Month: November 2016

A parliamentary system, which separates the duties of Head of State and Head of Government, has its advantages.  The King, or Emperor, or Sultan, or President  — the Head of State  — has largely ceremonial duties, allowing the Prime Minister, or Grand Vizier  — the Head of Government — to do his job full time, which is running the government.  Most countries of the world have parliamentary forms of government.  It may, in fact, be more efficient.

We may be about to find out right here in the USA.  Trump has no interest in actually running the government.  He’s going to be busy as Head of State, traveling around, Making America Great, and having the time of his life.  He’ll spend most of his time in Manhattan or on the road.  The White House will be where he stays when he’s hosting an official function, or is otherwise tied up in Washington.  No one will object, saying that he’s ignoring his constitutional responsibilities by delegating them to his Prime Minister, Vice President Mike Pence.  In fact, of course, everyone in the entire country will be happy that he’s chosen this course.  The people who love him will love him no matter what he does, and will be glad to see him enjoying himself.  God knows he’s earned it.  The people who hate and fear him  hope that he has absolutely nothing to do with running the government.

He and his inner circle will decide what they want, and then Pence and the rest of Trump World will set about getting it done.  Nothing is done without his permission.  Every initiative must receive his approval.  He sets goals, selects individuals to achieve them, and then exercises only a supervisory function.  He wants results, and will judge everyone in his administration by that standard.

This all became clear with the replacement of Christie by Pence as head of transition.  Jared Kushner gets his final revenge.  The damage done to his own father has been avenged.  And he made it happen. His father is very proud of him right now, and Jared is nothing if not a dutiful son.

Reince Priebus as Trump’s Chief of Staff is another tell.  The Prime Minister must work with the legislative branch, and Priebus is a Ryan guy.  Relations with Congress will go smoothly.  Pence is an old mentor of Ryan, and they will work hand in glove.  If Kellyanne Conway becomes Pence’s Chief of Staff she’ll be the most powerful woman in Washington.  I hope she gets it.  It would all fit together so nicely.  One can hope.

I guess Bannon is Trump’s consigliere and media consultant, which will suit him just fine.  If Trump appoints Cruz to the Scalia seat the whole picture will be perfect.  A presidential administration taking form without a hitch.  Add a little Article V spice to the mix and all will be complete.  We’ll have set the table for 2017, a year of political accomplishment that will be historic.

Babbie and I got to see our granddaughters, and their new house.  The older will spend the next eight years there, the younger ten.  I gave my twelve year old an assignment.  I asked her to read Article V of the Constitution, and try to understand what it meant.  And from that, can she figure out what it is that  I’ve been talking to her about for the last three years.  She’s pretty smart.  I bet she gets it.

Most people could, if they ever read Article V, and thought about it.

 

We had Reagan the Magnificent, Bush the Kind, the Clinton Crime Family, Bush the Compassionate, Obama the Detached, and now Trump the Improbable.

Andrew Jackson was the most complete bad ass to ever win the Presidency, with the exception of George Washington.  He was a common man, born to poverty, raised by a widow who earned her keep raising the family of her kin.  He was absolutely fearless, and wore the love of his country on his sleeve.  He, more than any other man, fulfilled America’s Manifest Destiny.  He did this on the field of battle in 1814 at New Orleans.  Great Britain, the most powerful country in the world, controlled northern North America, or Canada, and it wanted more.  The Louisiana Purchase gave us title to the land in question, but that transfer was considered invalid by the British.  Our title to that land was cleared with blood, by an army under Jackson’s leadership.  One of his lieutenants, Sam Houston, later brought Texas into the fold, and his political protege, James K. Polk, won the war with Mexico, and acquired California and much of the west.  Polk also negotiated the peaceful addition of the Oregon Territory, making our continental nation whole.  That was all Jackson’s work, and it was a fulfillment of the dream of the Founding Fathers.  They didn’t fight a War of Independence for a narrow strip of land on the east coast of a great unexplored continent.  They wanted it all, and Jackson delivered.

He set this all in motion before he ran for President in 1824.  The entire American political establishment cooperated in denying him his victory, led by what today we would call the Wall Street money men.  Back then it was called the Second Bank of the United States.  When he ran again it was one of the truly historic political landslides in American history.  American democracy, as we know and practice it today, began with Jackson in 1828.

Which brings me to Donald Trump.  It’s not fair to compare any man to Andrew Jackson, and with Trump it’s a non-starter.  But, in strictly political terms, he is a Jacksonian to his core.  This pampered son of a wealthy New York real estate investor has the chance to be as consequential, politically, as Andrew Jackson.

It’s up to Mike Pence to show him the way.  Trump is entering a land far different from anything he’s seen before.  He must rely on his family and his inner circle for support, and in some cases, guidance.  On constitutional questions, I believe his chief adviser will be Pence.  And Pence knows the case for Article V cold.  When the time comes, he’ll make the sale to Trump, and we’ll all work together to save the Constitution through the use of Article V.

If that’s all Trump did, we’d have to call him Trump the Resolute, or something.

 

It’s delicious.  I’ve had my hopes dashed a lot since Reagan.  Bush I was no conservative, and squandered the Reagan legacy.  Once Bill Clinton was revealed as a sexual predator, I was convinced an honorable  man like Dole would beat him.  Bush II was worse than his father, and in eight years ruined the Republican brand.   McCain was a lost cause, and Romney lost a race he should have won.  I got so used to losing that I gave up on Trump when the Access Hollywood tapes came out.

Trump is no Bill Clinton, who’s in the lowest circle of hell, which is reserved for those with the sin of treachery.  But Clinton won reelection  because voters believed his Presidency was in their personal best interest.  His personal faults were deplored, but he delivered peace and prosperity, so they were overlooked.  People may deplore Trump’s personal behavior, but they believed he had answers to our problems, and that was more important to them and their families.

A lot of good things will be happening in Washington before long, but the most important impact of this election will be on Article V, the vehicle for restoring States Rights, or federalism, the foundation of the Constitution.  We expected to win the Kentucky House, which will get us to 34.  Because of Trump coattails, it looks like we’ll win the Minnesota Senate, by one vote.  If that holds up, Minnesota will be our 35th, meaning we don’t need Maryland.  We’ll have 34 without them.

It’s been a long three years, for me, personally.  When Obamacare crashed as soon as it was implemented, I figured the tide had turned.  It was the signature issue for the Progressives, and its implosion was all theirs.  It won the Senate for us two years ago, and it may have been the issue that tipped this Presidential election.

A guy like Donald Trump never fit into my calculations.  We’re both old dogs, and he taught me a new trick.  Congratulations to President-elect Trump, his family, his campaign team, and his legions of supporters.  We’re taking our country back.

 

This election is a result of an act of sabotage against the Republican Party.  The saboteur is the media Hive, specifically NBC News.  The weapon used was the Access Hollywood tape that destroyed the Republican nominee’s chances.  This tape had been in NBC’s possession for many years, and was held in reserve for use at the point when it could do maximum damage.  Had this tape been released before the end of the Republican primaries, someone other than Trump would be the nominee, and the victor in today’s election.

This has got to be the message of the 2016 election.  It was stolen, by the Hive, and given to Clinton.  She has no political legitimacy.  Legally, she’ll be President, but it will be in name only.  When she speaks, the nation won’t listen.  2/3 of the country has tuned her out before she’s even elected.

Trump has no political future, and will be allowed to recede  — soon!  soon!  —  into the bad and fading memory of a dark night.  He’ll do his best to hang on to the spotlight,  but it’s all down hill from here.  He’s got his fans, but no one with any sense will pay attention to a thing he says.  Any man with half a brain could have won this election.  It takes somebody pretty special to lose to Hillary Clinton.  You’ve got to be stupid in a very special way.

Pence, or someone, will realize that this election was about a reassertion of American nationalism.  Nationalism scares some people.  But all nations of the world act in their own best interest, and that’s all that nationalism is.  In this country the way we express our nationalism is by saying we believe in America first and foremost, last and always.  It’s not complicated.  All policies are founded on a bedrock of self interest.  What’s in the best interests of the American people?

If that is not the basis of your policy, what is?

 

 

The powers that be decided that Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders were not acceptable nominees.  So instead of having a political discussion in 2016 we’re talking about which is worse, a self-obsessed sex fiend or a lying criminal.  It’s a tough choice.

In most elections people ask themselves, What’s best for me?  If you’re one of those suburban Republican women that Trump desperately needs, you may have a 401(k) or some other stock market investments.  When Comey cleared Clinton of wrongdoing on Sunday, the market took that as a sign that she was out of the woods, and Trump wasn’t going to win.  As a result, the market today broke an extended losing streak, and jumped 2%.  At least in the short term, people will think  a Clinton win is good for stocks, and this will help her.

But what I think puts her over the top is the danger of radical change that Trump represents.  Women in particular dread uncertainty.  I remember reading somewhere that prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind is more disposed to suffer, when Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.  Trump is just too unpredictable for a lot of people, especially women like Babbie.  He’s a nut.

It seems like a while since we had any urban riots or terror attacks.  Probably just a coincidence.  But the relative calm we’re experiencing is helping Clinton, so it may be somehow intentional.  Julian Assange has said that Trump will not be allowed to win the election.  Dark forces may be at work, it seems to me, but that’s just a hunch.

As always, the Philadelphia Democratic machine will steal the election in Pennsylvania.  Voting in black precincts will exceed a 100% turnout.  And all across the rust belt, excepting Ohio, fearful suburban Republican women will counteract angry white working class men.

But the wizards at 538.com now say, for the first time, that Republicans are favored to keep the Senate, barely.  Article V’ers are hoping to flip the Kentucky House, and have a shot in the legislatures of Maine, Minnesota and Washington.  Or we could lose the Colorado Senate, and be faced with another possible rescission.  The fact that the R’s may keep the Senate is a good sign for all down ballot Republicans.

Today is our 45th, and Babbie and I are off to see “Hacksaw Ridge”.  Before I met and married her, I’d seen a fair amount of trouble in my life.  It’s been smooth sailing ever since.  It’s like it was meant to be.