Tag Archives: Biden

Current Events

FOX News – A Turd in a Tuxedo

3 Comments

From a dear friend, and fellow retired Marine Brother

All, this for your consideration.  Obviously can’t vouch for it all but do believe there was some stench in the past election and more to come in GA. And I did happen to see the Fox News episode when Newt was silenced. Comes from a good source: A retired Marine LtCol  who was our Bn Air Officer in RVN.

S/F’ Vic

Thanks Vic. Good scoop at the end for those of us who have trashed FOX and are looking for a more reliable news network.

If you regularly watch Fox News and have been noticing something feels “off” with their election coverage, you’re not wrong. Around a year ago, conservative political wonks turned off Fox News for good. The reason why has to do with events that unfolded in 2019. What did these conservative news junkies see that the rest of us missed? And why does it matter now?

Event Number One: The Passing of the Torch

Rupert Murdoch was the media titan who built and developed Fox News into America’s conservative news juggernaut. Murdoch had six children. Of the six, his two sons Lachlan and James were in contention to take over Fox News even though both of them had openly repudiated Rupert’s conservative politics. In 2019, Lachlan officially took over the reins of Fox News. James, the more liberal of the two, opted to invest a large portion of his multi-billion-dollar inheritance in liberal media ventures. Once Lachlan took charge, his goal was to move Fox News left. His moves were no surprise to insiders considering his public ties to climate change activism, donating to the Clinton Foundation, and proudly taking responsibility for pushing Bill O’Reilley off the network. It’s worth noting that Fox Business is a separate entity from Fox News, even though both channels are owned by a new, scaled-back Fox Network.

Event Number Two: Fox News Hires the Haters

In March 2019, Fox News made a shocking move by hiring former DNC Committee Chief, Donna Brazile. She was famously fired from the DNC and CNN for leaking debate questions to Hillary Clinton prior to a 2016 Presidential Debate against Donald Trump. Another WTF hire was the failed VP Candidate, Paul Ryan. Ryan was named to the Fox News Board of Directors in March 2019. The well-known “never Trumper’ routinely stonewalled President Trump’s agenda as the Speaker of the House. And hired Juan Williams, a devoted Dem fired from NPR.   Constantly contradicts anything good said by or about President Trump.

Event Number Three: “Shut-Up, Or Else…”

Just a month ago, Newt Gingrich’s mic was cut when he had the audacity to utter the name George Soros in an interview on Harris Faulkner’s Fox News show, Overtime Outnumbered. During the interview, the conversation moved into a discussion on political funding. Gingrich was presenting indisputable facts about Soros’s well-known financial backing of many extremely left-leaning political organizations. The mic cut surprised both Faulkner and Gingrich which led to a long, awkward, pregnant silence on air. Was Gingrich’s censorship a signal to other conservative voices?

Fast forward to this past week, Judge Jeanine Pirro, the host of Justice W/Jeanine on Fox News since 2011 announced the topic of her weekly show. The topic: Election Fraud. However, she was fired/suspended before her segment aired. Was Pirro’s firing meant to send a message to other popular Fox News hosts?

Just days after Pirro’s firing and Biden’s bogus campaign victory speech, Laura Ingram the host of the Ingram Angle stunned Republicans. On her show, she took it upon herself to offer President Trump advice on how to act graciously upon his pending election concession. It was uncharacteristic of Ingram to take this defeatist position considering she consistently supported President Trump throughout his first term. As a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ingram knows the law and knows the election is far from officially decided.  She caved to save her lucrative paying job.

 Next, Tucker Carlson. With the highest ratings of any cable news show in the days leading up to November 3rd, where is he now that the blatant election fraud is being exposed? Strangely quiet given Carlson’s fierce commitment to our Republic.

Then, there’s Hannity. If anyone deserves to be called a Trump fan-boy, it’s Sean Hannity. Even he is noticeably restrained in his election coverage. Hannity knows full-well President Trump won in a landslide on Nov. 3rd and remains the winner even after the Dem’s election fuckery. Why isn’t Hannity crying foul? Then there’s Chris Wallace. His performance as a debate moderator drew such harsh criticism from both political sides, his professional reputation may not ever recover.

 Here IS what’s going on at Fox News

With just 73% of the votes counted in Arizona around midnight on November 3rd, Fox News made a stunning call, falsely awarding the win of the battleground state to Joe Biden. Now that we know the true nature of Fox News, have seen blatant election fraud, and seen a pattern of silence from the top talent on the channel; is it so far-fetched to think Fox News is playing a role in all of this?

There is no question the 2020 election is rampant with fraud and it continues. Proof is mounting, whistleblowers are coming forward, even Supreme Court injunctions have been issued. All of this will be investigated and litigated through the courts. Rudy Guiliani and the rest of the Trump legal team have vowed to fight. And, for good reason. The law is on Trump’s side. Recall this past summer when President Trump repeatedly warned America about mail-in voting and election fraud? Everything that’s happening now was anticipated by the Trump team, well in advance. Nothing so far has been a surprise to The President and his team.

Now that the fraud has been executed, it relies on two key factors to actually succeed.

Play number one is “lawfare”. The election fraud is designed to stir up chaos, forcing the election to be decided by the courts, rather than at the ballot box. How the Dems are weaponizing the law to manage the election outcome is called lawfare. The Dems are great at this. Remember Hillary’s numerous provable felonies when she mishandled top secret information on her personal server? The head of the FBI, Comey, called it a “matter” not a “crime”. A crime can be legally prosecuted, a matter cannot. See what they did there? Effective lawfare. Hillary walked.

The second key play is the “information war”. This is where Fox News is playing a key role. Here’s the breakdown: Fox News delivered blatantly fake news by calling AZ a win for Biden. They delivered the lie early. So early in fact Fox News dominated the news cycle and grabbed control of the election narrative going forward. Fox News is attempting to position President Trump as the loser who is fighting a losing battle against fake election fraud in the courts, because he can’t take the L. Having Fox News deliver this news is part of the plan in order to give the lie credibility. To add extra credence to the hoax, the management at Fox News has succeeded in manipulating their top talent to support the fake narrative. The left is counting on the average Trump supporter to believe the lie since it comes from the trusted, “conservative” Fox News and its top personalities. The rationale goes like this: If Fox News is reporting Trump lost AZ, it must be true. Why would Fox lie about the Republican candidate to their Republican audience?

Do not underestimate the power and effectiveness of the “information war”. It’s meant to demoralize Trump supporters, weak-kneed Republican politicians, law enforcement, the military, foreign leaders etc. The left does not want an energized, organized opposition fighting for America’s election integrity. What we’re seeing now isn’t the Dem’s kill-shot, they’re trying to soften the target. The mainstream media knows it can make any claims about who won the election without consequences, especially since it’s a coordinated attack. They need Trump supporters to give up and concede in order to win.

For the people who want a free and fair election, internalize this: the media doesn’t decide elections. Trump won in a landslide. The Dems cheated to try to win. Every legal vote will be counted so states can legally certify official results. All the criminal participants from local election officials to the head(s) of the fraud operation will be prosecuted. None of this will happen quickly, but it will happen. Trump and his team are in full control of this fight. As he came off his well-deserved round of golf over the weekend, his only quote was, “We’re gonna win. Wait.” The only outstanding question is, are you going to give the opposition what they want? Are you going to get weak, loose hope, and abandon our duly elected President?

Where to go from here?

It’s critical for us all to combat the “information war”. This means staying informed with real, accurate news and sharing it with our friends, families, and neighbors. It’s not easy because social media platforms and the coordinated mainstream media have created an information firewall. However, with a little persistence, sharing with our networks by using word-of-mouth neutralizes the firewall. By texting, emailing, and conversing we are creating our own media network that offers more information that is being hidden from everyone. So, the question becomes where to find real news to share since Fox News has proven to be a turd in a tuxedo

It’s time to switch to alternative news sources. To make the jump, it takes some temporary “getting used-to”. Be prepared for things like lower production quality, occasional technical glitches, and watching on other devices — unless you put in a little work to figure out how to connect your phone or internet to your TV. It may take downloading a new app or visiting a new site. These minor short-term inconveniences are worth it to get real, honest news.

 To get started, here are my three 24/7 news channel picks to replace Fox News (linked)

OANN: One America News Network

  •  24/7 news channel. Scrappy and accurate. OANN is building serious cred with reporters in the official White House Press Pool and former military intelligence. On-air talent can be dry, but they consistently deliver the goods.

General Information:  www.oann.com

Watch on Cable or Satellite TV:  where to watch guide

YouTube:  Archived and livestream

Streaming Services:  Apple TV, Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV

OANN Programming Schedule:  www.oann.com/schedule

Newsmax TV

  •  24/7 news. Positioned to be the next conservative media giant. Recently came out strong in support of election integrity by refusing to air Biden’s bogus victory speech. Newsmax checks the facts. Delivers a wide range of programming.

General Information:  www.newsmaxtv.com

Watch on Cable and Satellite:  DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Comcast Xfinity Ch. 1115.

Full list of carriers and channels. Note channels differ depending on state and carrier. State-specific channel guide

Livestream:  newsmaxtv.com, Roku, Pluto TV (app on google and Apple app stores) channel 236, XUMO, and DistroTV

YouTube:  Livestream and archived

AVN: America’s Voice News

  •  24/7 news. Strong Programming Lineup. AVN is on the move. Heavy investment in new programs and upping overall production quality. Reliable and accurate. Lots of insider, breaking news embedded in several programs e.g. National Pulse, Bannon’s Warrooom etc. The live-chat feature on the AVN YouTube Channel is worth a try.

Originally posted 2020-11-29 14:25:06.

Current Events

CAMPAIGN CORRUPTION AND CRIME

3 Comments

It is absolutely incomprehensible to me as to how much crime has been going on for so many years and nothing has been done about  it. Have we not become a crime invested third world shit-hole?

The letter below was just recently, like yesterday, sent to the Republican National Committee. It was written by a retired Marine Major General whom I know well having served under him for a short period of time. An exceptional leader of Marines who should have gone further but retirement was his choice,  General Jarvis is no Mattis, Allen, or Kelly, but they were all four star Kool Aid drinkers rapidly promoted up the star ranks by Obama, and by the way, never pulled a trigger except at the range, not so with this author.   

In the General’s own words in his email:

“Attached you will find a paper having the subject above as its title. It was sent to the Republican National Committee a few minutes ago. I am not under the illusion that it will have any real impact; however, I strongly believe in what it says and should be said in the off chance that it will be read and maybe heeded and acted upon.

Please give it wide distribution and encourage others to voice their thoughts to officialdom. It seems quite obvious that what the nation is facing is organized criminal activity, not “there is no evidence of voter fraud.”

Jarv

 

 

CAMPAIGN CORRUPTION AND CRIME

Over 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump.  That was a larger number than his 2016 win. The down ballot voting brought a Red Tidal Wave, sure sign of a win. Not so fast. The corrupt media and equally corrupt political class said that he had lost the election to an aging career politician who has serious ethical problems; shows signs of dementia; had hardly campaigned and when he did, drew crowds numbered in the 20’s as the corrupt media threw softball questions.  Other than his claims, later proven false, that he had a plan to combat the virus, there was no real talk about his policies. Instead, he denied or altered previously stated policies like getting rid of fracking.  Surprisingly, that sold Pennsylvanians. They voted for him. Or did they?

We have the fascinating situation of a Republican candidate losing despite long coat tails and a Democrat candidate who had no coat tails garnering more votes than any presidential candidates in history.

The corrupt media, corrupt Democrats, including corrupt or brain-dead judges, tried to sell the lie that “all is well” and moderate Joe Biden won.

The thinking 70 million plus Americans smell the stench of a stolen election.  They supported and still support President Trump’s efforts to fight the charade. They are either angry or irate at what has followed.

Trump’s lawyers revealed that the Democrat efforts to change mail in voting laws proved quite fruitful in terms of garnering, in some areas, votes totaling 200% or 300% of the registered voters. Then there’s the practice of legally required Republican vote counting observers being prohibited from manning their posts.  There are the usual dead vote and other shenanigans. But most important of all are the vote counting machines run in the dead of night, with no observers, switching votes from Trump to Biden. There are affidavits, sworn under oath and penalty of prison for lying, reporting these misdeeds. Affidavits are real evidence. More are on the way.

The 70 million plus have put up with much these past 5 or so years. For example, no reaction to the sale of 20% of the nation’s uranium.  Then there were the Benghazi parade of lies; the unwarranted FBI investigation of the Trump campaign; the unpunished lies to the FISA Court; the false accusations of Trump collusion with the Russians; and Tony Bobulinski (remember him?), he gave plenty of information concerning the activities of young Biden … no further action.  More corruption came with the, liar – sponsored impeachment of President Trump. And for sheer dereliction of duty we have the great unasked question … what does China expect to get for the $1.5 billion given to Hunter Biden during his illegal Air Force 2 visit to China with his father, a father who denies knowing anything about the family getting that kind of money?

Instead, the 70 million plus are treated to the pleas of Republican senators for President Trump to forget the probable stolen election and concede. Ignored is the fact that the election is not politicians playing politics. We are currently dealing with quite probable, well organized criminal behavior. Not politics. Crime.  Unchallenged, the probable criminal activity will reappear in future elections… better organized, more efficient.  A few election cycles like this and it’s goodbye to the Great American Republic.

It is more than time for the Republican Party to honor the opinions of its long-suffering supporters.  We know that saying “there is no evidence of election fraud” is, to be kind, wrong.  To look at what has happened and consider it business as usual is insane. It makes one wonder, “what are they trying to hide?” Finally, it is more than time for the Republican Party to assist the president by speaking out against lies, fraud and illegalities. Republicans must fight for a thorough criminal investigation conducted by trustworthy professionals who have no political ties. If that does not happen, Republicans will get run over by “Progressives” using any means available, legal or not, to change America into another socialist sewer featuring big government trampling on the rights once given to American citizens by God and the Constitution.

Finally, the election system must be completely overhauled. Now.

J.D. Lynch

Major General, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)

Originally posted 2020-11-28 10:44:51.

Current Events

A Time to Heel

1 Comment

Another great article from my friend Greg.

By: G. Maresca

Joe Biden’s “time for healing” and “stop treating our opponents as our enemies” speech was anything but Lincolnesque as the most divisive, volatile election since the Civil War has put many in doubt.

One teacher’s union has already demanded that Biden oppose any charter school expansion, while putting an end to school choice for Washington D.C.’s low-income families.  This is the same city that Biden won 93 percent of the vote.  With such gaudy numbers, Democrats must believe that everyone is as easily manipulated.

Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain is a former lobbyist for Silicon Valley titans Google, Facebook and Twitter, so forget about restricting their monopoly of social media censorship.

For at least two generations, Democrats have amplified how politics is not about compromise, but unadulterated power.  Any opposition is accused of being racist, homophobic, and xenophobic bigots, who must be subdued by any means in a nation where once Judeo-Christian principles governed our hearts and minds.

Turning a jaundiced eye toward Biden’s platitudes after tens of millions of Americans remained convinced the election was stolen isn’t difficult.  Biden’s plea is political virtue-signaling in the first-degree. Leftists in government, media, sports, big-tech, and entertainment continue to wage a relentless smear campaign against Trump and those who voted for him.

Democrats arrogantly called themselves the “resistance” saying Trump was an “illegitimate” president before he was even sworn in.  So, after four years of character assassination, anti-Trump hysteria and impeachment, race baiting, rioting, looting, and arson Democrats now want healing.

In Biden, speak healing is code for tax dollars that will subsidize abortions, mask and vaccination mandates, open borders, Green New Deal, reparations, and tax increases.  Such actions will only exacerbate conflict and constitutional disputes.

Healing should include exposing any election fraud, no?

Reconciling will occur when the unbridled slaughter of the unborn ends, and when the Little Sisters of the Poor and every other faith group’s conscience is protected.

With healing comes truth and transparency.

How did Biden retail his influence as vice president to the Chinese, Russians and Ukrainians?  What about the police and business owners who were killed, injured and looted?   Are the blacks who supported Trump still black?  Are the nearly 74,000,000 voters for Trump still “systemic” racists?  What about AOC’s call for persecution of them?   What about Biden’s silence on the Gen. Flynn cabal, the Mueller decapitation, and the Steele dossier, knowing they were all a pack of lies?  The left has not only opposed Trump’s policies; they have opposed his very existence.  And now after such debauchery, they insist on singing a chorus of kumbaya’s?

Provided Biden is serious, he will get plenty of flak from his own party. And don’t forget Kamala Harris beacons a heartbeat away.

The healing Biden desires only happens after amputations.

Healing and unity for Democrats is a one-way street and only applies when they are in control, which is why the runoff senate race in Georgia on Jan. 5, 2021 is pivotal.  Provided the GOP is victorious, Biden will have no choice but to govern from the center at least for the first two years of his administration.  That is provided the political mooring of Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, refuse to stand fast.

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.” Biden like Obama will soon occupy the same White House as James Madison, the owner of that quote and father of our Constitution.  Obama and Biden never knew him, but Madison clearly knew them and those like them.

Unifying the country by a career politician like Biden is wishful at best.  If Washington D.C. is the swamp, then the 78-year-old Biden is its version of the swamp fox.

Our fundamental divisions concentrate on a demise of traditional, moral values.  They are essentially spiritual schisms which evolve from our relationship, or lack thereof, with God.  However, divided we used to be by political ideology, the nation always historically managed to circle the wagons around our shared Judeo-Christian roots, where its foundational virtues and conventions were passed down from generation to generation.

Authentic healing will only come through the grace of Divine Providence, not ersatz political bipartisanship.

Postscript. News is out about Mr. Mattis’ association with an organization not too friendly to the current US policy towards rogue nations. So what’s new with this fellow who says he is a Marine, but thousands of real Marines have disowned this skunk of a general (small caps for him). I find it astonishing that my post entitled “An Open Letter to Mr. Mattis” was posted on 9 June and to this very day it still gets views, EVERY DAY e.g. four today. That post has literally gone viral all over the world; keep it going. I would be willing to bet money he gets some kind of a posting from biden (small caps again).

Hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoying family and friends. Stay well and stay safe. Semper Fi; Jim

Originally posted 2020-11-26 10:52:29.

Current Events

God Bless Him!

Video 6 Comments

How many of you saw this on the MSM? I don’t watch their garbage, so I have no idea as to whether it was shown or not. Please take note as to who is not under an umbrella! Remember when the MSM made a comment that President Trump cancelled the Normandy celebration because he didn’t want to get his hair messed up? Well, it was pouring rain when this video was shot and he sure wasn’t worried about his or anyone else in the group getting wet.

I’d ask do you think Obummer would have done this without a Marine following him around holding an umbrella. Do you believe Biden would do this?

Tell me this man does not admire and cherish the military. I think one of his Marine aides taught him how correctly salute!!! Melanie’s even in step with her escort!

I remember participating in this ceremony many times while at 8th & I with the drill team. There were two types of ceremonies at the Tomb, the Plaza, which is this one  where we were on the Plaza with the monument, and the Mall where we lined the lined the steps leading up to the Tomb. Every time a visiting Head of State visited the President we  performed it at 1500.

Make sure your sound is up. Enjoy!

 

Originally posted 2020-11-24 10:40:10.

Current Events

My President!

13 Comments

I’m sure some of you have wondered why I have not posted daily on the “results” of the election. Well, I’m having a tough time right now. Emotions are mixed and running high. I’ve even thought about why I want to live in a country that in the 21st century is unable to conduct a legal, valid, verified election while some third world crap holes can do it.

My bride sent me the below article this morning as I was busy answering a plethora of emails, and still have many more pending. In case you are unaware, today is the Marine Corps’ 245th birthday, so it is a very busy days with emails, texts, and phone calls from all over the world — literally! To all my Marine brothers and sisters on here, Happy Birthday!

Anyway, I scanned the article, then read it twice. The author raises some valid points, but nothing he says dampens in any way my respect and admiration for our current president. He was what we needed at the time, and has accomplished much during his term, and if he could have one more term, I feel certain he would turn this country around and into something I would be proud of and glad I served. But right now, I am depressed beyond words.

You read, decide for yourself, and comment if you will.

Semper Fi;

Jim

 

President Trump is projected to lose a close election.

This being modern America, nothing is final until the courts have spoken (particularly the Supreme Court, which has been too timid to say much). That process must be allowed to play out. To my knowledge, there is no hard evidence at this point of anything so monumental that it could change the result, but disturbing anecdotal reports merit investigation. And Biden’s margin of victory is so razor-thin in some states that recounts may be warranted if the president chooses to press the matter.

Undoubtedly, post-election litigation would be pursued if the shoe were on the other foot. Democrats, after all, went straight to the litigation mat when they lost a close one in 2000, even though Al Gore had been on the cusp of conceding. And “the Resistance” spent three years not accepting the outcome of the 2016 election, on the basis of a bogus “Russia collusion” narrative ginned up by the Clinton campaign. In this era, we take matters far less consequential than the election of our president to court. I’m not suggesting that this is a good thing, I’m simply stating a fact.

Let’s take a deep breath and let matters play out. There is no crisis of the regime. Joe Biden is presumptively President-elect Biden. He will be my president and the president of all Americans — even as many of us vigorously oppose much of what he wants to do, as we surely will. He should get the chance to be a good president that Democrats never gave Donald Trump. For Biden’s sake, and especially for the country’s, the departments and agencies of government should prepare for a smooth transition of power.

Meanwhile, the states do not need to certify their results until December 8 (really, they have until December 14, the day states must report to Congress). Biden has so far struck the right tone in urging patience and calm through the tense days of ballot-counting. It will boost his standing as a legitimate president to encourage an orderly process of court challenges while, of course, pressing his rights in that process.

For those who supported the president’s reelection (including me), the result is hard to swallow. It was not, however, hard to see coming.

In 2016, Trump barely won a close election against a historically weak and deeply unpopular Democratic candidate for whom there was little enthusiasm. In 2020, Trump faced a very weak but not nearly as unpopular Democratic candidate – and while there was little enthusiasm for Biden, the desire to defeat Trump was rabid in the Democratic base. Given the statistical miracle of Trump’s 2016 triumph, he was going to have to do more than marginally better this time in order to win. He outperformed expectations, but he did not outperform 2016.

The power of the presidency can mask a lot of deficiencies. Yet the hole in which the improbable Trump presidency began is worth revisiting. In her endless “I wuz robbed” dirge, Hillary Clinton never tired of saying she’d won the popular vote. That was not just irrelevant in constitutional terms, since the state races (translated by the Electoral College) decide the outcome; it was also Clintonian spin to deflect attention from the fact that she did not win a popular majority. But what does that say about Trump?

The popular vote is a useful snapshot of the then-new president’s standing on January 20, 2017. He got 3 million fewer votes than someone who herself could not crack 50 percent. He’d somehow won what was essentially a two-way race with just 46 percent of the vote. Out of nearly 140 million votes cast, 54 percent of Americans voted against him. If a statistically negligible number of voters in a handful of states had gone the other way, there would have been no talk of a populist revolt. The story would have been that Clinton, a Washington-establishment eminence, cruised to the victory the Smart Set and all the polls had predicted. The New Yorker would gleefully have published its ready-to-run cover.

The right way to look at Trump’s unlikeliest of triumphs was as a gift . . . and an opportunity. It was a chance to appeal to Republican skeptics and the vast middle, to do the hard work of changing a 46–54 deficit into 54–46 support, and beyond. Trump had the policies to do that, along with a unique way of appealing to voting blocs who’d tuned out traditional Republicans.

Yet the president could never get over himself.

That was clear from the start. Instead of coming to grips with the low level of support with which he started his term, the president bantered from the beginning about his “Electoral College landslide.” It was an ironic illusion of broad support: Trump had been known to call the Electoral College a “disaster for democracy,” and his EC margin of victory actually ranks in the bottom fifth in U.S. election history. But he talked up the “landslide” nonetheless — while his administration “hit the ground running” by absurdly displaying skewed aerial-photograph evidence bizarrely intended to prove that his inaugural crowd was bigger than Barack Obama’s.

An unpopular president’s surest first step to becoming a reelected president is the realization that he has a lot of work to do with the public, especially with convince-ables willing to give him a chance – which is a lot of people, because most Americans are not hardcore partisans; they like to like their president. Such self-awareness spurred Richard Nixon to reelection in one of American history’s biggest actual landslide victories — in the Electoral College and by every other measure.

Donald Trump never could go there. He was under siege more than he deserved to be, but he brought a great deal of it on himself by gratuitously punching down at non-entities he should have ignored. Just as important, when troubles came, and they came in waves, he would recede into the comfort of his adoring base. They made excuses for his every foible, spun his errors as the shrewd maneuvering of a master businessman, and never demanded that he clean up his act. To the contrary, they found the act irresistible, just as he found his place at the center of the world’s attention irresistible — whether commanding attention for good or bad reasons.

President Trump did many good things. The constitutionalist overhaul of the federal judiciary will be his great legacy, especially if a President Biden revives Obama-era “pen and phone” governance. Trump has shown that the U.S. economy still roars when government removes suffocating regulation, and that its growth can be a boon to Americans at the ladder’s lower rungs. He has given Republicans a workable template for appealing to black and Hispanic Americans. He has reshaped policy toward China in a way more realistic for dealing with a hostile competitor. He has marginalized the Iranian menace and reoriented Middle Eastern policy, achieving peace pacts that were once inconceivable. He has been unabashedly pro-life (and was I ever wrong in thinking this was just a 2016 campaign pose). He has shown Republicans that the culture war is worth fighting without apology, rather than surrendering bit by bit.

Still, how maddening that he never recognized the majesty of the presidency, befitting its awesome duties, as something to rise to, as something worth striving to be worthy of. He never seemed to grasp that the great power of the presidency is that when the president speaks, it means something — and that forfeiting this power is ruinous. He never seemed to understand that, in a country where we like to like our president, when your policies are more popular than you are, you’ve got a problem.

Here, most Americans believe — for very good reasons — that they are better off than they were four years ago under the last president, yet they’ve voted to replace the incumbent with the last guy’s veep. That can only mean Donald Trump’s nemesis wasn’t Joe Biden. It was Donald Trump.

Originally posted 2020-11-10 13:19:05.