My favorite living historian Victor Davis Hanson has some predictions about what is to come in the presidential election campaign this summer. As I do, he understands that the normal political rules simply do not apply this year:
Before summer is over, we may see things now scarcely imagined that will make Brexit seem anticlimactic.
Trump’s Attack Mode
I think the following is an accurate statement: No major public figure has ever before attacked the Clintons in the manner that Donald Trump did last week. The details and tone of his charges can be endlessly analyzed, but their central theme resonates: The Clinton couple, broke when they left the White House in 2001, leveraged Hillary Clinton’s planned political trajectories to amass a personal fortune of between $100 and $200 million — all in the form of quid pro quo investments by wealthy individuals and foreign governments in the likely continuance of Clinton political power. Government is not the jungle of Manhattan real estate, and should have demanded at least a veneer of honesty.
The scandals of the Clinton Foundation, Bill Clinton’s various get-rich and jet-set escapades, and much of Hillary Clinton’s paranoia over the audit of her e-mail communications all revolve around a Clinton circle that can never be squared even by liberal pieties: The wealthy do not make politicians fabulously rich — unless they assume that they will receive something of much greater value in return.
The Clintons are unique — like no other first couple in recent American history. Not the Carters, not the Reagans, not the two Bush couples, not any first family emeritus has so unapologetically charged banks, foreign governments, corporations, and universities so much money for overtly so little, but on the expectation of clandestinely offering so much.
The Clinton ethical miasma is emblemized by the Laureate International Universities scandal — the highbrow version of Trump University, but a public not a private debacle. Between 2010 and 2015 “Chancellor” Bill Clinton was paid $16.5 million by the for-profit Laureate — but for what services he was to become one of the highest-paid university officials in history is not clear. Mirabile dictu, an educational affiliate of Laureate saw its support from the State Department more than triple from a pre-Clinton $15.1 million.
True, Hillary Clinton, who deleted over 30,000 of her private-server e-mails, can demand hard proof of such payola, but she still cannot rationalize why her husband was paid so much for so little demonstrable work, while she, after stepping down as the nation’s top diplomatic official, followed his reprehensible cue in her retirement.
Trump will continue to expand these charges, no doubt in his characteristic nihilist, take-no-prisoners fashion. Hillary is already replying in like kind, rather than in exalted “Have you no shame?” stature. But the rounds of fire between the two candidates are not quite symmetrical. Trump is brash, crude, and a brawler. Hillary is a carefully scripted and choreographed establishmentarian. Recently, speech coaches seem to have had some success in sedating her screech-owl, nails-on-the-chalkboard rants. She has seemed calmer, quieter, more deliberate.
But in response to Trump’s charges, Hillary is starting to resort to her naturally unpleasant side, both in form and in content. She should learn from Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. When Trump unloaded on them in turn, each eventually stooped to reply in like kind — and seemed suddenly unpresidential. Trump, of course, never claimed to be or perhaps could be completely presidential. But his establishment targets became less presidential once he scraped often their veneers and they climbed down into his muck.
Go here to read the rest. Trump, if elected, will make a poor president. However, he is the perfect candidate to take down a brazen, shameless crook like Clinton. The Democrats have largely benefited over the years in that the Republicans tend to nominate ladies and gentlemen who are reluctant to engage in harsh, personal attacks. Trump is a Democrat in Republican clothing, and he regards going for the jugular as mild campaign tactics. This should be an immensely entertaining campaign. Edifying, no, but entertaining, yes!
Lock both of them in a darkened room armed with straight razors… whichever walks out alive is the Prez. Sell tickets and wipe out the national debt. At this point all we can do is sit back and enjoy the carnage,
Trump is a Democrat? Then so are John McCain, Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney. Social views have NO impact in this election season. Pro lifers have been dumped on by the GOP, which has long held a pro abortion stance among its elite. How much does the USCCB care?
“Pro lifers have been dumped on by the GOP”
Completely false as attested by all the pro-life legislation that the Republicans have gotten through at the state level. But for the Democrats, legalized abortion would now be a bad memory. As for Trump, he is merely a liberal Democrat who has donned a Republican disguise for this election. Compared to the orange haired fraudster, McCain, McConnell and Romney are Reagan Incarnate. Support Trump if you will to be beat Hillary PF. I can understand that. Do not for a moment deceive yourself as to what he is.
I want Trump to win not because I like Yrump but because I want to hear the Democrats howl in disbelief that they lost.
“Completely false as attested by all the pro-life legislation that the Republicans have gotten through at the state level. But for the Democrats, legalized abortion would now be a bad memory. As for Trump, he is merely a liberal Democrat who has donned a Republican disguise for this election. Compared to the orange haired fraudster, McCain, McConnell and Romney are Reagan Incarnate.”
When I look at the current Washington GOP Establishment, I disagree completely with you. I include in that the current House Speaker who agreed to fund Planned Parenthood. There is a gulf between the state GOP (in almost every state) and the DC GOP Establishment.
I have no illusions about Trump being a great conservative. On social issues, there is little difference between him and the Hildebeast.
The situation is that the Hildebeast is a criminal…and so is her husband IMHO. Nothing Trump has done measures up to them. Los Alamos, criminal perjury, the beginnings of the subprime mortgage mess, the rise of Al Qaeda, the USS Cole and the bombings of the embassies in Africa….on Bill Clinton’s watch. Hilary….classified emails, Benghazi…..the Clintons are rotten to the core, backed by a supporting media and entertainment establishment, and a GOP establishment (especially the Bush family) unwilling to say a peep about them.
“I include in that the current House Speaker who agreed to fund Planned Parenthood.”
That’s humorous that you would mention that since the Republicans in Congress are making yet another effort to end funding for Planned Parenthood.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/29/senate-democrats-block-zika-funding-doesnt-fund-planned-parenthood/
Now, as in the past, the Democrats in Congress make passing such a bill almost impossible because we do not have 60 votes in the Senate. Since they have the Presidency such a bill would be vetoed in any case. All the while the media will be spinning this feverishly against the Republicans, Finally, when they can’t do the impossible without being blamed for another government shut down, the Republicans will be attacked by pro-lifers. It astonishes me that they are even willing to try this again and again with those odds stacked against them.
If the orange haired fraudster gets in, I guarantee you he will insist upon funding Planned Parenthood that he praised during the primaries.
“I want Trump to win not because I like Yrump but because I want to hear the Democrats howl in disbelief that they lost.”
If Trump wins, the howls of liberal despondency would be music to my ears!
Do we all agree there is nothing worse than a Hillary presidency? Accordingly, a vote for Trump is permissible.
I hope we can all agree with you Michael.
Sitting this one out because Trump is not, kosher, is not enough reason to bury a vote.
I will vote Trump in the high hope Helliry finds herself in the gutter. That’s an insult to gutter dwellers everywhere, but I never did get the “political correctness” thing, so tough up and make room for your new arrival.
I will, with a very clear and easy conscience, not vote for either of the egotistical, sociopathic, leftist authoritarians from New York.
Defects in character?
Trump comes in second.
Professional political sociopath vs. Professional business sociopath?
Taking the vote out doesn’t change which sociopath wins, but voting for the one ( out on a limb here ) that would do less harm seems to be a reasonable option.
Hillary I’m sure about.
The duck?
Uncertain future at best.
I will not support Hillary, and not voting for her challenger seems like a vote for her.
Write in’s?
This is both logically and mathematically incorrect. As for which is worse, there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference. They are foul and effusive in different ways. Neither of them is a constitutionalist, and both of them represent an authoritarian, statist strain of thought that threatens our freedoms. That there is an infinitesimal chance Trump is superior to Clinton is not enough to justify a vote for the clown, especially when there’s a chance that, somehow, he will be worse.
Is it just illogical to see a threat that wishes to harm your family and Country and sit on your hands while the threat gains control?
Is it mathematics or brazen hatred for liberty that one of the presidential candidates has made a statement that Religions need to change their views on abortion.
Come on Paul.
I detest Trump, but Hillary is a threat that is known and respected by a class of people that have adhered to Saul Alinski’s playbook..and they are participating in it as they support Hillary. Worse yet, they will adopt this methodology, rules for radicals, for their success. The Trump threat is nebulous compared to the history or track record of Hillary Clinton.
A thread of hope is better than giving up.
Is it just illogical to see a threat that wishes to harm your family and Country and sit on your hands while the threat gains control?
No, it is illogical to dismiss one person as an equally malignant threat because that individual happens to have an -R next to his name. You can use all the buzzwords you want, Philip, but it is simply wishcasting to pretend Trump represents anything resembling hope when it comes to choosing presidential candidates.
A thread of hope is better than giving up.
I’m not the one giving up – quite the opposite. I merely refuse to support one authoritarian over the other.
Thank you Paul for your explanation.
I’m cringing when I contemplate November and the baby killing machines gloating over their goddess.
Sitting out a vote is difficult for me to consider, however I can appreciate your views.
Paul–
“I’m not the one giving up – quite the opposite. I merely refuse to support one authoritarian over the other.”
St Thomas Aquinas would suggest, in a case like this, that distinctions must be made. While you are correct about both being authoritarian shouldn’t we try to determine which of these seemingly inevitable choices would be the best for orthodox Catholics.
I’ll let Joe Cunningham of Red State have my final word on the matter.
http://www.redstate.com/joesquire/2016/07/01/lesser-two-evils-election/