I’m just a humble state school guy, but Vivek annoys the shit out of me. Worse than Ted Cruz. (Probably.)
The Trumpers may enjoy him as a sort of Flavor Flav to the big man, but they’re never going to draw self-revealing pictures of a shirtless Vivek riding a liger.
I think it's clear that many Bob Voters get off on watching Trump dominate or jeer at or threaten The Libs. It's not clear to me that the Bobs will really enjoy watching VivRam annoy The Libs in a smarmy, Hahhvahhd recitation way.
Trump has the worst possible combination of characteristics for a public servant you could imagine, but he’s unfortunately also hilarious: https://youtu.be/KbkBRT13Zp4?feature=shared
I hate this primary so I’ve resolved to just enjoy watching Trump wipe the floor with Ron DeSantis who I also hate. Now if only we can get Trump really pissed off at Vivek…
Worth the price of the subscription by itself. At 82, I wondered whether it was another sign of senescence that I couldn't understand the media fawning over his attention grabbing performance. I found my first exposure to him singularly repulsive. Over a long life I've found a fair number of political figures distasteful for one reason or another, but Vivek is in a class all his own.
Not a Harvard alum, but the type is instantly recognizable to anyone who went to law school. In my first year law school class, one day a section guy was uncharacteristically sitting in the back of the room, he was probably late, and our professor sarcastically asked him what he was doing slumming back there.
Despite the fact many people mistake my alma mater for a private school (when they aren't mistaking it for the pretenders/copycats in Coral Gables), I am a state school guy. However, Section Guy is a universal concept, and I feel the same visceral hatred you do about them. Beautiful work, Josh. Right up there with the Kennedys & Gavin Newsome pieces.
So I used to think that someone as clearly smart as Ramaswamy can’t possibly believe all this- surely they are just tossing crap out because they think that’s what folks want to hear, and if actually elected he’d be normal and sane. Elon buying Twitter disabused me of that.
They only care about power and waxing poetic, I lost all faith in good faith actors who pretend to be stupid when Paul Ryan was elected, then Trump, and then Elon made me lose it for good.
I find it hard to sympathize with the resentment of the "normal" Republicans towards Vivek when the serious Republican line for the moment seems to involve, among other things, pretending you are going to bomb Mexico to stop fentanyl.
Vivek is very annoying but I think he took that debate as seriously as it deserved to be taken.
Oh my, Mr. Barro your post today so perfectly explains my feelings towards Vivek in a way I couldn't previously put into words. I found him more annoying than Ben Shapiro lol. I honestly don't know who has a more punchable face, Vivek or Tucker Carlson. Vivek's ego and pseudo intellectualism only works for people that are just looking to be contrarian and have an inflated sense of their own intelligence, which means that most GOP voters will end up liking him. I really hope they see him for the charlatan that he is.
(at the University of Chicago we were *all* section guys and that's why you don't see too many of us in politics. Bernie is our most likable politician alumnus and I'm sure he was unbearable at 37)
Our other famous political alumni are Jon Corzine, Ro Kannah, Robert Bork, Paul Wolfowitz and the guy who was president for life of Malawi during the Cold War.
We certainly believe we are smarter than the people who went to Harvard but nobody's ever accused us of being more fun to hang out with.
IMHO, Trump is different also in the way he is so clearly, and openly, a narcissist. And that explains (even if not excuse) most of his behavior. Also, his lies are trolls most often ("stable genius" was a stroke of genius!). In a strange way, he is actually honest even when he's lying. Ramaswamy on the other hand is a straight-up bullshitter.
I think this is one of the main sources of Trump's appeal - people think that politicians lie to them while pretending to be honest so they somehow interpret his naked dishonesty as being more honest in a way. I don't think they grasp the orders of magnitude between the kind of BSing that's just inherent to being an elected official and the tsunami of BS that is everything Trump does.
I’m just a humble state school guy, but Vivek annoys the shit out of me. Worse than Ted Cruz. (Probably.)
The Trumpers may enjoy him as a sort of Flavor Flav to the big man, but they’re never going to draw self-revealing pictures of a shirtless Vivek riding a liger.
I think it's clear that many Bob Voters get off on watching Trump dominate or jeer at or threaten The Libs. It's not clear to me that the Bobs will really enjoy watching VivRam annoy The Libs in a smarmy, Hahhvahhd recitation way.
Trump has the worst possible combination of characteristics for a public servant you could imagine, but he’s unfortunately also hilarious: https://youtu.be/KbkBRT13Zp4?feature=shared
I hate this primary so I’ve resolved to just enjoy watching Trump wipe the floor with Ron DeSantis who I also hate. Now if only we can get Trump really pissed off at Vivek…
THIS is why I subscribe. Wow. Right up there with the “Kennedys have always been awful” post. Bravo!
You forgot to cite the Gavin Newsom post, best in genre…
Worth the price of the subscription by itself. At 82, I wondered whether it was another sign of senescence that I couldn't understand the media fawning over his attention grabbing performance. I found my first exposure to him singularly repulsive. Over a long life I've found a fair number of political figures distasteful for one reason or another, but Vivek is in a class all his own.
I'm only 76,but if given the opportunity to pinch this clown or Ted Cruz, I'm not sure which would be first.
Punch, not pinch.
My fiancee was in a class or two with him and she said the nickname for him was "question guy."
Not a Harvard alum, but the type is instantly recognizable to anyone who went to law school. In my first year law school class, one day a section guy was uncharacteristically sitting in the back of the room, he was probably late, and our professor sarcastically asked him what he was doing slumming back there.
Despite the fact many people mistake my alma mater for a private school (when they aren't mistaking it for the pretenders/copycats in Coral Gables), I am a state school guy. However, Section Guy is a universal concept, and I feel the same visceral hatred you do about them. Beautiful work, Josh. Right up there with the Kennedys & Gavin Newsome pieces.
Vivek is a polished ( smart) slick snake oil salesman, and Trump is Biff from Back to the future.
I had a friend in college that everyone described as “slick.”
I always wondered how slick he actually was, since every single person saw right through it enough to comment on it.
So I used to think that someone as clearly smart as Ramaswamy can’t possibly believe all this- surely they are just tossing crap out because they think that’s what folks want to hear, and if actually elected he’d be normal and sane. Elon buying Twitter disabused me of that.
They only care about power and waxing poetic, I lost all faith in good faith actors who pretend to be stupid when Paul Ryan was elected, then Trump, and then Elon made me lose it for good.
I rember a lot of hopeful musings about Defendant PO 1135809 growing into yhe job, and moderating his bluster. How did that work out ?
Josh is really on a tear lately. Loving it.
I find it hard to sympathize with the resentment of the "normal" Republicans towards Vivek when the serious Republican line for the moment seems to involve, among other things, pretending you are going to bomb Mexico to stop fentanyl.
Vivek is very annoying but I think he took that debate as seriously as it deserved to be taken.
This was a fun one.
Oh my, Mr. Barro your post today so perfectly explains my feelings towards Vivek in a way I couldn't previously put into words. I found him more annoying than Ben Shapiro lol. I honestly don't know who has a more punchable face, Vivek or Tucker Carlson. Vivek's ego and pseudo intellectualism only works for people that are just looking to be contrarian and have an inflated sense of their own intelligence, which means that most GOP voters will end up liking him. I really hope they see him for the charlatan that he is.
Vivek is what happens when bullying is systematically eradicated from society.
(at the University of Chicago we were *all* section guys and that's why you don't see too many of us in politics. Bernie is our most likable politician alumnus and I'm sure he was unbearable at 37)
I that he was unbearable in 2015. Age uncertain, and I'm too tired to look it up.
Our other famous political alumni are Jon Corzine, Ro Kannah, Robert Bork, Paul Wolfowitz and the guy who was president for life of Malawi during the Cold War.
We certainly believe we are smarter than the people who went to Harvard but nobody's ever accused us of being more fun to hang out with.
IMHO, Trump is different also in the way he is so clearly, and openly, a narcissist. And that explains (even if not excuse) most of his behavior. Also, his lies are trolls most often ("stable genius" was a stroke of genius!). In a strange way, he is actually honest even when he's lying. Ramaswamy on the other hand is a straight-up bullshitter.
I think this is one of the main sources of Trump's appeal - people think that politicians lie to them while pretending to be honest so they somehow interpret his naked dishonesty as being more honest in a way. I don't think they grasp the orders of magnitude between the kind of BSing that's just inherent to being an elected official and the tsunami of BS that is everything Trump does.