Josh K

I’m not even supposed to be here today. I don’t even endorse myself, much less the tomfoolery with which I engage.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@atrupar Make corruption illegal again.

[Tim Cook @tim_cook]

Welcome back coach! Ted Lasso returns August 5 on @AppleTV!

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@EndWokeness @KatiePavlich Don't start no shit, it won't be no shit. - Lil Jon

[Doc Strangelove @DocStrangelove2]

Fuck it, welcome back World War 1 aviation fighting.

[Saturday Night Live @nbcsnl]

Tucker Carlson stops by the desk to talk Oscar nominations

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@GoshShamgosh @CoachChrisMack Turns out, that will F you over

[AnthroVet50 @spooked75]

I grew up Republican. Still am in many ways. But MAGA pushed the party so far right that I get called a liberal now.

Let me explain the difference:

Traditional Republicans believe in:

• Fiscal responsibility (balanced budgets, not exploding deficits for tax cuts)
• Limited government (actual small government, not big government that punishes your enemies)
• Strong institutions (courts, elections, constitutional norms matter)
• Personal responsibility (your actions have consequences)
• Free markets (not tariffs and trade wars)
• Strong alliances (NATO, international partnerships)
• Rule of law (no one is above it, including the president)
MAGA Republicans believe in:

• Whatever Trump says today (even if it contradicts yesterday)
• Loyalty tests (agree 100% or you're a traitor/RINO)
• Conspiracy theories over facts (stolen election, deep state, QAnon adjacent stuff)
• Grievance politics (owning the libs > actual policy)
• Personality cult (Trump loyalty above party, above country, above truth)
• Performative outrage (culture war theater instead of governance)
• Ends justify means (storm the Capitol, ignore election results, whatever it takes)
I didn't move left. The party moved off a cliff.

I still believe in conservative principles. But when you say "maybe we should respect election results" or "fiscal responsibility matters" or "rule of law applies to everyone," you get called a liberal.

That's not conservatism. That's a cult.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@jlightsy7 The hybrid euro bigmen need to be balanced with a traditional "back to the basket" 4/5

[Md Riyazuddin @riyazmd774]

R.I.P. POWERPOINT

ChatGPT can now build a presentation in under 2 minutes.

Use these prompts instead and witness the magic :

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@dccommonsense I have to assume that you're incredibly frustrated. I can't tell you how much your inputs and breakdowns of, what I believe, is a moderate and laws based approach to our government are appreciated. Please don't retreat from your work. You're buoying a lot of us.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@GOP Where'd it go? Epstein Island? It seems to be hard to find out about things that go on there there.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@glenn_tunes @GOP Careful of the hyperbole. We've been more divided. Once.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@GOP Based on his letter to Norway... This man is a threat to national security.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

As the dollar’s reserve currency status diminishes, so does our ability to tax the world by creating more money.

When reserve status is lost, maintaining current spending levels and servicing the debt will be even more painful for Americans who will bear the full inflation tax.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@mamboitaliano__ I'll bet they don't feel sorry for themselves outside the frustration that goes with lies from allies and self-determination.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@SenatorBanks @aishahhasnie @FoxNews You need to lock the executive down on asinine ideas like acquiring Greenland. We don't turn our backs on our allies. There's no imminent threat we aren't able to defend - other than the threat of alienating all our friends.

[Richard Fontaine @RHFontaine]

Most foreign policy issues are difficult and complicated. Greenland isn’t one of them. Let’s have a look at seven points:

1. The U.S. needs Greenland for its own defense - Golden Dome, radars, basing.

▶️ The United States can do virtually anything it'd like in Greenland, security-wise, without taking possession of it. The 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement, which was renewed in 2004, allows the United States to build bases there, station troops, and more.

2. Greenland is about to fall into the hands of Russia and China, and the U.S. can’t let that happen.

▶️ The U.S. once had 10,000 U.S. troops in Greenland; now there are around 200. If there is an imminent threat of Chinese or Russian takeover (there isn’t), perhaps start by increasing that number?

3. Russian and Chinese ships are swarming Greenland and the Danes can’t fend them off.

▶️ If Russian and Chinese ships are really menacing the island, the U.S. Navy could sail around it right now en masse. It isn’t.

4. The U.S. needs to own Greenland because "you don't defend leases." Even if Denmark allows full access, there’s a difference between owning and renting.

▶️ This is the No One Washes a Rental Car theory of international relations. In reality, the United States is committed to defending many allies whose territory it does not own. Trump himself defended Israel just last year. The whole point of alliances is mutual defense of one another's territory. That doesn't require seizing it. 

5. The Danes are bad allies, so they should hand over Greenland.

▶️ Denmark has been a model ally. Not so long ago, Danes fought for America’s defense rather than the other way around. Among 40-plus allies and partners in Afghanistan, Denmark lost the most soldiers as a percentage of its population. Our allies defended the U.S., which, by the way, none of them owns.

6. This is the new Manifest Destiny. We’re an expansionist, frontier people. Greenland should, one way or the other, join the ever-growing Republic.

▶️ The post-1945 order is predicated a prohibition against conquest. Countries don’t acquire the territory of another without their consent. Iraq doesn’t get Kuwait, Russia can’t have Ukraine, Canada won’t be the 51st state, and the U.S. doesn’t compel Greenland to join. We’ve seen a world before in which conquest abounds. It’s the law of the jungle.

7. This isn’t real, just some fun administration trolling of the ever-nervous Europeans.

▶️ It is at a minimum a major distraction from real issues the transatlantic allies should focus on: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, China. Prodding allies to distrust our word and intentions does not amount to good policy.

Most foreign policy issues are difficult and complicated. Greenland isn’t one of them. The sooner this manufactured crisis fades, the better.

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@NikkiHaleyHQ Who pushed them there

[Josh K @FranzDasPanzer]

@Josh_Irwin_C @GOP @ChairmanGruters Correct, we trust no one. Especially the one who's obviously the most corrupt. Occam's Razor applies.