being more extremely left than the next person on social media.
“I really reject that the way to get there is somehow by compromising with this system that’s inherently broken and corrupt and just kind of drags us further left” - this is a vital summation of why Trump-ism is ascendant with the Right now. The feeling is that the Right always gives into the Left, with little to no reciprocation, and accordingly, things have moved in the Liberals direction over decades...for better or worse, I think that is hard to deny. This is a crucial overlooked element of the movement, which Liberals ignore at their peril.
Wouldn't it be nice if Bari Weiss could find a writer who would go out there and interview a variety of Trump supporters to find out WHY they support him? It might be illuminating. Not all Trump supporters are drag the knuckles mindless sycophants.
I’m sure you understand that those of us in the right(and I bet many on the left) are extremely angry and frustrated with being lied to. A “Trump” endorsement is one way of separating “the wheat from the chaff”. It might pain you to hear this but homosexuals and trans groups are the minority and are not the norm. And no matter how much you ridicule or hate MTG we love that she fights and stands her ground and she is authentic unlike the execrable AOC.
Man Peter, when you find it this difficult to hide your condescension, maybe this particular piece deserved another pass with the editor?
A little more objectivity would have gone a long way. For example: He didn’t “blame black people” for all gun violence in America.
Also, the headline is misleading: Top Gun is a school for Naval aviators, not Air Force pilots. I know what you’re trying to do, tying the race to the most popular movie of the year, but it’s factually incorrect.
Don’t care what this guy thinks of masters - he could wear a red wig and red tie and I’d vote for him - I was never a fan of trump but watching what Biden and people like this writer are doing to this country is sickening- looking back my family’s life was easier under Trump ! Democrats are lying bullies ! Over them !
There seems to be a rule at Common Sense that anything even vaguely associated with Trump needs to be gratuitously attacked. The bigotry of this really shows through in this piece, starting with the "bowing down" snark, implicitly comparing the MAGA movement to a cult. And the not-so-subtle Nazi accusations, with the Goering bit, and referring to a faith in the "American volk." Really? You had to put that in German? You couldn't say he had faith in the American people? Putting it in German has no purpose other than to equate MAGA with National Socialism, since the volk was the object of worship to them. If you go the Nazi route, you better bring the evidence. And there's none of that here, just the snarky accusations.
And we have all sorts of other gratuitous MAGA slams as well, like declaring that it's an attack on liberalism. Liberalism in the traditional sense of liberal democracy, not the contemporary euphemism for leftism. Again, no supporting evidence for this. No explanation for why a very centrist, big tent movement centered on admiration for traditional American openness and democratic values is somehow covertly seeking to obliterate them. But I suppose this was to be expected after the author referred to January 6 as "the insurrection."
I really think that Common Sense needs to take off its blinders and seriously seek to understand MAGA land. And seriously attempt to understand heartland America, particularly the lower middle class, both white and non-white, who have had their lives torn up at an accelerating pace over the last half century. Otherwise they will never break out of the chattering-class lefty bubble that they're stuck in. I appreciate that they recognize and resist the insanity of where the mainstream left is taking the country. But for some reason, the center-left just seems incapable of conceding anything to the center-right. As if their entire world-view would collapse if they discovered that their neighbors have something of value to contribute to the society.
To deny that black people are disproportionately involved in violent crime either as perpetrators or victims simply sweeps the problem under the rug, allowing it to fester and not be dealt with in a productive manner.
Anyone, who at this point, is incapable of recognizing that there is a serious and tragic, pathology running through large swaths of the Black American community, and that it is killing them, is guilty of assisting in its continued existence. That this pathology runs heavily, though not exclusively, among poor, urban, black communities should, at this point, be undeniable.
You cannot solve a problem until you are ready to recognize its existence. Anybody enabling this through making excuses is guilty of assisted suicide, because these communities are committing suicide one gunshot at a time, one stabbing, one beating at a time.
If you really care about Black Lives and you really care about those communities, then you will recognize the pathologies, as awkward as they are to discuss, and you will start addressing them.
Connections to Peter Thiel, besides money, brings an awful amount of street credit to Trump supporters. As for McGuire, I don't know his polices to make a judgment, but as for his veteran status. Martha McSally was decorated veteran and apparently it wasn't enough to win the election against Sinema. Part of the new Republican part is respect for those who serve, but not deferance. Its important to remember Arizona senator McCain was the most famous veteran of modern politics and his choices and actions could be maddening to say the least.
Common Sense is fast becoming a hub for Never Trump republicans. Are you ever going to represent the Trump side? You might not think there is a Trump side but there is. It's the side that has become as disgusted with the Republicans as the Democrats. You're missing that story, like every other publication out there. Don't you wonder why Trump is still leading the pack? There are plenty of writers you could hire to write a piece reflecting that side -- David Mamet is one. You're certainly never going to get the story with pieces like this one. That much I know for sure.
Not impressed with the smear-job tone of this article: "he whom half the nation bows down to." Seriously? The description of Masters calling out gang violence as "blam[ing] black people for America's gun problem" and the claim that Masters "didn’t not praise [Göring]."
This is not the level of journalism I look for on Common Sense. All I really know about Blake Masters after reading this article is that Peter Savodnik hates him and thinks he's "literally Trump" (who is, of course, "literally Hitler").
Perhaps Savodnik should stick with writing about problems on the Left (which he seems to be much better at) instead of attempting to write anything about the Right.
I'm disappointed by the slant of this piece. There are several attempts at painting a picture which require ignorance of the facts. 2 examples are:
- Masters didn't "blame black people" for America's gun problem. That is a completely biased interpretation of the actual quote from the article WHICH THE AUTHOR LINKS TO. The actual quote was:
"We do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it's gang violence," Masters said on "The Jeff Oravits Show" in April. "It's gangs. It's people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly. And the Democrats don't want to do anything about that."
To reduce that quote to "blaming black people for America's gun problem" is willfully reductionist and absurd.
- He also didn't "praise the Unabomber". He, along with other thinkers, have said it is important to read the Unabomber's manifesto. That isn't an endorsement, it is opposition research. It is the same reason it is important to read the manifestos of serial killers and school shooters. In order to understand these tragedies, it is necessary to understand the self-described worldview of the people involved, some of whom, like the Unabomber, who are highly intelligent.
These are just two examples and other commenters have pointed out more. This is far below the quality of the content that I expect from Common Sense.
What’s not to like? Someone who wants to upend all the progressive BS sounds good to me.
Do get tired of writers using poorly defined terms like populist and nationalist to subliminally disparage.
And writers doing this—-Oooh, he likes MTG! must be a loon! Oooh, he went to Stanford, must have a silver spoon in his mouth! Oooh, he downplayed gays, must be a homophobe! Ooooh he quoted a Nazi, must be a white supremacist. Really Mr Savodnik? Yawn.
I am taken aback by the condescending tone of the article. Did it intend to smear Blake Masters or introduce him? If anything, Masters has come out as a potentially viable candidate to me.
Sorry but this really said nothing; added little.
What do I know? I do know that I was in the local Stop and Shop supermarket in supposedly tony Westport CT late yesterday afternoon. Shelves half bare. Mostly impersonal self check out. Surly or disinterested employees and customers looking like they wandered in from the depths of Appalachia. Clearly something is wrong with America. We have a dazed, confused and demented leader and, like a fish, the rot starts at the head. Can we reverse it? I'm not certain but we damned well better try. Ronald Reagan is not a quaint antiquity. He showed that we don't have to wallow in misery. That we don't have to accept mediocrity or second class status. And he showed that the resurrection of America begins with America's working men and women. So maybe Masters, Vance, Hawley and the like are imperfect. But they're trying. Which is a hell of lot more than the corporatist losers and China sycophants who are now running things.
This shouldn’t be that hard to understand: Masters is the only candidate who has *been* talking about things that actually matter to Republicans. He has been loud in his opposition to lockdowns, masks, vaccine mandates, illegal immigration and harmful trade policies. What has Mark Brnovich said about the 1000s of service members being kicked out of the military for refusing to be experimented on? Nothing. Lamon’s record is nearly just as sterile. Masters hasn’t shied away from any of the things that make traditional Republicans squirm. And considering how loud he’s been about his positions, it feels easier to hold people like him accountable.
Trumpism without Trump is the next wave of republican philosophy. Masters, DeSantis, are just a few of the new representatives of that philosophy.
Consider that the republicans are attracting more minorities and are becoming the party of the working class and that these candidates reflect that change.
Is it that the republicans are changing and attracting a new set of voters OR is it that the democrats have so changed they are alienating these voters, these voters move to the republicans in our binary party system, and in doing so, change the party?
It is probably a bit of both.
But, I would be not at all surprised if the next black president or the first Latino president, is a republican.
The democrats have nobody but themselves to blame. They sold out to Wall Street and Silicon Valley and became the party of far left wing social activists who only know how to maintain their social status by proving the bon fides through constantly being more extremely left than the next person on social media.
“I really reject that the way to get there is somehow by compromising with this system that’s inherently broken and corrupt and just kind of drags us further left” - this is a vital summation of why Trump-ism is ascendant with the Right now. The feeling is that the Right always gives into the Left, with little to no reciprocation, and accordingly, things have moved in the Liberals direction over decades...for better or worse, I think that is hard to deny. This is a crucial overlooked element of the movement, which Liberals ignore at their peril.
Check out my other musing at: https://gordoncomstock.substack.com/
Wouldn't it be nice if Bari Weiss could find a writer who would go out there and interview a variety of Trump supporters to find out WHY they support him? It might be illuminating. Not all Trump supporters are drag the knuckles mindless sycophants.
I’m sure you understand that those of us in the right(and I bet many on the left) are extremely angry and frustrated with being lied to. A “Trump” endorsement is one way of separating “the wheat from the chaff”. It might pain you to hear this but homosexuals and trans groups are the minority and are not the norm. And no matter how much you ridicule or hate MTG we love that she fights and stands her ground and she is authentic unlike the execrable AOC.
Man Peter, when you find it this difficult to hide your condescension, maybe this particular piece deserved another pass with the editor?
A little more objectivity would have gone a long way. For example: He didn’t “blame black people” for all gun violence in America.
Also, the headline is misleading: Top Gun is a school for Naval aviators, not Air Force pilots. I know what you’re trying to do, tying the race to the most popular movie of the year, but it’s factually incorrect.
Don’t care what this guy thinks of masters - he could wear a red wig and red tie and I’d vote for him - I was never a fan of trump but watching what Biden and people like this writer are doing to this country is sickening- looking back my family’s life was easier under Trump ! Democrats are lying bullies ! Over them !
There seems to be a rule at Common Sense that anything even vaguely associated with Trump needs to be gratuitously attacked. The bigotry of this really shows through in this piece, starting with the "bowing down" snark, implicitly comparing the MAGA movement to a cult. And the not-so-subtle Nazi accusations, with the Goering bit, and referring to a faith in the "American volk." Really? You had to put that in German? You couldn't say he had faith in the American people? Putting it in German has no purpose other than to equate MAGA with National Socialism, since the volk was the object of worship to them. If you go the Nazi route, you better bring the evidence. And there's none of that here, just the snarky accusations.
And we have all sorts of other gratuitous MAGA slams as well, like declaring that it's an attack on liberalism. Liberalism in the traditional sense of liberal democracy, not the contemporary euphemism for leftism. Again, no supporting evidence for this. No explanation for why a very centrist, big tent movement centered on admiration for traditional American openness and democratic values is somehow covertly seeking to obliterate them. But I suppose this was to be expected after the author referred to January 6 as "the insurrection."
I really think that Common Sense needs to take off its blinders and seriously seek to understand MAGA land. And seriously attempt to understand heartland America, particularly the lower middle class, both white and non-white, who have had their lives torn up at an accelerating pace over the last half century. Otherwise they will never break out of the chattering-class lefty bubble that they're stuck in. I appreciate that they recognize and resist the insanity of where the mainstream left is taking the country. But for some reason, the center-left just seems incapable of conceding anything to the center-right. As if their entire world-view would collapse if they discovered that their neighbors have something of value to contribute to the society.
To deny that black people are disproportionately involved in violent crime either as perpetrators or victims simply sweeps the problem under the rug, allowing it to fester and not be dealt with in a productive manner.
Anyone, who at this point, is incapable of recognizing that there is a serious and tragic, pathology running through large swaths of the Black American community, and that it is killing them, is guilty of assisting in its continued existence. That this pathology runs heavily, though not exclusively, among poor, urban, black communities should, at this point, be undeniable.
You cannot solve a problem until you are ready to recognize its existence. Anybody enabling this through making excuses is guilty of assisted suicide, because these communities are committing suicide one gunshot at a time, one stabbing, one beating at a time.
If you really care about Black Lives and you really care about those communities, then you will recognize the pathologies, as awkward as they are to discuss, and you will start addressing them.
Connections to Peter Thiel, besides money, brings an awful amount of street credit to Trump supporters. As for McGuire, I don't know his polices to make a judgment, but as for his veteran status. Martha McSally was decorated veteran and apparently it wasn't enough to win the election against Sinema. Part of the new Republican part is respect for those who serve, but not deferance. Its important to remember Arizona senator McCain was the most famous veteran of modern politics and his choices and actions could be maddening to say the least.
Common Sense is fast becoming a hub for Never Trump republicans. Are you ever going to represent the Trump side? You might not think there is a Trump side but there is. It's the side that has become as disgusted with the Republicans as the Democrats. You're missing that story, like every other publication out there. Don't you wonder why Trump is still leading the pack? There are plenty of writers you could hire to write a piece reflecting that side -- David Mamet is one. You're certainly never going to get the story with pieces like this one. That much I know for sure.