How Not to be President

[Dan Ben Noah]

Ann Coulter sees the light.

https://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2023/05/24/how-not-to-be-president-n2623668

Now that we know Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running for president (along with several others whose names I can't remember), I have a helpful primer on what NOT to do as president.

I base this advice on the conduct of the most inconsequential president in U.S. history, Donald Trump. With the exception of the judiciary -- something neither he nor Jared saw a way of monetizing, thank God -- Trump's entire presidency can be summarized as: obnoxious tweets, followed by immediate and complete capitulation.

The problem with the Trump diehards is that they'd read the bad-ass tweets, pump their fists, but then wander off, never bothering to find out what happened next. Here's what happened: Trump surrendered. Over and over and over again.

There were so many surrenders that The New York Times had to keep coming up with new synonyms for "loser": "Trump Gives Ground," "Trump Backs Off," "Trump Drops," "Trump Accommodates Democrats," "Trump Seethes," "Trump Signals Defeat," "Trump's Surprise Retreat," "Trump Confronted by a Loss," "The Biggest Surrender of His Presidency," and so on.

In his first two years in office, Trump had a Republican House and a Republican Senate -- he could have done anything! Let's see how he fulfilled his signature promise to build a wall, as told in tweets and headlines.

FIRST SPENDING FIGHT:

"... (if) the wall is not built, which it will be, the drug situation will NEVER be fixed the way it should be! #BuildTheWall" -- Trump tweet, April 24, 2017

"Don't let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the WALL. It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking etc." -- Trump tweet, April 25, 2017

New York Times Headline, April 26, 2017: "Wall 'Will Get Built,' Trump Insists, as He Drops Funding Demand"

SECOND SPENDING FIGHT:

"If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall ... One way or the other, we're going to get that wall." -- Trump at Phoenix rally, Aug. 22, 2017

"I think everybody knows this president isn't somebody who backs down." -- White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, Aug. 23, 2017

Months of negotiations and studly tweets (Jan. 4, 2018: "We must BUILD THE WALL, stop illegal immigration," etc. etc.) led to this:

New York Times headline, March 22, 2018: "Spending Plan Passed by Congress Is a Rebuke to Trump."

"Rebuke" is putting it mildly: The bill expressly prohibited Trump from building a wall and, for good measure, also blocked the hiring of thousands of new Border Patrol agents.

But Trump bounced back with more masterful tweeting!

"I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill (because) ... the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded." -- Trump tweet, March 23, 2018

Then, the very next day ...

New York Times headline, March 24, 2018: "Trump Seethes, but Signs Bipartisan Spending Plan"

True, Trump had given away the store, but look at what he said while signing the Don't Even Think About Building a Wall bill:

"I looked very seriously at the veto. I was thinking about doing the veto."

Not only that, but he vowed, "I will never sign another bill like this again -- I'm not going to do it again."

You'll never guess what he did again.

THIRD SPENDING FIGHT:

"I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!" -- Trump tweet, Sept. 20, 2018

Months of negotiations finally ended with ...

"Trump Signs Bill Reopening Government for 3 Weeks in Surprise Retreat From Wall" -- The New York Times, Jan. 25, 2019

Surprise! By then, 41 newly elected House Democrats had been sworn in, and there was no hope of getting a wall or anything else through Congress.

How does a Republican president get buffaloed like this by a Republican Congress? Reagan enacted his entire radical agenda (and won the Cold War) without ever, not once, having a Republican House and Senate.

It wasn't only Trump's wall that followed the obnoxious tweet/face plant trajectory. It was everything. Tweeting "LAW & ORDER!" as the country went up in flames; retweeting #FireFauci while never daring to remove King Anthony from his throne; spending months tweeting about "Rocket Man," then staging a theatrical meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un -- to accomplish what exactly?

I'll need another column to even begin to capture the horror of this wasted presidency.

Gov. DeSantis, I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you this, but please don't do any of that.

[Nachus]

                                                                                                                        

  She’s certainly not ‘blinded by the light’
  like these insane “liberals” are and let
  people think what they will about her and
  her occasional distasteful comments,
  no one is ‘perfect’, she is however astute
  and brilliant.

[Rubystars]

Weren't you guys mad at Ann Coulter and calling her an anti-Semite a few years back? lol

[Dan Ben Noah]

Ann Coulter has made anti-Semitic remarks before, and she's not a true conservative because she supported Trump over Cruz in the 2016 primary among other things.  However, the point of this post is to show that it is possible for even an anti-Semitic Trumptard (or in this case the female version - the Trumptwat) to see the light and leave the Trump cult if they use their brain.  Unfortunately, this is normally not the case.  I believe Chaim mentioned something once in a video about Ann Coulter being one of the few Trump supporters who actually turned against him after he failed to follow through with the wall.  Although we do not support Ann Coulter, switching to DeSantis is to her credit.

[Rubystars]

I see this forum still has the same low level of dialogue it always has.

It's good to be able to disagree with people without calling them twats or libtards.

There are some people who treat Trump like a cult-like figure and treat him like a quasi-religious figure... similar to what was done with Obama where people did that to him as well... acting like he had the light of hope to shine on everyone.

I supported Cruz in the primary and it took me a long time to warm up to Trump because his narcissism was a turn off... but I do like him now that I've seen him as president. I also loved how he recently dominated in the CNN town hall. 

There are a lot of non-cult Trump supporters who believe that he's just a better choice than DeSantis or Biden. It doesn't make us twats or tards.

[Dan Ben Noah]

It's funny how Trumptards love it when Trump calls people names and treats people like crap -- that's part of the appeal for them (even when he can't spell or pronounce the insults) -- but when the tables are turned and they experience name calling, all of a sudden they get thin skin.  It's kind of cultish behavior to think that Trump is the only one allowed to use insults.  I am being more respectful on facebook and twitter, but I make zero apologies to the tangerine troop for my posts on this forum that occasionally include insults, and if you think it's "low-level dialogue," well maybe that's a good sign that you'll eventually warm up to it. 

It is understandable to support Trump if he is the lesser of the evils, which would be true if it's Trump vs Biden.  But in the primaries where there are people like Cruz or DeSantis running who are more conservative on the issues than Trump (more pro-life, tougher on transvestites, etc.), it becomes morally wrong to support Trump.  So for at least the rest of the primary season, it will be the Stars & Stripes vs. the tards & twats.

[Rubystars]

It's funny how Trumptards love it when Trump calls people names and treats people like crap -- that's part of the appeal for them (even when he can't spell or pronounce the insults) -- but when the tables are turned and they experience name calling, all of a sudden they get thin skin.  It's kind of cultish behavior to think that Trump is the only one allowed to use insults.  I am being more respectful on facebook and twitter, but I make zero apologies to the tangerine troop for my posts on this forum that occasionally include insults, and if you think it's "low-level dialogue," well maybe that's a good sign that you'll eventually warm up to it. 

It is understandable to support Trump if he is the lesser of the evils, which would be true if it's Trump vs Biden.  But in the primaries where there are people like Cruz or DeSantis running who are more conservative on the issues than Trump (more pro-life, tougher on transvestites, etc.), it becomes morally wrong to support Trump.  So for at least the rest of the primary season, it will be the Stars & Stripes vs. the tards & twats.

I don't always like everything he does because I'm not a cultist. I do like when he goes after leftists hard though. I don't agree with how he's acted towards DeSantis or other people we would consider more on our side. I think he feels like DeSantis betrayed him by wanting to run against him after Trump helped him get elected so I can see why there's some bad blood there.

I would much rather DeSantis have run together with him as President/VP and then he could easily run for president in 2028. As it is now with the two of them being opposed to each other it's not good for anybody.

The Real Clear politics  site shows that Trump has a better chance of beating Biden right now than DeSantis does. Winning is what really counts. Whether it's one or the other, we'll be better off as long as we don't have Biden. I really like Ron DeSantis and I wish my own governor was as good as Ron is. I still want Trump to be nominated. If that doesn't happen then I'll happily vote for DeSantis.

I remember how JTF always used to be about not choosing to be respectable and not being afraid to be offensive so I guess it confuses me why JTF would go with the milquetoast "respectable" candidate.