PS: Thanks, Adam.

Peter: Yes, that amnesty was Ronald Reagan's biggest mistake. I think near the end of his administration he'd been snowed by this advisors regarding "deficits don't matter" (Reagan just wanted to do whatever it took, money-wise, to win the Cold War, and did!) and then that start of the exporting of industry.

Yes, Trump did try to do something about these 2 biggest problems. I give him credit on the tariffs too, but again, like EVERYTHING else, it was administrative rulings, not law passed by Congress. What did he think, that he'd be King, errr, President, forever?

I'll write more later - out of time here ... Thanks for the link to Conservative Treehouse. I got to that via your link on unz.com

PS: Good evening, everyone...
And good evening, Mr. Moderator...

“Who was the pardonee?”
Ivanka's kid's other grandpa...
Charles Kushner.

☮

PS
I don't say Trump didn't make a million mistakes, but even with all that, he still did more for America than any President in a century, including the sainted Reagan, who for all his good points:

(1) Gave us amnesty and got totally rolled on immigration in general -- this was an existential level mistake that overshadowed whatever good he did. It set the stage for everything that came later.

(2) Oversaw the beginning of the Great Sucking Sound of outsourcing and deindustrialization that would go full-blast under Clinton. No President since, up until Trump, did a single god-damned thing about this. Not one.

(1) and (2) are the two most important issues facing America. The ONLY President in 70 years to even ATTEMPT to fix them was Trump.

The reason people get butt-hurt with Trump is that you all envisioned things that were never going to happen. He's one guy people, one guy, with the entire establishment against him. And NONE OF YOU know what little private conversations he may have had with the Deep State actors who may have casually reminded him of JFK now and again.

Anyway! The video linked here about ballot harvesting is quite interesting. Did Sloppy Joe steal the election? There isn't even a question about it. Though nothing's going to be done about it.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/11/true-the-vote-catherine-engelbrecht-and-gregg-phillips-outline-details-of-2020-ballot-harvesting-process/

PS: Wait, Adam, I know I SHOULD know this, but who was the pardonee?

The thing is, Liberty Mike, he could have really done it too. (Draining the swamp, that is.) 50 to 100 million Americans would have supported him every step of the way.

PS

Indeed, Trump appointed the slimiest of swamp creatures to drain the swamp.

To wit, see Mitch's Sino spouse, Mike who is not as puffy Pompeo, Steve Mnuchin and the Goldman group, Wilbur the "Raj of Restructuring" Ross, Alex Azar, and Gina Haspel.

It is funny listening to the Trump hagiographers and homeboys and house negroes proclaim that their man drained the swamp.

PS: On Jeff Sessions, Alarmist's example:

I didn't know all the details, even the simple stuff you related here. If anything I feel for Trump on this - Mr. Session's recusing himself is playing whiffleball while the ctrl-left has been playing hardball for years. Nobody on the left would recuse himself, and if any Conservative brought the problem up, he'd be ignored.

However, that was no way to handle it. Give Mr. Sessions a different job in the Administration. Handle it discreetly. Trump was in CHARGE for cryin' out loud, and he was tweeting out stuff about "Sleepy Jeff". What kind of manager does that?! He works for you - what are you bitching to us about? You get rid of him completely if it's the case that you need to make a big example out of him for "being disloyal". I don't think that was the case, but again I don't know all the details.)

Finally, this is something that was downright sickening regarding Trump's personality. It was on VDare, of course, and I think I wrote about it in some post. After Jeff Session left the Trump administration, he was running in the GOP primary election for US Senator from Alabama (his previous job). Donald Trump acted basically like a 13 y/o schoolgirl having a hissy fit and supported Trump's opponent, some football coach who was not good on immigration (as far as VDare knew), while Session was an A or A+. That opponent won. So, all because "I HATE HATE HATE that guy", we lost a big immigration-invasion fighter in the Senate, while immigration was Trump's big issue (almost the only issue for which I voted for him). That' was just stupid and childish!

PS: Should be "could have cajoled .... but, because he was NOT Ronald Reagan ..."

PS: Whewww! I was busy for a solid couple of days there. Great discussion on the success, or lack thereof, of The Donald, and the reasons for that.

I have mentioned some of this. Yes, he could rally, cajole, threaten (in the political sense) Congressmen and Senators because he was no Ronald Reagan, as in, he had no STRATEGY. You get things done under the radar via the bureaucracy as he really did quite a bit of on immigration, and guess, what, yes, it gets reversed first day out of office. Ruling like a King like that can only work for those on the left. Speaking of that, DACA was nothing but an Executive Order of Obama's. All Trump would have had to do was stop freaking tweeting about it and NOT HAVE RENEWED IT!

Then, the big one, hiring people who are completely against his ideas. I have some speculation on this. Trump came in thinking "yeah, I'm the big exec. - I don't know much about the government details, so I will delegate things to the smarter guys that I hire". I don't think he had the confidence to realize that you don't have to be some policy wonk to do this. Who best to know how to do the job? Oh, we'll hire people who have been in the government a long time and know their stuff. The guy hired Swamp Creatures to drain the swamp. That doesn't work!

You don't need experts* in the field of immigration (for example) to run the CIS, ICE, whatever. You hire trusted people who will FIRE PEOPLE if things don't turn around right away. Oh, so the Congress won't confirm your replacement pick to head the show? No problem, the underling, who better well do what you want or he'll be gone in 2 weeks will take over as Acting Secretary. Yeah, but they won't hire any of your picks? Keep those Acting Secretaries working hard.

Finally, yes, Trump had at least as much popular support as Ronald Reagan. He had the internet to boot. This judge is blocking your latest executive decision or this legislation that you DID get passed, is he? Tweets need to come out: #RecallJudgeAsshole, this guy here is in charge of the petition - get ahold of him at (415) 867-5309 ... etc, etc.

That's called working at the problem, not being a bullshitter. The thing is, Trump is a higher-energy guy than I'll ever be. He could have done lots of this stuff.

* The left hands out these jobs as favors - nobody has to know squat.

PS: Good afternoon, gentlemen,

Trump's presidency wasn't completely without accomplishment. He did successfully pardon a bunch of jewish criminals.
Which reminds me of a history question I've been meaning to ask you guys...

Does anyone know of any American kid, other than Ivanka's, who had one grandpa pardoned by the other grandpa?

☮

PS

Mr. Reagan would do as you say, Mr. Blanc: Mr. Reagan would go on TV and sell it to the American people. The best Mr. Trump could muster was a mean tweet or two, usually with a threat to see his oppnents in a higher court, which was pointless considering most of the Federal judiciary were indeed against anything Trump.

PS Alarmist: Yes, Sessions was a disappointment. Making him AG was probably a mistake. Putting him in charge of immigration would have been a better choice. I don’t think that failing to bring criminal charges against the Empress in Waiting is one of his missteps, regardless of how theoretically justified that would have been. That has been something that is “just not done” from the beginning of the Republic. It’s not yet clear that even the Dems are brazen enough to prosecute Trump. If they do, it will be a sea change in American politics. Mr. Anon points to what in my view was Mr Trump’s greatest failing: He didn’t use the Bully Pulpit. The Courts were against him. The Congress (Repubs and Dems) were against him. The Media were against him. The only thing he had going for him were the people who had voted for him. He should have been constantly reaching out to them, rallying them, calling on them to join his great crusade against the Deep State. Every press conference should have been one of his political rallies. Instead, he attempted to garner the approval of people who hated him and everything that he stood for, and would hate him no matter what he did.

PS

I’ll give one example: Jeff Sessions.

Mr. Sessions seems to have been a true Trump supporter, so it was a shame he had to be fired, but he didn’t step up to the plate on a number of issues that would have demonstrated that there was a new sheriff in town.

Hillary Clinton clearly violated a number of national security statutes and directives with her little secret server and use of private email for government business. No doubt they could have found dozens of other ethical and corruption matters to jam her, but she could have been sent to the slammer for the national security issues alone. But Mr. Sessions knew this would come across as a political smear, so he took no action. Not to mention doing something to clean out DoJ and the FBI, both of which were clearly rotten from top to bottom. A purge was in order, even necessary to protect the integrity of both organisations, but Mr. Sessions did nothing.

If Mr. Trump had an ounce of leadership in him, he would have gone on the air and given a statement of HRC’s crimes and why there was a need to prosecute her and state that he was ordering Mr. Sessions to prosecute her, thus letting Mr. Trump take the heat for the politics while Mr. Sessions could take the role of the polished, methodical prosecutor that he really was rather than sweating the politics.

Instead of prosecuting Ms. Clinton in courts with evidence-based facts, Messers Trump and Sessions sat there and theher political opposition smear Mr. Trump in the court of public opinion with evidence-free allegations of Russian collusion. And why are the two FBI lovebirds still walking free after misuse and destruction of government property?

So much crime, so little executive enforcement of the laws against persons who would have no qualms about putting him behind bars if given the opportunity. Mr. Trump confused the Presidency with a Reality Show rather than the messy and sometimes deadly business of politics.

Clinton bodycount >160, Trump bodycount 0.

PS

I would add that I agree with the assessment of MBlanc46

PS

@PeterIke:

"The problem was that Trump could only act by Executive Order because of traitorous Republicans who wouldn't give him legislation. And Trump was repeatedly blocked by Commie judges (though winning very often in the long run). And most of what he did could be undone by the stroke of pen, which is just what has happened."

He could have done more. He could have used the bully pulpit to get his supporters to pressure Congress to implement his agenda. He could have not hired people who were indifferet to or actively undermined his agenda (like Tillerson, Pompeo, McMaster, Kelly, Bolton), and not turned on the few who were loyal to it (like Jeff Sessions). He could have not been under the thumb of his daughter and son-in-law. He could have not been prone to the influence of flatterers who stroked his massive ego.

In short, if we were not such a vain, thoughtless, dim-witted blow-hard, he might have done better. He hasn't gotten any better with time.

PS PI: I wish that I had your optimism. You made the reply to your own comment. Everything that Trump was able to do was easily undone. And those traitorous Repubs and Commie judges will still be there. Further, Those Who Rule Us made it abundantly clear that they will stop at nothing to ensure that 2016 will never happen again.

PS

Meh, speeches don't matter. Who remembers speeches? Obama was lauded as this amazing speaker: can you remember a single thing he ever said, unless it was something laughably stupid?

Speeches don't matter. Emotional connection and sound bites matter. Trump is a master at both. Labeling Jeb Bush "low energy" was more effective than a thousand speeches. It was an emotional kill shot and took out the Republican designated fall guy who had a $100M war chest.

@Alarmist: "Donald J. Trump could have accomplished so much if he actually stepped up to run the show."

He accomplished an immense amount, in the face of total opposition from both parties, the media and the Deep State. If Trump did nothing, how is it that Joe Biden has spent over a year dismantling stuff THAT TRUMP DID. The disastrous results of this have been obvious.

The problem was that Trump could only act by Executive Order because of traitorous Republicans who wouldn't give him legislation. And Trump was repeatedly blocked by Commie judges (though winning very often in the long run). And most of what he did could be undone by the stroke of pen, which is just what has happened.

If nothing else, Trump did more to inform the public about the duplicity of media than anyone else in the cowardly Republican ranks. This alone has been immensely influential. If Musk really gives Trump his Twitter back, Trump will again start to direct the national conversation by a single Tweet. The media can't help themselves in this regard.

For me, his major mistake was pushing the Covid vaccines. Understandable at the time, but he should have walked it back a long time ago. He could have framed it as "I was lied to by those dastardly drug companies who sold us a bill of goods, and the corrupt Deep State helped them get away with it." In fact, it would be a perfect spin move for Trump, but oh well.

Trump was the best President since at least Coolidge. I think if he's re-elected, he will clean house a lot more. He made a typical Boomer mistake of thinking there was still some integrity in government institutions, especially the military. He knows better now.

PS No one better is going to step up. The best result for us would be for all of us to “go fishing” and let Totally Legit Joe or Deep Veep or whoever or whatever the Dems offer up win 82 million to 36. That would be a more accurate picture of what’s really going on.

PS: I differ a bit, Mr. Blanc, because I think Trump really does do things to (try to) help Americans. However, his ego is so big, that the urge to stay in the limelight being a star has maybe become just as important to him.

Yeah, I wish he would go quietly, but only if someone else really decent steps up first. Otherwise, those good people going to the rallies may just give up completely.

PS With all due respect, AE, the only side that Donald Trump is on is Donald Trump’s side. Steve Bannon convinced him that he had an outside chance of becoming president in 2016 if he hammered away at mass immigration and export of the economy. He did hammer away at those things and, with some help of some very ham-fisted campaigning by the opposition, he became president. To be fair, he did try to do something about mass immigration and export of the economy. But, he didn’t try very hard. I do believe that there is a “there, there” to Donald Trump. I think that he really is a patriotic American. Unfortunately, there’s no longer an America about which to be patriotic. I’m sorry that he didn’t go quietly (or as quietly as would be possible for Donald Trump) into political retirement. Now, he is simply a distraction, drawing bodies and energy away from real Dissident politics. We can’t vote our way out of this. I believe that the Zman has the correct approach. Withdraw from their charade.

PS: I agree, Alarmist. I didn't want to make the post too long, as I usually do, but I was about to add that it's great Mr. Trump is doing these rallies, but having Ron DeSantis as the GOP candidate (or a lot of other guys I could think of but are not well known) would be a much better deal for us.

My wife suggested Trump could be in some other office. Press Secretary would be great! However, there's no way Trump's ego would let him do anything else but have a 2nd term. He would try to settle the old scores, and probably get not much done again...

PS

I like the Donald ... I’ll tell you sometime about the two times I met him briefly in 1990 ... but I cannot get enthusiastic about him doing a second run for the Presidency. He thoroughly botched the first go in too many ways. He can talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the talk, installing former Generals in senior advisory roles and further seeking counsel of JarVanka shows he has little conviction is his own ability to run a large complex organisation and seems only comfortable as being its face, not its brain.

I will say that watching him step into North Korea was the most presidential moment of our lives, not the least of which was the real danger that he could have taken a bullet from either side; but at the end of the day, it was for nought, because his NeoCon handlers managed to stifle any hope of improved relations.

Donald J. Trump could have accomplished so much if he actually stepped up to run the show.

PS: Even in what's supposed to be a real speech, Mr. Trump talks as if he's giving a pep-talk at an "all-hands" meeting of his own (say) real estate company people.

Dieter, I haven't heard anything from Zelensky, just because I haven't been following that story I'll have to check out something there and also Donald Trump on that hole in one.

PS

Haven't read these trancripts, but have listend to some parts of Donald Trump's speeches at rallies this year and yes: They quite often are quite incoherent.
He tries to be entertaining and - as Matt Taibbi has written about in great detail: He is outstandingly good at that. But he is very incoherent. - And that .i.s. a .b.i.g. problem.The roles of the entertainer and the comic here and the politician there are different, to make this point very short. -

- It's interesting, that Volodymyr Zenlensky is trying something quite alike in Ukraine: To hop from the role of the comedian to the role of the politician. - He too was a "TV-personality" befor he made it into politics.

Bottom line: This is a wide but important field. And I agree Mod., that - Ronald Reagan managed to bridge the gap between the social role of being an actor and the social role of being a politician much better than Donald Trump.
Btw. - Donald Trump was perfectly concise and really ironic, when e explained his hole in one a few days back. Obviously this realm is more where he feels at home, really.