AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
The word of the week is “punctilio.” It means, according to Webster, “careful observance of form, as in social conduct.”
The word, punctilio, comes to our attention via a speech given last Friday by Attorney General William Barr to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group based in Washington, D.C. Said the Attorney General:
While the president has certainly thrown out the traditional Beltway playbook and punctilio, he was upfront about what he wanted to do, and the people decided they wanted him to serve as president.”
General Barr’s astute observation goes a long way toward explaining the three years of discord and political mayhem that has plagued President Trump since the morning after the 2016 election. It helps explain the Mueller investigation into Trump-Russia “collusion” that landed with a thud. It explains the Mueller investigation sequel – a.k.a. the current House hearings on impeachment – which will, in due course, also land with a thud.
The reaction to Donald Trump’s surprise (to some) victory over presumed shoo-in Hillary Clinton is without precedent in the modern era. There have been bitterly fought presidential campaigns. There have been upset victories. There have been very bitter Election Day mornings after.
But at no time in living memory have we seen a reaction to a presidential election like this one. In elections past those on the losing side have always picked themselves up and dusted themselves off so as to start all over again for the next cycle. But not this time. Three years on, Election Day 2016 is still being litigated.
Democrats and their media handmaidens are simply beside themselves over what they view as two catastrophic developments. The first is that the unenlightened Wal-Mart shoppers of flyover country somehow managed to override the superior judgement of the coastal elites and impose upon the country a buffoonish reality TV star in the form of Donald Trump.
The second is that Donald Trump has, just as he promised, proceeded to “throw out the traditional Beltway playbook and punctilio.”
The impeachment hearings have made this clear. When you listen to the career intelligence agency and State Department bureaucrats that have testified before Adam Schiff’s impeachment committee, what you hear over and over and over is their deep personal disdain. For one thing, they are deeply offended that Trump isn’t doing things the way they have always been done. For another, they are deeply offended that Trump doesn’t defer to them in the way that they feel they deserve.
And for the topper, they just can’t stand the way Trump walks and talks and tweets.
Disregard for punctilio indeed.
What they, the Democrats and the media all fail to understand is that to a broad swath of American voters, Trump’s disdain for Beltway punctilio isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. He didn’t hide it. He ran on it and got elected on it.
Which leads inevitably to this conclusion. Boiled down the Dems and the media aren’t really mad at Trump.
They’re mad at us.
Paul,
You sure do have a way with words and I love the letters you write with those words.
The democrats absolutely despise EVERYTHING about Trump. As Nunes lined out, the coup began as soon as the election results were announced. And every day since, some new “bombshell” has been pursued to remove him. They seem to not care about members of their side that are guilty of the same behavior. Biden has clearly bragged about withholding aid to Ukraine until his demand was met, and “son-of-a-bitch, the man got fired!” Quid pro quo then? Apparently not. Questions of a pay to play MO with the Clinton Foundation have followed them forever. Bribery? Extortion? Misuse of funds? Witness tampering and intimidation? Deaths? Maybe. Anyone remember Hillary and Barack when they welcomed home the bodies from Benghazi and why they said that happened? They lied with straight faces and didn’t bat an eye. Fiona Hill had a compelling response to a statement made during the hearings. Russia is watching us, and has been for years. Obama was warned and did nothing. Trump changed things. Until Trump came along, everyone KNEW how we would respond to world affairs. Their evidence of impeachable offenses seems to consist of nothing more than a bunch of hurt feelings.
Search “Billy Bush video” on YouTube. What you’ll hear us vile-enough that I’m not including the link here.
If, to your ear, that is NOT an unsavory character, you are correct: “It is us.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/books/donald-trump-jr-triggered-sales.amp.html
Yes Paul, alas,our president has no punctilio, but he does have private enterprise experience which the punctilious bureaucrats have none! After watching some of these hand-picked snarky snits testifying that Trump did not follow the proper channel; it makes me wonder if they realize that he IS the proper channel! The ignorance and arrogance of these diplomats are exhibits A & B of how this country has wasted so much money on foreign aid and diplomacy. Listening and watching the self-important mannerisms and remarks of these entrenched government workers, educated me in at least one undeniable fact……..the State Department has way too many employees. Maybe in Trump’s second term, he can address that situation. When you think about it, these deep state citizens are solidly in the “resistance” to protect their spot at the very generous government trough, and they will not let anyone jeopardize their lifestyle. Not even their boss!
You’re right about that “private enterprise experience!”
There’s no:
Democrat Airlines
Democrat University
Democrat Casino
Democrat Vodka
Democrat Steaks
Democrat Football League
Paul, Jean, Ron, I am in agreement with you all. At this point it is clear that there is a deep state, a hidden bureaucratic establishment that has been running its own show for some time and resents any outsider input, even from an elected president. These arrogant elitists, disdaining the will of the people, scorning even a president’s vie, find a hands on president like Donald Trump an impediment that has to be eliminated one way or another. And thus for three years now the Democrats and the fake news has been working lies with the deep state to get things back to the “proper channels.”
State Department witnesses moaned about how Trump’s temporary stoppage of military aid put the security of Ukraine at dire risk. Yet those same “experts” under Obama were content to give Ukraine nothing more lethal than blankets. A good question to ask these State Department “nonpartisans” is, “When and why did you do an about face regarding the supplying of weapons to Ukraine?”
I was listening to Public Radio’s (always good to follow the enemy’s POV) broadcasting Adam Schiff’s hearings. It was the first time I ever wished NPR was fund raising instead. The only thing more boring than those hearings is listening to the Democrat candidates pile out of their clown car and debate.
“Paul, Jean, Ron?”
Jack Benny voice: “WELL!”
One of your best Paul. It has been copied and sent to all my friends across the USA. Keep up the good work my friend.
Paul, I am so glad that you featured this speech given last Friday by Attorney General William Barr to the Federalist Society. I watched his speech also the next day and I was riveted to every word and his incredible wisdom and explanation of the fundamental threats to our blessed Republic and the “separation of powers and checks and balances” as were originally founded. We have truly inherited the most brilliant formation of a Constitution to create a civilized Free Society with the Citizenry in charge in all of human history.
I am now seriously worried that the radical Leftist Democrat-Media cabal represents a perpetual mob force that holds NO loyalty to this country or the Constitution. They are on a “seek and destroy” mission to eradicate the historical moral American values of our civilized society in favor of MOB RULE as defined by their radical Marxist agenda that has successfully weaponized the Deep State and the entrenched Leftist bureaucracies in our government to punish and destroy any and all opposition to their “cause”.
The so-called “Impeachment Inquiry” Inquisition as dominated by Democrat dictatorial rule and demonic reporting by the Media has convinced me that this cabal is at “war” against us and all patriotic Americans who wish to defend our culture against this subversive threat to our society. I was sickened by the arrogance and snobbery exhibited by the Democrat “screened and prepared” witnesses that were determined to defame President Trump as coached by Adam Schiff and his cronies on the committee. Schiff’s closing statement on Friday convinced me this cabal of Radical Marxist Democrat-Media forces will never relent on their assault on our society regardless of our rejection of their wickedness at the polls now or in the future. Their “scorched earth” political warfare has already “conquered” Cities and States across the country and the trend to spread their tyrannical “disease” is migrating into formerly Conservative strongholds.
This cabal is operating outside of Constitutional norms and NO ONE seems to have developed a strategy to offensively confront this mob. Can we afford to allow the Courts, the Media, the government Bureaucracies, and the Marxist Democrats turn our society into a corrupt third-world dystopia? As you have said in essence, WE are their targeted enemy.
This onslaught on our society was eloquently discussed in an article by James A. Lyons, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, in his February 1, 2018 article: “The un-American Cabal – The Constitution is under attack everyday by those eager to destroy a Presidency” at the following link:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/1/obamas-leftist-holdovers-attack-americas-soul/
The evidence of this political “war for the soul of the Nation” is now fully exposed and I would love to understand HOW we can WIN this struggle against these evil forces willing to destroy our society at all costs regardless of the consequences.
Holland Dangerfield Benny reminds me of my precious child when he was about 5 years old. My wife and I would be having a serious discussion about politics or who to support in a certain election, and he would contribute to the conversation with something like “can we go to the zoo”? It was a very legitimate question, but not germane to the discussion we were having at the time….but we still love him. Yes Buddy, we are witnessing the fruits of the Civil Service Act, which originally offered very generous benefits to offset a lower pay scale than private enterprise. It was supposed to be non-partisan, and give continuity to government business regardless of the party of the executive branch. Like all good government programs, it expanded to reach and exceed the private enterprise pay for similar jobs. Unfortunately, the numerous holidays, job security( it is almost impossible to fire one of these “servants”), and a boat load of other perks continued. We now have a fourth branch of government, that wields enormous power, and, of course, supports the party of bigger and more bloated government. These NON-ELECTED state department employees that we had the privilege of watching during the impeachment hearings, feel that their “proper channels” are to be followed, regardless of anyone who was ELECTED to institute a different foreign policy.
Ron, you nailed it! That is why northern Virginia and surrounding Washington DC suburbs are diehard, dark blue, voting areas that have turned Virginia from red to blue for generations to come. I would like Trump to reorganize the State Department, Pentagon, DOJ, CIA, etc., and eliminate 80% of those bureaucracies back to manageable numbers where a lean, corporate-style management can KNOW what everyone is doing and why. Those bureaucratic witnesses reeked of being above accountability and no one had better question their “motives or actions” to exercise the “proper channels” as they saw fit. Ugh!
Amen, Brother Solomon!
Great piece. I heard your take on KTBB too. Love hearing your well considered opinion on the radio.