Like Daniel Pipes, I was #NeverTrump. I vigorously opposed his nomination. I ridiculed and condemned him. And I did not vote for him in 2016. But I agree with Pipes. Trump has overall done a good job, and I will vote for him in November.

Nearly four years later, Trump’s [I’d say: “style”] still troubles and repels me. …

But, to my unending surprise, he has governed as a resolute conservative. His policies in the areas of education, taxes, deregulation, and the environment have been bolder than Ronald Reagan’s. His judicial appointments are the best of the past century (thank you, Leonard Leo). His unprecedented assault on the administrative state proceeds apace, ignoring predictable howls from the Washington establishment. Even his foreign policy has been conservative: demanding that allies contribute their fair share, confronting China and Iran, and singularly supporting Israel. Ironically, as David Harsanyi notes, a potential character flaw actually works to our advantage: “Trump’s obstinacy seems to have made him less susceptible to the pressures that traditionally induce GOP presidents to capitulate.”

(Economic performance drives many voters to support or oppose a sitting president, but not me. Partly, because the president has only limited control; partly, because it’s a transient issue that matters much less than long-term policies.) ….

But, of course, we all disagree with some of what every president does; more surprisingly, I agree with about 80 percent of Trump’s actions, a higher number than any of his predecessors’, going back to Lyndon Johnson.

Well, I definitely don’t think Trump is altogether better than Reagan, but he is certainly more combative.

RTWT

Katha Pollitt, at The Nation, says:

I would vote for Joe Biden if he boiled babies and ate them. He wasn’t my candidate, but taking back the White House is that important. Four more years of Trump will replace what remains of our democracy with unchecked rule by kleptocrats, fascists, religious fanatics, gun nuts, and know-nothings. The environment? Education? Public health? The rights of voters, workers, immigrants, people of color, and yes, women? Forget them. And not just for the next four years: A Trump victory will lock down the courts for decades. I cannot believe that a rational person can grasp the disaster that is Donald Trump and withhold their support from Biden because of Tara Reade.

HT: Weasel Zippers.

Awwww. This is heartbreaking. Please, somebody tell her #Bernie needs another house in the south of France. Surely he’ll run in again in 2024. Until then she should buy a kitten. pic.twitter.com/y82bi9PKbQ

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 10, 2020

Bookworm Room has it right.

Bernie is evil. I know I’m not supposed to say that. I’m supposed to say that he’s just the crazy uncle who’s a straight shooter with his consistent beliefs, something that must earn him respect.

No. This is a man who lived through more than 50% of the 20th century, a century that saw socialism in its various forms send around 100 million people to early graves through murder, war, torture, and slave labor. Bernie was around for that. He was born during WWII; he saw what happened in North Korea; he saw what happened in Vietnam; he saw what happened in Cuba; he saw what happened across Latin America and Africa; he saw what happened in the Soviet Union; and he saw what happened in China. That he can still believe in socialism despite seeing the misery it relentlessly inflicted around the world means that he’s either completely evil or he’s a fool . . . and I don’t think he’s a fool.

Moreover, Bernie is a grossly dishonest person. Back in 2016, when he was merely a parasite who lived off of government and wives, one could say that he was an honest man who lived in accordance with his belief system. Since then, though, as Bloomberg was good enough to point out during the debate, Bernie has become a multimillionaire with real estate holdings and fast cars, who flies around American in private jets.

Rather than give up this wealth as a good true believer should, Bernie has instead given up his attacks on millionaires and now only attacks billionaires. While Trump may puff about statistics, he’s completely honest about his core beliefs. Bernie, however, applied his apparent core beliefs to himself only because he was incapable of earning money (angry communists usually are).

When Bernie finally earned money, he didn’t act like an honest man and say, “I was wrong in my beliefs.” Instead, like every tyrant in the world, he said, “I don’t have to live by the rules I intend to impose on others.” That’s hypocritical and, because socialism and death march hand-in-hand, evil.

————————

Bookworm understates Socialism’s death toll, I’m afraid.

Yuri N. Maltsev discussing the Staggering Toll of the Russian Revolution:

The late Rudolph Rummel, the demographer of government mass murder, estimated the human toll of twentieth-century socialism to be about 61 million in the Soviet Union, 78 million in China, and roughly 200 million worldwide. These victims perished during state-organized famines, collectivization, cultural revolutions, purges, campaigns against ‘unearned’ income, and other devilish experiments in social engineering.”

HT: Vanderleun.

Sundance admires the skilled professionalism of the democrat party organization.

The key takeaways from the Super Tuesday results so far… Joe Biden won significantly, and it looks like those wins were by design. The media are amplifying a strong Biden narrative on behalf of the professional political class within the DNC Club.

(1) If you accept the Club objective to keep the progressive Sanders vote split, and then assemble the non-Sanders vote – all proportional states, the Club was very successful.

(2) As a result of coalescing within the moderate lane, the withdrawal of Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg helped Joe Biden achieve wins in states he never even campaigned in.

(3) If you align Elizabeth Warren votes with Bernie Sanders (progressives) and Michael Bloomberg votes with Joe Biden (Club “moderates”)… Elizabeth Warren staying in the race cost Bernie Sanders wins in Minnesota, Maine and Massachusetts.

(4) Extending the math, the delegate impact from Warren staying in the race was a net negative to Bernie Sanders and a net positive to Joe Biden. Without Warren Bernie would have had larger delegate wins in Utah, Colorado and California.

(5) Joe Biden winning Texas was arguably the biggest surprise.

(6) Without Warren in the race Bernie would have won seven states: Minnesota, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah and California. Biden would have also won seven states: Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas.

(7) If you accept the Club goal was to diminish Bernie Sanders, the plan for Klobuchar and Buttigieg to exit the race and Warren remaining in the race did exactly what was intended.”

RTWT

Long, long ago, a friend from Yale tried running for the Connecticut Legislature from a suburban New Haven district.

I went out to a polling place, took a position the required legal distance away, and began handing out flyers outlining my friend’s positions. Some democrat poll-watchers came over and began denouncing my friend’s candidacy which started a debate between us. I’m a decent talker and I scored some effective points. So I was chuckling to myself at how well everything was going.

Well, in just a few minutes, a couple of cars pulled up and unloaded some new democrats. A well-dressed middle-aged man strode over and took up a position directly in front of me. There was no more debate. He just greeted every voter as he or she arrived by name, shook hands or hugged them, asked how this or that family member was, and thanked them for their vote for Good Old Irv Stolberg.

In the other direction, there was another similar democrat crew doing exactly the same thing.

I was greatly outnumbered within minutes, and by sharp cookies with strong ties to most of the local voting population. I was from Pennsylvania. I knew none of these New Haven voters personally. I was so out-matched it wasn’t even funny. And my friend got slaughtered.

They are doing it for the money and their livings depend on it. They are not theorists or philosophers. They are pros, and they’re not fooling around.