I've read about Nixon's success with China. Nixon's trip to China, and opening of diplomatic relations with them was also thought of as a mastery of foreign affairs. When relating the story how he accomplished this, Nixon would reply that he kept the State Department in the dark.
DJT has also shown that the professional diplomatic class, whose obsession with maintaining the status quo, while being staffed by people who *never* think outside the box, are gormless butt kissers.
Off topic, but it appears that this site will soon be the only one where I can comment (but I do pay). Honestly, PL blog has gone downhill since Prof Hayward left. The commenters are often better than the contributed articles.
The always charming AmmoGrrlll is worth reading there, but I hope you can talk her into coming over this this site.
I had run across "gormless" before, but in my old age I don't retain definitions as well as in my younger years, so I had to look it up. But even before looking it up, the word is such a creepy word that I could tell it wasn't going to be complimentary — well, maybe the "butt kissers" part clued me in a bit.
"The learned ignore the evidence of their senses to preserve the coherence of their imaginations' ideas." -- Adam Smith
After all that we've learned since Trump descended the elevator, we should recognize that both his decisions and his style repudiate the rule of experts and their conventional thinking. His enemies reflexively sell him short, as Trump is obviously an expert in real estate, media, finance, and especially, leadership.
All his lifelong wheeling and dealing skills are now at the nation's disposal. Meanwhile the clueless but prolix experts thrash about looking for continuing attention and income. It's easier to find a nuclear weapons factory than to find any basis for their prominence.
I have been looking at the attached photos of the three of you for several days now. I have been listening to the podcast through its various incarnations since the days when it was just John Hinderaker and a fellow co-host. With each addition to the cast I have wondered about how things would go. I have never been disappointed.
The photos cannot be anyone else but the three of you. You, Lucretia, are unmistakable, and Steve can only be Steve with the meeting of his chins and jaw forming the flat line at the bottom of his face. John is a less definite case, but close enough that I believe it is him.
Anyway, I love the podcast, though at times it gets a bit esoteric for my tastes. You guys are great, and you, Lucretia, will always be the woman of my dreams.
Linda took her victory lap too early - she should have waited for the NATO conference to end and opined on Rutte's remarks:
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” he continued. “You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”
Since 2006 NATO members committed to 2% - an objective unattained and bemoaned by Democrat and Republican establishment. Trump's solution - question Article 5 to include whether the attacked member was meeting its obligations to NATO. 2x4 diplomancy strikes again.
Next up I predict Trump 2.0 (it takes a team to create history on so many fronts) will succeed in economically isolating China. Note the same pattern -- legions of economists and politicians who have embraced a losing strategy of "free trade" opine endlessly on how tariffs are bad for consumers. They have a whole ideology built on economic and diplomatic analysis, and nothing to show for it other than free trade dogma, a trillion dollar trade deficit, and the frittering away of American's manufacturing might that won WWII and the Cold War.
The experts and intellectuals totally missed the point: Liberation Day was the 2x4 used to gain attention (again), forcing quick and decisive actions to isolate China from the global economic order. How else will we get the Chinese to end their ruinous export at all cost policy and to back away from their goal to build the capability to invade Taiwan in 2027? High tariffs are just a different version of a MOP used to penetrate the impenetrable. (The Doha round of GATT started in 2001... and is still going.)
Meanwhile, spineless, supply chain-optimizing multinational CEOs finally have awaken to their dependency on China's 90% market share of processed rare earth materials and the fact 90% of high performance semiconductors are manufactured in a future war zone. And guess what? Supply chain resilience will once again be an element of your corporate strategy.
The "best and brightest" brought us the endless Vietnam stalemate, the 2003 Iraq invasion, the admittance of China into the WTO in 1999, the lock downs as public policy to prevent harm, a vaccine promised to prevent the spread of a virus that everyone knew would just mutate, and a $36 trillion federal debt.
it seems to me that throughout history most of the great achievements in art, architecture, science, politics war and technology have been achieved by people not considered to have the 'right' education or experience. From Alexander to Brunelleschi, our Founders, Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Chamberlain, Orville and Wilber Wright, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and there are many other examples. People with no pedigree have achieved great things. Maybe Trump's policies will fail, but many have also failed who we have been told are 'experts.'
I have some questions: 1) What happens when Trump is no longer driving the agenda? 2) Will the old "Diplomats" reemerge to flood the zone anew? and 3) Has Trump's initial success set a new course for the ship of state?
You don't have to look past the "Democrat Bench" to see that should Democrats form the next government what you will see is spineless capitulation to the tried-and-true failed methods of the past, which methods may harken all the way back to "Edith Wilson's" presidency. Worse still they may harken back to Dr. Jill.
In some ways DJT is to FR what the (successful) insurgents of Afghanistan & Iraq were to the might of the US military: unorthodox, creative, working outside the normal frameworks.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
PS: Can't help but wonder if Linda's inclusion of the term "paleo-conservatism" was a deliberated jab at Steven, following on from last week's 3WHH banter about said term. Ms Mischievous!
In physics theories last until the last tenured believer retires - and if you want to understand that behavior in depth I'd recommend Leon Festinger et al on When Prophecies Fail (1956?).
(NB: read the original -most of what others have written about his findings and ideas represents the writer's views, not Festinger's.)
People who know something is true build fences around that truth and interpret new information in the shadows of that truth. So if I'm an expert and you have an idea that's new to me - you're wrong.
Note, however, that the fact that you are right in some instance and I'm wrong, does not make you the smartest person in the room - just the rightest in this context at this time.
Take a bow. Steve and John will surely acknowledge your perspicacity. They'll surely buy you more than one drink. Just don't get drunk on your assessment. The Mid-East has confounded many and hubris does not become you. When peace breaks out all over, though, you can join Steve in Ireland, drink a lot of Bushmills and claim total victory. Nice essay.
I really miss our conversations on the old Powerlineblog!
I've read about Nixon's success with China. Nixon's trip to China, and opening of diplomatic relations with them was also thought of as a mastery of foreign affairs. When relating the story how he accomplished this, Nixon would reply that he kept the State Department in the dark.
DJT has also shown that the professional diplomatic class, whose obsession with maintaining the status quo, while being staffed by people who *never* think outside the box, are gormless butt kissers.
Thank, Lucretia!
"Gormless"--thanks for the new word.
Off topic, but it appears that this site will soon be the only one where I can comment (but I do pay). Honestly, PL blog has gone downhill since Prof Hayward left. The commenters are often better than the contributed articles.
The always charming AmmoGrrlll is worth reading there, but I hope you can talk her into coming over this this site.
I will second the motion to have AmmoGrrlll join Political Questions.
I had run across "gormless" before, but in my old age I don't retain definitions as well as in my younger years, so I had to look it up. But even before looking it up, the word is such a creepy word that I could tell it wasn't going to be complimentary — well, maybe the "butt kissers" part clued me in a bit.
You're very welcome, and thank you for your writing - I've enjoyed it.
"The learned ignore the evidence of their senses to preserve the coherence of their imaginations' ideas." -- Adam Smith
After all that we've learned since Trump descended the elevator, we should recognize that both his decisions and his style repudiate the rule of experts and their conventional thinking. His enemies reflexively sell him short, as Trump is obviously an expert in real estate, media, finance, and especially, leadership.
All his lifelong wheeling and dealing skills are now at the nation's disposal. Meanwhile the clueless but prolix experts thrash about looking for continuing attention and income. It's easier to find a nuclear weapons factory than to find any basis for their prominence.
Now that was a breath of fresh air Ms. Denno. ;-)
Love the kid caricatures of you, woo, and Steven.
Jim
This decides it. I’m having a taco in honor of Trump.
Have two. It's America, damn it.
I have been looking at the attached photos of the three of you for several days now. I have been listening to the podcast through its various incarnations since the days when it was just John Hinderaker and a fellow co-host. With each addition to the cast I have wondered about how things would go. I have never been disappointed.
The photos cannot be anyone else but the three of you. You, Lucretia, are unmistakable, and Steve can only be Steve with the meeting of his chins and jaw forming the flat line at the bottom of his face. John is a less definite case, but close enough that I believe it is him.
Anyway, I love the podcast, though at times it gets a bit esoteric for my tastes. You guys are great, and you, Lucretia, will always be the woman of my dreams.
I’ve assumed that the child photos were generated by an AI system using their adult photos.
I hadn't thought of that possibility. Makes sense!
Linda took her victory lap too early - she should have waited for the NATO conference to end and opined on Rutte's remarks:
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” he continued. “You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”
Since 2006 NATO members committed to 2% - an objective unattained and bemoaned by Democrat and Republican establishment. Trump's solution - question Article 5 to include whether the attacked member was meeting its obligations to NATO. 2x4 diplomancy strikes again.
Next up I predict Trump 2.0 (it takes a team to create history on so many fronts) will succeed in economically isolating China. Note the same pattern -- legions of economists and politicians who have embraced a losing strategy of "free trade" opine endlessly on how tariffs are bad for consumers. They have a whole ideology built on economic and diplomatic analysis, and nothing to show for it other than free trade dogma, a trillion dollar trade deficit, and the frittering away of American's manufacturing might that won WWII and the Cold War.
The experts and intellectuals totally missed the point: Liberation Day was the 2x4 used to gain attention (again), forcing quick and decisive actions to isolate China from the global economic order. How else will we get the Chinese to end their ruinous export at all cost policy and to back away from their goal to build the capability to invade Taiwan in 2027? High tariffs are just a different version of a MOP used to penetrate the impenetrable. (The Doha round of GATT started in 2001... and is still going.)
Meanwhile, spineless, supply chain-optimizing multinational CEOs finally have awaken to their dependency on China's 90% market share of processed rare earth materials and the fact 90% of high performance semiconductors are manufactured in a future war zone. And guess what? Supply chain resilience will once again be an element of your corporate strategy.
The "best and brightest" brought us the endless Vietnam stalemate, the 2003 Iraq invasion, the admittance of China into the WTO in 1999, the lock downs as public policy to prevent harm, a vaccine promised to prevent the spread of a virus that everyone knew would just mutate, and a $36 trillion federal debt.
As to the co-hosts owing you a whiskey…. Judging by the picture, you’re all a little too young for that.
it seems to me that throughout history most of the great achievements in art, architecture, science, politics war and technology have been achieved by people not considered to have the 'right' education or experience. From Alexander to Brunelleschi, our Founders, Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Chamberlain, Orville and Wilber Wright, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and there are many other examples. People with no pedigree have achieved great things. Maybe Trump's policies will fail, but many have also failed who we have been told are 'experts.'
Let's not leave out Shakespeare. Keats, Whitman, Gershwin, Twain...
I have some questions: 1) What happens when Trump is no longer driving the agenda? 2) Will the old "Diplomats" reemerge to flood the zone anew? and 3) Has Trump's initial success set a new course for the ship of state?
You don't have to look past the "Democrat Bench" to see that should Democrats form the next government what you will see is spineless capitulation to the tried-and-true failed methods of the past, which methods may harken all the way back to "Edith Wilson's" presidency. Worse still they may harken back to Dr. Jill.
They persist because to acknowledge that he is sharp and successful is to admit their own fallacies and failures.
In some ways DJT is to FR what the (successful) insurgents of Afghanistan & Iraq were to the might of the US military: unorthodox, creative, working outside the normal frameworks.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
PS: Can't help but wonder if Linda's inclusion of the term "paleo-conservatism" was a deliberated jab at Steven, following on from last week's 3WHH banter about said term. Ms Mischievous!
In contrast to the podcast, no one here is bold enough to disagree with you! ;^))
Agreed - but..
In physics theories last until the last tenured believer retires - and if you want to understand that behavior in depth I'd recommend Leon Festinger et al on When Prophecies Fail (1956?).
(NB: read the original -most of what others have written about his findings and ideas represents the writer's views, not Festinger's.)
People who know something is true build fences around that truth and interpret new information in the shadows of that truth. So if I'm an expert and you have an idea that's new to me - you're wrong.
Note, however, that the fact that you are right in some instance and I'm wrong, does not make you the smartest person in the room - just the rightest in this context at this time.
Take a bow. Steve and John will surely acknowledge your perspicacity. They'll surely buy you more than one drink. Just don't get drunk on your assessment. The Mid-East has confounded many and hubris does not become you. When peace breaks out all over, though, you can join Steve in Ireland, drink a lot of Bushmills and claim total victory. Nice essay.
I told Steve to hurry up and publish the piece--while my predictions have the appearance of being accurate and before they are overtaken by events!