Reputation matters. The media has crossed the line of irresponsibility and culpability for actual violence. It's time for this to stop. We need more like Jonah who are willing to quit.
If you haven't already - purchase a subscription to The Dispatch. The market doesn't work if people don't vote with the feet. Jonah, Steve, and the rest of the Dispatch crew are doing GREAT work over there.
If anyone is interested, they were recently doing a promotion where current subscribers could gift a month-long subscription to someone else. If any Racket fans want to give Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg's vision of what media should be, leave a comment or send me a note to substack@aetherial.net and I'll see how many gift subscriptions I have left.
Not surprising that I’d see Jonah and Steve do what they did in resigning as FNC contributors. I’ve been long time fans of Jonah and Steve going back to well over a decade, and what they did just reinforces why I’m strongly supportive of their work at the Dispatch. That and NRO(where I became better acquainted with the works of Jonah and David French) the two conservative media outlets I support(I have NRO plus and Dispatch paid subscriptions) the most.
I've flirted with a National Review subscription (currently a Dispatch, Bulwark, and Reason supporter), but each time I was about to pull the trigger, I'd read something that suggested my money would be spent better elsewhere. After their big anti-Trump issue in 2016, they seemed eager to fall in line during his administration (and I can understand the financial reasons why they would do that).
Have they gotten their bearings back, or should expect a similar squishiness, should we - here in the Darkest Timeline - elect Trump again in 2024?
I see where you are coming from Chris, and that is a rational viewpoint. One that I appreciate and respect.
What is interesting about the National Review is that their writers run the gamut from Never-Trump to moderately devoted populist conservative Trump voters, plus Trump agnostics. Collectively averaged, it would seem NR is squishy, but individually, their views on Trump largely depended on the writer. On the Never-Trump conservative end, you have Kevin Williamson(one of my all time favorites for his unsparing, provocative commentary), Ramesh Ponnuru, Dan McLaughlin, Jay Nordlinger, John McCormack, and a few others. The Trump agnostics would probably include Jim Geraghty, Charles CW Cooke, Alexandra DeSanctis, Andrew McCarthy, and a few others. These group of people either reluctantly voted for Trump, or chose not to vote for him, but are mostly near the middle when it comes to sentiments associated with the former President. Then you have writers like Dougherty, Butler, Fowler, and others who view populism, and thus the Trump presidency, more favorably. Though they are still by no means hard edged sycophants like Hannity or Ingraham.
As a NeverTrump conservative myself, my views obviously align with the NR’s NeverTrump contingent of writers. I do however find a lot of value in comparing my views also with the Trump agnostics and the more favorably inclined to Trump voices on NR. It’s a good way to ensure that I have a better understanding of what and why the more pro-Trump contingent believe in. That way, I don’t misrepresent their views(I really hate it when others do that to me, a NeverTrumper, in bad faith. So I try not to do the same). Also, I’ve seen some fellow NeverTrumpers end up in an echo-chamber of their own, and have seen them jettison their principles because of Trumpism, and have ended up incorrectly and inaccurately evaluating and assessing comparatively more pro-Trump voices. In some cases, they even misrepresent NeverTrump conservatives who fail to deliver sufficient performative anti-Trump sentiments to their satisfaction. A major reason why I subscribed to NR, is that I’d much rather have these much more rational, populist/Trump inclined voices thriving instead of MAGA superfans and cultists. Furthermore, I believe these voices can not only serve as a bulwark against the extreme populist right, but rein their excesses in a way that an ardent anti-Trump guy like myself can never do.
As a NeverTrump conservative, I want to change hearts and minds and win over pro-Trump friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and everyone else in supporting a revitalized conservative movement without Trump and populist extremism.
On another note, I think the Democrats need to have it drilled in their thick, stubborn heads that keeping DJT away from the White House is largely dependent on their collective governance. I can understand why a progressive Democrat may not like 3rd Way, centrist policies. But as long as Biden and the Dems keeps kowtowing to the hard left, they are helping rehabilitate the Former Guy, potentially back in the White House as the 47th POTUS. I mean the last two Dem Presidents had disastrous midterms in 1994 and 2010, but recovered two years later to win re-election. Biden could go that route after a bad 2022 midterm. Or he can self-destruct like Jimmy Carter in 1980. The latter we all agree is a depressing prospect if the GOP cannot move past Trump.
I'll have to give them a look again and see how they're doing then. Following Jonathan V. Last's lead over at The Bulwark, my main litmus test will be to what extent NR's stable of writers reliably reflect a #NeverCoup mindset[1] that doesn't tolerate writers who either cast doubt on the last election or is laying the groundwork for doubting the outcome of the next one.
To their credit, Andy McCarthy - who never seemed to tire of finding clever legal arguments to excuse Trump's behavior - can be a model on this front as he seems to have been solidly on the right side of democracy in the 2020[2] election and beyond[3].
I'll give them another look and see how they do. Thanks for the vote of confidence in that publication.
All right everyone! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And that includes leaving each other alone to celebrate with friends and family. I’m gonna suspend comments on this post. Thanks everyone for reading it and now let’s forget politics for a day.
And regarding Charles Krauthammer, he is a conservative voice of reason that I sorely miss. His very incisive, insightful, and rational takes on political matters was one of a kind. I’ve listened to his commentary for years, but I had no idea until just a few years prior to his passing that he was paraplegic. I saw him once at Dulles Airport in a motorized scooter, and only then realized that fact. I think Krauthammer would’ve approved wholeheartedly of The Dispatch and the work Steve and Jonah do there.
This is a never-Trump hive. No tolerance at all, no consideration of what he did far better than the idiots in charge now. One of the things you said while scolding me about a complaint I expressed was that you would never make the Racket a never-Trump site. Intentional or otherwise, that's what it has become But, it's a free country. I'm Trump tolerant and can see nothing good in the current administration.
I do read whatever I can get free from The Dispatch and would not recommend it to anyone. One theme, one point of view and if you pay for the right to comment as a Trump tolerant Republican, your comments would be buried in an avalanche of hate Trump and hate Republicans until they become democrats.
Without exception, the Dispatch is never Trump. I think we here at The Racket News tend to be more balanced in that we have differing opinions. I would say that we are united in our belief that Trump was, in the end, bad for the nation. Not accepting the peaceful transfer of power (except by the weight of reality) is objectively bad.
In your comment above, you complain that Trump critics have "no consideration of what he did far better than the idiots in charge now", and then you follow that up with your opinion that you "can see nothing good in the current administration". If you refuse to recognize what is good in the current administration while complaining that folks see nothing good in Trump's administration, you seem to be telling people to "do as you say, not as you do".
If it makes you feel better, as one of the more vocal Trump critics, I have in the past given his administration credit for the great work that they did in lifting the obscuring veil around medical billing and improving the transparency around health care costs. That is an unabashed good that on this Thanksgiving week, I am grateful that Trump and his team accomplished. His candidacy and administration also deserve credit for politically empowering folks outside the major American population centers and coasts, and reminding Washington that people in "flyover country" matter. (Now, I may not agree with what they are saying, but I'm glad they're finally being heard, having hailed from flyover country myself.)
That all said Trump committed an unforgivable sin after the election, when instead of acting like a grown-ass man about his electoral loss, he played the role of a petulant toddler in the White House far after the time that it became clear to anyone with eyes that Joe Biden won the election. The cornerstone of this country - established when George Washington stepped down and refused to become a king of the US - is that above all - we respect and honor the peaceful transfer of power from one party to the next, reflecting the will and the votes of the American electorate.
January 6th brought this into stark relief as a Trumpist mob (they weren't flying Biden flags) interrupted that process in the transfer of power under the lie that Trump continues to peddle to this day that he won the election. While his own Vice President was fleeing for his safety, Trump sat on his thumbs and admired the mob that was flying his flag, and trying to keep him in an office that he rightfully and fairly lost.
From here until the next Inauguration in January 2025, the Biden administration may get absolutely everything wrong. However, the one thing that it will do correctly - and this is the most important thing - is step down should his incompetence induce voters to drum him out of office. And on that vital metric alone, Trump is and will remain worse than the current administration as he refuses to acknowledge that the government works for the American voters, and when those voters tell you to leave, you get the hell out of the White House like a reasonable human being.
Biden probably won't get the opportunity to face the voters again. I did like your "grown-ass man" comment. I hear that a lot from Tyrus on the Gutfield! show.
I can't totally agree with your account of the events at the Capitol but I agree Biden is the President and Trump should acknowledge that and move on. My position has not changed. I do not know how much election cheating there was in 2020 but I'm convinced it should have been investigated more. Barring that, states that really care should strengthen their election laws.
I will give you credit for enumerating most of Biden's faults and failures in one post I remember (at least I think it was you). But neither you or anyone else has told me what the Biden administration has done to make this country better.
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't this about 2 fox contributors who left because they didn't like the lies Tucker was telling? How does Trump play into that?
From the comments. And, I haven't seen Tucker's special but I doubt he was lying. He was probably placing emphasis on his point of view. Have you seen it?
They said so? I would also say things to justify my actions if I actually did any work involving income. Have you seen the show(s)? I read two accounts, both from left wing sites. They both used extreme language to push their viewpoint and smear Tucker. To me it boiled down to Tucker gave people a platform to speak their mind. They had conspiracy theories that weren't well vetted but there is probably some truth, but very little, somewhere in what they said.
I've said before I do not think the riot was an insurrection. The stiffest sentence so far is deserved for assaulting a peace officer. There is another for obstructing a peace office. Most of the rest will be for misdemeanors such as trespassing. We will not see a conviction for sedition. The riot did not compare to the burning, looting and violence in major cities. It only temporarily interfered with congressional business - sorta like Code Pink with more people involved. There has been worse violence in the Capitol.
If you haven't already - purchase a subscription to The Dispatch. The market doesn't work if people don't vote with the feet. Jonah, Steve, and the rest of the Dispatch crew are doing GREAT work over there.
If anyone is interested, they were recently doing a promotion where current subscribers could gift a month-long subscription to someone else. If any Racket fans want to give Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg's vision of what media should be, leave a comment or send me a note to substack@aetherial.net and I'll see how many gift subscriptions I have left.
Good suggestion. I was a founding member of The Dispatch. It was worth every dollar.
Good for Goldberg and Hayes. Eventually you stop trying to swim upstream in a cesspool.
Not surprising that I’d see Jonah and Steve do what they did in resigning as FNC contributors. I’ve been long time fans of Jonah and Steve going back to well over a decade, and what they did just reinforces why I’m strongly supportive of their work at the Dispatch. That and NRO(where I became better acquainted with the works of Jonah and David French) the two conservative media outlets I support(I have NRO plus and Dispatch paid subscriptions) the most.
I've flirted with a National Review subscription (currently a Dispatch, Bulwark, and Reason supporter), but each time I was about to pull the trigger, I'd read something that suggested my money would be spent better elsewhere. After their big anti-Trump issue in 2016, they seemed eager to fall in line during his administration (and I can understand the financial reasons why they would do that).
Have they gotten their bearings back, or should expect a similar squishiness, should we - here in the Darkest Timeline - elect Trump again in 2024?
I see where you are coming from Chris, and that is a rational viewpoint. One that I appreciate and respect.
What is interesting about the National Review is that their writers run the gamut from Never-Trump to moderately devoted populist conservative Trump voters, plus Trump agnostics. Collectively averaged, it would seem NR is squishy, but individually, their views on Trump largely depended on the writer. On the Never-Trump conservative end, you have Kevin Williamson(one of my all time favorites for his unsparing, provocative commentary), Ramesh Ponnuru, Dan McLaughlin, Jay Nordlinger, John McCormack, and a few others. The Trump agnostics would probably include Jim Geraghty, Charles CW Cooke, Alexandra DeSanctis, Andrew McCarthy, and a few others. These group of people either reluctantly voted for Trump, or chose not to vote for him, but are mostly near the middle when it comes to sentiments associated with the former President. Then you have writers like Dougherty, Butler, Fowler, and others who view populism, and thus the Trump presidency, more favorably. Though they are still by no means hard edged sycophants like Hannity or Ingraham.
As a NeverTrump conservative myself, my views obviously align with the NR’s NeverTrump contingent of writers. I do however find a lot of value in comparing my views also with the Trump agnostics and the more favorably inclined to Trump voices on NR. It’s a good way to ensure that I have a better understanding of what and why the more pro-Trump contingent believe in. That way, I don’t misrepresent their views(I really hate it when others do that to me, a NeverTrumper, in bad faith. So I try not to do the same). Also, I’ve seen some fellow NeverTrumpers end up in an echo-chamber of their own, and have seen them jettison their principles because of Trumpism, and have ended up incorrectly and inaccurately evaluating and assessing comparatively more pro-Trump voices. In some cases, they even misrepresent NeverTrump conservatives who fail to deliver sufficient performative anti-Trump sentiments to their satisfaction. A major reason why I subscribed to NR, is that I’d much rather have these much more rational, populist/Trump inclined voices thriving instead of MAGA superfans and cultists. Furthermore, I believe these voices can not only serve as a bulwark against the extreme populist right, but rein their excesses in a way that an ardent anti-Trump guy like myself can never do.
As a NeverTrump conservative, I want to change hearts and minds and win over pro-Trump friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and everyone else in supporting a revitalized conservative movement without Trump and populist extremism.
On another note, I think the Democrats need to have it drilled in their thick, stubborn heads that keeping DJT away from the White House is largely dependent on their collective governance. I can understand why a progressive Democrat may not like 3rd Way, centrist policies. But as long as Biden and the Dems keeps kowtowing to the hard left, they are helping rehabilitate the Former Guy, potentially back in the White House as the 47th POTUS. I mean the last two Dem Presidents had disastrous midterms in 1994 and 2010, but recovered two years later to win re-election. Biden could go that route after a bad 2022 midterm. Or he can self-destruct like Jimmy Carter in 1980. The latter we all agree is a depressing prospect if the GOP cannot move past Trump.
I'll have to give them a look again and see how they're doing then. Following Jonathan V. Last's lead over at The Bulwark, my main litmus test will be to what extent NR's stable of writers reliably reflect a #NeverCoup mindset[1] that doesn't tolerate writers who either cast doubt on the last election or is laying the groundwork for doubting the outcome of the next one.
To their credit, Andy McCarthy - who never seemed to tire of finding clever legal arguments to excuse Trump's behavior - can be a model on this front as he seems to have been solidly on the right side of democracy in the 2020[2] election and beyond[3].
I'll give them another look and see how they do. Thanks for the vote of confidence in that publication.
[1] https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/nevercoup
[2] https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/12/a-stunning-passage-from-the-latest-court-rejection-of-team-trump/
[3] https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/07/the-latest-stolen-election-stunts-lesson-move-on-from-trump-or-lose/
All right everyone! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And that includes leaving each other alone to celebrate with friends and family. I’m gonna suspend comments on this post. Thanks everyone for reading it and now let’s forget politics for a day.
And regarding Charles Krauthammer, he is a conservative voice of reason that I sorely miss. His very incisive, insightful, and rational takes on political matters was one of a kind. I’ve listened to his commentary for years, but I had no idea until just a few years prior to his passing that he was paraplegic. I saw him once at Dulles Airport in a motorized scooter, and only then realized that fact. I think Krauthammer would’ve approved wholeheartedly of The Dispatch and the work Steve and Jonah do there.
Indeed, I expect he might have joined them!
This is a never-Trump hive. No tolerance at all, no consideration of what he did far better than the idiots in charge now. One of the things you said while scolding me about a complaint I expressed was that you would never make the Racket a never-Trump site. Intentional or otherwise, that's what it has become But, it's a free country. I'm Trump tolerant and can see nothing good in the current administration.
I do read whatever I can get free from The Dispatch and would not recommend it to anyone. One theme, one point of view and if you pay for the right to comment as a Trump tolerant Republican, your comments would be buried in an avalanche of hate Trump and hate Republicans until they become democrats.
Without exception, the Dispatch is never Trump. I think we here at The Racket News tend to be more balanced in that we have differing opinions. I would say that we are united in our belief that Trump was, in the end, bad for the nation. Not accepting the peaceful transfer of power (except by the weight of reality) is objectively bad.
Mr. Trump certainly had his faults but was he, in the end, worse than the current administration?
In your comment above, you complain that Trump critics have "no consideration of what he did far better than the idiots in charge now", and then you follow that up with your opinion that you "can see nothing good in the current administration". If you refuse to recognize what is good in the current administration while complaining that folks see nothing good in Trump's administration, you seem to be telling people to "do as you say, not as you do".
If it makes you feel better, as one of the more vocal Trump critics, I have in the past given his administration credit for the great work that they did in lifting the obscuring veil around medical billing and improving the transparency around health care costs. That is an unabashed good that on this Thanksgiving week, I am grateful that Trump and his team accomplished. His candidacy and administration also deserve credit for politically empowering folks outside the major American population centers and coasts, and reminding Washington that people in "flyover country" matter. (Now, I may not agree with what they are saying, but I'm glad they're finally being heard, having hailed from flyover country myself.)
That all said Trump committed an unforgivable sin after the election, when instead of acting like a grown-ass man about his electoral loss, he played the role of a petulant toddler in the White House far after the time that it became clear to anyone with eyes that Joe Biden won the election. The cornerstone of this country - established when George Washington stepped down and refused to become a king of the US - is that above all - we respect and honor the peaceful transfer of power from one party to the next, reflecting the will and the votes of the American electorate.
January 6th brought this into stark relief as a Trumpist mob (they weren't flying Biden flags) interrupted that process in the transfer of power under the lie that Trump continues to peddle to this day that he won the election. While his own Vice President was fleeing for his safety, Trump sat on his thumbs and admired the mob that was flying his flag, and trying to keep him in an office that he rightfully and fairly lost.
From here until the next Inauguration in January 2025, the Biden administration may get absolutely everything wrong. However, the one thing that it will do correctly - and this is the most important thing - is step down should his incompetence induce voters to drum him out of office. And on that vital metric alone, Trump is and will remain worse than the current administration as he refuses to acknowledge that the government works for the American voters, and when those voters tell you to leave, you get the hell out of the White House like a reasonable human being.
Biden probably won't get the opportunity to face the voters again. I did like your "grown-ass man" comment. I hear that a lot from Tyrus on the Gutfield! show.
I can't totally agree with your account of the events at the Capitol but I agree Biden is the President and Trump should acknowledge that and move on. My position has not changed. I do not know how much election cheating there was in 2020 but I'm convinced it should have been investigated more. Barring that, states that really care should strengthen their election laws.
I will give you credit for enumerating most of Biden's faults and failures in one post I remember (at least I think it was you). But neither you or anyone else has told me what the Biden administration has done to make this country better.
You are more balanced. It's why I read The Racket.
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't this about 2 fox contributors who left because they didn't like the lies Tucker was telling? How does Trump play into that?
From the comments. And, I haven't seen Tucker's special but I doubt he was lying. He was probably placing emphasis on his point of view. Have you seen it?
lol he was lying. They said so themselves in their resignation letter.
That’s my point here. ALL the media is lying. They do it without thought or humility.
They said so? I would also say things to justify my actions if I actually did any work involving income. Have you seen the show(s)? I read two accounts, both from left wing sites. They both used extreme language to push their viewpoint and smear Tucker. To me it boiled down to Tucker gave people a platform to speak their mind. They had conspiracy theories that weren't well vetted but there is probably some truth, but very little, somewhere in what they said.
I've said before I do not think the riot was an insurrection. The stiffest sentence so far is deserved for assaulting a peace officer. There is another for obstructing a peace office. Most of the rest will be for misdemeanors such as trespassing. We will not see a conviction for sedition. The riot did not compare to the burning, looting and violence in major cities. It only temporarily interfered with congressional business - sorta like Code Pink with more people involved. There has been worse violence in the Capitol.