You know what triggers me? Talking points. I feel like what I get from my Trump supporting Republican, Conservative friends is talking points. I distinguish talking points from facts, like Democrats want open borders. The facts show Democrats vote billions of dollars for border security so I get pissed! The GOP had a chance to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013 when they owned the Congress and they did not do it!
Guilty! I am adding to the divide between "Left" and "Right" by my approach to "dialogue." I am fueling tribalism. I am being immature. Rather than seeking common ground, I am demanding agreement with what I have to say because I am "right."
My bad!
There is a better way to deal with the issues of the time than "lecture-mode." There are better ways to talk about President Trump. I have to check my gut reaction at the door, and be more charitable for opposing views. Asking questions, keeping the details brief, being less provocative, all are better ways to find common ground. I am giving talking points to "win" an argument, and that is wrong, just as wrong as being on the receiving end of talking points from the "other side."
I am not helping improve the discourse. I am too emotional at times and need to calm down.
I need to play more golf, and think more before writing.
That being said, here is a demo of the "wrong" way to seek common ground on issues.
Hi Frank, (Words from my Trump supporting friend.)
I believe you misunderstood me about soft power. I also believe in diplomacy and bringing all the elements of national power to bear on issues. BUT, and I’m speaking from experience, without hard power (bullets, bombs AND the will to use them), there is no such thing as soft power because the enemy won’t respond. This also applies to allies interestingly in that if they believe you can’t do what you say to help protect them, they will look elsewhere. In fact, President Trump is doing one of the best jobs of any recent President to bring all of those national elements to bear on challenging issues (military options, economic sanctions, trade tariffs, withholding aid, etc.)
Our Allies are looking elsewhere now because of President Trump showing he is an unreliable partner, publicly threatening various idiotic actions, sanctions against Allies!, when he should be speaking in private. Your “soft power” is merely a Bannon / Miller version of “bullets/bombs hard power.” Disrespect is a bad form of “soft power.”
As far as the rest of this email from you…you really need to either get new information sources or stop interpreting them with a major bias against the conservatives, Republicans and the President. Just a couple of examples…go back and listen to what the President said about Charlottesville…he never said that their were good people on the white nationalist radical side, in fact, he has condemned them consistently. He was talking about the debate over whether or not to tear down Confederate statues. And there are good people on both sides of that debate…me being on the side of not tearing them down for very good historical and cultural reasons.
My information sources are quite varied, unlike your Fox sources, singular echo chamber advisors, and “one of” expert-making experiences, including international and domestic, from RT to Fox to The Guardian to The Washington Times to The National Review to Vox to Politico to Al Jazeera etc.- and my bottom line is from Mark Gimein of The Week: “When you own your home, you need to be prepared to make repairs, not tear it down when you find a problem with the plumbing.” Bannon wants to tear down our home for his selfish purposes, and he has no idea how to rebuild it if he succeeds!
You want statues commemorating a losing side to a Civil War. The statues belong in a museum, not on a public place, describing a BAD time in US history. You do not get to say the North was bad too, the North won the war and they held the country TOGETHER. The Civil War was not a good thing, Trey. These statues of Rebel Generals and others represent a treacherous element in our country that defended slavery, and fought to bring down our nation, period.
You are being absolutely ridiculous to try to say we need to tear down statues of people NOT from the Confederate Rebel forces, quoting obvious Fox News idiocy. I saw Fox News say it too – echo chamber?
Trump said what he said. Reporters asked him to clarify as he walked off, but he did not sdo so becasue he WANTS support from the Nazis and White nationalists. You want to white wash it, feel free. I will not. President Donald Trump is using the White Nationalist movement for his benefit, period. I saw what he said, and his walk off, and I know what he was doing. You continue to eliminate context, telling partial stories, trying to ignore TV videos of President Trump’s words and deeds. The context shows on TV what the reporters asked, what Trump chose NOT to clarify, and what he did on TV, Trey. Ignore context and you lose the meaning.
You no doubt are among the Maxine Waters haters who think she was wrong to tell the people to castigate Trump people in restaurants. You will have left out the context in hating Maxine. She was outraged by the “Zero Tolerance” policy Jeff Sessions announced. THAT was the context of her outrage. You miss the rest of the story when you stop looking; you seek only the evidence that supports your narrative.
You are probably going to tell me President Trump is trying hard to pull this country together. Or maybe you think his divisive politics are a good thing for America? You have already said President Trump’s PUBLICLY divisive international “diplomacy” with our NATO Allies is a good thing.
You probably will say President Trump does not lie. You probably will say President Trump did not ignore the reporter’s pointed, specific questions about White Nationalists because the questions were rude. Shame on those reporters trying to clarify what the President meant. lol!
““Not all of those people were neo-Nazis,” Trump asserted. “Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch. ... You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people—on both sides.””
But if we are going to start tearing down the statues and renaming schools and streets as well as condemning our forefathers like Washington and Jefferson, we MUST [What you’re suggesting is not logical, it is shallow and superficial thinking at best. There is no comparison between our forefathers having slaves when it was legal versus civil war traitors trying to destroy our country. Owning slaves, supporting wrong-minded legislation like the Chinese Exclusion Act, or allowing Jim Crow Laws did not make anyone a traitor to the United States. Those laws made people wrong, not traitors. The wrong-minded laws were changed when the legislation was changed. Legislation is not war. Legislation was an agreement of the parties and in no way compares to a Civil War, with traitors on the side of wrong, trying to destroy our nation.]
A Civil War is very different than being wrong politically. You should know this unequivocal truth. How can you say such ILLOGICAL things? Being on the wrong side of the political debate on slavery for a time does not make these men traitors to our nation. Politics has always been a difficult venue for truth and justice. Look at you and I now. You and I are on the seeking the right vs the wrong side of the Trump defense and one of us will see the truth in time.] take that to it’s logical conclusion…which is to disband permanently the historical party of slavery and Jim Crow and fighting the Civil Rights Act of 1964…the Democrat party. While I’m on the subject…the idea of reparations is absurd. We are going to make people who never owned slaves pay people who never were slaves. Will we also demand that the African tribes pay [I studied the Black Experience. Have you read You obviously have not studied the difference of African slavery coming from conquest vs US slavery coming from economics. Don’t go there, you do not know what you are talking about. You are uninformed about the Black Experience.] reparation for many of the slaves shipped to America who were sold into slavery by tribal chiefs? [DUMB COMMENT! IGNORANCE REVEALED!]
After you have read what I have read and studied, you can talk about the Black Experience, and real experiences of minority people in ghettos, OK? Read the following: “Reconstruction-After the Civil War” by John Hope Franklin, “The Peculiar Institution – Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South” by Kenneth M. Stamp, “Slavery-A Problem in American Institutional & Intellectual Life” by Stanley M. Elkins, ”Race-A Study in Superstition” by Jacques Barzun, “Black Protect-History, Documents, and Analyses-1619 to the present” by Joanne Grant, “The Wretched of the Earth” by Franz Fanon, “Dark Ghetto-Dilemmas of Social Power” by Kenneth B, Clark, “Death at an Early Age” by Jonathan Kozol, “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin, “The Algiers Motel Incident” by John Hersey, “Black Power-The Politics of Liberation in America” by Stokely Carmichael & Charles V. Hamilton, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community” by Martin Luther King, Jr., “Soul on Ice” by Eldridge Cleaver, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by by Alex Haley, “The Impossible Revolution?” by Lewis M. Killian, “Rebellion in Newark-Official Violence and Ghetto Response” by Tom Hayden, Strictly Ghetto Property” by Marjorie Heins, “The Poor Pay More” by David Caplovitz, “The Chattel Principle-Internal Slave Trades in America” by Walter Johnson.
Here’s the simple truth you do not want to understand. In Africa, a slave could achieve freedom by good behaviors. In American slavery, freedom was never an element. In Africa, slaves were still humans. In America, slaves were purely property, not human.
We will always have a few bad cops but the media completely blows that up. [No. The law supports bad cops, police negligent acts, committing a crime of manslaughter at best. When a cop kills someone who is unarmed, that is manslaughter and the killer cop should be charged accordingly. NEGLIGENCE IS A CRIME IF YOU KILL SOMEONE, OR SHOOT THME BY ACCIDENT OR ON PURPOSE WHEN THEY ARE UNARMED. Make excuses for negligence, I will not. The cop did not do their job to SERVE AND PROTECT. They killed a person. They chose to be judge, jury, and executioner, and if they were wrong, they should pay the price for being wrong. If they can prove they did not kill an unarmed person, then they are innocent. If they killed an unarmed person, they should not be a cop any longer, and the killer cops should serve a prison term.] Black Lives Matter did advocate for dead cops…from one news article The Black Lives Matter crowd in St. Louis chanted, “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon. Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon. [Ya, that is indeed a very threatening chant isn't it. Not as bad as bullets, but close! Right? lol!] And In New York City, the protesters shouted, What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now. Later on July 7, 2016 five Dallas cops were assassinated and seven wounded…they got their wish. [OK, want to throw chants at the argument to convince me Blacks wanted to kill cops. How about “Jews will not replace us!” in Charlottesville and the murder in Charlottesville? How about the church and mosque murders? How about the bombs mailed to Trump’s enemies?] If BLM were concerned about black lives, they would be protesting every day in Chicago where young black men are being killed at record rates by other blacks. The number of black unarmed individuals killed by cops in 2016 was 19, in 2017 it was 17…98% of those killed by police were not unarmed black men. Compare that to more than 2300 blacks killed by blacks in 2015. And yes, “hands up don’t shoot” NEVER occurred in Ferguson…no one told me, I read the DOJ investigative report. More than 60 witnesses (the majority black) corroborated the police officer’s account of what happened. Michael Brown robbed a convenience store then when approached by Officer Wilson he attacked him and tried to take his gun. The “hands up don’t shoot” mantra was made up by Brown’s friend who was with him.
ANTIFA is a terrorist group that has NOTHING to do with fighting fascists…[Terrorist group? You don't appear to know what a terrorist is. ANTI-FASCISTS can fight for me any day!] come on Frank…you’ve got to be kidding me! Are conservative students on college campuses fascists? What we’ve discovered about the Obama administration and how they used the IRS, DOJ, etc. is more inline with fascism than anything [The left is more fascist than “anything” on the right? lol! Come on Trey, you know better. The Alt-right, KKK, White Nationalists, and Nazis are not fascist? You are joking.] on the right.
As far as the President is concerned, he is inflaming those on the left because he fights back. [Ya, Trump fights back and advocates so much violence that hate crimes have wildly increased under his Presidency.] Is he perfect? No Does he have flaws? Sure just like us all. [No, not like us all. In two years he has lied more than any of us ever did in our entire lives ~8,000 documented - on TV video - lies in two years.] At least he wears his on his sleeve which is a lot better than the corrupt Hillary, sinister Obama and the rapist Bill Clinton. They all lie and have lied…as I’ve said many times before…look at his results for the American people.
And again, you are kidding about the Mueller report right? In my positions of authority, I’ve had to summarize larger volumes of information than 300-400 in two days. But, like Mueller, I had previous knowledge about the content and had staff helping me. Don’t fall for the mainstream media who has been shown to be 98% against the President. And now the Democrats are really in trouble because what Barr just telegraphed yesterday was information that is forthcoming from the DOJ IG report that suggests the Obama administration was rotten from the very top in spying on Trump’s campaign…with Obama’s knowledge if not direction. [Time will tell if Barr is Trump’s guy or serving the country. His allegation of spying on Trump’s campaign by Obama in testimony to Congress yesterday was a sad commentary on his professionalism, and a clear indication of his bias. Spying? The act was more like justified Justice Department, FBI surveillance of contacts with a foreign power we don’t agree with, RUSSIA. Russia is still not an Ally last time I checked, but I know that is changing under President Trump. And don’t argue Trump is hard on Russia because nothing Trump has done has hurt Putin directly.]
With the unveiling of Bernie’s unaffordable healthcare plan, here’s my thought for the day…just remember what Winston Churchill wisely said, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
Socialism is alive and well in America. Trump likes it too; Trump uses socialism; look at the subsidizes he gave the farmers his tariffs hurt.
You keep beating the wrong drum on “Socialism,” just as you do on Marxism breaking out on campuses everywhere, and the “Walks and Talks Like a Duck” Leninist, Bannon praising the worst nationalist and populist elements on the planet.
Friend, you still believe there is a crisis at the border like what Trump says, only because there are a lot of immigrants coming. You are right, but what is it? It is humanitarian, not aggression. Some bad duded, of course, but 99% are desperate people running from certain death. You keep beating the wrong drum, shallow and superficial. There is a crisis, but it is not what Trump says it is. The human crisis is one he helped create, and is adding to daily with his fear mongering and withdrawal of aid to Central America.
This President says dumb things like he's going to ship immigrants to Sanctuary Cities. What makes this President think? He lost his effort to undermine Sanctuary Cities in court, so now he's trying to do something stupid?
My thoughts for the Trump advocate (Bannon too)
