Guest Post by Bill Bonner
POITOU, FRANCE – Our subject today is politics. Or rather, political leaders.
We were not fond of Bill Clinton… nor George Dubya Bush… nor Barack Obama… nor Donald Trump.
A Dear Reader asked if there are any we like. And if so, who was the best? Churchill? Lincoln? Gandhi?
Ball of Buffoonery
The current occupant of the White House is the most amusing of all.
He is not necessarily the dumbest of the lot… or the most conniving… but he is certainly the boldest. His delusions are right out in front.
Yesterday, for example, he sent out this tweet:
Germany sells 30 year bonds offering negative yields. Germany competes with the USA. Our Federal Reserve does not allow us to do what we must do. They put us at a disadvantage against our competition. Strong Dollar, No Inflation! They move like quicksand. Fight or go home!
There is so much claptrap in this ball of buffoonery, it would take a long time to unravel.
Is it a good thing that German investors pay to lend money to their government? Should American savers have to pay too?
How is it a “disadvantage” to have interest rates a shade less insane than other nations? How fast does quicksand move? Fight who? Why?
The tweet can be deconstructed, however, to reveal a simple meaning.
The president thinks the world economy is a zero-sum game where you have to fight for market share.
And he’s afraid others are getting the drop on us by inflating their economies and debauching their currencies faster than we are.
Megalomaniacal Blockhead
The Washington Post reports that the Trump team is trying to find new ways to inflate:
Ideas that have been discussed include imposing a currency transaction tax that could weaken the dollar and make U.S. exports more competitive; creating a rotation among the Federal Reserve governors that would make it easier to check the power of Chair Jerome H. Powell, whom Trump has blamed for not doing all he can to increase growth; and pushing to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent in an effort to spur more investment.
It would be easy to dismiss America’s president as a moron. But he’s much more than that.
Returning to the Dear Reader’s question: Trump is probably the most gifted natural politician we’ve ever seen – brazen, reckless, ruthless, blockheaded, megalomaniacal… with a real genius for how to work a crowd.
You can admire the skills and instincts that he displays. You can marvel at how so many people follow his tweets without laughing. And you can even genuinely like the guy… or, at least, the character he plays on TV.
What you can’t do – if you have any sense – is believe him. Or trust him. Or expect him to improve your life.
Because politics is essentially a win-lose game. And it is rigged.
The politician is the one who gets control of the strong arm of government and uses it to whack his enemies, reward his friends, and exploit the masses. Unless you are among the chosen ones, you are a loser.
Every penny he spends… and every life lost in his battles… is one that he takes from the public. And every plan he pursues interferes with the plans of the people who elected him.
The best politicians are the loafers and shirkers.
They retire and plant cabbages, like Emperor Diocletian… or slip out of the White House to play cards and tipple with their friends, like Warren Harding… or get sick and die, like William Henry Harrison.
After only 30 days in office, Harrison was a corpse, and his vice president, John Tyler, was in the Oval Office.
Tyler deserves at least a small niche in the Pantheon of the Best Leaders.
“His Accidency,” as his foes called him, steadfastly refused to go along with even his own party’s doofy plans. Most important, from our point of view, Tyler vetoed a bill to create a national bank.
On the other hand, Tyler’s reputation was blemished forever by drawing Texas into the Union.
Vegan in a Steakhouse
We’ve known a few politicians personally.
Some were earnest and honest, merely trying to guide the feds toward sensible policies.
Some were empty-headed scoundrels, enjoying the fame and power of the political limelight.
And some were real sociopaths, sure that they knew what was best for people and eager to make sure they got it good and hard.
The trouble with the honest ones was that they never seemed to understand their own métier.
Politics comes from “the barrel of a gun,” as Mao put it.
Earnest, well-meaning men and women are disarmed; they have no more place in politics than a vegan in a steakhouse or a virgin in a cathouse. That leaves the field open to the rogues and the criminally insane.
The rascals are sometimes fun to watch. The insane ones are often dangerous.
But a Great Leader is forever an oxymoron. The more he leads, the more damage he does.
Every decent citizen knows that politicians are the chief threat to his liberty and his prosperity; he despises and distrusts them all.
And one of the great failures of modern democracy is how few of them are hung.
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In a stable economy, the leading from behind types this article supports will do well. In a turbulent unstable economy, the accidental leaders will be fed to the wolves. The writer is too simplistic in his understanding of history to put any stock in his perspective.
FWIW, the media attack Trump every time he flip flops on his negotiations is to them his weakness, but to his adversaries, like China, he floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee; a very hard person to negotiate with. But this is how Trump has learned to negotiate as a businessman; I’m just still waiting to see his ruthlessness to close the deal nationally as well as internationally.
good comment but to clarify–
when trump seems to flip flop,the basis of contract negotiation is offer & acceptance–
unless you state that your price/terms will stay on the table,if a person rejects your price/terms,not only are you free to reject their offer/terms,you are free to change your price/terms–
true whether it is a house sale or a trade deal–
Trump just “seems” to flip flop???? Okay he’s not really flip flopping, he just “seems” like he is? Got it!!
I warned you!
Yokes has gone underground, I see. Then we have Vote Harder. Hmm, this calls for a Hollywood Rob investigation. Where is HR?
He’s having a big hissy fit on his Ernest goes to Hollywood thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae7ag431Qsg
He has destroyed your faggy boyfriend maggie and is sick and tired of hearing her whine about it. Of course, she will continue to whine about it, but to no avail. You are both irrelevant now and all you do is take up space.
The Hollywood square is calling us irrelevant. Why don’t you start a petition to get us off this site? You would lose biggly.
fyi,rob–
at thinkprogress.org you can start a petition if it is compelling enough to them–
just imagine admin receiving a petition signed by 100,000 moveon.org supporters threatening to boycott our vast # of advertisers–
i bet he’d yank em in a heartbeat,what do you think?
Free speech for all!
Even bots!
Vote Harder is a fifth columnist coquesuquere.
Is that anything like an ass burgher?
i’m beginning to believe that mg,ec,and hollywood are the same–
were they all killed & their id assumed by someone?
Were they all killed and their id assumed by someone?
Dracula?
As to the article, yet another Trump basher, ho hum. Wonder where this author was when the Muslim Marxist Mulatto was running things?
he said the same stuff about obama(same as in not complementary) but bonner is above the fray,he can’t be bothered by mere politicians,if they aren’t balancing/cutting now!,he’s down on them–
i have a buddy,about 70 ish,who is a retired atty–in the 70 s bonner was a high profile anti taxer–my buddy worked 4 him ,i think in cali but not sure,helping run anti tax campaigns–
You disappoint me.
Not I.
Until I head out to plant more rocks on gravesites next month I will be around off and on.
I think Hollywood Rob is like that freak on Silence of the Lambs.
He wears a MAHGIE suit.
i don’t like that either but from a practical pov,it makes sense to most people–
it doesn’t to us because we understand that it is just a small step on the road to gun confiscation and that the small # of people who are occasionally killed by a nut are nothing compared to what happens when govt & criminals have all the guns–
trump is too practical at times,and is not ideological enough-
What is practical about hating the constitution and the bill of rights? Or is the constitution just an ideology? If most people think it’s practical then I would say that most people have lost their way. Perhaps it’s the fluoride in the water?
How’s Hillary doing today ?
Soros told him she’s great and to keep up the agitprop.
Thanks
The writer, a typical “economic man”, completely misses the importance of Trump. Trump’s purpose – which even he probably does not comprehend – is to polarize American society, something that we are in desperate need of. Trump is just a trailblazer. Economics, while of vast importance, is not the mover of history. Race is. Our country was 90 percent white in 1965. This was before a collection of Jewish leftists and a drunken bum named Kennedy pushed through the new immigration law, lying to the American people that it would not change the face of the nation. Now we stand on the verge of losing our country to a flood of non-white paupers and subversive scum. Trump arrived at the last possible moment to wake up America, the real America. Somebody will come after him and finish the job. Unfortunately, the job will be far more bloody and destructive than it should have been thanks to the delay in the emergence of a guy like Donald. After Trump, no greaeball white politicians will be able to ignore the reality of the racial war taking place in this country. Call Trump whatever nasty name you want to – God knows he deserves most of them. When the real battle is joined he will receive the credit for having sounded the trumpet when all others were silent. Don’t be fooled by the “anti-racist” gibberish Trump spouts. Our enemies are not fooled. They know perfectly well what the score is and you, white man, better wake up as well. Vicious lunatics like Elijah Cummings, AOC, Omar, Schiff, Schumer and the rest know they are in a war against white America, the real America. You are in this war, too, like it or not.
I don’t get any pro-white thing from Trump at all. I see a man who thinks way ahead and is at least trying to put the U.S. first. Obama, for instance, seemed to be worried about other countries more than the U.S. Trump is also good at pushing buttons to get results. he plays 3d chess while others are playing checkers.
Teleprompter readers don’t get paid to think and do things.
They get paid to talk and act.
Obama was the affirmative action hire and Valerie Jarrett was his controller.
You got cognitive dissonance. Leftist Trump and his son-in-law is the Jews best friend. Trump has done everything to make Israel Great Again while nothing has changed at home for the better. As far as immigration policy, Trump has done a complete 180. How is it that you don’t know this?
Trump and the democrat names you mention both have a lot in common, you know like “Take the guns first and due process later”. Massive immigration influx, no border wall, amnesty, gun control, health care still fucked up, etc. It is clear to any rational observer, i.e. one that is not infected by the disease cognitive dissonance, that Trump is more aligned with the democrats and the left than he is with the right or true republicans. Bolshevik Trump and his daughter are supporting Soviet style gun confiscation measures. A democrats wet dream!
For your cognitive dissonance, see a doctor, there’s medication that can help.
As for voting, please vote harder.
Uh, I may have cog dis, you apparently lack language skills. The point of my note was that Trump has been the person who has mobilized white America. I did not say he intended it, wants it, understands it or cares about it. But he did it.
I posted the comments below over on the AOC thread.Much of what SS states here is correct.
ss posted the above a couple of hours ago on the “greatest leader” thread–
probably the most significant thing about aoc is that in a democratic primary she defeated a very powerful 20 year veteran congressman named joe crowley who was #4 in seniority in the democratic leadership,had no scandals & was not disliked–there was no republican running so she won the seat–
in that primary there was only a 4% turnout–
so why did aoc win?
in the 20 years crowley had held the seat,the demographics changed from working class/middle class white to mostly hispanic/caribbean immigrants–
aoc has a hispanic name & is of puerto rican descent–
people vote 4 who they identify with unless there is a compelling reason not to–
wake up !!
Absent any other information, the low information voter casts the ballot for the candidate they believe most likely to give them benefits.
They vote their pocketbooks, only they do so with no information. Only perception.
Good comments and points.
Complacency in all forms and circumstances should cause alarm.
Saga, that was my conclusion when I flipped for Donald just before the election. I proposed that if the Donald lost, the backlash in the next election would be worse, an out and out Nazi goose-stepping into the WH. The Donald has provided a means of pressure relief from a bad situation perpetrated by the Obozo, fipping the ship of state to supposedly sunnier climes.
In an inverted version of the Titanic movie, the people hanging on the rails of the ship do not go down to Davy Jones’ locker but survive along with the Black Pearl.
Trump could have closed the border the day after he took office and he wouldn’t have needed a wall to do it. However , you are correct that Trump’s job was to polarize America , a job he has done admirably. Any race war being stirred up is being done by the masters of your congressmen and the owners of the news media.
Did you forget the 9th Circuit ? Every move Trump makes, the liberal/communist activist file court papers.
Megalomaniacal Blockhead. ‘Nuff said.
“one of the great failures of modern democracy is how few of them are hung.” – no truer words were ever spoken about politicians.
what other libertarian potus candidates would have done better than trump is doing in the current time?
why?
how?
since a libertarian is not currently viable,what republican or democrat would be better than trump?
They’re all the same, haven’t you figured that out yet??
You are right that all of the successful politicians are the same (although some of the less successful ones have integrity), but for a while I had hope that Trump was actually different and intended to fulfill his campaign promises. I even voted for Trump, instead of voting for a third party candidate as I usually do. However, literally on election night I began to have my doubts about him when in his victory speech he said “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country”. I knew then that he was probably a fraud, and subsequent events have borne that out. The fact that he still has so many supporters is a testament to the extreme cognitive dissonance that many people have when it comes to politics.
Cognitive dissonance is right.
Intellectually we all know the truth about politics. But we think that guy we voted for just.might be different.
And then they take office.
So Vote Harder, the real question that begs to be answered is then who is the puppeteers? Who is in charge of the politicians, from all parties? And who’s behind the racial angst? I think most of the cognescetti here realize who (((they))) are. When will something be done about (((them))) is the true seminal question of these days.
This is such an important point I almost hate to point to it.
Who, exactly, wants a race.war?
Why is it, that when I see black people in a store, I instantly think…..
Nothing.
They are just black people whom I nod or say hello to and I pass by. They do the same. Sometimes we exchange a few pleasantries.
Who exactly believes I should hate them on sight?
I think it is the same lying SERPENT who told Eve she was equal to Adam and then told them both God was keeping humans in slavery.
I am free to exercise my own free will. Whomever “they” are, they will not prevail over me.
I also know why caged birds sing.
why should I care how hung they are?
ROFLOL
RFLOL
Jack Kennedy was hung.
don’t be starting no conspiracy theories,mr ec,we all know kennedy was shot by the grassy knoll gunmen while they were in between takes on their 1st album–
.
and you know this how?
Are you channeling Marilyn Monroe?
How would you know how hung he was?
bonner has been getting more & more hysterical–
btw bill,what’s wrong w/america?
leaving 4 security reasons,or tax reasons,is probably ok but you spend 1/2 the year in france,why?
Washington was the best. He left office. If Trump would imitate Bush and Obama and disappear for weeks on end and read off a planned speech. he would be better off. I can handle the occasional mistake so Trump speaking off the cuff is ok. The Democrat that will follow Trump is what worries me.
Millions of Americans cast their ballots for shit sandwiches based on the color of the wrappers. The evidence is overwhelming that both parties are corrupt to the core, yet people keep believing it will change every time.
In 33 months what has changed for the better, what is better now than 33 months ago?
TRUMP = OBAMA 2.0
“Millions of Americans cast their ballots for shit sandwiches based on the color of the wrappers.”
Ha! I was eating a sandwich as I read this…best line of the week! (Outside my Friday Fail Mick jokes under Nkit’s eye candy).
“Tippercanoe and Tyler too” comes to mind for some reason.
In an American Political History class, I learned that Davy Crockett ran for President (Tennessee ballot) on the basis of having killed 52 bears on the Frontier.
He didn’t win, but still…. 52 bears and some of them by hand, they said!
Killed himself a bar when he was only 3…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83qUtyeyVt0
It’s a wonder there are no folks worshiping Fess Parker today.
You gotta know I did!
That is a snappy tune.
No wonder I had a crush on Daniel Boone.
Tippecanoe.
Al Gore’s wife’s hairy taco did not run.
I nominate Charlemagne who had some very dominant traits. One dominant trait he had was that he was aggressive, when it came time to defend his empire or any of his people he did. He was very brutal in war but it was for his empire to stay strong. He proved he was aggressive when he was in battle with the Saxon’s for over a quarter of a century and they surrendered. Then he gave them the choice of convert or die. Another characteristic trait Charlemagne was a very smart man, he was able to conquer a lot of Europe. He was also smart because his love for education and wanting to make sure that he had given the opportunity of education to his empire. He proved his intelligence when he was able to rule so much of Europe and when he was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he also proved his brains when he paid monasteries, had teachers come to teach at his schools, and approved the writing style which is very similar to the one we use today. Charlemagne made sure he did what was best for his empire and for that he is a strong man physically and mentally. Gen Andrew Jackson and Vladimir Putin also come to mind.
Did your kid write that for 7th grade history class?
Paula, if somebody comes around sweet talking you (Ecoli Collector) it isn’t me. Accept no substitutes.
The cheese stands alone.
Tsk, don’t like what he wrote then do better; no such thang as a Caribbean Viking. I vote for Charles DeGaulle. Ask me why.
“Charles DeGaulle. Ask me why?”
My Girl…this is what I admire about him.
He was wounded three times in combat at Verdun (that changes you, I understand that because that happened to me) he was mentioned three times in dispatches for his zeal and leadership and he spent two years and eight months as a prisoner of war, during which time he made five unsuccessful attempts to escape!
He was a god to many in his own country and he forced Nixon to stop the BS cheating the world and that took US off what was left of the Gold Standard, but his WW1 war record stands out for me as to why I admire him.
Politically he was also brilliant, relentless, and bold.
What about you?
He was smart enough to send the Americans packing, stay out of NATO and let France return to itself and he very adroitly tossed the hot potato that was Viet Nam into an American lap. He went after the communists and restored a democracy to Parliament. Interestingly, the Vichy government and Petainist were the ones who gave De Gaulle his luster, they reviled and defiled him, much as Trump is reviled by the progressives and democrats and they created the De Gaulle brand just as those who hate and revile Trump create a sympathy and support that might otherwise not exist.
“As Jackson demonstrates in hilarious detail, the Pétainist government in Vichy unintentionally added to de Gaulle’s prestige. In a very French touch, the Vichy officials first publicly stripped him of his rank as general and then made him the center of a hate campaign, showing his tall figure on posters hidden behind a microphone surrounded by swarthy Jews. This had the effect of making him the one anti-German leader whom most French people had heard of. The Vichy regime, in the blindness of its hatred, helped create—and promote—the de Gaulle brand.”
De Gaulle had three rendezvous with history, in the old-fashioned sense he loved: in 1940, in 1958, and in 1968. On all three occasions, he saved the French state by sheer theatricality and élan. First, by embodying the French republic in retreat from the Germans; then by seizing power, in a republican mode, to end the Algerian crisis; and, finally, when he ended the potential chaos of the May revolt by massing almost a million people on the Champs-Élysées in a counter-demonstration.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/20/how-charles-de-gaulle-rescued-france
A debate we had in college Western Civ class was, did Charlemagne know he was going to be made emperor by Pope Leo lll ? The debate moderated by the Jesuit professor awarded me winner as I made the claim he did know based on the only written first hand account.
Charles Martel.
Bill Bonner has a bad case of TDS.
Accidental presidents : eight men who changed America / Jared Cohen; a lot of interesting history about our Presidency over a couple of centuries. Actually, Harry Truman comes out looking pretty good, under the circumstances.
As a side note, I was beginning to wonder if the writer of this article might be just as brain dead as Jim Acosta, who has recently published a book that exemplifies once again his stupidity and arrogance. True to form as a poor excuse for a journalist, he provides lots and lots of stuff he claims to be factual, much based on his position of self elevation as one who knows. Funny thing: his book has no footnotes nor even an index, let alone chapter notes at the back of the book. He wants us to believe everything he says but is too lazy to provide any substantiation of his claims whatsoever. It is people like this that I say: “Go get a real job”.
Not to be outdone by hillary and her stupid “deplorables” comment, Acosta goes after ALL republicans as being part and parcel of the Trump “crimes”. He does that twice in separate sections of his book; I guess he already made up his mind that the other half of the country already knows he is nothing more than a hack, so why not insult that group?
An overly long hit piece that is sure to get rave reviews from the hate Trump crowd. Save the money and get a copy at your library and skim a few pages to see once again an example of why the American media has turned into a propaganda machine for ultra left wing causes.
In the early ‘70’s St Paul, MN had a mayor named Charlie McCarthy. He fancied himself St Paul’s version of Chicago’s Mayor Daley. He engaged in low-level political patronage like any Irishman. He called himself the Supermayor and he got chauffeured around town in some big stretch Lincoln or Cadillac that had a strobe light like a cop car to turn all the red lights green – which he did just because he could. Mayoral terms in St Paul were only two years then and that’s all he lasted – one two-year term. Now there’s a top-notch politician for you.
Fuck you Billy Bonner and all the other crooked coquesuqueres at Agora.
and the ass burghers you rode in on…
Best politician ever? Bismarck
Not in that he should have put an end to Hitler but didn’t.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EC2YguXXUAED3qv?format=jpg