Former congressman Will Hurd calls Trump a ‘loser’ who’ll give Biden four more years. He tells me why he’s the best candidate to restore sanity to the GOP.
Bari - Hurd seems reasonable enough, but perhaps he seems “normal” to you because he shares your left of center sensibilities and feels non-threatening, to you. To me, he sounds like a beltway insider that is fashioning a message, “can’t we all just get along?” I’m looking for a candidate, from any side of the isle, that will address the growing behemoth of government/Pharma/military/corporate media and the weaponization of our judiciary. That is the threat to our Republic.
How can a presidential candidate give an interview to explain himself and not talk about inflation, abortion, trans lunacy, or the rule of law? Among his friends and his class, I'm sure he's very popular, but he reads like an empty suit filled by an establishment political consultant.
Bari seems to equate "normal Republican" with someone who agrees with her. This is a common fallacy; everyone thinks they are in the political center. But there is no wing in the GOP for you, Bari; nor should there be. You're not a conservative or a post-liberal or a populist. You're a progressive, albeit one who thinks progress should have stopped with Obergefell. I appreciate Bari's writing, but she doesn't understand GOP voters much better than her former NYT colleagues do.
Correct, while I like this news outlet, I've noticed that Bari and her henchmen tend to be eastern establishment types and ivy leaguers skewed towards building street cred in their journalism careers before taking tenured op-ed positions at liberal newspapers (the few remaining in America). Trump is popular in America because there are many who believe although imperfect, he represents the only thing standing between us and the abyss of vulgar socialism. I can't vote for Trump, but I understand his appeal. FP seems to be in some ways acting like a fifth column for the Democratic establishment, whether they appear conscious of it or not.
I would use “Substack Colleagues” rather than “henchmen”. We can’t know Bari’s real motivations for leaving the NYT, but she did and she has created this space where we can freely discuss and comment on the issues. Bari is whip smart, respectful and encourages debate. She is also human and subject to bias based on her life experiences. We have to be able to disagree and listen to competing arguments to move forward.
I won't vote for Trump in the Primary, but I'd certainly vote for him against ANY Democrat. I'm not sure why any GOP voter would sit out and hand it over to the Democrats, who've made it abundantly clear that they are the enemy.
Well Bari is certainly not that given that she left the NY Times to build her own company. As for Trump, when all is said and done he has done more to advance the leftist project than anyone. Because he is an incompetent boob who won't get off the stage. He therefore ensures further Democratic victories.
One could argue the opposite too; Obama remade the democratic party in his own image, which did not translate to Clinton (thank G-d) and laid the groundwork for The Squad and the socialist virtue signaling wing of the party, and thus the rise of the populist Trump. Sadly, as long as the Trump cult lives, we won't see another nominee from the GOP.
I agree 100%. And next to Joe Biden in Nov 2024, I will vote for him. Not because I think he will be effective, but because I know Joe and his party will be.
Jim's also correct that the Trump cult will prevent anyone else from winning the GOP nomination. Which means we must make the best of two incredibly flawed and largely incompetent candidates.
Great post Jim, and yes I’m one of those “voting Trump”2024. Murphy is worried about calling Bari’s “henchwhatever”I think that’s an apt description of them.
I think that’s true, and I don’t need her to share my politics. As I read through this Hurd piece and Bari’s “this is just common sense” take on it it just reminded me of that.
I just watched Eric Ericson's interviews with Scott, Pence, DeSantis and Haley. These are my impressions. Scott and Haley addressed your issues with viable solutions. Pence is a non-entity, and DeSantis has the most annoying voice I've ever heard and said nothing of substance. At this point, I'd vote for Scott, Haley or Vivek. We'll see as things go along.
Tim Scott is way too deep in Wall Street’s pockets, so unfortunately he’s a no go. I would have liked him if he wasn’t taking billions from Wall Street. The great thing about trump is he didn’t take their money so he didn’t have to do what they said. He was free to do what’s best for America.
I like Vivek & have to do more research on whether him or Haley are taking Wall Street money. I will support whoever is toughest on China. Whichever candidate tells me they will ban ALL Investment into China.
My husband & I already converted our entire 401k into treasury bonds. I don’t want any of my money invested into ESG, LGBT, Green funds, BLM or CCP.
You should listen to Vivek’s clear cut views on China and what his foreign policy will emphasize in the interview he just did a few days ago on Tucker on Twitter. It’s impressive.
He was good, however, “talk is cheap but money buys the whisky” he is young and unproven, I won’t be voting for him. I will be watching Tucker’s next interview instead of the debates, that’s definitely more up my alley.😜
Thee's no law that can prohibit people from investing in China short of an embargo. And declaring an embargo against China makes no sense right now. So no candidate can meet your requirement.
Some candidates are tougher on China and support restrictions. Like right now, almost everyone supports not allowing investments in chinas military because they will fire those weapons on us. Xi Jinping has stated that he will begin a war in 2024. People want to put their heads in the sand but it’s not a good idea to ignore him at his word. It appears that Tim Scott is much much too soft on China due to his being funded largely by Wall Street. When the CCP bombs Wall Street, they won’t be so happy they paid for those bombs with their own money.
I don't know if he's nuts. He talks like a carnival barker, fast, and doesn't back up his ideas with concrete proposals on how to carry them out. Maybe he's saving them for the debate. We'll see. Everyone has their "issues," the question is what are their plans and how to expect to carry them out? At this point, Christie has the experience and puts forth his ideas with clarity. I know that he'll have a hard time getting the MAGATs to vote for him. Anyway, if Trump isn't in prison, he'll be the Republican nominee and it will be 4 more yrs. of Biden. Re Vivek. I'd have a hard time voting for someone with no govt experience. That didn't work out to well the last time.
Political experience doesn't guarantee good results. Biden has been terrible, even though he knows how government works. It takes both real world and political experience to manage a nation. I think there have been 6 Pres. who never held public office before becoming President. 4 or 5 of them were generals and commanded troops. I think Eisenhower was the only one who was successful as a President. There were 2 or 3 who had neither political nor military experience and they didn't fare too well. All that can be found on the internet.
Biden has been terrible because he is a fucking crook and sold out for a few million bucks. Full stop. And we are screwed cause half of us refuse to admit that plain fact
This is not 1776 and we aren't starting from scratch. There are established norms and ways of doing things, and if you don't have the experience to deal with it, we end up with Trumpian chaos. Experience counts. I don't want an inexperienced mechanic working on my car, I don't want an inexperienced surgeon operating on me. When I began my musical career, I had to get experience before I could get hired. The first person to do something doesn't have the experience and they can learn by doing. Governing a country doesn't work like that.
That’s a reasonable position, but I think running a business in the private sector is much more demanding. There’s nothing magical about feeding at the public trough.
Established norms? You mean like not taking a few million bucks from Ukrainian crooks then sending them a hundred billion unaccounted for of my tax dollars? Those kind of norms?
Trumpian chaos? You mean a completely corrupt IC that abused every legal norm to affect a bloodless coup against a duly elected president for 4 straight years?
Fork you and the spoon you rode in on. The corrupt dems destroyed this country cause...Orange Man Bad
Trump at least had plenty of executive experience .Biden never ran anything except his private grift Mafia. Its astounding that anyone could vote for the man. that is how successful the media has been in hiding this man from scrutiny . Its a crime against the American people.
I don’t know of any carnival barker as articulate and consistent in message as Vivek. Are you listening to complete interviews or just soundbites? He’s constantly explaining his ideas and how they’d be carried out.
Listen to Christie's discussion on the All-In podcast. That made it clear to me that I absolutely will not vote for anyone on either side based on their creds as a professional politician. I am not a Trump fan, but at one point Christie is waxing philosophic about Pompeo's credentials and how could Trump dare to have non experienced people like Jared Kushner engaged in the Abraham Accord discussions. Not a Kushner fan either (sad that I feel like I have to constantly say these things but here we are), but the arrogance of Christie and how he reveres these lifelong politicians and in the next breath talks about taking away SS from those that have paid into it he most (while not touching military spending) shows a complete lack of awareness of how these smartest guys in the room have literally brought our country to the brink of financial and social destruction, while enriching themselves. Not once in that 2 hour interview did he talk with any caring or concern for the hard working tax paying Americans that are being suckered by these politcians to fund this mess. This is why I will never vote for him or anyone that is part of the political class.
Everyone that runs for a political office is part of the "political class. I didn't hear the Christie interview so I can't comment on it. I think that the truth of it all is that the world is run by cowards, thieves, and people who want to enrich themselves at the expense of others. In the coming election I may not vote for anyone rather than the lessor of two evils.
Respectfully disagree, for me there is a massive difference between someone that has spent most of their working lives in the private sector vs. someone that has worked the majority of their career in 'public service' through either an elected or appointed position. What makes it even worse is that they then tout their bona fides as qualification for our highest office, without any evidence that this experience ever delivered anything of value for the taxpayer. I will say this for Christie though, he did purge some of the corruption out of NJ.
I don't want to assume too much about you since idk you, but if you're like other folks I've met who say they want similar things, you're never going to get what you want unless you can be more specific about what we should change.
Imagine if Trump ran on 'term limits for federal legislators' instead of 'drain the swamp.'
My point isn't to talk smack on Trump, my point is that if Trump ran on the former policy, we'd either have term limits or we'd be much closer to having them.
"Why are you a Republican?" How cringe is that question? Now, if it turns out Hurd is just a cynical opportunist, a RINO, then he will expose himself over time. But it's remarkable that even today the liberal media can't stop itself from asking "black quarterback" questions. Old loyalty (and racism) dies hard, I guess.
As a “dumb” Trump supporter who reads The Free Press to mitigate my stupidity I feel there may be some subtlety worth noting. The question posed regarding how Mr Hurd feels about being in the Republican Party as a black man perpetuates the lie that the Republican Party is racist. It was phrased to allow the interviewer the delusion that she didn’t call me a racist, but she did, and felt comfortable doing so. If Mr Hurd wants my vote he needs to point out the incredible hubris of The Free Press in feeling so confident in its assessment of half the voting public as racists. The question allows for the alternative option that I merely vote for racists. I challenge that assumption. Anyone who wants my vote cannot seek to win the favor of those who spew this vile lie. I will never “reasonably” respond to being called a racist and neither should the man seeking my vote.
Well-put. Bari often seems to fall back on these Democratic talking points almost unconsciously, apparently forgetting that a big part of her subscriber base is Republican.
I think it’s easier for her to be a gadfly than to take a stand in any practical sense: she’s half red-pilled, but somehow stuck in the middle.
I admire Bari Weiss for her efforts to amplify voices from both sides regardless her personal beliefs. I think we all have blind spots. Maybe this is one of hers. Maybe it’s mine. I feel the discussion alone is and should be the goal.
Bari is not “stuck in the middle”, she is in the middle. She’s a centrist, only left of center. She’s a moderate Democrat and so is Nellie. They have no interest in pandering to Republicans or Trump supporters. If you cancel your subscription and stop reading they could care less. You’re not their target audience. Their target audience is moderates and Independents. If that’s not you, then quit reading. Honestly, when I read these comments I wonder why half of you are even here. Pro-Trump, isolationist anti-vaxxers…WTH???? Did you miss the part where Bari and Nellie are in a lesbian marriage and live in California? What did you expect?
I’m a lesbian living in California and each swipe at Trump and even the headline is such a punch in the gut to the working class of this country. I’m pretty much a raging moderate, the hate I see towards Trump and his supporters is the opposite of humanistic approach. He’s just the messenger that is all. A well balanced a thoughtful centrist approach would be, “I’m not a fan of trump but I can understand why so many people voted for him.” Then speak to the issues. That is a moderate approach Ann. That is a centrist.
“A well balanced a thoughtful centrist approach would be, “I’m not a fan of trump but I can understand why so many people voted for him.” Then speak to the issues. That is a moderate approach Ann. That is a centrist.”
This, this, this! Thanks, Michellep. This kind of statement builds bridges and opens the door for cooperation and compromise, two things necessary for unity (not unanimity) in a pluralistic society.
The problem with that sentiment is that Trump is a horrible messenger for the working class. He’s a liar, a thief, a basically failed businessman who’s despised in New York by the people who know him best, like my in-laws (who are hard core upstate Republican, fwiw). The man is so flawed that it practically proves that certain elements of the working class are in fact stupid if he’s who they choose to be their messenger. I totally agree if what you’re saying is that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class (and remember what we really mean there is the white working class), but that doesn’t excuse those people blindly following a conspiracy theory wielding liar who’s really only interested in himself.
Anyway, lesbians come in all colors and stripes and political opinions, as do most people, but given Bari and Nellie’s profiles (and living in LA, not Orange County), their views expressed in TFP seem par for the course to me. It never ceases to amaze me that the commenters are shocked and insulted by what they say. My son is gay and my niece, who’s non-binary/queer (so what’s the gender neutral word for niece?) are way further left than Bari and Nellie (niece and their girlfriend both had top surgery, but waited until age 25). In my experience it’s the rare Cali LGBT person who is sympathetic to Trump or his followers. In fact, if he gets the nomination it will be because the rest of the GOP is afraid of his followers, which is not just sad, but pathetic.
Non-binary queer they/them niece lives in Portland, Oregon. Can you fit the stereotype any more than that?
I often ask people who call Trump a liar to name his biggest lie. People usually reply about the 2020 election being stolen. So from the time he announced until Election Day 2020, I have not had any accusers name a single lie. I could argue the "election stolen" point (which I did above) and I stay away from Stormy Daniels, but tell me a significant lie by Trump. I have asked many liberal/progressives that question. So far - none.
Oh gosh, there’s so many lies and misinformation you’d need an entire Wikipedia article to list them all. Wait, there IS an entire Wikipedia article listing them all:
Ann, I think this statement , "The man is so flawed that it practically proves that certain elements of the working class are in fact stupid if he’s who they choose to be their messenger,"misses the point. People don't choose a messenger. He is all they have, he is just holding up a mirror to who the Democratic party is, that is why they want to put him in prison. He's doing all the things that they do behind closed doors, he's just doing them in front of your face. Don't get distracted by the messenger, see the message. Because that's what they don't want you to see, and they all want to shoot the messenger. They've clearly already convinced you to hate your neighbor.
This is the most insightful post on this thread. You hit the nail on the head. The 75 million or more who voted for Trump will not abandon him because they have always seen him as standing up against the Corruption in DC. They voted for Republicans after Reagan who were part of the corruption or at least looked the other way. Now the stupid Democrats have steeled that resolve and anyone with an ounce of respect for what has held this country together will vote for Trump. If they try to jail him anything could happen and it will be over very quickly. If Jan 6 had truly been an insurrection the hundreds of thousands who protested would never have gone home. For years Conservatives have been arming themselves if this becomes necessary.There are over 24 million AR rifles in this country.Its an insurance policy against Tyranny that the founders saw as important .The Democrats are playing with fire. One has to hope that in the end the "better angels of our nature" prevail.
I respectfully disagree Michelle. Your approach of understanding and intelligent debate is not moderate. It is civility and confidence driven by knowledge. I think our probable stark political differences hashed out over some cheap bourbon would make me a better person. But I’d do it anyway.
I didn't vote for either candidate in 2016, although I was very sympathetic to what Trump was saying, particularly about the boondoggle that was the War on Terror. Voted for him in '20 because Biden and the Establishment he represents was too much.
My own fear allowed me to support the War on Terror (Patriot Act, Iraq, Afghanistan) and I was wrong, wrong, wrong in doing so. I won't make that mistake again. Folks on the Left who, at the time, said this would be a huge mistake (particularly the blowback from the Patriot Act). I should have listened more and fall back on ready made categories of Left and Right.
People will always have their fundamental sensibilities on political issues, but like Michellep, we need to be open to the fact that most people are trying to be honest brokers, even if we disagree.
Your political paralysis is what we don't need. By the way it is the Democrats with the Fake Russia collusion who abused and lied to the FISA courts through the Clinton operatives and the corrupt FBI. They continue to illegally spy on Americans and conduct raids that violate the 4th amendment .They have violated the right to a speedy trial. They have Kangaroo courts and the DC jail that have violated the rights of hundreds of Americans. They have taken advantage of DC partisans to pick grand juries and juries and have violated Lawyer client privacy on many occasions.
While individual Democrats may be fine people ,their leaders are wholly corrupt and its tearing this country apart. The Republican leadership is almost as bad.
I actually agree with what you are saying in the above. All of it.
However, I'm not sure why you'd impute a "political paralysis" to me. Paralysis implies inability. I had political agency in 2016, and I chose a form of protest, writing in a name of a great Roman Statesmen (agree or disagree with it, however you wish). Of course, in fairness, you would not have known that from the post I wrote above.
This is what I find the most infuriating - the political class and their swarming media sycophants (not saying Bari is completely one of these bees, but she has a little of it) are still completely disconnected about the experience of everyday hard-working Americans. Look at Oliver Anthony and 'Rich Men North of Richmond' - they all are so blind to why that song hit a nerve for so many of us.
You’re the one pigeonholing people into their categories. Think there aren’t any gay Republicans?
And if I don’t agree with Bari, then I should unsubscribe and leave?
I guess you need to be cozily surrounded by people who agree with you 100%. I suggest you scurry back to the NYTimes. Bari is adult enough to take some criticism.
Many Trump voters read the FP because of its spirited stand against woke nonsense.
But in the end, if independents don’t take a side with the group that most represents their views, they’ll be not just irrelevant, but complicit in the continuing decline of the US at the hands of today’s Democratic Party.
I agree with Bari and Nellie 99% of the time. Frankly, I can’t remember a specific POV that I have disagreed with them on, but there must have been one. So I’m perfectly happy with TFP. And I subscribe to the WSJ in addition to the NYT, plus the BBC and LeMonde (in French). So I’m not “surrounded by people who think like me”. As an Independent but registered Democrat, I will vote for the 2024 candidate who I think will push Putin out of Ukraine. Right now that’s my main issue.
Shouldn’t you be more concerned what’s happening at your front door instead of worrying about Ukraine, for one how are we going to pay this sh.t load of money that’s been printed back, so our grandchildren can have an America that doesn’t strangle them in debt before they have started walking.
Yup. I identify as a conservative but don't care for the extremes on either side. The Free Press is one of my favorite websites, plenty here that a strict conservative would like, and on our side in the woke wars.
I welcome genuine thinking people even if we don't agree on some points.
And who doesn't like the fact here are two gay women that support "our side" on many topics?
True. What I don’t like are the comments such as “Bari needs to choose a side”. I see TFP as a safe place for Blue Dog Democrats, Independents, and RINOs. Until I read the comments…
Thanks, Ann P, for having the wherewithal to comment. The far-Right ranting in the comment section after Bari publishes an intelligent centrist article is hard to stomach. Good on ya.
Hmm, according to the dictionary, “bigoted” means “a person who is strongly prejudiced and forms opinions without just cause.” So…is thinking that the average married lesbian couple in California is probably pretty liberal, they’re Democrats, anti-Trump, pro-vaccines, left of center, more inclined to see life through a liberal lens than a conservative one, think the video of the Iowa State Fair goers is great, etc, etc, basically all the stuff Bari and Nellie say that the GOP commenters here don’t like, that’s bigoted?
And I suppose my “myopic views of Republicans” stem from the 44 years I spent as a Republican prior to Jan 6th, my living in a ruby red GOP-dominated state, and my spouse, his family and my entire family, other than my children, and my neighbors all being Republicans. Yep, no personal experience at all with Republicans. Got it.
Notice that you ommitted free-thinking from your list. Funny that used to be what liberal meant. You then go on to list a lot of stereotypes about lesbians in Cali, especially the pro-vaccine bit.
If someone is gay that's their problem not mine. It does however on many occasions produce an alienation and sometimes hatred of sexually normal society . One has to look no further than Dana Nessel and the ex mayor of Seattle to notice that. But I judge people by their actions not by their sexuality. One of my favorite Conservatives is the eloquent and effective Richard Grenell who happens to be gay. I would vote for him as president because he keeps his sex life private and isn't a militant.
Good point about Bari referring to his skin color aligning w his political party. I completely missed it. Are white people ever asked about their chosen party and how that aligns w their skin color??? Yeah, like never.
“And I guess I just wanted to ask how you think about the fact that many people associate the Republican Party with some of its most racist and bigoted fringes”. I am certain I could locate Many People who are hateful and ignorant. Should they be given a voice in a debate? I refuse to believe this was a unbiased curiosity. If the vile lie of Republican Party racism was less insidious I would not have focused on it.
On that point Hurd didn’t blame Republican voters but (correctly I think) challenged black conservative political types to get out there and compete. He also correctly noted that Democrats have been taking the black vote for granted for years.
I don't think the Bud Light & Disney thing is something Republicans should ignore. A lot of voters are concerned the Fortune 100 has been captured by out of touch city-dwelling progressives who are using the vast power of corporations to push social values antithetical to rural and suburban family life. A lot of voters might argue Bud Light & Disney need to stand still and be normal.
It's a golden opportunity for Republicans to tap into the concerns of the common voter and lean into the political realignment of Democrats being the party of the big corporations and Republicans being the party of the working folk.
Absolutely true! The culture war is literally about protecting children from depraved fetishists who want to dress in S&M outfits and read gay love stories to kids in libraries. When did that become the norm, and people who object to it suddenly are the bigots and "homophobes"?
The Stones predicted it 55 years ago: Just as every cop is a criminal / and all the sinners saints / as heads is tails call me Lucifer / because I’m in need of some restraint.
Hurd is the latest John Kasich that the media, corporate, financial and political establishment is trying to foist upon Republican voters to try to distract them from a populist voice for the working class people.
Why do you say it's highly unlikely? Biden's approval rating has been at 40% since summer 2021. Left and left-leaning outlets publish "Should Joe Biden Run in 2024?" pieces daily.
Yeah he didn’t campaign last time and got 81 million votes. They will just run on abortion and saving ‘democracy’ and use their overwhelming mobilization army.
I think four more years of this will make it sufficiently obvious that Democrats cannot be allowed to run anything and then we will have to hope we can somehow salvage the $40 trillion in debt we will have in 2028 if there aren’t missiles in the air by that point.
Its the missiles in the air that worry me the most. We will be lucky if all we have to tackle is the debt problem. Can't get Nikki Haley thinking she was dissing Vivek on his lack of foreign policy 'experience' at the GOP debate out of my head. These people think they have been doing such a great job, and they literally have us on the doorstep of nuclear armageddon. And they diss Trump in the next breath, when say what you will about him and Putin. Putin didn't attack Ukraine during his administration and there were no new wars, actually a peace agreement in ME.
Yeah people didn't vote for Biden, they voted against Trump. The winning strategy seems to be, don't run Trump. Idk why almost-Trump (DeSantis) is unacceptable to so many people
Not forcing the taxpayers, who also have rights, to partner with companies that are trying to talk children into committing suicide is not a restriction on speech.
Also, Citizens United was a 501(c)4 created specifically for engaging in political speech, and it was being prevented from doing so by the FEC. It was a film about Hillary Clinton (D), who is a repulsive barbarian parasite. This in no way relates to what publicly traded for-profit Disney was doing, which was an illegal in-kind contribution, in addition to being something taxpayers are not obligated to support.
Bob Iger (D) is more than welcome to resign and start a 501(c)4 called Degenerate Perverts United, if he wants to run a corporation that can engage in unlimited political advocacy.
I was illustrating the point. Speech has not been infringed in any way. If you really want Disney to have special privileges from the government based on their benefit to the community then you need to elect a bunch of Democrats in Florida who think promoting child sexual abuse benefits the community.
Hurd is ex-CIA and thus dug in like a tick to the DC Uniparty monolith. After the weaponization of the intelligence community against its domestic enemy, Trump, there is no chance this guy can go anywhere.
Great song by Michael McDonald "What a fool believes"
The entire reason Trump won in 2016 and would have won in 2020 if not for the plandemic and the related Dem election cheating is that more than he convinces more than half the country that he cares more about them than does the dirty Democrats. The Democrats piss on you when you are on fire... they piss gasoline.
Yeah...election was not stolen, dude. Trump tried to, but failed.
Nah. He convinces people that their situation is the fault of people with less power, less money, less social capital, etc. who are "taking" something from them.
I'm doing just fine, so more gasoline please!
Trump thinks you're "the poorly educated" trash, Frank. He would never let riff-raff like you into Mar-A-Lago.
I am a highly academically credentialed 1 percenter member of the laptop and managerial class. I just have much more self-awareness for what is going on than do my peers. I also do not needed for validation that I am high status like my peers. I could give a crap about that. Trump give a finger to people in my tribe. I do too. They suck.
The American middle class has been under planned and managed assault for over a half century. A Republic needs a middle class to survive.
Currently, mattersTrump and stolen election claims spring from the DNC willingness to outright lie, obfuscate, interfere with and manipulate legitimate American political institutions for financial gain and power. Lies destroy trust and faith. Is it a hard jump to believe the DNC capable of subverting an election? Who knows what the truth is?And that's the point. Chaos, anomie and disintegration while the DNC/CCP/EU Davos crowd line their pockets and tighten the noose.
THIS. And the 1-5%'ers are still thinking they are part of the elite, above it all. What they don't understand, but they will soon enough, is that it is us they are really coming for.
IMO Trump is a sociopathic narcissist. His personal flaws will always make his presidency erratic. He’s still a better option than the Dems because he has no institutional power. The Dems have captured all the institutions and is implementing policies the vast majority of people despise.
I'm not sure I understand your analogy nor question. Donald Trump is supported by over half the country of the American working class. You know, those uneducated non-elite, non-laptop class and non-managerial class irredeemable deplorables. Anthony Fauci is a folk hero of the elite laptop and managerial class.
Yip, thought this interview was the biggest crap - the last couple of weeks of Bari and Nellie have been “all about why we not getting Donald Trump again” it’s getting so boring!
Wow. Fellow Republicans, read between the lines on this one. If you’re interested in perpetual and proxy wars, many more tens of billions handed to the military-industrial complex in unaccountable fashion, more rein to the intelligence agencies to surveil, censor, and otherwise meddle in domestic affairs, U.S. taxpayer-funded foreign bioweapons labs (he mentioned synthetic biology TWICE), and a cheery perspective of the War on Terror, THIS is your man.
At one point I thought ‘wait, has the CIA realized it might be easier to simply run their own candidate for President, instead of expending all the effort to conspire against them?’ but honestly, I think the CIA would be a tad more subtle.
Thanks Bari. This was illuminating, to say the least.
Yah man on the CIA thing. Fellow Republican here. RFK jr be my choice. I'm a liking his positions on the CIA, Russia Nato, Cuba, climate change, evil oil, warring, US meddling, and the vax industrial complex vis a vis the gay frog evidence, chromosome 3Dx .
If you’re for RFKJr, you’re against the USA and for a Chavez-style Venezuela here. Chavez is one of RFKJr’s heroes. So if that’s what you want, go for it. Me? I wouldn’t touch it with a thousand-foot pole.
correction, chromo 3Dq that Doc RFK discovered in that Lukashenko Belarus academy of science paper on gay vs bi and metrosex frogs and the Covid XBB.1.16 strain who received the vax
You refer to him as a black congressman but isn’t he just as much white as black if his mother was white. Why label him that way and I’m curious to what percentage a person has to be black to call them black. Too many labels for the convenience of your story.
There's no such thing as "bi=racial." That's a political construct to keep people apart and at each other's throats. There's one race; the human race, after that it's just a variation on colors.
Almost all the biracial people I’ve known have identified as black. And the whiter they were, the harder they tried to get the black community to accept them (which they often did not!). They try really really hard to be as black as possible.
many biracial “white passing” people become extremely politically active with black social issues to gain acceptance in the black community. They become , BLM, CRT activists, (ie Colin Kaparenick, Nicole Hannah-Jones 1619 project) while always wearing an Afro to look as black as possible.
I hope your son is different! It would be refreshing to meet someone who wasn’t trying so hard to be black.
That's why they become very racist themselves, like obama, kamela, rice, the entire middle east, ellison, holder, ... democrats, the lot of those individuals, not surprising
He's right on Trump. He got lucky once. Has lost three in a row.
I was in trading/finance. I followed Trump for decades. His MO was to bet on unlikely outcomes (with other peoples' money mostly) with him getting the lion's share if it hit. That was his 2016 Presidential run in a nutshell. He made some good policy and SC choices almost despite himself, but for the most part it was all about DJT. (And, yes, he was treated horribly. But, he also acted horribly when he didn't have to).
Uh...because it was a federal constitutional right for abortion protections (which covers all states)....and now it's based on individual state law....which makes it no longer a federal statute....so it was "overturned." So a right/law that was once applicable to ALL states, now no longer exists....y'know it's kinda like "State's Rights." ;)
Understand?
Explain how the GOP thought that would actually be a victory, dimwit.
It’s almost 100% likely to be Trump. The dummies in the Republican party like him too much. It’s a shame because Democrats have been so unhinged the opening is there for a sane moderate Republican to win. It would do the country a lot of good.
I’m more curious if the moderate Democrats of the Free Press would vote for Vivek or some other moderate Republican over Biden. The would spell real danger in the election. But again, the dummies love Trump too much.
"It’s almost 100% likely to be Trump. The dummies in the Republican party like him too much. It’s a shame because Democrats have been so unhinged the opening is there for a sane moderate Republican to win. It would do the country a lot of good."
I have seen polls that show A Lot of people don't want either one. I can't speak to the accuracy of them, but I point it out.
"I’m more curious if the moderate Democrats of the Free Press would vote for Vivek or some other moderate Republican over Biden."
1. Define Moderate? 2. All the GOP Candidates I see are CENTER/Right gong to Center/Right. The Far Right candidate keep reading about remind me of Bigfoot. Everyone talks about them, but no one has ever actually met one.
But then you have the dummies in the Democratic Party who love dear old doddering Biden and all his aliases that bring in the cash. They don’t demand a primary debate. They are a nice obedient crowd willing to show their Pharma vaccine passes to enter a restaurant to prove how compliant they are. Hey, give me another liability free booster! I am not one of those crazy anti-vaxxers who ask questions!
I'd consider voting for Vivek if dropped all the Hindu/Christianity stuff, pardoning Trump to "heal" America and dropped the "eVeRYthiNG is WOke!" nonsense, because in reality 99% of Americans aren't having to deal with "wokeness" in their daily lives, so maybe talk about some more specific short-term/long-term ideas.
Yeah, hearing a lot of "love Vivek" talk on this board, but what people say and what they're going to actually do are two different things. I think he'll hit a cultural brick wall eventually. Same with Haley and Scott. But right now, he seems to be the only one with any positive "heat." There's some positions he's taken that I'm not crazy about and he doesn't seem to have a really fully-formed understanding of American history and reality for people "on the ground." Reminds me of a Hindu Paul Ryan.
If DeSantis can make a hard pivot from the wokeness fake moral panic, banning books, etc. and start being focused on foreign policy, economy, etc. could pick up some steam and get some donors back but his personality is really off-putting. He's Trump without the belligerent charisma, insults and cult-leader rhetoric.Why vote for a cover band when you can have the real thing?
Right now, it's Trump's to lose. He should just lay low, let the field narrow some more, then come out with a hard and fast "I am your vengeance and retribution against the dusky hordes!" pitch.
I think after the first debate, Vivek will be in the #2 spot behind Trump, no lower than #3 for sure.
I just watched Christie and Vivek on Eric Ericson's show. Christie has idea and the knowledge to implement them. He talked about what he would do and how he would do it. Vivek gave a party political speech with lots of what and very little how. He's like a carnival barker. Aside from DeSantis's personality, his voice is grating like chalk on a blackboard. If Trump is the nominee the Republicans lose. He's a much too polarizing figure. It's either love him or hate him, and he doesn't have any ideas, just anger.
It makes me sad to hear Marjorie Taylor Greene lumped in with the "racist and bigoted fringe". I've heard her in interviews and discussions, for example on TimCast IRL, and she comes across as intelligent, thoughtful, and quite well informed, Democrat smears like "Jewish space lasers" notwithstanding.
By the way, I believe there is a "racist and bigoted fringe" and it is not the conservatives. We all know who are the racists and bigots in our country today and that group strongly features the people constantly accusing everyone else of racism simply for disagreeing with their ideas.
Bari would have much more credibility if she'd for once point out some of the true racists like Maxine Waters, AOC, IIhan Omar, Tlaib, Pressely, and dozens of others in the Democrat Party.
The whole "JSL" quote has been weaponized to smear her, and extension the Republican party, as both stupid and anti-semitic.
I don't think in fact it is that bright to assert focused solar rays whatever caused wildfires because far as I know such technology is not in operation, but do correct me if I am wrong.
But it is not anti-Semitic to suggest the Rothschild family might be doing something undesirable any more than it is to criticize George Soros.
I further noticed that posts from MTG were criticized as being 'Islamophobic' and other such. Anyone who reads TFP knows how thin the pretexts are for such accusations.
Is MTG antisemitic? I don't know as I don't read much about her. But one cannot form that judgement based on her 'JSL' quote.
Well, the Jews think that post by MTG was antisemitic and plays on the trope that the Jewish Rothschild banking family is the evil doer behind world events. See the following quote on page 34 of “Stopping Antisemitism Starts With Understanding It” from the American Jewish Committee (adjacent to which is a photo copy of MTG’s social media post that the Forbes article also highlighted):
"In January 2021, News broke that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had blamed "space lasers... beaming the sun's power down to Earth," funded by "Rothschild Inc", for California's deadly wildfires in November 2018. It is yet another example of a baseless conspiracy that charges the Rothschild's for world events."
Some people think criticizing Soros is anti semitic even though he admits he’s not a religious Jew and oh yeah he collaborated with the nazis during WWII when he helped them steal from Jews in Hungary, and proudly so as he stated to Steve Croft in Sixty Minutes.
A horrible article written by a semi-literate child who identifies as a "senior editor". Forbes by the way is pretty much on the left these days.
Reading Marjorie's rant on Facebook, yes, it's a bit rambling and speculative, but nowhere did she accuse the Jews of setting up space lasers to ignite forest fires in California.
I think she does have a valid point regarding orbital power stations that beam energy to receivers on Earth; what happens if the beam goes astray? That's a lot of radiation. But in theory at least, a safety cut-off would be built in.
Here’s the professional bio of the “semi-literate child”:
Writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational, AI, and digital health expert, medical doctor. Currently, a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health, Executive Director of PHICOR (@PHICORteam) and Center for Advanced Technology and Communication in Health (CATCH), and founder and CEO of Symsilico. Previous positions include serving as Professor By Courtesy at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Executive Director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, Associate Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh, and Senior Manager at Quintiles Transnational, working in biotechnology equity research at Montgomery Securities, and co-founding a biotechnology/bioinformatics company. Work has included developing computer approaches, models, and tools to help health and healthcare decision makers in all continents (except for Antarctica). This has included serving as the Principal Investigator of over $60 million in research grants from a wide variety of sponsors such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. Author of over 250 scientific publications and three books. In addition to covering health, healthcare, and science for Forbes, writes a blog "A Funny Bone to Pick" for Psychology Today and has written articles for The New York Times, Time, The Guardian, The HuffPost, STAT, the MIT Technology Review and others. His work and expertise have appeared in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, ABC, USA Today, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall Show, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, CBS News, Businessweek, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg News, Reuters, National Public Radio (NPR), National Geographic, MSN, and PBS.
Of course I read it. Every word and meme. I agree with him. Greene wrote a weird social media post accusing Jews of financing a space-based energy system that could cause wildfires in California. She’s nuts.
As mentioned above, apparently she wasn't aware the Rothschild organization was Jewish. I'm not saying ignorance is forgivable in this case but, it seems like she's just, well, ignorant. She's a small town businesswoman and mom from a southern state and is lacking in sophistication. I like her feistiness and her stance on the issues I consider important, so I give her a pass.
“…Greene, on a now defunct site called American TruthSeekers, wrote that Q is a “patriot.” She also wrote that the secret, Satanist cabal Q believes rules the world is funded by George Soros and the Rothschilds, both frequent targets of antisemitic allegations of global control and domination."
MTG knew what yelling “the Rothschilds” meant. If you believed her when she said she didn’t, then it’s you who are the naive one. Believing MTG didnt know this was a slur against Jews is like believing Meghan Markle when she said didn’t know anything about the royal family before she met Harry (MM’s best friend in HS gave her a book about Diana, they watched the funeral on tv together, and Megs kept all her Diana books on a shelf in her dorm room in college).
You’re the rare Jewish person who would cut MTG any slack. The Jewish people I know, went to school with, and worked with, plus the Rabbi who taught my antisemitism class would not share your opinions on this, including the significance of inserting “Rothschild Inc” into the conversation.
“…Jewish groups were quick to condemn Greene's comments. Joel Rubin, executive director of the American Jewish Congress said in a statement to Newsweek that Greene's comments present "an immediate danger to the U.S. Congress and the American people."
"Her incendiary statements about Jews, gun violence victims, and what appears to be an unending stream of bizarre conspiracy theories are hate-filled, intolerable, and run contrary to her oath of office," he said….
Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, agreed: "Marjorie Taylor Greene is a bigoted conspiracy theorist, and her rhetoric and actions are a grave and growing danger to the Jewish community and the American people…”
How refreshing! Will Hurd is one tiny green shoot in an otherwise parched and barren desert of anger, insanity and division. Thank you Bari for introducing me to a politician who is, yes, actually NORMAL 🙏
I mediated for marital disillusion cases for a couple of years until I could not take it. What I learned about human nature during that sorry time of my career was how profound blinding rage against another derives from rejection. The most hostile of cases - those where the couple in conflict were determined to destroy the other without concern about the harm caused to their kids, their finances, their sanity... seem to often be people that struggle with anger over other life episodes of rejection.
My sense is that it is a childish emotion but one that makes sense from a biological and evolutionary perspective given the long dependency of human children. If we use the societal marker of 18 years until adulthood, and a life expectancy of 78 years, that is 23% of a life dependent on others... and much greater than any other animal on the planet. What happens when adults reject a child?... it is highly likely that the child dies at a much younger age. So the cry for attention and the demand for confirmation of acceptance is a survival instinct. We are supposed to get over that stuff at some point.
But we have seen the dependency bar pushed back. Children are coddled well into their 20s. We have many more government services for the "poor" which locks them too into dependency. Therapy services for people with unresolved childhood issues have exploded.
We are supposed to start accepting feelings over rational thought. That is the woke thing to do.
This all shapes my thinking for why our politics have degraded into such a war of anger. And why there is no hope for any "moderate" candidate to prevail in a presidential election. Historically, during and after the two great wars, we had a much greater population of independent voters having developed thicker skin having been raised in an environment of more challenges and tough love, and expected to make their own way in life at a younger age. We had fewer immigrants and fewer government services. We got over feeling rejected by adults, we didn't expect to be taken care of for life, and found our own path to self-sufficiency.
But the anger over feeling rejected dominates our politics now... more so on the left of politics as that is the side with a higher proportion of validation-needy voters. Although it might look like the right is also pissed about being rejected, it is more pissed about having the policies of the ruling class shoved down its throat. It does not matter whom the Republican candidate is, the ruling class... the people needing that constant status and care validation... will oppose him or her just the same because he/her cannot validate their need to feel accepted... because their rage has caused them to clutch ideological garbage.
So this dream of a moderate Republican riding in on that white horse to attract left of center voters is a dead idea. If Reagan were alive and running today, the left would screech and scream at him just the same as they do any other Republican front-runner. They would use every dirty trick they can find to destroy his reputation or more. He would be that spouse in the divorce that the other party wants to destroy without regard to the collateral damage it causes.
The insanity that rages on the left is our only real existential threat. The only way to heal it is for Republicans to win and take back power so the left can start doing some soul-searching... to get the therapy they need to grow up and stop their emotional turmoil about the lack of respect they feel from others that don't share their mindset maladies. Hey lefties... some people don't like you and that should be fine.
This is why I stopped mediating. Because in most cases I could clearly see that one side had their act together and the other was out of emotional control and wasn't rational. However, as a mediator I had to help both sides come to a middle agreement. The problem was that any agreement that satisfied the raging side was not going to be centered... and frankly would not have calmed the rage. The best remedy would have been that the raging side always lose to cause needed reflection on why that happened.
So elect a Republican that can win as many Republican votes as possible and stop fretting that the candidate is centered enough to attract left of center voters. There are not material numbers left of center voters that will vote from that rational perspective.
That is a separate point entirely. All I was saying is no one knows who the man is so I don’t know why he’s bothering. “Read the room?” Why so rude? It’s not like I’m voting for him. Good Lord, settle down.
I'm a Canadian who follows American election political figures (outside of the people who tend to get the media coverage) lightly. I didn't know anything about Mr. Hurd, and almost didn't read the transcript parts of the interview. This man sounds interesting. And caring. And worth continuing to follow news about. Thank you for introducing him to the public, Bari.
I’m not going to waste my time listening to a Republican that takes advice from a leftist journalist because Bari that’s really what you are. I think you’re better able to give advice to the nuts in the dem party about how not to be so bat sh1t crazy all the time about everything. Funny hiw that never happens.
Hurd should have stayed in office as a representative. He could have had an impact. As a Republican wannabe nominee for president, not at all.
You’re in Idaho - do you deal with woke people on a regular basis? Who was the last leftist you had a conversation with IRL? Does your workplace have a DEI director? I’m telling you, Bari Weiss and Nellie Bowles are not leftists. I’ve been to Idaho - have you been here to CA? And I’ll repeat what others have said: why are you here other than to troll people trying to act in good faith to improve our political discourse?
Well the trans people are suing to allow those poor mentally ill children thinking they are different sexes after a law was passed saying they could use the appropriate bathrooms for their plumbing.
I don’t have a workplace but when I was working no we didn’t, but then I was one of those in charge so no. However those who came after are all in on lefty initiatives ignoring what their jobs should usually be.
Our mayor is as left as she can be and is angling for a Biden job which we would all love. She’s a spending machine on woke things like rooting out non existent racism in the police department. She’s a tax raiser extraordinaire. She hires people from out of state that she ends up firing like the police chief from Portland and the library director who worked for Gates and is slowly nit buying books.,
Oh and we are all in on climate change hysteria here, spending money on the green con like there is no tomorrow.
So maybe Bari and Nellie aren’t bat shit crazy leftists who have pink hair, shriek at people, want to destroy the country etc, but they are by no means conservative or even moderate. Why are you here except to scold? I thought leftists were all about conversation and hearing other points of view. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened for years. Oh and also, why don’t you want any conversations with Bari asking democrats about their extreme positions?
Bari is to the left of center but not wrong that the democrats can be defeated if the republicans were less crazy. Trump will lose again. Eyes on the prize which is to defeat Biden. Hurd may not be the answer, but we know Trump isn’t either.
I think the only issue that the Conservatives may lose on is its anti Ukraine pro Russian stance of some of its more right wing base.. Most of the country does not support unlimited abortion.
What's more crazy than Stalinist political trials?
Bari - Hurd seems reasonable enough, but perhaps he seems “normal” to you because he shares your left of center sensibilities and feels non-threatening, to you. To me, he sounds like a beltway insider that is fashioning a message, “can’t we all just get along?” I’m looking for a candidate, from any side of the isle, that will address the growing behemoth of government/Pharma/military/corporate media and the weaponization of our judiciary. That is the threat to our Republic.
Just finisged the Vivek Honestly and he did a much better job of discussing those issues.
How can a presidential candidate give an interview to explain himself and not talk about inflation, abortion, trans lunacy, or the rule of law? Among his friends and his class, I'm sure he's very popular, but he reads like an empty suit filled by an establishment political consultant.
Bari seems to equate "normal Republican" with someone who agrees with her. This is a common fallacy; everyone thinks they are in the political center. But there is no wing in the GOP for you, Bari; nor should there be. You're not a conservative or a post-liberal or a populist. You're a progressive, albeit one who thinks progress should have stopped with Obergefell. I appreciate Bari's writing, but she doesn't understand GOP voters much better than her former NYT colleagues do.
Correct, while I like this news outlet, I've noticed that Bari and her henchmen tend to be eastern establishment types and ivy leaguers skewed towards building street cred in their journalism careers before taking tenured op-ed positions at liberal newspapers (the few remaining in America). Trump is popular in America because there are many who believe although imperfect, he represents the only thing standing between us and the abyss of vulgar socialism. I can't vote for Trump, but I understand his appeal. FP seems to be in some ways acting like a fifth column for the Democratic establishment, whether they appear conscious of it or not.
I would use “Substack Colleagues” rather than “henchmen”. We can’t know Bari’s real motivations for leaving the NYT, but she did and she has created this space where we can freely discuss and comment on the issues. Bari is whip smart, respectful and encourages debate. She is also human and subject to bias based on her life experiences. We have to be able to disagree and listen to competing arguments to move forward.
So you'd vote for Biden?
I won't vote for Trump in the Primary, but I'd certainly vote for him against ANY Democrat. I'm not sure why any GOP voter would sit out and hand it over to the Democrats, who've made it abundantly clear that they are the enemy.
Agreed, but unfortunately my vote doesn't count. I live in a state that has not given delegates to a Republican nominee since Reagan's second term.
🥲🥲you must be in California- get out before it’s to late.
Well Bari is certainly not that given that she left the NY Times to build her own company. As for Trump, when all is said and done he has done more to advance the leftist project than anyone. Because he is an incompetent boob who won't get off the stage. He therefore ensures further Democratic victories.
One could argue the opposite too; Obama remade the democratic party in his own image, which did not translate to Clinton (thank G-d) and laid the groundwork for The Squad and the socialist virtue signaling wing of the party, and thus the rise of the populist Trump. Sadly, as long as the Trump cult lives, we won't see another nominee from the GOP.
Not so sure about your last sentence. We know how F-upped the polls are, and how Dems are masterful at manipulating election outcomes.
They need Trump like you & I need air and water. They need him to be the nominee, and all these mostly empty charges are political theatre?
Ever consider this huge lead Trump has in the polls could be a new level of Democrat's mischievous ways?
I agree 100%. And next to Joe Biden in Nov 2024, I will vote for him. Not because I think he will be effective, but because I know Joe and his party will be.
Jim's also correct that the Trump cult will prevent anyone else from winning the GOP nomination. Which means we must make the best of two incredibly flawed and largely incompetent candidates.
We need to all vote in the primaries
Also it would help if the field narrowed a bit. There are way way too many now so the votes get split
Great post Jim, and yes I’m one of those “voting Trump”2024. Murphy is worried about calling Bari’s “henchwhatever”I think that’s an apt description of them.
I think that’s true, and I don’t need her to share my politics. As I read through this Hurd piece and Bari’s “this is just common sense” take on it it just reminded me of that.
I just watched Eric Ericson's interviews with Scott, Pence, DeSantis and Haley. These are my impressions. Scott and Haley addressed your issues with viable solutions. Pence is a non-entity, and DeSantis has the most annoying voice I've ever heard and said nothing of substance. At this point, I'd vote for Scott, Haley or Vivek. We'll see as things go along.
Would you really say DeSantis has a voice more irritating than RFK? Based on audible senses only.
You can criticize DeSantis on various grounds, but lack of substance is most certainly not one of them.
Vivek is nuts. Scott and Haley have their issues, but they are much preferable.
I’ve seen nothing “nuts” about Vivek. What are you referring to?
Tim Scott is way too deep in Wall Street’s pockets, so unfortunately he’s a no go. I would have liked him if he wasn’t taking billions from Wall Street. The great thing about trump is he didn’t take their money so he didn’t have to do what they said. He was free to do what’s best for America.
I like Vivek & have to do more research on whether him or Haley are taking Wall Street money. I will support whoever is toughest on China. Whichever candidate tells me they will ban ALL Investment into China.
My husband & I already converted our entire 401k into treasury bonds. I don’t want any of my money invested into ESG, LGBT, Green funds, BLM or CCP.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/04/tim-scott-china-dove-00109729
You should listen to Vivek’s clear cut views on China and what his foreign policy will emphasize in the interview he just did a few days ago on Tucker on Twitter. It’s impressive.
He was good, however, “talk is cheap but money buys the whisky” he is young and unproven, I won’t be voting for him. I will be watching Tucker’s next interview instead of the debates, that’s definitely more up my alley.😜
Thee's no law that can prohibit people from investing in China short of an embargo. And declaring an embargo against China makes no sense right now. So no candidate can meet your requirement.
Some candidates are tougher on China and support restrictions. Like right now, almost everyone supports not allowing investments in chinas military because they will fire those weapons on us. Xi Jinping has stated that he will begin a war in 2024. People want to put their heads in the sand but it’s not a good idea to ignore him at his word. It appears that Tim Scott is much much too soft on China due to his being funded largely by Wall Street. When the CCP bombs Wall Street, they won’t be so happy they paid for those bombs with their own money.
I don't know if he's nuts. He talks like a carnival barker, fast, and doesn't back up his ideas with concrete proposals on how to carry them out. Maybe he's saving them for the debate. We'll see. Everyone has their "issues," the question is what are their plans and how to expect to carry them out? At this point, Christie has the experience and puts forth his ideas with clarity. I know that he'll have a hard time getting the MAGATs to vote for him. Anyway, if Trump isn't in prison, he'll be the Republican nominee and it will be 4 more yrs. of Biden. Re Vivek. I'd have a hard time voting for someone with no govt experience. That didn't work out to well the last time.
Because the guy with 50 yrs experience (but 0 yrs in the real world) has done such a great job...
Political experience doesn't guarantee good results. Biden has been terrible, even though he knows how government works. It takes both real world and political experience to manage a nation. I think there have been 6 Pres. who never held public office before becoming President. 4 or 5 of them were generals and commanded troops. I think Eisenhower was the only one who was successful as a President. There were 2 or 3 who had neither political nor military experience and they didn't fare too well. All that can be found on the internet.
Biden has been terrible because he is a fucking crook and sold out for a few million bucks. Full stop. And we are screwed cause half of us refuse to admit that plain fact
Thanks for info
Yip the man can hardly string a sentence together.
Yip the man can hardly string a sentence together.
None of the Founding Fathers had government experience.
This is not 1776 and we aren't starting from scratch. There are established norms and ways of doing things, and if you don't have the experience to deal with it, we end up with Trumpian chaos. Experience counts. I don't want an inexperienced mechanic working on my car, I don't want an inexperienced surgeon operating on me. When I began my musical career, I had to get experience before I could get hired. The first person to do something doesn't have the experience and they can learn by doing. Governing a country doesn't work like that.
That’s a reasonable position, but I think running a business in the private sector is much more demanding. There’s nothing magical about feeding at the public trough.
Established norms? You mean like not taking a few million bucks from Ukrainian crooks then sending them a hundred billion unaccounted for of my tax dollars? Those kind of norms?
Trumpian chaos? You mean a completely corrupt IC that abused every legal norm to affect a bloodless coup against a duly elected president for 4 straight years?
Fork you and the spoon you rode in on. The corrupt dems destroyed this country cause...Orange Man Bad
You are truly going to hate how this turns out
Trump at least had plenty of executive experience .Biden never ran anything except his private grift Mafia. Its astounding that anyone could vote for the man. that is how successful the media has been in hiding this man from scrutiny . Its a crime against the American people.
That's not true at all. Most all of the founding fathers had government experience.
I don’t know of any carnival barker as articulate and consistent in message as Vivek. Are you listening to complete interviews or just soundbites? He’s constantly explaining his ideas and how they’d be carried out.
Listen to Christie's discussion on the All-In podcast. That made it clear to me that I absolutely will not vote for anyone on either side based on their creds as a professional politician. I am not a Trump fan, but at one point Christie is waxing philosophic about Pompeo's credentials and how could Trump dare to have non experienced people like Jared Kushner engaged in the Abraham Accord discussions. Not a Kushner fan either (sad that I feel like I have to constantly say these things but here we are), but the arrogance of Christie and how he reveres these lifelong politicians and in the next breath talks about taking away SS from those that have paid into it he most (while not touching military spending) shows a complete lack of awareness of how these smartest guys in the room have literally brought our country to the brink of financial and social destruction, while enriching themselves. Not once in that 2 hour interview did he talk with any caring or concern for the hard working tax paying Americans that are being suckered by these politcians to fund this mess. This is why I will never vote for him or anyone that is part of the political class.
Everyone that runs for a political office is part of the "political class. I didn't hear the Christie interview so I can't comment on it. I think that the truth of it all is that the world is run by cowards, thieves, and people who want to enrich themselves at the expense of others. In the coming election I may not vote for anyone rather than the lessor of two evils.
"
Respectfully disagree, for me there is a massive difference between someone that has spent most of their working lives in the private sector vs. someone that has worked the majority of their career in 'public service' through either an elected or appointed position. What makes it even worse is that they then tout their bona fides as qualification for our highest office, without any evidence that this experience ever delivered anything of value for the taxpayer. I will say this for Christie though, he did purge some of the corruption out of NJ.
I have to grit my teeth listening to the FP podcasts because of Bari's horrendous vocal fry. Sorry, that's just how it is.
Jim you could be my twin! I read them for that very reason can’t stand the vocal.
Things have gone along, and I'll retract my vote for Ramasmarmy.
I don't want to assume too much about you since idk you, but if you're like other folks I've met who say they want similar things, you're never going to get what you want unless you can be more specific about what we should change.
Imagine if Trump ran on 'term limits for federal legislators' instead of 'drain the swamp.'
My point isn't to talk smack on Trump, my point is that if Trump ran on the former policy, we'd either have term limits or we'd be much closer to having them.
True
Nicely said!
So well posted Murphy.
"Why are you a Republican?" How cringe is that question? Now, if it turns out Hurd is just a cynical opportunist, a RINO, then he will expose himself over time. But it's remarkable that even today the liberal media can't stop itself from asking "black quarterback" questions. Old loyalty (and racism) dies hard, I guess.
Weaponization of the judiciary? What do you mean by that?
Sarcasm?
As a “dumb” Trump supporter who reads The Free Press to mitigate my stupidity I feel there may be some subtlety worth noting. The question posed regarding how Mr Hurd feels about being in the Republican Party as a black man perpetuates the lie that the Republican Party is racist. It was phrased to allow the interviewer the delusion that she didn’t call me a racist, but she did, and felt comfortable doing so. If Mr Hurd wants my vote he needs to point out the incredible hubris of The Free Press in feeling so confident in its assessment of half the voting public as racists. The question allows for the alternative option that I merely vote for racists. I challenge that assumption. Anyone who wants my vote cannot seek to win the favor of those who spew this vile lie. I will never “reasonably” respond to being called a racist and neither should the man seeking my vote.
Well-put. Bari often seems to fall back on these Democratic talking points almost unconsciously, apparently forgetting that a big part of her subscriber base is Republican.
I think it’s easier for her to be a gadfly than to take a stand in any practical sense: she’s half red-pilled, but somehow stuck in the middle.
I admire Bari Weiss for her efforts to amplify voices from both sides regardless her personal beliefs. I think we all have blind spots. Maybe this is one of hers. Maybe it’s mine. I feel the discussion alone is and should be the goal.
Bari is not “stuck in the middle”, she is in the middle. She’s a centrist, only left of center. She’s a moderate Democrat and so is Nellie. They have no interest in pandering to Republicans or Trump supporters. If you cancel your subscription and stop reading they could care less. You’re not their target audience. Their target audience is moderates and Independents. If that’s not you, then quit reading. Honestly, when I read these comments I wonder why half of you are even here. Pro-Trump, isolationist anti-vaxxers…WTH???? Did you miss the part where Bari and Nellie are in a lesbian marriage and live in California? What did you expect?
I’m a lesbian living in California and each swipe at Trump and even the headline is such a punch in the gut to the working class of this country. I’m pretty much a raging moderate, the hate I see towards Trump and his supporters is the opposite of humanistic approach. He’s just the messenger that is all. A well balanced a thoughtful centrist approach would be, “I’m not a fan of trump but I can understand why so many people voted for him.” Then speak to the issues. That is a moderate approach Ann. That is a centrist.
“A well balanced a thoughtful centrist approach would be, “I’m not a fan of trump but I can understand why so many people voted for him.” Then speak to the issues. That is a moderate approach Ann. That is a centrist.”
This, this, this! Thanks, Michellep. This kind of statement builds bridges and opens the door for cooperation and compromise, two things necessary for unity (not unanimity) in a pluralistic society.
The problem with that sentiment is that Trump is a horrible messenger for the working class. He’s a liar, a thief, a basically failed businessman who’s despised in New York by the people who know him best, like my in-laws (who are hard core upstate Republican, fwiw). The man is so flawed that it practically proves that certain elements of the working class are in fact stupid if he’s who they choose to be their messenger. I totally agree if what you’re saying is that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class (and remember what we really mean there is the white working class), but that doesn’t excuse those people blindly following a conspiracy theory wielding liar who’s really only interested in himself.
Anyway, lesbians come in all colors and stripes and political opinions, as do most people, but given Bari and Nellie’s profiles (and living in LA, not Orange County), their views expressed in TFP seem par for the course to me. It never ceases to amaze me that the commenters are shocked and insulted by what they say. My son is gay and my niece, who’s non-binary/queer (so what’s the gender neutral word for niece?) are way further left than Bari and Nellie (niece and their girlfriend both had top surgery, but waited until age 25). In my experience it’s the rare Cali LGBT person who is sympathetic to Trump or his followers. In fact, if he gets the nomination it will be because the rest of the GOP is afraid of his followers, which is not just sad, but pathetic.
Non-binary queer they/them niece lives in Portland, Oregon. Can you fit the stereotype any more than that?
I often ask people who call Trump a liar to name his biggest lie. People usually reply about the 2020 election being stolen. So from the time he announced until Election Day 2020, I have not had any accusers name a single lie. I could argue the "election stolen" point (which I did above) and I stay away from Stormy Daniels, but tell me a significant lie by Trump. I have asked many liberal/progressives that question. So far - none.
Oh gosh, there’s so many lies and misinformation you’d need an entire Wikipedia article to list them all. Wait, there IS an entire Wikipedia article listing them all:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Post%20said%20in,false%20statements%20since%20his%20inauguration
Ann, I think this statement , "The man is so flawed that it practically proves that certain elements of the working class are in fact stupid if he’s who they choose to be their messenger,"misses the point. People don't choose a messenger. He is all they have, he is just holding up a mirror to who the Democratic party is, that is why they want to put him in prison. He's doing all the things that they do behind closed doors, he's just doing them in front of your face. Don't get distracted by the messenger, see the message. Because that's what they don't want you to see, and they all want to shoot the messenger. They've clearly already convinced you to hate your neighbor.
This is the most insightful post on this thread. You hit the nail on the head. The 75 million or more who voted for Trump will not abandon him because they have always seen him as standing up against the Corruption in DC. They voted for Republicans after Reagan who were part of the corruption or at least looked the other way. Now the stupid Democrats have steeled that resolve and anyone with an ounce of respect for what has held this country together will vote for Trump. If they try to jail him anything could happen and it will be over very quickly. If Jan 6 had truly been an insurrection the hundreds of thousands who protested would never have gone home. For years Conservatives have been arming themselves if this becomes necessary.There are over 24 million AR rifles in this country.Its an insurance policy against Tyranny that the founders saw as important .The Democrats are playing with fire. One has to hope that in the end the "better angels of our nature" prevail.
I respectfully disagree Michelle. Your approach of understanding and intelligent debate is not moderate. It is civility and confidence driven by knowledge. I think our probable stark political differences hashed out over some cheap bourbon would make me a better person. But I’d do it anyway.
Thank you for writing this.
I didn't vote for either candidate in 2016, although I was very sympathetic to what Trump was saying, particularly about the boondoggle that was the War on Terror. Voted for him in '20 because Biden and the Establishment he represents was too much.
My own fear allowed me to support the War on Terror (Patriot Act, Iraq, Afghanistan) and I was wrong, wrong, wrong in doing so. I won't make that mistake again. Folks on the Left who, at the time, said this would be a huge mistake (particularly the blowback from the Patriot Act). I should have listened more and fall back on ready made categories of Left and Right.
People will always have their fundamental sensibilities on political issues, but like Michellep, we need to be open to the fact that most people are trying to be honest brokers, even if we disagree.
Your political paralysis is what we don't need. By the way it is the Democrats with the Fake Russia collusion who abused and lied to the FISA courts through the Clinton operatives and the corrupt FBI. They continue to illegally spy on Americans and conduct raids that violate the 4th amendment .They have violated the right to a speedy trial. They have Kangaroo courts and the DC jail that have violated the rights of hundreds of Americans. They have taken advantage of DC partisans to pick grand juries and juries and have violated Lawyer client privacy on many occasions.
While individual Democrats may be fine people ,their leaders are wholly corrupt and its tearing this country apart. The Republican leadership is almost as bad.
Thank you for your comment.
I actually agree with what you are saying in the above. All of it.
However, I'm not sure why you'd impute a "political paralysis" to me. Paralysis implies inability. I had political agency in 2016, and I chose a form of protest, writing in a name of a great Roman Statesmen (agree or disagree with it, however you wish). Of course, in fairness, you would not have known that from the post I wrote above.
And in all sincerity, take care.
This is what I find the most infuriating - the political class and their swarming media sycophants (not saying Bari is completely one of these bees, but she has a little of it) are still completely disconnected about the experience of everyday hard-working Americans. Look at Oliver Anthony and 'Rich Men North of Richmond' - they all are so blind to why that song hit a nerve for so many of us.
Wow, Bari is gay, so “what do I expect?”
You’re the one pigeonholing people into their categories. Think there aren’t any gay Republicans?
And if I don’t agree with Bari, then I should unsubscribe and leave?
I guess you need to be cozily surrounded by people who agree with you 100%. I suggest you scurry back to the NYTimes. Bari is adult enough to take some criticism.
Many Trump voters read the FP because of its spirited stand against woke nonsense.
But in the end, if independents don’t take a side with the group that most represents their views, they’ll be not just irrelevant, but complicit in the continuing decline of the US at the hands of today’s Democratic Party.
I agree with Bari and Nellie 99% of the time. Frankly, I can’t remember a specific POV that I have disagreed with them on, but there must have been one. So I’m perfectly happy with TFP. And I subscribe to the WSJ in addition to the NYT, plus the BBC and LeMonde (in French). So I’m not “surrounded by people who think like me”. As an Independent but registered Democrat, I will vote for the 2024 candidate who I think will push Putin out of Ukraine. Right now that’s my main issue.
Shouldn’t you be more concerned what’s happening at your front door instead of worrying about Ukraine, for one how are we going to pay this sh.t load of money that’s been printed back, so our grandchildren can have an America that doesn’t strangle them in debt before they have started walking.
Yup. I identify as a conservative but don't care for the extremes on either side. The Free Press is one of my favorite websites, plenty here that a strict conservative would like, and on our side in the woke wars.
I welcome genuine thinking people even if we don't agree on some points.
And who doesn't like the fact here are two gay women that support "our side" on many topics?
True. What I don’t like are the comments such as “Bari needs to choose a side”. I see TFP as a safe place for Blue Dog Democrats, Independents, and RINOs. Until I read the comments…
The comments are all I read, they give you a true reflection of how people are thinking and feeling.
Thanks, Ann P, for having the wherewithal to comment. The far-Right ranting in the comment section after Bari publishes an intelligent centrist article is hard to stomach. Good on ya.
“ Did you miss the part where Bari and Nellie are in a lesbian marriage and live in California?”
A very bigoted view.
Hmm, according to the dictionary, “bigoted” means “a person who is strongly prejudiced and forms opinions without just cause.” So…is thinking that the average married lesbian couple in California is probably pretty liberal, they’re Democrats, anti-Trump, pro-vaccines, left of center, more inclined to see life through a liberal lens than a conservative one, think the video of the Iowa State Fair goers is great, etc, etc, basically all the stuff Bari and Nellie say that the GOP commenters here don’t like, that’s bigoted?
And I believe you meet that definition with your myopic views of Republicans.
And I suppose my “myopic views of Republicans” stem from the 44 years I spent as a Republican prior to Jan 6th, my living in a ruby red GOP-dominated state, and my spouse, his family and my entire family, other than my children, and my neighbors all being Republicans. Yep, no personal experience at all with Republicans. Got it.
Notice that you ommitted free-thinking from your list. Funny that used to be what liberal meant. You then go on to list a lot of stereotypes about lesbians in Cali, especially the pro-vaccine bit.
If someone is gay that's their problem not mine. It does however on many occasions produce an alienation and sometimes hatred of sexually normal society . One has to look no further than Dana Nessel and the ex mayor of Seattle to notice that. But I judge people by their actions not by their sexuality. One of my favorite Conservatives is the eloquent and effective Richard Grenell who happens to be gay. I would vote for him as president because he keeps his sex life private and isn't a militant.
Thanks for articulating my confused thoughts on this!
Good point about Bari referring to his skin color aligning w his political party. I completely missed it. Are white people ever asked about their chosen party and how that aligns w their skin color??? Yeah, like never.
It was the second part of the interview I noticed.
I love how Biden ran as “the great uniter” and then, when elected, began calling half the country bigots and white supremacists. Very effective!
Great post Nathan.
You are reading something into Bari's question that I don't think is there, at least based on the transcript.
“And I guess I just wanted to ask how you think about the fact that many people associate the Republican Party with some of its most racist and bigoted fringes”. I am certain I could locate Many People who are hateful and ignorant. Should they be given a voice in a debate? I refuse to believe this was a unbiased curiosity. If the vile lie of Republican Party racism was less insidious I would not have focused on it.
You must listen to get the actual impact.
On that point Hurd didn’t blame Republican voters but (correctly I think) challenged black conservative political types to get out there and compete. He also correctly noted that Democrats have been taking the black vote for granted for years.
Amen and amen.
I don't think the Bud Light & Disney thing is something Republicans should ignore. A lot of voters are concerned the Fortune 100 has been captured by out of touch city-dwelling progressives who are using the vast power of corporations to push social values antithetical to rural and suburban family life. A lot of voters might argue Bud Light & Disney need to stand still and be normal.
It's a golden opportunity for Republicans to tap into the concerns of the common voter and lean into the political realignment of Democrats being the party of the big corporations and Republicans being the party of the working folk.
Absolutely true! The culture war is literally about protecting children from depraved fetishists who want to dress in S&M outfits and read gay love stories to kids in libraries. When did that become the norm, and people who object to it suddenly are the bigots and "homophobes"?
The Stones predicted it 55 years ago: Just as every cop is a criminal / and all the sinners saints / as heads is tails call me Lucifer / because I’m in need of some restraint.
Yeah, the Rich Men north of Richmond want to tear down normality.
Will Hurd is exclusively attacking Trump and DeSantis, the two Republican front-runners. He is only doing this to help Democrats.
I’m sure when his campaign ends they will destroy all of their documents the way the Jan 6 Committee did.
Hurd is the latest John Kasich that the media, corporate, financial and political establishment is trying to foist upon Republican voters to try to distract them from a populist voice for the working class people.
Literally any Republican outside of Trump will beat Biden in a landslide. Just something to consider.
It is highly unlikely that a Republican will win but DeSantis has a better chance of winning than Trump.
Why do you say it's highly unlikely? Biden's approval rating has been at 40% since summer 2021. Left and left-leaning outlets publish "Should Joe Biden Run in 2024?" pieces daily.
Yeah he didn’t campaign last time and got 81 million votes. They will just run on abortion and saving ‘democracy’ and use their overwhelming mobilization army.
I think four more years of this will make it sufficiently obvious that Democrats cannot be allowed to run anything and then we will have to hope we can somehow salvage the $40 trillion in debt we will have in 2028 if there aren’t missiles in the air by that point.
Its the missiles in the air that worry me the most. We will be lucky if all we have to tackle is the debt problem. Can't get Nikki Haley thinking she was dissing Vivek on his lack of foreign policy 'experience' at the GOP debate out of my head. These people think they have been doing such a great job, and they literally have us on the doorstep of nuclear armageddon. And they diss Trump in the next breath, when say what you will about him and Putin. Putin didn't attack Ukraine during his administration and there were no new wars, actually a peace agreement in ME.
Yeah people didn't vote for Biden, they voted against Trump. The winning strategy seems to be, don't run Trump. Idk why almost-Trump (DeSantis) is unacceptable to so many people
You make a valid point
Hmmm....guess no speech/opinions for companies. I thought the SC already settled that.
Not forcing the taxpayers, who also have rights, to partner with companies that are trying to talk children into committing suicide is not a restriction on speech.
Also, Citizens United was a 501(c)4 created specifically for engaging in political speech, and it was being prevented from doing so by the FEC. It was a film about Hillary Clinton (D), who is a repulsive barbarian parasite. This in no way relates to what publicly traded for-profit Disney was doing, which was an illegal in-kind contribution, in addition to being something taxpayers are not obligated to support.
Bob Iger (D) is more than welcome to resign and start a 501(c)4 called Degenerate Perverts United, if he wants to run a corporation that can engage in unlimited political advocacy.
No companies are talking children into sucide, dummy.
Citizens United absolutely applies. They have a right to make a statement on a state bill. Called Free Speech.
This more ignorant than your bullshit claim Target sells "tucking" swimsuits for kids.
Yeah, there's a way not to "partner" with companies. It's called "don't buy their products."
Seems like DeSantis wants to "move on" from Disney. Hopefully, continue and they'll grind him into the dirt.
"Go anti-woke, get smoked!"
The Hyde Amendment exists because taxpayers also do not have to partner with companies that start performing abortions.
The ‘not buying products’ thing is also being done, which is good.
Yeah, but Disney Co. aren't performing abortions are they, dummy?
So, 100% falls under Citizens United/Free Speech. Same for consumers.
DeSantis forgot that with his asinine "eVeRYthING Is wOKe!" buffonery.
Hopefully, Disney lawyers will make him rue the day.
Don't you have some more non-existent children's "tucking" bathing suits to lie about?
Quit wasting my time with your stupidity.
I was illustrating the point. Speech has not been infringed in any way. If you really want Disney to have special privileges from the government based on their benefit to the community then you need to elect a bunch of Democrats in Florida who think promoting child sexual abuse benefits the community.
The power behind ESG is not about free speech but compelled speech.
ESG is not compelled speech, it is an investment strategy. Was/is a blip on the radar. Hysterical moral panic.
Hurd is ex-CIA and thus dug in like a tick to the DC Uniparty monolith. After the weaponization of the intelligence community against its domestic enemy, Trump, there is no chance this guy can go anywhere.
He declared just to attack the Orange Man.
BEFORE you say Silly things about a candidate You Might want to investigate. You still may not like him but you won't sound silly.
Will Hurd One The Issues
https://www.ontheissues.org/tx/Will_Hurd.htm
BTW What is wrong with attacking Donald Trump? Unless you think he's never done anything wrong.
Ever ask WHY? Why there has not been a major terrorist attack since THAT DAY? CIA is one reason.
Attacking Donald Trump is attacking the American middle working class that has had a jackboot on their neck for decades.
Lol. Trump wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.
Great song by Michael McDonald "What a fool believes"
The entire reason Trump won in 2016 and would have won in 2020 if not for the plandemic and the related Dem election cheating is that more than he convinces more than half the country that he cares more about them than does the dirty Democrats. The Democrats piss on you when you are on fire... they piss gasoline.
Yeah...election was not stolen, dude. Trump tried to, but failed.
Nah. He convinces people that their situation is the fault of people with less power, less money, less social capital, etc. who are "taking" something from them.
I'm doing just fine, so more gasoline please!
Trump thinks you're "the poorly educated" trash, Frank. He would never let riff-raff like you into Mar-A-Lago.
How much money has he taken you for?
I am a highly academically credentialed 1 percenter member of the laptop and managerial class. I just have much more self-awareness for what is going on than do my peers. I also do not needed for validation that I am high status like my peers. I could give a crap about that. Trump give a finger to people in my tribe. I do too. They suck.
Sorry- I disagree. Brainwashing is the thing today.
https://youtu.be/fzjAMK2FQoE
You know what Frank the person you referring to above deserves all the gasoline we can pour on it!
The American middle class has been under planned and managed assault for over a half century. A Republic needs a middle class to survive.
Currently, mattersTrump and stolen election claims spring from the DNC willingness to outright lie, obfuscate, interfere with and manipulate legitimate American political institutions for financial gain and power. Lies destroy trust and faith. Is it a hard jump to believe the DNC capable of subverting an election? Who knows what the truth is?And that's the point. Chaos, anomie and disintegration while the DNC/CCP/EU Davos crowd line their pockets and tighten the noose.
THIS. And the 1-5%'ers are still thinking they are part of the elite, above it all. What they don't understand, but they will soon enough, is that it is us they are really coming for.
"Attacking Donald Trump is attacking the American middle working class"
2 words come right to mind Anthony Fauci.
So we both know what we are talking about. Define Attack?
IMO Trump is a sociopathic narcissist. His personal flaws will always make his presidency erratic. He’s still a better option than the Dems because he has no institutional power. The Dems have captured all the institutions and is implementing policies the vast majority of people despise.
Trump is terrible and guilty of a great big crime... understating the dirt and danger that is the Democrat Party.
That is the sad reality and consequence of the most rotten political class this republic may have ever had.
Psychopathy is a common trait in the Halls of Capitol.
I'm not sure I understand your analogy nor question. Donald Trump is supported by over half the country of the American working class. You know, those uneducated non-elite, non-laptop class and non-managerial class irredeemable deplorables. Anthony Fauci is a folk hero of the elite laptop and managerial class.
Well....you said it, not me.
Some people are so far in the middle of a mindfk bubble they cannot see that THEY are the REAL irredeemable deplorables.
Yip, thought this interview was the biggest crap - the last couple of weeks of Bari and Nellie have been “all about why we not getting Donald Trump again” it’s getting so boring!
He and Bari just lob out lines like “Trump/MTG is a racist/homophobe” as though everyone accepts this premise. Typical of liberals.
Wow. Fellow Republicans, read between the lines on this one. If you’re interested in perpetual and proxy wars, many more tens of billions handed to the military-industrial complex in unaccountable fashion, more rein to the intelligence agencies to surveil, censor, and otherwise meddle in domestic affairs, U.S. taxpayer-funded foreign bioweapons labs (he mentioned synthetic biology TWICE), and a cheery perspective of the War on Terror, THIS is your man.
At one point I thought ‘wait, has the CIA realized it might be easier to simply run their own candidate for President, instead of expending all the effort to conspire against them?’ but honestly, I think the CIA would be a tad more subtle.
Thanks Bari. This was illuminating, to say the least.
Yah man on the CIA thing. Fellow Republican here. RFK jr be my choice. I'm a liking his positions on the CIA, Russia Nato, Cuba, climate change, evil oil, warring, US meddling, and the vax industrial complex vis a vis the gay frog evidence, chromosome 3Dx .
If you’re for RFKJr, you’re against the USA and for a Chavez-style Venezuela here. Chavez is one of RFKJr’s heroes. So if that’s what you want, go for it. Me? I wouldn’t touch it with a thousand-foot pole.
correction, chromo 3Dq that Doc RFK discovered in that Lukashenko Belarus academy of science paper on gay vs bi and metrosex frogs and the Covid XBB.1.16 strain who received the vax
idk what gay frog evidence and chromosome 3Dx are, and at this point, im too afraid to ask.
My thought as well. Not surprising a left of center Democrat (aka: pro war) would not be a flutter with Will.
So well written and posted. Thank you for this all 💯 correct.
You refer to him as a black congressman but isn’t he just as much white as black if his mother was white. Why label him that way and I’m curious to what percentage a person has to be black to call them black. Too many labels for the convenience of your story.
It’s how the person wishes to be identified. Remember Sage Steele was excoriated for calling *herself* biracial? My gawd it’s crazy out there.
Ditto Obama - these people are ‘biracial’
There's no such thing as "bi=racial." That's a political construct to keep people apart and at each other's throats. There's one race; the human race, after that it's just a variation on colors.
"One drop." That's the rule.
But seriously, I think Hurd, as do most biracial children, grow up getting very strong social cues from society as to "what" they are.
Same with Obama. Lot of Americans made it real, real clear that he was not biracial.
My son is biracial, but looks white. I know this because:
1. I can see him
2. We've had a few interesting exchanges with people who were a bit, shall we say "confused" and wanted to insert themselves into our situation.
Almost all the biracial people I’ve known have identified as black. And the whiter they were, the harder they tried to get the black community to accept them (which they often did not!). They try really really hard to be as black as possible.
many biracial “white passing” people become extremely politically active with black social issues to gain acceptance in the black community. They become , BLM, CRT activists, (ie Colin Kaparenick, Nicole Hannah-Jones 1619 project) while always wearing an Afro to look as black as possible.
I hope your son is different! It would be refreshing to meet someone who wasn’t trying so hard to be black.
"I hope your son is different! It would be refreshing to meet someone who wasn't trying so hard to be black."
....wow....
Yeah....I'm calling BS on your personal history/knowledge claims of biracial people.
That's why they become very racist themselves, like obama, kamela, rice, the entire middle east, ellison, holder, ... democrats, the lot of those individuals, not surprising
Lol. Ok.
I'm sure you have lots of examples.
Trump is a moderate Republican. Remember, he was a Democrat for most of his life.
To the Left, anything right of Mao is now considered "Far Right"
Bingo
Exactly. He is closer to JFK than to Reagan, which may be why the (ex)CIA candidate hates him (or doesn't want to be his running mate, like Bush).
He's right on Trump. He got lucky once. Has lost three in a row.
I was in trading/finance. I followed Trump for decades. His MO was to bet on unlikely outcomes (with other peoples' money mostly) with him getting the lion's share if it hit. That was his 2016 Presidential run in a nutshell. He made some good policy and SC choices almost despite himself, but for the most part it was all about DJT. (And, yes, he was treated horribly. But, he also acted horribly when he didn't have to).
I wonder if the SC selections to overturn Roe v. Wade turned out to be a bit problematic.
I'm sure many people expected ticker tape parades and cheering in the street...
Explain how sending Roe back to the states was overturned, dimwit.
Uh...because it was a federal constitutional right for abortion protections (which covers all states)....and now it's based on individual state law....which makes it no longer a federal statute....so it was "overturned." So a right/law that was once applicable to ALL states, now no longer exists....y'know it's kinda like "State's Rights." ;)
Understand?
Explain how the GOP thought that would actually be a victory, dimwit.
Dimwit? Nice retort. You need me to expand your vocabulary, mush-for-brains?
GOP never thought it would be a victory. Wordsmith the topic all you like.
R v Wade was not overturned because abortions on demand are still here.
Just shows out of touch you liberal communists, America-haters are.
Your need for attention is as childish as your lack of smarts.
I'll be not the first to tell you, on this site you're in way over your simple head.
Hmmm....who called who a dimwit first?
Expand my my vocabulary for me? Nah. I don't rhink you could expand an accordian let alone anything else.
No. Was overtuned. No one disputes that.
Blew up in the GOP's face. Deal with it.
There is no such thing as "abortion on demand."
Lol. You're the easiest one on here to own, so anything past ball scratching is way over your simple head, mouth breather.
It’s almost 100% likely to be Trump. The dummies in the Republican party like him too much. It’s a shame because Democrats have been so unhinged the opening is there for a sane moderate Republican to win. It would do the country a lot of good.
I’m more curious if the moderate Democrats of the Free Press would vote for Vivek or some other moderate Republican over Biden. The would spell real danger in the election. But again, the dummies love Trump too much.
"It’s almost 100% likely to be Trump. The dummies in the Republican party like him too much. It’s a shame because Democrats have been so unhinged the opening is there for a sane moderate Republican to win. It would do the country a lot of good."
I have seen polls that show A Lot of people don't want either one. I can't speak to the accuracy of them, but I point it out.
"I’m more curious if the moderate Democrats of the Free Press would vote for Vivek or some other moderate Republican over Biden."
1. Define Moderate? 2. All the GOP Candidates I see are CENTER/Right gong to Center/Right. The Far Right candidate keep reading about remind me of Bigfoot. Everyone talks about them, but no one has ever actually met one.
Dummies. Voting for a candidate that makes the whole party look bad.
Hurd seems pretty good.
1. ANY Republican will according to Corporate Media be The Wrong Republican. (remember John McCain?
2. Didn't say he was a bad candidate, just that he has NO Chance of winning. He's running for something else.
McCain lost because of Sarah Palin. Unfortunately, he acted on a lot of bad advice.
McCain lost because of McCain - he had been back-stabbing republicans since the Keeting 5 scandal and republicans had no loyalty to him.
Lot of reasons why, That was a REAL WEAK Republican bench.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Republican_Party_presidential_candidates
Hmm...don't remember any extreme bashing of McCain.
He went from The Savior of the Republican Party to A war mongering fascist, then when he lost it was back to The Savior of the Republican Party.
Ok. So "The Liberal Media" were calling McCain a "war mongering fascist" during his campaign?
But then you have the dummies in the Democratic Party who love dear old doddering Biden and all his aliases that bring in the cash. They don’t demand a primary debate. They are a nice obedient crowd willing to show their Pharma vaccine passes to enter a restaurant to prove how compliant they are. Hey, give me another liability free booster! I am not one of those crazy anti-vaxxers who ask questions!
I'd consider voting for Vivek if dropped all the Hindu/Christianity stuff, pardoning Trump to "heal" America and dropped the "eVeRYthiNG is WOke!" nonsense, because in reality 99% of Americans aren't having to deal with "wokeness" in their daily lives, so maybe talk about some more specific short-term/long-term ideas.
Anyone with a job is forced to deal with corporate wokeness.
No, they are not.
Tim Scott and Nikki Haley cover that on Eric Ericson's show.
Yeah, well, those two have no shot either.
Who does have a shot?
Outside of Trump, hard to say.
Yeah, hearing a lot of "love Vivek" talk on this board, but what people say and what they're going to actually do are two different things. I think he'll hit a cultural brick wall eventually. Same with Haley and Scott. But right now, he seems to be the only one with any positive "heat." There's some positions he's taken that I'm not crazy about and he doesn't seem to have a really fully-formed understanding of American history and reality for people "on the ground." Reminds me of a Hindu Paul Ryan.
If DeSantis can make a hard pivot from the wokeness fake moral panic, banning books, etc. and start being focused on foreign policy, economy, etc. could pick up some steam and get some donors back but his personality is really off-putting. He's Trump without the belligerent charisma, insults and cult-leader rhetoric.Why vote for a cover band when you can have the real thing?
Right now, it's Trump's to lose. He should just lay low, let the field narrow some more, then come out with a hard and fast "I am your vengeance and retribution against the dusky hordes!" pitch.
I think after the first debate, Vivek will be in the #2 spot behind Trump, no lower than #3 for sure.
I just watched Christie and Vivek on Eric Ericson's show. Christie has idea and the knowledge to implement them. He talked about what he would do and how he would do it. Vivek gave a party political speech with lots of what and very little how. He's like a carnival barker. Aside from DeSantis's personality, his voice is grating like chalk on a blackboard. If Trump is the nominee the Republicans lose. He's a much too polarizing figure. It's either love him or hate him, and he doesn't have any ideas, just anger.
Dummies? Lots of very high IQ people like Trump.
This is little different than the bigotry displayed by Hillary and her “basket full of deplorables” comment.
Lol people who voted for Biden calling Republicans dumb.Thats a good one. Hilarious.
I am former Democrat turned Trump voter in 2016 and 2020 and I Am personally praying that he is not the candidate. Would be great if it was Vivek.
I don’t think Trump or Biden are going to be their parties’ nominee.
It makes me sad to hear Marjorie Taylor Greene lumped in with the "racist and bigoted fringe". I've heard her in interviews and discussions, for example on TimCast IRL, and she comes across as intelligent, thoughtful, and quite well informed, Democrat smears like "Jewish space lasers" notwithstanding.
By the way, I believe there is a "racist and bigoted fringe" and it is not the conservatives. We all know who are the racists and bigots in our country today and that group strongly features the people constantly accusing everyone else of racism simply for disagreeing with their ideas.
Bari would have much more credibility if she'd for once point out some of the true racists like Maxine Waters, AOC, IIhan Omar, Tlaib, Pressely, and dozens of others in the Democrat Party.
How dare people "smear" her with the things she actually says.
She absolutely did talk (in writing) about the (Jewish) Rothschild banking family being involved in alleged space-based solar energy beams being used by PG&E for electricity in California and that being the cause of the wildfires. See the following in that bastion of far left woke journalism, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/01/30/did-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-blame-a-space-laser-for-wildfires-heres-the-response/?sh=21e3fd6e44a4
The whole "JSL" quote has been weaponized to smear her, and extension the Republican party, as both stupid and anti-semitic.
I don't think in fact it is that bright to assert focused solar rays whatever caused wildfires because far as I know such technology is not in operation, but do correct me if I am wrong.
But it is not anti-Semitic to suggest the Rothschild family might be doing something undesirable any more than it is to criticize George Soros.
I further noticed that posts from MTG were criticized as being 'Islamophobic' and other such. Anyone who reads TFP knows how thin the pretexts are for such accusations.
Is MTG antisemitic? I don't know as I don't read much about her. But one cannot form that judgement based on her 'JSL' quote.
Well, the Jews think that post by MTG was antisemitic and plays on the trope that the Jewish Rothschild banking family is the evil doer behind world events. See the following quote on page 34 of “Stopping Antisemitism Starts With Understanding It” from the American Jewish Committee (adjacent to which is a photo copy of MTG’s social media post that the Forbes article also highlighted):
"In January 2021, News broke that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had blamed "space lasers... beaming the sun's power down to Earth," funded by "Rothschild Inc", for California's deadly wildfires in November 2018. It is yet another example of a baseless conspiracy that charges the Rothschild's for world events."
https://www.ajc.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2021-10/AJC_TranslateHate-Glossary-October2021.pdf
Some people think criticizing Soros is anti semitic even though he admits he’s not a religious Jew and oh yeah he collaborated with the nazis during WWII when he helped them steal from Jews in Hungary, and proudly so as he stated to Steve Croft in Sixty Minutes.
He was barely in his teens when WWII ended. WTF are you talking about?
Yes he was. But you assume teenagers during WWII are like teenagers today
Find the sixty minutes interview. You’ll wake up
Read my post from the American Jewish Committee.
A horrible article written by a semi-literate child who identifies as a "senior editor". Forbes by the way is pretty much on the left these days.
Reading Marjorie's rant on Facebook, yes, it's a bit rambling and speculative, but nowhere did she accuse the Jews of setting up space lasers to ignite forest fires in California.
I think she does have a valid point regarding orbital power stations that beam energy to receivers on Earth; what happens if the beam goes astray? That's a lot of radiation. But in theory at least, a safety cut-off would be built in.
Here’s the professional bio of the “semi-literate child”:
Writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational, AI, and digital health expert, medical doctor. Currently, a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health, Executive Director of PHICOR (@PHICORteam) and Center for Advanced Technology and Communication in Health (CATCH), and founder and CEO of Symsilico. Previous positions include serving as Professor By Courtesy at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Executive Director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, Associate Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh, and Senior Manager at Quintiles Transnational, working in biotechnology equity research at Montgomery Securities, and co-founding a biotechnology/bioinformatics company. Work has included developing computer approaches, models, and tools to help health and healthcare decision makers in all continents (except for Antarctica). This has included serving as the Principal Investigator of over $60 million in research grants from a wide variety of sponsors such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. Author of over 250 scientific publications and three books. In addition to covering health, healthcare, and science for Forbes, writes a blog "A Funny Bone to Pick" for Psychology Today and has written articles for The New York Times, Time, The Guardian, The HuffPost, STAT, the MIT Technology Review and others. His work and expertise have appeared in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, ABC, USA Today, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall Show, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, CBS News, Businessweek, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg News, Reuters, National Public Radio (NPR), National Geographic, MSN, and PBS.
Okay wow he's super-man. But did you actually read the snide, sarcastic hit piece in Forbes?
Yes, a crappy piece unworthy of any serious writer.
Of course I read it. Every word and meme. I agree with him. Greene wrote a weird social media post accusing Jews of financing a space-based energy system that could cause wildfires in California. She’s nuts.
Where does she mention the Jews? Implied by mentioning that the man had a relationship to Rothschild Inc.?
By specifying the Rothschild banking family, Greene implies “Jews”. That is a classic trope for “rich Jews run the world”. Classic antisemitism.
As mentioned above, apparently she wasn't aware the Rothschild organization was Jewish. I'm not saying ignorance is forgivable in this case but, it seems like she's just, well, ignorant. She's a small town businesswoman and mom from a southern state and is lacking in sophistication. I like her feistiness and her stance on the issues I consider important, so I give her a pass.
“…Greene, on a now defunct site called American TruthSeekers, wrote that Q is a “patriot.” She also wrote that the secret, Satanist cabal Q believes rules the world is funded by George Soros and the Rothschilds, both frequent targets of antisemitic allegations of global control and domination."
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2021-02-04/ty-article/a-look-at-marjorie-taylor-greenes-antisemitic-anti-muslim-conspiracy-theories/0000017f-db0d-d856-a37f-ffcda2410000
MTG knew what yelling “the Rothschilds” meant. If you believed her when she said she didn’t, then it’s you who are the naive one. Believing MTG didnt know this was a slur against Jews is like believing Meghan Markle when she said didn’t know anything about the royal family before she met Harry (MM’s best friend in HS gave her a book about Diana, they watched the funeral on tv together, and Megs kept all her Diana books on a shelf in her dorm room in college).
You’re the rare Jewish person who would cut MTG any slack. The Jewish people I know, went to school with, and worked with, plus the Rabbi who taught my antisemitism class would not share your opinions on this, including the significance of inserting “Rothschild Inc” into the conversation.
Also this:
“…Jewish groups were quick to condemn Greene's comments. Joel Rubin, executive director of the American Jewish Congress said in a statement to Newsweek that Greene's comments present "an immediate danger to the U.S. Congress and the American people."
"Her incendiary statements about Jews, gun violence victims, and what appears to be an unending stream of bizarre conspiracy theories are hate-filled, intolerable, and run contrary to her oath of office," he said….
Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, agreed: "Marjorie Taylor Greene is a bigoted conspiracy theorist, and her rhetoric and actions are a grave and growing danger to the Jewish community and the American people…”
https://www.newsweek.com/jewish-groups-gop-marjorie-taylor-greene-1565413
You hit the nail right on the head!
How refreshing! Will Hurd is one tiny green shoot in an otherwise parched and barren desert of anger, insanity and division. Thank you Bari for introducing me to a politician who is, yes, actually NORMAL 🙏
I mediated for marital disillusion cases for a couple of years until I could not take it. What I learned about human nature during that sorry time of my career was how profound blinding rage against another derives from rejection. The most hostile of cases - those where the couple in conflict were determined to destroy the other without concern about the harm caused to their kids, their finances, their sanity... seem to often be people that struggle with anger over other life episodes of rejection.
My sense is that it is a childish emotion but one that makes sense from a biological and evolutionary perspective given the long dependency of human children. If we use the societal marker of 18 years until adulthood, and a life expectancy of 78 years, that is 23% of a life dependent on others... and much greater than any other animal on the planet. What happens when adults reject a child?... it is highly likely that the child dies at a much younger age. So the cry for attention and the demand for confirmation of acceptance is a survival instinct. We are supposed to get over that stuff at some point.
But we have seen the dependency bar pushed back. Children are coddled well into their 20s. We have many more government services for the "poor" which locks them too into dependency. Therapy services for people with unresolved childhood issues have exploded.
We are supposed to start accepting feelings over rational thought. That is the woke thing to do.
This all shapes my thinking for why our politics have degraded into such a war of anger. And why there is no hope for any "moderate" candidate to prevail in a presidential election. Historically, during and after the two great wars, we had a much greater population of independent voters having developed thicker skin having been raised in an environment of more challenges and tough love, and expected to make their own way in life at a younger age. We had fewer immigrants and fewer government services. We got over feeling rejected by adults, we didn't expect to be taken care of for life, and found our own path to self-sufficiency.
But the anger over feeling rejected dominates our politics now... more so on the left of politics as that is the side with a higher proportion of validation-needy voters. Although it might look like the right is also pissed about being rejected, it is more pissed about having the policies of the ruling class shoved down its throat. It does not matter whom the Republican candidate is, the ruling class... the people needing that constant status and care validation... will oppose him or her just the same because he/her cannot validate their need to feel accepted... because their rage has caused them to clutch ideological garbage.
So this dream of a moderate Republican riding in on that white horse to attract left of center voters is a dead idea. If Reagan were alive and running today, the left would screech and scream at him just the same as they do any other Republican front-runner. They would use every dirty trick they can find to destroy his reputation or more. He would be that spouse in the divorce that the other party wants to destroy without regard to the collateral damage it causes.
The insanity that rages on the left is our only real existential threat. The only way to heal it is for Republicans to win and take back power so the left can start doing some soul-searching... to get the therapy they need to grow up and stop their emotional turmoil about the lack of respect they feel from others that don't share their mindset maladies. Hey lefties... some people don't like you and that should be fine.
This is why I stopped mediating. Because in most cases I could clearly see that one side had their act together and the other was out of emotional control and wasn't rational. However, as a mediator I had to help both sides come to a middle agreement. The problem was that any agreement that satisfied the raging side was not going to be centered... and frankly would not have calmed the rage. The best remedy would have been that the raging side always lose to cause needed reflection on why that happened.
So elect a Republican that can win as many Republican votes as possible and stop fretting that the candidate is centered enough to attract left of center voters. There are not material numbers left of center voters that will vote from that rational perspective.
“So. . . why is Hurd polling in last place?”
I’d be willing to bet it’s because a lot of people said “Who the hell is Will Hurd?” before they read this.
That and he’s ex-CIA running as a Republican in 2023. Read the room, Will.
That is a separate point entirely. All I was saying is no one knows who the man is so I don’t know why he’s bothering. “Read the room?” Why so rude? It’s not like I’m voting for him. Good Lord, settle down.
That is directed to Will Hurd, not you. Apologies.
I'm a Canadian who follows American election political figures (outside of the people who tend to get the media coverage) lightly. I didn't know anything about Mr. Hurd, and almost didn't read the transcript parts of the interview. This man sounds interesting. And caring. And worth continuing to follow news about. Thank you for introducing him to the public, Bari.
Hurd sounds just like a Canadian, nice but dull 🤣
😂😂
Classic American ignorance
I’m not going to waste my time listening to a Republican that takes advice from a leftist journalist because Bari that’s really what you are. I think you’re better able to give advice to the nuts in the dem party about how not to be so bat sh1t crazy all the time about everything. Funny hiw that never happens.
Hurd should have stayed in office as a representative. He could have had an impact. As a Republican wannabe nominee for president, not at all.
You’re in Idaho - do you deal with woke people on a regular basis? Who was the last leftist you had a conversation with IRL? Does your workplace have a DEI director? I’m telling you, Bari Weiss and Nellie Bowles are not leftists. I’ve been to Idaho - have you been here to CA? And I’ll repeat what others have said: why are you here other than to troll people trying to act in good faith to improve our political discourse?
The company I work for has multiple DIE political officers. Almost every person in corporate America has to deal with this woke BS.
Well the trans people are suing to allow those poor mentally ill children thinking they are different sexes after a law was passed saying they could use the appropriate bathrooms for their plumbing.
I don’t have a workplace but when I was working no we didn’t, but then I was one of those in charge so no. However those who came after are all in on lefty initiatives ignoring what their jobs should usually be.
Our mayor is as left as she can be and is angling for a Biden job which we would all love. She’s a spending machine on woke things like rooting out non existent racism in the police department. She’s a tax raiser extraordinaire. She hires people from out of state that she ends up firing like the police chief from Portland and the library director who worked for Gates and is slowly nit buying books.,
Oh and we are all in on climate change hysteria here, spending money on the green con like there is no tomorrow.
So maybe Bari and Nellie aren’t bat shit crazy leftists who have pink hair, shriek at people, want to destroy the country etc, but they are by no means conservative or even moderate. Why are you here except to scold? I thought leftists were all about conversation and hearing other points of view. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened for years. Oh and also, why don’t you want any conversations with Bari asking democrats about their extreme positions?
You have a blessed day sweetie.
"Nuts in the dem party about how how not to be so batshit crazy all the time...."
Lol.
Pot, meet Kettle.
Bari is to the left of center but not wrong that the democrats can be defeated if the republicans were less crazy. Trump will lose again. Eyes on the prize which is to defeat Biden. Hurd may not be the answer, but we know Trump isn’t either.
I think the only issue that the Conservatives may lose on is its anti Ukraine pro Russian stance of some of its more right wing base.. Most of the country does not support unlimited abortion.
What's more crazy than Stalinist political trials?