I agree with you. Vivek is an impressive man, if you look only at his accomplishments in his young life. But when you listen to him, you are taken back. He's brilliant, can think on his feet. And yes- he has his talking points that he repeats to hammer home, but...his points are refreshing, grounded in tradition, with an eye firmly on the future. And economic freedom. There's a lot to like about him. And I think his rise in the polls, coming from nowhere, is the result of people actually taking the time to listen to him.
One other thing: I love my Governor here in Florida. And we're going to lose him to term limits anyway. I think he'd be a great President. He's a man of action, he gets things done. He's extremely intelligent. But...he does sometimes pick fights where none are needed. And I'm not sure he'll know how to respond to the left other than attack.
Whereas Vivek, I think, could actually sway many on the left, and a whole lot of people right in the middle. I think, if more people do get to hear him, he will sway many more.
I appreciate your comment. But I disagree with this: "And I'm not sure he'll know how to respond to the left other than attack."
Well, yeah, that's what the left does -- they attack. They use culture wars to get their policy agenda in place and they are relentless about it. They use the politics of personal destruction and labeling (racist!) to get what they want. They are largely not nice people.
And I'm someone who deal regularly with Chicago Democrats. These people play for keeps, and the only thing they fear is public perception, and someone who will punch back.
DeSantis has proven that he's not going to become a Republican squish, which is exactly what happens when the left starts calling names. This is George Bush, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, etc. The only way you even get a small reprieve from the left is to basically submit to them and be willing to betray the Republican agenda. Even then, they still call you a Nazi and label your policy as in bad faith.
The only way to deal with bullies is to bully them. As for DeSantis, which fights did he pick that were unnecessary? Disney attacked first in what they thought would be a cost-free virtue signal. They never imagined that the entire Florida legislature and DeSantis would fight the culture war back. Disney attacked first. Remember that.
And what else? I ask because I'm getting tired of hearing this criticism of DeSantis, when an attack dog--who is effective (Trump is not)--is 100% what we need right now.
Your comments resonate w/ me. I’m quite torn between these two. On the one hand, DeSantis has proved he can be successful as a political leader. The fact that FL seems to be the most popular state in the nation from a migration standpoint proves he’s an effective leader. However, he has picked some fights that didn’t need to be picked and that bothers me a bit. Vivek is absolutely the best orator on the circuit - of any party and he’s a proven winner too, but not in politics. I suppose that will be what people will be weighing...a track record in politics or one in business. Still a tough call to me....
I don't know how true it is but my impression is that DeSantis has been hugely successful with policies in FL at least in part because he has a Republican legislature and a lot of other officials and constituents who agree with him. Yes it is awesome that he is a fighter but he shot to relatively favorable national prominence because he *won* critical battles on lockdown issues with positions that have generally been proven true/correct. His track record does not convince me that he is likely to be as effective at the federal level facing well-entrenched & fanatical opposition. I'd hope so but have my doubts.
He is the only one of all the candidates who has actually demonstrated he is capable of landing policy wins. Trump is a terrible manager, but a good showman. The bureaucracy knew how to stymie Trump, and he didn't know how to defeat them.
I like Vivek too, but he doesn't know how to actually lead a government yet. DeSantis has proven it.
Trump, Vivek, et al are just like Obama on the other side -- hopes and dreams coming from words that people like to hear. You go with the experienced manager who knows how to make government work for us, not against us.
While not embracing Trump on several fronts, he was actually good, quite good, on policy.
He dramatically reduced regulations thereby providing a foundation for American energy independence. This started right at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
One can appreciate what a policy win this was when you see how quickly Biden managed to fuck it all up. As a marker, the price of gas is a fair indicator.
Trump was great on Nato -- better than any President since WWII in making the Europeans pay their fair share. This Nato readiness resounds to this day.
Trump was great on confronting China and calling them out for who and what they are.
In spite of a confrontational style, Trump did not cause any wars over his entire tenure. I think it is fair to speculate as to whether Putin would have attacked Ukraine if Trump were in office and if he would have just watched as the Russian forces marshalled on the Ukraine border.
He and McConnell hit home run after home run on the judiciary and Trump delivered on his promise to appoint conservatives. This was the best performance by a President since Geo Washington.
That SCOTUS conservative majority may last for 35 years?
He was brilliant on the economy and delivered the best US economy since 1776 -- growth, regulation, inflation, interest rates, unemployment, real wage growth, and confrontation with China.
Trump had the southern border under control even though the Dems killed The Wall.
In the big picture, Trump was quite good on policy.
I agree that DeSantis has proven capabilities with an aligned legislature in one state. That record may or may not translate to the top executive position across a federal bureaucracy and the as-yet unknown composition of the next House and Senate. That's all I'm saying, not taking any other shots pro or con the others you name.
And yet look at the lingering impact of the Obama administration. It's crippling. If Vivek wins I hope he will have similar impact. Overall however I agree with your assessment of DeSantis. Past performance is a good indicator.
True, and that occurred to me. For the left, they use deception to get votes. They always promise to "unite the country" to get the middle votes, and they fall for it every time. Then, once elected, they go hard left and compromise nothing.
I also believe that Obama has an outsized impact on Biden's administration, because most of the people there are from Obama's administration. They listen to and revere their old boss, because we know old Joe isn't calling the shots.
Let's take a look at just one Vivek proposal. He has mentioned that as POTUS he must follow the civil service laws when it comes to individual employees, but that nothing would prevent him from laying off ENTIRE agencies. He may be right, or not, but regardless of that he will face lawsuits when he tries that and the entire thing will be held up in court by the Dems for a long time, with no guaranteed results. So while he makes a clever statement, what's the plan for dealing with the brass knuckles that will come his way? For my 2 cents, perhaps any new POTUS should get in front of any challenges when new policies are decided - perhaps getting a friendly Repub to initiate the inevitable lawsuit in a friendly court.
Good and fair point. I agree with Vivek that mass layoffs is a great way to take a chainsaw to the bureaucracy. There is nothing enshrined in the Constitution that we need a Department of Education for example. Getting rid of it and 100% of the employees is a good idea.
Vivek Ramaswamy is an interesting and intelligent man, but he has some fatal political flaws in his views of the Ukraine War and the relationship with China, specifically the threat to Taiwan.
He is a brown skinned establishment Ivy League educated entrepreneur who requires far more seasoning on foreign relations and the real world threat presented by Russia and China.
He is incredibly naive to believe you can make a deal with Putin (or Xi) and put the horrific invasion of a peaceful neighbor behind us as if it did not happen.
We are at a crucible moment with Nato, Ukraine, and Russia. The notion that giving Putin what he wants -- Russian theft of the Donbas and Crimea, Ukraine never to join Nato -- and to absolve Russia/Putin for killing tens of thousands of innocent people is disqualifying.
Unfettered and rewarded military aggression simply breeds more such behavior.
This is Europe in 1939 when Chamberlain allowed Hitler to gobble up peaceful neighbors in search of some mythical "peace for our times."
It is time to deal with this now or it will never be fixed.
This is Europe in 1939 when Chamberlain allowed Hitler to gobble up peaceful neighbors in search of some mythical "peace for our times."--> we might disagree here.
I see the pattern, but not agreeing that it has the same endgame. Putin isn't a madman like Hitler though he is a bad man. Putin lost in Afghanistan.....the other places had Russians there so that's similar to Hitler's excuse on the Sudetenland.
Hitler defied treaties set up after WW1. Consistently and surreptitiously.
I don't think this is exactly the same, and for sure I don't want to spend blood and treasure to defend countries that are strategically meaningless-especially with a feckless President and a feckless group of military commanders running the show that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
Counterpoint. Joe and Hunter grifted millions of dollars out of that region. Fauci invested money into labs that are illegal. How do we know this isn't an excuse to cover it all up?
Look at the promises made by the USA over the last 30 years concerning Russia, Ukraine and Europe. Did we keep our word? Has Russia's position ever changed since the czar? Putin is bad. We need to support Ukraine, but please don't suggest for an instant that the USA is not partly at fault. How could all the well educated experienced specialists at the Dept of State, CIA et al not see this coming years ago? And by the way, consultants from both parties have been using Ukraine like an ATM for years.
Just to be on point -- Russia was in A'stan for ten years from 1979 - 1989 whilst Putin came to power after Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1999.
Putin has repeated like a mantra that the fall of the Soviet Union is the worst thing that ever happened to Russia. His intent is to rebuild it as a Russian controlled empire.
The war between Russia and Ukraine began with the fake plebiscite in Crimea in 2014 instigated by Putin with a fake election and the war in Donbas started with a fake local separatist movement also in 2014.
Like Hitler's annexation of Germanic Austria (which predated the Sudetenland), Putin wove an identical nonsensical tale that the local populace was "Russian" and wanted to voluntarily join with the Russian Federation. Preposterous.
The impacted people had once been part of the Soviet Union and the last thing they truly wanted was to become part of Russia again. They had seen that movie.
The US/UK/Russia had promised to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum 1994 wherein Ukraine had given Soviet Union nuclear weapons sited on Ukrainian soil to the Russian Federation in return for this promise of protection.
This was one of Bill Clinton's greatest failures. It was dumb. On the strength of these assurances, Ukraine -- a huge military manufacturer -- dramatically reduced the size of its military force and returned the nukes to Russia.
BTW, those nukes were 1/3 of the entire Russian arsenal. No small thing.
Already by 1994, Ukraine was western leaning and would have been well served if they had NOT given up their nukes. Clearly, Russia would behave differently if a nuclear armed Ukraine had a set of ICBMs 479 miles to the southwest.
I mention the Budapest Memorandum as an example of the complete refusal by Putin to ever act in accordance with any agreement. He has broken every agreement which he has ever agreed -- START, Budapest Memorandum, dual taxation treaties.
In 2014, if the US/UK had objected to the Russian annexation of Crimea under the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum, perhaps we would not have ever seen what happened since.
Remember that the Russian Federation was a weak organization after the Soviet Union fell. Nato really had nobody to worry about in Europe. Putin rebuilt all of that.
[His army and military in general are third rate, but they are still at war.]
There is a substantial amount of evidence that the comparison between today and 1939 is quite apt.
Good points. But also remember James Baker promised NATO would not move one inch farther to the east. Minsk agreements. The other thing that I always wondered about the Crimea invasion was why there was no resistance. Not one shot fired and no sabotage (that I know of) after the invasion. That always bothered me. Basically this has been poorly played by the US from the beginning, and the people of Ukraine whatever their leanings are paying a stiff price. I base my opinion and support for Ukraine on how Poland, the Baltic States and Finland are reacting.
I’ve sort of reached the conclusion the US has not earned the right to have someone of Vivek’s capability as its leader at this current juncture. Sort of like opening a bottle of Lafite at a White Sox game …
Spot on, again. You're on a roll. I like Vivek a lot. The guy is smarter than smart. Brilliant even. Very quick on his feet and he knows how to command a discussion. See his talk with the transgender activist recently. He left no room for the pink-haired "pansexual" (whatever the hell that is) to respond.
I thought the way Desantis handled COVID was one of the bravest things I have seen a politician do in my lifetime. He opened up business/schools and took a practical approach to the vaccine. He was vilified by both the press and Trump. If Desantis had been wrong, 100,000's would have died, as was predicted by the elites, and his career and life essentially over. Time has vindicated his bravery.
Now for the bad news, he seems clueless on the national stage. Maybe he is getting bad advice. maybe he is getting conflicting advice from too many people. He is just plain disappointing as a candidate. I hoped for better from him. If he can't run a campaign, I have no confidence that he can govern the country.
I think the ticket will be Trump/Vivek. Or Trump and the female Governor of Iowa. Trump's VP is an important role because it will be the default 2028 candidate since Trump can't/won't run again but for that to work in the VP's favor they have to run a credible electoral campaign and win.
I think Youngkin holds out till 2028 figuring Trump loses and Biden can't run again. Youngkin/Newsome is the 2028 contest.
The downside is that if the Ds win in 2024, the Rs can run J. Christ as a candidate and they still won't win. It is possible that the last real election was 2016. By 2024, the Ds will solidify every electoral gambit they've used so far.
Trump detailed Dr Scott Atlas to support DeSantis's decision to reopen schools in August 2020.
DeSantis' opponent was the Florida Educational Association/Orange County Teachers' Association. And, of course, the media.
The history is that the Florida Education Commissioner, Robert Corcoran, issued an order to reopen schools by 31 August 2020. This did not apply to Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, so the order was not nearly as broad as folks would like to recall.
Dr Scott was a senior fellow at the Heritage Association at Stanford and a member of the President's COVID taskforce who spoke out in conjunction with DeSantis at a speech at The Villages in the end of August.
This issue was not really about the statewide COVID program, but the schools. DeSantis was right. Dr Scott Atlas was right. Trump dispatched Dr Scott Atlas to add his emphasis.
If I recall correctly, and I may be wrong, I remember Florida and Georgia opening up and Trump privately and publicly speaking against that. I have a specific memory of that when Georgia opened up. Not so sure about Florida. Yes, the first think was the schools.
Super interesting and thanks for updating your opinion. I've only heard Ramaswamy on the Ruthless Podcast and am not digging into a position yet. I was disappointed that DeSantis jumped in this cycle: it is understandable but too early for him to have found his own feet; he shot to prominence too fast, is listening to too many pollsters, and it shows. His governorship of Florida through the lockdown period was a Godsend for America but he's not ready for DC obstructionist politics and the real power of federal unelected bureaucrats. Similarly, Trump was a Godsend for America - until the lockdowns - especially regarding judicial appointments, and thank God for McConnell at that time as well. Those times are past, however, and my hunch is that we need something different for the next battles than either Trump or DeSantis in their current incarnations/situations, and my concern is whether or not we will find a path to an electable candidate for independent-conservative-patriotic voters.
Your comment about Governor DeSantis seeming to be uncomfortable in high contact situations seems valid, but may be an insufficient reason to defer your support. While that quality seems essential for campaigning, it may not be as important while governing. We have had other very capable Presidents who were not media stars, and at this juncture I am looking for governance, not media flash. This also seems to overlook that he campaigned well enough to be elected and re-elected. I am also impressed with Vivek, but his background as a CEO (thinking Perot and Iacocca with a dash of Trump, Zuckerberg and Musk here) makes me skeptical of his ability to influence Congress - but would love to be proven wrong.
Vivek also wants to invade Mexico with the U S Army, give Ukraine to Putin to make nice ( thus dissolving NATO) , and hand over Tawain to China, after the USA has built a new Chip Factory. This man is an Idiot and I do not mean maybe.
He doesn't want to invade Mexico unless you have a link to that. On chips he makes a lot of sense. Taiwan builds semiconductor chips and it costs billions to develop the plant and infrastructure to make them. Intel said they would build one in Ohio. We need one in the US purely on a national security basis. No one has made a good case to me why we need to be so vigilant and spend a trillion dollars defending Ukraine other than Joe Biden grifted millions there and the war helps cover it up. Does it matter if we tell Ukraine to pound sand when it comes to being in NATO and that the territory they lost stays with Russia right now? I realize it sucks for many people, but the US cannot be the policeman for the world. China is struggling. There is a chance to knock them down on the canvas but we have to use economics to do it. That means cutting the size/scope of the bureaucracy, instituting things like FairTax.org, and getting rid of stupid labor laws that stop companies from building manufacturing here.
I read your comment. Mr Minch put nuance around it. Unless you have a link that calls for a war with Mexico, I would suggest and advocate that Mr Minch's nuance is the correct take regarding an invasion.
"I've said that not only will we use the military to secure our own southern border, we will go further," he said. "If we can use our military to take out [Osama] bin Laden or [Ayman] al-Zawahiri or [Qasem] Soleimani or ISIS somewhere else in some other part of the world, then we are ready to use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels south of our own border."
Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa this year
Seems to support the notion, Vivek is going after the Cartels and not Mexico.
90 million Mexicans may not buy the Koolaid you are selling. How will Gringo Soldiers know friend from foe? Makes Vietnam look like a sensible military operation.
Ukraine costs us almost nothing, some obsolete excess weapons . We are doing to the Russians ( our enemy, sorry) , what they did to us in Vietnam. This is the most successful action we have had since WW2.
You are OK with handing Tawain over to China? Do you not understand the effect on Japan or South Korea?
Thank god Me V is has no chance. It is sad to see to see a candidate from Party of Reagan spouting such nonsense.
It's costing us billions.....I don't think it's snap that China invades Taiwan. Amphibious landings are perilous and to think we wouldn't help defend them is naive.
This is something that should be discussed and threatened if only to get the Mexican government's attention. Do you not think they are at war with us? Where are all the illegal immigrants coming from. How to they get to the US Southern border? Short of bombing Tucson, could an enemy do anything more destabilizing and destructive to the fabric of life and the economy? As to Taiwan, it puts CCP on notice what our policy is, and leaves the future beyond the chip question open. Given the promises we've made concerning Ukraine, you should realize that today's policy means nothing tomorrow.
I suggest you study the Mexican American war of 1846. The Mexicans certainly remember it. If you make a threat the Cartels will laugh, such chaos would help, not hinder their business.
I read his book "Woke Inc." and it was quite good. Well written, well argued, very engaged, on-topic, straightforward, a pretty easy read considering the competition that expend lots of pages to say so little that is interesting or engaging.
I voted for Trump twice. I don't think he can win in 2024. Why? Because he's too polarizing... he's the Hillary Clinton of the Republican Party. No one is neutral on Trump; he's loved or despised. We can't win with just GOP votes, we need the independents who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
I like DeSantis. He's done an excellent job in FL, he can get independent votes, he isn't afraid to stand up the Progressives, and he doesn't pick fights unnecessarily like Trump.i think a DeSantis/Vivek ticket would be exciting to a lot of voters and their wives are great campaigners too.
Re personality, I want someone who I feel tries to make the right decisions for the good of the country. I think both DeSantis and Vivek are intelligent, principled, and trustworthy. What a contrast from Biden/Harris.
I like a lot about Vivek, but some of his statements have been pretty weird. He said that we only need to defend Taiwan from China until we obtain semiconductor independence, which he said he can accomplish in 4 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTY7VzqBwc Vivek on Jordan Peterson
I agree with you. Vivek is an impressive man, if you look only at his accomplishments in his young life. But when you listen to him, you are taken back. He's brilliant, can think on his feet. And yes- he has his talking points that he repeats to hammer home, but...his points are refreshing, grounded in tradition, with an eye firmly on the future. And economic freedom. There's a lot to like about him. And I think his rise in the polls, coming from nowhere, is the result of people actually taking the time to listen to him.
One other thing: I love my Governor here in Florida. And we're going to lose him to term limits anyway. I think he'd be a great President. He's a man of action, he gets things done. He's extremely intelligent. But...he does sometimes pick fights where none are needed. And I'm not sure he'll know how to respond to the left other than attack.
Whereas Vivek, I think, could actually sway many on the left, and a whole lot of people right in the middle. I think, if more people do get to hear him, he will sway many more.
I appreciate your comment. But I disagree with this: "And I'm not sure he'll know how to respond to the left other than attack."
Well, yeah, that's what the left does -- they attack. They use culture wars to get their policy agenda in place and they are relentless about it. They use the politics of personal destruction and labeling (racist!) to get what they want. They are largely not nice people.
And I'm someone who deal regularly with Chicago Democrats. These people play for keeps, and the only thing they fear is public perception, and someone who will punch back.
DeSantis has proven that he's not going to become a Republican squish, which is exactly what happens when the left starts calling names. This is George Bush, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, etc. The only way you even get a small reprieve from the left is to basically submit to them and be willing to betray the Republican agenda. Even then, they still call you a Nazi and label your policy as in bad faith.
The only way to deal with bullies is to bully them. As for DeSantis, which fights did he pick that were unnecessary? Disney attacked first in what they thought would be a cost-free virtue signal. They never imagined that the entire Florida legislature and DeSantis would fight the culture war back. Disney attacked first. Remember that.
And what else? I ask because I'm getting tired of hearing this criticism of DeSantis, when an attack dog--who is effective (Trump is not)--is 100% what we need right now.
Your comments resonate w/ me. I’m quite torn between these two. On the one hand, DeSantis has proved he can be successful as a political leader. The fact that FL seems to be the most popular state in the nation from a migration standpoint proves he’s an effective leader. However, he has picked some fights that didn’t need to be picked and that bothers me a bit. Vivek is absolutely the best orator on the circuit - of any party and he’s a proven winner too, but not in politics. I suppose that will be what people will be weighing...a track record in politics or one in business. Still a tough call to me....
I want the debates. I want honest ones with no gotcha questions.
What we are looking forward to is not a DEBATE. It is a short term interrogation made for a TV audience and is completely worthless.
I would love to see 2-3 candidates around a table with two moderators and three hours of discussion. That would be a debate.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
I agree. By the way, in another comment I linked to Jordan Peterson interviewing Vivek. 1 hour and forty four minutes.
I am exactly where you are on this at the moment. I suspect there's more of us out here. And...the debates should clarify things as they go along.
I don't know how true it is but my impression is that DeSantis has been hugely successful with policies in FL at least in part because he has a Republican legislature and a lot of other officials and constituents who agree with him. Yes it is awesome that he is a fighter but he shot to relatively favorable national prominence because he *won* critical battles on lockdown issues with positions that have generally been proven true/correct. His track record does not convince me that he is likely to be as effective at the federal level facing well-entrenched & fanatical opposition. I'd hope so but have my doubts.
He is the only one of all the candidates who has actually demonstrated he is capable of landing policy wins. Trump is a terrible manager, but a good showman. The bureaucracy knew how to stymie Trump, and he didn't know how to defeat them.
I like Vivek too, but he doesn't know how to actually lead a government yet. DeSantis has proven it.
Trump, Vivek, et al are just like Obama on the other side -- hopes and dreams coming from words that people like to hear. You go with the experienced manager who knows how to make government work for us, not against us.
No one else has that record.
While not embracing Trump on several fronts, he was actually good, quite good, on policy.
He dramatically reduced regulations thereby providing a foundation for American energy independence. This started right at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
One can appreciate what a policy win this was when you see how quickly Biden managed to fuck it all up. As a marker, the price of gas is a fair indicator.
Trump was great on Nato -- better than any President since WWII in making the Europeans pay their fair share. This Nato readiness resounds to this day.
Trump was great on confronting China and calling them out for who and what they are.
In spite of a confrontational style, Trump did not cause any wars over his entire tenure. I think it is fair to speculate as to whether Putin would have attacked Ukraine if Trump were in office and if he would have just watched as the Russian forces marshalled on the Ukraine border.
He and McConnell hit home run after home run on the judiciary and Trump delivered on his promise to appoint conservatives. This was the best performance by a President since Geo Washington.
That SCOTUS conservative majority may last for 35 years?
He was brilliant on the economy and delivered the best US economy since 1776 -- growth, regulation, inflation, interest rates, unemployment, real wage growth, and confrontation with China.
Trump had the southern border under control even though the Dems killed The Wall.
In the big picture, Trump was quite good on policy.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
I agree that DeSantis has proven capabilities with an aligned legislature in one state. That record may or may not translate to the top executive position across a federal bureaucracy and the as-yet unknown composition of the next House and Senate. That's all I'm saying, not taking any other shots pro or con the others you name.
And yet look at the lingering impact of the Obama administration. It's crippling. If Vivek wins I hope he will have similar impact. Overall however I agree with your assessment of DeSantis. Past performance is a good indicator.
True, and that occurred to me. For the left, they use deception to get votes. They always promise to "unite the country" to get the middle votes, and they fall for it every time. Then, once elected, they go hard left and compromise nothing.
I also believe that Obama has an outsized impact on Biden's administration, because most of the people there are from Obama's administration. They listen to and revere their old boss, because we know old Joe isn't calling the shots.
Let's take a look at just one Vivek proposal. He has mentioned that as POTUS he must follow the civil service laws when it comes to individual employees, but that nothing would prevent him from laying off ENTIRE agencies. He may be right, or not, but regardless of that he will face lawsuits when he tries that and the entire thing will be held up in court by the Dems for a long time, with no guaranteed results. So while he makes a clever statement, what's the plan for dealing with the brass knuckles that will come his way? For my 2 cents, perhaps any new POTUS should get in front of any challenges when new policies are decided - perhaps getting a friendly Repub to initiate the inevitable lawsuit in a friendly court.
Good and fair point. I agree with Vivek that mass layoffs is a great way to take a chainsaw to the bureaucracy. There is nothing enshrined in the Constitution that we need a Department of Education for example. Getting rid of it and 100% of the employees is a good idea.
Vivek Ramaswamy is an interesting and intelligent man, but he has some fatal political flaws in his views of the Ukraine War and the relationship with China, specifically the threat to Taiwan.
He is a brown skinned establishment Ivy League educated entrepreneur who requires far more seasoning on foreign relations and the real world threat presented by Russia and China.
He is incredibly naive to believe you can make a deal with Putin (or Xi) and put the horrific invasion of a peaceful neighbor behind us as if it did not happen.
We are at a crucible moment with Nato, Ukraine, and Russia. The notion that giving Putin what he wants -- Russian theft of the Donbas and Crimea, Ukraine never to join Nato -- and to absolve Russia/Putin for killing tens of thousands of innocent people is disqualifying.
Unfettered and rewarded military aggression simply breeds more such behavior.
This is Europe in 1939 when Chamberlain allowed Hitler to gobble up peaceful neighbors in search of some mythical "peace for our times."
It is time to deal with this now or it will never be fixed.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
This is Europe in 1939 when Chamberlain allowed Hitler to gobble up peaceful neighbors in search of some mythical "peace for our times."--> we might disagree here.
Hitler -- Saarland, Austria, Sudetenland, balance of Czechoslovakia, the free city of Danzig
Putin -- Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, Donbas, Ukraine
See the pattern?
Undefeated aggression just continues until it is stopped.
Why would we shrink from this historic duty to oppose aggression?
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
I see the pattern, but not agreeing that it has the same endgame. Putin isn't a madman like Hitler though he is a bad man. Putin lost in Afghanistan.....the other places had Russians there so that's similar to Hitler's excuse on the Sudetenland.
Hitler defied treaties set up after WW1. Consistently and surreptitiously.
I don't think this is exactly the same, and for sure I don't want to spend blood and treasure to defend countries that are strategically meaningless-especially with a feckless President and a feckless group of military commanders running the show that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
Counterpoint. Joe and Hunter grifted millions of dollars out of that region. Fauci invested money into labs that are illegal. How do we know this isn't an excuse to cover it all up?
Look at the promises made by the USA over the last 30 years concerning Russia, Ukraine and Europe. Did we keep our word? Has Russia's position ever changed since the czar? Putin is bad. We need to support Ukraine, but please don't suggest for an instant that the USA is not partly at fault. How could all the well educated experienced specialists at the Dept of State, CIA et al not see this coming years ago? And by the way, consultants from both parties have been using Ukraine like an ATM for years.
Just to be on point -- Russia was in A'stan for ten years from 1979 - 1989 whilst Putin came to power after Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1999.
Putin has repeated like a mantra that the fall of the Soviet Union is the worst thing that ever happened to Russia. His intent is to rebuild it as a Russian controlled empire.
The war between Russia and Ukraine began with the fake plebiscite in Crimea in 2014 instigated by Putin with a fake election and the war in Donbas started with a fake local separatist movement also in 2014.
Like Hitler's annexation of Germanic Austria (which predated the Sudetenland), Putin wove an identical nonsensical tale that the local populace was "Russian" and wanted to voluntarily join with the Russian Federation. Preposterous.
The impacted people had once been part of the Soviet Union and the last thing they truly wanted was to become part of Russia again. They had seen that movie.
The US/UK/Russia had promised to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum 1994 wherein Ukraine had given Soviet Union nuclear weapons sited on Ukrainian soil to the Russian Federation in return for this promise of protection.
This was one of Bill Clinton's greatest failures. It was dumb. On the strength of these assurances, Ukraine -- a huge military manufacturer -- dramatically reduced the size of its military force and returned the nukes to Russia.
BTW, those nukes were 1/3 of the entire Russian arsenal. No small thing.
Already by 1994, Ukraine was western leaning and would have been well served if they had NOT given up their nukes. Clearly, Russia would behave differently if a nuclear armed Ukraine had a set of ICBMs 479 miles to the southwest.
I mention the Budapest Memorandum as an example of the complete refusal by Putin to ever act in accordance with any agreement. He has broken every agreement which he has ever agreed -- START, Budapest Memorandum, dual taxation treaties.
In 2014, if the US/UK had objected to the Russian annexation of Crimea under the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum, perhaps we would not have ever seen what happened since.
Remember that the Russian Federation was a weak organization after the Soviet Union fell. Nato really had nobody to worry about in Europe. Putin rebuilt all of that.
[His army and military in general are third rate, but they are still at war.]
There is a substantial amount of evidence that the comparison between today and 1939 is quite apt.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Good points. But also remember James Baker promised NATO would not move one inch farther to the east. Minsk agreements. The other thing that I always wondered about the Crimea invasion was why there was no resistance. Not one shot fired and no sabotage (that I know of) after the invasion. That always bothered me. Basically this has been poorly played by the US from the beginning, and the people of Ukraine whatever their leanings are paying a stiff price. I base my opinion and support for Ukraine on how Poland, the Baltic States and Finland are reacting.
I’ve sort of reached the conclusion the US has not earned the right to have someone of Vivek’s capability as its leader at this current juncture. Sort of like opening a bottle of Lafite at a White Sox game …
Ha! I think he needs a chance. He's an American and we deserve him
Do not agree, but love the clever metaphor. Well played.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Spot on, again. You're on a roll. I like Vivek a lot. The guy is smarter than smart. Brilliant even. Very quick on his feet and he knows how to command a discussion. See his talk with the transgender activist recently. He left no room for the pink-haired "pansexual" (whatever the hell that is) to respond.
I'll support him in the primary but honestly, the GOP could run a crack whore against Biden and I'd still vote Red.
They did last time. Wait, that was Hunter's girlfriend
I thought the way Desantis handled COVID was one of the bravest things I have seen a politician do in my lifetime. He opened up business/schools and took a practical approach to the vaccine. He was vilified by both the press and Trump. If Desantis had been wrong, 100,000's would have died, as was predicted by the elites, and his career and life essentially over. Time has vindicated his bravery.
Now for the bad news, he seems clueless on the national stage. Maybe he is getting bad advice. maybe he is getting conflicting advice from too many people. He is just plain disappointing as a candidate. I hoped for better from him. If he can't run a campaign, I have no confidence that he can govern the country.
I think the ticket will be Trump/Vivek. Or Trump and the female Governor of Iowa. Trump's VP is an important role because it will be the default 2028 candidate since Trump can't/won't run again but for that to work in the VP's favor they have to run a credible electoral campaign and win.
I think Youngkin holds out till 2028 figuring Trump loses and Biden can't run again. Youngkin/Newsome is the 2028 contest.
The downside is that if the Ds win in 2024, the Rs can run J. Christ as a candidate and they still won't win. It is possible that the last real election was 2016. By 2024, the Ds will solidify every electoral gambit they've used so far.
Agree about DeSantis and COVID. Extremely brave given the circumstances
"He was vilified by both the press and Trump."
Trump detailed Dr Scott Atlas to support DeSantis's decision to reopen schools in August 2020.
DeSantis' opponent was the Florida Educational Association/Orange County Teachers' Association. And, of course, the media.
The history is that the Florida Education Commissioner, Robert Corcoran, issued an order to reopen schools by 31 August 2020. This did not apply to Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, so the order was not nearly as broad as folks would like to recall.
Dr Scott was a senior fellow at the Heritage Association at Stanford and a member of the President's COVID taskforce who spoke out in conjunction with DeSantis at a speech at The Villages in the end of August.
This issue was not really about the statewide COVID program, but the schools. DeSantis was right. Dr Scott Atlas was right. Trump dispatched Dr Scott Atlas to add his emphasis.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
If I recall correctly, and I may be wrong, I remember Florida and Georgia opening up and Trump privately and publicly speaking against that. I have a specific memory of that when Georgia opened up. Not so sure about Florida. Yes, the first think was the schools.
Super interesting and thanks for updating your opinion. I've only heard Ramaswamy on the Ruthless Podcast and am not digging into a position yet. I was disappointed that DeSantis jumped in this cycle: it is understandable but too early for him to have found his own feet; he shot to prominence too fast, is listening to too many pollsters, and it shows. His governorship of Florida through the lockdown period was a Godsend for America but he's not ready for DC obstructionist politics and the real power of federal unelected bureaucrats. Similarly, Trump was a Godsend for America - until the lockdowns - especially regarding judicial appointments, and thank God for McConnell at that time as well. Those times are past, however, and my hunch is that we need something different for the next battles than either Trump or DeSantis in their current incarnations/situations, and my concern is whether or not we will find a path to an electable candidate for independent-conservative-patriotic voters.
Your comment about Governor DeSantis seeming to be uncomfortable in high contact situations seems valid, but may be an insufficient reason to defer your support. While that quality seems essential for campaigning, it may not be as important while governing. We have had other very capable Presidents who were not media stars, and at this juncture I am looking for governance, not media flash. This also seems to overlook that he campaigned well enough to be elected and re-elected. I am also impressed with Vivek, but his background as a CEO (thinking Perot and Iacocca with a dash of Trump, Zuckerberg and Musk here) makes me skeptical of his ability to influence Congress - but would love to be proven wrong.
I don't disagree with you. I want big competition. One thing I love about DeSantis is he is a competitor!
Yes. If only to push all the candidates towards reality. The mush from consultants should not be allowed to work this time.
I am hoping for competition as well!
Vivek also wants to invade Mexico with the U S Army, give Ukraine to Putin to make nice ( thus dissolving NATO) , and hand over Tawain to China, after the USA has built a new Chip Factory. This man is an Idiot and I do not mean maybe.
He doesn't want to invade Mexico unless you have a link to that. On chips he makes a lot of sense. Taiwan builds semiconductor chips and it costs billions to develop the plant and infrastructure to make them. Intel said they would build one in Ohio. We need one in the US purely on a national security basis. No one has made a good case to me why we need to be so vigilant and spend a trillion dollars defending Ukraine other than Joe Biden grifted millions there and the war helps cover it up. Does it matter if we tell Ukraine to pound sand when it comes to being in NATO and that the territory they lost stays with Russia right now? I realize it sucks for many people, but the US cannot be the policeman for the world. China is struggling. There is a chance to knock them down on the canvas but we have to use economics to do it. That means cutting the size/scope of the bureaucracy, instituting things like FairTax.org, and getting rid of stupid labor laws that stop companies from building manufacturing here.
Vivek Ramaswamy is on record advocating the use of US military force directly against the Mexican drug cartels -- an idea I wholeheartedly endorse.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-campaigns-iowa-suggests-military-used-annihilate-mexican-drug-cartels
He wants to use the US military to secure the southern border that rubs up against The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
I would treat the cartels as the ruthless gangs they are and simply retaliate against them with deadly force.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
As Mr. Minch correctly points out, there is a big difference between "invading Mexico" and securing the border and going after cartels......
Mr Carter are you incapable of reading? Mr V wants to INVADE Mexico. This has nothing to do with securing the border.
I read your comment. Mr Minch put nuance around it. Unless you have a link that calls for a war with Mexico, I would suggest and advocate that Mr Minch's nuance is the correct take regarding an invasion.
"I've said that not only will we use the military to secure our own southern border, we will go further," he said. "If we can use our military to take out [Osama] bin Laden or [Ayman] al-Zawahiri or [Qasem] Soleimani or ISIS somewhere else in some other part of the world, then we are ready to use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels south of our own border."
Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa this year
Seems to support the notion, Vivek is going after the Cartels and not Mexico.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
90 million Mexicans may not buy the Koolaid you are selling. How will Gringo Soldiers know friend from foe? Makes Vietnam look like a sensible military operation.
Ukraine costs us almost nothing, some obsolete excess weapons . We are doing to the Russians ( our enemy, sorry) , what they did to us in Vietnam. This is the most successful action we have had since WW2.
You are OK with handing Tawain over to China? Do you not understand the effect on Japan or South Korea?
Thank god Me V is has no chance. It is sad to see to see a candidate from Party of Reagan spouting such nonsense.
It's costing us billions.....I don't think it's snap that China invades Taiwan. Amphibious landings are perilous and to think we wouldn't help defend them is naive.
This is something that should be discussed and threatened if only to get the Mexican government's attention. Do you not think they are at war with us? Where are all the illegal immigrants coming from. How to they get to the US Southern border? Short of bombing Tucson, could an enemy do anything more destabilizing and destructive to the fabric of life and the economy? As to Taiwan, it puts CCP on notice what our policy is, and leaves the future beyond the chip question open. Given the promises we've made concerning Ukraine, you should realize that today's policy means nothing tomorrow.
I suggest you study the Mexican American war of 1846. The Mexicans certainly remember it. If you make a threat the Cartels will laugh, such chaos would help, not hinder their business.
FYI As of late Sunday afternoon, Ramaswamy's interview with Tucker is at 42.1 million views. Don't know what it means, but it surely means something.
He is getting exposure....wait until the 60 Minutes interview! Ha
I read his book "Woke Inc." and it was quite good. Well written, well argued, very engaged, on-topic, straightforward, a pretty easy read considering the competition that expend lots of pages to say so little that is interesting or engaging.
I voted for Trump twice. I don't think he can win in 2024. Why? Because he's too polarizing... he's the Hillary Clinton of the Republican Party. No one is neutral on Trump; he's loved or despised. We can't win with just GOP votes, we need the independents who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
I like DeSantis. He's done an excellent job in FL, he can get independent votes, he isn't afraid to stand up the Progressives, and he doesn't pick fights unnecessarily like Trump.i think a DeSantis/Vivek ticket would be exciting to a lot of voters and their wives are great campaigners too.
Re personality, I want someone who I feel tries to make the right decisions for the good of the country. I think both DeSantis and Vivek are intelligent, principled, and trustworthy. What a contrast from Biden/Harris.
I'm not sure about Vivek, so I'm going to watch the interview. Thanks for the tip Mr Carter!
I like a lot about Vivek, but some of his statements have been pretty weird. He said that we only need to defend Taiwan from China until we obtain semiconductor independence, which he said he can accomplish in 4 years.
He said it changes the stakes for China to invade as well. One incentive China has is to get the semiconductor plant so they can control us.
Where is ND Gov Doug Burgum in all of this?
Nowhere yet.