American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
All year long the Left has been fostering a climate of hate, from college professors asking that Republicans be “lined up and shot,” antifa rioters, BLM demonstrators chanting “pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon,” to Kathy Griffin jihadist photo-ops, while fake blood pours as Shakespeare in the Park stabs Donald Trump.
Read my post, A shootout in Alexandria.
[UPDATE: Doug Ross graphically illustrates the mainstreaming of political violence by Democrat extremists]
Fans of the film Gladiator can’t forget the arena scene of the reenactment of the Scypio Africanus vs. Hannibal battle. Maximus, a former general played by Russell Crowe, turned what was supposed to be a sure defeat into a victory by using a traditional Roman army defense: the Testudo, or Tortoise
The soldiers in front and sides interlocked their shields. The soldiers in the back lines placed their shields over their heads to form a protective “shell” over top of the men.
. . .
The shields fitted so closely together that they formed one unbroken surface without any gaps between them. It has been said that it was so strong a formation that men could walk upon them, and even horses and chariots be driven over them.
Here’s the arena scene: starting at 3:32, when Russell Crowe says, “Lock your shields. Stay locked.”
The Democrats and their media minions, in case you haven’t noticed, are in full Spartan phalanx mode, attacking the Trump administration with every spear, pike and sarissa in their arsenal, since they will not, I repeat, will not rest until they are back in power no matter the cost.
Never mind that All This Impeachment Talk Is Pure Trump Derangement Syndrome; the Dems will impeach if that’s what it takes. They have been telling us for well over a year. Remember that the standard Leftist playbook is that the veracity of the allegation is not important: it’s the seriousness of the charge.
The nomination of a Special Counsel for the criminal investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may or may not be a step towards impeachment.
Undoubtedly, many Dems are hoping it is.
The immediate effect of this Special Counsel is double-pronged: It weakens the Trump administration, and it makes the White House legal counsel appear powerless, especially since Mr. Rosenstein apparently dropped the news without forewarning.
We’re in full Testudo vs phalanx mode, folks.
First and foremost, Pres. Trump needs to STOP TALKING. He can do it – think of the press conference with Peña Nieto in Mexico. He walked in and was pitch-perfect.
The White House staff must focus its message and drive it through as many outlets as they can find, including Pres. Trump’s own Twitter feed, as the news cycle will be dominated by all sorts of Special Counsel scuttlebutt.
The Republican legislators must, at this point, legislate all the Republican agenda items that got them elected, especially tax reform. Our country needs growth now.
Form the Testudo, guys. Get your act together.
The battle’s on.
UPDATE
The Special Counsel Mistake (emphasis added)
Mr. Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller III, who will now have unlimited time and resources to investigate more or less anything and anyone he wants
Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.
There’s a greater lesson in Why Mike Colter beat Tim Kaine last night (and it’s not just because of good looks).
Read my post here.
Is Hillary working for the Trump campaign? She’s given him a rallying cry and a theme song, for cryin’ out loud,
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
UPDATE
Related: Remember the Incroyables?
Here’s the full Trump speech.
David H. Dennis went to the Sunrise FL rally and has the pictures to prove it. Compare his account with Mark Steyn’s from last January.
The Dems are worried enough by now they’re dragging up Jane Goodall comparing Trump to a chimpanzee,
She would know! https://t.co/3p9sG8zywR
— Kelli Daley (@Kelli_Daley) September 18, 2016
Yeah, that oughtta work! / sarc
And the game is Democrat Simon Says. Read my post, The Republicans are really good at playing the Democrats’ game
and Bloomberg news spells it out for you (emphasis added),
Obama Defies Trump as Mexican Leader Visits After Convention
Trump has the POTUS in defiance mode?
I’ll add video if I find the full press conference.
Spanish-language media is having hissy fits over Trump. Jaime Bayly, for instance, called the RNC “this picturesque event, this convention of lunatics, this witches’ sabbath of warlocks and medicine men” – and that was just during the first minute of Tuesday’s show (it goes down from there).
Almost makes me reconsider Trump.
Almost.
Related:
Barack Peña y Enrique Obama (in Spanish)
Here’s the speech:
was cleared by the Trump campaign. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, expressly approved the speech at 4:30 PM ET. The source, who was standing on the convention floor at the time of the speech, said that Trump operatives were present, urging the crowd to boo. “This was orchestrated by the Trump campaign to make Senator Cruz a pariah within the party,” said the source.
Social media went crazy. Here are a few tweets:
From here, @TedCruz needs to go buy larger pants…to fit his balls. Good on you, sir. #RNCinCLE
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) July 21, 2016
Men like Ted Cruz, if you call them liars and insult their wives, will stab you right in the front at the right time in front of the nation
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) July 21, 2016
Just more proof this is about submission. We were told for months Trump didn't need Cruz, but when he doesn't endorse they go apoplectic.
— Brian Phillips (@RealBPhil) July 21, 2016
Christopher Rush, commenting on what he experienced on the floor of the convention, posted a great video on Facebook.
As for those who think that Cruz was under any sort of obligation to keep a pledge to support a man who himself violated the pledge to support the party nominee,
referred to Cruz as Lyin’ Ted nearly every time he mentioned him at rallies or on TV even after Cruz called off his campaign, insulted his wife, allegedly might have planted rumors in the National Enquirer, accused his father of being involved in JFK’s murder, and even had his plane buzz Cruz’s event the very afternoon of the RNC speech, Stuart Schneiderman has this to say (emphasis added),
In purely psychological terms, it is bad to kowtow to a bully. It is bad to give the impression, in any way, that you accept the role that you have been cast in. People have been saying that Trump was magnanimous in giving Cruz a prime time speaking slot, but Trump also orchestrated the boos and tried to steal the stage by walking into the convention as Cruz closed his speech. If you think that Trump was not trying to rub his defeated rival’s face in the mud, you do not understand very much.
Supposedly, Trump is a master of reality television. The unfortunate thing is that nominating conventions are not reality television. By all indications he has failed at organizing the convention.
Who is at fault for the Cruz non-endorsement. Donald Trump, that’s who. If Trump wanted an endorsement, he should have been magnanimous in victory and taken back the flood of insults that were directed against all of the candidates, but most viciously against Ted Cruz. He should have apologized. When he did not, Cruz could not have endorsed Trump without accepting the caricature that Trump had established.
If someone is bullying you, the one thing you cannot do is to give in and to accept the role he is casting you in.
When Trump did not take back his slanders, he left Cruz no other choice but to set an example by standing up to a bully. Others who have suffered the wrath of Trump did not show up. Others who made the pledge do not feel bound by it.
Schneiderman concludes, and I wholeheartedly agree,
If the nominee does not reach out, does not apologize for the torrent of insults he shot out at all his serious opponents, he has relieved them of their obligation to keep their pledge. For all I know, Trump might have found a winning strategy. Many people do not understand that the inability to apologize is a sign of weakness, not strength. How many there are, we do not yet know.
If your response to an appeal to conscience is to raucously boo, maybe your conscience is trying to tell you something. Want to unify the Republican Party? You may want to start there.
What is Trump up to this morning? Doing a dumpster run on NATO.
UPDATE
‘Vote Your Conscience’ Was A Rorschach Test, And Donald Trump’s Campaign Failed
The only sensible Trump response to “vote your conscience” and “vote for freedom and candidates with principles” was to thank Cruz for the rousing speech and his commitment to conservative principles. Praise him for his defense of freedom, and then turn his call to “vote your conscience” into an endorsement of Trump’s agenda. After all, there’s only one candidate in the race who wants to put America first, there’s only one candidate who wants to keep America safe, there’s only one candidate who has what it takes to Make America Great Again. If you believe in restoring American greatness, then your conscience can only tell you one thing: vote Trump. If you believe in restoring the values that made America the greatest in nation in history, then your conscience can only tell you one thing: vote Trump. If you believe that strong leadership and a commitment to the American people are what’s required to keep this country strong, then your conscience can only tell you one thing: vote Trump.
That’s all Trump’s team had to do.
They had hours (an eternity in campaign time), if not days, to prepare for it. They could’ve flooded the zone with surrogates pushing that message. They could’ve worked it into Gingrich’s and Pence’s speeches. If they could spend a week saying that former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski never touched Michelle Fields, that she might have been planning to attack Trump with a bomb hidden inside a ballpoint pen, that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia, Team Trump could’ve spent a couple of hours pretending that “vote your conscience” was an endorsement of Trump’s agenda and a clear denunciation of Hillary Clinton.
But they couldn’t; they needed a scapegoat, which is exactly why they scheduled Cruz’s speech for that night.
Readers of this blog know I’m no fan of Donald Trump, but I very much enjoyed Trump the Press: Don Surber’s take on how the pundits blew the 2016 Republican race.
Don kindly sent a galley copy for review, and I appreciate it.
A journalist with thirty years’ experience as editorial writer and columnist, he also blogs, and used his experience with great skill. Trump the Press is, as Austin Bay puts it,
an essential first history that is also a fun and witty romp.
It is meticulously documented, all the while asking, “Why am I bothering with these losers, you may ask.”
Why? Because we need to examine the arrogance, elitism, dinero, and herd mentality of the professional media bubble and how news are manipulated. And you’ll find no better journalist to thoroughly tackle the subject than Don Surber.
A good read, and not only for the news junkie or Trump fan, but for all.