Posted on 08/04/2023 8:44:55 AM PDT by Red Badger
In the papers this morning, you will see that Donald Trump, the 45th president, is facing yet another indictment by a federal grand jury for what the Wall Street Journal inelegantly calls “election schemes.” Special Counsel Jack Smith is bringing four new felony charges against Trump pertaining to the disputed outcome of the 2020 election and the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
This indictment joins two other criminal indictments: a federal case pertaining to the alleged mishandling of classified material and a New York state case about a non-disclosure agreement with a pornographic actress. For his part, Trump has dismissed the indictment as an effort to hobble his candidacy before the 2024 election—which is hard to argue with, but also beside the point of the cases themselves.
Here is the truth about Trump: He won. He won in 2016, and he won in 2020. Few presidents in modern history have won as unambiguously as Trump won.
In the 2015 speech announcing his candidacy, Trump told the world what he was all about, politically. He argued that globalist trade policy had weakened the American economy and hurt the American worker, singling out China and Mexico in particular as unfair dealers. He condemned the idealistic adventurism of the Iraq war; he said American security obligations to countries like Saudi Arabia were raw deals for the U.S., and noted that China was using its trade surplus with the U.S. to fund military expansion in the Pacific. He denounced plans to cut entitlement programs like Social Security. He declared that he would close the border with Mexico.
In 2023, less than a decade later, Americans across the political spectrum have stepped back from free trade orthodoxy. The United States has negotiated a replacement for NAFTA, the USMCA, to stop Mexican cheating on labor and environmental standards and Canadian cheating on subsidies; as of now, the U.S. is litigating a trade dispute to keep Mexico honest on energy, steel, and aluminum. We are in the midst of negotiating a reform of the WTO dispute settlement system to be more amenable to American protection mechanisms. Meanwhile, China has fallen from the top American trade partner to a distant third place.
Within the U.S., a fad for industrial policy has gripped both parties. Enormous bills targeting infrastructure and key industries have passed on largely bipartisan bases. The American qua worker rather than qua consumer has become the focal point of mainstream American economic policy. The current administration slow-walked its response to inflation for fear of causing a spike in the unemployment rate. The Biden NLRB is more union-friendly than even Trump’s.
Meanwhile, the American foreign policy establishment has oriented itself toward a long-term rivalry with China. The current secretary of State kicked off his Chinese relationship with a polite shouting match with Chinese diplomats at a summit in Alaska. (Of course, it seems that the blob is determined to bring its characteristic panache to the Chinese question.) The Russia–Ukraine conflict has given our freeloading European allies a kick in the pants, encouraging them at least to start getting serious about bearing their own defensive burdens. Following through on Trump’s attempted pullout from Afghanistan—functionally vetoed by the defense establishment—was one of his successor’s top foreign policy priorities, and one that he followed through on despite resistance from the generals.
While the current administration has dithered in its immigration policy, the American public has grown more resolved. Biden’s handling of the border and immigration is one of his few consistently unpopular policies—a May CBS poll found that 64 percent of respondents disapproved. More than half of Americans think troops ought to be deployed to the border to stop illegal drugs from entering the country. Roughly 70 percent of Americans think that immigration, including legal immigration, should be held at current levels or decreased.
On social issues, Trump’s positions have ended up being uncontroversial and mainstream—pro–gay marriage, a “moderate” on the murder of the unborn, in favor of moderate justice reform. (As has been the usual case for the American people, social issues always rode in the back seat to economics for Trump.) A wag might suggest that concerns about election security have also become universal, although in rather different ways.
In under a decade, almost all Trump’s policies have achieved the status of conventional wisdom. This became clear almost as soon as the man had left 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Few modern presidents have so completely reshaped the American political landscape—FDR, LBJ, perhaps Reagan. It is worth pointing out again that nearly the whole Republican nomination field is populated by candidates who are claiming the Trump mantle, arguing they are improved models rather than departures from the America First mold.
So, as the criminal cases against Trump unfold, as the outcome of the 2020 election is endlessly litigated and relitigated, remember that the 45th president made the political world we’re living in. Right, left, and center, his policies have become the air we breathe. In a word (or two), Trump won. You might almost wonder whether the man is sick of it.
A “conservative publication pushing “gay marriage”.
Puke.
Everything is an IQ test these days.
And it doesn’t take a genius to see the election was stolen from Trump.
If you don’t see it, have yourself checked out.
Since when is it a crime to publicly disagree with the opinion of your government in America? Jack Smith says it is.
The day that President Trump is properly restored to the White House, I would hope that construction of the gallows begins...
There’s a whole lot of traitors to be hung..
And I mean it!!!
“In the 2015 speech announcing his candidacy, Trump told the world what he was all about, politically. He argued that globalist trade policy had weakened the American economy and hurt the American worker, singling out China and Mexico in particular as unfair dealers. He condemned the idealistic adventurism of the Iraq war; he said American security obligations to countries like Saudi Arabia were raw deals for the U.S., and noted that China was using its trade surplus with the U.S. to fund military expansion in the Pacific. He denounced plans to cut entitlement programs like Social Security. He declared that he would close the border with Mexico.”
Sums it up rather nicely.
BTTT
He is the ONLY POTUS who is looking out for we the people since Reagan. Almost everyone else in DC are just money mongering thieves. Saw some data the other day about income across the USA… highest average income is just surrounding DC… where they make nothing. At least in CA they actually produce value.
This is where Americans have always been, at least for the last 80 years or so: let homosexuals do what they want without rubbing our noses in it; let abortion be illegal except in cases of rape, incest, saving the life of the mother, and when I need one; police concentrate or murder and rape and robbery and stop worrying about people smoking weed. Whether these are good positions to take is a separate issue, but in this case Trump was leading from behind, not ahead.
perhaps Reagan. It is worth pointing out again that nearly the whole Republican nomination field is populated by candidates who are claiming the Trump mantle, arguing they are improved models rather than departures from the America First mold.
I remember the 90s, when every Republican was a mini-Ronnie, until they actually got in office and became mini-Slickwillies. The only benefit of this was that Clinton was just an old-fashioned grifter fraud, without the layer of Marxist revolutionary fervor we see in today's brand of Democrats. Of course all the candidates want to be mini-Donalds, until they get in office and become assistants to the Democrats.
Agreed!!
“misdirection” re: gay marriage
The author went there—I am calling them out for it.
They are not sneaking that garbage past me.
For Biden to win, it would have required virtually 100% voter turnout. That simply doesn’t happen in free countries. It just doesn’t.
Meh. We aren't going to be able to send back all the illegals Biden's let in. Biden talks about trade and industry, but that's all for show.
Really? That's poor writing and poor understanding. You could still go legally to Mexico and Mexicans could still come here. He wanted to stop the flow of illegals, but that's not closing the border.
But you and your guy are pushing it.
Nobody showed up for Biden events. NOBODY. They couldn’t even get a few cars together that weren’t driven by campaign workers to match all the Trump parades going on at the time.
Even with all the mail fraud they had to shut down counting ballots in all the swing states to magically open up again with Biden in the lead. You couldn’t find a judge anywhere in the country who would let a case of election fraud go forward.
We are officially a tyrannical Banana Republic.
You just admitted it in your earlier post.
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