Progressives have suddenly found themselves lost in the political wilderness, caught in a self-inflicted trap of anger and fear. From the sound of their fury, they could be there for a long while. (Thoughts and prayers.) With Democrats now irrelevant, the second Trump administration has four years to take a wrecking ball to the Washington establishment, including deep cuts to federal spending and an overhaul of the bloated bureaucracy. To understand why the wrecking ball is needed, look at the annual budget deficit ' $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024. In a time of relative peace and prosperity, the deficit grew 8% in one year, even though federal revenue increased by 11%. In other words, the Biden-Harris administration collected significantly more money from taxpayers in the last fiscal year but still managed to blow up the deficit by an additional $138 billion. That's simply unsustainable.
Before the Nov. 5 election, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that provisional ballots must be signed in two required places and that mail-in votes must be dated. Yet elected Democratic officials in Philadelphia and three other counties " Bucks, Centre and Montgomery " voted this week to defy these and other court decisions at the request of lawyers for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who trails GOP challenger Dave McCormick by about 24,000 votes, with almost all of the roughly 7 million ballots cast having been counted. These Democrats' decisions will almost certainly be overturned on appeal, but the mere attempt to defy judicial rulings is corrosive to democracy and invites similar behavior in future elections. read more
The woman running the meeting closes the big book on the desk in front of her, rises, pand motions toward me. "Okay everyone, this is a new member. He is here tonight to tell his story." I feel the eyes of everyone in the room. My palms are sweaty. My mouth is dry. "Hi. My name is Lou. I'm a recovering Democrat." "Hi, Lou," the group responds in unison. "It has been ninety days since I left the party ... " I continue, to their understanding nods. Some of us are going to need a twelve-step program to deal with what went down in the 2023-24 presidential election cycle.
Let me get this out of the way. I am not a proponent of election conspiracy theories, and I do not think Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. I believe Trump's allegations of widespread voter fraud worked to undermine confidence in elections, especially among his followers. However, Democrats and the legacy news media have taken the conversation too far the other way by painting those who want to increase the security of our elections in any way as kooky conspiracy theorists. It should be a bipartisan aim to ensure our elections are only for U.S. citizens
The Democratic political class cannot believe they might lose again to Donald Trump. "How could anyone vote for that man?" they complain. "He is just so gauche!" In a way, they have a point. Trump is gauche. His recent perambulations about Arnold Palmer are the latest in a long line of baffling utterances and improvisations. But mixed in with the weirdness is some smart campaigning. Trump's McDonald's stunt was a very sharp move (not genius, but pretty good for a standard political stunt). And of course, it sent Democrats on tilt at how undignified and cheap Trump was (again). The Democratic elites are so appalled by Trump they cannot bring themselves to give him any credit for anything. But the fact is, the former president has good instincts at self-promotion, unlike Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. Trump's delay, delay, delay legal strategy worked. Trump has the issue environment on his side. And Trump is currently the favorite to win.
I like the message and the tone. Having said that blustery words are just that. He will have to get congressional approval for even a very limited military strike. This is t defensive.