Friends, Governors Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom of Florida and California, respectively, squared off in a televised debate last night. While I haven't watched it (yet), I offer you this analysis:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/top-takeaways-real-winner-of-desantis-newsom-debate
What's more, the debate was one of the themes we discussed on this week's Newsmaker Show! Brian and I also dissected the rise of the populist right despite the herculean efforts by the establishment to stifle it, the political impact of current economic turmoil and the IDF-Hamas truce, and the state of the polls.
When we get to This Day in History, Brian and I talk about the impact of arms control talks during the latter stages of the Cold War, as well as the historical significance of the Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40.
Folks, it's YET ANOTHER tour de force! Some would say my sheer analytical excellence is growing tiresome... Couldn't I drop the ball just once or twice? Nah. Not my style. Sorry!
https://wlea.net/newsmaker-november-30-2023-dr-nick-waddy/
Finally, here's a reminder that Henry Kissinger, who passed away Wednesday, wasn't just a master manipulator of geopolitics. He was also the "Playboy of the West Wing"! Gross, right?
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Re: the broadcast: Good point that DJT's Presidency is old news and that Biden's train wreck is today's news.You asked why the dems aren't pushing the panic button; I think they have done so by making the colossal error of their legal onslaught on DJT's very person. The more they prosecute this neototalitarian injustice the stronger DJT's support gets, including perhaps among independents.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: It would have been hard to imagine Khrushchev engaging in such as the SALT nuclear weapons reduction talks in 1981. Perhaps a strictly objective view could hold that Russian post war anxiety over their national security was inordinate and even irrational. But oh, what unimaginable agony they endured 1941 - 5. K was at Stalingrad, no more need be said of his trauma; that despite his murderous record. He was also an honest believer in communism and he knew the US was that cursed ideology's worst enemy after the war. No, he was incapable of anything beyond Manichaean confrontation of Russia's enemies. Brezhnev simply clicked on the doctrinal ratchet "if its communist it stays communist" and then turned his attention back to his car collection. So the SALT talks certainly marked the significant departure from Soviet intransigence you aptly noted .
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Another perceptive observation on your part: the Boche did presume disastrously on the Russian weakness they thought
ReplyDeleteconfirmed by Russia's poor performance against the yet hardy Finns.They invaded Russia completely unequipped for always deadly Russian winter because they thought they would be at the Urals and the Caucasus by then; "blitzkrieg" and all that you know. At least Hitler thought so and disagreement with him was most unwise. Luckily he proved himself still a Private First Class after all.The existential threat posed the world by the always dynamic German nation motivated by a compelling sovereign, was shattered by Mother Russia's hard, hard fist.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: . . . along ,of course, with some little unrequited effort on the part of the western allies.Gratitude was inimical to Stalin's subhuman makeup. (He once was,we are told, a member of the human race. It is telling that his departure from it was at the bidding of Marx.)
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I have seen only excerpts of the DeSantis - Newsom confrontation. I can't endure prolonged exposure to far leftist blather .Newsom appeared predictably imperious.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks for that rundown on Kissassinger's amorous exploits. Special thanks for reminding me just how much the film industry crowd is involved in politics in our culture/society. Was it Reagan who had John Travolta and the late Princess Diana at one of his gala events. WTF!
Ray from Jack: In the mid l9th century and back, I think Englsh and American cultures regarded actors and performers as amusing low lifes. The present entertainment world manifests the truth of that view.
ReplyDelete. . . but I do not include President Reagan in that opinion.
ReplyDeleteJack, peppering DJT with felony charges, almost all of them based solely on personal animus, certainly violates plenty of norms, but I'm not sure it constitutes "the panic button" for the Dems. I fear they've got other, bigger, more sinister buttons to push...
ReplyDeleteAnd, not to put too fine a point on it, but you say that Trump's support keeps increasing. I dunno about that. Trump's favorables and unfavorables are about the same as before. Even Trump's head to head numbers are only marginally better -- maybe by a point or two. I think the fundamental landscape hasn't changed that much.
Jack, I think you might be confusing the START talks with the SALT talks. The latter go way back to Brezhnevian days, and indicate a willingness on the part of the Soviets to parley re: the strategic balance long before the Reagan Administration.
Yes, the Germans engaged in some gross self-deception re: the inherent strength of the Soviet Union, BUT, to be fair, their gambit almost succeeded regardless.
Ray, they say D.C. is "Hollywood for ugly people", and Kissinger's sterling career might seem to confirm that view. Of course, Hollywood is also broadly supportive of the Washington establishment and especially of the Democratic Party, which produces all sorts of opportunities for, uhh, shall we call it "synergy"? That's a nice word for what Kissinger and Jill St. John (presumably) did in the backseat of an armored limo, but hey...
Dr Waddy fromJack: In saying I think DJT's support is increasing I am going on the assumption that the rise of the populist right means increased support for him.
ReplyDeleteHmm. There's definitely a "rise of the populist right" going on in Argentina and the Netherlands. Here the GOP has essentially been taken over by the populist, nationalist, Trumpist faction, but that isn't a new development, so whether the populist right is STILL rising is debatable. The bottom line for me is Trump's level of overall support, which has ticked up slightly, but I don't see a lot of evidence that that's because attitudes to him have changed, so much as there's a hunger for Anyone-Who-Isn't-Biden (understandably).
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