View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The great question that we cannot now determine, but that will eventually be pretty firmly established (based on historiological precedent), is whether the GOP collaborators of Trump are (a) bedazzled by his rhetoric into believing that what he says will happen will actually happen, (b) pragmatically and hypocritically going along with the Donald because that’s … Continue reading “Dupes, Duplicitous, or Dolts?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,10,1071],"tags":[125,1349,1077],"class_list":["post-136336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-trump","tag-gop","tag-iran","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/unnamed-4.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/13\/president-conveniently-never-loses.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":0},"title":"The President Who Conveniently Never Loses","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Dec-17 9:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump had a complicated relationship with Roy Moore. He formally endorsed Luther Strange in the primary, for reasons that were never altogether clear (as a favor to Jeff Sessions, perhaps?), but quickly threw Strange under the bus once Moore won the primary. It's not surprising that Trump backed Moore.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130005,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/01\/the-gop-asks-for-help-in-saving-itself-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":1},"title":"The GOP asks for help in saving itself","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Mar-16 5:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"But ... wouldn't that create a cycle of dependency, a moral hazard of bailouts and assistance that only encourages electoral moochers and political \"takers\"?Specifically, it appears some conservatives are asking Democrats to vote in open primary states for Marco Rubio, so as to help Fight Back the Trump and save\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":152990,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/08\/the-sublime-bullshit-of-a-growing-sense-of-regret.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":2},"title":"The sublime bullshit of “a growing sense of regret”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Jan-21 4:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So NOW the GOP is sad that they didn't \"contain\" Trump. Sort of.","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2020"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2020","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2020"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/trump-impeachment-acquittal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/trump-impeachment-acquittal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/trump-impeachment-acquittal.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/trump-impeachment-acquittal.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24243,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/05\/the-joker-is-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":3},"title":"The Joker is Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Dec-11 10:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump is a modern-day P.T. Barnum -- except that Barnum was actually a much nicer guy in fact. Anyway, as he coincidentally is flogging a new book, he's busy setting up a \"debate\" with the GOP candidates ... and, of course, mocking those who've said they won't be there.And,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128174,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/28\/trump-gets-down-to-business-thus-explaining-his-multiple-bankruptcies.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":4},"title":"Trump "gets down to business" (thus explaining his multiple bankruptcies)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Sep-15 12:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There are two GOP candidates running on their business acumen. One of them, Carly Fiorina, was forced out by her board of directors after a disastrous strategic merger led to financial problems and massive layoffs. The other, Donald Trump, has a long record of Chapter 11 filings for his various\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133513,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/19\/the-case-against-impeachment.html","url_meta":{"origin":136336,"position":5},"title":"The Case Against Impeachment","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-May-17 2:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Actual impeachment of Trump remains unfounded -- at least not until something more bankable (and GOP-embarrassing) than what we have so far -- loads and loads of allegations, hints, second-hand statements, anonymous reports, inferences, and informed insight, but little hard, bankable, take-it-to-court evidence -- crops up. 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