JFC, I came across this Ross Douthat column from November 13, 2016. It's titled, no shit, "He Made America Feel Great Again," and it's a speculative piece about how wildly successful Trump's first term "was," pretending to look back from 2020, after his reelection. Holy fuck.
Where to begin? How about with: "Here we are four years later, watching Trump bask in the glow of an easy re-election over the Warren-Booker Democratic ticket." Oh, Ross, how simple you are.
Then it gets just absurd: "Trump’s Keynesianism was mostly defense spending and tax cuts, but it included a huge infrastructure push — soon nicknamed 'TrumpWorks' — that doubled as a jobs program." Infrastructure Week forever in Douthat-Land!
And hilarious: "Trump also turned out to be good at bipartisan maneuvering...he quickly promised Chuck Schumer major input on a few key domestic issues." And what did fantasy Trump get done? "Child-care subsidies and child tax credits"
Wait, wait, holy shit, this is awesome: "Kellyanne Conway... has persuaded him to tiptoe around racial politics." And Trump was able to "effectively decentralize the culture wars." How wrong can you be and still have a job? Like how fucking wrong?
Apparently, Douthat says, fantasy Trump strengthened health care and all is well on the Supreme Court. Goddamn, he should be forced to wear this column like a hair shirt for the rest of his life.
I mean, none of this shit would be close to reality without the pandemic. I kept waiting for the punchline, but there is none. Jesus, what a fucking piece of garbage.
You can read it here if you want: nytimes.com/2016/11/13/opi…
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