JONAH Goldberg at National Review has a very good column on The Donald. An excerpt:

I’ll be as honest as I can about why I dislike Trump. A big part of it is I think he’s a fraud. I think he’s part of the grand and glorious tradition of bunk artists in American history. I think he’s always lied about how rich he is and is lying to this day. And bear in mind, I don’t care how much money he has. The point is he cares. Specifically, he cares that other people think he’s really rich. In fact, that’s his business model. Most long cons require convincing marks that the con man doesn’t actually need the mark’s money. That’s his schtick to a T.

But I can actually get past that. That con-man aspect of him is also kind of charming. It’s not remotely presidential, but as an American character, I can see why some people are amused by Trump, and on occasion I am as well.

The thing I don’t find amusing is that he’s an insecure bully. He really does strike me as Biff from Back to the Future (Part II). His cheap macho posturing and boasting is simply tacky. I see him as a sad and insecure man. And what I truly find so depressing is that millions of Americans see the same blowhard overcompensation and mistake it for strength.

— Comments —

Beverly writes:

I am disappointed you favored the Trump fraud article by Jonah Goldberg from National Review.

National Review is going under, that’s common knowledge, and so is the GOP. Trump is a result of the GOP ignoring what WE THE PEOPLE vote for, then never receive from the GOP, and it’s not new, it’s been happening for a very long time now.

Jonah Goldberg is part of that elite GOP culture that has ignored everything the people voted against, such as gay marriage, open borders, etc.

Now the people are so angry they’re never going to vote for another RINO or another GOP elite ever, in fact, the remainder will be voted out in the next election. The GOP continues to smack voters in their faces with things like replacing John Boehner with Paul Ryan. The anger grows and grows.

Jonah Goldberg is so typical of the tyrannical GOP establishment who really feels the PEOPLE should not pick the next president. Too bad but they have chosen him, and Trump is going to shake things up so badly in D.C. that the GOP will topple. The only SMART analyst is Newt Gingrich who acknowledges the anger of the people and realizes that Trump is going straight for the White House.

This is a movement that cannot be stopped, and certainly not by goofballs like Jonah Goldberg. Actually, I can look at him and KNOW he’s jealous of Trump.

Yep, he’s jealous.

Laura writes:

I’m not a regular reader of Jonah Goldberg or National Review, and I don’t have to give a general endorsement of either to think he makes good points in his piece on Trump.

The fact that the GOP is horrendous and decadent does not in itself make Trump good. I’m not a supporter of any of the GOP candidates, and obviously I don’t support the Democrats. As to Goldberg’s psychological motives, I haven’t the faintest clue. But the piece does not strike me as motivated by jealousy.

Nick writes:

While many of the criticisms you and many others issue against Trump are probably true, I think many of you might be overlooking something:

If Trump is defeated, we ensure a defeat against any good idea Trump popularized in recent months. We’re looking at possible “de-Trumpification” programs and a more long-winded narrative that compares him and his ideas to Hitler and Nazism. The possibility to ever speak of national border security, immigration, America-first will be impossible. We essentially give power back to the political elites that have, for so long, been disinterested in this country, its traditions and history. These same elites, who have felt the panic and desperation for months now, with a victory over Trump will do all that is necessary to curtail this kind of thinking from ever emerging again.

Hate Trump? Think he’s a fraud, a chauvinist, a pig? That’s fine! But let’s not be so blinded by our good intentions to defeat a man that we forget to see the erroneous consequences that will come about if and when he is gone.

Thanks for all your hard work!

Beverly continues:

I’m a strong Christian—Jonah questions Trump’s religious beliefs, I find that horrible—mocks him on ‘reading the Bible,’ even more horrible.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DEFENDED IS ‘FREEDOM OF RELIGION’ TO PRACTICE WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Bankruptcy and money—Jonah and everyone else speak of his business bankruptcy, which is for anyone owning a business a very ‘normal’ thing that can happen, a re-organization,etc., but Jonah wouldn’t know, he’s never owned a business.

Money, everyone needs it, including YOU, or you’d be writing your blog for FREE.

Then you tell us you don’t like ANY of the candidates, so I guess that means you’ll STAY HOME, which is exactly why Obama won, and that’s sad.

Evangelicals stayed home because they are HOLIER THAN THOUS who don’t like anyone, wow.

Oh boo hoo Jonah, thinks Trump lies about his wealth….who cares? NO ONE. We’re talking about saving the country from complete socialism and devastation.

Jonah can cut the crap now. He’s just another whining pile of crap.

Mark Jaws writes:

There is a possibility – a small one – that everything Jonah Goldberg said about Trump is true. However, there are three things I like about Trump, and they are part of the reason why I will be voting for him on Super Tuesday. First, regardless, of the actual amount of money he may have, he has not asked for money from the donor class, and thus he is not beholden to them. Second, he demolished the Mexichurian Candidate Senor Jebero Boosh, and with it, the Bush Dynasty. And finally, and most importantly, he has made it acceptable to mention things such as Mexican rapists, chaos on the border, and placing limits on Islamic immigration.

Paul A. writes:

I think Trump is a fraud and a buffoon.  I like a lot of what he says, but don’t trust him for a minute.

But, if Jonah Goldberg doesn’t like like him, then that is a point in his favor.  I would not take water from Goldberg if I were dying of thirst.  But I’d buy it from Trump.

The whole problem in the USA is caused by Goldberg and his ilk.

Trump is just a symptom.

Laura writes:

I agree with everything you say.

The game is rigged, I suspect, and at this stage, the gun-toting, Constitution-loving Americans must be brought on board, all tranquilized and trusting. Then BAM!! The further deprivation of their civil liberties, destruction of national sovereignty and the abolition of Christianity will come. BAM!!! BAM!! Trump-a-holics aren’t gonna know what hit them.

The Internet as a forum for sites like this is doomed. It’s only a matter of time. I’m not sure how it’s going to unfold, but it will.

Bill R. writes:

Allow me to send kudos to Beverly, Nick, and Mark Jaws. I could not agree with them more. Goldberg and his blind arrogance exemplify perfectly everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party and establishment “conservatism.” As I remarked to my brother the other day, I don’t like Donald Trump, and I don’t dislike him either. But I’m anxious to give him a chance because he is the only one who has addressed the issue upon which the very survival of the nation depends and, ultimately, the European race itself, and with respect to which, therefore, all other issues, for the time being at least, are subordinate.

What I love about Donald Trump has nothing to do with Donald Trump and everything to do with the support he’s getting and the reason he’s getting it. Donald Trump is, quite simply, this nation’s only chance at survival. And, I admit, in his hands, that chance may be razor thin. We really don’t know yet. But what we do know is that with everyone of the others, there is absolutely no chance at all.

Laura writes:

For years, certain … powers have tried to divest American Christians of their family morals.

Of course, they have largely succeeded but there still have been these stubborn blocs of voters who clung to some semblance of Christian morality — for marriage and against abortion, for example. In Donald Trump, these anti-Christian powers have found their man.

After voting for Trump, American Protestants and Catholics will have abandoned what is left of their “family values.” It will take generations to recover them. Now, you think this is good for the “European race.” And I’m saying that disarming the European race of its moral strength is a form of co-opting it. We will be putty in the hands of the master race.

Laura adds:

Before people vote for Trump, I suggest they read, or re-read, the “Protocols” — just for a dose of reality.

The “Protocols,” regardless of who wrote them, are a familiar depiction of the mentality of those who have stunning power and wealth in our world. From Protocol 10:

In this way, by inculcating in all a sense of self-importance, we shall destroy among the GOYIM the importance of the family and its educational value and remove the possibility of individual minds splitting off, for the mob, handled by us, will not let them come to the front nor even give them a hearing; it is accustomed to listen to us only who pay it for obedience and attention. In this way we shall create a blind, mighty force which will never be in a position to move in any direction without the guidance of our agents set at its head by us as leaders of the mob. The people will submit to this regime because it will know that upon these leaders will depend its earnings, gratifications and the receipt of all kinds of benefits.

And remember that Donald Trump has received billions of dollars worth of free publicity. Publicity is inherently good, whether it is negative or positive, provided it isn’t uniformly bad. Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan, by contrast, were largely destroyed as viabilities by silence.

Hurricane Betsy writes:

You wrote:

The game is rigged, folks, and at this stage, the gun-toting, Constitution-loving Americans must be brought on board, all tranquilized and trusting. 

PERFECT! Five Stars for you! I am just dumbfounded by the support of Trump by so-called conservatives and traditionalists. I might add that the correct word for the gun-toting, Constitution-loving Americans is “patriotard.” They think they’re living in 1787.

Laura writes:

They’re drinking the Coulter Cool-Aid. [Correction: This is too strong. They are understandably alarmed by the terrible situation caused by mass immigration.]

Ann Coulter, the pathologically narcissistic, unprincipled and brilliant wordsmith, has said that even if Trump was “performing abortions in the White House,” she’d still vote for him.

Coulter, who always needs a Republican savior (preferably another amoral narcissist like herself), is largely responsible for the idea that this is the only possible moment that we can repatriate Mexicans and regain control of our borders.

This is not true. It will be physically possible for people to be moved around for many years to come and if it is politically possible for someone who supports this goal to emerge now, it is politically possible for someone who supports this goal to emerge in the near future.

But regardless, we few patriots don’t need a slut like Coulter [clarification: she herself has referred to herself as dressing “slutty”] or a bullying Reality TV star, adulterer and gambling tycoon like Trump (who doesn’t have the guts despite all his legendary independence and wealth to say that 9/11 wasn’t perpetrated by nineteen Muslims with boxcutters) to stand as our representatives. God is on our side, isn’t he? That’s good enough.

Bill R. writes:

Laura writes, “After voting for Trump, American Protestants and Catholics will have abandoned what is left of their ‘family values.'”

They’ll be forfeit anyway if there’s no America to support and uphold them. Furthermore, will they not also have abandoned them after voting for Clinton, or Rubio, or Cruz? And the alternative of not voting at all, is that not abandoning them? One of those four people is going to be the next president. I’m not voting for Trump because I believe he’s going to save our morals or “family values.”

If one is confronted with an immediate threat against one’s life, that, obviously, must be addressed first. All other issues are moot at that moment for the simple reason that you can’t address any other issues if you’re dead. The hope that we can remain alive as a nation to address those other important issues you’ve mentioned, that’s why I’m voting for Donald Trump. So we can still be here to address them in our nation, not that Donald Trump will address them.

No one’s write-in candidate or third party run is going to be elected president. The next president of the United States is going to be either Clinton, Trump, Cruz, or Rubio. That’s your choice. You can vote or not vote, whatever, but one of those four is going to be your next president, with all the power over you that presidents have, whether you vote or not.

Laura writes that, “disarming the European race of its moral strength is a form of co-opting it.”

Granted. But I’m talking priorities here. You have to be alive first before you can do anything else. Trump is the only candidate who offers any possibility of that survival. None of the candidates address the issue you’re talking about there. So, no matter what, you have to accept that that issue is simply not going to be addressed by the next president of the United States. In addition, moral strength does not appear in a vacuum, nor can it stand alone as a mere abstraction. It requires a nation, a family of like-minded citizens with a common history and a common descent who manifest that moral strength and renew and reinforce it through the generations with their laws, customs, and culture, as well as with the actual day-to-day practice and demonstration of those morals in their interactions with each other, and the example they set for each other thereby.

TK writes:

Thanks to Beverly, Nick, Mark Jaws and Bill R. They summarize my feelings for the most part. Like most, I’m not happy with Donald Trump’s egomaniacal bragging and his pettiness, but I have a greater goal. I want to see this country have a fighting chance. He’s our fighting chance. Look, if the borders aren’t closed or if the illegals that are here ever have the chance to vote, it’s over. Forever. The long line of “refugees” in Europe that winds it’s way up from Turkey into the heart of Europe and beyond, is happening RIGHT NOW. It’s not being stopped and everyone is wringing their hands about what to do. They’re in real trouble from NOW ON.

On our southern border RIGHT NOW, the string up unaccompanied minors coming into the country is TWICE what it was when everyone was up in arms about it. Nobody is doing anything to stop it. We will have the same situation Europe has, coming from the south, if nobody will do anything about it. It will get much worse. I believe Donald Trump, with all his cringe-worthy comments and schoolyard bragging, is the only person that would actually do anything about it. Sad, but true.

It’s a shame that the situation is so dire that we’re willing to take a chance on someone with the personal failings Donald Trump may have, but I still think God can use people without sterling qualities for the greater good.

John writes:

How did things get this mixed up?

The Catholic Church was for generations a massive recruiting organization for the Democrat Party.  The Democrats repaid the favor by instituting abortion, feminism, sexual liberation, and other anti-Catholic policies which effectively destroyed the American family.

Among Irish Catholics, attachment to the Democrat party was a form of rebellion against the Anglo-Saxon Protestant establishment which the Republicans represented.  Disregarding the fact that the WASP’s had created the very country the Irish wanted to immigrate to, they still associated them with the English domination of Ireland.  This inherited antipathy overrode any moral judgment about what the Democrat party was turning into and what it was doing to the nation, the religion, the family, and even their own neighborhoods.

The Evangelicals are an even weirder case.  Ron Paul intelligently articulated the best populist positions of Trump and Sanders; but he was an actual statesman: modest, decent, intelligent, informed, and with a respect for the traditions of good government.  He went precisely nowhere, in part because the Evangelicals disdained him.  In fact, they were openly hostile.  Why?  Because he refused to play the game of subordinating American policy to the interests of a particular Middle East nation that Evangelicals esteem more highly than America.  He looked at our war policies as a moral issue, rather than a flag-waving issue.  That was too much for the people of God.  Their mixed up loyalties overrode any realistic judgment about America’s decline and how it might be reversed.

So, we got Trump instead.

Until the voters are willing to look at all issues as moral issues and act accordingly, America’s decline will continue unabated.

Laura writes:

I especially agree on your last point. Your other points are good as well.

But the real reason Ron Paul went nowhere is the media ignored him.

March 1, 2016

Nick writes:

Firstly, I’d like to say that I’m honored to have my comment displayed in a discussion at Thinking Housewife. As someone who knew Mr. Auster, I do wonder what his remarks would be like during such a confusing time as this? His clarity is certainly missed.

To be perfectly clear, my stance above is in no way a justification or defense of Mr. Trump or his Presidential candidacy. For all intents and purposes, he is just as bad as any other candidate. All of them have lied, participated in fraud and deceit, accepted bribes, been in scandals, disavowed Liberals here only to help them there, pretended to be someone they aren’t for political favor, uttered bizarre things, taken the Lord’s name in vain (properly speaking) to gain approval, pandered to Israel, etc.

There is no depth in which these men will not sink, no price too high, no principle or promise worth keeping in order to obtain the deepest desire of their heart: power. And democracy is designed to appeal to this propensity, for voting makes us feel like we’re included, like we’re a part of something significant, as if this check mark by this name will change history. But as it is known all too well, such a desire is easily manipulated even in the hearts of those with the best of intentions. The entire democratic program is engineered to make the majority and mob FEEL powerful while the very few exercise real power over them. A continued cycle of voting is created to ensure this feeling and desire for power is satisfied through the outlet of  “making your voice heard” because your voice is “important”.

But let’s not pretend for a second all of us are conscious of this great evil within! We all often rationalize this urge to power and control with rhetoric and emotional jargon, even convincing ourselves that we’re being altruistic or what have you. It’s often revealed later to us and others just how selfish we are and have been. Do I think Trump knows what he’s up to, that he genuinely does not believe in a word he says? No, I think he believes he is doing what’s right. But to affirm Laura, I think later he’ll learn how selfish and power hungry he truly was, if he doesn’t already.
Trump is a business man. Who better to utilize the system of democracy to his advantage than a man most familiarized with the ins-and-outs of marketing and advertising?

Yet I still play and toy with the idea, even after realizing the futility of the system, that I must push Trump forward with the hope – as naive as it may be – that we can some how manage Trumpism better than the absolute magnification of the Orwellian state we live in now.

For me, “sitting it out” is as much a moral choice as any now. Really, Coulter is often dumb. But, to an extent she isn’t wrong; she just doesn’t understand why she’s right.

The political class will use this defeat to their utter advantage. If you think a Trump Presidency spells disaster for this blog, imagine say 3-5 years post-Trumpism! You’ll be marginalized as a “Trump” for even talking about Hispanic immigration – who are all but the new Jews! Diversification programs from elementary until graduation. Social media police spying on blogs, Twitter or Facebook for any defectors. Any and everything of suspicion reported to your superiors that pay the bills and put bread on the table. All colleges will require racial awareness and cultural appreciation preliminaries mandatory for enrollment where incoming freshmen endure stupid PowerPoint slides or actual gatherings. The Republican Establishment will take great pains to avoid any possibility of this happening ever again, which means going with the flow even more. The media will churn out a cheerful narrative of wise Americans banding together to defeat the New Nazi. Public Trump supporters will be ostracized and shamed all day on the internet and all comedy “news” programs. Our causes die with the Donald I’m afraid, as unfortunate as it was that he picked them up to begin with, motivated by good intentions or not. He has become the face of many serious issues as tragic as that is, but I see a future far worse than a Donald Trump presidency (if he’s not assassinated getting there).

All of it is a catch-22 if there ever was one, and that’s really the best way of describing where I am in terms of a Trump presidency, if only because I’m convinced that the media and political class, after defeating Trump (whether through victory in the primaries, a Democrat victory in the general or assassination), throws us all out as well just because we “sound like him”. Call it “de-Trumpification” if you wish but it’s coming and we all fit the bill…

Paul C. writes:

Trump is not a bully.  Let’s start first with the Merriam-Webster definitions.  As a noun, it is defined as follows: 2. a blustering browbeating person; especially:  one habitually cruel to others who are weaker; 3. a hired ruffian.  As a verb, it is: 1) to frighten, hurt, or threaten (a smaller or weaker person); 2) to act like a bully toward (someone); and 3) to cause (someone) to do something by making threats or insults or by using force.  The definition we most often are concerned with and associate with today is the verb: someone to frighten, hurt, or to threaten a smaller or weaker person.  Trump surely does not meet this definition.

Sure one could argue Trump fits a definition of a noun: “2. a blustering browbeating person; especially:  one habitually cruel to others who are weaker.”  But they would be ignoring the reliable dictionary’s qualification that a bully is someone who is habitually cruel to others who are weaker.  And Trump is not doing this.

He attacks supposedly weak Mexico, which is not weak relative to the great majority of other nations.  See here and here for example.  And one can’t call a person a bully for defending his country against a weaker nation or person who attacks it, as Obama and the Stupid Party have failed to do.  (I mean, who ain’t weak relative to the might of the good old USA?)  Everyone not a liberal knows this.

Sure some of the illegal immigrants are weaker financially relative to many Americans, but Trump is not attacking our Mexican brethren.  He is attacking the takeover of the Southwest by Mexican culture and the destruction of the Stupid Party.  But no, the Media must get ratings by transforming a practical topic into something controversial, something the Stupid Party has been doing for a half century.  And the Stupid Party hates Trump for exposing its liberalism.

As any thinking person knows, Trump knows Hispanics want a takeover (“Reconquista”) of the Southwest by Mexico or Mexican culture.  See this, this, and this.  It is difficult to find unbiased facts about the Reconquista because it is taboo, as are IQ tests.  There are many anecdotal instances including some, as I recall, arising out of Spain, which ironically is a hotbed of disunity.

Trump is a rough fighter who hits back roughly when attacked.  His opponents know this and ask for it.  Trump has tried to be nice to his opponents, but they don’t get it.  They don’t want to win on their merits; they are being overwhelmed by Trump’s personality and frankness.  They want to win by hitting the big guy in the back.  (This is not a fistfight, so this is not a contention of cowardice or treachery.)  Christie, a rough fighter, realized this and is a probable VP or at least a Trump Attorney General.

People need not vote against Trump because they think he is a loudmouth braggart (who talks too much as a prominent religious leader does) and don’t know what he will follow through on as president.  America is faced with unappeasable enemies: liberals, minorities, and deluded people (who are only somewhat unappeasable.).  Liberals are people who support murdering the unborn, who don’t care whether Hillary is a criminal, who don’t care whether her husband is a criminal, who support no locks on others’ doors, and who don’t care what the Constitution says.  Written words, according to liberals, live and breathe.  And Trump is somehow considered a bully for challenging this idiocy by the Democratic and Stupid Parties.