P.J. O'Rourke: 'This Is the End of the World for Classical Liberalism'

The 72-year-old political commentator says Biden's platform is "full of unicorns and flying ponies" but is better than "having the inmates run the asylum."

Meredith Bragg | 10.22.2020 11:50 AM

"This is the end of the world for classical liberalism," writes P.J. O'Rourke in his new collection of essays, A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land. The 72-year-old political commentator, who cut his teeth writing for National Lampoon and is the author of Parliament of Whores and other bestsellers, is pessimistic about the future of American politics.

"I'm appalled by the choice that we've been delivered," says O'Rourke, referencing the 2020 presidential election. "I am worried."

"I have always belonged to the pessimistic wing of the libertarian attitude," explains O'Rourke. "There are many libertarians who believe that people are ultimately rational. I am not among them. This is probably because I spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent, largely covering wars, insurrections, social upheavals, and disturbances of all sorts….We have a rational side, thank God. And I hope we are appealing to that rational side. But it isn't the only side in our multifaceted—and sometimes pretty ugly—little personalities."

A Biden presidency would be bad, O'Rourke says, but a Trump second term would be even worse.

"Biden's campaign platform is 564 pages long. It promises everything to everybody. It's full of unicorns and flying ponies and candy-flavored rainbows and pixie dust. And when those flying ponies glide with the marzipan rainbows and pixie dust starts to gum up the works of society … we're going to be in for a mess … But on the other hand, I think we're done with this experiment of having the inmates run the asylum."

"There's wrong and there's damn wrong."

Either way, America should get ready for an "expensive couple of years."

Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg.

Photos: Biden, Adam Schultz/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Trump, Paul Hennessy/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Trump, Rod Lamkey Jr./Sipa USA/Newscom; Trump, Chris Kleponis/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom; PJ O'Rourke, Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; PJ O'Rourke, Ricky Chung/SCMP/Newscom; PJ O'Rourke, SH1/Sam Wilson / WENN/Newscom; Trump sign, Paul Weaver/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Biden sign, Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Debate, CNP/AdMedia/SIPA/Newscom; Twitter, Jakub Porzycki/ZUMA Press/Newscom; PJ O'Rourke, SH1/Sam Wilson / WENN/Newscom; Biden rally, Jessica Gallagher / Jgallagher@Q/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Trump rally, Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images/Sipa/Newscom; Gay pride, Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Market, John Nacion/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Megaphone confrontation, Leslie Spurlock/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Yelling close, Leslie Spurlock/ZUMA Press/Newscom.jpg; Dueling protesters, Steve Pellegrino/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Protestors, Jon Adar/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Trump in oval, Erin Schaff - Pool via CNP/Newscom; Republicans and Trump, SIPA/Newscom sfphotosfour528510.jpg; Red hat Trump rally, Daniel DeSlover/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Trump graffiti, trump - Shawn Thew/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom; Vote, Michele Eve Sandberg / SplashNews; Trump, Pool/ABACA/Newscom; Trump, Alex Edelman - Pool via CNP/Newscom; China, Kyodo/Newscom; China, SMG/ZUMA Press/Newscom

NEXT: When Encryption Was a Crime: The 1990s Battle for Free Speech in Software

Hide Comments (234)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

Commenter_XY 4 years ago

What a pretentious, arrogant asshole = PJ O'Roarke

Log in to Reply
1. John 4 years ago
  
  He is just a fucking moron. Trump has been President for four years. Classical liberalism isn't dead and there is no reason to think it will be if he stays in office four more years. But, O'Roarke admits that electing Biden will kill it. But, he is still voting for Biden because Orange Man Bad or something.
  
  Trump forced people like O'Roarke to make the choice between telling the truth and face being banished from the sort of pathetic upper class psuedo elite class or completely give up every shred of integrity they have. And O'Roarke took the side of class loyalty. At this point it is just sad and kind of embarrassing to watch.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
    
    Well, classical liberalism is under extreme duress and it ain't coming from the Trump wing of politics.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. perlchpr 4 years ago
      
      Yeah, somehow promising rainbows and unicorns to everyone *isn't* the inmates running the asylum?
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
        
        Biden is the center left Candidate, but I don't look at Biden in a vacuum. Biden promises rainbows and unicorns, while EVERYONE pushing him wants to rehabilitate a racialized system of government with endless reparations being paid out to aggrieved groups while they send out brownshirts in American cities to loot and burn until they get exactly what they want. Every white family in my neighborhood with a Biden sign also has a Black LIves Matter sign. That tells me everything I need to know about who supports Biden, and what they expect out of him.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Furzeydown 4 years ago
        
        Something something 'good and hard'.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        xefahef 4 years ago
        
        Earning more dollars from home easily just by working 0nline j0b from home. Makes every month extra $20k or more from this easy h0me j0b. Last month i have made $22759 from this just in my spare time. Every person can now get this and start earning 0nline from the instructions given to this web page
        HERE......... Home Profit System
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        SteveGeiser 4 years ago
        
        Google pays for every Person every hour online working from home job. I have received $23K in this month easily and I earns every weeks $5K to 8$K on the internet. Agh Every Person join this working easily by just just open this website and follow instructions………… Visit Here
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Old Engineer 4 years ago
        
        H. L. Mencken:
        "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."
        
        We could use Mencken today, but serious humor is now called "Hate Speech"
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Agnes H. McIntosh 4 years ago
        
        I am now making extra $19k or more every month from home by doing very simple and easy job online from home. I have received exactly $20845 last month from this home job. Join now this job and start making extra cash online by follow instruction on the given website........ Visit Here
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Susan S. Penson 4 years ago
        
        Google pays for every Person every hour online working from home job. I have received $23K in this month easily and I earns every weeks $5K to 8$K on the internet. Every Person join this working easily by just just open this website and follow instructions.............. Visit Here
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        yiyase9101@iazhy.com 4 years ago
        
        Google pays for every Person every hour online working from home job. I have received $23K in this month easily and I earns every weeks $5K to 8$K on the internet. Anc Every Person join this working easily by just just open this web site and follow instructions………….. Visit Here Many Dollars
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        MarthaShaver 4 years ago
        
        Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home. I have joined this action OTD 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it
        
        what I do.........Click here
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        MarthaShaver 4 years ago
        
        Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home. I have joined this action OLD 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it
        
        what I do.........Click here
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        perlchpr 4 years ago
        
        If only it was limited in effect to those who voted for it. The problem is that they insist on taking me down with them.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Nardz 4 years ago
        
        America was an idea. We've never lived up to it but we've never walked away from it before.
        -Joe Biden
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Rat on a train 4 years ago
        
        America was an idea. Antifa is an idea. America has become Antifa.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        BigT 4 years ago
        
        America was an idea. We’ve never lived up to it but we’ve never walked away from it before. But I'll damn well give it a try!
        -Joe Biden
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        America is a reality. Biden is a drooling idiot, and hopefully soon just a bad memory.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        ImanAzol 4 years ago
        
        He's only "Center left" if your lips are around Howard Zinn's shriveled penis.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Earth Skeptic 4 years ago
        
        Biden is the cod piece for Harris, and Harris is the mouth piece for the hybrid militant progressive party machine.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Old Engineer 4 years ago
        
        Kerensky was "center left" too. It didn't work out well for Russia.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. CE 4 years ago
        
        Biden's platform is 564 pages long. Trump doesn't have a platform.
        Pick the guy without grandiose plans every time.
        
        If we wanted a bunch of 5 year Stalinist plans, we would have picked Warren.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Earth Skeptic 4 years ago
        
        I bet even Stalin would have been annoyed with Warren.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Tim Zank 4 years ago
        
        Lol, Stalin would have personally strangled her..... slowly ...
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Gray_Jay 4 years ago
        
        That was more Hitler's kink. See Flossenburg prison, and the Valkyrie plotters. Plus Dietrich Bonhoeffer, because why the hell not?
        
        Stalin was more a 'just break them---anyway, anyhow' kind of guy. Then shoot them.
        
        Log in to Reply
    2. The White Knight 4 years ago
      
      Sure, because Trump is a paragon of tolerance and rationality. His divisiveness and lack of civility is poison to classical liberalism.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Commenter_XY 4 years ago
        
        Yeah, yeah...sure, sure. Heard it all before.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. genXer 4 years ago
        
        Oh BS. Unless you think that calling a man a hermaphrodite in 1800 was civil. Or if Jefferson won incest would be practiced openly on the streets of America. That’s just couple of the many examples from that election alone.
        
        Log in to Reply
      3. damikesc 4 years ago
        
        As opposed to Biden who has REPEATEDLY insulted voters during the primaries?
        
        Not candidates. Not the media. individual voters who SUPPORTED him.
        
        Log in to Reply
    3. mapol 4 years ago
      
      Classical liberalism, if one can call it that with a straight face has been under extreme duress for the past five decades, and it's under greater duress from Donald Trump's wing of politics.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Trigger Warning 4 years ago
        
        Did you actually type that with a straight face?
        
        Log in to Reply
  2. mad.casual 4 years ago
    
    People have classical liberal aspects to their nature except Trump even when, knowingly or not, he's towing the classical liberal line to a 'T'. He could say he's going to cling to classical liberalism and then proceed to do so without fail and it would still be the death of classical liberalism because he's only doing it to troll classical liberals like O'Rourke.
    
    It's the anti-liberal (classic or otherwise) diametric opposite of 'The Rule of Goats': it doesn't matter if you've ever even seen a goat in your life or if you've effectively prevented hundreds of goats from being fucked by anyone including yourself; somebody, somewhere accused you of fucking a goat, ergo, you're an evil goatfucker.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
      
      Trump is the biggest threat to Classical Liberalism, meanwhile, coming to a Human Resources department near you...
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. lap83 4 years ago
        
        Ugh, I didn't peg you for a free speech hater. /ENB
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. mad.casual 4 years ago
        
        Of course, if you get caught masturbating to your co-workers during the HR book club Zoom meeting, you'll get the same leniency afforded everybody else.
        
        Log in to Reply
      3. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
        
        I've heard there are a lot of SJWs in the human resources world.
        
        Log in to Reply
    2. Quo Usque Tandem 4 years ago
      
      "...somebody, somewhere accused you of fucking a goat, ergo, you’re an evil goatfucker."
      
      Essentially the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
        
        Does the goat have to be evil? Asking for a friend.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. Tempe Jeff 4 years ago
        
        Essentially L.B.J.'s Campaigning technique.
        
        Log in to Reply
  3. Nemo Aequalis 4 years ago
    
    Classical liberalism isn’t dead and there is no reason to think it will be if he stays in office four more years.
    
    I can always dream, can't I?
    
    Log in to Reply
  4. Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago
    
    He's a cop-out. No doubt about it.
    
    In the group with David Brooks now.
    
    Man did 2020 draw the lines or what?
    
    All I know is I ain't siding with the Democrats or neo-Liberals up here.
    
    These people are flat out criminals. I hope PJ understands he's voting for CRIMINALS.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Union of Concerned Socks 4 years ago
      
      In fairness to PJ, if you're voting, you're voting for criminals.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. NOYB2 4 years ago
        
        We live in the real world. Not voting and not participating is dumb. Elections have consequences.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Ersatz 4 years ago
        
        ....UNLESS ... you truly dont care and your lifestyle doesnt suffer either way. And this is the case for many of those who live on the govt dole. they wont be thrown off it and their lives wont change so why care?
        
        no 401k, no job to risk losing, no family (unless you're sharing your bridge or alley box) so whats all the fuss?
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        NOYB2 4 years ago
        
        The bums living under bridges will work; Democrats are making sure of that.
        
        Log in to Reply
    2. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
      
      RJ O’Puke doesn’t care.
      
      Log in to Reply
  5. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    I'd thought it was personal in 2016 for O'Rourke and others. They knew him, traveled in the same East Coast elite, and the talking heads that yammered about them, circles, and they knew intimately that he was a lying, untrustworthy blowhard and asshole. I---barely---understand why O'Rourke et al, were leery of Trump.
    
    There's simply no fucking excuse for them though after watching four years of Trump's performance. Classical liberalism hasn't died at all. Though the Global Corporatism that Biden shills for, will do a fantastic job of killing it.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Leo Kovalensky II 4 years ago
      
      Classical liberalism might be dead, but it wasn't Trump that killed it. A long line of Presidents (and others) have been stabbing away at it for some time now. FDR probably got in the fatal wound, but that hasn't stopped Presidents since from abusing the corpse.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Union of Concerned Socks 4 years ago
        
        FDR probably got in the fatal wound
        
        Wilson
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        pro bonobo 4 years ago
        
        Had Hillary C. won, as PJO'R wanted four years ago, classic liberalism would be fully embalmed and on display under glass somewhere in Washington DC.
        
        PJ, I still keep a bottle of single malt scotch handy just in case I run into you, but you ain't the same guy when you were writing funny words like the infamous Ralph Nader letter in Car and Driver, or every single word of Parliament of Whores.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        CE 4 years ago
        
        1913, Wilson. Income tax and Federal Reserve. Double barreled shotgun blast.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        BigT 4 years ago
        
        Et tu, Franklin?
        
        Log in to Reply
  6. Zeb 4 years ago
    
    I don't know about "fucking moron", but this is really disappointing. I still like most of what he has to say. But his position on Trump is ridiculous at this point. 4 years ago I could forgive it, perhaps. But now, while he may be a big poopy-head, it's clear that Trump is not the end of the world.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Leo Kovalensky II 4 years ago
      
      Trump has certainly done some good things and some bad. But as far as libertarians are concerned, what President doesn't have a mixed record?
      
      PJ is wrong, he's not the end of the world.
      
      Log in to Reply
  7. Paulpemb 4 years ago
    
    Yep, I can understand somebody like O'Rourke biting the bullet and choosing Hillary over Trump in 2016. Trump was an unknown quantity and nobody really knew what to expect from him, so going with a 'better the devil you know' philosophy made sense.
    
    But now Trump has been President for 4 years, he hasn't started any new wars (let alone nuking the world like some people feared) or done anything else really radical. There's no reason to believe that the next 4 will be any different under a second Trump term.
    
    If O'Rourke is supporting Biden now, fuck him. I'm not going to burn all of his books that I own, but I won't be buying any new ones.
    
    Log in to Reply
  8. BigFish92672 4 years ago
    
    It died 100+ years ago
    
    "The War Between The States established at least this principle, that the federal government is, through its courts, the final judge of its own powers..." -Woodrow Wilson
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. TadFurtado 4 years ago
      
      “The War Between The States established at least this principle, that the federal government is, through its courts and the Army of the Potomac, the final judge of its own powers…” — FIFY President Wilson
      
      Log in to Reply
  9. buybuydandavis 4 years ago
    
    PJ is the perfect poster boy for Reason's hysterical pants-shitting TDS.
    
    He has no policy complaint but "Muh Invasion USA", and no *argument* for that at all, but still wets himself over what Trump *might* do, despite Trump being the most antiwar President we've had in decades.
    
    Similarly, he bemoans that classical liberalism is dead, while Trump is the *only* vehicle for self-government in America.
    
    If they had arguments against Trump's policies, they'd give them, instead of shrieking Orange Man Bad!
    
    Log in to Reply
  10. Pianokris 4 years ago
    
    A Trump second term is infinitely preferable to a Biden presidency. Unless you are a leftist.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
  
  Not admitting that voting for Hillary was an idiotic idea, huh Peej?
  
  How utterly fucking disappointing. O'Rourke brought me to Libertarianism. He was a decent guy, the one time I met him. I just don't get it.
  
  Damned if he didn't lose his fastball after having kids though. His revisiting, "How to drive fast, on drugs...," a few years ago, was filled with cringe.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. ecerv 4 years ago
    
    lol. Car and Driver introduced him to me. I've seen him over the years on tv, and he seems less libertarian now. I don't get how anyone can view a Biden presidency as the lesser of two evils, especially since the Dems will probably get the Senate and retain the House. Notice how everyone is coming out of the woodwork to support Biden. It's scary.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Ersatz 4 years ago
      
      Dems and never-Trumpers still think its all about star power and influencers. That is why the never-Trumpers were cowed by their assessment of the cultural elites' ability to brainwash the public and hence had never really followed up on their campaign promises. They were afraid if they did they'd have been voted out at the first chance. Turns out Trump is showing people that if you can get in on a platform you can actually do what you said and if it works then maybe you get to keep your job.
      
      Log in to Reply
  2. buybuydandavis 4 years ago
    
    The ruling class Right and Left stand for each other more than for their supposed policy arguments.
    
    PJ is like George Will - he wants the "right type of people" to rule, and is viscerally offended that Trump won through the support of the non-college indoctrinated.
    
    Log in to Reply
3. MollieGilbert 4 years ago
  
  Google paid for all online work from home from $ 16,000 to $ 32,000 a month. The younger brother was out of work for three months and a month ago her check was $ 32475, working at home for 4 hours a day, and earning could be even bigger….So I started......Visit Here
  
  Log in to Reply
4. gabverranos 4 years ago
  
  Lot of personal attacks and pigeon-holing PJ into these vague historical contexts, but I can understand the frustration. And maybe more warranted in this woke-Far-Left machine era; assuming that threat is real and potent. A lot (maybe all?) of you seem to strongly support Trump at least relative to Biden and make good points about his accomplishments. As a libertarian-leaning person, I'm certainly convinced that he's a much better choice than Biden for many reasons, but am I not allowed to (even if it is an emotional-gut-like reaction) have on-going concerns about his unpredictability and motivations? I know he's gotten "unfair" treatment by the media since day one and you could argue even his worst offenses are just reactions to that, but can't it be problematic enough to me that it seems like he incites greater polarization, tribalism, and scapegoating in America simply for his benefit? Yes, this is happening "on all sides" but I hold the president to at least slightly higher standard. Maybe he could have done more to engage someone like me (who's at least fairly open-minded) to not be so turned-off by practically anything he says regardless of the content. Maybe say something that suggests compassion or good-will toward anyone who isn't totally on-board with everything he does? I've tried to look past this irrational reaction, but struggle. I want to like him for his quasi-libertarianism, it would make things easier for me; this is a kind of internal torment. I can't help but wonder if we aren't going down some deep dark hole as a society, in part because of how he seems to thrive in and supports that process. I am not afraid that he's going to blow up the world or that the "inmates are running the asylum," but I'm not sure I want to continue to live in a world that looks and feels like this. Is it elitist to want some form of dignity or appearance of moral-compass in the president? Again, I'm not at all saying the Dems or Biden offer much of that, and I won't be voting for them or Trump. I'll waste my vote on 3rd party, but I'd certainly want to hear from maybe some of you who might have had similar hang-ups about Trump and how you've managed them, presumably coming out on the side that he's a clear choice for you. I mean this sincerely and with real curiosity. Honestly, I have felt that there is something instinctively wrong about him from the beginning and its a feeling I've been unable to exorcise despite the evidence he's not the anti-christ. Why can't we get someone with a sensibility to cut taxes, limit needless regulations, not fight unnecessary wars, maybe have a legitimate and fair immigration program, and yet show compassion, humility, and respect, while not being a fucking asshole all the time? It's deeply troubling that this seems out of reach, and our choices are what they are.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    You might actually have something interesting to say, but no one's going to try and parse that wall of text to find it. Mix in a paragraph break or two next time.
    
    Log in to Reply
  2. GreenFisch 4 years ago
    
    Thank you, gabverranos! I am in complete agreement with you.
    
    Log in to Reply
5. GreenFisch 4 years ago
  
  I don't quite get how someone with a reasonable sense of concern regarding the current and potential politicians in our country is considered "pretentious, arrogant". To be honest, I've never heard of P.J. O'Rourke before, but everything he stated in this video is exactly how I felt during the 2016 election and exactly how I feel today.
  
  Log in to Reply
6. jivik39952@prekab.net 4 years ago
  
  I get paid more than $120 to $130 per hour for working online. I heard about this job 3 months ago and after joining this i have earned easily $15k from ass this without having online working skills. This is what I do....Visit Here
  
  Log in to Reply
lap83 4 years ago

But on the other hand, I think we're done with this experiment of having the inmates run the asylum.

what is it with journalists constantly confusing Twitter with the real world?

Log in to Reply
1. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  They're inmates at the Twitter asylum, you should expect them to be confused and lack self-awareness. You can almost picture him with a beard, top hat, and tailcoat going around saying, "I'm Honest P.J. O' Rourke! Four score and seven years ago..."
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. MatthewSlyfield 4 years ago
    
    You can almost picture him with a beard, top hat, and tailcoat going around saying "My name is Elmer J Fudd. I own a mansion and a yaht."
    
    Log in to Reply
2. GreenFisch 4 years ago
  
  Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen. These people are not Twitter... And these are only the ones who got caught or who took the fall for their anointed one.
  
  Log in to Reply
Bubba Jones 4 years ago

Laments the lack of rationality.

Proceeds to give emotional criticisms of Trump.

Log in to Reply
Dillinger 4 years ago

>>A Biden presidency would be bad, O'Rourke says, but a Trump second term would be even worse.

the point where, if one ever took PJ O'Rourke seriously, one can stop.

Log in to Reply
1. John 4 years ago
  
  The thing about guys like him is that when Trump leaves public life, they will no longer be of any use to the left and the left will go right back to hating them. And since they have pissed away all of their integrity over Trump, no one on the right will have them either. O'Rourke better pray Trump wins because it will give him four more years of relevance as a concern troll. After leaves office, he won't even have that.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Dillinger 4 years ago
    
    wait 'til Ivanka runs for office.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BigT 4 years ago
      
      Would
      
      Log in to Reply
    2. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
      
      That will be the sexiest candidacy ever.
      
      Log in to Reply
  2. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    I'd honestly thought the guy retired.
    
    Log in to Reply
  3. Ersatz 4 years ago
    
    speaking of voices from the past and how they are voting... is Dave Barry virtue signaling his vote or is he being smart and staying quiet? always had a soft spot for his absurdities.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
  
  O'Rourke comes from that vauted time when the country basked in the warm, comforting glow of center left politics, when Marxism and Critical Race theory were only fringe ideas on the left. Now they're the main fucking course and O'Rourke needs to catch up.
  
  I don't have any problem with O'Rourke, I think he's a smart guy, but he's probably surrounded by Never Trump Neocons who have influenced him greatly.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Dillinger 4 years ago
    
    >>from that vauted time
    
    my memory serves up mealy opinion pieces back then too but they *were* all the rage then, so I do remember thinking more of him than say George Will ...
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
      
      I have read numerous O'Rourke books (mostly up through the early 2000s, and the guy is one of the most hilarious political writers out there, bar none. He does an excellent job of championing Friedman-esque politics and economics, and did an excellent job of lampooning then-Democrats. I don't know what his writing looks like today, but the crackpot left should be giving him mountains of hilarious material, but he seems to be focussed on Trump while the Democrats are both figuratively and literally a dumpster fire.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
        
        Empire of the Sofa, or something like that, wasn't too bad. Age Guile... was OK. His car themed book a few years ago was a solid meh to bad, and then I stopped looking for his stuff.
        
        We'll always have "Parliament of Whores" and "Holidays in Hell."
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Union of Concerned Socks 4 years ago
        
        "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
        
        That's the PJ I loved. He's been gone for 10 years at least.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Commenter_XY 4 years ago
        
        Yes, that is the PJ Rourke I prefer to remember instead of the pretentious, condescending asshole I heard.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        BigT 4 years ago
        
        Now PJ is glad to give power and money to the government. He has become one of the morons he hated.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. MatthewSlyfield 4 years ago
        
        "and the guy is one of the most hilarious political writers out there"
        
        Ah, that explains it, this article was meant to be a comedy piece.
        
        Log in to Reply
      3. Homple 4 years ago
        
        If O'Rourke really believes in Friedmanesque economics, why does he support the Biden crime family? Oh, and he's smart enough to know that Biden will be soon shuffled off to a memory care home and Kamala Harris will ascend to the presidency. So what does he think she will do to further Friedmanesque economics?
        
        Log in to Reply
  2. Overt 4 years ago
    
    O'Rourke is from the National Lampoon. That is all you need to know.
    
    The Lampoon hates the left, but above all, hates the rich, entitled assholes who make the rules for themselves. Trump is every rich asshole from Animal House and other movies- pedigreed, power brokering, emotional, brutes whose excess is excused merely because of their money. Trump is that mean rich kid that is the villain in all those types of movies.
    
    Without question, we are a nation of populists now. The only restraint we have on that is the Judiciary, and that is the main reason I would prefer Trump to Biden (though I will vote for neither). I also definitely see a far larger threat from the radical left (CRT, Antifa) than I do the Right.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Dillinger 4 years ago
      
      >>Trump is every rich asshole from Animal House
      
      I think he's more Otter than Marmalard but perception is personal.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        Trump is Al Czervick from Caddyshack. Biden is a dumber version of Smalls. It’s the slobs versus the snobs.
        
        Log in to Reply
    2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
      
      Trump is that mean rich kid that is the villain in all those types of movies.
      
      I respectfully disagree. Trump doesn't come off as the Dean Niedermeyer type... at all. He is super wealthy, but he lacks the 'elite' part of that moniker, which is why he seems to appeal to flyover country voters. What you're describing is Mike Bloomberg.
      
      I also definitely see a far larger threat from the radical left (CRT, Antifa) than I do the Right.
      
      This is what it came down to for me. For all of Trump's flirtations with right wing politics, they seem to exist mostly in the heads of his opposition. Again, my attitude about Trump has mostly been similar to both Dennis Miller's and Bret Easton Ellis. Those were the two people who talked about Trump and saw him almost exactly the same way I did. Neither were nominal Trump 'supporters', but began to see something very wrong with the press coverage of Trump, and couldn't jive the fact of Trump's presidency with the unhinged portrayal in the press.
      
      Here's a snippet of Ellis talking about how something about Trump's coverage went off the rails.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
        
        If I could be more specific about Trump, Trump is the classic case of "fuck off" money. Yes, he's rich, but he's not flitting about running charitable organizations, giving speeches to civic organizations etc. He's just a really rich guy with a gold Rolex who's brash, and doesn't give a shit what you think.
        
        And we saw that in his rise to power in the scope of his presidential run. He was a super-rich guy that didn't need RNC support, he basically told everyone, "fuck off, fuck off with your rules, and fuck off with your traditions" and somewhere deep down inside, people liked that. No matter how you try to spin Trump, he IS the anti-establishment character, in every way possible, both good AND bad. He gives the middle finger to the beltway swamp, but he also gives the middle finger to "presidential decorum". He's not the rich guy the curries favor with other rich and powerful people.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        An onomous 4 years ago
        
        The word you're looking for is "populist."
        As opposed to the fascist that he never was, except in the fantasy-land of the left.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. BigT 4 years ago
        
        Trump is like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. Rude, crude, but gets what he wants.
        
        Log in to Reply
    3. Fats of Fury 4 years ago
      
      Pedigreed? Trump is Al Czervic. Everyone else seems to be various degrees of Judge Smails, except Hunter Biden who's like the rich kid that pukes in someone else's Porsche.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Jeff L. 4 years ago
        
        Beat me to the punch--Trump is the guy who would eventually bulldoze the golf course and not give a shit.
        
        Joe Biden is the Smails kid, as in: "50 bucks says the Smails kid picks his nose... tell you what, 50 bucks more says he eats it."
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Gray_Jay 4 years ago
        
        Let's see if he "gets nothing, and likes it!"
        
        Damn, Ted Knight really helped that movie. Perfect caricature of a rich snobby WASP asshole.
        
        I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
        
        Log in to Reply
      2. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        Yep. Hunter is an older version of Spalding.
        
        Log in to Reply
  3. Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago
    
    That's the thing he doesn't get. The lunatics ARE running the asylum but it ain't Trump.
    
    Log in to Reply
3. mapol 4 years ago
  
  Well, O'Rourke is absolutely and totally correct that way. Biden wouldn't be the best President, but another 4 years of Donald Trump would really take this country over a cliff.
  
  Log in to Reply
Sometimes Bad Is Bad 4 years ago

Well for what it's worth this is the last election with anyone above the age of 60. That doesn't make it better, and it will be a wokefest where the republican will be soft peddling conservatism, ie just a tepid form of center left politics. The democrat will be a woke billionaire or corruptocrat but the media will not investigate and social media will shitcan any discussion. Oh and the democrat will call the milquetoast republican a "nazi" of course.

Frankly I am hoping for dissolution of the union into maybe 3 or 4 sovereign nations. I no longer wish to live with far left assholes who shit out their uninformed opinions.

Log in to Reply
1. CE 4 years ago
  
  I expect Washington, Oregon, and California to secede and form Leftopia when Trump is reelected.
  Hopefully New York and Massachusetts will have similar ideas, but I expect it is in their nature to try to control everyone else, so they will stick around.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Paulpemb 4 years ago
    
    Maybe they'll split off to join Canada and settle for telling them what to do?
    
    Log in to Reply
  2. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
    
    Secede? Well it’s as good an excuse as any to thin the progtarded herd.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. Jgalt1975 4 years ago
  
  this is the last election with anyone above the age of 60
  WTF? Lots of likely candidates from both parties for 2024 will be 60 or older by then.
  
  Log in to Reply
Brandybuck 4 years ago

> This is the end of the world for classical liberalism

He's right. That one side thinks Trump is a great candidate, and the other that Biden is the last hope for civlization, things are truly fucked.

Really, the Democrats couldn't find anyone better than Biden? Really, the Republicans couldn't find anyone better than Trump? Yeah, he's the sitting president and the party can't nominate anyone else even if they wanted to, but that doesn't explain how he got picked in 2020 out of a field of a dozen good candidates. And Biden.. he's just the default option, the least hated Democrat.

These two are the best the parties can provide? Did they even bother trying to find someone decent? Not like the LP is any better. Jorgensen is as bland as milquetoast and means the party just wanted to sleep this time around instead of trying to get some outreach done.

Classical Liberalism: Free trade, rule of law, limited government, protection of private property and enforcement of contract, and individual rights.

We have lost most of that and are rapidly losing the rest. Liberals are no longer liberal but progressive. Conservatives are no longer conservative but populists

Log in to Reply
1. John 4 years ago
  
  Classical liberalism was never a rejection of national sovereignty or borders. Classical liberalism is not Libertarianism. It predates it. I really hate it when half wit cultural Marxist shitheads like you wipe their asses with the term cultural liberalism. Be whatever you want to be but stop calling yourself a classical liberal. You are not.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Chipper Morning Wood-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 years ago
    
    John, you are not, and never were, a classical liberal. You are a reactionary bigot. So shut the fuck up about accusing others of not being classical liberals.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
      
      Fuck off Chipper. A goose-stepping authoritarian scold like you is the last person who should be talking about liberalism.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Alex Haley 4 years ago
        
        No no, he's right. Robespierre was a """""classical liberal""""" after all.
        
        Log in to Reply
2. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  That one side thinks Trump is a great candidate, and the other that Biden is the last hope for civlization, things are truly fucked.
  
  It's weird how classical liberalism survived the rabid nationalism that bred the Holocaust and the ensuing Cold War, the missile crisis, McCarthyism, etc. but it couldn't possibly survive 8 yrs. of Trump not starting foreign wars, not banning abortions, not kicking gays out of the military, not shooting unarmed hippies dead at Universities, not shipping immigrants home in box cars...
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago
    
    Classical liberalism as a viable political philosophy died after WWI.
    
    What we have here are the survivors with no real power. We're a diaspora.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Zeb 4 years ago
      
      Could be. We've been in the era of universalist progressivism ever since.
      
      Log in to Reply
3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
  
  Really, the Democrats couldn’t find anyone better than Biden? Really, the Republicans couldn’t find anyone better than Trump?
  
  The republicans didn't find Trump, Trump simply passed them by with a middle-finger extended and they couldn't stop him. Rightly or wrongly, Trump represented a combination of middle America's concern and frustration with the Democrats' hard lurch to the left over the last decade, and a general distrust of institutions and technocratic apparatchiks- especially coming out of the 2008 financial crisis.
  
  It explains the popularity of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. The only difference between the RNC and the DNC is the DNC has superdelegates and a much less democraticaly controlled process, allowing DNC leadership to tamp people like Sanders down.
  
  I would have been happy to vote for Biden had he chose Tulsi Gabbard (a strong woman of color (bleh)) as his running mate. You know, a candidate that would have appealed to "both sides", but he went right for the Clintonian choice of Harris.
  
  Then the riots happened, then BLM blew up, then the Democrats and the media both supported, provided material support to, and gave cover to the riots. Then all of the above extolled the virtues of an openly Marxist organization that wanted to foment the destruction of the constitutional system of governance, forcibly redistribute all wealth along racial lines, destroy the nuclear family and eliminate international borders. Major cities allowed the organization to pain advertisements on its major streets while denying that right to everyone else. Every time the Democrats had a teachable moment, they kicked it in the balls, spat in its face and septupled down. And I won't even get into the thorny issue of COVID and the completely orwellian attitude from the left on that whole thing.
  
  Fuck 'em. I'll give them another fair hearing in 2024.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Roberta 4 years ago
    
    There are certain bandwagons people just all jump on unthinkingly. Remember when seemingly everyone decided to be against fur? Apparently they even thought it acceptable to splash paint on furs being worn or carried. Whatever happened to that? It seemed to come out of nowhere and go back to nowhere.
    
    Log in to Reply
  2. CE 4 years ago
    
    There's a lesson in their for third parties. Don't try to compete in the general election against all the news networks and billions in candidate funding. Compete in the primaries with 5 percent voter turnout and debates that don't exclude anyone polling above 2 percent.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Ersatz 4 years ago
      
      ^this^
      then let the smaller successes power your success
      Shouldnt be controversial given how poorly national candidates do. And GJohnson did do poorly with what he had to work with(against)
      
      Log in to Reply
  3. Old Engineer 4 years ago
    
    Tulsi Gabbard is articulate and sane but wrong on every policy except overseas wars and criminal justice reform. Sorry, but state healthcare, state controlled business (minimum wage, race based hiring and the state compelling businesses to choose boards of directors based on intersectionality) makes her a first class economic fascist. Not being as awful as Elizabeth Warren in not enough.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Ersatz 4 years ago
      
      but she is purty!! doesnt that make her ok?
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        Hey, I’ll bet AOC gives excellent head, but I wouldn’t want her in Congress. Oh, wait......
        
        She should go back to being a lazy bartender and cum dumpster.
        
        Log in to Reply
4. Biden4Liberty 4 years ago
  
  Really, the Republicans couldn’t find anyone better than Trump?
  
  They haven't found anyone better since 1964.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Chipper Morning Wood-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 years ago
    
    1964? Barry Goldwater was the start of this insane descent of the GOP into where it is today. I don't know why Goldwater is considered some paragon of small government principles, when he wanted a belligerent foreign policy and was the first GOP "law and order" candidate that wanted to federalize local law enforcement issues.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Fats of Fury 4 years ago
      
      Yeah! Lucky the country chose LButcherJ
      
      Log in to Reply
    2. Alex Haley 4 years ago
      
      When you watch the Daisy Girl commercial, do you jerk off to the kid because of your pedophilia, or the lie about starting WWIII because of your Marxism?
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Jeff L. 4 years ago
        
        Maybe the daisy girl commercial is the start of this insane descent into the frothing mad pack of hate-filled Alinsky-worshiping leftists.
        
        5+ decades of media domination to the point today where no political articles or pieces from the dominant media (AP, ABC, CBS, and NBC, etc.) are devoid of leftist bias
        
        5+ decades of statist educational brainwashing to the point today where an entire generation now looks to socialism as a utopia and knows nothing of the communist despotism of the 20th century (and still alive today)
        
        5+ decades of resorting to personal attacks and childish name-calling when they have nothing (which is often)
        
        5+ decades of keeping blacks sucking on government tit, while pretending they weren't the most racist party in our country's history for the vast majority of their existence. We now have privileged, angry, and violent young white men wearing masks walking the streets beating up journalists and anyone who has a different political opinion--our modern-day Hitler youth. Go find the video from a few days ago of the black man they beat up and started calling the n-word.
        
        Yes Goldwater was the start of the insane descent on both sides.
        
        Log in to Reply
    3. Alex Haley 4 years ago
      
      Barry Goldwater, who hated Ronald Reagan for being too populist. Who started the NAACP chapter in Arizona. Yep, he racist warmonger. Amazingly, every Republican candidate for office before and after was also racist warmonger. Thank you based LBJ for increasing the peace! Only 50,000 American boys dead in 10 years! Thank you!
      
      Log in to Reply
    4. Roberta 4 years ago
      
      The Goldwater for president campaign started a descent of the GOP that lasted a decade. He made the Republicans unacceptable to the middle, except when they put up a charlatan like Nixon. What good are principles if you turn most people against them?
      
      The first thing you have to do is be competitive. Keep the score close even if you can't win.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Ed Grinberg 4 years ago
        
        I am not sure what you mean by "the middle," but in Goldwater vs. LBJ the U.S. voters had a stark contrast. They chose LBJ, and the country has paid the price ever since.
        Are you saying Goldwater should've compromised his principles, maybe adopt some of LBJ's positions? How would he look at himself in the mirror after that?!
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        BigT 4 years ago
        
        Goldwater's problem was not that he did not compromise his principles. He talked too plainly and openly about them.
        
        Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue
        
        This allowed the Donkeys to cast him as an extremist. In a sense Trump has a similar flaw, but he is sufficiently aggressive to bowl over the competition. Goldwater was a gentleman.
        
        Trump is the hero we need, not the one we want.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Tempe Jeff 4 years ago
        
        One could also say, Trump is the one we have. Not, the ideal one we want.
        
        Log in to Reply
    5. Old Engineer 4 years ago
      
      Goldwater was also the first major politician to support gays serving in the military. He integrated his family's businesses in the 1940's long before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which he wisely, and presciently, opposed due to the public accommodations section. That section only created the grievance industry and made fortunes for racial ambulance chasing lawyers. As for the "first GOP law and order" candidate check out LBJ's positions which were far more extreme.
      
      Log in to Reply
    6. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
      
      Andy Taylor didn’t need federalized law enforcement in Mayberry. He rarely needed a gun. He even let Otis sleep it off in his jail as needed.
      
      Log in to Reply
5. Jerryskids 4 years ago
  
  Really, the Republicans couldn’t find anyone better than Trump?
  
  Yes, they could - Ted Cruz. But thanks to John "Did You Know My Father Was A Postman?" Kasich and his refusal to drop out of the race and his refusal to admit that the Republicans didn't want another goddamn squish RINO like McCain or Romney, Trump won with a plurality of Republican votes.
  
  Unfortunately, had the GOP nominated Cruz, Hillary would have won the election because only Trump was mean enough and nasty enough to get down in the gutter and fight that bitch the way she needed to be fought. Cruz - or any other candidate - would have been too polite, too civil, too "Presidential", to have fought dirty, brushing off all attacks against him with a "yeah, but you're a fucking evil, crooked, nasty-ass pig" instead of endlessly defending himself against charges of racism and sexism and Nazism and whatever the hell else the Democrats threw at him.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    Cruz wouldn't have brought the blue collar guys along. And he therefore, likely loses.
    
    Damned if he wouldn't have been infinitely better at lawfare and administration than Trump though. Doubt he pushes a bump stock ban either. Hell, we might actually have gotten the HPA passed.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BigT 4 years ago
      
      Cruz would have made a good AG.
      
      Log in to Reply
  2. CE 4 years ago
    
    I'm old enough to remember when John Kasich was the far right bogeyman the liberals feared. Now he's their favorite Republican (or right up there with Romney)
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BigT 4 years ago
      
      Donkeys love Heffalump losers because the are impotent.
      
      Log in to Reply
  3. Ersatz 4 years ago
    
    couldn't agree more (in retrospect)
    -at his nomination I thought the republicans had just thrown away any hopes for the presidency. I have since come to a growing awareness of how insidious the constant marinating in media bias makes one adopt their attitudes towards things in subtle ways. Knowing how in the bag for hillary the press and media culture were I couldnt see how anyone could cut through the crap. But thats the key... one had to CUT THRU the crap and only trump would allow himself to get that dirty. He was the only one that could have won.
    
    Log in to Reply
6. Ron 4 years ago
  
  Trump is the person needed at this time he is the only one who would stand up to the left all the other republican candidates are milk toast and would have been treated just as badly as Trump only they would have folded. Up and coming republicans could learn one thing from Trump and that is to stand tall. the last Republican to stand tall was Reagan only Reagan did it with style
  
  Log in to Reply
7. CE 4 years ago
  
  Trump got picked in 2016 because there were a dozen good candidates, most of whom were ignoring the main issues of importance to a sizable voting block (illegal immigration and USA jobs). The reasonable country club/chamber of commerce types split the vote 11 ways.
  
  Same reason Biden got picked in 2020. Not that the Dems had 12 good candidates, but they had 17 or 18 socialists to split up the hardcore primary voters, then let Biden cruise in on Super Tuesday to pick u the low information masses on name recognition/Obama afterglow.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Paulpemb 4 years ago
    
    No, Biden got picked in 2020 because the DNC made every other candidate an offer they couldn't refuse to drop out before Super Tuesday, allowing the establishment to coalesce around him. And Biden got picked because the Party could sell him as a 'nonthreatening moderate who can reach across the aisle and work with Republicans' (you have to squint really hard to see this), and once elected he could be counted on to do whatever he's told.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BigT 4 years ago
      
      once elected he could be counted on to be 25th Amendmented
      
      Log in to Reply
Moonrocks 4 years ago

I thought that the people burning down their own cities were the inmates. Thank you, P.J. O'Rourke, for setting me straight.

Log in to Reply
1. Zeb 4 years ago
  
  We're all inmates now.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. Alex Haley 4 years ago
  
  No, we are the inmates. Those people are the jailers. O'Rourke wants to make sure he's the latter and not the former.
  
  Log in to Reply
Árboles de la Barranca 4 years ago

flying unicorns? marzipan welfare programs? zu-zus and wham-whams?

How about Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, Kosovo, draconian drug laws, non-stop foreign military interventionism, domestic surveillance and disinformation programs, unaccountable FBI, CIA, and NSA actors, ingrained political corruption. Several decades worth.

PJ, for all his insights, somehow forgets a few things from the historical record on "the other guy."

Log in to Reply
Mickey Rat 4 years ago

That was a long way to go to say "I despise Trump, and I do not care about anything else relative to that."

Log in to Reply
1. Ersatz 4 years ago
  
  you are correct - an attitude shared by many a writer of long winded obfuscations and justifications. you need the forest to hide the truly explanatory tree.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. BigT 4 years ago
    
    Trump is like that crude, rude, unsavory guy you hung out with sometimes in high school, but your girlfriend hated.
    
    Log in to Reply
Árboles de la Barranca 4 years ago

PJ watched classical liberalism get displaced over the last several decades by the completely unhinged ultra-left-wing power-mongers intent on the punishment - by way of arson, looting, banishment, terror, and death - of not only their political enemies, but also of the remaining holdouts of classical liberalism. Then PJ blames the populist.

Log in to Reply
1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
  
  Given his travels (again, go read Holidays in Hell if you haven't already. Or "Give War A Chance", but it's a step down), he has absolutely no excuse for being ignorant of what a left wing government will do, when they already have faux-disease lockdowns/states of emergency, and a gang of criminal thugs on the streets to punish unbelievers.
  
  No excuse.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Ersatz 4 years ago
    
    see mickey rat above...
    dont try to rationalize his screed, the answer is staring you in the face.
    
    Log in to Reply
Quo Usque Tandem 4 years ago

When you're panning one guy as just being beyond insufferable you don't want to look too closely at the "other guy" who happens to be the only alternative. Rainbows and unicorns notwithstanding.

Log in to Reply
Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago

Wow. A writer I've always enjoyed has been lost.

He voted Hillary.

Sorry. Trump is the LESSER of the evils.

For the love of God PJ.

Log in to Reply
1. MatthewSlyfield 4 years ago
  
  Cthulhu 2020: The lesser of three evils.
  
  Log in to Reply
Jerryskids 4 years ago

I am disappointed in PJ but not really surprised - he admitted to being a whore a long time ago, that when push came to shove he'd vote his own interests over his principles.

At the end of Parliament of Whores, after 400 pages or so of decrying people voting their own selfish interests over the common good, he added a little personal postscript. It seems there was a developer that came into his little quaint New England village, bought up a bunch of land and proposed to build a golf course community. For some reason, rather than holding to the principle that a man should be free to do with his land as he pleased, the town was going to vote on whether or not this man should be free to do as he pleased. As if the town had any right to do so, as if we could just vote "democratically" to deprive a man of the use of his land. If the town didn't like what the man proposed to do with his own land, then why didn't the town buy the land rather than simply declaring by fiat that the man wasn't entitled to use his own land as he saw fit? The obvious answer is that it would be too damn expensive and it was easier just to take it by force rather than to pay for it.

And yet, PJ supported depriving this man of the use of his own land, not for any high-minded principled reasoning, but simply because PJ liked his little slice of heaven just the way it was and didn't want somebody coming in and fucking it up. And he admitted as much - his conclusion was that if it is true that all government is a parliament of whores, in a democracy the whores are us. PJ admitted to being a whore.

So, no, not surprised that PJ, after all his declaiming about "politics as usual" and the same old corruption, when offered the chance at "something different", declines the offer and retreats to the safety of the devil you know. For all his bitching about the status quo, PJ is too afraid of change to risk the unknown. It's sad, really, to see somebody who once upon a time used to be an iconoclast clinging feebly to his little totem, eyes clamped shut and fervently wishing the scary new future away.

It reminds me of some old half-remembered short story about an old man reliving his glory days as a prize fighter with his body grown weak and decrepit, his mind shot from taking too many blows to the head, railing against the nurse who pats him on the head and puts him to bed because she doesn't appreciate what he used to be but sees only what he is now.

Log in to Reply
1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
  
  Well said.
  
  I remembered thinking the anecdote universalized the lessons he'd conveyed in the rest of the book---if the section that said that everyone making less than 50,000 bucks was on the mooch, wasn't enough of a clue. We're all whores, and therefore this monstrosity of government is our perfectly chosen representation.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
  
  So, no, not surprised that PJ, after all his declaiming about “politics as usual” and the same old corruption, when offered the chance at “something different”, declines the offer and retreats to the safety of the devil you know. For all his bitching about the status quo, PJ is too afraid of change to risk the unknown.
  
  And he admitted that as well in 2016. That was the first time I really felt disappointed in his reasoning. He was willing to vote for Hillary Clinton because he knew what he was getting, but Donald Trump was too erratic to vote for him.
  
  I didn't vote in 2016 because I knew what I was getting with Hillary, and I felt Trump was too erratic to be comfortable with him. Now I know what I'm getting with Trump, and I sure as hell know what I'm getting with the forces that are pushing Biden.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Árboles de la Barranca 4 years ago
    
    PJ, in order to avoid cancellation, self-appoints as honorary MP in the Parliament of Hustlers and Hookers.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Old Engineer 4 years ago
      
      PJ is now the pimp for the Parliament of Whores.
      
      Log in to Reply
  2. Mickey Rat 4 years ago
    
    It says something about the pundit and political classes that the Clintons are considered normal and acceptable political animals by them.
    
    Log in to Reply
3. Mickey Rat 4 years ago
  
  The voting public are not the whores. They are the johns. The whores would have no one to buy their wares without the johns looking to get something they should not want in that fashion.
  
  Log in to Reply
4. Zeb 4 years ago
  
  Not only that, but as a professional writer, he's doubly a whore. But who isn't?
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Echospinner 4 years ago
    
    Ah so you read the book.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Sevo 4 years ago
      
      Ah, so you made an ass of yourself.
      
      Log in to Reply
5. John 4 years ago
  
  You just described why his generation of conservatives ended up being such failures and throwing away the legacy Goldwater and Reagan gave them. In the end, they just didn’t have the balls to really disrupt the liberal establishment. They would rather lose and bitch about it with the security that comes with the status quo than actually accomplish something and accept the risk and unknown that comes with it.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Commenter_XY 4 years ago
    
    For all his bitching about the status quo, PJ is too afraid of change to risk the unknown.
    
    This is one of the most insightful comments I have read from you, Jerryskids. That is one hell of a life lesson you buried in there. Well said.
    
    Log in to Reply
  2. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
    
    I’ve never understood that. Leftists are ultimately just polished up hippies, and dirty hippies at that. A few good backhanding, whether literal, or metaphorical, and they tend to learn their place.
    
    Log in to Reply
Terry Anne Lieber (Don't Feed Tony) 4 years ago

The ramblings of yet another TDS victim. Sad...

Log in to Reply
1. Jgalt1975 4 years ago
  
  Better than the ramblings of the Trump cum garglers in the comments here.
  
  Log in to Reply
Mother's Lament 4 years ago

"But on the other hand, I think we're done with this experiment of having the inmates run the asylum."

It's been horrible:
- The First Step Act
- Negotiated a vastly better deal than NAFTA with the USMCA
- Peace deal with the Taliban
- First direct negotiations with N Korea since the war
- Negotiated peace between Israel and Bahrain, the UAE, and now Sudan
- Negotiated normalized relations between Serbia and Kosovo
- No new wars!

All while fighting off a coup and Covid.

So crazy.
If only top men could be back in charge to start new wars and whack the Davos crowd off.

Log in to Reply
1. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
  
  He also established relations between Kosovo and Israel. Give him another term, and he'll probably get Saudi Arabia.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
    
    Yes, it would be. Ice to see the Middle East become a largely peaceful region, without all the tensions of the last 75 years.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago
  
  -The ABRAHAM ACCORDS.
  -Tax reform.
  -Record economic numbers.
  
  I even heard an EPA guy say on David Webb (at least I think it was) say Trump has done more for the environment than that sad sack of shit Obama ever did.
  
  Trump in four years with the entire establishment against him accomplished more meaningful legislation than most Presidents in my life time.
  
  Indeed PJ. A real train wreck.
  
  Gutless.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Rufus The Monocled 4 years ago
    
    Sorry you mentioned the AA. But it's so impressive it deserves another mention.
    
    Remind me what Obama did again in the part of the world? Right, a pathetic Iran deal and more wars.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
      
      Number of Ambassadors killed under Trump - 0
      Number of Ambassadors killed under Obama - 1
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        We also got a much hotter First Lady out of the deal.
        
        Log in to Reply
    2. perlchpr 4 years ago
      
      He gave Iran lots of money, so, that's something! Not a *good* something, bit it's definitely something. 😉
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. BigT 4 years ago
        
        And y'all have forgotten the most important thing that Trump has done - lower the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21%. That saved and created more jobs than all the stimulus packages of the past 50 years. America is open for business on an equal footing again.
        
        Log in to Reply
        
        Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
        
        I’m certainly seeing a lot more commercial real estate transactions since that went into effect.
        
        Log in to Reply
Alex Haley 4 years ago

OK Boomer

Log in to Reply
sharonsj 4 years ago

I don't think P.J. has to worry about Biden's platform. It was created to appease the progressive left but he has no intention of doing any of it. He's vetting Republicans for his cabinet, for God's sake!

Log in to Reply
1. Earth Skeptic 4 years ago
  
  As if Biden will get to make any decisions.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
  
  The fuck?
  
  You're probably one of those people I have in my ear recently, trying to convince me the Democrats are better on gun rights too.
  
  "Considering Republicans for his cabinet..." Yah. Uh-huh. Biden barely gets to consider what he eats in the morning, any more.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    He gets applesauce and Republican (lol) John Kasich in his Cabinet if he's been good, mashed beetroot and Mittens Romney as Administrator of the Small Business Administration, if bad.
    
    Log in to Reply
Echospinner 4 years ago

Excellent

PJ is spot on. I have read just about everything he has written.

You know who I really miss is Hunter S Thompson. If PJ is a well aimed arrow into the morass that is politics, Hunter was a hellfire missile.

Log in to Reply
1. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  "Excellent"
  Bullshit.
  Tell us, specifically, which of Trump's policies represent 'the inmates running the asylum'.
  Or, more clearly:
  You.
  Are.
  Full.
  Of.
  Shit.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. BigT 4 years ago
  
  Hunter was great in his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas days, but became a crank later in life. Some friends of mine used to have a HST party every year ... until he blew his brains out.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Echospinner 4 years ago
    
    Depression.
    
    Words I heard some time ago. A lecture. The doctor looked at us neophytes and said it in a way that stuck with me.
    
    “Depression with suicidal ideation is a medical emergency. Treat it like a heart attack”
    
    If only there was a stent or catheter to fix it.
    
    Log in to Reply
Earth Skeptic 4 years ago

PJ was always the classic east coast country club Republican, probably not Ted Knight's Judge Smails, but a good friend. Trump is certainly Rodney Dangerfield's Al Czervik, telling crude jokes while upsetting all the staid country club types.

Log in to Reply
1. Titus PUllo 4 years ago
  
  Bingo...I didn't think of that but your right..Trump is Al Czervik and the never Trumpers are Judge Smails.
  
  Biden is Dr. Beeper and Obama the Bishop or Spalding...take your pick
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Shitlord of the Woodchippers 4 years ago
    
    And Ivanka is Lacey.
    
    Log in to Reply
Uomo Del Ghiaccio 4 years ago

There is wrong where the media pound and nit-picks everything the Republicrat does along the way and there is wrong where the media is simply the sycophantic propaganda arm of the Demolican party either fawning over or burying stuff.

While in a ranking of 1 to 10 with 1 being really bad, Biden is a 1.0 and Trump is a 1.1. Both are really bad, but at least the media will keep Trump in check, while with Biden we are back to the bad old days where Government officials are protected by the media and misdeeds are buried away.

The Demolican's and the Republicrat's have failed us over the last 160 years it is way past time to give another party a chance. For me this is the Libertarian party.

I will not play their games of voting against a worse evil when they are both evil (within the margin of error). I would rather vote for something that I believe, than to cast a vote for either off the two old geezers that have no clue.

We need to stop vacillating between two failed political parties. Vote to make a real difference, vote third party and send a message!

Log in to Reply
1. ThomasD 4 years ago
  
  Needs allcaps.
  
  Log in to Reply
RichPres 4 years ago

I hear people call Trump all kinds of names and slurs. I do not hear what they are actually against. It would be nice to hear what policies you are against. I can think of a few from a libertarian point of view. Tariffs, the wall, obscene spending. But They are minor compared to the other guy. And the wall would not be necessary if we didn't give away so much free stuff, but yet Biden will have no wall, no impediment at all and 1,000 times the free stuff.

Joe Biden from a libertarian point of view is the disaster of all disasters. Regulate and/or tax everything while giving away everything free and demanding you do as they say and not step out of line with your own thought.

Not like Trump all you want. But from a stricty libertarian point of view, Trump is miles and miles and miles ahead (longer than the wall when finished.) It is truly apparent that PJ O'rourke and the rest of the never Trumpers are really upset because they have become irrelevant fools in the Trump Presidency.

Log in to Reply
1. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  Tony here whines that Trump owns 200,000 US deaths as if Trump developed the virus in the WH kitchen and then handed it out with the Halloween candy; that sort of fantasy is as close as any of the TDS victims get to specific. You might just as well ask Jackand Ace what pecific actions we could do to 'fight climate change' and when that would make those nasty CA wildfires go away.
  They are snobs who find Trump boorish and that alone is enough; the incantations are so much signaling.
  
  Log in to Reply
Rahul 4 years ago

O’Rourke comes from that vauted time when the country basked in the warm, comforting glow of center left politics, when Marxism and Critical Race theory were only fringe ideas on the left. Now they’re the main fucking course and O’Rourke needs to catch up.

I don’t have any problem with O’Rourke, I think he’s a smart guy, but he’s probably surrounded by Never Trump Neocons who have influenced him greatly. autoimmune encephalitis -themycare

Log in to Reply
Mr Happy Man 4 years ago

We’re simply playing the same game that we played 90 years ago. We elect someone who increases government spending somewhat, everyone gets mad at that person for some reason or another, and then government spending goes up by a lot more. This happened with Hoover, and it’s happening when Trump. In any case, having a “never (Trump, Hoover, Goldwater)” attitude brings on a whole new massive level of government spending. Unfortunately libertarians haven’t figured out how to elect people to government who can reverse this trend - the Libertarian Party has done a far worse job of turning its platform into policies than the Socialist Party did, which largely succeeded. We can’t even shrink an entity that everyone realizes is largely obsolete, the Post Office! Activists who are libertarian minded are going to need to develop new strategies of electing friendly people to office who actually have the political skills that are necessary to enact policies that lead to the effective shrinking of government.

Log in to Reply
Sevo 4 years ago

TDS is not confined to the US, nor to the left.

Log in to Reply
Titus PUllo 4 years ago

Inmates are more qualified than "experts" with regards to anything outside of hard science and engineering..

Professional left wing politicans are deadly to natural rights...where Trump isn't.

Just wait till you get a packed court or "critical race theory" and equality of results made federal law and the boob Roberts agree that anything can be taxed even if you are not using it..oh he already did that.

Trump as bad as he is is the wall from the bolshevik barbarians...come on PJ...you have to get that

Log in to Reply
Joseph Marshall 4 years ago

Having waited until the paranoid brain fizzes above have evaporated, I think what can be said is this. First, no intellectual point of view is ever wholly lost because no political conflict of views is ever wholly won. At 72, P.J. O’Rourke has far less time than most of you to see the return of Classical Liberalism, and this is actually what he is crying in his beer about. At 68 I have much less time than most of you, too. But I don’t confuse my Rake’s Progress toward my own death with the exterior political situation. The death of each of us is emphatically personal. It may be caused by unfortunate exterior circumstances, but it is radically separate from those circumstances. O’Rourke, and many here would be a whole lot happier if they understood this.

And politicians like Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, or Lindsey Graham are, by any sane standard of moral behavior, objectively evil men, the sort of men who would be featured prominently in a book called Profiles In Cowardice. Trump can stand in for all of them since he has the greatest scope. Trump is sneak, a skunk, a lout, and a pathological liar. He also has committed and should be indicted and tried fairly for the following charges: tax evasion, misappropriation of funds, corrupt use of office for personal gain, chronic fraudulent business practices, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

There is absolutely “probable cause” to indict him and bring him to trial on these charges already, even in the small evidence that has emerged so far. A genuine investigation would, I think, reveal a whole lot more. He, and his family cohort are a criminal organization as much in violation of the RICO laws as any ethnic gang of racketeers. The MAGA crowd of 45% of our citizenry, who refuse to face this left their moral compass at the dentist’s or elsewhere years ago, never developed much In the way of mental acumen, and are largely too lazy to even consider such questions. Here, I think, P.J. O’Rourke and I agree.

I see no evidence that warrants such probable cause to indict Joe Biden for anything, and that is a good start. We all have plenty of sin, and neither I nor he could be described as Job was described, “a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.” But I hardly think that anyone here can meet that standard either. And, insofar as anyone can be a generally good man, I think Biden is one.

The Democratic platform, like any other party platform, has no more wrong with it than being a wish list on an internet commerce site that is too long and complicated to actually check out with. Insofar as American representative democracy is supposed to work with equal involvement of ALL branches of government in deciding what on the wish list actually gets purchased, Mitch McConnell has radically subverted his own oath as a Senator by trying (and largely succeeding) to destroy the Senate’s capacity to do it’s business. And this purely to support his personal venality and lust for personal power and control.

I can see no possible way to return the Senate to the normal state of ANY truly functional legislature other than a new Democratic majority. Certainly the current Republican majority who have connived with both Trump and McConnell clearly is in no position to do it. What will the Democrats actually do? Good question. But I never speculate greatly on it, because whenever the legislative branch of the government returns to functionality, the way our government is supposed to work, it is a counterweight, even with a Democratic majority, to the more exaggerated ideas of the wishlist. So, for that matter, is Biden.

Log in to Reply
1. Bruce D 4 years ago
  
  What will the Democrats actually do? Good question. But I never speculate greatly on it, because whenever the legislative branch of the government returns to functionality, the way our government is supposed to work, it is a counterweight, even with a Democratic majority, to the more exaggerated ideas of the wishlist. So, for that matter, is Biden.
  
  More strict gun-control.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Joseph Marshall 4 years ago
    
    Well quite possibly. But keep your expectations realistic and before you go off on a crusade, read the decision McDonald v. Chicago of 2010 and find out what the Supreme Court has laid out as a playing field for “gun control”. Justice Roberts went out of his way to exhaustively examine the 2nd Amendment, both what the rights of a citizen actually are and what legitimate powers the government can really exercise to regulate firearms.
    
    Basically the law abiding citizen has the right to possess firearms that Is nearly absolute, but the government has the power to prohibit the possession of guns by legally defined classes of people, such as convicted felons. Since nobody has “Convicted Felon” tattooed on their forehead, the government has the power to demand background checks for any gun purchased from a licensed firearm dealer and that the dealer maintains a record of what guns are sold to whom.
    
    This is part of commercial trade in firearms and the government has very broad powers to regulate this derived from the interstate commerce clause. The government also has the power to totally prohibit any carrying of arms in specifically identified and legally defined places, such as the State Legislature building.
    
    This a brief summary: law abiding citizens have unimpeachable rights of possession of firearms and legal carrying of firearms where not otherwise prohibited. The government has broad powers of regulation of what kind of firearms can be imported or manufactured, who can commercially deal in firearms, and how they are supposed to do it.
    
    Everyone that opens their mouth about the issue should read what Roberts has said. Whether you want more gun control or not, anyone who wanders onto the playing field without knowing where the boundaries are is merely making a damn nuisance of themself.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. MikeP2 4 years ago
  
  Ok boomer
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    Jesus, and I thought Ken was long-winded.
    
    Perfect reply, Mike.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Joseph Marshall 4 years ago
      
      Gray Jay and Mike p2
      
      I write comments on magazines that I respect and enjoy even when I disagree with them. Reason is one of these. It stimulates my practice of thought. There is no evidence that you two are practicing anything, let alone thought.
      
      Log in to Reply
3. Old Engineer 4 years ago
  
  " He also has committed and should be indicted and tried fairly for the following charges: tax evasion, misappropriation of funds, corrupt use of office for personal gain, chronic fraudulent business practices, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. He also has committed and should be indicted and tried fairly for the following charges: tax evasion, misappropriation of funds, corrupt use of office for personal gain, chronic fraudulent business practices, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice."
  
  In other words - Trump is a better politician than his competition.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Joseph Marshall 4 years ago
    
    Actually, it means he is a worse one. All of these potential crimes are the result of his being a bad businessman, his scattering of evidence for all of them hither and yon means he’s also a terrible criminal. If he were better at these things and was able to keep them hidden, his life in politics would not be coming to an abrupt end.
    
    Log in to Reply
4. Love to be Wrong 4 years ago
  
  "He also has committed and should be indicted and tried fairly for the following charges: tax evasion, misappropriation of funds, corrupt use of office for personal gain, chronic fraudulent business practices, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice."
  
  You don't sound like any libertarian I've ever spoken with. You are concerned he didn't pay enough taxes? Get out of here.
  
  Log in to Reply
XM 4 years ago

"Trump second term would be worse"

Translation

"Biden's socialist America is worth it if we get more immigration"

Free trade and limited government ain't gonna happen Biden either, so libertarians are allowing some issues like immigration to tip the scale.

Well F that. I'll live with 50% reduction in immigration if that means preventing a BLM puppet into the white. Look at how the media protects Biden at EVERY turn, even with details being essentially confirmed by all parties. You think this will be an honest, stable administration?

Log in to Reply
Vesicant 4 years ago

Ah, P.J. O'Rourke, the down-market Hunter Thompson. Somebody must have thought he was funny once. P.J complains about the inmates running the asylum, but since he's "cool," I'll bet he likes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (actually, I think this is a membership requirement for the Too Cool for School Club.)

Log in to Reply
NOYB2 4 years ago

Trump and Jorgensen agree about 80% on policy. Biden and Jorgensen agree less than 10%, and Harris is even worse.

Sorry, O'Rourke, the Senile/Socialist ticket with its 60%+ taxes and racist policies is about a far from classical liberalism as you can be in a democracy.

Log in to Reply
HelenJPowell 4 years ago

Make $6,000-$8,000 A Month Online With No Prior Experience Or Skills Required. Be Your Own Boss And for more info visit any tab this site Thanks a lot..... Read More

Log in to Reply
Azathoth!! 4 years ago

The 'classical' liberalism that PJ's referring to isn't the 'classical liberalism' that underpins libertarianism, no matter how much PJ and his ilk want everyone to think it is.

It's the liberalism developed by the New Left when PJ was a young lefty hippie.

Trump has driven the left to brazen heights of insanity. Four more years of Trump and there will be nothing left. They will beat their brains in trying to faze the man, trying to stop his steady dismantling of everything they are.

By 2024, the race will be a Republican versus an actual Democrat, the like of which we haven't seen since Kennedy. The leftist infestation will be paralyzed with a furious insanity that finally renders them the same evil joke that serious nazis and the kkk are today.

And PJ doesn't want that....which tells you all you need to know about PJ.

Log in to Reply
1. ThomasD 4 years ago
  
  "It’s the liberalism developed by the New Left when PJ was a young lefty hippie."
  
  Excellent point.
  
  But I would not go so far as to say that, with four more years of Trump, there will be "nothing left." They are angry, not because they are losing everything, but because they thought we were approaching the point of no return. Trump is taking that opportunity away, to be sure. But they will still be around, and still be a serious problem even if Trump wins another term.
  
  Marxism is a religion, and like most religions is almost impossible to eliminate.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Ersatz 4 years ago
    
    plus it always comes down to political calculus [probably more like political arithmetic]
    for a 'real Dem' to be back in charge of the democratic party that person must tame or destroy or eject the fringe lefties - which is a substantial constituency they have let infest their political body. The math come in when they calculate whether they can eject them to a third party or as a disaffected non represented group and still have enough voters to get their guy elected. The fear that drove them to tolerate them will not allow them to destroy or eject this bunch.
    Hence, they will be playing the same cynical political games they are now. The diff is they will have a younger candidate which in all probably will come from or have great genuine sympathy towards the crazy left 'values'.
    
    Log in to Reply
  2. Echospinner 4 years ago
    
    Yup PJ
    
    He wrote a book about Adam Smith “on The Wealth of Nations”. I read it.
    
    What does he know about classical liberalism.
    
    Never read How The Hell Did This Happen or did you?
    
    “Liberalism is based on the thought of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, and—oh, the shame of it—slave-owning, woman-exploiting Thomas Jefferson. Liberalism is deeply confusing to liberals. America’s first great liberal populist was Andrew Jackson, perpetrator of the genocidal Trail of Tears and annihilator of the Second Bank of the United States and hence of centralized economic control.“
    
    Log in to Reply
gabverranos 4 years ago

Lot of personal attacks and pigeon-holing PJ into these vague historical contexts, but I can understand the frustration. And maybe more warranted in this woke-Far-Left machine era; assuming that threat is real and potent. A lot (maybe all?) of you seem to strongly support Trump at least relative to Biden and make good points about his accomplishments.

As a libertarian-leaning person, I’m certainly convinced that he’s a much better choice than Biden for many reasons, but am I not allowed to (even if it is an emotional-gut-like reaction) have on-going concerns about his unpredictability and motivations?

I know he’s gotten “unfair” treatment by the media since day one and you could argue even his worst offenses are just reactions to that, but can’t it be problematic enough to me that it seems like he incites greater polarization, tribalism, and scapegoating in America simply for his benefit? Yes, this is happening “on all sides” but I hold the president to at least slightly higher standard. Maybe he could have done more to engage someone like me (who’s at least fairly open-minded) to not be so turned-off by practically anything he says regardless of the content.

I’ve tried to look past this irrational reaction, but struggle. I want to like him for his quasi-libertarianism, it would make things easier for me; this is a kind of internal torment. I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t going down some deep dark hole as a society, in part because of how he seems to thrive in and supports that process. I am not afraid that he’s going to blow up the world or that the “inmates are running the asylum,” but I’m not sure I want to continue to live in a world that looks and feels like this. Is it elitist to want some form of dignity or appearance of moral-compass in the president?

Again, I’m not at all saying the Dems or Biden offer much of that, and I won’t be voting for them or Trump. I’ll waste my vote on 3rd party, but I’d certainly want to hear from maybe some of you who might have had similar hang-ups about Trump and how you’ve managed them, presumably coming out on the side that he’s a clear choice for you. I mean this sincerely and with real curiosity.

Why can’t we get someone with a sensibility to cut taxes, limit needless regulations, not fight unnecessary wars, maybe have a legitimate and fair immigration program, and yet show compassion, humility, and respect, while not being a fucking asshole all the time? It’s deeply troubling that this seems out of reach, and our choices are what they are.

Log in to Reply
siliconflux 4 years ago

Trump is far from perfect, but how is:
1) less taxes
2) less foreign interventionism
3) less world police
4) less welfare capitalism
5) maintaining the status quo on the 2A
bad for classic liberalism exactly?
As someone who despises both political parties if you gave be any one of the above I would consider that a miracle. Biden is literally a classic liberal nightmare.

Log in to Reply
1. Echospinner 4 years ago
  
  Less taxes - I have not seen any less taxes. Trump sure has. I would live a $780 tax bill.
  
  Less foreign interventionism - we have military everywhere and the budget has only gone up. Four years now.
  
  Less world police- see above.
  
  Maintaining the status quo on 2a - look my whole family owns guns and knows how to use them. Lived through a lot of presidents. None of them ever tried to confiscate them.
  
  Less welfare capitalism - You must be kidding. I am not against reducing corporate taxes. With tariffs and deals. Government pouring money into subsidies for agriculture. Steel and other industries losing more than ever. What a joke.
  
  Jo Jorgensen is on the ballot in every state.
  
  Log in to Reply
TracyMMadison 4 years ago

Make $6,000-$8,000 A Month Online With No Prior Experience Or Skills Required. Be Your Own Boss And for more info visit any tab this site Thanks a lot..... Read More

Log in to Reply
voluntaryist 4 years ago

There's no such thing as a "worse authoritarianism" or a worse coercive govt., in principle. A political paradigm based on force instead of reason has no place in civilized society, no matter the front person, "the huckster in charge". Voting is self destructive.

It's essential we voluntarists all focus on principles, not the lessor of two evils, not on compromise.

Log in to Reply
AnnaEHall 4 years ago

Fantastic work-from-home opportunity for everYone. Work for three to eight hrs a day and start getting paid in the range of 7,000-14,000 dollars a month... Weekly payments...... Read More

Log in to Reply
Jimmy Jazz 4 years ago

How promising everything to everybody is rational governance is bizarre.

Log in to Reply
DanielMJohnson 4 years ago

Fantastic work-from-home opportunity for everYone. Work for three to eight hrs a day and start getting paid in the range of 7,000-14,000 dollars a month Follow details...... Read More

Log in to Reply
John el Galto 4 years ago

Typical modern day pseudo-libertarian. Claims to be "Libertarian" but in the end they always find some excuse to vote for big government Democrats.

Log in to Reply
NormanCAnderson 4 years ago

★I'am made $84, 8254 so far this year working on the web and I'm a full time understudy. Im utilizing an online business opportunity I caught wind of and I'AM profited. It's truly easy to understand and I'm simply so cheerful that I got some answers concerning it. Here what I do,.for more data essentially open this connection thank you..... Read More

Log in to Reply
dsfg 4 years ago

I get paid more than $120 to $130 per hour for working online. I heard about this job 3 months ago and after joining this i have earned easily $15k from this without having online working skills. This is what I do..Usa Online Jobs

Log in to Reply
PhyllisEFoster 4 years ago

★I'am made $84, 8254 so far this year working on the web and I'm a full time understudy. Im utilizing an online business opportunity I caught wind of and I'AM profited. It's truly easy to understand and I'm simply so cheerful that I got some answers concerning it. Here what I do,.for more data essentially open this connection thank you..... Read More

Log in to Reply
ImanAzol 4 years ago

But does it favor Biden or Trump?

Log in to Reply

Please log in to post comments

P.J. O'Rourke: 'This Is the End of the World for Classical Liberalism'

The 72-year-old political commentator says Biden's platform is "full of unicorns and flying ponies" but is better than "having the inmates run the asylum."

Latest

How Backpage Became MILFS.com

The 'Meritocracy' Lie

Ghiblifying the Fent Trafficker Deportation

Signal Chat Controversy Is an Endorsement of Encryption Software

Review: Aging Millennials Confront Adult Problems on Screen

Recommended

Login Form