If you have heard this canard from activists once, you have heard it a million times. Donald Trump’s first term was a total failure. Nothing was accomplished. It is a gross exaggeration.
While this is partially true on the legislative front, it has far more to do with Congress than with Trump. The country is bitterly polarized and locked in a partisan stalemate. Neither party commands majorities in Congress large enough to pass major legislation due to the Senate filibuster. Obama, Trump and Biden have all run into the same wall and have been forced to rely on budget reconciliation to push through their agendas on Obamacare, the Trump tax cuts and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Since 2020, I have warmed on Donald Trump as it has become clear that his first term was more impactful than I originally thought. He succeeded in appointing 226 federal judges including a third of the Supreme Court with the appointments of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. The last two appointments were the most impactful in that Kavanaugh and Barrett replaced Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who were the decisive swing and progressive votes respectively. Barrett was only confirmed days before the 2020 election and the significance of that shift has become clear under Biden.
In 2024, we can say that “Trump accomplished nothing” except for Dobbs (2022) which ended Roe v. Wade and nationwide legal abortion, Bruen (2022) which significantly expanded gun rights and Students for Fair Admissions (2023) which severely restricted affirmative action. In recent years, there have been other decisions on subjects like border wall funding, homeless camps, presidential immunity, bump stocks, the power of federal agencies, January 6 defendants and disqualifying Trump from running for president. Trump’s legacy of tilting the Supreme Court to the Right is still paying out dividends. If Hillary Clinton had won the presidency in 2016, she would have appointed three Supreme Court justices and the court would now have a leftwing majority which would be rubberstamping her social agenda.
Joe Biden came to power promising to appoint “the first black woman” to the Supreme Court and made good on his promise with the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson. The next president could end up replacing Clarence Thomas or Sonia Sotomayor which could shift the Supreme Court in a better or worse direction. President Kamala Harris replacing Clarence Thomas would only have the effect of reempowering John Roberts whose power on the court has been greatly diminished since the death of Ginsberg. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett have voted for the wrong side on all sorts of decisions. It is rare though when two or three of them vote on the same decision as badly as John Roberts. There is more room for error. It is better for Trump to appoint the next several hundred federal judges than Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris will appoint judges who will trash the First Amendment, Second Amendment and the Tenth Amendment. Trump can be expected to appoint conservative judges in the mold of the people he has already appointed. These judges will also be around making rulings long after he exits the political stage. It is important to keep in mind that the presidency is not just about how you feel about Donald Trump or what he will accomplish. The ripple effect of Scalia and Thomas, for example, has stretched across decades The Supreme Court has brought Trump’s record on social issues up from poor to decent since 2021. He now has some wins under his belt which he could not take credit for when he left office.
Burning the courts to own Donald Trump would be a stupid, irrational, emotional move. It is the sort of decision that I made in 2020 which gave us Ketanji Brown Jackson. Even if Trump wins, he is a lame duck in two years, but the next president will shape the Supreme Court for decades to come. The divided nature of our government is such that it takes more than one election cycle to change course.
As usual, the point of this article is to explain my own thinking because otherwise you would not understand the shifts in my position. I am not telling you to vote for Donald Trump. You are capable of making your own decisions. This is my attempt to flesh out my own inner monologue.
1. The Right finally moves on from Trump in 2028
2. The Alt-Right has terrible political instincts
3. Joe Biden has been a sedative as president
4. Activist brain blinds us and creates prejudice against conservative normies
5. Trump is the leader because he is the best of the Republicans
6. “Worse is better” is a cope and was tried in 2020 and maintains the status quo
7. Voting is not a sacrament. Few know this
8. Voting is not going to change anything about Zionism in the next four years
9. Activists have the chance to ride the Trump wave without making the same mistakes
10. Activists are running out of material because the Overton Window has shifted so much
11. Donald Trump is a hunted dog who has been backed into a corner
12. Donald Trump is a divider, not a uniter and his legacy will ultimately be useful for us
13. Winning is still better than losing at baseline
14. The Left is still the enemy and wants to take away our freedoms
15. The cause of anti-Zionism depends on internet free speech
16. Donald Trump is reviled by our elites because he is an obstacle to their agenda
17. Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointments have been improving his legacy
Is there no evil you wouldn’t support because you perceive it to be the lesser?
No amount of genocide, mass murder, rape, torture, imperialism, globalism, authoritarianism, banksterism and gangsterism?
I will never support genocide, its my line in the sand, does that make me a naïve, wide-eyed idealist?
Does pragmatism mean we have to support some genocide some of the time?
No, any party, any institution responsible for committing genocide is absolutely illegitimate, should not exist, whatever energy and resources we have should be committed to starving it and bringing about its total destruction.
Now is the time, if we can’t draw the line here at genocide and dragging us into WW3 with Russia, Iran and China over a bit of real estate, than there is no line at all, no ethnics, no morality, no humanity, no future, nothing except death and destruction.
My top issue isn’t Palestinian human rights.
Obviously, I do not approve of what is going on in Gaza, but Joe Biden is the president. The current genocide there has unfolded under his administration. What is happening in Gaza isn’t Trump’s fault. Also, the fact that this is happening under Biden has caused me to discount the opinions of all the people who said Joe Biden would be so much better than Trump on Israel, Palestinians and Iran policy when experience has shown that has not been the case. I don’t see how it could get worse. It was not this bad four years ago.
My top issue wasn’t Palestinian rights before the aftermath of October 7th, it was the economy, than civil liberties, immigration and foreign policy in general, but it is now.
When it comes to the most heinous of crimes, I don’t even view it as Palestinian rights, it’s human rights.
I will never support the genocide of people under any circumstance.
I have a red line, but others don’t, there’s nothing they won’t tolerate for what they deem politically expedient.
A lot of people voted for Barrack Obama because Bill Clinton started fewer wars than George W, and what happened?
Obama just expanded those wars, and regardless of what you believe about the official story of 9/11, of course Afghanistan, Iraq and so on had nothing to do with what happened on that day, those wars were planned years beforehand as detailed in the ‘Project for the New American Century’, written by neocons, driven by imperialism and Zionism.
Trump is not independent, he’s part of the ruling class.
If they wanted him dead he’d be dead, they wouldn’t need some idiot kid to do it, they’d get it done, no organization is more capable of having him killed than the ZOG of America.
There is no rift between Trump and the deep state, he is the deep state.
His populist rhetoric is just that.
There’s no substance behind it, nor the liberal elite’s antagonism towards him.
It’s just for show, an illusion of choice.
As I’ve said before, Trump continued to fund Zelensky’s war against the Donbass.
He called Putin’s invasion a mistake.
He supports what’s happening there, his only gripe is he says he wants Europe to put up its ‘fair share’, to contribute more to the war against Russia.
Same with Israel’s genocide and war against Iran and its allies.
There’s absolutely no reason to believe Trump would be any different.
No gentile is a bigger cuck for Israel than him.
Kushner was directing Trump’s foreign policy just as Blinken is directing Biden’s.
I feel bad about is happening to the Palestinians, but Joe Biden is the president. This is all happening on his watch. Trump losing only reaffirms the status quo. Also, what happens over there is not as important as what happens here in this country, and at any rate what was happening over there in 2018 wasn’t as bad as what is happening now.
” feel bad about is happening to the Palestinians”
Even the most callous hearted should take an object lesson in the wickedness of the jwsh mind.
It’s just a coincidence, if October 7th happened under Trump’s watch the response would’ve been equivalent if not even worse.
Trump has stated he fully supports Israel’s genocide and war with Iran and its allies, his only gripe is that he thinks Biden isn’t doing enough.
1.) It didn’t.
It happened under Biden who were informed would be so much better on the issue. Objectively, life has never been worse for Palestinians. It was bad there before October 7, but not this level bad
2.) There wasn’t a genocide in Gaza when Trump was president or a war with Iran. The region was calming down after the destruction of ISIS.
BTW, the same people who said Trump will start a war with Iran were certain three weeks ago that we were on the verge of war with Iran. As usual, nothing happened
“what happens over there is not as important as what happens here in this country”:
I hold what happens in occupied, colonised Palestine is just as important as what happens within the U.S. empire’s “homeland.” The U.S. is a global empire with over 800 known, official military bases and dozens of direct colonies and more puppet allies and proxy forces and dozens of wars being waged. Most of the world sees it, even if it is being hidden from the eyes and lazy minds of the U.S. population by U.S. media “fog.” Like the media, you concentrate people’s attention on the empty drama of the “election” of Mr. Trumpstein versus Mrs. K. Emhoff.
Your “national debt” to the Bankers, that you will have to pay for the insane barbaric folly of imperialism, is mounting up exponentially. The cost of the U.S.’s nuclear weapons modernisation alone is approaching six TRILLION dollars, to “win” a nuclear arms race. The cost of other “defense” spending is around one trillion dollars per year (although officially “only” 80% of that). If the U.S. is not defeated and overthrown by an outside force, you will be slaves of your ever-increasing “defense” (war) debt forever. But if you are at least upper middle class, that won’t be too bad for you; you can still look down on the fully-impoverished vast majority. The insanity of imperialism (which is integral to capitalism) is ruining the natural environment, worldwide. The U.S. military is the world’s single largest source of pollution, surpassing any one productive industry such as coal mining or oil production!
So in my opinion, what happens in Russia, Palestine and other foreign countries is just as important as what you see in your backyard. If you are pleased with your place in the system, you will want to conserve it, and by participating in its “election” you give your explicit consent.
‘If they wanted him dead he’d be dead, they wouldn’t need some idiot kid to do it, they’d get it done, no organization is more capable of having him killed than the ZOG of America.’
And moreover they’d make it look like an accident because they wouldn’t want to make a martyr out of one their enemies if he was one which of course he isn’t.
I meant to say ‘I will never support the genocide of ANY people under any circumstance’, bugs me that I left the word ‘any’ out.
“has unfolded under his administration. What is happening in Gaza isn’t Trump’s fault (…) this is happening under Biden”:
The daily, annual, perennial, mostly slow-motion genocide of Palestine by the Zionist colonial crusaders was going strong during all of the Trump years, with Trump’s full enthusiastic personal support. Gaza was being terror-bombed, and the West Bank was also being terrorized by the U.S.’s proxies, all through the Trump years. This did not begin with Biden, and goes back at least to Harry Truman, and before that to various UK governments in charge of Palestine before the U.S. took over.
When Trump was president, the most eventful thing that happened in Gaza was the March of Return when they stormed the fence. A few people got shot and that was it.
Of course you can’t see the difference between that and what we have there now or sending Javelins to Ukraine and over half a million dead there
“Ukraine and over half a million dead there”
Just hideous, that we’re forced to fund wanton carnage for the benefit of jwsh monsters.
Orphans, widows, parents, young men that will never have a family.
“most eventful thing that happened in Gaza was the March of Return ”
Most aggression is predicated on the perception of the aggressor. The israelies saw trump as strong and resolute, they see Biden as a spineless weakling. They know there will be no consequences from Biden for their massacre of Palestinians.
It’s just a coincidence October 7th didn’t happen on Trump’s watch, it wasn’t because Trump is more ethnical or a more skilled politician than Biden.
It’s just a coincidence NATO provoked Russia into intervening in the Donbass.
Blaming Biden for October 7th makes about as much sense as blaming Trump for the covid ‘pandemic’ or George Bush for 9/11.
It’s the oligarchs who’re primarily responsible for these things, not the puppet president.
Trump has promised he will be tougher on Gaza and Iran than Biden has been.
Mark my words if Trump’s elected, these situations will continue to get worse, just as Obama only expanded Bush’s wars.
“When Trump was president, the most eventful thing that happened in Gaza was the March of Return when they stormed the fence. A few people got shot and that was it”:
Not “a few” were shot, but over 10,000 (TEN THOUSAND) peaceful demonstrators were shot, just for amusement by Israeli soldiers firing bullets from their safe perches on the wall, including medical personnel wearing their uniforms, journalists dressed in official press garb, thousands of women and children, and at least one crippled man sitting in his wheelchair – and over 150 were shot dead, for demonstrating peacefully against being locked their entire lives in the Gaza apartheid concentration camp. They were trying to get the attention of the world to their plight – but not Mr. Trump’s attention because he certainly pays no attention to genocide and the suffering of “animals”!
Every four or five years there has been a major Israeli military operation (invasion) going into Gaza, and in the years between the major operations, plenty of assassinations and terror bombings have been carried out, including some during the Trump years. The Trump years were certainly not peaceful and uneventful for the people of Palestine! The Trump administration was at war with the people of Palestine, and broke several international laws to try to harm them. Mr. Trump will never “change his spots” and it is horrifying to imagine what he will do if he becomes President again, though I think you will get Ms. Emhoff.) Trump dropped the long-standing U.S. commitment to a two-state solution. He chose David Friedman, an extreme Zionist, outspoken supporter of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land, to be his ambassador to Israel. He built a new U.S. embassy on Palestinian land, in East Jerusalem that was supposed to be the capital of Palestine, according to the two-state solution. Trump also made sure to have the new embassy’s grand opening coincide with Nakba, the anniversary of the beginning of the Zionist “ethnic cleansing” in 1948. He cruelly cut off all U.S. aid to UNRwA (the United Nations’ relief agency for Palestinian refigees) and threatened to cut off the aid (bribe money) to the puppet government of West Bank (but of course he didn’t do that one) to make Palestinians begin to “talk peace.” He cut off aid for Palestinian hospitals. He closed the Palestiniam embassy (mission) in Washington and deported the embassy staff. He announced that the U.S. will no longer abide by international law concerning Israeli land theft and building settlements on stolen land in the West Bank. He unilaterally “recognised” Israel’s illegal annexation of the oil-rich Syrian Golan region. He sent Kushner the the Lubavitchian Zionist slumlord on a diplomatic tour to try to force Palestine to accept his “Platinum Plan,” “The Deal of the Century” – featuring full submission to Israel (to the U.S.). Israeli terror in the West Bank continued with impunity. Men, women and children were being killed or arrested and tortured in Israeli political prisons that are full beyond capacity. I could go on and on about the supposedly peaceful, uneventful Trump years in occupied Palestine.
Congratulations. You’ve just described the United States government going back 165 years, at least.
And what goes around comes around…
We all have blood on our hands, directly or indirectly, more or less, and we will reap what we sow, sooner or later, one way or another.
We cannot escape something of this magnitude.
@Karl Logan,
“And what goes around comes around…
We all have blood on our hands, directly or indirectly, more or less, and we will reap what we sow, sooner or later, one way or another.
We cannot escape something of this magnitude.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa – slow your roll – how is it WE have blood on our hands?? As for as I know, I didn’t vote for this shit, nor did the American ppl.
I think we all could’ve done more to stop it.
I’m not saying that makes us equally guilty, but it makes us all guilty on some level, some of course faaaar more than others.
We’re all partly responsible for how shitty we’ve let our western governments become.
I get your point but since we cannot even manage to convince whites in our own country that they are being genocided in slow-motion, what do you expect anyone to do? Go and signup for the Houthis or Hezbollah? Beats signing up for USSA (or any Clown-World) woke military, whose boots are already on the ground in Gaza and even in Yemen – where a combined special-ops force of about 70 IDF, USSOC and SAS ended up slaughtered in the desert there – an impressive ambush by the Houthis.
What does it say when the best of our military is so thoroughly gaslighted that they’ll obey any order, regardless of how totally lawless and thoroughly depraved those giving the orders are?
“how is it WE have blood on our hands?? ”
Yep, we are unwilling slaves in this corrupt cruel enterprise.
WE are guiltless.
WE pay for the sins of others
Yes. My taxes are confiscated from me. I really don’t appreciate them being used to kill people for fun and profit, in the name of people I really don’t like.
but it makes us all guilty on some level
I’ll never agree to that.
many have struggled and struggled to alter this society, duke, black, pierce, HW and unnamed many.
That’s why Chauvin’s in prison for a crime he didn’t commit right? He had the most farsical trial of my lifetime. Just a passing memory. And Dump helped him how? He’s the shield?
If RFK Jr. drops out of the 2024 presidential race tomorrow.
If Zion Don was smart (which he isn’t), he’d publicly and loudly pledge to nominate RFK Jr. for USAG or Director of the CIA.