Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

Here’s the link to my AT article on what we could expect in a Trump administration, based on his stance on ethanol.  The Trumpster commenters don’t care about ethanol, only about immigration.  When Trump falls the key to his most loyal supporters will be the winner’s position on that issue alone.   If the Donald were to endorse the victor, and he did so based on his belief that the border would, in fact, be sealed by that candidate, I think he’d bring most of his people with him.  So even though he’s liable to get even stranger as he starts to lose, it’s important to stay civil, if not cordial.  Trump bruises easily, and requires special handling.

Around 87% of Nevada is owned by the federal government, 67% by the Bureau of Land Management alone.  That’s just fine with Trump.  He doesn’t want the State, and the people, of Nevada to have control over their own land.  It’s better off under the control of the Washington D.C. bureaucracy.

Rnad Paul wants to sell it or give it to the states.  Eventually I suspect Cruz will come around as well.  This issue can be decisive not only in Nevada, but in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Alaska and Arizona.  It’s an important issue in Colorado and New Mexico.

Needless to say, it’s just another proof of Trump’s ignorance of conservatism, and, in this case, the West.

It will cost him, if he’s still even in it after South Carolina.

We’re live in Virginia.    Our man there, Delegate Jim LeMunyon, is confident of passing the House, but the leadership doesn’t want to schedule a vote on a controversial bill unless there’s an assurance it will also pass the Senate.

Our Senate sponsor is Emmett Hanger, who’s co-chairing Finance this session.  It’s a 21-19 split, and approaches are being made to Democrats, but I’m skeptical.  The more likely way to a majority is with every single Republican, but that means we have to get Sen. Dick Black.  He doesn’t like Article V.

As you might imagine, any guy who calls himself Dick Black is something of a bad ass, being a Marine pilot in Vietnam who retired as a colonel.  My suggestion, which I hope is followed up by those in contact with him, is that we ask Retired Admiral, and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Tom Moore to call him.  Moore is working with us because he believes the greatest threat to the American military is the looming national bankruptcy which will destroy our ability to adequately defend ourselves.  An old jarhead like Black would give a respectful listen to a man like Moore.  They’re peas from a pod.  We’ll try everything we can think of to persuade Sen. Black.  I really don’t think we get Virginia without him.  The Virginia General Assembly adjourns on March 12th, so we don’t have a lot of time.

For its first attack ad on the Donald, the Cruz campaign (or his Pacs) is talking eminent domain.  I wonder how many people know what eminent domain is.  If you do, it’s an effective ad.  It’s well made.  Whoever is doing his ads is a pro.  They’ve got a lot of material to work with.  I’d like to see a montage ad, blending in a whole bunch of Trump’s statements, in brief.  When he told Chuck Todd he’s in favor of affirmative action, it only takes 10 seconds. Likewise his support of eminent domain, and partial birth abortion and gay marriage.  I’d string all those statements together, one after the other, and end with Cruz asking a question.  “Those are Donald Trump’s values.  They’re not mine.  Are they yours?”

I put in a piece to American Thinker on Trump and ethanol.  This is the ad that needs to be made, and if it’s properly done could turn some votes.  I know I’m something of an ethanol pest, but watching the Donald take the stage at the meeting of the Renewable Fuels Association was, to me, disgusting.  He’d cut his deal with these guys, and they’re all thick as thieves.  They’re all proud of themselves, especially Trump.  He cut a deal.  That’s what he does.  And then, for the first time that I’ve seen, he reads from a script to begin his address.  It’s a script that was written for him by Big Corn, in which he calls for increasing the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Here’s the deal.  Trump gets votes, and the ethanol industry not only gets to keep on ripping off the taxpayer and consumer, but they get to do more of it!  What’s not to like?  Everybody wins.

That’s how the Donald deals.

 

 

So Trump is deflecting accusations of being an “establishment” favorite by referencing his endorsement by Palin.  And Sarah Palin, everybody knows, is the enemy of the establishment.

Except in Iowa in 2010.  Prominent evangelical conservative Bob Vander Plaats was mounting a Tea Party challenge for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.  His main opponent was former Gov. Terry Branstad, the establishment candidate.  Palin’s endorsement of Branstad helped him edge above 50%, while Tea Party candidate Vander Plaats got 41%, or 93,000 votes.

How many of those 93,000 Iowans will caucus a week from Monday, and how many remember how shabbily their man was treated by the Trump loving Palin?

Maybe they need to be reminded.

In politics, there is a cost to the truth, and politicians don’t like paying it.  But right now this country needs to hear the truth, even if it’s unpleasant.  Before we can deal with the realities we face, we need to talk honestly about them.

The members of the Republican Club of the Senate are united in their dedication to their incumbency.  Favors are exchanged, logs rolled, and backs scratched, all to assure the members of the club get reelected.  It’s the one thing they all agree on, passionately.

In February of 2014 the issue of the moment was the debt ceiling, and Obama’s demand that he get a “clean” bill increasing it.  No Republican wanted to vote for this bill, politically.  It was a complete surrender to Obama, a betrayal of Republican principle, and another great pile of debt placed on future generations.  So the leaders of the Republican Club, who had agreed to this, asked all the members to vote for a “unanimous consent” resolution which would relieve them from having to cast a vote for it.  This resolution was strictly procedural, so there was no way to tie the debt ceiling vote to it.

Cruz said no.  If you want to give Obama a clean bill increasing the debt, you’ll have to vote for it.  From that day forward, Ted Cruz had no friends in the Club.  He was expelled, informally.  He had broken a cardinal rule.  He had forced them to tell the truth.

To win Iowa, Cruz needs to be honest with the voters there, just as he was honest in the Senate.  And the truth is that five years from now, when he proposes eliminating the Renewable Fuel Standard, ethanol may or may not prove to be a viable alternative fuel.  And if it can’t meet the test of the market place, it will have to find another way to survive.  And if the industry were to fade five years from now it would have a substantially negative impact on a large part of Iowa’s economy.  That’s the cold hard truth.

But here’s the other side of the truth.  The Renewable Fuel Standard is crony capitalism.  It’s the government picking economic winners and losers.  It’s taxing the whole country to subsidize a narrow sector of the economy.  It represents the kind of wasteful spending that’s driving us toward bankruptcy.  If you’re going to run for President on a pledge of cutting the federal government down to size, and you don’t oppose the RFS, you’re a hypocrite.

And that’s what Cruz is running on: cutting the federal government down to size, eliminating entire departments and agencies, including the IRS.  How can he campaign on that platform and not oppose RFS?  He can’t.

And Ted Cruz won’t.  Because he’s telling the truth.  And the truth is the American people are crying out for the federal government to be brought under control.  Some surveys have it as the biggest problem facing the country.  And the people of Iowa feel the same way about the federal government as the rest of the country does.  The question for them is, which is more important?  Are they ready to accept the federal government as is, as long as they get their ethanol subsidy?  Or will they put that industry at risk, in order to save their country?

A lot rides on the answer to that question.

 

Here’s the link to my piece in today’s American Thinker.  She’s losing the white working class, and with it the Midwest in the general.  But she’s doubling down on issues these voters dislike intensely, and her close bond with Obama makes it worse.  All the ingredients for a blow out in November are coming together.

It looks as though Rubio has decided on a 3-2-1 strategy, settling for third in Iowa, and hoping for second place in New Hampshire and a win in South Carolina.  It makes sense for him.  He was the only one with an outside shot at Iowa, other than Trump and Cruz.  The stakes are very high, because this year Iowa may be the key to the nomination.  A big Cruz win could very well propel him to a second victory in New Hampshire (the schwerpunkt) which in turn would make him the prohibitive favorite.  If Trump wins in Iowa, he can credibly say that he can win anywhere.  Follow up wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina would make him all but unstoppable.

So now it’s game on, one on one, may the best man win.  Academic types bemoan the way we choose our Presidents, but Iowa, this year, is as good a place as any to sort out this field.  These voters are as well informed as any, and committed to their civic duty.  A lot of them take the time to see the candidates in person, a great way to evaluate them.  Iowa is part of the American Midlands, which traditionally decides our national elections.

And then there’s ethanol.  Trump has shown Iowa voters a first hand example of his “art of the deal.”  He’ll feed taxpayer money to the ethanol industry in exchange for votes.  A pretty simple, straightforward deal.  In terms of their own economic self interest, it’s a good deal for Iowans.

As for the rest of us, tough.  That’s politics, baby.  You can’t make a deal without breaking some eggs.  Idealism is for suckers.  Ask any New Yorker.