SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2024
A second friend quickly joined in: As it seems to have turned out, Donald J. Trump didn't get to sixty percent. Nikki Haley didn't make it to forty.
Each candidate fell a smidgeon sort of a statistical goal. The official totals seem to go like this:
South Carolina Republican primary:
Donald J. Trump: 59.8%
Nikki Haley: 39.5%
Is a 20-point win a lot or a little? That's where the dueling propagandas will now start to come in.
Early this morning, on Fox & Friends Weekend, the propaganda started up fast. Inevitably, it was Rachel Campos-Duffy who first uttered the word:
CAMPOS-DUFFY (2/25/25): What's the pathway forward for her to get delegates?
HEGSETH (sarcastically): It's 40 percent, Rachel. It's 40 percent. Forty percent, not 50 percent. That's what she said.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: But since she didn't really explain, because she can't explain, how she can win, because she can't win, it leaves wide open the possibility that she's just a saboteur.
HEGSETH: Yeah.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: And that's, I think, where people are at.
HEGSETH: Fair point.
Candidate Haley's a saboteur! So was Robert Cummings in Alfred Hitchcock's 1942 clunker of that very name:
Saboteur (film)
Saboteur is a 1942 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker. The film stars Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd.
Plot
Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane wrongly falls under suspicion of setting fire to his Glendale, California manufacturing plant during World War II, an act of domestic sabotage...
The Robert Cummings character was seen as a saboteur. At of 6:09 a.m., so was Nikki Haley!
As we've noted in the past, Campos-Duffy has a tendency to see "Communists" and / or "Marxists" (her terms) under every bed. This morning, she moved on to "saboteur," with no explanation provided.
It's possible that Haley's a saboteur, Campos-Duffy said at 6:09 a.m. At 6:46, her statement was echoed by a second friend as he spoke with a GOP strategist:
HEGSETH: We tried to figure this out last night. It's a million-dollar question. Why is she still in it? It almost—it looks like sabotage at this point. What is it?
It looks like sabotage at this point, Hegseth said.
Questions:
Who or what is Haley supposedly trying to sabotage? Also, why would she try to do that?
No one bothered to ask or to tell. But at 7:09 a.m., Hegseth repeated the point, saying that Haley is now getting money from unnamed "saboteur donors." Everyone's a saboteur now!
At that point, we stopped watching the program. But briefly, during the 8 o'clock hour, we turned the program back on, and there it was again!
Let's give Will Cain credit! At 8:07 a.m., speaking with Shannon Bream, the third weekend friend passed on the chance to affirm the new designation:
CAIN: We've been asking as recently as last night, the three of us, on Pete's Fox Nation special. Why is Nikki Haley running for president? There is not many good answers to that question, and the answer is certainly not to become the Republican nominee for president. That's not the answer.
So the answer is— I don't know if Donald Trump gets taken down by lawfare and she's trying to be an insurance policy, or if she's playing the professional donor game—
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Or if she's a saboteur.
CAIN: Or if she's going, right after Super Tuesday, to switch right over to No Labels and make this a three-person race, Shannon.
To his credit, Cain passed on the chance to affirm the new bomb, "saboteur." On the other hand, he didn't question or challenge the other two friends—didn't ask them to explain what they actually meant by their use of that age-old insinuation.
Key point:
Increasingly, our cable news channels are segregated by viewpoint. Seldom is heard a discouraging word concerning the preferred accusations of the particular moment.
Early this morning, on Fox & Friends Weekend, Haley was being fashioned as a saboteur for the program's red tribe viewers. That said, also this:
Last night, watching MSNBC, we saw Lawrence O'Donnell make a few of the craziest statements we've ever seen him make. Instantly, Rachel Maddow jumped in to second one of his claims.
Segregation by viewpoint is like that. That's how the arrangement works.
In the next few days, we'll visit those angry claims by O'Donnell—claims which were almost insane. Meanwhile, there's very little propaganda in the pages of The Iliad, the western world's first and greatest war poem.
Except when someone's honor was offended against, no one had to be persuaded to fight. Among the Achaeans, everyone knew why he was taking part in the siege of Troy.
Those were different, simpler times. Can we possibly learn to see ourselves in that poem's pages?
You want propaganda? Jonathan Turley is here for you:
ReplyDeletehttps://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/4486580-before-joe-james-and-hunter-there-was-great-great-grandpa-moses/
Why is Bob so puzzled? Since Haley has no chance of being the nominee, why is she running? IMO it’s because anti Trump people are funding her, and running is fun. But, the real result will be to hurt Trump in the general election. Regardless of her intent, the effect of hex effort is to sabotage Trump
ReplyDeleteOr, you know, maybe she believes she would make a better President than Trump, and that there is a subset of Republicans who find Trump odious.
DeleteOr, you know, you could find it impossible that there are actual republicans who dislike Trump, and thus it must be “sabotage.” What a fool.
She got almost 40% of the GOP primary vote, David.
DeleteWomen are 50% of the electorate. I suspect that a lot of Haley voters are female.
DeleteTrump is upset because he may have to earn the nomination when he thought it was his by fiat or divine right.
Delete@1:47 maybe she would make a better President than Trump, but she cannot be nominated.
Delete@1:47 40 per cent of the vote in her home state is a terrible result.
@2:13 Trump now has the nomination wrapped up. Haley is saying bad things about Trump that will hurt him in the general election
40% of the vote in her home state is an admirable result considering she is up against a MAGA cult that has done much better in the past. Biden had 96% of the Democratic vote. That's what Trump's vote should have looked like -- but it didn't.
DeleteHaley has the right to speak her mind and express her views, whether it would hurt Trump or not. Every American and especially presidential candidates have that right in our democracy. Trump is not going to win anyway. Some pundits are predicting a Democratic landslide based on performance in special elections, demographics, and the recognition by Democrats that Trump needs to be defeated. That is going to bring out sufficient votes on the left to defeat Trump (if he isn't in jail or in the hospital first).
maybe she would make a better President than Trump,
DeleteA bloody baboon would make a better president than trump.
I agree with you 3:55 that Trump will lose the general election. I agree that Haley has the right to say whatever she wants. What I am saying is that when a member of one party says things that will hurt her own party, that is properly called “sabotage”
DeleteTrump is not the party, no matter what he thinks. Haley is campaigning against her opponent, Trump, not the Republican party which she remains part of. That is how an election works.
DeleteWhat party David in Cal?, the fascist Trump one, or the tax cuts for the rich screw the poor Nikki one? Nikki polls much better than Trump vs. Biden. Trump could not just be convicted of more crimes, but this time of crimes that could put him in jail. She should keep running as a backstop to the unhinged now years long loser for the Repub party.
DeleteWhy does no one ask "why is Trump running for president?" Why did he run in 2015? Why did Biden run in 2020?
ReplyDeleteNikki Haley has the background and qualifications to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. She was governor and she served in Trump's cabinet as United Nations delegate. It is demeaning to ask why she is running and ridiculous to suggest she is a saboteur instead of providing an alternative for Republican voters.
There are sexist overtones in the assumptions by the Fox hosts, but also on Somerby's part when he fails call out the sexism in their reaction to her candidacy. That 39% that Haley achieved represents a lot of Republicans who are unhappy with Trump and who do not consider him the presumptive nominee. She has donors because there are people who do not want to see Trump gain another term. That is how elections work. Donors back their preferred candidates.
Nikki Haley has explained why she is running. She said "In America we have elections, not coronations!
Democracy is under threat when one candidate tells others they cannot run. The voters will decide. In the meantime, Haley is doing a service by showing the electorate what a normal Republican is like. It is important that she continue doing that, especially as Trump deteriorates.
Anonymouse 2:07pm, by doing this spiel, you’ve certainly made it clear that you don’t think Haley has a chance in hell of being the Republican presidential candidate.
DeleteI think she may have a chance if Trump drops out of the race or is out of commission. But at that point, other Republicans may jump in too.
DeleteI don't think Trump has a chance in hell of winning in November. He will be solidly beaten by Biden. Haley's numbers show that. In a Southern Republican state, Trump couldn't get 60% of the vote. Haley's numbers reveal the weakness of support for Trump among Republicans. Some of them will vote for Biden and some will stay home and not vote, but it doesn't need to be very many to prevent Trump from beating Biden.
THAT is why Republicans are attacking Haley, but they should instead be looking at the weaknesses of their own candidate. His speech yesterday was so full of bloopers that his cognitive problems should be obvious even to those with no idea what dementia looks like. Trump is a goner. That doesn't mean that Haley will win the primary or in November, but it does make her right to be warning Republicans about their other candidate.
You should admire her. She is speaking Truth to Power.
Anonymouse 3:51pm, my point is that if Haley were in any… danger… of being the nominee, your above sentiments would change on a dime.
DeleteIf Haley has a chance due to Trump being unable to run, we will see the injection of her ethnicity in the race. Within ten minutes of the news, she will be called a sell-out.
Your kind words will all disappear into the sinkhole of anonymity.
If Trump bows out, Republicans will attack Haley for being an immigrant.
DeleteJust like they do about Melania and her chain migration parents.
DeleteAnonymouse 4:50pm, and you’ll call her Aunt Tomasina.
DeleteCecelia, what is your problem? Haley is a very conservative republican. We don't want a very conservative republican in the white house. Why would we.
DeleteIt is you people who are throwing out anyone who doesn't bend their knee to orange chickenshit. You yourself have tossed several sharp knives at Liz Cheney, so cut the shit.
Anonymouse 8:20am, scroll up. Anonymices are mouthing odes to Haley.
DeleteI know you don’t want her in the WH, so cut the bullshite.
Trolls being upset about being trolled will never not be funny.
DeleteCecelia, Haley is a conservative republican running for the republican nomination. We want the WH to remain in the hands of a Democrat. However, she is not fucking insane, a treasonous criminal, and vowing to take revenge on the country if he is handed the power again. So that makes Haley a thousand times more preferable. Is this difficult for you?
DeleteThe point Ive reiterated several times is that Haley would instantly become all those things AND Aunt Tomasine.
Deleteand you're full of shit, Cecelia.
DeleteHillary, you call David those things NOW, let alone what you’d start calling Haley.
Delete"Except when someone's honor was offended against, no one had to be persuaded to fight. Among the Achaeans, everyone knew why he was taking part in the siege of Troy.
ReplyDeleteThose were different, simpler times. Can we possibly learn to see ourselves in that poem's pages?"
Somerby treats the Iliad as if it were history instead of fiction, but there was no one there recording any battle(s) and even Homer (if he existed as a single person) wouldn't know the details of what happened, much less who said what to whom?
I think it is highly unlikely that those times were simpler. For one thing, everything thing people wore, used, or ate had to be made by hand, grown or caught and cooked over an open fire. Technology has arguably made our current lives easier and less complicated (simpler). For another, we are protected from weather, wild animals and enemies outside the gates in our current society. There is far less danger. We understand health much better, so people live longer, more children reach maturity, our lives are less painful. Things like cataracts are repaired, blood sugar controlled, childhood diseases are prevented. That makes our lives more secure and thus simpler. Far fewer people today have food insecurity than in ancient Troy. And how stressful would it be to worry about angering this god or that one, and having to make sacrifices to appease all of them, to prevent some asshole god from stealing a daughter or ruining crops? It is bad enough to worry about appeasing one god (for today's religious) but an increasingly large percentage of people these days are non-religious.
What is Somerby's complaint about today? We are divided by politics are argue too much. How silly would someone in Troy consider that complaint? That is, if Troy resembled anything in Homer's fervid imagination. Because the Iliad is NOT REAL. That makes comparing it to today's problems and deciding it was simpler (because Homer chose to make it simple, perhaps in order to focus on the war story instead of the larger context of their society), a fool's reaction. How can the past be simpler when men are continually stealing each others' women?
Somerby perhaps likes the Iliad precisely because Homer oversimplifies the complexities. You can do that with fiction but not reality, unless you want to become stupid and Republican.
DeleteThey are upset with Nikki Haley because she is complicating the election.
His complaint highlights the tendency of cable news channels to segregate viewpoints and promote preferred accusations without questioning or challenging them. It also mentions the need for a more nuanced and thoughtful approach to political discourse.
DeleteDespite Somerby's hyper-appeasement, approval for Biden is only down to 38%, just one point away from his all-time low. His subpar approval ratings for his handling of immigration, the Middle East situation, foreign affairs, the economy, and the situation in Ukraine are offset by his popularity on TikTok. . Crickets from Semerby.
DeleteFavorabiity ratings are not a good predictor of election results in November. They are being used to attack Biden.
DeleteTotally! Biden is cruising to victory.
DeleteThere are experts saying that. Meanwhile Trump is self-destructing.
DeleteAll the best people are saying it.
DeleteFavorability ratings are a one-person contest. Elections are not.
DeleteHeather Cox Richardson says it plain as day: we are winning the war in Ukraine.
DeleteCandidates who clearly have no chance of winning are always running. Not so long ago, we had races where it was routine for the public to have a pretty firm grasp of who was going to win before election night, this did not cause the doomed major party candidate to drop out of the race.
ReplyDeleteWhy do the outliers run? Maybe they want attention. Maybe they feel the represent an important viewpoint that they feel could one day take hold and improve the Country.
Fox News knows this. In 2000 there was no more celebrated person on Fox News than Ralph Nader. They knew Ralph could not win but they did not debase him and treat him like a fool because they knew he could help their chosen candidate by running. That’s the sad way it turned out.
Bob knows this too. He writes as if someone running with no real chance of winning is some sinister thing that has never happened before. He likes to mislead his readers when it suites his purpose, however short term.
Haley does not seem totally stupid. So She may understand that in 2015, in the interest of
her own naked ambition, She joined a group of really evil people and hurt her country really badly. I wonder if Bob sees this as impossible, because he has chosen a very craven path of denial about who Trump is and what he is about.
“Saboteur” is lower lovel Hitch but it ends with an effective sequence which can resonate with 2024. A driven, evil man plunges to his death from the top of the Statue of Liberty. With a spot of luck this is what we will see of Trump’s political life this year. All wise and decent Americans have joined this effort. Bob really hasn’t, because he is a foolish child of a man and something of an @sshole who can’t admit when events have shown him to be wrong.
Bob did change his tune about listening to "the Others", once we started reporting back what they said.
DeleteWhen Nikki Haley was governor, she refused to expand Medicaid.
ReplyDeleteNo one is saying she isn't a Republican. We are saying she is telling the truth about Trump.
DeleteIf she's really against Trump she should support Biden.
DeleteTrump won South Carolina but only barely. On to Michigan!!!
Delete"Donald Trump's victory speech in South Carolina after winning the Republican Party presidential primary drew a mixture of laughter and stunned reactions on MSNBC Saturday night that led to more questions about his fitness to not only be re-elected but also to run for the presidency a third time.
ReplyDeleteAs members of the panel noted, the former president went to great lengths to thank his family members and their spouses but made a glaring omission by forgetting his son Eric Trump and his wife Lara whom he has endorsed to become co-chair of the RNC.
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Asked for comment about the whole affair, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointed to the 'incoherence" of the speech — where the former president also misidentified the supporters standing behind him — and said his speech was the kind of "schtick" the public has become accustomed to.
"There is all of the weirdness of it, " she told her co-hosts before issuing an exasperated, "What are you talking about!?"
This just adds evidence to the examples previously cited of his rapidly deteriorating dementia. Trump is not well. Nikki Haley didn't cause that, but she is pointing it out to Republicans, who should be paying attention not attacking her for it.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-rambling-and-incoherence/
Steve Bannon told an interviewer in a right wing podcast that he knew Trump was demented during his presidency and considered invoking the 25th amendment (for what it's worth, considering the source, who ultimately benefited nonetheless from a presidential pardon). If the Republican party were to remove him from the ticket at this point they would have a huge problem with the base, who have been listening to his word salad for many months and not faltered in their overwhelming support. The conspiracy theorists would have a heyday. That said, if Haley, who is the only challenger with balls enough to continue challenging him, were not next up to bat, that would be a huge problem for her supporters, a base that is growing and includes suburban Republican women voters who see her as softer on their issues than, let's say , DeSantis (the most unlikeable and polarizing politician in recent history). The corner they find themselves in by ignoring the obvious for so long is a difficult one. My bet is that they will remain spineless.
Delete"...let's say , DeSantis (the most unlikeable and polarizing politician in recent history). ..."
DeleteThat's why DiC loves him.
Quote of the Day
ReplyDeleteFebruary 25, 2024 at 12:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“I’ve seen him up close, I’ve seen him from afar, but here’s my point: It’s because of his age that he’s been so successful.”
— Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), quoted by Politico, on President Biden."
Political Wire
Memory lapses are part of normal aging, but some abilities improve with age: wisdom, experience, knowledge, emotional stability and people skills.
Grifters like Brand prey on the conspiracy-minded, like Weirdo Mao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo4gIihETu8
ReplyDeleteWe could have avoided two thousand years of problems if we had stayed true to the ancient gods. To regain their favor, we must make sacrifices to them. I propose that we sacrifice David in Cal to Athena, and then we sacrifice Cecelia to Poseidon.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:08pm, I’d rather go to Mars.
DeleteNo problem. We’ll sacrifice you to Ares.
DeleteSo it’s Greek to you.
DeleteWell, we’ve been discussing the Iliad. But if you like the Roman gods, sure, we’ll sacrifice you to Mars.
DeleteAnonymouse 7:58am, if anonymices do human sacrifices it’s going to be third trimester babies on the alter of Morloch or Gaia.
DeleteNo. We’ll sacrifice embryos.
DeleteYou already do.
DeleteNext, we’ll sacrifice zygotes.
DeleteJust toss one pregnant man into a volcano. You’re covered.
DeleteWhy won't Haley leave the race?
ReplyDeleteLet's look the obvious answer square on: there's a non-zero chance that Trump will be so mired in his legal troubles that he or the party will decide it's in everyone's interests for him not to run. As the last competitor standing, Haley wins by default.
The likelihood of this happening is a matter one can debate.
Quaker — I agree that Trump might not run, either because of legal or age-related problems. In that case, the elected delegates would make the choice. Most of these delegates are Trump loyalists. IMO they would not choose Haley. They would probably go for DeSantis.
DeleteI’d say these two comments, by Q and D, are the two most reality-based comments in this entire thread.
ReplyDeleteสล็อต เว็บ ตรง จากค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ชื่อดังอันดับ 1 ที่นักพนันทั่วโลกให้การยอมรับว่าเป็นค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่ดีที่สุดตลอดกาลกับค่าย PG SLOT ที่มาแรงที่สุดในปี 2022
ReplyDelete