What’s going on in Joe Biden’s mind?
I know; I know – the jokes write themselves.
Biden’s mind? What’s that?
But I continue to think that Biden has more input into all of this than most people believe. And of course, whether he does or doesn’t, the same question can be asked about “Biden’s” mind – that is, the mind or collective minds of those behind-the-scenes people who actually may be running the show.
It was glaringly obvious even while Biden was running for president that his plan was to end our energy independence. To me, that alone should have been enough to ensure that virtually no one would be voting for him, but of course I knew that wasn’t the case. Whether you believe that Biden won because of fraud or whether you think he won fair and square, there isn’t any doubt that a lot of people did vote for him. I certainly know plenty who did.
Why were the Democrats so intent on this obviously destructive path that would weaken the US and its economy, give more power to Putin and Russia, and actually do nothing for the environment (only changing the source from which we get fossil fuels rather than usage)? I believe that, for some of them, weakening the US was a feature rather than a bug. Great Reset and all that.
But for others – and I tend to think Biden was among them – the motives were these:
(1) Whatever Trump did, do the opposite. This was in part reflexive and in part spiteful.
(2) Whatever Obama did, do more of it and go that extra mile.
(3) Virtue-signal to your leftist base and give them what they want, or you will lose them.
Even now, with this Russia invasion of Ukraine, they’re not going to reverse direction.
For Biden, almost everything is political. He’s been in politics nearly his entire adult life, which has been a very long time. I don’t think he has many principles except winning and self-aggrandizement, and though history may not be kind to him he mostly looks at short-term gains. His judgment over the years has proven abominable except in the political sense of landing on his feet.
But now that Biden’s finally achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming president, his actions have a lot more consequences than they did when he was a mere senator. Too bad we all have to suffer as a consequence.
In addition, we are presently poised on the brink of a reportedly disastrous Iran deal. Why is that happening? The short and probably too-simplified answer is that it fulfills all three of the criteria I listed above. An additional answer is that some people in the Biden administration seem to want to do their best to hurt the US and the western world and empower our enemies, and that this isn’t motivated by stupidity but rather by malevolence.
John Derbyshire, the brilliant essayist, novelist, podcaster, and amateur mathematician (two books on the history of math, one on the Riemann Hypothesis) has coined the useful term “Null-T” to describe the undoing and the negation of anything Trump did or might ever have contemplated doing. There are some who also believe, with good reason, that a quagmire in Ukraine is exactly what the DNC and the Biden regime desire, as a distraction (“wag the dog”) from all the domestic disasters and as the furnishing of a useful enemy/scapegoat (one should recall E Goldstein and the “Two-Minutes Hate”) for everything going terribly wrong and likely to grow worse (oil prices, possible food shortages, issues with the supply chain, inflation, etc). It is indeed never bad to have a foreign enemy, whether truly dangerous or at least in part a caricature.
“…but rather by malevolence.”
Well, OK, but there’s got to be a way to shoe-horn “ideology” in there.
“…but rather by extremist ideology shaped and motivated by malevolence.”?
“Malevolence”?
Actually, it’s sheer, perverse destructiveness pure and simple:
“Biden administration appeals to Supreme Court to stop unvaccinated Navy SEAL deployments”—
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/biden-administration-appeals-supreme-court-stop-unvaccinated-navy-seal
File under: “Darkness visible”
The sight of Biden groveling to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for more oil while not even entertaining the thought of increasing domestic production is one of the most amazing political moves ever.
BTW, oil ended up at about $120 a barrel after briefly going over 130 earlier in the session.
Average price of a gallon of gas at $4.10 a new record.
A record, woo-hoo!!!
Something tells me “he” is NOT in the least worried about elections.
Wonder why that might be…
Meanwhile, “Biden”‘s idea of Nirvana may be closer than we think…
‘Carnage Everywhere As Market “Begins To Break’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/carnage-everywhere-market-begins-break
Perfect excuse for declaring a “National Emergency”. (To be sure, it is “Biden” who is the national emergency…but it will be Trump and his Deplorables(TM) who will be tarred and feathered.
And targeted….
I think the Iran deal and the Ukraine takeover are connected. Russia is actually our “partner” in the recent talks with Iran while they simultaneously bomb Ukraine to bits! They may even announce an agreement today.
This is the ne plus ultra of your points 1-3. The lefties/Obamaites want what they consider a triumph back.
They despise us…
I think there are a lot of people, including own political leadership, that truly fear the US as the lone superpower. Perhaps the American political leadership less so, but they like their trips to Davos, Cannes Film Festival, and other places the members of the World Economic Forum like to hang out and write off as business travel. An energy independent US takes away the leverage some of these others might have over the US. If we can feed ourselves and take care of energy, then there are few trade levers anybody could pull to keep the US in check. I think this was the real fear they had of Trump.
However, for Biden, I think there is more to it that is just plain corruption. Biden couldn’t take grift from major oil companies in the west, but he can get it from world leaders that happen to like his son’s art or Hunter’s expertise working on a corporate board. And Biden knows who will do a deal like that and keep their mouth shut. To others, that may look like politics, but good policy would not be brokering deals with Venezuela or Iran.
“In addition, we are presently poised on the brink of a reportedly disastrous Iran deal. Why is that happening?”
Would it surprise anyone if segments of the Biden* Admin prioritize Iran getting nukes in order to shut up Israel permanently?
Neo and the rest of us on this blog have worked the “knave or fool” meme to death. This is more of that thinking. And of course the “doddering old fool” meme is a convenient way for us to default to the “fool” option of the above dichotomy.
But I have grown tired of that formulation. If he were really a fool, everyone around him would have to be a fool too. And if he were really a knave, everyone around him (speaking of the Department of State, Homeland Security, Department of Defense, border security and the National Security apparatus — including the intelligence agencies) would all have to be on board or else someone would be leaking like crazy to news organizations.
Of course many in the Fourth Estate would not carry such news, just as they avoided the Hunter Biden laptop story, but some like Fox News would be all over it. And even though the left does not follow Fox News, enough people in the US do to put it at Number One in cable news.
The only conclusion I am left with is that the left in the US, or a very large part of it, want to destroy the country. It’s a sad conclusion, but nothing else sees to fit the available options.
I assume Biden is a husk led around by his wife, security staff, the White House doctor, and Ron Klain and has no input into much of anything. The foreign policy decisions are being made by Blinken, Sullivan, Austin, and Milley who are bad people not loyal to the United States. The economic policy decisions are being made by Yellen, Powell, and the other Fed governors. The Federal Reserve Board is responsible for the inflation. The majority of its members during the last 14 months were actually appointed by Trump. I’ve seen no passable explanation of their conduct. The supply chain issues are attributable to California emissions regulation and addressing that problem should have been taken up by the EPA (Michael Regan) and the Secretary of Transportation (Buttigieg). They did nothing. Buttigieg wasn’t even showing up for work.
Note, the conduct of the public health officialdom has been so perverse it leads you to believe there is some sort of hidden agenda.
I’m one who doubts Sundowner is doing much, at most gets talked into something so parrots what he is told.
Still think it’s Barky’s minions pulling strings.
Of course the Marxist are loving the destruction of the USA, the Gaia Religion would be happy if gas was $10,($4.46 here in se Pa today)
Art Deco,
I agree with your attribution but the one name you didn’t mention is Barack Obama. How active a decision maker he is who knows but he is in involved in this at some level.
An interesting parallel for me is this Ukraine thing to COVID. Both Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the COVID virus are serious real things but just as with COVID I am far more worried about our leaders response to these things than I am the actual thing. Definitely more the case with COVID but even with this I continue to fear our leaders will stumble us into some shooting war or will make some insane move that will push Putin to do something even worse or drive Russia into some alliance with China that will have far ranging implications beyond Ukraine.
That’s a far bigger fear for me personally but maybe it’s just me.
My impression of Obama is that he reflected in his person the biases of the occupational guilds for which the Democratic Party is the electoral vehicle, and brings little to the table himself except bouts of secretiveness and spite. (With which the bureaucracy was happy to co-operate). Merrick Garland provides the spite.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid.
Daniel Horowitz was on during the second hour of the Dan Bongino radio show today and he did a great job of summing up why so many younger conservative are not all on board the war in Ukraine bandwagon while the Lindsay Graham’s of the world pound the same old war drums over and over.
It really is a generation gap to a large degree.
Can’t find a link to it which is weird since Bongino goes on about Rumble but I can’t find this interview there.
Daniel Horowitz was on during the second hour of the Dan Bongino radio show today and he did a great job of summing up why so many younger conservative are not all on board the war in Ukraine bandwagon while the Lindsay Graham’s of the world pound the same old war drums over and over.
I think you’d have to scrounge to locate anyone advocating American military action. One of the few is Adam Kinzinger.
The distinction is between people sympathetic to the Ukraine and those contemptuous or hostile, and between those attempting to contrive excuses for the Russian government and those who do not.
Griffin:
It’s a trust gap, an information source gap, a knowledge of history gap, and an experience gap. It may somewhat follow generational lines but that’s not quite what I see – I see a lot of older people who are very skeptical and suspicious about the Ukrainian side. Probably more such people among younger generations, but plenty among the older as well.
I have a post planned on the subject of opposition from the right to the Ukrainian point of view. You wrote “bandwagon” in your post, and I think that’s part of what they don’t like – they see it as just another drumming up of propaganda like what we saw in Iraq and with COVID and Floyd riots and January 6th.
I don’t like that bandwagon aspect and I reject it. But I separate it out from my own observations of this war, and I think the Ukrainian side has by far the better case.
Lindsey Graham is irrelevant to me and I think also to most people.
People don’t fully appreciate how damaging this net carbon zero drive by utilities is going to be for America.
Omaha Public Power District has admitted it will spend and borrow $28b by 2050 on wind, solar and batteries. But it only has $1b in revenue. Rates will double or triple just like in Germany.
As best as I can determine, every utility in America is pursuing this.
Net carbon zero will be extremely damaging to America, but the Green Agenda just keeps moving on.
Art Deco,
Nonsense.
There I took a page from your book.
It’s not that so many are calling for war it is that their actions are increasing the inevitability of that.
Because Russia has nukes, we really can’t do anything to stop him. What happens when Iran gets nukes?
Can someone here articulate what the Left’s rationale is for the JCPOA?
Isn’t it something like “this contract will prevent Iran from getting nukes?”
The problem with that is that Iran is run by criminals. You can’t believe a word they saw or anything that is put into a contract. Same deal with Putin and Xi. They are all criminals of the worst sort. Criminals with weapons of war and lots of money to back them up. Didn’t these idiots ever watch The Godfather trilogy?
neo,
I personally don’t oppose the Ukraine side at all even though it is clearly not as black and white good guy/bad guy as too many claim.
For me it is more that I absolutely don’t think we should be involved their beyond some sort of support role or something which I’m not finding the right word for. And I’m not some isolationist but I just cannot fathom anyone willing to get involved there while we have a ridiculously porous southern border, massive crime problems, high inflation and a bunch of other stuff while virtually our entire leadership class is Russia,Russia, Russia Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine non stop and their responses to that are now making life worse for average people in this country.
So it’s not that I don’t support Ukraine but it’s that I support my country more.
Art Deco; et al:
I reject the “Biden is a husk” theory. I originally thought that he would be an empty shell, but my observation is that he does have some cognitive ability left and some feistiness as well and that although he has lost a lot of whatever sharpness of mind he ever had he still has enough to follow things, give opinions, and give orders that at times are obeyed.
I immediately felt that he was in much more charge of the Afghanistan pullout than I would have originally thought, for example. It had the mark of his stupidity and lack of care – hideously poor judgment and tremendous short-sightedness and arrogance – all over it. I certainly believe plenty of others have input and influence as well – huge input and influence. But I think he also is part of the decision-making process, although he and they probably usually agree so there’s little pushback either way.
F:
I believe they are fools and they are knaves and a great many – although not all – want to destroy the country.
“Something tells me “he” is NOT in the least worried about elections.
Wonder why that might be…” Barry Meislin
That is the $64,000 question.
Neither do Pelosi or Schumer seem partcularly worried.
What do they know that we do not?
I would also add and Horowitz mentioned in the Bongino interview that it would be nice if we didn’t have the same clown military leadership that orchestrated the Afghanistan disaster.
Iraq and Afghanistan had a profound effect on the views of a huge amount of people (including me) on foreign military adventures that have nebulous direct connections to our own country and we see the same people talking the same way as back then and many of us supported them then but not so much now.
I don’t call that isolationism I call it learned wisdom.
There was a dominant theory after WWII that nationalism leads to war and the best way to prevent future wars is to create as much balance among the world’s nations as possible. Or, at least have multiple nations keeping one another in check.
When people believe they are economically free and control their own destiny, and when they have opportunity, they tend to get busy chasing material wealth and lose interest in fighting for esoteric concepts; “nation,” “religion.” This has been the case for thousands of years of human existence, but with the onset of true weapons of mass destruction in WWI and WWII, many decided we can no longer risk large scale war. War could now destroy millions, tens of millions. The powerful nations had to be brought down and the weak nations had to be raised up.
Also, there is a lot of seeming altruism in this approach. Over the past 30 years an average of 90,000 people have been lifted out of poverty each day! 90,000 every day of every month of every year for 30 years. Nothing like it has happened in human history.
A U.S. politician can’t come out and say, “I want to level the playing field across the world,” or, “I want to lift Chinese, Latin Americans and Africans out of poverty,” or, “I want to diminish U.S. and European strength,” or, “I believe lessening the pride children have in their nation makes them less likely to take up arms as adults.” It makes it tough to win elections. (Well, President Obama did say things similar to this out loud.)
I think many of our Political, Academic and Industrial elites ascribe to this theory. They think at a global level. Not a national level. A concept like, “Make America Great Again” is anathema to their theories and goals. National pride leads to war. Politicians mostly won’t say this out loud, because it makes it difficult to get re-elected, but politicians in districts dominated by academic and industrial elites do say this out loud.
I think Biden and his administration believe nationalism leads to war. I think Biden and his administration believe economic imbalances among nations lead to war.
Griffin @ 5:53pm,
Unfortunately you’ve summed up my attitude. I am very sorry to say I don’t have confidence the U.S. can effectively do military actions. I believe we have sophisticated weaponry and well trained soldiers, sailors and airmen, but I question whether our policies or plans would be effective.
Our foreign policy has wreaked massive pain and suffering in the world recently. I hate to say this, but America is not a very reliable friend on the world stage. Every four to eight years we see saw on promises and “treaties.” Our support waxes and wanes. Our alliances change… Very sad.
Rufus,
Agreed.
But I want to take a piece of what you said and look at it a little differently.
You wrote ‘When people believe they are economically free and control their own destiny, and when they have opportunity’ and I would say for a huge amount of people they no longer feel that way and the last two years have driven that home more than ever and that creates a lot of people that are looking askance at all of the Russia/Ukraine stuff while all kinds of hardships they have been forced to live with and seeing another one now in rising fuel and food costs.
I realize I changed the meaning of your comment but it just struck me as a really big point about people and explains part of why they feel so disconnected from our ‘leaders’ of both parties.
Sorry, screwed up my 5:54pm comment.
That second paragraph is a bit of a mess. I added something to the wrong section.
Should go like this:
Regarding my theory,
This seems evident when you watch folks like Jen Psaki or John Kerry. They are midwits; people who think they are more intelligent than they actually are. D.C. is full of these people. Peter Strzok is a great example. And, what’s really funny is the political midwits also think the midwits in the media are very intelligent; so there is a lot of winking. “Look, you know what’s going on, and I know what’s going on, but here’s what we’re going to tell the proles…” About 80% of Jen Psaki’s press conferences is condescension in this manner. They lie to us for “our own good.” To their minds it’s for the best, but we wouldn’t understand, so they lie.
We’ve seen Biden exhibit midwit behavior over and over and over again for 50 years. He literally states, often, that he is very intelligent and often challenges opponents to intellectual tests. He truly believes he is exceptionally bright, yet he continuously exhibits middling intelligence.
Griffin,
I agree. And I think that’s baked into their cake. America must be diminished in their minds; we consume too much, we pollute too much. They think they can control our decline without an uprising; Netflix, universal basic income, bread and circuses.
I personally don’t oppose the Ukraine side at all even though it is clearly not as black and white good guy/bad guy as too many claim
Except that it pretty much is that. The Ukraine did not invade Russia and it is a reasonable wager it has no one in it hankering to restore the status quo ante 1985 in re the Ukraine, White Russia, Finland, and the 10 states which joined NATO between 1997 to 2004.
Lindsey Graham is irrelevant to me and I think also to most people.
The continuous online slam books on Lindsay Graham and Prince Charles remind one that high school never ends for some people.
Neo, I fear you have reversed to titles of this and the previous posting.
Rufus:
They think they can control our decline without it affecting them! They will be some of the first lined up against a wall and shot. Regrettably, I won’t be there to cheer on the firing squad.
I like the idea of “midwits.” But Biden is deluding himself if he think he’s reached that level of knowledge and sophistication. He’s more like a midwit in waiting. An aspiring midwit.
Neo:
What’s in it for them if they destroy the country?
I do believe John Kerry has wanted to destroy the USA since the seventies, but I still don’t know why. Our destruction will certainly not make him richer or more powerful.
Neo notes, and I strongly now concur, that: “he does have
some cognitive ability left
[Check]
and some feistiness as well
[Check]
and that although he has lost a lot of whatever sharpness of mind he ever had
[Check and double check]
he still has enough to follow things, give opinions, and give orders that at times are obeyed.”
All true but I think that this Golem [if you actually had to –shudder– encounter him in a room say, the Oval Office] is more, well, macabre…
Joe Biden, whatever there once was of him, is gone; has been dissolved in a vat of seething corruption soup years back. Whatever whiffs of the once-human inside the translucent pate remained were evaporated by the campaign. What shows up in the here and now is not the Joe but “The Biden.”
The Biden is real but remotely operated; The Biden is A Something that is manipulating a real body. An… I don’t know… an Operator, perhaps. As such a golemic presence The Biden possess full functionality, can emulate free will, can reliably perform many political rituals, and dependably recite all sacred canons, traditional or spontaneous, as needed. If The Biden had an operating system it would be named: OuroborOs
The Biden is both life and not-life sloshing inside one vessel and that is why The Biden is so, in the final analysis, strange and unnerving. The Biden backfills the uncanny valley.
That The Biden functions at all I find astonishing. Once I accept that it does function I find The Biden very, very creepy-crawly. Very slithering.
Rufus,
I suspect the theory to which you are referring is known as “transnationalism”, which posits that nationalism itself is the causal determinate of wars.
That wars occured long before nations arose, that tribal wars date from prehistory… is an inconvenient truth ignored by transnationalists.
“I think many of our Political, Academic and Industrial elites ascribe to this theory.”
With few exceptions, the entire current political leadership in the West quietly embrace transnationalism. George Bush Sr. hinted at it in his “New World Order” State of the Union address.
Every member of the World Economic Forum subscribes to transnationalism and of course, every ‘graduate’ of its “Young Leaders” program does as well. George Soros’ “Open Borders Society” is perhaps transnationalism’s foremost proponent and Soros is a strong supporter of W.E.F. and proponent of its global Davos Agenda.
Obviously, for a Global Agenda to succeed, it must seek to achieve and requires a global consensus in support of that agenda.
Given the deep connection between W.E.F. and the West’s current political leadership, every concerted effort by the West must be examined through that prism. Accurate analysis requires it.
Gerard,
It’s mostly a tightly held in creepiness. Which slips out when angered and around young girls.
In long past times, one might even describe it as satanic.
Lower case ‘s’ not IMO the anti-christ.
I’ve been somewhat reluctant to believe that the current administration is deliberately trying to destroy the country. I always believed they were trying to reshape it into something closer to a socialist welfare state, which in their minds would be an improvement, but not actually deliberately damage the country. The Iran deal (from what I’ve read) seems to be so counter to our interests that it is hard to imagine anyone agreeing to it who did not have the destruction of the United States as their ultimate goal.
I don’t pretend to know what’s really going on in Biden’s mind, or the minds of his minders, but it is far, far removed from the concerns of most Americans.
A lot of very good comments in this discussion. Thoughtful comments. Good give and take. Rare on the Net now.
I am not saying I agree with everything, just that you people do think.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/the-eagle-has-landed.php
John Hinderaker has clip of Ben Shapiro reacting to a short video of Sundowner walking probably near WH.
He is lost and doesn’t take directions.
Beyond Trump is the reality that climate change has become to liberals what immigration became to conservatives. Namely, an issue that was demagogued so consistently and for so long that it eventually escaped the control of the establishment.
Mike
Gregory Harper; F; et al:
I don’t think most of them think of it as destroying the country. They think of it as breaking some eggs to make an omelet.
The newer better country will be humbler, respectful of the environment, deferential to Europe and China and the rest, not dominant in the world, with reparations and constant affirmative action preferences for favored minorities, and dedicated to never letting the feelings of anyone on the left to be hurt by opposing views. Free speech and other rights for the enemies of these goals will not be allowed, and harmony and love will reign.
Like this quote from Kundera.
When I said it was not all black/white good guy/bad guy in Ukraine I was referring to a few of the people we have all seen that by most accounts are very dubious characters.
Obviously Ukraine should not have been invaded or attacked but this saintly everybody wear a Ukrainian flag act is a little nauseating when before two weeks ago many of these people wouldn’t have no the difference between Ukraine and Uranus.
The social media mob has just been so overwhelming on this and the cancelling of hockey players, singers, etc should give pause to many but nope onward they go.
Being off the charts cynical can be tough sometimes but it makes it much easier to realize that not everything is so simple or open to a simple NONSENSE reply.
Pingback:The Biden
A post I wrote on nationalism can be found here.
Neo
I don’t know anyone in the corridors of power who may want, or not, to destroy the country. But among their supporters whom I know…there are no institutions which should be preserved. Public ed SHOULD be an indoctritnation process and books like 1619 and syllabi like CRT SHOULD be promoted as truth and the results….they are supposed to agree that the Constitution, the “negative constitution” as obama said, is trash. So it can justifiably be pitched overboard. That way the government can do more “for” us, which is to say “to” people we don’t like.
And the same goes for so many institutions and cultural norms.
Which is where the destroyers get their support.
They’re the folks who insist Michael Brown had his hands up. That the Jan 6 folks were doing an armed insurrection. That the massacre at Waco was justified because they were a cult.
The massacre at Waco is actually weirdly similar to another massacre perpetrated by the US government about 100 years earlier.
In both, the government forces were responding to a cult. In both, fighting erupted when the government attempted to disarm the cult. In both cases government personnel were killed, but the cult suffered many more losses.
However, in the older incident there was a clearer indication the cult would actually become dangerous (not to say the outcome was in any way good), and locals in that case were in fact worried about the cult’s behavior. In the more recent case, locals did not seem particularly concerned–it was more the feds doing what the feds do.
“Beyond Trump is the reality that climate change has become to liberals what immigration became to conservatives. Namely, an issue that was demagogued so consistently and for so long that it eventually escaped the control of the establishment.”
Not seeing the similarity. Climate change is basically a made up problem, while illegal immigration is a very real problem.
And the immigration issue isn’t about immigration but the illegal variety. There are linkages, of course; our high level of illegal immigration effects our opinions on immigration overall. If we have 2 m people coming in illegally we will want to offset that by restricting who comes in legally, for example.
“Not seeing the similarity. Climate change is basically a made up problem, while illegal immigration is a very real problem.”
Climate change was something ginned up to justify liberal/socialist policies but enough people now believe it that Democrats can’t back off it when it hurts them politically.
Immigration was something Republicans talked big about without ever intending to do anything but enough people finally figured out the con that they voted for Trump.
In both cases, an issue meant to benefit the political establishment got out of the control of that establishment and wound up damaging it.
Mike
“I don’t think most of them think of it as destroying the country. They think of it as breaking some eggs to make an omelet.” neo
That’s true of the “true believers”. But of course, any movement that promises dominance is going to attract the Stalinists.
Kundera puts it well;
“Once the dream of paradise starts to turn into reality, however, here and there people begin to crop up who stand in its way.
and so the rulers of paradise must build a little gulag on the side of Eden.
In the course of time this gulag grows ever bigger and more perfect, while the adjoining paradise gets even smaller and poorer.”
At least here, Kundera doesn’t explain why reality results in the gulag growing ever bigger and the adjoining paradise getting ever smaller and poorer.
Utopian dreams of paradise rely upon the expectation that everyone will or can be made to subsume their individual interests to the group.
Utopias are inherently collective, as societies that stress individual merit necessarily result in a spectrum, from the highly successful to the completely unsuccessful. That end of the spectrum can be somewhat ameliorated by inculcating into a society certain virtues.
All collectivist ideologies reject basic aspects of human nature, as well as rejecting certain fundamental principles that govern the external reality within which we all exist.
Thus they are inherently unsustainable, as they reject that which is… in favor of that which is wished for. The continued existence of such a society requires ever greater coercion (social credit score) to sustain the illusion of sustainability.
And all collectivist ideology’s ultimate moral basis rests upon the juvenile protest; “that’s not fair!”
It takes a certain degree of mature insight to appreciate that ultimately “the unequal sharing of blessings” is overall, a blessing for all or at least the majority in succeeding generations.
From the unequal blessing of an individual’s beneficial adaptive mutation passed on to descendants, upon which evolution itself is based… to civilization itself, which relies upon breakthroughs provided by individual genius, inherent inequality is the basis for biological and civilizational advancement.
With respect to speculation about intent, I think it is important to consider that the consequences of their actions may not be what they intend.
For example, I’m pretty sure Hillary didn’t intend to have her private email server discovered, let alone the classified documents we know about become public knowledge. And she likely started the Steel dossier to prevent Trump from winning, but it was so shoddy media didn’t release it until after the election. She didn’t intend to have it work out as it did, with it becoming known that it started with her, that the FBI lied to the FISA courts, etc.
The series of efforts put forth in the Russia collusion hoax (a coup attempt actually) shows incompetence as well as malice, and also shows they were reacting and trying to drive a false narrative. But it was a fundamentally flawed narrative, in large part because it quickly became obvious from Trump policies that he wasn’t a Putin puppet. In fact, Obama and Biden much more fit that mold.
Now, I’m not saying all these people are stupid. Hillary is probably reasonably smart, but her natural level is chasing ambulances for some small law firm, not high level stuff. But their incompetence isn’t due to being stupid per se, but something else. As a group, they are good at certain things generally: media manipulation, legal manipulation, working the levers of power in DC, Brussels, etc. But they seem detached from normal people.
What Trump has is an understanding of normal people. I get the feeling that Putin is somewhat the same with respect to the Russian people, although that might not be enough for him after the Ukraine invasion.
MBunge,
I see your point.
The issue is never The Issue. The Issue is the Revolution.
And so it goes with energy. If the left were actually interested in clean, reliable, affordable energy, they would be all over the new small reactor technology. Even at twice the estimated cost per unit, replacing all of the coal fired power plants in the US, about 30% of total installed generating capacity, would cost less than $2 trillion over 15-20 years. And they would work around the clock, each MW generating about 3-4 times as many kWh as wind and solar.
Batteries are not an energy source, they are just storage devices. To replace the output of the current ~1.1 TW of installed generating capacity in the U.S. with intermittent renewables would require at least 2.5-3 TW of wind and solar, plus another 500 GW of storage. As someone noted above and, I believe, someone named Barry already said: “Electricity prices under my plan will necessarily skyrocket.” The bill for that escapade in wishful technology will run north of $7 trillion including all the new transmission infrastructure.
But that’s ok, we will make sure the Davoisie still have jet fuel and natural gas to power their bolt-hole bunkers. It’s only right, considering how much they have done for us.
As we have seen with prosaic medical supplies and paper towels, an engineered shortage with explicit rewards for those who go along is a good way to get a high percentage of the folks to “comply.”
Geoffrey,
Agree with your comments on collectivism and utopianism. I’ve been thinking similar things, but sometimes hearing someone else say it helps to crystalize thoughts, if they approach from a different angle.
}}} I don’t think he has many principles
He has one single solitary principle: “What can I get out of it?”
Neo
I don’t know whether you have seen this or not. Half hour interview of Biden by Heather Cox Richardson who writes a daily “Letters from an American” page. Quite left wing of course. I read it occasionally since it had been recommended by one of my liberal friends.
Putting the content of the interview aside, I was actually surprised by how lucid Biden was – not something I would have expected.
It’s worth watching to see a bit different perspective than what we have otherwise assumed.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/interview-with-president-biden?s=r
Ted Fitch:
I never watched it, but I’ve seen plenty of other times when he sounds lucid and is speaking extemporaneously. He doesn’t say things I agree with, and he’s not the least bit impressive, but I’ve seen him be quite lucid on many occasions and that’s what I’m basing my opinion on. I’ve been saying this for quite some time.
That said, he was never smart and he was always a braggart and an enormous liar. And he also is often foggy these days, too. So his lucidity is episodic. But it’s there.
Had Netanyahu remained as PM of Israel we could count on them to keep Iran from getting nukes. I have less confidence in the current leadership. Bibi just criticized them for their “silence” in the face of this agreement.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-government-showing-weakness-in-face-of-looming-iran-deal/
I always say there’s more ways to rig an election that simple voter fraud. There’s propaganda, censorship, and of course threats of violence. Hell, there were a lot of real votes in Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela but there was tons of rigging.
Don, what government/cult battle are you referring to? Wounded Knee?
I think he was referring to the Ghost Dance movement, which led to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
“…What do they know that we do not?”
Perhaps this, for starter:
‘Dem Operative David Brock To Launch Attack On Republican Election Lawyers: “make them toxic in their communities and in their firms”’—
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/03/dem-operative-david-brock-to-launch-attack-on-republican-election-lawyers-make-them-toxic-in-their-communities-and-in-their-firms/
Though, frankly, if this report is accurate, I don’t think “Biden” has to work all THAT hard….
(Still, whatever “helps”….)
Bill Barr has described Biden as “intermittently alert”.
Don. Trump’s policies toward Putin proved nothing of the sort for the true believers. Energy independence and the connection to Putin’s revenues? Blank look? No connection. None.
Badgering NATO to up its defenses against Russia–weakening NATO.
We may move in different circles but you have no idea how adamantly resistant the anti-trumpers I know are to actual facts.
May have said this before, so excuse the repetition: On the west side of Michigan’s lower peninsula are a couple of towns–Petoskey and Charlevoix–which have some old money–as the midwest counts such things–or in the case of huge homes, traces of old money. Some were the lumber barons and some were summer homes of the wealthy in the Great Lakes where summer was hot–Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Gary, etc. In the days before air conditioning, or even electricity to drive fans, when respectable people wore three layers of clothes from throat to wrist to ankle, going to locations in the summer where the climate was moderated by prevailing westerlies across Lake Michigan was a relief.
Mentioning that to a relation who has a love-hate-love relationship with Covid and making people do stupid stuff–the whole family’s had it despite crazy precautions–said that the fact that Charlevoix and Petoskey are cooler in the summer than down state is due to global warming.
They don’t believe because the facts look reasonably likely. They believe because the facts NEED to be true, MUST be true. And in three or fewer iterations of actual facts being mentioned, comes the personal accusations. Because the facts MUST be true or…..
FINALLY (AKA “After Long Last”), “Biden” has achieved a “diplomatic triumph”.
(A shame that “he” wasn’t able to boast about it at the SOTU….but a Victory is, STILL, a Victory…any way you get it…or look at it….):
‘Russian, Iranian negotiators celebrate U.S. concessions in nuclear deal talks;
‘Moscow, Tehran tout diplomatic triumph, U.S. “retreat” in Vienna negotiations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’—
https://justthenews.com/government/security/pending-nuclear-deal-would-shield-iran-future-us-exit-iranian-adviser
neo @ 7:15pm,
It will also be secular. None of those Catholics or Orthodox Jews having big, carbon dioxide exhaling families.
“This Isn’t Obama’s Iran Deal. It’s Much, Much Worse”, Gabriel Noronha, Tablet mag: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/this-isnt-obamas-iran-deal-its-much-much-worse
Griffin @ 7:16pm,
And the cheering on of people having their property and wealth frozen or confiscated with no trial, based solely on their nationality.
Powerline: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/the-madness-of-slow-joe-iran-edition-5.php
Scott Johnson features Caroline Glick there. Her link: https://carolineglick.com/biden-shatters-israels-delusions/
Mark Steyn: “Earth, wind and fire: Net Zero, respiratory virus, war. With each step, the governing classes of the west get more reckless and paralytic. Two million refugees in a first fortnight: Where does this end? Aw, don’t worry, the Leader of the Free World is on top of things:”
[embedded video] Biden: “How did we get to the place where, you know, Putin decides he’s gonna just invade Russia? Nothing like this has happened since World War II.”
https://www.steynonline.com/12210/war-in-europe-day-twelve
Somebody give JoJo a scorecard so he can at least tell the players.
Democrats have completed divorced themselves from the concept of truth. As preached by the academic wing of the party, there is no truth. There’s only power.
Everything is spin. Everything. The narrative is whatever helps win the next election. And all lies are good if they accomplish that purpose. Thus, “spending bazillions will lower inflation.” All rational people know this is stupid and ridiculous. All Democrats support it as long as it polls effectively.
Voter ID is the Democrat argument that black people are too stupid to get an ID. Also, their belief in the stupidity of blacks is irrefutable proof than Republicans are racist. That Republicans believe that blacks are fully capable of getting an ID is merely further proof that the GOP is the party of white supremacy.
Democrats not only have abandoned truth, but rationality and logic as well. Men can have babies because feelings. Masks stop covid because feelings. Global warming will kill us all because feelings. Cops are roaming the streets killing innocent black kids because feelings. BLM and Antifa are peaceful because feelings. In reality, Biden has done nothing to ease the supply chain issues at the ports. But in Democrat fantasyland, he has. Because he said he was. Being a Christian requires far less reliance on faith than being a Democrat.
To be a Democrat in good standing requires a mindset that makes Alice’s queen look like an amateur. Believe 6 impossible things before breakfast?! Democrats embrace impossible by the dozen.
Any analysis of Biden’s mind has to start from that understanding. There is no truth and there is no logic. Not by him. Not by anyone in his party.
Richard Aurbrey,
I wasn’t referring to the true believers.
Rather, those who see what is going on, which is a lot of people. They destroyed trust, and not just with the right but the middle and some on the left.
Don. I get that. Point is, those you mention need supporters in numbers. Those are the folks I was talking about.
Where’s the love? What do citizens want – stuff for themselves. If they don’t get then it’s a conspiracy. All is corrupt – all is aimed at our destruction. Not a moral soul among Democrats. Every single thought is evil. Hate is their mantra. Whereas Republicans have driven out the RINO’s because of their hero Trump whose stellar character is unmatched in history. There has never been a person with such integrity. Only one person other than Trump has legitimately been able to say they’ve never needed to apologize.
I’m a Republican who believes Trump and the Dixiecrats are the real RINO’s in the Republican party.
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