Miscellaneous

Montana Senator Jon Tester is a former school teacher who farms the land that his grandparents homesteaded in 1912.  When he was nine he lost the middle three fingers of his left hand to a meat grinder.  His farm is in the middle of Montana, in the middle of the Wheat Belt, which stretches from Alberta to Texas.

Montana is primarily an agricultural state, and Tester has cred with his fellow farmers.  He may be out of tune with them politically, but he’s one of them.  They are a critical part of his political base.

When the Chinese trade delegation was making plans to visit a couple farm states on their way home, they picked Montana.  Why?  Kansas is the wheat state.  Montana is only number five.

Politically, Montana is solid Trump country.  Not so the state of Washington, which is number three in wheat production.  A trip there might have boosted the President’s remote chance of winning Washington in 2020.

Montana was picked because of Tester reelection run in 2024.  Trump wants to steal Tester’s base, by showing Montana wheat growers that he’s their guy, and he can deliver the goods.  Trump doesn’t need any help in Montana, but the Republican nominee in 2024 will want all the help he can get.

Whoever that nominee may be.

At the center of the American alliance are Great Britain, Japan, Canada and Australia, maritime powers all, proud partners of the US Navy.  Our next circle of geopolitical friends include Denmark, the Netherlands, Singapore and, it is now apparent, India.

Today’s “Howdy Modi” event in Houston was the stuff of history.  For all the world to see, the great nations of the United States and India stand together.

For the President, it was brilliant political theater.  For America, it was the addition of a billion allies all over the world.

What to call this new world order?  How about the Alliance of Democracy?

In seeking to undermine Joe Biden by exposing his Ukranian corruption, President Trump has revealed his preferred opponent in 2020.  It’s Elizabeth Warren, for a host of reasons.

Two weeks ago she promised to ban fracking “everywhere” on her first day in office.  This will cost her, at a minimum, the battleground states of Pennsylvania , Colorado and New Mexico.  Over 100,000 Pennsylvanians have good paying jobs in the fracking industry, and in 2015 it contributed over $44 billion to the state’s economy.  

New Mexico is one of the leading producers of oil and gas in the country.  Only because of fracking.  Without it, there wouldn’t be any significant oil and gas production.

Colorado contains  a large portion of the Permian shale deposit, and fracking is an important and growing part of the economy.  And it’s popular.  In November of 2018 56% of Colorado voters rejected a ban on fracking.

President Obama was no tool of the oil and gas industry.  But he was smart enough to realize that fracking was important to this country in a variety of ways.  Indeed, the fracking revolution blossomed during his Presidency.  Warren is way out of line on this one, even among Democrats.

On abortion, Warren is a shrill extremist.  She opposes any and every limit to it, even those supported by a majority of women.  This will soon become a hot topic on the campaign trail, since the Supreme Court is poised to take up state restrictions on abortion in the coming term. Roe v. Wade will not be reversed, but reasonable limits imposed by the states will likely be upheld.  Warren’s radical rejection of any restriction will be exposed and highlighted.

Her recent call for the impeachment of Justice Kavanaugh will be skillfully exploited by the Trump campaign.  At the appropriate time, this issue will resurface, and every woman who loves a father, son, brother or husband will realize what a man-hating fanatic she is.

Is she a gun grabber, like Beto O’Rourke?  Of course, and the NRA is very strong in places like Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Colorado.

Say what you want about doddering Joe Biden, he’s no Elizabeth Warren.  She’s far more extreme than Hillary Clinton, and just as repellent, in her own way.

Bring her on.

 

 

 

 

Right after I met some Australians for the first time, they got into a brawl with a bunch of Germans at the Hofbrauhaus.  This was at the Oktoberfest in 1967.  They were like Americans, but with an accent.  They’re our first cousins, and our best and most natural friends in the world.  Having Aussie P. M. Scott Morrison and his wife for a state dinner is something that all Americans can be happy about.

There’s no reason Australians should have to get a visa to come to our country.  I think they should be able to stay as long as they want.  And I don’t know why I need a visa to go to Australia.  I’m sure I’d feel right at home there.

Maybe the President and the Prime Minister can cut a deal on this over dinner.

(the following appears in yesterday’s American Thinker)

American political dynasties follow certain rules, at the presidential level.  There is an interval between the presidencies of a dynasty, and each generation must have political achievements of their own.  The office has never been inherited.  That smacks of monarchy, which Americans have no use for.

John Quincy Adams served 28 years after his father, and was Secretary of State.  William Henry Harrison served 48 years before his grandson Benjamin.  There were eight years between the Bushes.

Would-be dynasties follow the same rules.  Bobby Kennedy ran five years after his brother’s assassination, and was a U. S. Senator from New York.  Hillary waited eight years after her husband’s presidency, and was Secretary of State.  Jeb! Bush also waited eight years, and had been governor of Florida.

The Republican candidate in 2024 will run on President Trump’s record, and if successful would serve for eight years.  So 2032 would be the election for Don Trump to run, if that is his ambition.  If he moves to Montana and beats incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Tester in 2024, he would have an achievement, and an eight year record, of his own.

The political machine President Trump has assembled, and is assembling, won’t be allowed to go to waste.  It will be put in the service of the Republican in 2024, and if properly attended to, will still be of value in 2032.  If President Trump’s administration continues its historic accomplishments, the name Trump will be political gold in 2032, and 55 year old Senator Don Trump of Montana would be the odds on favorite for the nomination.  His father would be 86.  A spry 86, no doubt.

There are some parallels between the Bush and Trump dynasties.  George W. got his start in elective politics by beating the incumbent Democratic Governor of Texas, Anne “Ma” Richards.  The Bushes all hated Richards.  At the 1988 Democratic Convention she was the keynote speaker, and her ridicule of Bush was cutting.  Ina thick Texas accent, she made fun of Bush’s clumsy way with words, saying,  “Poooooor Geoooooorge, he  can’t he’p it!  He was born wid a silver spoon in his mouth!”

If Don Trump starts in elective politics by taking out Tester, it would be doubly sweet for the whole Trump family.  Out of sheer malice, Tester killed the nomination of  Ronny Jackson to be Surgeon General.  Jackson was a Trump family favorite.  President Obama made him Physician to the President in 2013, and he was fine physician and a great guy.

So, as the President is fond of saying, we’ll see what happens.