Why Trump Won

- He is genuine in thought and action

- He is a patriot and loves his country

- He identified many issues* that were being ignored by our betters

- He promised to fix them ... and the voters believed him

- He said he would make America great again

- He knew that Washington was corrupt to the core

- And promised to “drain this swamp”

- He identified our fake media ... something that many suspected

- He wasn’t Hillary

* uncontrolled immigration, unfair trading pacts, anemic economic growth, Chinese hegemony, pointless international nation building, tolerance of terrorism at home and abroad, NATO slackers, climate change hoax, Obamacare disaster, liberal courts, insane Iran nuclear deal, North Korea nuclear and missile problems

Headlines

The strangest State of the Union ever

Coronavirus live updates: WHO says cases surged over 24 hours; Singapore confirms infant with virus

Van Jones warns Dems: Trump helping African-Americans ‘in real life’

Nadler: Bolton subpoena ‘likely’

China trade deficit shrinks as deficit with EU hits record high

Private payrolls surge in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years

Biden’s poor [Iowa] showing rattles establishment ...

Poll: Bernie’s New Hampshire lead widens as Joe Biden falls

The Trump-Pelosi feud spirals out of control

What 4G did for mobile devices, 5G will do for everything around us

China unveils electronic trackers for suspected virus carriers ...

AOC rips Rush Limbaugh as a ‘virulent racist’

Obama’s Piss Poor Presidency

A commenter asked on Presidential what I meant by Obama’s “piss poor” presidency. I gave it short shrift and it deserves better ... so here is more — the urine that the “chosen one” managed to spread around during his pampered eight years:

- His initial apology tour ... disparaging his country
- Gutting our military
- Significantly deepening the domestic racial divide
- Doubling our notional debt burden by $10 trillion
- Spending $1 trillion on [non] “shovel-ready jobs”
- Cash for clunkers
- Attempting to destroy our coal and oil industries
- Relying on monetary and not fiscal levers for economic recovery
- Tens of billions lost on Solyndra and other crony  “investments”
- The stupid Paris Climate Accord
- Oblivious to huge trade deficits with China, Mexico and the EU
- Frequently disrespecting Israel
- The Benghazi debacle
- Allowing Hillary’s private email server
- Politicizing our intelligence agencies
- Obamacare which is slowly being fixed by Congress and the courts
- The Iranian nuclear deal giving it $150 billion and  $1.6B in hard cash
- Giving lip service to defeating ISIS ... possibly even arming them
- Reneging US commitment to put missiles in Poland
- Colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood and Black Lives Matter
- Unconstitutional DACA executive order
- Pardoning spy Chelsea Manning
- Swapping deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five senior Taliban bad guys
- “Fast and Furious” gun running to Mexico cartels
- IRS discrimination against Tea Party groups
- Spying on political opponents and the media
- Selling 20% of US uranium to the Russians
- Russian reset including allowing them to annex Crimea
- Not arming the Ukraine with anti-tank missiles against Russia
- Not making NATO countries meet their committed military spending
- The very expensive Afghanistan “surge” producing nothing
- Not confronting North Korea’s for its bad behavior

Enough? And I’m sure I forgot quite a few!

Reconciliation

If Trump keeps winning ... on trade, on employment, on the economy, on immigration,  on NATO, on the climate, on Russia, on Hong Kong, on the stock market, on impeachment(?) ... then there will be an even greater divide ... between the never-Trumpers and those of sound mind.

The problem persists: How do we bring these two factions back together? I have a suggestion ... we need to have a month of reconciliation! Maybe it’ll take a year? Anyway, during this period, the progressives will be given a chance to confess their sins to AG Barr ... wire tapping, phony dossiers, cut-outs, pay-for-play foundations, voter fraud, political dirty tricks, set-ups of naive campaigners, perjury, spying on political opponents, destruction of incriminating evidence (like 33,000 emails), soliciting graft, selling 20% of US ‘s uranium to the Ruskies ... maybe some out-of-statute-of-limitations Arkancides.

Then, after all these reconciliation confessions have taken place, the DOJ can drop the hammer on all these reprobates.

Snobbery

The base-line reason for all the spittle-flecked aversion to Donald J. Trump as our president is, let’s be frank, snobbery. The elites on both US coasts cannot abide that Americans in fly-over country have gained the upper hand ... and no longer accept their self-serving decisions on immigration, trade, energy, race relations, managing our economy and foreign affairs. This upstart Trump knows not of the way things are supposed to be ... and so he, along with his long ties and orange hair, needs to go back to reality TV and let his betters run things ... back to the way they used to be ... when they got the cake and middle America got the crumbs.

Trump’s Reality

American political divide today boils down, pretty much, to those willing to live in President Trump’s reality ... and those who refuse to do so. The dissonance often occurs in the way that Trump communicates his world view ... spiced with bravado and, sometimes, harsh invective. This style, frequently communicated via Twitter, rubs many the wrong way and, to resolve this discomfort, they reject his reality out of hand. Big mistake.

This rejection then compounds their foolishness ... because they are forced to grow more and more semantically convoluted in their inane rationales for their resistance. We are told Trump has lied 12,000 times ... so his reality must also be false. How are these many lies possible? Does he lie when he states his name or what he had for dinner? We are told he is a white supremacist when his popularity with blacks and Hispanics grows daily. We are told he is anti-semantic while his son-in-law and daughter are Orthodox Jews. We are told he is growing senile when his schedule would daunt a much younger man. All these accusations are part of the strained rejection of his reality.

Trump’s reality on immigration, world trade, American exceptionalism, Islamic terrorism, nuclear threats, global warming, race relations, etc. are a whole lot closer to middle-America’s psyche than his opposition. This is why many Democrat presidential candidates have staked out such extreme positions ... just to demonstrate how opposed they are to Trump’s views. Big mistake. They are out on a limb of their lack of policy reality ... and Trump has saw in hand.

Trump’s Legacy

I know it’s rather early to start considering what Trump’s legacy will be. But there are some rather clear things that he has changed that will live on after he has departed the White House. Here are my takes:

- The president’s “magic wand” of tax cuts and regulation reforms has kicked up the rate of economic growth to above 3% from the previous “new normal” of below 2%. And the stock market is up over 50% combined with energy independence, strong consumer confidence, employment and domestic manufacturing. And inflation has been modest to boot. Not bad!

- The U.S.’s national image will have flipped from apologizing for our success to being proud of it ... and resolving to return to our past glories. We will have recaptured our greatness ... and be proud of it.

- Like Ronald Reagan did to restore our defense dominance, so Donald Trump will be equally lauded ... but he will also be praised for his restraint in using this military might. In the process, he has put, at least for the moment, North Korea and Iran in a box. If either of these countries capitulates, it will be the first sentence in his history book write up.

- Exactly opposite to the current media narrative, NATO will have been substantially strengthened by Trump’s insistence that our European partners live up to their financial and troop obligations under this decades-old pact.

- Although Trump will not have destroyed terrorism, he likely will have partially defanged it.

- Despite enormous sticky resistance in Congress and in the courts, Trump has made some progress in securing our borders and reforming our immigration process ... less than the majority of Americans want ... but still progress.

- Trump’s agenda has pushed the Democrat party to show its colors as being far more radical left in its actions than its deceptive rhetoric.

- If nothing else, President Trump will be remembered for his focusing on how China has become a hegemonic threat to America ... and his developing strategies to counter same. So far his success here has been modest but, if re-elected, I expect much more progress.

Turning Point?

The world may have reached a turning point in trading. For thirty years the United States allowed the world to treat us like a stepchild in international commerce. The US has ceded mercantilism to other countries ... mainly China. Now President Trump has said “enough” and is pushing back with increased tariffs and rhetoric ... which of course causes some trading “partners” to sit on their hands.

This conflict absolutely changes the previous “new world order” interactions. Tariff retaliations driven by saving face are popping up (China won’t eat America’s “bitter fruit”). So one has to worry how far these escalations will go? The United States clearly now has the strategic economic and innovative advantage. But is that enough ... or even too much? Can China’s retreat from its path to economic dominance be effected without its loss of face?

Before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the United States had imposed an oil and gasoline embargo on Japan which caused them enough pain that they decided war was the only answer. See: Wikipedia Entry. So the United States needs some serious Asian mind reading so that it doesn’t drive China so far up the economic tree by our escalating tariffs that it feels it must resort to kinetic force ... maybe through its proxy North Korea?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have that gadfly Russia as an ally if this were to occur?

Obama Legacy

Paris Climate Accord           Nixed

Obamacare                             Partialy Nixed

Iran Nuclear Agreement      Nixed

Economic malaise                  Corrected

ISIS                                           Partialy Nixed

Over regulation                       Nixed

Pipeline blockings                   Nixed

North Korea hegonomy         Partialy Nixed

Poor trade agreements           Partialy Nixed

Scandal-free administration   Just Wait

Open borders                           Partialy Nixed

Muslim tilt                                Israeli tilt

Poor military readiness           Nixed

Ignoring NATO slackers         Partialy nixed

Headlines

How Big Tech’s cozy relationship with Ireland threatens data privacy around the world

Trump met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

President opposed to aides testifying before Congress ...

Bernie Sanders plan would allow 183K murderers, 164K rapists to vote from prison

Jared Kushner dismisses Russia’s interfearance in 2016 elections

Stocks reclaim record highs, but investor enthusiasm is lacking

Justices seem ready to OK asking citizenship question on census ...

Harvard poll: Plurality of young 2020 voters oppose U.S. nation-building ...

Kamala Harris says she supports adding third gender option to federal IDs

US to send trade delegation to China next week

They’re back! ISIS claims responsibility for Sri Lanka terror ...

Drug importation increases despite fraud concerns

Advice

Have first a trade before you have an occupation. — Anon.

Headlines

GOP meddles in Democrat nomination with takedown of O’Rourke

China and Indonesia ground all 737MAX-8s after Ethiopian crash

Shock poll: Half of young Americans want to live in a Socialist nation ...

Washington Post Fact Check: Democrats have ‘become anti-Jewish’

Kudlow staying ‘bullish’ on US-China trade deal

Fed Chair Powell: ‘The Law is clear,’ Trump can’t fire me

Global economy weakest since financial crisis ...

Foreign workers outpace native-born Americans in job growth for six months

Poll: Republicans see equality for women. Democrats don’t

The bond market is signaling a major buy sign for stocks, says Jim Paulsen

Border crossings from Canada on rise ...

AOC sez capitalism ‘irredeemable’ 

Headlines

Trump's dire climate report hands ammunition to Democrats

Trump's trade talks with China could snap markets out of their funk

Beijing to judge every resident based on behavior by the end of 2020 ...

Merkel: EU [nations] must give sovereignty to Brussels

European Union and China break ultimate trade taboo to hit back at Trump

Bitcoin tumbles again, loses a quarter of its value Thanksgiving week

WSJ: Trump expresses dissatisfaction with Treasury Secretary ...

Report: Kelly, Nielsen oppose broadening military powers at border

Why is the SEC looking to boost big bank profits?

New York state judge rejects Trump's claim he can't be sued because he's president

Mass riots turn Paris into warzone ...

Sports network ESPN loses 2 million subscribers in 2018

Bitter Medicine

Prior to November, 2016 this country had many maladies -- surging illegal immigration, a sluggish economy, hugely unbalanced trade, rogue nations threatening nuclear war, a crumbling infrastructure, a drug crisis and a partisan bureaucracy that refused to recognize these problems ... in fact was actively working in many cases to make them worse. The American people saw how sick their nation was and over 63 million of them opted for a promised  remedy, Donald Trump.

Now Donald Trump was the medicine ... although he recognized these diseases and swore to fix them ... he was foul tasting --  serial  brashly insulting, of loose morals, funny looking vainglorious and prone to exaggeration. Nevertheless many American were willing to swallow this bitter medicine if it meant that their country would be cured ... made great again if you will.

But many Americans were not so willing to go along with this cure. You know who they are ... they call themselves the Resistance.  Although they may have sensed some of our ailments, they wanted the medicine to taste like strawberry ice cream. It doesn't work that way people. If we are going to survive and prosper, we need to purge ourselves of the toxins that have accumulated over the last half century. Like grown-ups, we need to take our bitter medicine.

Bowling for Greatness

Nothing ventured, nothing gained -- Old Saw

President Trump is determined to bring the U.S. back from the brink. For the last 40 years this country has tried to lift up the rest of the underdeveloped world, particularly China, out of poverty into prosperity. We have succeeded ... possibly too well. Although this strategy was not a zero-sum game, Pat Buchanan was right that NAFTA would cause a "giant sucking sound" as jobs went south into Mexico. China has also  benefited enormously ... to the point where, if things don't change, it is poised to become the world's dominant economy before 2030!

Enter stage right, Donald Trump.  Unlike his shrinking-violet predecessors, this president is willing to take risks -- trade risks, economic risks, military risks, diplomatic risks, coalition risks, political risks -- all to reverse the decline that this country has clearly suffered.  He has identified this country's sluggish growth as being a consequence of our deference to the rest of the world on most fronts ... particularly the fact that the anticipated customer growth  in those countries, which have benefited from our pump priming, has not happened. Now the time is up ... and it is America's turn to return to our natural economic greatness.

Trump is willing to risk war with North Korea and Iran to defang these bad actors. He is wiling to risk trade wars with the EU, China, Mexico, Korea, Canada and Japan in order to restore America's industrial might. He is willing to risk the wrath of our liberal media to correct our insane immigration policies, tax structure, divisive race relations, weakened military, destructive environmental regulations, activist judiciary system and bloated bureaucracy. He is leading our country out of the liberal lethargy in which both political parties have allowed us to wallow.

Trump is a risk taker ... and, so far, things generally seem to be paying off. His detractors keep predicting disaster for all his ventures. But, although not all his bowling has yet yielded strikes, President Trump has mot thrown a real gutter ball.

Headlines

Trump: U.S. and U.K. will strike a 'great trade deal'

Trump declines to denounce Putin over election meddling at summit, blames 'both countries'

Brennan: Trump's press conference an impeachable offense ...

Poll/ Brits say police have lost control, blame political correctness

Is THIS the year that Arizona finally turns blue

Op-Ed editor for The Nation for removed from Trump-Putin presser

National Guard deployment led to the arrest of 10,000 illegals ...

Biden: Trump's border policies make me 'feel ashamed'

Putin: World Cup has triggered millions of cyberattacks on Russia

Britain's May bows to Brexit pressure in Parliament

Bezos' net worth exceeds $150 billion ...

John McCain rips Trump-Putin presser: 'shameful,' 'disgraceful'

Headlines

Chinese leaders 'absolutely confused' by Trump's demands on trade

Nearly two-thirds of CEOs say US trade policies will hurt their companies over next 6 months

Xi says China must lead way in global governance ...

Trump Administration proposes merging Education and Labor Departments

Trump-Putin summit: Wing-it meets meticulous

GOP Congressional candidate, fresh from primary win vs. Mark Sanford, seriously injured in car crash

Election: Erdogan on brink ...

PA Democrat 'welcomes' VP Mike Pence with a middle finger salute

FBI hands House GOP thousands of documents on Russian probe

SEC investigates whether companies round up earnings

White House spokeswoman kicked out off restaurant by Trump hater!

Wash Post columnist: 'Southern Poverty law Center has lost all credibility'

Reality Show

The Apprentice

Donald J. Trump is  mocked as being nothing more than a washed-up  reality show host who stumbled into the American presidency. There is a certain juicy irony to this insult ... in particular because Trump has finally brought reality to our governance ... perhaps because of the clear eyes acquired on his reality shows. He has:

- recognized the reality of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel and moved out embassy there.

- acknowledged that many of our previous trade deals are bleeding this country dry ... and need to be renovated or scrapped.

- realized  that Washington, DC is infested with self-serving reptiles ... a swamp that badly needs draining

- saw that immigration into the United States is regulated by many cockamamie laws.... assuming that they are even obeyed. The whole process needs to be revamped and our borders secured.

- understood that our continually appeasinfg of North Korea and Iran has produced no good results. Our approach needs to be  hardened and confrontational if we have any hope of averting a nuclear holocaust.

- deciphered that the only thing that had been driving our economy has been the Federal Reserve's easy money  policy ... and that tax cuts, regulation reform and infrastructure spending are required to get our economy and employment back on track.

-  realized that the global warming  hysteria was a gigantic hoax and an covert attempt at wealth redistribution.

- sensed that our mi litany had been hollowed out and needed to be rebuilt.

If Trump's reality show experience has helped open his eyes to these and other realities our country was suffering under, then, rather than a mocking slur, this has been a positive... and provided him the keys to the White House.

Trump Trope

D - defanging progress with ISIS, North Korea and Iran

O - opioid crisis pushback

N - NATO shaming (to pay their fair share)

A - anti-fake news

L - legal system leveling (with conservative judges)

D - developing America's infrastructure


J - Jerusalem embassy to be


T - tax cuts and trade (free but fair)

R - rigorous military

U - un-opening of our borders

M - manufacturing Renaissance

P - patriotism

Lookin' Foreward

From Mostly Cajin blog