On Thursday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" I had the perfect spot in the lineup - between Dennis Rodman talking about China and President Trump taking the stage in Dallas. As the excitement mounted, Tucker and I pondered a world in which America's first black president endorses Canada's first blackface prime minister - but not his own vice-president. Click below to watch:
Later I returned briefly to preview the Trump rally as Adam Schiff's secret closed-doors pseudo-impeachment non-show trial appears to be running into obvious difficulties in cementing its grip on the public imagination:
STEYN: I think things have changed since a week ago and he [Trump] is looking pretty safe. The Adam Schiff backdoor behind-the-scenes impeachment isn't going anywhere - and talk up the economy, make or draw a contrast between him and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders-level craziness.
CARLSON: That is such a good point. I hope he follows your advice.
You can see the full hour with Tucker here.
Incidentally, as this wretched Canadian election campaign draws to a close, this delightful moment in which two little black sisters ask the Prime Minstrel about blacking up is one of its few great artifacts. He gives them the usual flimflam ...and they're not buying it. I would love to see anything half so skeptical as these girls' expressions on the adoring visages of Rosie Barton and Adrienne Arsenault.
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Hilarious. Are we missing something though in the linked videos? None of the get-ups looked African or Middle Eastern, but a complete cultural ignoramous doing India - Sikh-style turbans... but never met a Sikh anywhere near that shoepolish dark. So the demands for apologies look silly, too, also missing the mark. So much silly! Wait a minute! Did this man-child grow up hooked on that TV show with the blonde kid who played Dennis the Menace playing a kid who was stuck in India for some reason and had to henna himself tow-head to toes and team up with ... wait a minute... Raj...? and an elephant to find his way home? Sort of playing both Jonny Quest and Haji?
This guy is so incompetent he could throw himself on the ground and miss.
We all know the real real Obama endorses him: They wear the same brand of Mom Butt Jeans.
Being the vulgar coward that he is, I think Obama likes to give people the finger when he thinks they aren't paying attention. The only collusion and foreign interference in an American election were all strictly the product of his administration. He's just doing an in-your-face insertion of himself in Trudeau's election to flip off those working on unraveling the truth of all the chicanery on the Democrat side with respect to Trump. He's mocking Trump, Barr, Durham, Horowitz, and anyone else with a shred of integrity. Apparently he thinks his deep state human shields will keep him beyond reach.
"The only collusion and foreign interference in an American election were all strictly the product of his [Obama's]administration."
Truer words were ne'er spoken!
I really don't understand Mark's comment that the impeachment scam is going nowhere. The goal here is to demonize Trump right up to the election and the national media can't get enough of it. Almost every day new - 'damaging' 'troubling' 'devastating' - take your pick - revelations are revealed to the overwhelming percentage of the electorate that does not watch Fox News. Propaganda works folks - it's always been the main weapon of the left for good reason. Trump's entreaty to entice Ukraine to investigate his potential opponent (can we be honest here?) smells bad and is the kind of unforced error he can't afford. To claim that this is but a faint echo of what the Obama Adm. attempted in '16 is true but means nothing to his growing list of enemies. Megyn Kelly, on with Tucker recently briefly mentioned the scandal and wondered if there might be something there after all. Of course she clashed with Trump in that Fox News debate back in '16 and clearly dislikes Trump but she's hardly alone here among the center-right. The Russian hoax to unseat him ran on for three years with no evidence at all. This one has a grain of truth and although it's not remotely impeachable to most constitutional scholars it does't matter to Schiff and his merry band of lefties. It's pure wishful thinking in my view to believe that this ginned up scandal won't damage Trump.
That's within the context of a "permanent coup" being the status quo. Russia impeachment fizzled, Ukraine impeachment was a dud but they'll be back next week with Trump Doral impeachment and after that a new flavor of the week (a variation of peach mint). The unforced error is one way of looking at it, but no matter what, the press will be the same: Trump just did or said something outrageous. He can either be straightjacketed into immobility like almost every other Republican or be Houdini.
You make an excellent point, as well as ever, R. I appreciate that what I have to add may not gybe exactly with your thinking, but it does go to the same conclusion. President Trump is his own worst enemy, and provides rather too much material for his would-be worst enemies, the Democrats, to work with, as it seems to me.
Slight as the consolation might be, it is that the Democrats are their own worst enemies too.
Here's the thing, as I see it. The bulk of Democrat voters aren't much put off by the Beavis versus Butt-head quick-fire-slapstick-and-slap-everything-else flavour which American elections have increasingly adopted and indeed thrive on it, but a proportion of solid Republicans evidently are put off. Their revulsion is all too often mistaken for revulsion of the party and for a desire to amplify the Beavis versus Butt-head antics. All too often, they're discounted as cowardly and complacent, if not as actual apparatchiks. As far as I'm concerned, they're decent people who want to be represented by decent people, and the Republican party needs their votes. And, I submit, it is probably precisely those "establishment" Republicans who are most concerned that there may be a real threat in recent developments.
Since I've been set off, I'll go further, and suggest that most of the Democrat voters who were ever likely to cross the aisle to the Republican side were those who are bored by the Beavis versus Butt-head antics and are appalled by the socialist bias inherent in the Democrats' plunge into populism. Those voters are, as I see it, unlikely to be attracted to another party fully mired in populism and Beavis and Butt-head confrontation.
To conclude, trumped-up, ginned-up or cooked-up, or none of the above, I too consider it to be "pure wishful thinking [...] to believe that this [...] scandal won't damage Trump", as you have put it. Mr Teflon he isn't. That was President Obama. There's no justice.
All this just got ginned up to a new level of national hysteria with the very damaging testimony of former Ukraine Ambassador Taylor providing the 'quid pro quo' the GOP has claimed doesn't exist. I want to make clear that Trump is the finest president since Reagan and has my vote in '20 but he is a very flawed man and as you put it lacks Obama's teflon shield. I read the transcript of the call and the message to the Ukraine president is pretty clear to me. Is it impeachable? No, certainly not compared with Obama's unconstitutional actions (by his own admission) but the call was dumb beyond belief and is the consequence of never seeking advise from wiser heads. He is notoriously difficult to work for because of his mercurial nature. He has stepped in it this time and for no good reason.
Agreed, R.: President Trump hasn't been criminal so much as stupid. President Obama was flagrantly criminal but a whole lot less stupid. (I speak not of IQ points, but of political and managerial "smarts", of course.)
I entirely respect your regard for President Trump but personally anticipate that he will not be kindly remembered for the damage which the U.S. fiscus is incurring. If recent history is anything to go by, he will shoulder the blame alone and President Obama will get off scot-free.
For the present, of course, one holds thumbs that his ship doesn't go down: the Democrat crazies will assuredly do all in their power to ensure that the United States follows him to the sea-bottom if they get a half-chance. And we wait to see which if the dog-bombs which he scatters so casually around his garden will be the next one he treads on.
Every time I read Mark's description of Canada's "Prime Minstrel" I think "I am not worthy". What a fabulously succinct and devastating put down. Makes my whole day.
What is the recidivism rate for racists in the Costume Party? Have the Blackfoot Indians asked what Justin Trudeau is hiding under those socks?
So the same people who banned signage of John Macdonald and statuary of Wilfrid Laurier put an actual living symbol of racism in charge of the country? Alrighty then. Has Trudeau received this blessing without going through the hypocrisy rituals, as when Bill Clinton picked Jesse Jackson to be an (extremely short-term) spiritual advisor after Monica Lewinsky?
Sol, I'm sure Bill Clinton was very, super, totally, spiritual. Wasn't he reputed to have been heard saying 'oh G-d, oh G-d' in the Oval Office during that time?
Bill has the progeny of a Saudi when it comes to the corruption he's bequeathed former democratically functioning states. He's in a sense the spiritual father of the multiplicative offspring bedeviling us.
"So the same people who banned signage of John Macdonald and statuary of Wilfrid Laurier put an actual living symbol of racism in charge of the country?" Indeed.
Excellent points on "racism recidivism" and "hypocrisy rituals", Sol. A nice complement to the brilliant headline here... love it when Mark rubs their noses in "mammy"!
And *this* is gold: "Bill has the progeny of a Saudi when it comes to the corruption he's bequeathed former democratically functioning states."
In the process of searching online for a Steyn 'Speccie' column (mentioned in the Q&A, re John McCain/ Chelsea Clinton), I came upon "Bill's bogus journey" in The Telegraph, 12/5/02: "Meanwhile, his wife, Senator Rodham Clinton, the one who wears the trousers in the family if only because Bill's are usually round his ankles..."
Thanks, Kate! - Vintage Steyn.
I'm afraid I don't agree with Mark's advice to ignore impeachment because Schiff's narrative fell apart. Mark is judging the situation rationally. Neither rationality nor truth has anything to do with this impeachment coup.
I remember during the Nixon Watergate years that the three networks had a nightly segment on impeachment progress even when nothing new happened that day. It was a drumbeat. The same drumbeat we have today. The drum doesn't have to be heard in flyover country, only in the Beltway.
Most people could not tell you what Nixon was supposed to have done that amounted to a High Crime or Misdemeanor. The cover up was worse than the crime! Nixon had a lot of enemies, some going back to exposing Alger Hiss as a Communist. The Republicans had principles! They were in the minority in both Houses and had no vision of ever being in control, but they had principles!
Not only should Trump keep on fighting every day but the Democrats need to be made aware of how dangerous their coups really is.
Trudeau should run the other way from Obama's endorsement. "Kingmaker" Barak doesn't have the best track record in that area. He does much better at shaking down corrupt foreign governments.
The contribution of the animators of the two mannikins should not be overlooked. At times they appear to be life-like.
By the way, the mannikin is a bird of the tribe Amadini, mostly brownish and often with black throats and fine barring.
Does President Trump and his team coordinate with Mark so he warms up the viewers at home before the President's rallies? The rallies always seem to be on Monday or Thursday evenings.
I hope Obama recommendation goes down as well as it did with his interference in Brexit. He probably just turned millions of Canadians off Trudeau.
Maybe Joe Biden should release a blackface video or two or three, go skinny dipping (again) with some security agents or staff like our PM Hairdo did, get the Aga Khan to send him to his private island for some new hair plugs, bully an aboriginal woman of colour and prance around in various Halloween costumes. Works for JT.
Word on the street says Corn Pop may have met with No Pomade on My Life Guard watch and strongly discouraged what you are suggesting....
"If Obama had a son". Well, maybe he did!
When I look at L'il Trudeau, the bizarre collection of Democratic candidates, Jeremy Corbyn and the dreadful "leaders" of the EU I have to ask- "Does anyone believe in western liberty anymore?" All of the above are hell bent on limiting (eliminating?)free speech, fastening a draconian regulatory state on the world (to stop "climate change") and instituting a technocratic rule by "approved experts." The idea of spreading democracy and freedom to those who dont have it has foundered on the simple fact that these sinkholes don't seem to want it. Has the Enlightenment concept of liberty and self-autonomy run its'course? It sure feels like it.
More importantly, they keep getting re-elected. Age of Enlightenment? What's that? Oh, yeah, it's when all the white people were importing black slaves from Africa. That's what the Left knows about the Age of Enlightenment if they have ever heard of it.
The inner Obama, if there is one, wants Justin's job, and Justin's inner self wants Obama's old job. It would be awfully fun if Hollywood ever decided to float a trial balloon to plant a grace note of legitimacy to the idea with a title, "Trading Faces."
Mark, great appearance, as always, on Tucker. Oh, how I wished you used the "Canada's Prime Minstrel" line!!
The reason that the Obama endorsement provokes so little response in Canada is that by now the situation across the West is implicit any many accept it.
The traditional ruling class unites against us yobs and morons. They can do whatever they please. We exist to endure their fads, crazes, and projects.
Anyone who votes for a progressive in the age of euthanasia (never mind infanticide and abortion) and the war on traditional belief systems (like the churches) is agreeing to death or loss of freedom and prosperity - not necessarily on their own terms, as they fondly imagine.
The role of traditional media today is to keep us all from seeing that those are the stakes.
I have longtime friends, and a lifelong sibling, who have voted Democratic all their adult lives because - as far as I can tell - to do so reinforces the image they have of themselves as forward-looking, enlightened, compassionate people. Their opinions - and frequently, their motor vehicles - are nothing but a collection of bumper stickers. They are still the same "question authority" free spirits they were when they were coming of age in the 60's and 70's, while continuing to vote for a political party that they are vaguely aware is run by an increasingly authoritarian elite. But mostly, they are proving to themselves that they have nothing in common with all those Bible-banging, gun-toting, Fox News-watching rubes who vote Republican. Oh well, fifteen years from now, when the national health service is operating a network of Elizabeth Warren Suicide Centers for Superfluous Seniors, they can all ponder their mistakes as they are being checked in.
I expect they'll still be all in, Calvin. If we're aborting 4th trimester babies, without complaint from the Left, why should they complain at being marched off to ObamaCare abattoir? They'd be hypocrites, at the very least, and...oh, wait. Never mind.
I beg your pardon! Calvert!
What a bracing slap in the face to be reminded of President Obama's audacity of dope. That makes, what, three elections he's tried to flip: Israel's, Canada's, and America's? Make that four! America counts twice: 2012 (successfully), with the IRS putsch; and 2016 (unsuccessfully), with the Russiagate obscenity. Can't Canada just give him an award to make him go away? He's already got a Nobel, but I read in Wikipedia that there's a Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence in Ontario Wines. He's done just about as much to earn that.
Not to mention Pres. Obama's intervention in the UK Brexit vote in April 2016 "[Obama] has warned that the UK would be at the "back of the queue" in any trade deal with the US if the country chose to leave the EU, as he made an emotional plea to Britons to vote for staying in." Thankfully that plea fell on deaf ears and the UK voted to leave. (We'll see if that actually happens in due course, a major step is tomorrow's vote in the UK Parliament). It was suggested that Obama's interverntion was scripted by pro-EU UK diplomats - as an American would have said "line" rather than "queue"(?)
If Obama receives the Ontario Vin Gris Award we should demand to see his birth certificate before we let him back in the country.
Did you say "American"?
I am just a plebe, but isn't that an example of "quid pro quo" and a threat?
No, it's not a quid pro quo if the Democrats do it.