As regards Never-Trumpers and Democrats, I am reminded of Winston Churchill's actions on June 22, 1941, when he was informed that Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union. The first thing he did was cable Stalin an offer of unconditional alliance against the Nazis. Then he cabled the British Ambassador in the United States and directed him to take steps to divert shipments of Lend-Lease supplies from Britain to the Soviet Union - this at a time when the British needed everything they could get. An aide was surprised by these acts, and asked Churchill how he could do this, given his 20 years of opposition to Stalin and the Bolsheviks and his repeated attempts to strangle the Bolshevik Revolution in the cradle, extending to attempts to see Stalin assassinated.
Churchill replied, "If Hitler were to invade Hell, I should at least have a good word for the Devil."
The people on my side of the aisle, who question cooperating with folks like the Bulwark Never-Trump people, need to learn what Churchill understood: in a crisis, you take everyone you can who wants to fight.
Democrats say that the Never Trump Republicans didn't matter. I beg to differ. I am certain those slim margins of victory in states Democrats have had difficulty in during previous elections, came from those Never Trump Republicans.
It's like how most Americans don't understand we wouldn't have beaten Hitler if it hadn't been for the Soviet Union. Stalin's 1944 offensive, which began five days after D-Day (as he had promised at Tehran) is why the Normandy Invasion is celebrated as a victory rather than remembered as the miserable failure it well could have been if the need to oppose the Soviet advance hadn't kept the panzers from being transferred to France.
Guys! Charlie said our comments were “lively and diverse!” I FEEL SEEN ❤️
Also- it shouldn’t matter what political spectrum you come from if both sides are intelligent & making smart critiques from a good place. Fellow libs, please consider following these steps when debating a conservative with whom you disagree:
1) Listen to their points before jumping down their throats.
2) Ask questions to clarify their positions.
3) Try to find a point with which you both agree even if it has to be incredibly broad.
4) Say your points w/out name calling, use facts from good sources (don’t just link to HUFF POST for crying out loud), and try to stay calm.
5) If it turns out they are a crazy MAGA in disguise, just slowly walk away or bang loud pots and pans and try to appear bigger than you actually are.
Any reader of the Bulwark or subcriber to the Bulwark has already shown their level of intellectual acumen simply by showing up. They are involved citizens looking for honest information.
Personally, I fear that many of the folks that need to be convinced of the seriousness of what is coming our way in 2022 are simply too disengaged, unaware, insulated, or otherwise "safe" from the consequences of their inaction.
I tend to align with JVL in most of the analysis of the current political world and there are just too many ignorant (meant in the neutral way) citizens.
The story of Diogenes the Cynic, looking for an honest man, or more accurately, looking for an exemplar of humanity, reminds me of our quest today. We need to look for a Republican. I am not one. But I know in my heart there must be one out there somewhere. In the spew of fecal fertilizer that is blasted over hill and dale from those who claim to be Republicans, I have to hang my head and say, "I can find none."
But there have to be some who can stand and walk past the smoke and mirrors and be exemplars of what Republicans are, and can be. Yet alas, I see no one standing up and striding forth through the blasts of buffoonery and take the mantle of maturity amidst daily idiocracy.
I long for the days when I could have a quiet, civil, and good-spirited interchange with a thoughtful Republican. Take Bill Kristol for instance. In an articulate and substantive debate, he would mop the floor with me. I welcome being that mop, if only someone like Bill Kristol could, or would, be the exemplar that can quiet some of the misanthropic miscreants, and show this country of lost souls that a good Republican is not an oxymoron.
The orange gorgon fever dream has to stop somewhere. Have we become so cynical that we are beginning to believe that the lava of lies cannot be stopped and the inertia of the deplorables is bound to doom our democratic experiment? Is there no Perseus?
My hands are wringing and my hope is finding no root. Why can't our good of the left and right Czech our bags of verbal vitriol at the door and gird ourselves against the horde of horribles that are taking our country to the edge of insanity?
I have no answer. I am daunted and dumb. I want to wake up to a morning of a different light, but the darkness is still far from the dawn.
To all of you who are full of ultimatums and self-priority: All of us are better than any one of us. Let's back-burner our personal boxes of soap and see the full-on beast in front of our face and say, "You are a beast. I will not be afraid of you. Leave me." We need to unshackle ourselves from the PTSD of the last six years and leave everything else behind except our commitment to commonality and consanguinity...and of course, bring home the head of Medusa.
OMG! Charlie, your daily columns are a treasure, but your Sunday ones outdo them all because of your mailbag. These emails from your readers give me HOPE! (Also, please have someone from the Bulwark nominate you for a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. You have no equal!)
anti-Trumpism is, of course, less an idea or set of principles that it is a cult against a personality and series of angry impulses. But even the ugliest movements have their pseudo-philosophers and their rationalizers.
You write about "putting lipstick on the Trumpian wildebeest." I respectfully submit that what they are trying to do is put lipstick on the Trumpian warthog.
As regards Never-Trumpers and Democrats, I am reminded of Winston Churchill's actions on June 22, 1941, when he was informed that Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union. The first thing he did was cable Stalin an offer of unconditional alliance against the Nazis. Then he cabled the British Ambassador in the United States and directed him to take steps to divert shipments of Lend-Lease supplies from Britain to the Soviet Union - this at a time when the British needed everything they could get. An aide was surprised by these acts, and asked Churchill how he could do this, given his 20 years of opposition to Stalin and the Bolsheviks and his repeated attempts to strangle the Bolshevik Revolution in the cradle, extending to attempts to see Stalin assassinated.
Churchill replied, "If Hitler were to invade Hell, I should at least have a good word for the Devil."
The people on my side of the aisle, who question cooperating with folks like the Bulwark Never-Trump people, need to learn what Churchill understood: in a crisis, you take everyone you can who wants to fight.
Democrats say that the Never Trump Republicans didn't matter. I beg to differ. I am certain those slim margins of victory in states Democrats have had difficulty in during previous elections, came from those Never Trump Republicans.
It's like how most Americans don't understand we wouldn't have beaten Hitler if it hadn't been for the Soviet Union. Stalin's 1944 offensive, which began five days after D-Day (as he had promised at Tehran) is why the Normandy Invasion is celebrated as a victory rather than remembered as the miserable failure it well could have been if the need to oppose the Soviet advance hadn't kept the panzers from being transferred to France.
Guys! Charlie said our comments were “lively and diverse!” I FEEL SEEN ❤️
Also- it shouldn’t matter what political spectrum you come from if both sides are intelligent & making smart critiques from a good place. Fellow libs, please consider following these steps when debating a conservative with whom you disagree:
1) Listen to their points before jumping down their throats.
2) Ask questions to clarify their positions.
3) Try to find a point with which you both agree even if it has to be incredibly broad.
4) Say your points w/out name calling, use facts from good sources (don’t just link to HUFF POST for crying out loud), and try to stay calm.
5) If it turns out they are a crazy MAGA in disguise, just slowly walk away or bang loud pots and pans and try to appear bigger than you actually are.
Democracy sure is messy.
Any reader of the Bulwark or subcriber to the Bulwark has already shown their level of intellectual acumen simply by showing up. They are involved citizens looking for honest information.
Personally, I fear that many of the folks that need to be convinced of the seriousness of what is coming our way in 2022 are simply too disengaged, unaware, insulated, or otherwise "safe" from the consequences of their inaction.
I tend to align with JVL in most of the analysis of the current political world and there are just too many ignorant (meant in the neutral way) citizens.
I have hope, but I accept reality.
The story of Diogenes the Cynic, looking for an honest man, or more accurately, looking for an exemplar of humanity, reminds me of our quest today. We need to look for a Republican. I am not one. But I know in my heart there must be one out there somewhere. In the spew of fecal fertilizer that is blasted over hill and dale from those who claim to be Republicans, I have to hang my head and say, "I can find none."
But there have to be some who can stand and walk past the smoke and mirrors and be exemplars of what Republicans are, and can be. Yet alas, I see no one standing up and striding forth through the blasts of buffoonery and take the mantle of maturity amidst daily idiocracy.
I long for the days when I could have a quiet, civil, and good-spirited interchange with a thoughtful Republican. Take Bill Kristol for instance. In an articulate and substantive debate, he would mop the floor with me. I welcome being that mop, if only someone like Bill Kristol could, or would, be the exemplar that can quiet some of the misanthropic miscreants, and show this country of lost souls that a good Republican is not an oxymoron.
The orange gorgon fever dream has to stop somewhere. Have we become so cynical that we are beginning to believe that the lava of lies cannot be stopped and the inertia of the deplorables is bound to doom our democratic experiment? Is there no Perseus?
My hands are wringing and my hope is finding no root. Why can't our good of the left and right Czech our bags of verbal vitriol at the door and gird ourselves against the horde of horribles that are taking our country to the edge of insanity?
I have no answer. I am daunted and dumb. I want to wake up to a morning of a different light, but the darkness is still far from the dawn.
To all of you who are full of ultimatums and self-priority: All of us are better than any one of us. Let's back-burner our personal boxes of soap and see the full-on beast in front of our face and say, "You are a beast. I will not be afraid of you. Leave me." We need to unshackle ourselves from the PTSD of the last six years and leave everything else behind except our commitment to commonality and consanguinity...and of course, bring home the head of Medusa.
OMG! Charlie, your daily columns are a treasure, but your Sunday ones outdo them all because of your mailbag. These emails from your readers give me HOPE! (Also, please have someone from the Bulwark nominate you for a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. You have no equal!)
anti-Trumpism is, of course, less an idea or set of principles that it is a cult against a personality and series of angry impulses. But even the ugliest movements have their pseudo-philosophers and their rationalizers.
You write about "putting lipstick on the Trumpian wildebeest." I respectfully submit that what they are trying to do is put lipstick on the Trumpian warthog.
Idiocracy is a good, accessible word. But I still prefer kakistocracy which hints at not just stupidity, but also malevolence.
In respect of the VA Congressional race, if the itch is bothering Mr. Riggleman, he should definitely scratch it in the next primary.