Aug 17, 2023·edited Aug 17, 2023Liked by Claire Berlinski
The sad thing is, let’s be honest, Ramaswamy doesn’t believe a lick of what he says. He’s just pandering hoping that DeSantis keeps cratering and something “tragic” happens to Trump. He’s too well educated to be this stupid, and has been too immersed in elite society to believe the mess he spews. He’s just playing the game, thinking insanity is the key to the nomination. He’s a tone deaf Youngkin, or a slightly less uncanny valley Cruz.
Claire - thank you for, as usual, an impassioned yet deeply factual and well-researched essay. Listening to Vivek Ramaswamy's soundbites on the news I was beginning to be taken in by the smooth-talking precocious hotshot, good on his feet and willing to mix it up with the mainstream media. He does seem to have a simple and neat solution to every problem.
But “I am not familiar with” the nuclear triad?! Go back to school, Vivek, and study history this time. “Give strong consideration to RFK Jr.” for Vice President? That’s the best unifying ticket he can think of? Not seeing the difference between Russia’s and Ukraine’s moral standing in this war? I am not sure there is a remedy for that one. Maybe time, maturity, and self-reflection, informed by a deep study of philosophy and ethics.
So, again, thank you for keeping us informed, and providing examples, links, and historical references. Well done!
If you can get through the pay wall, here’s Matt Tiabbi arguing convincingly that the American Uniparty is in love with war and is obsessed with promoting American hegemony with NATO playing the role of its little brother.
If Tiabbi is right, and there’s every reason to believe that he is, then the United States is complicit in all of the terrible atrocities committed by Putin. But for America’s hegemonic aspirations, none of the horrendous war crimes Claire describes would ever have happened.
As far as I can tell, the only presidential candidates who understand this are Ramaswamy, Trump and RFK, Jr.
Is it any wonder that Claire finds these candidates so objectionable that she’s willing to slander them?
Correct. In writing it’s libel. Obviously, David, I was speaking colloquially. Her rant was not libel in a legal sense; no financial liability would ever flow from her comments. Nevertheless, her remarks about Ramaswamy’s corporate activities were nasty, wrong and frankly, ignorant.
It’s fine if she doesn’t like Ramaswamy’s policies but attempting to buttress her case by criticizing his skills as a pharmaceutical executive was petty and juvenile.
Do you mean to use "screed," WigWag, rather than "rant"...? Ahh, you're just playing with me. :-)
Anyway, I find nothing nasty or ignorant or wrong about Claire's remarks regarding Vivek Ramaswamy; quite the opposite, in fact. I am glad to read CG and find it - well, Claire's contributions - chockablock-full of insight. You might disagree with her assessments but you fail to support adequately or factually your arguments that she is guilty of what you claim.
Don Glen Vliet (aka, Captain Beefheart) lived for ~2 years just up the street from my childhood home (Woodland Hills, CA). We neighbor kids were quite excited that rock 'royalty' lived in propinquity so we cavorted shamelessly outside his home in the off-chance ... Anyway, had I known then what I learned too late about Don's other artistic endeavors, I would have just knocked loudly [to try] to gain admittance. Oh well.
In fact they briefly lived together but that was in Lancaster (if I recall correctly), which is out in the high desert, near Edwards AFB. No idea why Zappa moved out there; he was a firmament of the whole Laurel Canyon scene back in the mid-60s. And Laurel Canyon has an entirely different vibe and climate than that part of the high desert.
It was after then that CB moved to Woodland Hills, likely based on the 'success' Trout Mask Replica afforded him.
Claire, your rant about Ramaswamy’s company, Roivant, shows you know nothing about biopharmaceutical companies. All biotech companies lose money and burn through cash like it’s going out of style. Practically every single company in this space is as volatile as Roivant, many much more so.
Successful phase III trials are few and far between; most biotechs never succeed and end up collapsing. Companies that succeed with one or more Phase IIIs hit the jackpot. Either they sell their successful asset to large Pharma or they sell the entire company to large Pharma.
Occasionally but rarely, the product that they develop allows the small biotech to actually market the product that they develop. When that happens, a small biotech becomes a small pharmaceutical company in its own right. Both Regeneron and Vertex followed this route.
A quick look at Roivant’s stock price demonstrates that the Company is well-managed and more successful than many of its peers. Your attempt to discredit Ramaswamy by discrediting his leadership of his company simply falls flat on its face. Your argument about his corporate stewardship is unhinged and incorrect.
Sadly, the rest of your essay borders on the unhinged as well. You sound especially foolish in arguing that Ramaswamy’s lack of experience should be disqualifying.
It was an experienced politician (Clinton) who bombed Serbia in an act that mirrored Putin’s effort to change the map of Europe unilaterally.
It was a member of one of the most experienced political families in America (the Bush family) that lied us into Iraq and bungled us into Afghanistan.
It was the untested but eloquent Obama who was Commander-in-Chief for eight years while the American military failed miserably in the attempt to pacify Afghanistan.
It was the remarkably experienced Joe Biden who bugged out of Afghanistan in a manner so incompetent that too many American soldiers died completely unnecessary deaths. And that’s before we even mention the fact that Biden worked overtime to instigate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. As it turned out, Biden had too much experience. In fact he was so experienced that his nostalgia for the halcyon days of the Cold War inspired him to antagonize Putin into doing what Putin probably wanted to do anyway.
That’s the worst of it but it’s not the end of it. There was the brilliant politicians of both parties who assured us that peace between Israel and most of its Arab neighbors was impossible until a resolution to the Palestinian problem was solved. The inexperienced and dimwitted young Mr. Kushner accomplished the impossible in a few short months.
Let’s not forget the disaster in Syria or the fact that during the reign of our most experienced Presidents, North Korea developed one of the most formidable nuclear arsenals in the world. Nor should we forget the pallets of cash the experienced experts on the Obama team shipped off to the Ayotollahs.
Is it any wonder that millions of Americans are skeptical that experience does anything other than lead from disaster to disaster. To lots of people, including me, Ramaswamy’s lack of experience is a virtue not a drawback.
Here’s what globalists like you don’t get, Claire; those of us who think the United States is a force for good in the world and want to see American power preserved are sick and tired of politicians in both political parties squandering American power in one failed foreign adventure after the next.
Our country emerged from the Cold War unchallenged. Thanks to Uniparty liberal internationalists and neoconservatives, the United States is weaker than its been anytime since the end of the last World War. We’re more indebted than ever and we’ve wasted trillions of dollars on wars that we always lose. Our Strategic Petroleum Reserves are lower than they’ve been in a generation. We’re sending cluster bombs to our Ukrainian friends because, like the Russians, we’re running out of other ordinance.
Our aircraft carriers and other naval vessels in Asia are sitting ducks for Chinese hypersonic missiles. Taiwan is more threatened than ever and we can’t repel a Chinese invasion of the Island because if we do, China will simply shut off our supply of antibiotics and other medicines which will result in massive medical problems up to and including death in the United States. While this problem can be remedied, doing so will take at least a decade.
The globalists in both political parties that you support, Claire, could not have done more harm to the United States and it allies if their goal has been to deliberately damage the United States instead of doing it through sheer negligence.
Compared to all of this, is it any wonder that Ramaswamy doesn’t look too bad?
Trump’s foreign policy was remarkably effective compared to the foreign policies of the “experienced” politicians that Claire prefers. Russia invaded Ukraine twice; once when the experienced hands of the Obama Administration were in charge and once when the most experienced President in decades (Biden) occupied the Oval Office. There was no invasion when Trump was in charge.
Trump wanted a detente with Russia, similar to what Nixon negotiated with the Soviet Union. This enraged all of Claire’s favorite politicians who responded by impeaching Trump. So nostalgic for the Cold War was the rank and file of the Uniparty that confronting Russia as belligerently as possible was the only policy they could abide. This same group of warmongers is making the same mistake with China. There’s a reasonably good chance that they will inspire China to invade Taiwan rather than deter an invasion. Remarkably, it’s these experience-drenched experts whom Claire trusts.
As you will recall, Ben, when Trump ordered the assassination of the Iranian General Soleimani, the tried and true experts in the Democratic Party became apoplectic. Soleimani was every bit of the dastardly figure that Putin is. Nevertheless, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest of their experienced crew claimed that the assassination would lead to the most terrible consequences. Of course, Trump was right; they were wrong.
American power and our ability to protect ourselves and our allies is being squandered in the mad rush to military confrontation that experienced Uniparty elites are addicted to.
Claire may not like Ramaswamy, but he’s not the problem. The problem is the arrogant and belligerent politicians who Claire idolizes. You know who I mean, Ben; people like Chris Christie.
Just off the top of my head: George Washington; James Madison; Alexander Hamilton; Benjamin Franklin; Gouverneur Morris; John Quincy Adams; Thomas Jefferson... All from a nation of 2.5 million. How is it possible that from a population 130 TIMES greater, we have nothing but schmucks, ignoramuses, dotards, charlatans and a few simply unqualified legends-in-their-own-minds to choose from? One would expect over 1,000 qualified, admirable, statesmanlike and patriotic candidates were the level of talent the country could muster in 1776 be present in the same proportions today. Where the heck are they?
It's not the schmucks fault we vote for 'em. It's not that there aren't decent people. We just don't seem to pick 'em.
As for qualified, the federal government is vastly different in size and scope from the time of George Washington and TJ. And though the pool is larger, the job requirements are tougher.
Yikes, Claire! Don’t hold back—tell us what you really think!
You know, after reading this, I find myself thinking that I should announce my candidacy. Because I’m pretty sure that I could do a better job in the Oval Office than Trump, Biden, RFK Jr. or this Vivek character. Maybe Chris Christie as my running mate?
"Donald Trump ensured we will forevermore see parades of chancers like Vivek Ramaswamy"
You've forgotten about Ross Perot. Sorry, but there have always been the unqualified businessmen who tickle our conservative fancies. It's just we elected one of the worst.
Perot struck me as having a lot more going for him. I wasn't paying huge attention to him at the time, but he didn't seem like the sort who'd suggest 9/11 was an inside job (as our hero Vivek apparently just did).
I was just using Perot as one example. Perot seems to me like the sort of dude who would've called 9/11 an inside job. But that's beside the point. There's a long list of these cats:
Perot
The Godfather's pizza guy
Steve Forbes
Carly Fiorina
Mitt Romney (though obviously he'd obtained some elected experience by the time he ran)
My point is just that you can't blame Donald Trump for these folks. They have always been around.
None of them were qualified to run the federal government, though. Except maybe Romney but not until after he was governor. Perot was a real wangdoodle.
I'm not suggesting any of them are as wangdoodle as Trump. I'm just saying that every cycle some charismatic businessman comes out of the woodwork and we conservatives get all twitterpated and then we find that, well...they ain't all that.
That's what's going on with Ramaswamy. When he firsts came on the scene I thought "Ok, here's someone...", but...not so much.
There was some weird nonsense that he though GHWB was having him followed or some such. I can't remember which pundit said it, maybe it was Rush Limbaugh, but they compared Perot to a dog when those satellites go over. He was fine, then every once in a while he'd whig out about something.
And let us not forget that Perot got us President Clinton.
You gave me the gift of doubt about Vivek (I can't pronounce Ramaswamy).
But I could write similarly scathing articles about Christie, Newsom, and especially about Biden (without even getting into his corruption). Not hard to throw stones.
On the other hand.
Vivek is young, not beholden to the Washington power brokers (though he will be if he gets close to the prize), articulate (though Biden's response to the Maui fires was articulate - "No comment"), and most of all, he is different.
We went with that tired old hack Biden (he has been sucking on the government tit for 52 years!!!) and look where that got us.
As an aside, you comment of Vivek's money earning schemes. Every one of his endeavors has been subject to public and regulatory scrutiny.
Biden on the other hand, on a "public servant's" salary, has accumulated many millions of personal wealth. I assume that Biden is a clever saver and clips coupons when he goes to the grocery store.
I wrote this comment for two reasons:
(1) Show how easy it is to throw stones at public figures, and
(2) The old guard has not served us well, time to look elsewhere.
No idea is Vivek is the person (that is why we have the cauldron of primaries), but I for one am happy that he is running.
Having taken a company public on the NASDAQ, sat on public boards, gotten my Series 7 and 25, and raised money, I am well aware of the public and regulatory scrutiny faced in Vivek's endeavors.
Excellent, Then you know Vivek brought Roivant public via a SPAC so you understand the very limited financial disclosure requirements and due diligence in that process vs the traditional IPO process. iow, no one, least of all the public market investors and slightly less so, regulatory bodies, ever received anything sufficiently material to scrutinize.
Inexplicably, Claire, you left out the part of the Boche snatching Belgian babies out of their incubators, and then gleefully bayonetting them. Or was it impaling them onto their spiked helmets? (But maybe incubator-wise, I was confusing the Boche with Saddam Hussein's lurch into Kuwait.)
The "mobile crematoria" were apparently deployed to dispose of Russian KIAs... in such numbers likely resultant from the HIMARS and cluster bomblet anti-personnel weaponry recently —and in the latter case, controversially— provided to Ukraine by NATO and the US. (I recollect your Hilary-esque cackling some weeks ago over a HIMARS barrage wiping out that battalion of clueless conscripts lined up in the open awaiting a lecture by one of their commanders.) Atrocity propaganda is hardly unknown in warfare. And that bit about "holocaust denial", Claire, is more than a little evocative of "Reductio ad Hitlerum". Really! Your obsessively bringing Orange Man Bad's unalloyed wickedness into the plupart of your own postings is likewise getting tedious and misplaced. Would you like me to pull the plug on my subscription? I won't do so as long as my critical thread comments aren't disappeared.
Of course I wouldn't like you to pull the plug on your subscription. Anyone who wants to pay to read what I have to say is always welcome here--and always welcome to speak his mind (and disagree) in the comments, too, provided you don't abuse other paying members. But if you're tired of hearing what I have to say about Trump, I have to tell you: I ain't gonna stop saying it. So I reckon you have to decide if you can make your peace with it.
This is far and away the best comment section I’ve seen on Substack (or elsewhere). I subscribe as a paying member to several Substacks and for free to a few others. None of them are as civil or chock full of intelligent comments as the Cosmopolitan Globalist. It is the only site where I bother to write comments.
What differentiates this place is that despite disagreements the comments almost never exhibit rancor. That’s unique and worth celebrating.
I don't question your right to whack endlessly on Trump, Claire, but I don't think I'm your only long-term subscriber who's been ODing on that of late. But I'll hang in there. And no, I don't think that I have already, or will likely "abuse" anybody else around here.
The sad thing is, let’s be honest, Ramaswamy doesn’t believe a lick of what he says. He’s just pandering hoping that DeSantis keeps cratering and something “tragic” happens to Trump. He’s too well educated to be this stupid, and has been too immersed in elite society to believe the mess he spews. He’s just playing the game, thinking insanity is the key to the nomination. He’s a tone deaf Youngkin, or a slightly less uncanny valley Cruz.
Claire - thank you for, as usual, an impassioned yet deeply factual and well-researched essay. Listening to Vivek Ramaswamy's soundbites on the news I was beginning to be taken in by the smooth-talking precocious hotshot, good on his feet and willing to mix it up with the mainstream media. He does seem to have a simple and neat solution to every problem.
But “I am not familiar with” the nuclear triad?! Go back to school, Vivek, and study history this time. “Give strong consideration to RFK Jr.” for Vice President? That’s the best unifying ticket he can think of? Not seeing the difference between Russia’s and Ukraine’s moral standing in this war? I am not sure there is a remedy for that one. Maybe time, maturity, and self-reflection, informed by a deep study of philosophy and ethics.
So, again, thank you for keeping us informed, and providing examples, links, and historical references. Well done!
If you can get through the pay wall, here’s Matt Tiabbi arguing convincingly that the American Uniparty is in love with war and is obsessed with promoting American hegemony with NATO playing the role of its little brother.
If Tiabbi is right, and there’s every reason to believe that he is, then the United States is complicit in all of the terrible atrocities committed by Putin. But for America’s hegemonic aspirations, none of the horrendous war crimes Claire describes would ever have happened.
As far as I can tell, the only presidential candidates who understand this are Ramaswamy, Trump and RFK, Jr.
Is it any wonder that Claire finds these candidates so objectionable that she’s willing to slander them?
See,
https://open.substack.com/pub/taibbi/p/is-america-a-war-state?r=dq3ii&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
"Is it any wonder that Claire finds these candidates so objectionable that she’s willing to slander them?"
I believe you mean "libel" rather than "slander." That said, Claire has made no remarks that qualify as libel. Or slander. :-)
Correct. In writing it’s libel. Obviously, David, I was speaking colloquially. Her rant was not libel in a legal sense; no financial liability would ever flow from her comments. Nevertheless, her remarks about Ramaswamy’s corporate activities were nasty, wrong and frankly, ignorant.
It’s fine if she doesn’t like Ramaswamy’s policies but attempting to buttress her case by criticizing his skills as a pharmaceutical executive was petty and juvenile.
Do you mean to use "screed," WigWag, rather than "rant"...? Ahh, you're just playing with me. :-)
Anyway, I find nothing nasty or ignorant or wrong about Claire's remarks regarding Vivek Ramaswamy; quite the opposite, in fact. I am glad to read CG and find it - well, Claire's contributions - chockablock-full of insight. You might disagree with her assessments but you fail to support adequately or factually your arguments that she is guilty of what you claim.
Claire, I dig your insights sometimes, but this was actually just unhinged, man.
If nothing else, was an ad hominem attack really necessary? Just because the former president did it doesn’t make it ok.
“So what if he was hatched. He knows what time it is.”
This is a genius line worthy of Captain Beefheart. I mean that in the most adulatory of ways
A personal aside...
Don Glen Vliet (aka, Captain Beefheart) lived for ~2 years just up the street from my childhood home (Woodland Hills, CA). We neighbor kids were quite excited that rock 'royalty' lived in propinquity so we cavorted shamelessly outside his home in the off-chance ... Anyway, had I known then what I learned too late about Don's other artistic endeavors, I would have just knocked loudly [to try] to gain admittance. Oh well.
Didn’t Zappa live near the Captain back in the early days? A harmonic convergence of the first order!
In fact they briefly lived together but that was in Lancaster (if I recall correctly), which is out in the high desert, near Edwards AFB. No idea why Zappa moved out there; he was a firmament of the whole Laurel Canyon scene back in the mid-60s. And Laurel Canyon has an entirely different vibe and climate than that part of the high desert.
It was after then that CB moved to Woodland Hills, likely based on the 'success' Trout Mask Replica afforded him.
The Captain never knew the financial success of Taylor Swift etc. but the cover art for Trout Mask is in a class all its own
Claire, your rant about Ramaswamy’s company, Roivant, shows you know nothing about biopharmaceutical companies. All biotech companies lose money and burn through cash like it’s going out of style. Practically every single company in this space is as volatile as Roivant, many much more so.
Successful phase III trials are few and far between; most biotechs never succeed and end up collapsing. Companies that succeed with one or more Phase IIIs hit the jackpot. Either they sell their successful asset to large Pharma or they sell the entire company to large Pharma.
Occasionally but rarely, the product that they develop allows the small biotech to actually market the product that they develop. When that happens, a small biotech becomes a small pharmaceutical company in its own right. Both Regeneron and Vertex followed this route.
A quick look at Roivant’s stock price demonstrates that the Company is well-managed and more successful than many of its peers. Your attempt to discredit Ramaswamy by discrediting his leadership of his company simply falls flat on its face. Your argument about his corporate stewardship is unhinged and incorrect.
Sadly, the rest of your essay borders on the unhinged as well. You sound especially foolish in arguing that Ramaswamy’s lack of experience should be disqualifying.
It was an experienced politician (Clinton) who bombed Serbia in an act that mirrored Putin’s effort to change the map of Europe unilaterally.
It was a member of one of the most experienced political families in America (the Bush family) that lied us into Iraq and bungled us into Afghanistan.
It was the untested but eloquent Obama who was Commander-in-Chief for eight years while the American military failed miserably in the attempt to pacify Afghanistan.
It was the remarkably experienced Joe Biden who bugged out of Afghanistan in a manner so incompetent that too many American soldiers died completely unnecessary deaths. And that’s before we even mention the fact that Biden worked overtime to instigate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. As it turned out, Biden had too much experience. In fact he was so experienced that his nostalgia for the halcyon days of the Cold War inspired him to antagonize Putin into doing what Putin probably wanted to do anyway.
That’s the worst of it but it’s not the end of it. There was the brilliant politicians of both parties who assured us that peace between Israel and most of its Arab neighbors was impossible until a resolution to the Palestinian problem was solved. The inexperienced and dimwitted young Mr. Kushner accomplished the impossible in a few short months.
Let’s not forget the disaster in Syria or the fact that during the reign of our most experienced Presidents, North Korea developed one of the most formidable nuclear arsenals in the world. Nor should we forget the pallets of cash the experienced experts on the Obama team shipped off to the Ayotollahs.
Is it any wonder that millions of Americans are skeptical that experience does anything other than lead from disaster to disaster. To lots of people, including me, Ramaswamy’s lack of experience is a virtue not a drawback.
Here’s what globalists like you don’t get, Claire; those of us who think the United States is a force for good in the world and want to see American power preserved are sick and tired of politicians in both political parties squandering American power in one failed foreign adventure after the next.
Our country emerged from the Cold War unchallenged. Thanks to Uniparty liberal internationalists and neoconservatives, the United States is weaker than its been anytime since the end of the last World War. We’re more indebted than ever and we’ve wasted trillions of dollars on wars that we always lose. Our Strategic Petroleum Reserves are lower than they’ve been in a generation. We’re sending cluster bombs to our Ukrainian friends because, like the Russians, we’re running out of other ordinance.
Our aircraft carriers and other naval vessels in Asia are sitting ducks for Chinese hypersonic missiles. Taiwan is more threatened than ever and we can’t repel a Chinese invasion of the Island because if we do, China will simply shut off our supply of antibiotics and other medicines which will result in massive medical problems up to and including death in the United States. While this problem can be remedied, doing so will take at least a decade.
The globalists in both political parties that you support, Claire, could not have done more harm to the United States and it allies if their goal has been to deliberately damage the United States instead of doing it through sheer negligence.
Compared to all of this, is it any wonder that Ramaswamy doesn’t look too bad?
I really couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Not to mention how unbelievably corrupt the current administration is.
But at least they’re not Trump, right?
Trump’s foreign policy was remarkably effective compared to the foreign policies of the “experienced” politicians that Claire prefers. Russia invaded Ukraine twice; once when the experienced hands of the Obama Administration were in charge and once when the most experienced President in decades (Biden) occupied the Oval Office. There was no invasion when Trump was in charge.
Trump wanted a detente with Russia, similar to what Nixon negotiated with the Soviet Union. This enraged all of Claire’s favorite politicians who responded by impeaching Trump. So nostalgic for the Cold War was the rank and file of the Uniparty that confronting Russia as belligerently as possible was the only policy they could abide. This same group of warmongers is making the same mistake with China. There’s a reasonably good chance that they will inspire China to invade Taiwan rather than deter an invasion. Remarkably, it’s these experience-drenched experts whom Claire trusts.
As you will recall, Ben, when Trump ordered the assassination of the Iranian General Soleimani, the tried and true experts in the Democratic Party became apoplectic. Soleimani was every bit of the dastardly figure that Putin is. Nevertheless, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest of their experienced crew claimed that the assassination would lead to the most terrible consequences. Of course, Trump was right; they were wrong.
American power and our ability to protect ourselves and our allies is being squandered in the mad rush to military confrontation that experienced Uniparty elites are addicted to.
Claire may not like Ramaswamy, but he’s not the problem. The problem is the arrogant and belligerent politicians who Claire idolizes. You know who I mean, Ben; people like Chris Christie.
Yeah, Christie is a clown.
I remember the Babylon Bee put out a headline that said something like 'Democrats order flags to go at half-mast for the killing of Solemani':
https://babylonbee.com/news/democrats-call-for-flags-to-be-flown-half-mast-to-grieve-death-of-soleimani
I think it was Don Lemon who asked why that was funny.
It really says it all when someone has to ask why that headline is funny.
Just off the top of my head: George Washington; James Madison; Alexander Hamilton; Benjamin Franklin; Gouverneur Morris; John Quincy Adams; Thomas Jefferson... All from a nation of 2.5 million. How is it possible that from a population 130 TIMES greater, we have nothing but schmucks, ignoramuses, dotards, charlatans and a few simply unqualified legends-in-their-own-minds to choose from? One would expect over 1,000 qualified, admirable, statesmanlike and patriotic candidates were the level of talent the country could muster in 1776 be present in the same proportions today. Where the heck are they?
It's a question that really bothers me. Maybe my parents were right: Maybe television really does rot your brain.
Two things:
It's not the schmucks fault we vote for 'em. It's not that there aren't decent people. We just don't seem to pick 'em.
As for qualified, the federal government is vastly different in size and scope from the time of George Washington and TJ. And though the pool is larger, the job requirements are tougher.
Yikes, Claire! Don’t hold back—tell us what you really think!
You know, after reading this, I find myself thinking that I should announce my candidacy. Because I’m pretty sure that I could do a better job in the Oval Office than Trump, Biden, RFK Jr. or this Vivek character. Maybe Chris Christie as my running mate?
Loved this. Great work
"Donald Trump ensured we will forevermore see parades of chancers like Vivek Ramaswamy"
You've forgotten about Ross Perot. Sorry, but there have always been the unqualified businessmen who tickle our conservative fancies. It's just we elected one of the worst.
Perot struck me as having a lot more going for him. I wasn't paying huge attention to him at the time, but he didn't seem like the sort who'd suggest 9/11 was an inside job (as our hero Vivek apparently just did).
I was just using Perot as one example. Perot seems to me like the sort of dude who would've called 9/11 an inside job. But that's beside the point. There's a long list of these cats:
Perot
The Godfather's pizza guy
Steve Forbes
Carly Fiorina
Mitt Romney (though obviously he'd obtained some elected experience by the time he ran)
My point is just that you can't blame Donald Trump for these folks. They have always been around.
You win on the Godfather's pizza guy. The others seem okay enough, though.
I wish I had a pizza.
None of them were qualified to run the federal government, though. Except maybe Romney but not until after he was governor. Perot was a real wangdoodle.
I'm not suggesting any of them are as wangdoodle as Trump. I'm just saying that every cycle some charismatic businessman comes out of the woodwork and we conservatives get all twitterpated and then we find that, well...they ain't all that.
That's what's going on with Ramaswamy. When he firsts came on the scene I thought "Ok, here's someone...", but...not so much.
Didn’t Perot have some conspiracy theory that Republican commandos tried to stop his daughter’s wedding?
There was some weird nonsense that he though GHWB was having him followed or some such. I can't remember which pundit said it, maybe it was Rush Limbaugh, but they compared Perot to a dog when those satellites go over. He was fine, then every once in a while he'd whig out about something.
And let us not forget that Perot got us President Clinton.
You shut your filthy mouth about Steve Forbes!!! 😂
I'm sure he's a great guy. And I'm sure he is or at least was a competent executive. But that's like one third of the job of the President, if that.
OK.
You gave me the gift of doubt about Vivek (I can't pronounce Ramaswamy).
But I could write similarly scathing articles about Christie, Newsom, and especially about Biden (without even getting into his corruption). Not hard to throw stones.
On the other hand.
Vivek is young, not beholden to the Washington power brokers (though he will be if he gets close to the prize), articulate (though Biden's response to the Maui fires was articulate - "No comment"), and most of all, he is different.
We went with that tired old hack Biden (he has been sucking on the government tit for 52 years!!!) and look where that got us.
As an aside, you comment of Vivek's money earning schemes. Every one of his endeavors has been subject to public and regulatory scrutiny.
Biden on the other hand, on a "public servant's" salary, has accumulated many millions of personal wealth. I assume that Biden is a clever saver and clips coupons when he goes to the grocery store.
I wrote this comment for two reasons:
(1) Show how easy it is to throw stones at public figures, and
(2) The old guard has not served us well, time to look elsewhere.
No idea is Vivek is the person (that is why we have the cauldron of primaries), but I for one am happy that he is running.
Your reply is riddled with factual inaccuracies; I will call out one example...
"Every one of his endeavors has been subject to public and regulatory scrutiny."
It is not difficult to find the fallacy in that premise. I will leave you to it should the process interest you.
Having taken a company public on the NASDAQ, sat on public boards, gotten my Series 7 and 25, and raised money, I am well aware of the public and regulatory scrutiny faced in Vivek's endeavors.
Excellent, Then you know Vivek brought Roivant public via a SPAC so you understand the very limited financial disclosure requirements and due diligence in that process vs the traditional IPO process. iow, no one, least of all the public market investors and slightly less so, regulatory bodies, ever received anything sufficiently material to scrutinize.
Inexplicably, Claire, you left out the part of the Boche snatching Belgian babies out of their incubators, and then gleefully bayonetting them. Or was it impaling them onto their spiked helmets? (But maybe incubator-wise, I was confusing the Boche with Saddam Hussein's lurch into Kuwait.)
Are you suggesting that the atrocities I described didn't happen? What's next? Holocaust denial?
The "mobile crematoria" were apparently deployed to dispose of Russian KIAs... in such numbers likely resultant from the HIMARS and cluster bomblet anti-personnel weaponry recently —and in the latter case, controversially— provided to Ukraine by NATO and the US. (I recollect your Hilary-esque cackling some weeks ago over a HIMARS barrage wiping out that battalion of clueless conscripts lined up in the open awaiting a lecture by one of their commanders.) Atrocity propaganda is hardly unknown in warfare. And that bit about "holocaust denial", Claire, is more than a little evocative of "Reductio ad Hitlerum". Really! Your obsessively bringing Orange Man Bad's unalloyed wickedness into the plupart of your own postings is likewise getting tedious and misplaced. Would you like me to pull the plug on my subscription? I won't do so as long as my critical thread comments aren't disappeared.
Of course I wouldn't like you to pull the plug on your subscription. Anyone who wants to pay to read what I have to say is always welcome here--and always welcome to speak his mind (and disagree) in the comments, too, provided you don't abuse other paying members. But if you're tired of hearing what I have to say about Trump, I have to tell you: I ain't gonna stop saying it. So I reckon you have to decide if you can make your peace with it.
This is far and away the best comment section I’ve seen on Substack (or elsewhere). I subscribe as a paying member to several Substacks and for free to a few others. None of them are as civil or chock full of intelligent comments as the Cosmopolitan Globalist. It is the only site where I bother to write comments.
What differentiates this place is that despite disagreements the comments almost never exhibit rancor. That’s unique and worth celebrating.
This is going to become ad copy. Thank you!
I don't question your right to whack endlessly on Trump, Claire, but I don't think I'm your only long-term subscriber who's been ODing on that of late. But I'll hang in there. And no, I don't think that I have already, or will likely "abuse" anybody else around here.