That’s a wonderful assessment! As someone who “leans Libertarian” on some things, and who has been “politically homeless” since May, 2016, I think that’s a very accurate summation.
The most maddening thing about this is that policy has taken a back seat to this bizarre personal loyalty to Trump - someone who has shown zero loyalty to anyone who worked for him.
I think your foreword hits on why we have these two leading the way. Too many want to hear fan service for their candidates instead of looking more skeptically at their weaknesses.
It is sad that Americans are so devoid of knowledge and understanding regarding the principles and documents upon which this country was founded. If they were, perhaps we wouldn't be experiencing such extreme excruciation. Like yourself, I did not vote for Trump in 2016 (no way I could stomach voting for Sauron...errm...Herself - I voted for a third party). Also like yourself, I held my nose and voted for Trump in 2020 (against my better judgement). We may not agree on what constitutes "evidence" regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election, but I cannot argue with most of your other points. Very well done Peter. Very well done.
The legitimacy angle of the 2020 election has multiple different angles.
There's the "did various government actors act in nefarious ways?" Yes. I read the NYPost every morning, and I watched the laptop story unfold. There's also the FBI and Clinton, the Steele dossier, ands much more.
There's the "did the media tip the scales?" Yes. They always do. I once read that press bias is good for 4-5% vote disparity, and I bet it was higher these last couple go-rounds.
There's the shenanigans of the PA Supreme Court or whatever it's called.
All these and more are dirty, sordid, partisan affairs that shouldn't happen, but such always seem to. This is politics.
Then there's the accusations of actual counting fraud. While there are always irregularities, and always instances of cheat, I did not see anywhere near enough to support Trump's claims or those of his die-hards that he won but for actually cooked books. Neither did dozens of courts. There is where I part ways with the "stolen election" narrative.
The past election was particularly dirty, and many people in positions of authority did bad things, but at the end of it all, I firmly believe that Biden beat Trump.
The most germane part of this is that the nation would be FAR better off if everyone moved on from it. Address the first three points, work to improve electoral integrity (something that neither side cares to do if it can't grab partisan advantage in the process (I've discussed that multiple times, including here: https://therootsofliberty.substack.com/p/election-day), and above all clean up the voter rolls BEFORE Election Day. That's so ***ing obvious but no one seems interested other than the folks at Reason and their fellow libertarians.
This is where we would disagree: "Then there's the accusations of actual counting fraud. While there are always irregularities, and always instances of cheat, I did not see anywhere near enough to support Trump's claims or those of his die-hards that he won but for actually cooked books. Neither did dozens of courts."
"Dozens of courts" never saw evidence to support Trump's claims because "dozen's of courts" refused to actually hear the cases. Virtually every case brought was dismissed on some technical ground (such as *standing*) prior to ever undergoing discovery. No evidence was ever permitted to be presented.
Surely you can't tell me that you believe in four states needed to win, where all four allegedly stopped counting in the middle of the night with Trump leading, you believe Biden votes actually suddenly appeared to flip all of them?
That notwithstanding, that there was a conspiracy to "save" the election from Donald Trump has been publicly published and proudly promoted:
Granted, they claim they *saved* it from cheating, not from Trump winning, but everything they did to supposedly save it was, in fact, cheating. People just put blinders on with regard to it because "orange man bad."
As I said, I wasn't a huge Trump fan - I think he made some great policy decisions, but I believe he also made many colossal mistakes. I do, however, believe the 2020 election was completely illegitimate.
BTW, I agree we need to move on...from 2020, from Trump, and from Biden. I wish Trump would just fade away (I've been quite vocal about this), but neither the left nor the right will allow it.
As I noted, I didn't see nearly enough to convince me of tally fraud sufficient to flip the election. That's about as far as we need to go, though - it's rather moot at this point :).
Well, you know where I stand on Trump. But I really thought this was the season for Cotton, mystified he bowed out before Christmas. I wish the GOP had a Democrat-esque bombastic stunt up its sleeve, but I don't see it.
While Trump is in the race, there's no springboard for anybody else! Cotton is calm, reassuring....and right about everything. I think the harshest word he's ever used is "unreasonable".
He and I were on FOB Mehtar Lam, in Laghman Province, and some our time overlapped there, in 2009. He was with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, and I was the “mentor” for the Provincial Coordination Center… imagine a type of 9-1-1 center, where Afghans and Western allies share information. I would sometimes see him at the afternoon Battle Update Brief, or in the little chow hall. I doubt he remembers me, now.
That’s a wonderful assessment! As someone who “leans Libertarian” on some things, and who has been “politically homeless” since May, 2016, I think that’s a very accurate summation.
The most maddening thing about this is that policy has taken a back seat to this bizarre personal loyalty to Trump - someone who has shown zero loyalty to anyone who worked for him.
A masterpiece, Peter!
I disagree in some spots, which makes it even better. As you said... it'd be boring if we agreed on all things!
This is one of the better pieces of commentary I've read in a very long time. Thanks for posting it!
Thank you. If everyone agreed with everything I wrote, what would be the point of writing?
Great article! I agree with pretty much everything you said, but that in no way makes it less interesting.
*This time you do... ;)
I think your foreword hits on why we have these two leading the way. Too many want to hear fan service for their candidates instead of looking more skeptically at their weaknesses.
It is sad that Americans are so devoid of knowledge and understanding regarding the principles and documents upon which this country was founded. If they were, perhaps we wouldn't be experiencing such extreme excruciation. Like yourself, I did not vote for Trump in 2016 (no way I could stomach voting for Sauron...errm...Herself - I voted for a third party). Also like yourself, I held my nose and voted for Trump in 2020 (against my better judgement). We may not agree on what constitutes "evidence" regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election, but I cannot argue with most of your other points. Very well done Peter. Very well done.
The legitimacy angle of the 2020 election has multiple different angles.
There's the "did various government actors act in nefarious ways?" Yes. I read the NYPost every morning, and I watched the laptop story unfold. There's also the FBI and Clinton, the Steele dossier, ands much more.
There's the "did the media tip the scales?" Yes. They always do. I once read that press bias is good for 4-5% vote disparity, and I bet it was higher these last couple go-rounds.
There's the shenanigans of the PA Supreme Court or whatever it's called.
All these and more are dirty, sordid, partisan affairs that shouldn't happen, but such always seem to. This is politics.
Then there's the accusations of actual counting fraud. While there are always irregularities, and always instances of cheat, I did not see anywhere near enough to support Trump's claims or those of his die-hards that he won but for actually cooked books. Neither did dozens of courts. There is where I part ways with the "stolen election" narrative.
The past election was particularly dirty, and many people in positions of authority did bad things, but at the end of it all, I firmly believe that Biden beat Trump.
The most germane part of this is that the nation would be FAR better off if everyone moved on from it. Address the first three points, work to improve electoral integrity (something that neither side cares to do if it can't grab partisan advantage in the process (I've discussed that multiple times, including here: https://therootsofliberty.substack.com/p/election-day), and above all clean up the voter rolls BEFORE Election Day. That's so ***ing obvious but no one seems interested other than the folks at Reason and their fellow libertarians.
Oh, yeah, and voter ID (here: https://therootsofliberty.substack.com/p/identity-hypocrites)
This is where we would disagree: "Then there's the accusations of actual counting fraud. While there are always irregularities, and always instances of cheat, I did not see anywhere near enough to support Trump's claims or those of his die-hards that he won but for actually cooked books. Neither did dozens of courts."
"Dozens of courts" never saw evidence to support Trump's claims because "dozen's of courts" refused to actually hear the cases. Virtually every case brought was dismissed on some technical ground (such as *standing*) prior to ever undergoing discovery. No evidence was ever permitted to be presented.
Surely you can't tell me that you believe in four states needed to win, where all four allegedly stopped counting in the middle of the night with Trump leading, you believe Biden votes actually suddenly appeared to flip all of them?
That notwithstanding, that there was a conspiracy to "save" the election from Donald Trump has been publicly published and proudly promoted:
https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/
Granted, they claim they *saved* it from cheating, not from Trump winning, but everything they did to supposedly save it was, in fact, cheating. People just put blinders on with regard to it because "orange man bad."
As I said, I wasn't a huge Trump fan - I think he made some great policy decisions, but I believe he also made many colossal mistakes. I do, however, believe the 2020 election was completely illegitimate.
BTW, I agree we need to move on...from 2020, from Trump, and from Biden. I wish Trump would just fade away (I've been quite vocal about this), but neither the left nor the right will allow it.
As I noted, I didn't see nearly enough to convince me of tally fraud sufficient to flip the election. That's about as far as we need to go, though - it's rather moot at this point :).
Well, you know where I stand on Trump. But I really thought this was the season for Cotton, mystified he bowed out before Christmas. I wish the GOP had a Democrat-esque bombastic stunt up its sleeve, but I don't see it.
Cotton? Interesting. I don't see that he has the sort of springboard to national name recognition that such as DeSantis and Haley have.
While Trump is in the race, there's no springboard for anybody else! Cotton is calm, reassuring....and right about everything. I think the harshest word he's ever used is "unreasonable".
When I say springboard, I think of things like governorships, which carry track records and offer more visibility than senatorships.
Besides, history tells us that governors make better presidents than senators.
Are you from Arkansas?
No, I just like Tom Cotton.
He and I were on FOB Mehtar Lam, in Laghman Province, and some our time overlapped there, in 2009. He was with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, and I was the “mentor” for the Provincial Coordination Center… imagine a type of 9-1-1 center, where Afghans and Western allies share information. I would sometimes see him at the afternoon Battle Update Brief, or in the little chow hall. I doubt he remembers me, now.
Great piece, Peter! Would like to learn more about the etymology of “Joeb”.
Merely what I wrote. Someone I know coined it in his commenting about our POTUS, so I snatched it. Nothing more.