The key political asset of our time is the ability to tell any lie, however outrageous or absurd, with a perfectly straight face: eyes straight and flat, no lifting of either corner of the mouth, and no tightening of either nostril. Moreover, the liar must be able to maintain that solemn-as-a-judge expression through a series of shocked inquiries as to “what you really meant by that.” Without that skill, the aspirant to power needn’t bother aspiring.
Alternately, as a prized lapel button from my vast collection puts it:
Sincerity is the ultimate asset:
If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
Yes, I know I’m a terrible cynic. But I’m also right.
I admire President Trump for several reasons, but the one at the top of my thoughts just now might seem peculiar: He’s unwilling to police his own words for political advantage. One of the consequences is that his enemies, who are legion, can easily find in his statements words and phrases they can misquote and use to make him seem like something he’s not. In witness whereof, we have the following:
Leftists across social media freaked out on Saturday after Donald Trump warned of a “bloodbath” in the automobile industry if Joe Biden wins in November.
Trump made the remarks during a rally in Dayton, Ohio, where he was warning about the impacts on the automobile industry if he is not re-elected.
“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it,” Trump said during a rally near Dayton, Ohio. “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
Language like that is a Trump trademark. He knows what he’s talking about: the importance of the American auto industry to the national economy. His enemies and detractors know it as well…but their utter shamelessness permits them to exploit his choice of words for denigration:
Biden-Harris Communications Director Michael Tyler: Trump is promising a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses. The same guy who said there were ‘very fine people’ in Charlottesville, told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by, and champions insurrectionists. This is who Trump is pic.twitter.com/RKvG1BEOdT
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 17, 2024
Apparently, former Congressvermin and current MSNBC venom-spewer Joe Scarborough – hard to believe he once claimed to be a Republican, isn’t it? – tweeted something similar. He deleted it after being called to account by Elon Musk. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear him allude to the “bloodbath” slur during his show. If I were so idiotic as to watch his show, that is.
This is the Left in all its evil glory. They regard nothing as too outrageous or too vile to employ for their purposes. Even when their attributions of malicious intent are easy to refute, they carry on. They know that their devotees listen only to them, and are as uninterested in truth or justice as they.
They acknowledge no rules to the contest. Only winning matters to them.
Oftentimes, American conservatives have lamented “our” people’s reluctance to participate in the scrum by the Left’s rules: i.e., none at all. There’s a lot of irony in that. As I’ve detailed it many times before, I’ll spare you this fine post-Saint Patrick’s Day morning. Leaving aside whether “our” people are truly “ours,” would we still regard them as such were they as shameless as the Left?
We retain a hunger for probity and integrity in public men. We look for it ceaselessly…sadly, in vain far more often than not. Yet we found a modicum of it in Donald Trump. We were thrilled beyond measure when, in defiance of all precedent, he followed through on his campaign promises.
What followed was easy to predict: Trump became the Left’s prime target for calumny and vilification. We’re not allowed to hope that public servants of high principle might return to our Republic. The Left will crush that hope by any means necessary. Their media megaphone is more useful to them for that purpose than for any other…and they’re utterly shameless about exploiting it.
Forgive me, Gentle Reader. I’m a bit heartsick today. Perhaps it’s the cabbage. Or perhaps it’s the collapse of my vestigial belief in the fundamental soundness of our nation as originally constituted. Even a complete cynic can lament the failure of the greatest political experiment of the Christian era. Verily, even one who’s become convinced that it was doomed from the start.
If the shameless have an unstoppable play in their playbooks, it’s time to quit the game.
UPDATE: Scarborough, as many (including your humble Curmudgeon) have predicted, decided to double down:
NEW: Joe Scarborough has meltdown on live air after getting called out on X for the ‘Bloodbath’ hoax, tries convincing his audience that he’s “not stupid.”
Remarkable.
“These id*ots on Twitter, these id*ots on, on, on, on cable news, these id*ots on Sunday shows…“
“It’s just… pic.twitter.com/fDv2sVyhNY
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 18, 2024
And of course, when he was called on it, he acted as if he were the injured party. Typical of the shameless.
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The Democrat talking heads lie to your face and smile while doing it. Who could possible believe that this is the kind of people you want to run the country. This isn’t by accident or because they misunderstood. It is always their intent to hide what they are doing and lie to your face and if you tell them or show them that you know that they are lying they smile at you because they know there is nothing you can do about it.
I have sent our local NBC affiliate an email expressing disgust with their biased “reporting” and I use that phrase with disdain. They are in lockstep with each other. NBC might be bad but the rest are just as bad or worse. Even Fox has gone the way of the liar and cheat.
I would like to find a local news source that is not biased but, all of them are sucking the same teat. They spew the lies of the left with no disdain or even shame. They are not “journalists” but, propagandists and Goebbels would love them dearly.
When Trump wins the Presidency we all expect him to do so much. Cut through the red tape, fix the border, get our military in order, fix the illegals here in our cities, fix the homeless, repair and replace the upper floor of the CIA and FBI, restore everything that’s wrong. But he only has 4 years to do so. He can’t lose time with a dem house and senate. So his pick for the VP is critical and as important. Some one capable of stepping in and carrying their banner to the next 8 years. Can’t be DeSantis with both from Florida. Out of the one’s left on stage with him at the end I wasn’t impressed. I do like the one who’s the young CEO. But would he help or hurt the ticket.
Dem’s for the most part have already signed their pack with the devil.
Meh, more bread and circuses for the sheep