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"Donald Trump, who can hardly be said to have restoring order as part of his brand."

He ran on "law and order" in both campaigns.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-law-and-order-candidate_n_5783e562e4b0344d51505dde

The second time was most prominently after the George Floyd riots kicked off, which the prestige press immediately insisted was open secret code for white supremacism, because of course they would say that.

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Trump did use the phrase "law and order", but that's just a phrase.

Trump failed to restore public law and order. Trump upset the left. The left responded with violent riots. Leading elite universities, including math + engineering departments that I'm affiliated with, provided support and praise and encouragement to violent rioters, without explicitly endorsing violence, of course.

It's fair to blame those using violence and chaos as a calculated strategy for what they are doing, especially when you recognize that that is what is happening. But the intent of the universities and the left-wing elite was to get the public to blame Trump and associate the public violence with Trump, and that was partly effective.

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Trump offered to send in National Guard - which offer was refused.

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"This does not bode well for Democrats, but it also does not bode well for Donald Trump, who can hardly be said to have restoring order as part of his brand."

Arnold, you're devolving into an uncharitable NeverTrumpist, throwing out insults without backing them up. If the insult/ critique is not worth specifying more clearly, it makes fair minded folk think less of your own fair mindedness - those tribally anti-Trump won't even see it as insult tho, since everybody knows.

Trump was pretty big on enforcing Immigration Law, which is one of the main laws a President actually is responsible for. Most laws are locally enforced - and most high crime cities are Democratic Party cities. "Law and Order" helps all Republicans.

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Kling's criticism of Trump is entirely unreasonable and he gives the most deliberately uncharitable interpretations that he can. Kling does seem more passionate about anti-Trumpism than fixing the economy or anything else.

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"But we have created a monster, and the question is how best to tame it." As you point out, the answer for *us* is to pare back the monster. But there is no answer for *me*: *I* can do practically nothing about the monster, government. Just as in the marketplace I am mostly a price *taker*, so in politics I have to *take* what is being dished out.

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‘Donald Trump, who can hardly be said to have restoring order as part of his brand.’

Was this in anyway to do, I wonder, with the relentless, concerted, four year effort by the hysterical political establishment, media, unions, tech & business, two impeachments, fake Russian dossier, Russian vote tampering claims, to create chaos in US society and denigrate, vilify, demonise the knuckle-dragging, red-neck, Bible punching, gun toting, beer swilling 74 million Deplorables who dared vote for someone other then the one their betters had chosen for them?

And is the current 6 January nightly soap opera, Ultra-MAGA domestic terror Biden-rant aimed at restoring order?

Maybe I’m seeing a different USA.

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To be fair to Kling- even if one were to agree that Trump was pushed into the disorder by the relentless attacks and unjustified legal attacks, it still means nominating and electing him as a lightening rod will induce more chaos. My worry is that it won't matter who the Republicans pick- that pick will hounded relentlessly by media and by the captured public law enforcement arms of the federal and state governments.

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I agree: nominating Trump, or anyone else who upsets the left, and the left will respond with public violence and terror.

One solution is we better make sure the left gets what they want so they don't respond with public violence and terror.

Another solution is we should use a fair and impartial legal system to stop a political faction from wielding public violence and terror as a tool to get what they want.

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Lots of commenters pointing to Trump using “law and order” as a successful talking point in 2020. Two problems with this:

1) In 2020 he was running against Democrats, not other Republicans

2) November 2020 was before January 6th

Trump is a much less credible law and order candidate in the 2024 primary.

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The interest in crime ought to bode well for Democrats. Perhaps I've missed it, but I have not heard any new ideas about how to improve policing from "conservatives." Liberals have lots based on social science, like that probability of arrest and conviction is more important than severity of sentencing, using specialized officers for traffic and public nuisance issues so that "police" could deal with deterring and investigating crime and apprehending suspects. [Sometimes this went of the rail with only the severity of the sentence porting of the policy implemented.]

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June 16, 2022
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I think Cheasa is an example of misunderstanding the social science. The recall should be salutary for Democrats.

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On the Gossip Trap: there is no such thing. The crabs in the bucket would be crabs with or without the trap. Such people have no useful talents.

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