Climate Theatrics

Friends, there are two constants in the world of "climate change": 1) politicians, journalists, and academics never tire of hectoring the public about the cataclysm that higher global temperatures portend, and 2) global carbon emissions keep increasing, despite the blather of these sanctimonious elites.  If leftist piety could defeat climate change, this war would have been won a long time ago, but in fact all this talk is mere, well, hot air.  In the meantime, ordinary folks like ourselves have to wonder: are our prospects really as bleak as the opinion leaders suggest?  The upshot is that they are not.  Climate change introduces substantial uncertainties and challenges, but mankind is, as best as we can tell, quite capable of meeting them.  Consider the arguments of this fine article, and indulge yourselves in a big sigh of relief:

https://outline.com/MchEpW

Trump: A Work In Progress?

Hey, nobody's perfect, right? My latest article examines the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency and some of the missed opportunities for this administration. Ideally, these missed opportunities can turn into important lessons for Trump and his team. Fighting his way to reelection will be tough, but Trump is the epitome of tough, and he can be quick on his feet too. I sincerely hope he takes some of my sage counsel to heart, because, if he does hone his message and improve his tactics, there's no limit to what he can achieve. We need four -- well, six -- more years of Trump (at a minimum)! Let's make sure we get it.

https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/06/president-trumps-missed-opportunities/

And here's some bonus wisdom: a great analysis of the "climate change" boondoggle:

http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/05/climate-change-alarmism-worlds-leading-cause-hot-gas/?fbclid=IwAR1O3VY447OUFa0jN6Fq7djWTWSID_iHRJMMRMm4Jxz3VeVe5xQG6tP9pKo

A New World Order

Friends, in my Newsmaker interview this week with Brian O'Neil, we pay tribute to our 41st President George H.W. Bush. I analyze his invaluable contributions to the end of the Cold War, a seminal moment in global history that has ushered in a dramatically freer and more prosperous world. This week's show also covers the "yellow jacket" riots in France, Mueller and the unequal justice meted out to Democrats and Republicans, the rise of socialism on the Left, Democratic obstruction of the enforcement of our immigration laws, and much more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxxI5lXOw5k&feature=youtu.be

The Elephant in Harvard Yard

Friends, today I recommend to you this excellent article about the state of affirmative action in higher education.  Very soon the Supreme Court might consider this issue anew, and I sincerely hope they will end affirmative action for good.  You don't hear much about racial preferences in the media -- because to draw attention to them or to question them is not politically correct -- but, as this article describes, the extent of their use, both in higher ed and in the business world, is vast...and very troubling.  Millions of Americans are being negatively impacted by these preferences: whites and Asians who are denied opportunities based on their race, and blacks and Hispanics, who are, in many cases, given these opportunities, but do not have the background to be successful in their new roles.  The alternative -- to judge people based "on the content of their character" and on their abilities, rather on than their skin color or ethnic background -- seems not to occur to many leftists, but it's one that conservatives, and most Americans, support.  Let's end affirmative action for good, therefore, and let's call race preferences what they are: a form of racism that has no place in 21st-century America.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/12/04/we_must_face_persistent_racial_gaps_in_academic_performance_138818.html

And a quick reminder: media bias has been with us for a long time, and the dearly departed President George H.W. Bush was a frequent victim of it.  Take all the after-the-fact praise of his legacy that you see in the press with a grain of salt, therefore.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/4/long-term-press-bias-only-7-of-journalists-voted-f/

Godspeed, President Bush!

Allow me to join in that great chorus of voices that is praising the honorable service and accomplished life of former President George H.W. Bush, who died yesterday.  I was always a big fan of his.  For many years, in fact, there was a life-sized cardboard cutout of President Bush that adorned my room.  Granted, Bush was a moderate, and in 1992 I was sorely tempted to support the insurgent candidacy of Pat Buchanan (for all the obvious reasons), but I never lost respect for Bush the man.  He was a patriot, a gentleman, and a consummate public servant.  It is to the everlasting shame of this country, if you ask me, that we replaced Bush with...Bill Clinton, of all people, in 1992.  We traded a war hero for a peacenik draft-dodger.  What a deal!  That's water under the bridge, though, and Bush himself never bore a grudge.  Can you imagine an officeholder graciously accepting defeat, in our present climate?  Well, times have changed, and not always for the better.  Mark my words: you'll see a lot of news stories in the next few days to the effect that the real lesson of Bush's life is...that Trump sucks.  I respectfully disagree, although I understand why the Bushes find Trump's style so odious.  They're entitled to their opinion.  I'm also entitled to mine: I think George H.W. Bush was a fine man and an excellent President.  By all appearances, he was a great family man too.  He will be missed.

Will the 21st Century be the Anti-American Century?

Friends, the fact that so many young people are attracted by the siren song of leftism is a source of profound disappointment for many conservatives, as it should be.  This "poll" professes to measure some of the shockingly liberal and unpatriotic sentiments of the younger generation, and thus, despite its serious methodological flaws, it can serve as a wake-up call for those on the right who believe that "the children are the future," as, of course, in a literal sense they are.  The Left is doing a full court press to convince children and young adults that America is a hellscape of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and transphobia, and only the Democrats can save us from the KKK/Republican Party.  Many youngsters are swallowing the bait.  Be afraid!

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/11/29/young-americans-millennials-believe-america-racist-not-greatest-country

Secondly, you may wish to read one of Victor Davis Hanson's articles, which are always stimulating.  In this article, Hanson opines that Trump's rashest and most juvenile remarks and tweets are hurting him with the sort of moderate, suburban voters he needs to win re-election in 2020. To a point, I agree.  Trump's style irks many people, and he could smooth out some of the hard edges of that style in order to minimize his offensiveness.  What Hanson doesn't seem to get, though, is how little style or substance matters when the media is determined to make you look bad.  Many of Trump's "outrageous" tweets aren't in fact outrageous at all.  They're just spun that way by a hostile press corps.  Unless Trump gets some handle on the media, and shames or intimidates them into moderating their bias, his stylistic changes won't accomplish much, in my view.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/11/29/is_there_a_51_percent_solution_for_trump_138775.html

And here's another article that echoes my position that, unless conservatives learn how to reverse the Left's domination of the media and many other culturally pivotal institutions, our collective goose is cooked:

https://spectator.us/cultural-conservatism-demographics/

Make a Run for the Border?

Friends, the thin green line is hard at work, as the U.S. Border Patrol attempts to keep the Central American migrants at bay.  The newspaper copy pretty much writes itself for leftist journalists: "President Trump is tear gassing babies!  Oh, the humanity!"  We break the story down during my latest Newsmaker interview with Brian O'Neil.  We also cover the denouement of the Mueller investigation, the fate of Rod Rosenstein, the controversy over bias at Twitter, and the military lessons of the Vietnam War.  Don't miss it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xClvGp46pOA&feature=youtu.be

Good News/Bad News

Breaking News: Chairman Cuomo, iron-fisted ruler of the People's Republic of New York, has declared that he will NOT run for President in 2020.  He wants to concentrate on the important work remaining in the obliteration of the Empire State.  Is Cuomo on the level?  Probably, yes.  A declaration of non-interest in running for President is difficult, if not impossible, to walk back.  The good news, therefore, is that it appears that the nation will be spared Cuomo's misrule.  The bad news, however, is that Cuomo will be lording it over New Yorkers for the foreseeable future, and possibly forever.  There are only two small rays of hope: he could be jettisoned at some point by his fellow Democrats.  There's precedent for that in New York, as we all know.  Our Governors and Attorneys General regularly bite the dust.  He could also be elevated to the cabinet, or to some other high-level appointment in Washington, if a Democrat wins in 2020.  You see, friends -- whatever happens, hope springs eternal, and all things must surely come to an end someday, even Cuomo-ism.  Stay strong!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-gov-cuomo-says-hes-ruling-out-2020-presidential-bid

All Smiles in Swampsville?

Friends, my latest article is an analysis of President Trump's (superficially curious) decision to endorse Nancy Pelosi's bid to become Speaker of the House. Is Trump crazy...or crazy like a fox?  Decide for yourselves.

President Trump: More “Mr. Nice Guy,” Please

Lost in the hail of barbs and recriminations that the talking heads unleash on poor President Trump on a daily basis is the fact that he recently made a brilliant political move of Machiavellian shrewdness. He endorsed Nancy Pelosi's campaign to be re-elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In doing so, he put Pelosi and the Democrats – his avowed political enemies – in a wholly unexpected and deeply uncomfortable position.

How did he do it? After the Democrats won the House majority in the midterm elections, Trump tweeted that Pelosi “deserves this victory, she has earned it.” He told reporters: “I like her, can you believe it? I like Nancy Pelosi. She's tough and she's smart...she deserves to be Speaker, and now they're playing games with her...” Trump has even offered to “help Nancy Pelosi if she needs some votes”, suggesting Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican, as a potential Pelosi supporter.

What are we to make of a Republican President who offers to assist a much-reviled San Francisco liberal to assume the crucial role of Speaker of the House? Pelosi dismissed Trump's offer immediately, vowing that she would win the speakership with Democratic votes alone, but could Trump's maneuvers have more lasting significance?

First, we should observe that, in supporting Pelosi, Trump is arguably plucking some very low-hanging political fruit. Pelosi is, despite a halfhearted, leaderless rebellion against her by a handful of House Democrats, extremely likely to be re-elected Speaker. According to PredictIt, an online betting market that implicitly forecasts political developments, Pelosi's return to the speakership is a 96% certitude. President Trump is therefore betting on a winner, and in politics that is seldom a bad idea. Trump is likely to earn some bragging rights, therefore, and he will be able to greet the newly-enthroned Speaker Pelosi in January with a firm handshake and a sly insinuation that he was behind her all the way.

Second, President Trump must know that, given the unprecedented loathing that liberals feel towards him, his support for Nancy Pelosi cannot but be seen by her as a political liability. From the leftist perspective, Trump's approval of Pelosi is a bad joke, at best, and the kiss of death, at worst. Liberals also realize that part of Trump's (and Republicans') affection for Pelosi grows out of her perceived weakness. She is widely seen by conservatives and Trump-supporters as a tarnished figurehead for loony California-style liberalism. She is, in this sense, the perfect foil for Trump to run against in 2020. That the House she presides over will accomplish little besides raking President Trump and his family members over the coals will, Republicans assume, make it even easier to blacken the name of Democratic candidates in 2020 with the epithet: “He/she is a Pelosi liberal!” If one assumes, therefore, that the likely alternative to Pelosi is a fresh new face with the potential to re-brand the Democratic Party and refocus the work of the House on bipartisan priorities, then it is surely in the political interests of Republicans that Pelosi should retain her stranglehold on the speakership and on the Democratic caucus. She is an albatross, pure and simple.

Third, assuming that Trump is actually playing a double game, and that his support for Pelosi is intended to hobble her and/or to lessen her chances of emerging as Speaker, the possibility emerges that Trump will succeed in precipitating the defeat of his “favorite” by a newcomer. If indeed Pelosi is defeated, it will be because the Democrats succumbed to vicious internecine squabbling. Trump and Republicans would take, one assumes, undisguised pleasure in Pelosi's downfall and in the Democrats' discomfiture. They might also assume that whomever was chosen as the new Speaker of the House would be either severely damaged by the bitter battle that would have preceded their selection, or would be gravely compromised by the accommodations they would have made with the far-left elements in the Democratic caucus in order to achieve victory. Either way, Trump and the Republicans would be the beneficiaries.

All in all, therefore, Trump's decision to voice his support for Nancy Pelosi's bid for the speakership seems like the rarest of political machinations: a true win-win that carries virtually no risk for the Machinator-in-Chief. To put it another way, whatever happens to Nancy Pelosi, Trump will come out of the Democrats' bruising political struggle smelling like a rose.

Given the obvious political benefits of President Trump's unconventional intervention in the Democrats' House leadership contest, perhaps President Trump should consider reprising the role of “Mr. Nice Guy” in the near future. For instance, some well-timed, incisive praise for the President's favorite Hollywood blowhards (Alec Baldwin?), for left-leaning corporate bigwigs (Jeff Bezos?), and even for the brashest and most refractory of White House correspondents (Jim Acosta?) could be just the medicine these “enemies of the people” need to rethink their life-philosophy of Trump-hatred. Every compliment could even come with a free MAGA hat...

Could the old-saying be true: you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar? I advise President Trump to find out. What does he have to lose?

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears weekly on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480.

And here it is in the Daily Caller:

https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/27/trump-nancy-pelosi-nice/ 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!  This year, I'm thankful for America, President Trump, Justice Kavanaugh, the Republican Senate, my legions of adoring fans, and yes -- I'm even thankful for liberals!  After all, they're "worthy" opponents, but not quite worthy enough to win (most of the time).  We couldn't ask for much more than that, could we?  😆  May you all enjoy some quality time with your family, and may the holiday season be full of warmth and fellowship for everyone (enclosed by Trump's admittedly hypothetical wall)!