Unca Darrell

JUULY 28, 2017 / How not to win friends and influence people, and consequences thereof

Donald John Trump, July 18, 2015, speaking of Senator John McCain:

He's not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay?

What payback looks like:

The Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act collapsed early Friday when a slimmed-down Senate measure to pare back selected pieces of the 2010 health-care law failed, undermining the GOP leaders’ efforts to deliver on a longtime campaign promise. Sens. John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins cast the three Republican “no” votes that helped sink the measure 49-51. (Christina Peterson, Michelle Hackman, and Siobhan Hughes, "'Skinny' Repeal of Obamacare Fails in Senate," wsj.com, July 28, 2017)

I am not so crass as to believe Mr. McCain did not vote his conscience on "skinny repeal." He is and always has been comfortable with the policies of the left.

In a better world, however, a Republican president could have persuaded a ranking Republican senator to take one for the Gipper -- to let the bill live long enough to reach conference committee. The president's pitch here, sadly, would have lacked the same resonance: "Take one for the Bully."

What the future holds:

The line of public figures Mr. Trump has insulted, personally and profoundly, is long and growing longer. Imagine the day he needs a favor or the benefit of the doubt or a vote from Little Marco. Or Lyin' Ted. Or Beleagured Jeff Sessions. Or [you fill in the blank].  

 

JULY 24, 2017 / Victor Davis Hanson on the Great Decline

AMERICA IS SUFFERING a "revolutionary divide," says Mr. Hanson, and progressives are winning.

The consequences of globalization, the growth of the deep state, changing demographics, open borders, the rise of geographic apartheid between blue and red states, and the institutionalism of a permanent coastal political and culture elite -- and the reaction to all that -- are tearing our country apart.

JULY 19, 2017 / David Brooks, meet . . .

. . . Charles Murray.

OVER THE PAST generation, members of the college-educated class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privileged status. They have also become devastatingly good at making sure the children of other classes have limited chance to join their ranks.

JULY 13, 2017 / Donald John Trump on Western Civilization

WE WRITE SYMPHONIES. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes, embrace our timeless traditions and customs, and always seek to explore and discover brand-new frontiers.