Trump’s Character
and Trump’s Presidency
August 19th, 2018
A few days ago, I had a dust-up on Twitter with National Review’s Jonah Goldberg. Our conflict was about Trump’s fitness to be president, a subject that has been broached millions of times on social media by other internet partisans. Twitchy posted the exchange and promoted it this way: “It’s On! Jonah Goldberg, David Horowitz Duke It Out Over Trump’s Character.”
The donnybrook led to 500,000 impressions on my Twitter feed, including legions of anti-Trump zealots eager to demonstrate how creative they could be in devising insults to throw at me for defending Trump: beyond dumb, in need of psychiatric help, and probably receiving payments through offshore bank accounts.
As it happens, I’ve known Jonah for more than 20 years, admired his wit and insights, promoted his books, and put him on my platforms. I was distressed when he joined the NeverTrump chorus, but never wrote a critical word about him—hoping, I guess, that as Trump systematically undid the damage that the Obama regime had inflicted on the country, Jonah would return to his senses.
Other NeverTrump conservatives, on the other hand, just jumped to the other side. Bill Kristol even went so far as to collude with the Brennan-instigated witch-hunt by spreading talking points from the Steele dossier. It was easy to write these renegades off, though still wondering how they rationalized the betrayal of their lifetime principles, or were able to deny that they were doing so.
Afraid to Get Their Principles Wet
But a group of NeverTrumpers like Jonah adopted a less radical stance and conceded that many or even most of Trump’s policy actions were actually conservative, and ones they agreed with. What made them NeverTrumpers was his horrible, defective character. Most prominent among this group was Bret Stephens, whom I have also admired and promoted in the past. At the end of Trump’s first year, Stephens wrote a column for the New York Times—the position being an obvious reward for his defection—called “Why I’m Still A Never Trumper.” In it he praised Trump’s major policy actions since entering the White House. But then he attacked Trump’s bad character, which was unpresidential and indefensible. And averred: “I still wish Hillary Clinton were president.”
When I read his column, the first question that popped into my mind was: How can indefensible and unpresidential bad character lead to such admirable presidential decisions? I am not aware of any attempt by Stephens or Jonah or similar NeverTrumpers to provide an answer.
The posture of these NeverTrumpers is transparently self-serving. It preserves their intellectual credentials as “conservatives,” and simultaneously takes them out of the line of fire from an increasingly vicious Left whose goal is to destroy Trump and his presidency, and—incidentally—conservative America. Sitting on the fence affords them new career opportunities—appearances on CNN and MSNBC and columns in the New York Times.
All that’s required is that they avoid taking sides in the political war that is engulfing the country. All this reminds me of a memorable Trotsky sneer about liberals, whom he accused of being reluctant to step into the stream of political conflict because they were afraid to get their moral principles wet.
So, when this tweet from Jonah appeared on my feed, I abandoned my self-restraint and answered it:
Re-asking a question I've been posing for three years: Please come up with a definition of good character that Donald Trump can clear.
This was followed by a retweet and a new comment:
This is easily the most triggering question you can ask of Trumpist snowflakes
]
I don’t know whether it was the snide-ness of this comment or its absoluteness that triggered me, but it seemed so pigheadedly self-righteous, so oblivious of the complexities of human character, not to mention the nuclear dimensions of the Left’s war against Trump that I responded—and in doing so walked into a hornets’ nest.
He has an amazing family. He's loyal to a fault. He loves the country that gave him a privileged life, He works around the clock for ordinary Americans, & their security. He would never appoint a treacherous individual to head the CIA. Wake up Jonah.Its a war and you cant be neutral.
Which drew this retort:
This is total nonsense David. He’s not loyal to a fault. He’s not loyal to his wives. Read up on how he treated Roy Cohn ffs. He doesn’t work around the clock. He won’t read and won’t stop watching TV. I can’t tell if your head is up your ass or his.
The nastiness of that last sentence shocked me.
Evidently the hatred of Trump is so fevered it can burn through two decades of cordiality and acquaintance. I wonder if Jonah would be so hostile to someone who shared his view of Trump’s character but thought Trump’s policies were racist, and tyrannical.
Two Episodes in Trump’s Favor
As it happens, I am well aware of the vulnerabilities of what I tweeted. I should never have written it and fallen into the Twitter trap. Tweets don’t provide enough space to account for the complexities of this subject or provide sufficient examples to make one’s case. “Character” is notoriously mercurial, and complex to judge. As it happens, in referring to Trump’s loyalty I had in mind two episodes. The first was the topic of the week, Omarosa. Why did he stick with such a wretched individual for so long, despite warnings from everyone around him that she was no good? Loyalty to a fault.
The second was when the Left showed its teeth in his first days in the White House, and maliciously attacked Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions as white nationalists and racists and even neo-Nazis. Any other Republican, freshly in office, would have thrown them under the bus, however false the accusations. Trump’s fortitude, his refusal to back down under withering fire, is also a character trait, and an admirable one—actually the key to his success where Bush and congressional Republicans had repeatedly failed. Loyalty.
Making Compromises, Keeping Promises
Since Jonah brings up Trump’s three marriages let me ask the question: who can see inside another person’s marriage? I thought, moreover, that since Reagan—who had two wives—entered the White House and performed as a conservative hero, Republicans would have gotten over their puritanical prejudices. All politicians have flawed characters. It’s the nature of the job, which requires compromises, prevarications, dirty deals, and the like. In Trump’s case, what is important is not his loyalty to his wives (and none of them seem to be complaining) but his loyalty to the cause he champions and the people who support him.
Has Trump kept his promises to his supporters? Has he stayed the course he set for himself of making America great again? That loyalty is the character trait that matters most in a leader, and should matter most in any assessment of Trump. He has taken great personal risks and incurred great personal costs. His reputation for example, was pretty good before he ran against Democrats and their media, who fueled an epidemic of hate portraying him as a racist and neo-Nazi.
I’m betting there isn’t another Republican who would not have wilted under these attacks. Who would have had the fortitude to stay the course, and keep his promises. That’s really good character. And it’s presidential.
[About the Author: David Horowitz is the founder and CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the author of the Black Book of the American Left.]
President Trump's election unhinged many on the right as well as on the left. Goldberg and the others are like a little child who is still whining two years after a big, mean bully kicked their ball up on the roof of the school. I am tired of it.
ReplyDeleteAll the anti-Trumpers are hooting about how Cohen copping a plea on two counts of FEC violatons proves President Trump is a felon. It's grotesque. NDAs and paying off obnoxious people happen all the time, and its not a campaign violation. That is an asserted conclusion that has not been adjudicated.
I believe ALL aware citizens are "tired of it,"Silver. I know I am BEYOND "tired of it,"but "it" seems to have developed a life of its own closely resembling the biological source of The BLACK DEATH in Mediaeval Europe.
Delete"It" is PLAGUE upon the land that will just have to run its course.
If Man has been able to survuve his own history thus far, I am certain Man will survive THIS crisis just as Mediaeval Europe eventually survived The Black Death.
Survival, however, is bound to mean vast changes that may or may not prove to be an improvement on the Past.
I no longer believe in "PROGRESS" –– if you define "PROGRESS" as "IMPROVEMENT" –– anymore. What I see looking back is constant CHANGE mostly in EXTERNAL aspects –– the STYLES –– in which we've chosen –– or been FORCED –– to live.
Yes, we've developed greater "CREATURE COMFORTS" tamd myriad clever GADGETS that have become avallable to more and more, BUT we've done practically NOTHING to improve our basic HUMAN NATURE –– i.e. our individual, immortal SOULS.
GOD sent His Only Begotten Son, JESUS CHRIST into this world, to Show us the Way how to do hyst that, but –– even after two thousand years of "supposed" Christian Domination of the West ––, only a smlal handful of saintly souls have HONESTLY followed Him.
Despite the discouraging, depressing, infuriating, EXHAUSTING mental climate of the present day, however, I don't believe we have any right to SURRENDER to EVIL.
Modern day Mugwumps.
DeleteOnce again you force me to do a bit of research. FJ, so all of us can understand what the hell you;re talking about, since most –– including me –– lack your astounding fund of factual knowledge.
DeleteWIK SAYS:
The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine. In a close election, the Mugwumps supposedly made the difference in New York state and swung the election to Cleveland. The jocular word mugwump, noted as early as 1832, is from Algonquian (Natick) mugquomp, "important person, kingpin" (from mugumquomp, "war leader"), implying that they were "sanctimonious" or "holier-than-thou," in holding themselves aloof from party politics.
So the GOPRINO Establishment, –– as I intend to call them from now on, –– is really, just as yu said,a gaggle of latter-day MUGWUMPS.
I'd prefer to call them MugWIMPS, though, beause it suits them even better –– the self-serving, limp-wristed bastards.
____ TWELVE STEPS to DOOMSDAY ___
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Times published an op-ed Sunday in which author L. Todd Wood spelled out the 12 steps he believed would destroy a society.
“If I wanted to destroy an enemy society, and had a long-term focus, wanted to to make the society destroy itself and the ability to defend itself stealthily, and effectively, I would do the following,” he wrote.
On Tuesday’s episode of “The Glenn Beck Radio Program,” Glenn shared his take on these 12 steps. Beck noted the author’s warning that everything in the list “is happening now iright in front of your eyes.”
“It is difficult to disagree with him,” Glenn said.
Here are L. Todd Wood 's TWELVE STEPS to DOOMSDAY as reported in the Washington Times:
1. I would destroy the religious ideals that built the country and held it together, allowing it to thrive and be exceptional. In short, I would destroy Christianity in the West.
2. I would destroy the family, the fabric of society. I would tear apart the nuclear family, that produced stable children, future contributors to the nation’s wealth and power. … A society that does not reproduce is a dying society.
3. I would promote the concept “toxic masculinity” and extreme feminism. What better way to make the society less masculine, less able to field a strong military? …. In short, I would feminize the male population, making it less effective in battle.
4. I would destroy the educational system. I would plant Marxist professors throughout the university system, teaching new generations nothing about American history, but filling their heads full of communist propaganda. They would know nothing of Washington, Lincoln, or Jefferson, but of Malcolm X and Lenin.
5. I would divide the races. What better way, what better method of “dividing and conquering,” than to foster a race war, filling minorities’ heads full of lies of police brutality, and developing a culture of hatred towards law enforcement?
6. I would corrupt the federal government. I would fill the intelligence and security services with traitors to the nation’s founding. When any political figure arose who threatened my diabolical agenda, I would use these corrupt agencies to target and frame any rising star who loved America, even if he was a duly-elected president of the United States.
7. I would take away the population’s means to defend itself – meaning, I would take away their guns. The fear of an armed population would stop any invasion. I would get rid of this problem.
8. I would destroy self-reliance and ingenuity by making over half of the population dependent on government largesse, unable to take care of themselves.
9. I would use big-tech to completely remove any viewpoints or ideas that were associated with the “old America.” I would ban them from the internet. Heck, I’d take over the internet. I would work with other tyrannical powers to develop internet censorship to eventually prevent any opposing views to be heard by anyone.
10. I would corrupt the nation’s leadership with money, finding those who would sell out the country for pieces of silver. I’d make sure they were strategically placed in powerful positions. I’d shell out money throughout the legislature to make sure no laws were passed that opposed my agenda.
11. I would promote the disrespect of the nation’s symbols. I would have people kneel during the national anthem, burn the flag, tear down statues memorializing the nation’s history. I would make people hate, distrust and fear the very fabric of the nation that gave them such wealth and power.
12. I would find a strawman, a country who is also one of Ameroca's malicious adversaries, though much less powerful, and I would focus all the negative energy and recriminations towards this strawman country. In this manner, the targeted nation would be ignorant of my true intentions.
I don't know how Trump manages to stand up against those who threaten him and his family. The adjective staunch comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteMy admration for President Trump's courage and fortitude knows no limits. AOW. His HARDIHOOD should soon be regarded LEGENDARY.
DeleteOnce upoin a time I thought he was an OUT-AND OUT ASS, but that was long before he decided to run for the presidency.
The process of withstanding the rgors of the cage and the abuse he's hd to face since he assued office have caused him to GROW immensely, and DEVELOP into a wonderful, stalwart leader.
The more EXCREMENT the filthy swine of the Deep State and GOPRINO Establisment kick in his direction the better i LIKE and ADMIRE President Trump.
The man has a cast iron hide and a set of brass ones that makes pawn shops jealous.
DeletePERSPECTIVE:
ReplyDeletei have seen for at least forty or more years that the Industrial Rebolution brought the advent of large corporations staffed with hundreds, even thousands of underlings.
I called it NEO-FEUDALISM when I first discerned what had happened.
This regrettable change from an agrarian to an industrialized society in turn gave birth to Marxism.
From TRIBAL CHIEFTAINS, to POTENTATES running of small principalities, to KINGS of larger territories defined as NATIONS, to EMPERORS ruling vast extended realms won or bought through Military Conquest and Subjugation of Native populations, through the Depotism of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Church of Rome and other Theocracies, to the Evils of Mercantilism, to the Enlightenment and the all-too-brief, once-beautiful existence of the United States BEFORE industrialization effectively revived FEUDALI to the NEO-BARBARISM of the Present Day at NO TIME were men FREE from SOME form of objectionable DOMINATION.
We are in many respects like CREATURES of the HIVE. We yearn for freedom and independence, but in truth we CANNOT live in isolation from each other, and that means we must ACCEPT the power that accrues to LEADERSHIP, even though we KNOW that "Power Corrupts."
In short: "Life's a bitch, and then you die.”
GET USED TO IT.
];^)>
Id rather have a president who is called for being a bully like Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteThan one who is cal on being a Pussy like Barrack Hussein Obama .
Hi, DD. Good to see you!
DeletePresident Trump may be extremely sure of himself. vigoroudly assertive, and astonishingly bold, but he's no BULLY.
If ever there were a BULLY in the piece it would have to be ROBERT MUELLER and all those thuggish DemonRat partisan operatives, members of the GOPRINO Establishment and useful idiots like George Will, Bill Kristol, and Jonah Goldberg who surround and support Mueller's one-sided. purely-partisan Investigation of alleged Criminal on the part of the Trump Campaign which is nothing more or less than an outright PERSECUTION of our president..
Ignore the Noise, Mueller Still Has Nothing
ReplyDeleteAmerican Spectator, by George Neumayr
For all of the media’s oohing and ahhing over Robert Mueller’s legal victories on Tuesday, his impeachment case remains hopelessly threadbare. In terms of his Department of Justice mandate, he has made no progress whatsoever. He is presiding over a “collusion” probe that has absolutely nothing to do with collusion. Let him keep indicting and convicting ham sandwiches. Most Americans won’t care. It just underscores the superfluous and abusive character of his probe. He is not compiling an air-tight legal case for impeachment; he is simply using abusive prosecutorial tactics to foment an anti-Trump political firestorm. Rod Rosenstein is the Dr. Frankenstein ...
The goal of all this noise:'to influence the November midterms.
DeleteWhich reminds me to send off for the absentee ballots for Mr. AOW and me.
OUR Board of Elections allows US to record our vote over the
DeletePHONE, believe it or not.
I just told them who I was, gave them my address and phone number, and that was all that was required of me as a long-time, property-owning resident and taxayer. I asked if they wanted my SS#, and they said it wasn't necessary.
And YET, I can't even CASH a CHECK on my OWN account anymore at the place where I've banked for more than TWENTY YEARS without showing them ID.
GO FIGGER!
It's an INSANE world.
I GIVE UP.
Flashback: Remember When Obama Campaign Was Fined $375,000 for Campaign Reporting Violations And NO Jail Time?
ReplyDeleteGateway Pundit,
by Jim Hoft
On Tuesday, Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen surrendered himself to the FBI after it was reported he reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Michael Cohen admitted he violated campaign finance laws in relation to the Stormy Daniels payment at direction of a ‘candidate.’ He paid off the porn star over $100,000 in a hush money agreement which she later violated. Democrats and their liberal media cheered that this was the end of the Trump “regime.” But it wasn’t that long ago that a presidential campaign was charged with much worse. In 2013 Maggie Haberman at Politico reported on
MORE MUGWUMPERY.IT'S EPIDEMIC.
ReplyDeleteConservative NYT Columnist: ‘Democrats Should Be Put In Office’
Daily Caller, by Amber Athey
MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle and New York Times columnist Bret Stephens had an intimate moment on Wednesday when Stephens trashed the president and advocated voting for Democrats. WATCH: (Video) “I think it is consistent on conservatives and Republicans to support the same for President Trump now that campaign finance violations are much graver, much more felonious,” Stephens said, comparing Trump’s scandals to former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle stopped the segment to shake Stephens’ hand, asserting, “shake my hand, we’re looking for consistency and we’re talking about politics.” Ruhle continued to hold Stephens’ hand as he urged ...
Former Clinton Pollster: Hillary Clinton Broke Campaign Finance Laws, Not Donald Trump
ReplyDeleteBreitbart Presidential Race
by Joel B. Pollak
Mark Penn, the former pollster for both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has publoshed an op-ed in The Hill Wednesday in which he argues that Michael Cohen’s guilty plea shows the double standard that prosecutors have applied unfairly to Donald Trump.
Penn argues that while what Trump is alleged to have done — paying Stormy Daniels for a non-disclosure agreement she had sought for five years prior to the election — was legal, Hillary Clinton failed to report campaign expenditures that led to the Steele dossier. If anyone broke campaign finance law, Penn argues, it was Clinton, not Trump —
DRAG that GODDAM BITCH OUT of BED in the MIDDLE of the NIGHT, CONFISCATE her ILL-GOTTEN GAINS, LOCK HER in the STOCKS, PELT HER WTH ROTTEN EGGS and the CONTENTS of CHAMBER POTS, PUT HER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT with the RATS, TRY HER FOR TREASON, then. TIE HER FITHY HANDS BEHIND HER BACK, STRAP HER TO A POST and MACHINEGUN her to RED JELLY.
Related, relevant essay from Alan M. Dershowitz:
ReplyDeleteAll the Special Counsel needs, in order to charge a subject of an investigation with lying to a prosecutor, is a single witnesses willing to contradict the subject.
The witness may not only be "singing," he may also be "composing" -- that is, making up or embellishing a story because he knows that the better his story, the better the deal.
Under federal law, the testimony of such a "flipped witness" need not be corroborated in order to secure a conviction.
Even one question that results in an answer that is contradicted by one witness would be enough to spring the perjury trap.
Even if telling the truth, you can still fall prey to a perjury trap.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12896/is-the-truth-the-truth-when-it-comes-to
EXACTLY! I wasn't kiddi[ng when I referred to the FBI-CIA-DOJ Trifecta as a KANGAROO oourt.
DeleteThs should nt be, of course, but there is IS.
Do you know when and how the bastards slipped this one over on us?
More proof that George Soros owns the Democrat Party! If you really need More Proof!
ReplyDeleteHungary and Poland are smart enough to have thrown the infamous Nazi collaborator George Soros out of their countries, but here in America, the party of treason has canonized him and allowed him to anoint our destroyers.
Let's see now. It has already been proven that Hillary's staff rigged the primaries. And that her mishandling of classified material has already been proven. A military officer was just sentenced to prison for a lesser breach. Cohen's case had absolutely nothing to do with “Collusion” and in fact was no more than Hillary did for Bill for years. Politicians are crooks and hang around with crooks. Only those snowflakes with blinders cant see that their side is as guilty as sin.
Now new details have emerged revealing that George Soros helped prop-up Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-cortez’s Political Career in an attempt to put more Bernie Sanders-like Politicians in Congress.
By Kyle Pirisic, The Daily Caller News Foundation, August 19, 2018
A former organizer for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s under-dog win in the democratic primary was undoubtedly helped by far-left organizations linked George Soros — specifically, online media which played a crucial role in her campaign.
Members linked to Soros-funded digital media asked Ocasio-Cortez to run for office which guaranteed she would get favorable coverage by a media network that reaches almost 300 million people monthly.
DJ Trump will be the greatest president since George Washington.
ReplyDeleteIt could well be, Kid. Most of our presidents since Washington have either been undistinguished or real stinkers like Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, LBJ, the Bushes, Clinton and Obama.
DeleteIF President Trump can continue withstand the terrible forces marshalled against him and prevail, I think you will be proven right. If the dirty bastards succeed in usurping the president's power, –– as they did with Richard Nixon ––, the future will look grim, indeed.
Another great president in the mold of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who's great service to the nation warned of the "Deep State" that DJT is now combatting in his 1961 farewell address to the nation (it's wasn't JUST the "military-industrial complex").
DeleteI was young, but I WAS there, and I remember Eisenhower very well.
DeleteUnfortunately, I don't think because of Post-WWII euphoria, that many undestood the signoficance of Ike's farewell message.
He was right, of course, and things have only gotten much MUCH worse since those halcyon years when DDE was president.
FYI:
ReplyDeleteSPLC Hate Group Gets Visa and MasterCard to Block Payments to David Horowitz Freedom Center.
In addition, Mastercard Forces Patreon to Remove ‘Jihad Watch’ Founder Robert Spencer From Platform.
Boiling the frog of freedom of expression!
The ENEMY has NO concept of HONESTY, DECENCY, MORALITY, INTEGRITY, PROBITY or FAIRNESS, NO RESPECT for TRUTH, and NO SENSE of HUMOR.
ReplyDeleteWhen I insult, deride, hector, badger, lampoon and defame The Enemy, "IT" fully deserves every bit of Mockery, Derogation, Cruelty, and Nose-Thumbing Dismissal I can muster.
HOWEVER, when The Enemy attempts to insult, bully, badger or LIE about ME, "IT" fully deserves every bit of Mockery, Derogation, Cruelty, and Nose-Thumbing Dismissal I can muster. };^)>
The Enemy is either The Great Deceiver, Himself, or One of His Ardent Disciples. Therefore, The Enemy deserves NO Consideration, and must be shown NO Indulgence, given NO Quarter, NO Mercy, NO Tolerance, WHATSOEVER.
Never –– EVER –– forget what The Enemy did to Czar Nicholas and His family in the basement of "The House of Special Purpose."
The ENEMY is The BEAST –– the Servant, the Handmaiden, the Henchman, the Toady, the SLAVE and ASSKISSER to Everything VILE.
The Enemy must be DESTROYED.
[Just be sure you identify "IT" correctly, and know who "IT" is before you start pumping bullets into “IT."]