Previous post
George Will has not been relevant since, I am thinking, 1992. He has emerged from the Tarpit of Irrelevancy to pronounce that Trump’s act “may” be getting old and his supporters are like those tired old Deadheads following the band around from camp to camp. I will wait while you stop laughing. You have got to give Old George props for the crust to call anyone else “stale”.
I have never been a George Will fan. I could see myself listening to the late William F. Buckley Jr., as he held forth on principals while sipping a Courvoisier in front of a warm fire. Mr. Will always came off, to me, as way too poncy. Pretentious and affected. Buckley was natural and erudite, while Will came off as performative.
That would be the reason why George Will has been offended by Donald Trump for the last nine years. In 2018, Will called Trump “sad and embarrassing”. In 2019, Will wrote about the “incessantly splenetic Trump”. Now, Will thinks Trump’s act may be getting stale. What crust! Especially when you have been doing the same tired song and dance since the 80’s.
George Will spoke with Leland Vittert of NewsNation (blech):
You can read it here from The Hill:
As a public figure, former President Donald Trump has lasted far longer than most, according to NewsNation senior political contributor George Will.
“He’s an entertainer. Always has been. He’s terrific at it. He has that kind of Borscht Belt timing of a good standup comedian.”
But Will also believes the act has seen better days.
“He’s been nominated three consecutive times by the Republican Party. Never happened before. He’s been the center of American politics for more than nine years, and it’s beginning, some people think, to get stale,” Will told NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
Some people think it’s beginning to get stale? Did George Will host Barack Obama for dinner again? Or, did Obama just call Will and tell him that?
Further, Will thinks that Trump is doing nothing to expand beyond his base:
George Will: Trump’s act may be losing appeal
“It’s a cult. It’s entertainment. It’s fun. It’s tribal. It’s warm. It’s a community. But it doesn’t expand anything,” Will said.
The Hill https://t.co/H13QFZuAXT
— ChicMik (@ChyMik) August 16, 2024
George Will is way too precious to understand that Trump is meeting people where they are. Trump livestreamed an interview with Adin Ross from Mar-a-Lago. Poor George, he doesn’t get it.
George Will: Trump’s act may be losing appeal
“It’s a cult. It’s entertainment. It’s fun. It’s tribal. It’s warm. It’s a community. But it doesn’t expand anything,” Will said.
The Hill https://t.co/H13QFZuAXT
— ChicMik (@ChyMik) August 16, 2024
Donald Trump is not afraid of any venue to reach out to potential voters. That’s another thing George Will doesn’t like. Donald Trump doesn’t stay within the institutional architecture. From 2013:
Obama and his tea party adversaries have something important in common — disdain for the practice of politics within the Framers’ institutional architecture. He and they should read Jonathan Rauch’s “Rescuing Compromise” in the current issue of National Affairs quarterly.
Donald Trump is the Tea Party boiled over. And George Will needs to skedaddle.
Featured Composite: Gage Skidmore/wikimedia commons.org/cropped/Creative Commons//Gage Skidmore/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
rbj1 says: George Will has disdain for blue jeans. He would be better off in a European salon.
draigh says: George’s act got stale at least six years ago. I wonder if he still has 12 people who listen to him.
Stale? Perhaps, although I doubt it. Compared to Will’s act, which is a large mass of green and black mold, much preferable.
George Will wants a presidential candidate who’ll flatter his opponent like a gentleman while being vilified and slandered, spew polysyllables about irrelevancies on the campaign trail, and propose to keep everything exactly as it is now. You know, the sort of Republican candidate who fights fiercely, like Harvard, then loses.
Kevin says: The Malignant Tumor’s schtick is stale, old, and predictable. Here’s the reason why Harris’ poll numbers have gone through the roof the last four weeks … people are desperate to find an alternative to the Malignant Tumor and are now flocking to Harris. DonOLD is smelling the inside of a ail cell and he’s panicking.
Yep, big surge! From seven points behind to five points behind! One does wonder how its going to look, though, after the riots sponsored by the Antifa fascists, Hamas rapists/murderers, and Buy Large Mansions roll through downtown Chicago.
(Now, admittedly, Rasmussen only polls real, living, and legal voters – so I suppose your eleventy-million “win” for Kamerad Whore is still quite possible.)
Cameron says: Poor bitter gay man. It must cause your rank and vile soul physical pain to admit that the Democrats have a woman as a candidate.
And I remember how you and your kind told me that President Hilary was inevitable and you were left crying into your Obama body pillows that night.
G.R. Tingles says: *I* think Trump’s act is getting stale. Does that make me “poncy” and “performative?”
cthulhu says: George Will is still alive?
Mitch H. says: In a technical sense.
Scott R Feil says: George Will has become the epitome of the Republican loyal loser. And he would never have uttered Buckley’s quip about his preference for being governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston phonebook than the Harvard faculty. Because Buckley (and the Founders) understood that the citizen was more than capable of self-governance without the Brahmins looking over their shoulder and telling them what the “right-thinking” decision was and all about the arc of justice and one side of history crap.
As for Tea Party/Trump and Obama and the “institutional architecture”, Trump never bragged about a pen and a phone, Trump rewrote his EOs every time they were over-ruled by a Federal court, Trump never droned a US citizen without due process. His sin was doing a modern version of FDR — FDR had fireside chats over that newfangled radio contraption. Went directly to the people. Trump simply updated that with Twitter (X) and his entertainment always contained the ring of truth. And let’s remember the Tea Party got its name from “Taxed Enough Already” and simply re-asked the original question — what am I being taxed for and where is the money going? Not revolutionary to ask for accountability.
DrMiranda says: Speaking of stale and “beyond use dated”, Georgie….
13 Comments