Aug
13
2024

Dirt

Remy would like to buy some, in our tuneful Eye Candy du Jour:

But we kind of discovered a theme in the articles selected for our Also of note category today. And Gerard Butler expresses it well in his headline at the WSJ:: Trump Is Looking Like a Loser Again.

I watched in its entirety and then, perhaps hoping that the written version might yield hidden intelligence not evident to the ear, read the transcript of the press conference Donald Trump held at Mar-a-Lago last week. Houston, we have a problem.

Mr. Trump does deserve credit, as some have said, for showing up to meet the press, unlike his opponent—and in his case, facing brickbats from an almost universally hostile crowd, unlike the softballs that will doubtless be lofted Ms. Harris’s way when she eventually deigns to grant them an audience.

But, with apologies to Woody Allen, it isn’t true that 90% of being presidential is just showing up. Being impressed at the readiness merely to take questions is, if feminists will forgive me, a little like reacting in the way Samuel Johnson did when he saw a woman preach—“like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. It is not done well but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

By my calculation, about one-third of Mr. Trump’s remarks fell into three categories: false, obtuse or lunatic.

Some manifestations of this general theme:

  • He likes talking about the "false, obtuse, or lunatic" stuff more. Dave Seminara is plaintive: Has Trump Forgotten About School Choice?

    Choice and “reproductive freedom” are centerpieces of Kamala Harris’s campaign, and likely a key reason why she enjoys a strong polling advantage over Donald Trump with women. Republicans have a potent choice issue, too—school choice—though it’s one that they’ve inexplicably ignored of late. Trump somehow didn’t find time to mention it in his 92-minute, 12,353-word RNC speech. His only reference to education was a promise to “restore patriotism to our schools.” The word uttered most frequently at the convention was “Trump,” with more than 1,000 references. No education-related term ranked as one of the top 30 words spoken at the convention.

    Trump also failed to mention school choice at recent rallies in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in Virginia, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Nor did he mention school choice at a recent rally in my home state, Florida, where we have universal school choice, which is helping me put my sons through Catholic schools. In Pinellas County, where I live, parents (of any income) can get a voucher worth $8,203 per K-3 student, $7,574 for each grade 4-8 student, and $7,512 for each high school student. The money goes from state coffers straight to the school, and it couldn’t be easier. I have a friend with four kids who will soon be saving $30,000 per year. Imagine how many families across the country would love to have a universal school choice program like ours.

    It's a popular issue, Republicans are mostly on the right side, Democrats are in servitude to the teacher unions, … and Trump can't be bothered with it.

  • Hey, maybe this giveaway will get people to vote for me! Veronique de Rugy takes aim at another Trumpian airball: The U.S. Can't Afford To Cut Taxes on Social Security Benefits.

    Social Security is facing enormous shortfalls. It is insolvent. Within the next 10 years, no one will be able to avoid this reality—despite decades of politically expedient denial. Yet as of today, both presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, have announced they won't touch the program. In fact, Trump wants to make it even more insolvent by lifting taxes seniors pay on benefits.

    Don't get me wrong, I love lower tax rates. I also believe the current tax structure on benefits creates a large incentive for seniors who may want to reenter the workforce to choose not to do so. And these types of work disincentives in the tax code are bad. While reducing Social Security taxes may encourage some seniors to go back to work, it will in turn cause more dramatic problems if not paired with reform to Social Security benefits, something neither Trump nor Harris cares to recognize.

    Social Security is in a big financial mess as it is. Current benefit taxes bring in about $87 billion in revenue each year, in addition to the payroll tax revenue. Even still, Social Security is insolvent. Currently, it is projected that the main Social Security trust fund will dry out by 2033. According to the Committee for a Responsible Budget, exempting Social Security benefits from taxation would move that date forward to 2032 (it will also dry up the Medicare trust fund six years sooner).

    Just how short is the average voter's time horizon, anyway?

  • We should have expected weird. Kevin D. Williamson says we could have easily predicted it: Of Course They’re Weird.

    If you are so inclined—and I do not advise that you be so inclined—you can go to Google right now and read questions on various online fora from men who have been called weird by a woman and who are desperate for some advice about how to respond. Much of the old pickup-artist lingo is still in use, having become something of a literary tradition in certain unhappy corners of the digital world. That “alpha male” stuff is all over the place when it comes to Trump and Trumpism, from 2016-era exegeses to homoerotic Trumpist performance artist Nick Adams to this summer’s headlines, including this in U.S. News and World Report: “Trump Shooting Makes Him Stronger, Channeling Alpha Males Back to Teddy Roosevelt.” The Trump movement’s embrace of campy emblems of exaggerated masculinity—the cowboy hats, the biker gear, etc.—is straight out of 20th-century gay erotica. So are many of the depictions of Trump himself:

    There he is, the president of the United States, sitting astride a motorcycle in a leather jacket in front of the Capitol, a rifle in hand. There he is again, once more leather-clad, both of his middle fingers extended as he stands on the southern border.

    The words written on the T-shirts and denim vests alongside the imaginary biker version of Donald Trump exude similar vibes. “Finally someone with balls.”

    The fascination with Trump’s genitals is a genre convention. But that’s not all!

    The language is foul. The wardrobe is leather. Engines are loud, as is the music. Booze flows freely. Tents sell chaps and vests with gun pockets. You can smoke where you like for the most part. There are daily wet T-shirt contests. In the most raucous bar, men pay women in lingerie to spank their bare bottoms with a paddle.

    Weird?

    You bet your leather chaps it is.

    A long excerpt, but I assume it's paywalled.