When Saruman Said Nyuck

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“As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron” (H.L. Mencken).

And as our thoughts have now turned to Mencken, he once said that democracy was the art of running the zoo from the monkey house. He also said that he loved his country the way a small boy loved the circus. As this political season continues to unfold, one begins to understand those sentiments, although it must be confessed that there is a touch of melancholy in it. It is not the demise we really expected for a once great republic. It is as though Gandalf had been trapped by Saruman in the tower, and then two shadowy figures came out of a hidden room to stand on either side of Saruman — let us call them Larry and Moe — and then Saruman said nyuck nyuck nyuck.

One bright spot. We would at least have a president who understood Putin.
One bright spot. We would at least have a world order where the U.S. president and Putin understood each other.

For — let us be frank — Donald Trump is a flimflam artist of the highest order, and he really ought to be an inspiration that establishes a host of Menckenesque careers. But alas — when Mencken’s dire prophecy finally comes true, there will be no one there with the requisite gifts to get across the gaudiness of the actual accomplishment. We are talking about a bunko game run by what Nostradamus called the Hustler at the End of Days. And as in all truly successful sting operations, the patsy cannot know that he has been taken, and thus it will be that any aspiring Menckens will simply be throwing their pithy adjectives into the stiff headwinds coming out of the void. Shall we end with an adjectival whimper and not with an adjectival bang?

But in the meantime, while some people might still be listening, let me strew a few bits of punditry out my hat. First, the endorsement of Trump yesterday by Chris Christie was truly revelatory — the “establishment lane” is the first one getting bought up.

Second, between now and the convention, the designated opposition to Trump should be established by the voters, and not by the druthers of the “should have been a contender” pundits. Rubio is somehow still in it without having won anything, and Cruz, in a far stronger position, keeps getting told to step aside for Rubio on the basis of . . . what exactly? There is a very simple test. Within just a few weeks, we will have had primaries in both Texas and Florida. How will Cruz do against Trump in Texas, and how will Rubio do against Trump in Florida? Not just a victory, although that is mandatory, but the point spread also matters. If Cruz beats Trump by double digits and Rubio beats him by one percent, Rubio needs to suspend his campaign, and endorse Cruz.

Third, keep in mind that Trump is erratic enough to do unpredictable things in any direction. He is the kind of guy who could nominate Cruz for the Supreme Court with a tweet that said, “Cruz for SCOTUS. Ted’s great, always thought so. Real fighter.” In a Trump administration (what am I saying?!), the occasional good thing might happen, but let it be known that I would still want the White House physician on constant stand-by with a pillow case full of meds.

Fourth, in case anybody was wondering, it will not be sufficient to defeat Trump. Given the nature and extent of the support he has already garnered, if he is simply defeated in the Republican primary, he clearly will go third party. And that is why Trump has to be destroyed, and not barely defeated. Now when I say destroyed — I do need to say this because some readers of my blog are metaphorically-challenged — I am not talking about character assassination or actual assassination or dirty tricks or anything untoward. I am not talking about making anything up. I am simply talking about total and complete exposure.

At the remaining Republican debates, every candidate needs to show up in a suit from Trump’s clothing line, manufactured in Mexico. One of them needs to take off the jacket and show us all the label. Trump’s followers like what they think is his “tell it like it is” bluntness, political correctness be damned, and they like the wall that Mexico will supposedly pay for. Now to be clear, I have no problem with manufacturing suits in Mexico. The problem is the con, not the clothes.

The last debate was one in which Rubio and Cruz drew blood. But that is not sufficient. What is necessary is to pursue a line of attack that reveals to Trump’s supporters that they have been the patsies in an ongoing con. If that successfully happens, Trump’s candidacy will go from the Hindenburg to the former-Hindenburg. If that does not happen, then Katie, the door is over there. You may bar it any time now.

But alas, it is possible that no one will listen to me. This has happened before. I saw on Twitter the other day that someone had called for the retirement of the “emperor has no clothes” metaphor, saying that everything that could be done with it has already been done with it, and so give it a rest already. But as I think about our culture spiraling downward into open farce, along with the prospect of this not ending any time soon, one thought did occur to me. The emperor has no close.

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wisdumb
wisdumb
8 years ago

Trump has too many clothes: whatever he thinks fits the moment.

Keith LaMothe
Keith LaMothe
8 years ago

Dear Doug,

Speaking as a weaker brother, and understanding that it is a weakness, I would have done better without the picture.

Warmly,
Keith

Magnus Gungir
Magnus Gungir
8 years ago
Reply to  Keith LaMothe

Yes, the gaucheness of the gold crown molding was a little much for my weak stomach.

Ilion
Ilion
8 years ago
Reply to  Magnus Gungir

That and the Trump Tramp (TM).

M1911a1
M1911a1
8 years ago
Reply to  Keith LaMothe

Dear weaker brother.

Get un-weak.

Rob Shearer
Rob Shearer
8 years ago
Reply to  Keith LaMothe

I think you may have mistaken seeing a woman in a picture with lusting after a woman in a picture.
The 2nd is the one Jesus warns us about, not the 1st.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
8 years ago
Reply to  Rob Shearer

It is good to be sensitive to these concerns. But the kind of reaction that always focuses on, and complains about, being exposed to such images at the hands of other believers, strikes me as dangerously close to blame-shifting. If an image bothers a brother, the brother needs to keep scrolling, and maybe offer a private word to the person who displayed it if that person appears to be a frequent displayer of such images. Solid Christians say and do things that tempt me to covet on a regular basis. That’s because I have a problem with envy. If they’re… Read more »

Matt Massingill
Matt Massingill
8 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

So very well put!

Keith LaMothe
Keith LaMothe
8 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

Yes, I should have emailed Doug privately rather than posting it as a comment.

timothy
timothy
8 years ago
Reply to  Keith LaMothe

I don’t think you where out of line.

Keith LaMothe
Keith LaMothe
8 years ago
Reply to  timothy

No, but I didn’t intend a discussion or a debate. Just letting a pastor know something he would want to know.

So it was simply misplaced. Live and learn.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

I wish I knew where the line is drawn between envy (clearly sinful) and general wistfulness, which is not. If you are genuinely happy that your friend won a promotion or a whackload of money, is it sinful to say to yourself, I wish something like that would happen to me? I have more of a struggle with forgiveness, not in general, but with regard to a couple of people in my life. Just as I think I have knocked it down, it pops back up again.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Envy might not be the appropriate word for my reaction, so much as covetousness. I don’t wish my friends didn’t have their stuff, but it makes me unhappy with my lack of it sometimes. It’s not sinful to say, “That would be nice,” but it’s sinful to say, “Why can’t I have all that nice stuff? Why am I stuck with…” whatever. In a mental whine. And I’m prone to that.

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
8 years ago
Reply to  Keith LaMothe

Reminds me of an issue of Credenda Agenda that had a picture of a young woman’s neck on the cover. It was editorially relevant in connection with towers or something and occasioned several letters in the next issue complaining that the image tended to stumble a brother. Speaking only for myself, I saw what they meant. DW replied with the full image of which the cover was a tightly cropped piece. He helpfully added circles and arrows showing that the neck belonged to a beautiful and modestly attired bride, his daughter. It was really funny at the time.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
8 years ago
Reply to  Rob Steele

There was a similar incident in which a Credenda cover was done in the style of a bodice-ripper novel. The woman was reasonably well clothed, but the man was shirtless. They got at least one distressful letter about “upper male nudity.”

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
8 years ago

Tricksy Trump–we hates him. Wait, I seem to have wandered into the wrong role.

Tom©
Tom©
8 years ago
Reply to  Rob Steele

Karl Rove?

libertyinmo
libertyinmo
8 years ago

I wanted to share the article, but I don’t want to share such a picture along with it. It may make a point, but is still inappropriate.

Sara F.
8 years ago
Reply to  libertyinmo

I think the inappropriateness of the image should be blamed on the man who thought it was a good idea to have his wife lie across a piano seductively. The image says a lot more about Trump than it does about Wilson.

Jonathan
Jonathan
8 years ago
Reply to  Sara F.

I dunno about that. I’ve never understood the reasoning where a photo’s existence is deemed inappropriate, yet the very people who feel the photo is inappropriate plaster it across their own pages.

Drew
Drew
8 years ago

Doug, I like Cruz the best out of the Republican line-up right now for the same reasons that you do. But when he released his taxes, it showed that he gave very little to charity, which includes his church. Do you think his lack of tithing discredits him as a good candidate for President?

Alice Kauffman Arneson
Alice Kauffman Arneson
8 years ago
Reply to  Drew

Or, you know, it just could be that he doesn’t declare all of his giving on his taxes, figuring that it’s better to do so quietly and out of the public eye. Do you know? Because I don’t.

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  Drew

I think that IF he does not tithe as we are commanded, (the capital IF with respect to Mrs Arneson’s codicil), that would be an issue for counsel by his pastor, but not necessarily a disqualification for civil government.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

I do agree with you. We can’t demand moral perfection. What next, that he yells at his kids?

ME
ME
8 years ago

Well said. This was oddly comforting too, “But as I think about our culture spiraling downward into open farce….” Kind of funny, but the people who cannot even see this, tend to scare me even more than the downward spiral itself. Melancholy sets in because I was so hoping for something dramatic at the bottom of that spiral, perhaps some zombies to hunt, some Road Warrior garb to don, but it sure seems to me that we shall simply collapse quietly, hoisted on our own petard. People far smarter than me have often lamented, so this is how it all… Read more »

ME
ME
8 years ago

May I just praise those who have complained about that picture? How sweet that is to see, how charming and protective! Kudos to all of you, that is not something I often get to see.

I hope you will forgive me for sharing my bent humor however, but it is somewhat funny to me “Western civilization is perched on the edge, we’re surrounded on all sides, doom is impending” and is so typical of men the response is, “yes I know, but could somebody please get the scantily clad woman off the back of the piano?” ;)

"A" dad
"A" dad
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Well Memi, things might be a bit better than you were thinking.
Some of us; “made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. 2 For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Job 31:1-3”

This is how some manage the constant steam of eye candy. We consider the young woman, and then don’t let the mind go where it should not. ; – )

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  "A" dad

Indeed, that is quite charming and a sure sign that things are not as glum as I sometimes think! I just wish men would not beat themselves up so much for being just as God designed them. I mean, there is a huge difference between admiring a woman on a piano and engaging in lust, envy, covetness, etc. At least I suspect there is. Obviously this is not my area. ;)

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

I just wish that the billboards for “gentlemen’s clubs” which infest my neighborhood were one-tenth as restrained as that picture. It was totally appalling to me when my newly literate daughter looked up at the billboards and sounded out”The No Panties Club” (suitably illustrated). Fortunately that one proved to be too much even for Los Angeles, and was replaced by The Total Exposure Club. It was even more appalling to me that many people took me to be a sexless, feminist prude for objecting.

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Ha! You cannot ever win that one, Jilly. You will either be a “sexless feminist prude” for objecting, or else a fallen woman, the root of all evil, for failing to object.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

How right you are!

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

By saying “men would not beat themselves up” I think that you might be not understanding the dynamic. It is not “beating ourselves” to avoid trouble. It is part of the discipline. For example, spending 30 hours a week performing PT including about 50 miles of rucking, running and calisthenics, as a discipline of a specific vocation, was never considered it as being beaten except in a Pauline (1 Corinthians 9:27) sense.

This is no different.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

The nuns called it keeping custody of the eyes, and I really believe they were on to something.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Unrelated, but is jillybean an intentional anagram of billy jean?

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago

That would be cute. I would have been a waitress in a honkytonk saloon. And now that song is stuck inside my head for the rest of the day. Thank you, Christopher Casey!

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

On the other hand, I think the nuns went overboard about girls not wearing black patent leather shoes (in case they reflect up). And although I technically understood why girls were to take phone books on dates in case they had to sit on a boy’s lap, I thought that girls who carried the Manhattan phone directory around with them looked very silly.

bethyada
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

They make their phylacteries wide and there phone books thick.

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

I think it really is different. Discipline is great, but there are some who seem to believe the women herself is sinful, their response to her is sinful, and the fact that sexuality and attraction exists at all is shameful.

Here we are in a thread about the potential collapse of Western civilization and people are concerned about a photo.

katie
katie
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

I don’t know. I’d consider the exhibitionism of our daughters to be Exhibit A of such a collapse.

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  "A" dad

And we also consider the wife of our youth and not let the mind go where it should not.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Yet if Renoir had painted that, we would call it great art. This often puzzles me, but is not the sort of question a virtuous lady can ask of a gentleman not her husband. I can’t imagine anyone finding sexual temptation in Manet’s Olympia. Yet, as a photograph, I imagine it would be problematic. I wonder wherein lies the difference.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

“Yet, as a photograph, I imagine it would be problematic. I wonder wherein lies the difference.”

I think the compliance of the lady being photographed has something to do with it.

Lisa Reese
Lisa Reese
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Many of the classic paintings were meant to be erotic; pictures take less time and energy.

J. Frank Norris
J. Frank Norris
8 years ago

Good response to Matt Walsh’s pearl clutching:

http://therightstuff.biz/2016/02/22/trumps-rise-is-bad/

Andrew Kelly
Andrew Kelly
8 years ago

If conservatism is what the author of that article says it is, then conservatism be damned. Seriously, repent of your class warfare and learn to love your neighbor rather than tarring them with dehumanizing titles such as “criminal aliens.”

timothy
timothy
8 years ago
Reply to  Andrew Kelly

Not a fan of Charles Martel

"A" dad
"A" dad
8 years ago

“He also said that he loved his country the way a small boy loved the circus. As this political season continues to unfold, one begins to understand those sentiments, although it must be confessed that there is a touch of melancholy in it.”
“Melancholy? C’mon Doug, Circus clowns have always been creeeeeeeeepy! ; – )
(Especialy the orange hair!)

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  "A" dad

I loathe clowns. (Even more than the Clintons loathe the military.)

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

I am afraid of clowns. It did not surprise me in the least that John Wayne Gacy entertained small children in his persona as Pogo The Clown. Did you know that people pay a lot of money for his paintings of clowns? And that these people walk among us and we don’t even know who they are? Now that is scary.

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

I found his parent’s choice of a middle name interesting, and I wondered if it had some relationship to familial dynamic.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

From quickly reading the Wiki biography, I think you may be right. Dad was a violent alcoholic who never thought his son was tough enough. I hadn’t known that Gacy the killer was the married father of two children. What a ghastly legacy to leave them.

RFB
RFB
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

“…these people walk among us and we don’t even know who they are.” Indeed, and worse than you might imagine. It is a quite difficult thing to try to convince some people that their own safety is (temporally) entirely in their own hands, and that “no one is coming to their rescue”. Law enforcement categorically does not exist to interdict crime except in a general and reactive fashion. (There is SCOTUS case law specifying that LE has no duty to protect any specific individual but only to provide for general societal order.) My stock answer when asked “why” to the… Read more »

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  RFB

Even more than you loathe Clintons? That’s the likely dilemma.

Aquila Aquilonis
Aquila Aquilonis
8 years ago

Alea iacta est.

bethyada
8 years ago

I have wondered if God is judging America over the last few years. And while I agree that this is a farce, does it differ much from the Roman Empire? Consider Caligula and Nero. I guess a difference is those men were placed their by the previous Emperors. You are managing to get the population on mass to place these people in power. Though come to think of it, that may be an easier accomplishment.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I think God’s judgment often comes down to letting us have our way. Yes, Caligula and Nero occurred to me too, I mean the loony part.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago

Make up your mind. Do you want a candidate picked by the voters, or by people whose judgement you (apparently) trust? Because Trump is obviously the former right now. Is your objection really that Trump is a “flim-flam man” who has deceived the electorate? The Trump supporters I’ve heard from just don’t care, because ALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ARE and have been for most of our lifetimes. The difference is that Trump is willing to appeal to their interests instead of just being less awful than the socialist or race-pandering candidate being run by the blue team. This is why I… Read more »

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

“Make up your mind. Do you want a candidate picked by the voters, or by people whose judgement you (apparently) trust? Because Trump is obviously the former right now.”

Donald Trump: not the president America needs, but the president America deserves.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago

The president America deserves is probably Hillary.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

If trump wins by popular support the populous deserve what they asked for.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago

Are you saying Americans deserved Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama? (This suggests “deserve” is a particularly poor word to apply to the situation.)

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

We do get the leaders we deserve. That is a bitter pill to swallow, because it speaks to cause and effect, symbiosis, responsibility we would probably prefer not to have. It also speaks to human nature because we all want to believe we are part of some elite group that would never make such foolish decisions, and simply wash our hands of the whole mess when it goes wrong.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Sure — if you believe democracy is the only possible way for a nation’s leaders to be chosen. But it isn’t.

Tony
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

It is the way our leaders our chosen. Try living in reality for a moment.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  Tony

Yes, it is — for the moment.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Well if the president is chosen democraticly then the demos is responsible.

Barnabas
Barnabas
8 years ago

You are responsible for a 1/120,000,000 share in the decision between a few people selected for you on the basis of who could raise the most money selling favors. Feel angst about the course of history but rest easy that your influence on it was nil.

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Well, I think an argument could be made that we also get the kings, communists, and dictators that we deserve. It takes a whole village to build a political system and we either blame God or we take responsibility for what we help create.

Being American, I happen to be fond of our republic that relies heavily on a democratic approach. That is also the down side however, in a country where people have a great deal of influence, we also have a great deal of blame.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Mostly I was quoting batman, but I think deserve is more fitting for Trump if elected than previous presidents.

Reformed Brother
Reformed Brother
8 years ago

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, the Trump shall resound and His Ego shall ascend. Even so, it is well with my vote. (Tongue-in-cheek, of course).

jesuguru
jesuguru
8 years ago

“His Ego shall ascend” – implying it could possibly go even higher?

doug sayers
doug sayers
8 years ago

I’m boycotting this one. You don’t need to compete with the SI swimsuit edition to make your point, whatever it was.

Having met the man, I doubt racy photos on your blog was recommended as a means of preaching in the power of the Spirit in Al Martin’s book.

As Chris Carter often says on ESPN radio, “Come on man.”

jigawatt
jigawatt
8 years ago

After it’s all over, the post-mortem will show that the media pulled the biggest con of all – convincing Republicans to vote in a liberal Democrat.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  jigawatt

All conservatives in politics today accept the liberalism of yesteryear.

Ben Carmack
Ben Carmack
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Liberalism==anything less than IQ mania and white nationalism which seeks to rid the fatherland of genetically inferior black and brown people.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  Ben Carmack

Most “white nationalists” are liberals as well. (Believing that all white people are equal is not meaningfully different from believing that all people are equal.)

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Didn’t we used to call it “classical liberalism”?

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  Rob Steele

Rothbard called it that. But people forget that “classical liberalism” was still left-wing.

Wes Walker
Wes Walker
8 years ago

His campaign is entirely persona driven, and we would need to topple the pedestal it’s in before his followers awake as if from dreaming… I think the best tool for that job may well be (to borrow a phrase) “Trinitarian Skylarking”.

Laughter is the one attack he cannot endure.

He is nothing but ego, and I think we all know it. Had I the skills and tools for a decent photoshop, I’d be reprising that Kanye kissing Kanye image, with the slogan: “Making Trump Great Again”

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  Wes Walker

Entirely persona driven? Nobody took Trump seriously until he said “we need to build a wall”.

LittleRedMachine
LittleRedMachine
8 years ago

If you want to take Trump down, pick a more credible issue to do it with than clothing made outside the US. Having Cruz or Rubio pull off their Trump jackets to reveal ‘made in Mexico’ might feel good but doesn’t reflect business realities in the United States. You can not mass-market (via Macy’s, Dillards, etc.) a garment product in the United States by having the product made in the United States. That is the fault of our political leadership. I know this first-hand. Criticize Trump for getting in the market or whatever but asking him, or any businessman, to… Read more »

holmegm
holmegm
8 years ago

You would never choose Samson as an elder. He’s awfully handy when the Philistines are around though.

I’m sure some of the guys tying him up to hand him over were far more pure than he.

UnreconstructedRebel
UnreconstructedRebel
8 years ago

OK, key point is that Trump must be destroyed, not merely defeated – and the reason for this is so that one of the unqualified Cubans can be the GOP nomineee? Sorry, but if that’s what you think this election is about, you are just one of the new clueless establishment majority. Voters who’s ancestors built this country have not only been disenfranchised by the GOP, but have been insulted, despised and subject to a demographic and cultural genocide which the GOP leadership is culpable for. There is a large segment of voters who would like to eviscerate the GOP… Read more »

Justin
Justin
8 years ago

I want a guy (Cruz) who is introduced by a guy (Beck) who says: “The Constitution is inspired by God, it’s sacred Scripture”.

That seems pretty biblical –

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1niqa377TBI

Justin
Justin
8 years ago

I want a guy (Cruz) who wife was told in an audible voice by “God” to have Cruz run for President. Or at least that’s how he interpreted “God’s” message.

That seems pretty biblical –

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EqiwUnxmfmc

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
8 years ago
Reply to  Justin

Wish God told him to win.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago

Serious question for the fed up GOP despisers here. Hypothetical, no trick. Just for a better understanding of what’s going on:
If, hypothetically, instead of Clinton or Trump,the general election did come down to Clinton or Rubio, how would you vote? How about Clinton or Cruz? Clinton or any of the other possible GOP candidates? I really don’t know what your answers would be. If anyone of you would be so kind, thanks.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

Why would it matter? Picking any of them would lead to largely the same results.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Should I take that to mean you would not vote at all? I don’t disrespect that choice.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

You should take it to mean that voting doesn’t really matter all that much and people should stop taking it seriously.

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

Well, with Hillary, there would be the benefit of having a President already under investigation and about to face indictment. The idea could catch on and we’d just start electing our leaders directly from federal prison, therefore bypassing any illusions we may have about their potential to avoid corruption.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Thanks. Shall I take that as a vote for Rubio or Cruz, or any of the others, over Clinton? But then I haven’t gathered that you’re one of those who just can’t stand the GOP anymore – am I mistaken?

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

I really can’t stand the GOP anymore. If you wondered, I actually like Ben Carson.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Thanks again.

Daithi_Dubh
Daithi_Dubh
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

One way I’ll characterize the problem is that of false paradigms/false dichotomies: CONSERVATIVE, GOOD Republican Party vs. LIBERAL, EVIL Democrat Party; America as an idea vs. America as an actual people; America as a NATION vs. America as an empire, etc. There was a time when there was still enough momentum left in the actual virtues to be found in our God-given identity, virtues that restrained the evils, that we could muddle through in spite of those weaknesses. That time is now waaaaaay back in the rear view mirror! We’ve traded in reality for theories! So, as ashv points out… Read more »

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  Daithi_Dubh

Thank you. Wouldn’t vote at all given those options?

Daithi_Dubh
Daithi_Dubh
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

We vote here in Tennessee this coming “Super Tuesday,” and, candidly, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. This is the most bizarre election cycle I have seen in my lifetime!

Interesting times, brother, interesting times!

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  Daithi_Dubh

“This is the most bizarre election cycle I have seen in my lifetime!”
I’ll second that motion.

Prefiero Figurados
Prefiero Figurados
8 years ago

For — let us be frank — Donald Trump is a flimflam artist of the highest order…

This is the best summary description of trump yet. You might even say “weapons grade flim-flam”

ashv
ashv
8 years ago

Compared to what, though? Certainly not any of the other contestants in the current season of America’s Next Top Politician.

Douglas Quaid
Douglas Quaid
8 years ago

As a Trumpster, I can’t help but wonder if he is so lousy what does that say about the other candidates given their hapless ineptitude in dispensing with him? I think Doug meandered around the key point that us Trumpsters have latched onto when he said: “In a Trump administration (what am I saying?!), the occasional good thing might happen, but let it be known that I would still want the White House physician on constant stand-by with a pillow case full of meds.” That is why I back him. He is a loose cannon, and I trust loose cannons… Read more »

Douglas Quaid
Douglas Quaid
8 years ago
Reply to  Douglas Quaid

I will also add, since I see so many fussy pants commenters, that the picture is racy but makes a point about Trump’s character. My goodness guys, it’s not as though she is in the buff, get over it and keep scrolling if it causes you to have thoughts you would like to pretend you don’t already harbor.

Christopher Casey
Christopher Casey
8 years ago
Reply to  Douglas Quaid

I understand voting for Trump becsuse he’ll be a bad president hilighting the illigetimacy of the system. A lot of his supporters seem to think he will ne a good president though.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago

If only the second set of voters you’re talking about were capable of recognizing the point the first is really making.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  Douglas Quaid

Well, it says they are ambitious and egotistical and divided because of it. It also says something about the electorate of their party that ought to make them step back and think.

J. Frank Norris
J. Frank Norris
8 years ago
Reply to  Douglas Quaid

The SCOTUS says that two men can get married, why treat such a system with legitimacy? Yeah, but that whole gay marriage thing is yesterday’s news. Sure, back in June, Doug Wilson and lots of other Christians were saying that America is a disgrace, a laughingstock, we’ve declared war on God and His Word with Obergefell, and such a corrupt system cannot stand. But that was almost a year ago, dude! Now it’s back to America is a city on hill, the last beacon of freedom and righteousness in a dark world, and Lee Greenwood and Irving Berlin and GO… Read more »

BDash76
BDash76
8 years ago

typical SJW christian

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  BDash76

At some point right leaning Christians must come to understand that Christ Himself was the ultimate Social Justice Warrior. Often it seems as if people want to wear the armor of God but not the mercy of Christ.

You want a real bitter pill to swallow, those SJW Christians are our brothers and sisters and we are commanded to find a way to love them.

ashv
ashv
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

Loving someone often means not letting them get what they want.

ME
ME
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Yep. I’m good with that. But when Christians forget who the real enemy is and start to think it’s just a bunch of loud mouths on the internet or a street corner somewhere, we have a problem.

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Of course I believe that is true. Lifetime welfare, for example, is not good for anyone. But it is so easy for us to believe we are being principled and firm when in fact we are just being callous and indifferent. In my experience, tough love would sometimes be more accurately called tough loathing.

BDash76
BDash76
8 years ago
Reply to  ME

I do not need to swallow your satanic pill because the God of the bible never supported the rebellious unbiblical ideas of SJW’s….

jillybean
jillybean
8 years ago
Reply to  BDash76

But how does the individual person know that rather than being an SJW Christian, he has decided to be just plain mean? Hatred and contempt for people come easily to us all as fallen creatures; love and concern are much harder and take a lot more energy. How does one know when he has just hardened his heart in a way that Christians are not allowed to do?

BDash76
BDash76
8 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

one must have contempt for sin and those who promote it…

ashv
ashv
8 years ago

Trump may have drawn initial interest because of what he said he would do, but he has gained much of it because of what he has already done, which is to shift the Overton window and make the unthinkable audible. The primary benefit of the Trump campaign, from my perspective, is to open a discussion of what is and isn’t in the interest of members of the American nations, regardless of his personal character or future actions.

Ilion
Ilion
8 years ago

Douglas Wilson:But alas, it is possible that no one will listen to me. …
.
But then, you yourself don’t want to listen to the truth that neither Cruz nor Rubio are natural born US citizens.
.
Even *if* Criz and/or Rubio manage the good work of total and complete exposure of Trump, it doesn’t change the fact that neither one honors the Constitution.

David Trounce
8 years ago

I mean it quite sincerely when I say I hope Trump wins. It’s not that I think He is qualified, it’s just that a victory for him opens up the way for absolutely anything to happen – including his own conversion to Christ and a good deal of American repentance. The last thing America needs is, “more of the same.” Sometimes, the only way to get yourself a “David” is by putting up a “Saul”.

JohnM
JohnM
8 years ago
Reply to  David Trounce

We agree on this much “…a victory for him opens up the way for absolutely anything to happen”. On the other hand there is no particular reason to expect that shot in the dark would result in Trump’s conversion, or a good deal of American repentance (except of having voted for Trump), or anything else good.

David Trounce
8 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

Agreed. I do not think we should “expect” anything from anyone in this campaign. Then again, God has often done just what we thought He would not do by means we never considered. So, with Trump I feel there is at least the possibility of something different from what the US has gotten used to.

andrewlohr
andrewlohr
8 years ago

I suspect Trump is kinda bored. Bill Clinton too. They’ve bought everything and slept with everybody and it wears kind of thin. Pastor Joe Novenson at Lookout Mtn Pres has said rich men around there have told him this about themselves. They should read Ecclesiastes.

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
8 years ago

It is absolutely amazing how many times one can say, “Be careful what you wish for” in one day. Every day. Every single day.
I’m sure there is a scripture verse that pretty much says that, but I cannot think of it. Numbers 11:4 and the events following is an illustration of the concept: And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
But that’s not what I’m looking for. Any help here?