Friends, everyone can agree that paying the Ayatollah not to murder us is a masterstroke of U.S. foreign policy. Well, everyone can agree on that when Biden does it. If Trump did it, presumably consensus would be more...elusive? I expect so. This is just one of many hard-hitting analytical flourishes that Brian and I pursue on this week's Newsmaker Show. We also discuss the practicalities of potential Chinese aggression against Taiwan, the absurdity of the inflated rhetoric of Ukrainian warlord/President Zelensky, the growing Dem jitters about Candidate Biden, the acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the politics of abortion in the Republican Party, the significance of the demise of the Senate's dress code, and the establishment media's contempt for the public's concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy.
Golly! Can one twenty minute interview really get to the bottom of ALL of those hot-button issues? Yes! Yes, it can.
https://wlea.net/newsmaker-september-20-2023-dr-nick-waddy/
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In other news, check out some of the early state polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, i.e. polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. There's one clear theme: Donald Trump is way ahead. There's another clear theme: the majority of voters in these critical states aren't sold on Trump, but, of those, they are dividing their support between a number of different contenders. If that keeps up, DJT will sail to the nomination. On the other hand, if the anti-Trump, or Trump-skeptical, wing of the GOP ever coalesces behind a single candidate, he/she could make a race of it. In short, it ain't over yet! In fact, it hasn't even begun.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
Here's an interesting analysis of international aid to Ukraine. Of course, the U.S. tops the list, but many European countries are forking over many, many billions to support the Zelensky regime. It's been a long time since the West was so united in advocating and funding any cause -- in this case, a rather dubious one!
https://www.bbc.com/news/66870559
Arguably, Americans won't care much about the progress of the Trump trials in 2024, or even their outcomes. They might write all this off as "politics as usual", even though there's nothing terribly "usual" about 91 felony indictments against a former president. Be all this as it may, the most important aspect of the Trump prosecutions may be efforts by prosecutors to muzzle Trump, which could limit his effectiveness as a candidate, or even incarcerate him for critical periods during the campaign. Note the moxie of Special Counsel Jack Smith's stated reason for a gag order against Trump: he "has an established practice of issuing inflammatory public statements targeted at individuals or institutions that present an obstacle or challenge to him". Oh really? And Biden doesn't??? Every politician trashes those who "present an obstacle or challenge" them. It's called...politics! It's also called free speech.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-smith-gag-order/2023/09/20/id/1135261/