Throwing a Haley Mary?

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show sets a new standard in analytical excellence.  Brian and I cover captivating and critical themes, such as: Nikki Haley's curious stubbornness about pursuing her quest for the GOP presidential nomination, despite an 0-6 record in the primaries and caucuses; French President Macron's wild suggestion that NATO troops might need to deploy to Ukraine; where responsibility lies for the escalating border crisis and the American casualties it produces; whether or not the Chicom elite is losing its grip in the PRC; the social ramifications of the widespread digitization of commerce; the prospects for Tulsi Gabbard as DJT's running mate; the prospects for RFK, Jr. as a Trump ally and possibly even a cabinet officer after the 2024 election; the shocking resurgence of standardized testing; and the marvelous renaissance in lunar exploration, led by the private sector.

Where else on the various "internets" can you find a discussion this wide-ranging, and that takes just 20ish minutes of your time???  You tell me!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-28-2024-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, Mitch McConnell had a brainstorm yesterday and decided to retire as the GOP leader in the Senate.  Maybe it was something he ate?  Whatever caused it, I, along with most Republicans, applaud his sudden mental clarity and thank him for his past service as we anticipate a new (and improved) Senate leader in the years to come!

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/28/mitch-mcconnell-replacement-battle-00143910 

Finally, in a move that will surprise no one, especially Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a federal judge has placed an injunction on Texas' new law criminalizing illegal immigration (at the state level).  This naturally offends the Biden Administration, which believes -- probably rightly -- that it has the Constitutional prerogative to enforce, or ignore, whatever federal immigration laws it wishes, and the states can just sit there and take it.  Alas, we won't get much progress on this issue, as I've said, until we have an ultra-MAGA president in the White House again.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68441657

Bolstering Bolsonaro

 

Friends, I don't know if you've been following the absurd, anti-democratic persecution of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's former president, and indeed many other members of the opposition, by the socialist government of "Lula", the country's new (and also old) gangster-president, but you should be.  It's providing a road map for how to undermine democratic institutions in the name of "democracy" that so-called progressives in this country will be sorely tempted to follow.  The key difference is that, in Brazil, the Left controls the (very assertive, even dictatorial) courts, whereas in the U.S. there is still, for now, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and Democrats, for now, obey the high court's rulings.  In any case, perhaps the only card that freedom-loving Brazilians have left to play is mass action.  Possibly, the current rulers of Brazil will hesitate to stifle an opposition that is clearly popular.  Possibly, they would be afraid to trample the people of Brazil and their rights openly and brazenly.  And, in the end, we may come to a similar pass in the United States as well.  How to counter leftist "lawfare" against conservatives and dissidents?  Massive public rallies, like the one we saw in Brazil this past weekend, would go a long way.  So far we haven't seen any big demonstrations in defense of Trump or other victims of lawfare.  Maybe we should, and maybe we must.

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/26/hundreds-thousands-flood-brazils-largest-city-protest-persecution-of-ex-president-jair-bolsonaro/

 

And this article poses a most intriguing question: could Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat, become Donald Trump's running mate in '24?  The author makes a strong case for Tulsi, and she may even be angling for consideration.  Personally, though, I consider it unlikely, because, above all, I suspect Trump will be looking for someone predictable and loyal.  Tulsi has shown great independence and courage in the past, which is to her credit in many ways, but those qualities don't necessarily recommend her as a running mate.

https://spectator.org/will-tulsi-gabbard-be-donald-trumps-vp-pick/

Let's Party Like It's 1972!

 

Friends, no American craft has made a soft landing on the Moon since 1972.  Sad, isn't it?  Well, today we broke the spell and "Odysseus" parked itself near the lunar south pole.  Tellingly, it wasn't NASA, primarily, that despatched Odysseus.  It was a private company: "Intuitive Machines".  Let's hope this means that free enterprise will pick up where the U.S. government left off, because NASA's performance in space exploration has been sub-par for a long time.  I want a summer home on Mars, darn it!  And I strongly suspect that Elon Musk will deliver it to me way sooner than Joe Biden will.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68377730

 

In other news, there's an emerging trend in elite higher ed: standardized test requirements, which were abandoned during the pandemic, are being reinstated!  This is a small miracle, because wokeness dictates that objective measures of "merit" are part and parcel of "system racism".  But don't worry: Ivy League institutions will still be gaming the system, either overtly or covertly, to ensure that their demographic and ideological goals are met.

 

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/yale-reinstates-standardized-test-scores-for-admissions-d9eb6b70 

Finally, this article argues that recent judgements against Donald Trump in New York, and Elon Musk in Delaware, are based on judicial animus towards these brazen dissidents against orthodoxy.  No kidding.  What's interesting is that the co-author of the piece is none other than Jeb Bush -- he who was defenestrated by DJT back in 2016!  If Democratic lawfare is scandalizing even members of the Bush family, you know the Left has gone too far...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-musk-cases-imperil-the-rule-of-law-new-york-delaware-courts-business-266a5559?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Death By A Thousand Cuts (They Hope)

 

Friends, lefties are loving every minute of the Trump trials, and those multimillion dollar judgements against him are like candy to them.  Be that as it may, there's little or no evidence that thus far any of the cases have achieved their primary, essentially political, objective: to damage Trump as a candidate for the presidency.  Oh, he was already damaged and widely unpopular, but his favorables and unfavorables have barely budged overall -- and, given Biden's struggles, Trump is still in a very strong position to win in November.  The presence of so many candidates in the race makes his job even easier.

On this week's Newsmaker Show, Brian and I discuss Trump's travails, as well as the significance of the death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison, Democratic efforts to capture control of the redistricting process via the courts, how Republicans and conservatives are increasingly assuming the role of persecuted dissidents in America, Nate Silver's surging anxiety about Biden's electoral prospects, the future of the No Labels movement and the question of why Americans refuse to vote for third party candidates, Nikki Haley's defiant tone about staying in the race, the outrageousness of the phony "fraud" case against Trump in NYS, and the prospects for Joe Sempolinski as a potential candidate for the New York State Assembly.

From the Southern Tier of Western New York to the frozen wastelands of Siberia, we here at WaddyIsRight bring you the world!  And at no cost to you, I might add -- what a deal!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-21-2024-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, the New York Times is reveling in Democrats' crafitness in using state courts to advance their leftist agenda, and indeed the Dems have captured control of many critical purple state Supreme Courts.  The Times didn't mention that the first priority of many of these state-level judges is redrawing legislative and Congressional district boundaries so that Democrats can win the maximum number of seats.  As usual, the Dems are outperforming Republicans strategically and tactically, and we would do well to remember that, because of "judicial review", i.e. judicial supremacy, ultimately he who controls the courts controls everything.

https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F02%2F20%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fdemocrats-judges-states.html

 

Finally, among Republicans, apparently Ron DeSantis is the top choice to be Donald Trump's running mate.  Now, whether DeSantis is Trump's top choice is another matter.  I personally would love to see an alliance between these two men, first and foremost because it would put DeSantis at the head of the line of succession.  Right now, it's very unclear who will, or could, seize the Trumpian mantle after DJT himself goes to MAGA heaven.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/2863188/desantis-the-choice-for-trumps-vice-president-tucker-carlson-sixth/

The Silver Bullet?

 

Friends, I highly recommend to you this article by Nate Silver, who is an election guru highly respected by leftists.  He studies polls and election trends like the nerd he is, and his evolving view of the 2024 presidential contest is most interesting.  Basically, what he's claiming is that Joe Biden is losing, and he's very likely to lose in November unless he can dramatically improve Americans' perceptions of his energy level, dynamism, and competence.  As Silver points out, he's avoiding unscripted public appearances like the plague, which doesn't suggest that Silver's challenge is likely to be met.  Ergo, what Silver is really saying is that...Biden has got to go, and leading Dems need to approach him and convince him to pack it up.  The question, of course, is whether any "leading Dems" have the courage to tell Biden this to his face.  So far, they have not.

https://www.natesilver.net/p/its-time-for-the-white-house-to-put

 

New York State, once known as the "Empire State", and now known as the state that was formerly an empire, but is now a smoking ruin, has lost another business.  No, I'm not talking about Trump, Inc.  I'm talking about gun manufacturer Remington.  Do the people of New York care?  Well, no doubt some of them do, but the truth is that the majority of voters in deep blue cities and states will gladly watch whole industries go down the tubes, along with their demographic standing, as long as Republicans and conservatives in general, and Donald Trump specifically, are screwed in the process.  It's asinine, yes, and, increasingly, it's the American way.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2024/02/20/remington-ceo-cites-legislative-environment-new-york-company-moves-georgia/ 

Nikki Haley, in case you haven't noticed, is growing more and more critical in her comments about Donald Trump, and she's growing more and more defiant when asked why she isn't dropping out of the race.  It looks like Haley is determined to "go the distance", and it's somewhat baffling why.  My guess is that Haley thinks the GOP will totally reinvent itself once the bad dream that is the Trump era, from her perspective, ends.  In the meantime, she's enjoying the plaudits of the GOP establishment and the media, so why not carry on?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68351923

 

Finally, did you know that there's one acre of sacred ground in the U.K. that actually belongs to the United States of America?  Consider it a beachhead of sorts if we ever decide to conquer our erstwhile "mother country"...  The story behind it is most intriguing.

 

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0ftrxhx/the-tiny-piece-of-the-us-hidden-in-england 

Not Dead Yet

 

Friends, it's part of the human condition, alas, that we'll all die eventually -- especially you -- but the "No Labels" movement is at pains to prove to us that, despite Joe Manchin's decision not to run for president, they still have options and may yet find someone to loft their banner in 2024.  I hope they do, because my philosophy of American democracy is: "The more, the merrier!"  Who knows -- it's conceivable that a third party or independent candidate could win.  It's far more conceivable that electoral confusion will pave the way for a second term for Trump, and/or it may delay our country's seemingly inevitable slide into leftist dictatorship.  Who will No Labels seize upon as their presidential candidate?  I'd like to suggest Liz Cheney.  She's ever so "moderate", she loves loves loves our Constitution, and no one could accuse her of carrying water for Donald Trump (except back when that's all she did).  Sure, her presence in the race would make it even easier for Trump to win, but luckily she's delusional and probably won't notice.  Cheney-Kristol '24, that's the ticket!!!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-labels-pursuing-third-party-candidates-manchins-decision-not-run-president

 

In other news, the tone of this MSNBC article about Biden's extraordinary oldness is most interesting.  It repeats the soothing refrains from many Democratic insiders, to the effect that Biden is ever so sharp -- why, he probably holds the world's record for all-time sharpest knife in the drawer -- and accusations to the contrary are all Russian misinformation.  On the other hand, the authors are surprisingly realistic and even acidic when it comes to Biden's limitations, even entertaining the idea that pure "ego" is keeping him in the race.  This suggests to me that some Dems and lifelong leftists are nearing the end of their tether...but to what effect???

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/bidens-allies-are-stepping-forward-vouch-age-questions-rcna138124 

A Blue Dog Is A Sad Dog

 

Friends, my latest article reflects on the pathetic, abortive presidential pretensions of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, and more fundamentally on the strange, stubborn refusal of American voters to consider any choice other than a Democrat or a Republican (both of which they despise).  What a country, huh?

No Labels=No Hope for Victory...Or Does It?

Friday brought crushing news for allegedly conservative Democrats hiding out in the hills of West Virginia – a paltry demographic that may, at this stage, include only one person: Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin announced that he will not be running for president in 2024, as the “No Labels” candidate or in any way, shape, or form. Since even the people of West Virginia have been flagging in their enthusiasm for the last of the Blue Dog Democrats, this is no great loss, but it does raise the question: in this year in which the large majority of Americans express disgust with the presumptive presidential candidates of the two major parties, why couldn't a third party or independent candidate break through and win it all?

One is tempted to answer: because it's never been done, and indeed the Democratic and Republican parties have maintained a stranglehold on Congress and the presidency since the 1850s. This is puzzling, because few democracies, no matter how they are structured, have maintained stable two-party systems for so long. And yet, in America, the two parties enjoy so many advantages, in terms of perceived legitimacy, preferential access to the ballot, media exposure, fundraising, and the like that it often seems that the task of building a new party that could compete at the highest level is a fool's errand.

On the other hand, the fact that something is unprecedented does not mean that it is impossible. Few imagined that an actor could become president before Ronald Reagan made it happen in 1980, or that a brash real estate baron turned game show host could win the highest office in the land, but Trump proved definitively that it could be done in 2016.

In point of fact, we live in a time when robust levels of public cynicism (and poor knowledge of history and current events) make the violation and overturning of norms fairly easy. Witness the fact that impeachments at the federal level, which used to be extremely rare, are now almost yearly events, and are expected political maneuvers. Likewise, while it was once virtually inconceivable that a former president would face criminal charges, now President Trump is wrestling with 91 felony charges all at once! It would seem that, nowadays, when we decide to break with convention, we go all out.

Be this as it may, the biggest argument against a third party or independent run for the presidency has always been: why would anyone vote for such a candidate when they would have no chance of winning? Why “throw away” your vote? That is to say, Americans perceive third party and independent bids as futile, and they do not enjoy voting for candidates destined to lose – except, apparently, when voting for Democrats in a red state, or Republicans in a blue one, which they do all the time!

When one considers that a single voter, casting a single vote, has, statistically speaking, essentially zero leverage over the selection of the next president, the popular concern with a candidate's viability makes little rational sense, but it is, nonetheless, an important psychological factor that any ambitious third party or independent candidate would have to overcome. Either he/she would need to convince the American people that voting for a “protest” candidate – that is, a loser – was a respectable and principled thing to do, or he/she would need to convince voters that this time, unlike every other time, the third party or independent candidate could win the big prize. Changing such ingrained perceptions about American politics would be no easy task.

If we look at the polls, we see that, currently, when Americans are prompted to choose between Biden, Trump, Kennedy, Stein, and West – the declared candidates for president – they give, on average, only 13% of their support to Kennedy, and 2% each to Stein and West. Those are historically high numbers, when one considers the long-standing dominance of the two major parties, but they are nowhere close to winning numbers, so there is, as yet, little statistical evidence to support the idea that a partisan sea change is upon us, and the next president is likely to be neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

Probably the biggest hurdle that a third party or independent candidate faces is the fact that, absent a political vacuum that needs filling, new political constellations are speculative, at best. To put it another way, unless one of the two major parties collapses, it is hard to see why a new party, or a new political movement, would, could, or should arise to take its place, or to assume an important and permanent role in American politics.

We know that in 2020 Joe Biden and Donald Trump received, respectively, the most and the second most votes that any presidential candidate in U.S. history has ever gotten – and that in 2020 we notched the best turnout rate since at least 1960. While the public does not seem to hold either Biden or Trump in especially high regard, the ability of their respective party apparatuses to turn out massive numbers of voters on their behalf is not in doubt – and, in fact, seems to be improving with every comparable election cycle. The Democratic and Republican parties, in other words, are alive and well – and can afford to sneer, for now, at those candidates, parties, and movements that dare to challenge their dominion.

And so we confront the essential, inexplicable contradiction that looms over our country's political life: never have the parties themselves, the presidential candidates who they select, and the key institutions of our constitutional system in general, been less popular and esteemed by the voters – but, at the same time, never have those same voters been more willing to turn out to vote in huge numbers for the major parties and their candidates, and to write checks and to otherwise signal their loyalty and devotion to these immensely flawed and in many ways outmoded organizations.

If, as they say, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” then what level of madness is America's current political modus operandi: we do the same thing over and over again, expecting bad results, but hoping that, if we keep at it, we'll at least avoid something even worse. You would think that this strange species of political fatalism might be conquerable by the right kind of third party or independent candidate, no? No, apparently not. Or maybe yes. But probably no.

All we can say for sure is that Joe Manchin will not be the man to save us from ourselves.

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9. 

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2024/02/18/no-labelsno-hope-for-victoryor-does-it-n2635387

Impeachability

 

Friends, the frequency with which House Democrats impeached Donald Trump, and the fact that House Republicans have now impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on somewhat speculative grounds, increases the danger that impeachment will be wielded casually in the future as a political cudgel -- and that the process and status of impeachment will become cheapened as a result.  In fact, I would say it's not just a "danger".  It's an inevitability.  And I do say it, and so much more, on this week's Newsmaker Show.  I also converse with Brian about the likely fate of the Ukraine aid bill percolating in Congress, the troubling antics of Travis Kelce, the sensation of RFK, Jr's Superbowl ad, the chances that Joe Biden will make it as the Democratic presidential candidate as far as November, the dynamics that produced Mazi Pilip's loss in the House special election, the necessity of Republican efforts to promote mail-in voting and ballot harvesting, and SCOTUS's final word on whether Donald Trump can and will appear on the presidential ballot in 2024.

 

It's a scorcher, folks!  Scorchingly insightful, that is.

 

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-15-2024-dr-nick-waddy/ 

 

***

 

And, in a move that will surprise no one, the special counsel in charge of nailing Hunter Biden to the wall has decided instead to go after the whistleblower who alleged that the Bidens accepted bribes from a Ukrainian businessman when Biden was Vice-President.  After all, the purpose of the "justice system", as Democrats understand it, is to punish and silence their enemies.  They're moving down that "enemies list" systematically, I must say!

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68313086 

Happy Trumpentine's Day!

 

Friends, I hope your favorite presidential candidate blows you lots of kisses this Valentine's Day, because you're ever so lovable and cute as a button!  In fact, I'm so smitten with you that I've decided to give you -- not flowers or a box of chocolates -- but the incomparable gift of my latest article, which focuses on hospitals' fradulent claims to be "charitable", which undergird their avoidance of local, state, and federal taxes.  Shame on them!  Check it out:

https://dailycaller.com/2024/02/14/waddy-hospital-non-profit-charity-new-york-presbyterian/

 

Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!  That's what House Republicans did vis-a-vis Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and it worked!  Yesterday he was impeached, necessitating a "trial" -- be it ever so perfunctory -- in the Senate.  I have mixed feelings about this impeachment effort, and I certainly don't think it will amount to much in the end, although it may encourage lots more impeachments, based on essentially political and policy-based disagreements, in the years to come.  In any case, no matter how you feel about impeachment, Mayorkas' role in denying Secret Service protection to presidential candidate RFK, Jr. is absolutely reprehensible.  Shame on Mayorkas and the Dems for perverting the law -- consistently and shamelessly -- and ignoring it altogether whenever it conflicts with their progressive ideology and their narrow political interests.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2853744/alejandro-mayorkas-impeached/ 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2855320/mayorkas-personally-rejected-rfk-jr-secret-service-protection/

 

Finally, I have to agree with much of the analysis of President Trump, who says that the GOP lost the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional district because they chose a weak, only vaguely "Republican" candidate.  Establishment Republicans seem to think that all you have to do is choose a candidate of the right gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or national background -- in other words, outdo the Left in identity politics -- and you'll win by default!  Well, it doesn't work that way.  The Left will always accuse us of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. no matter what.  And, above all, to win elections you need to satisfy the base and get them to turn out and vote.  We neglected those fundamental lessons in this special election, and we lost.  We also, of course, got massively outspent, as per usual.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/14/news/trump-lashes-out-at-mazi-pilip-calls-for-real-gop-candidate-to-face-tom-suozzi-in-november-election/

A Case of Mistaken Identity, or a Brilliant Campaign Strategy?

 

Friends, if you watched the Superbowl, you should have seen a 30-second ad for independent presidential candidate RFK, Jr.  It was an ad produced and paid for by a Super-PAC supporting Kennedy, and therefore not produced and paid for by the Kennedy campaign itself.  Ergo, Kennedy had no role in creating the ad, but he seems generally pleased by its messaging.  And that messaging is...remarkably unsubtle.  It makes a direct analogy between the candidacy of JFK in 1960 and RFK, Jr. in 2024.  In fact, it simply repackages a catchy pro-Kennedy ad from 1960 and turns it into a plug for RFK, Jr. in 2024.  Fair enough.  The strategy behind it is intriguing.  It suggests that the Super-PAC supporting Kennedy believes that his number one selling point is his pedigree.  It might even suggest a hope on the part of Kennedy's backers that people will vote for him mainly because they can't distinguish between him and his uncle.  Then again, maybe it's based on the theory that a little harmless nostalgia, if it gins up enthusiasm for RFK, Jr. and encourages people to take a first or second look at him, can only be a good thing for his campaign.  In any case, I liked the ad, and I especially like the fact that it will appeal to geriatric Democrats.  They're exactly the kind of people who we don't want voting for Joe Biden.  The more they consider Kennedy as an alternative, the better.  I wish RFK, Jr. all the best, and, if his slavishly Democratic family members are offended by his outside-the-box thinking, hard cheese!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1756852942379045085

The Geezer Protocol

 

Friends, the Left is mighty indignant about Special Counsel Robert Hur's recent report -- you know the one!  It cited the president's poor memory and creeping senility as reasons why he shouldn't be indicted for crimes that no one really denies that he committed.  The potential liberal/Democratic responses are legion.  Why, Hur was "politically motivated", according to Kamala Harris.  If that doesn't fly, they'll say that criticisms of President Biden amount to "ageism".  Good luck with that!  If that doesn't work, they'll say that being an octogenarian isn't a liability -- it's an asset.  I mean, Sleepy Joe is so experienced and crafty!  If that doesn't work, they'll say that, yes, Biden's mind might be going, but take a look at Trump, who was crazy to begin with and is just getting crazier.  If that doesn't work, they'll just change the subject, which is naturally what they've been trying to do all along.  I agree with J.D. Vance's assessment: the root problem here is ego -- Biden's very robust ego.  He is unwilling to admit that he may be "past it", as the Brits say, and he's prepared to risk losing an election to Beelzebub to prove his point -- America be damned!  He reminds me a lot of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in that respect, and we all know how that turned out.  But I also agree with the New York Times, which has leavened its usual pro-Biden propaganda with a rare bit of honesty: it points out that Biden has been less accessible to journalists and ordinary Americans than any other president in modern times.  That suggests that Biden's own handlers don't regard him as particularly capable, and that they believe he needs to be shielded from the public (and vice versa) and spared the full rigors of the presidency.  If that's the conclusion that his own aides and Democratic Party insiders have reached, then why on Earth would Americans reelect him?  "Because he's been so great for America," the lefties will say, "and because Trump would be a million times worse."  That's been their line from the beginning, and I doubt very much that it will change.  I know a lot of conservatives expect the Dems to dump Biden.  I don't think they can, and I don't think they will -- and I don't think, if they did, that it would be remotely helpful to Republicans.  Sleepy Joe remains the best friend that candidate Trump ever had, and, on the strength of his weaknesses, the future of the GOP and conservatism look very bright indeed.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/democrats-anxiety-over-bidens-age-grows-after-special-counsel-report-faf6578c

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68259335 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/politics/biden-age-concerns-analysis/index.html

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2847828/do-democrats-have-a-plan-b-b-not-for-biden/ 

https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/09/the-challenges-of-an-aging-president/

 

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/10/j-d-vance-biden-defiance-on-health-questions-all-about-ego/ 

Finally, I applaud the decision of Meta to stop its obnoxious habit of promoting selected (i.e. woke) political and news content.  It would seem that some social media companies are retreating from political activism and attempting to be less offensive to conservatives.  Hooray!  Let Americans decide for themselves where to get their news, and what is "news", I say.  Facebook and Zuckerberg should mind their own business.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/02/10/zuck-wants-you-distracted-instagram-threads-to-stop-recommending-political-content/

The Great Ballot Purge of '24

 

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show considers whether the latest Democratic Party/leftist effort to render American democracy null and void -- by removing Trump from the ballot -- will succeed.  In addition, we cover King Charles III's battle with cancer, Tucker Carlson's controversial decision to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nikki Haley's awkward appearance on Saturday Night Live and what her next move might be, Elon Musk's support of a lawsuit against Disney that alleges it fired a conservative actress without cause, DJT's hints about who he might choose as his running mate, the bungled effort to impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and the plausibility of Pentagon claims that we are bombing Iranian proxies in the Middle East.

When we get to This Day in History, Brian and I talk about the significance of the U.S. victory early in 1943 at Guadalcanal, and the plight of dissidents in the Eastern Bloc.

Boy oh boy -- what a lineup!  What a show!  What a history-making analytical feat!  No wonder it's the highest-rated radio show in the entire world involving a guy named Nick Waddy...

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-feb-8-2024-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

Will SCOTUS let Colorado (and other states) purge Trump from the ballot?  Based on the skeptical questions asked by many Justices, there's hope tonight that sanity may prevail.

 

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/supreme-court-takes-up-donald-trumps-ballot-eligibility-725f2fa0?mod=hp_lead_pos2 

And here's a shocker: Joe Biden broke the law when he retained secret documents as Vice-President, but he won't be charged with any crime.  That's the conclusion of prosecutors, who also pointed out that bringing charges against Biden would be futile, because, as a confused old man, he would likely be viewed sympathetically by jurors.  Ouch!  The bottom line: Trump and Biden arguably broke the same law, but only one of them will face any legal consequences.  Justice ain't blind, folks.  Not while Merrick Garland is running the show, anyway.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68245617

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/08/special-counsel-blisters-joe-biden-for-memory-conduct-in-classified-documents-scandal-but-will-not-prosecute/ 

As we all know, Democratic lawfare against Trump, and other conservatives, is escalating, but the right-leaning majority on the U.S. Supreme Court serves as a check on the ability of leftists to crush their enemies underfoot, regardless of what voters think.  Well, in Brazil, the political right enjoys no such advantages.  In fact, the country's highest court is in the hands of backers of their new socialist president (who is also their old socialist president), Lula.  Lula's tame judges have already forbidden the former conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, from running again for the presidency.  Now they're gearing up to prosecute him and many of his top lieutenants as "coup" plotters.  Brazil looks more and more like a banana republic every day, but the truth is that we aren't far behind in the race to the bottom.  We're a couple of retired, or seriously ill, or assassinated Supreme Court Justices away from the complete collapse of pluralistic democracy, if you ask me.  I just thank heaven that DJT, when he was at the helm, guided SCOTUS sagely to its present configuration.  It's not a body in which I repose complete confidence, but it's a million times better than the gaggle of progressive automatons that the Left wants to turn it into, and would have turned it into, had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election.

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/08/brazils-top-court-bans-jair-bolsonaro-from-leaving-country/

 

Finally, I know nothing about Joe Rogan, but I strongly agree with his views about the Biden Administration's stubborn refusal to afford RFK, Jr. Secret Service protection.  I guess the Bidenist line is that you can't shoot a candidate who doesn't exist, but, with all due respect, RFK, Jr. continues to exist, and he continues to battle bravely for many of the principles on which this country was built, even if Democrats would prefer that he be eradicated, either physically or psychologically.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/02/07/joe_rogan_egregious_that_they_wont_give_bobby_kennedy_secret_service_protection.html

Banished!

 

Friends, once upon a time, Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden because of...an unfortunate misunderstanding, exacerbated by feminine wiles.  Now we have to ask the question: will a smiliar fate befall American conservatives, as an inevitable leftist dictatorship inflicts a form of "civil death" on us to punish us for our manifold sins?  Civil death is an interesting concept explored by the article below.  While I hate to give the lefties ideas, there are many ways to pull the rug out from under  a potential opposition or dissident movement.  The use of violence against political enemies, and their incarceration, are only the bluntest and least imaginative tools available to be a would-be tyrant.  Why not practice greater subtlety and censor one's adversaries instead -- or, better yet, expel them from social media altogether?  If that doesn't work, target their reputation, their finances, their family members, their livelihood, etc.  A lot of conservatives talk as though we're already living in a left-wing dystopia, but, believe you me, things can and will get a lot worse, if the neo-Marxist Children of Light have anything to say about it.  Remember, you're a "MAGA extremist", so you deserve the very worst that life has to offer.  Frankly, you deserve to die, but, in the meantime, you deserve to writhe in agony, and, if the "progressives" ever get their way, you will!

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/02/07/the_invisible_chains_of_civil_death_150449.html

 

And here is some absolutely fascinating data on the changing demographics of those who support the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively.  Many of the most recent trends look positive for Republicans, but we should bear in mind that the fortunes of the GOP and the fortunes of Donald J. Trump, while linked, are nonetheless distinct propositions.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/609776/democrats-lose-ground-black-hispanic-adults.aspx

A Pyrrhic Defeat?

 

Friends, no doubt Dems are crowing because the House GOP narrowly failed to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  Four Republicans voted with all the Democrats to scuttle the two articles of impeachment.  This is, in fact, an embarrassing defeat for Republicans, insofar as it's hard to understand why impeachment would even be on the table if the House GOP were not more or less certain that it would pass.  Putting that aside, however, the failure to impeach Mayorkas will have no practical effect and precious little long-term political significance either.  Mayorkas, even if impeached, was never going to be convicted and removed by the Senate, controlled as it is by Democrats.  In fact, I doubt whether the Dems even would have bothered with a trial.  Moreover, with Mayorkas left in place as head of the Department of Homeland Security, and with Joe "Open Borders" Biden left as president, no significant changes to border policy would have flowed from impeachment either.  The only hope that a tougher stance will be taken against the current wave of migrants is this: the Dems may feel that it is in their narrow, short-term political interests to make it appear, temporarily, that they can control the border when they really, really try.  That would make a potentially winning issue for the GOP in 2024 disappear -- or at least become less acute.  I view the impeachment effort against Mayorkas as little more than political theater, therefore, and his mighty "vindication" today is equally hollow.  He remains a terrible liability to the Biden Administration and the Democrats, but not because he's incompetent -- oh no, he's all too competent.  He's been expertly administering a migration policy that was designed from the start to roll back Trump's tough measures, literally deconstruct "the Wall", and thus facilitate and encourage an upsurge in migration.  Mission accomplished!  And now the Dems will have to live with the political fallout.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68172247

 

Here's an interesting case of a journalist receiving a big payout because of a civil finding of "defamation", which bears some eerie similarity to the E. Jean Carroll case against Trump.  Apparently, it's getting easier and easier to bring suits for defamation in the U.S. of A., and we may all ultimately lose out because of this development.  That's because defamation cases can have a chilling effect on free speech, and let's not forget that the arbiters of these cases are not really jurors, but judges and lawyers.  Do we really want to entrust the future of our constitutional rights to the legal elite?  I say no thanks!

 

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2024/02/06/oklahoma-broadcaster-awarded-25-million-after-newspaper-wrongfully-called-him-racist-for-on-air-comments/

An Election Like No Other

 

Friends, while the media fixates on Donald Trump, as per usual, and to a lesser extent on Sleepy Joe, the bruised and battered incumbent president, Americans will actually have a broad range of choices in 2024.  Now, if you're listening to the mainstream media, you could be forgiven for not knowing that most of these choices exist, and, of those you are permitted to acknowledge as existing, only one -- Joe Biden -- has been rated "acceptable".  Well, I predict that many Americans will vote for independent and third party candidates this year, and I further predict that this dynamic, as Democrats fear, will be enormously helpful to Trump and may well give him the edge he needs to prevail.  See if you don't agree with the reasoning in my latest article...

Re-Slicing the Electoral Pie in 2024

The most recent NBC News poll had very good news for Republicans, conservatives, and Trump supporters: looking forward to the 2024 election, it put him five points ahead of President Joe Biden among registered voters. On the other hand, the poll also exposes a critical weakness for Trump, mirrored in almost all other polls: less than 40% of the electorate “likes” Donald Trump, “approves” of him, or rates him “positively”. In the NBC poll, it was just 38%.

The upside for Trump, therefore, and for those who support him, is that Joe Biden's unpopularity is dragging him down into the depths and making it possible for Donald Trump to catch up with him and even surpass him in public support. The downside for Trump and Trumpers, however, is that Trump himself is not popular – he is arguably toxic to a majority of the electorate – and future developments, like felony convictions, could render him even less electable.

Fortunately for the GOP, conservatives, and Trumpists, the 2024 election is not shaping up as a simple repeat of the 2020 election, in which President Trump, arch-villain, faced off against a vaguely defined, putatively moderate “Anti-Trump”, who was supposed to restore America's “soul” as he brought integrity, competence, and dignity back to the White House. No, in 2024, Joe Biden is the incumbent, and he has accumulated a record and crafted a brand with which the vast majority of the electorate is dissatisfied – and about which even the Democratic base is unenthusiastic.

This dynamic, however, does not guarantee Trump victory, because his high negatives may ultimately overwhelm public doubts about Joe Biden – at least that is what Democrats are hoping. What may cinch the deal for Trump is the wild card in 2024: the presence of numerous other candidates in the race.

Already, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has announced his independent presidential candidacy, and Jill Stein and Cornel West have launched bids under the Green Party and the Justice For All Party, respectively. Add to this motley crew the certainty of a Libertarian Party candidate, and the strong possibility of a No Labels candidate, and throw in the public's marked disdain for Trump and Biden, the presumptive major party candidates, and you have the essential ingredients for a much more fluid and pluralistic contest than this country has experienced, at least since 2016, when third party candidates won roughly 6% of the vote, and possibly since 1992, when Ross Perot and various other candidates won almost 20% of the vote.

Why, though, would this dynamic necessarily help Trump?

Partly, this is because of the nature of the extra candidates themselves. Kennedy, West, and Stein all come from the political left, and they are therefore more likely to appeal to disaffected Democrats and left-leaning independents, although Kennedy's appeal is more broad-based and harder to pigeonhole in partisan terms. The No Labels candidate is most likely to be Joe Manchin, who is also historically a Democrat. Only the Libertarian Party candidate could represent a genuinely conservative alternative to Trump, although there is some speculation that the Libertarians might endorse Kennedy, in which case Trump would face no true conservative opposition at all.

The other reason why a large field of presidential candidates helps Trump is because Trump has struggled in the past, and is still struggling in current polls, to get to 50% support. With the electoral pie more subdivided than usual, Trump will not need to convince a majority of the electorate to support him, or even 46% or 47%, which is what he got in 2016 and 2020, respectively. Instead, in 2024, 40-45% of the vote could be more than enough to notch a national victory in the popular vote and local victories in the critical swing states.

The last reason why the presence of numerous candidates in the race helps Trump is that Biden's public support, though considerable, is “softer” than Trump's. Many Democrats are unimpressed by Biden's accomplishments and lack confidence in Biden's abilities and his fitness for office. They may hate Trump, but that does not necessarily mean that they are motivated to show up to vote for Biden, as we saw in the low turnout for the recent South Carolina Democratic primary. Neither does Trump-hatred exclude the possibility that someone would vote for a left-leaning candidate like Kennedy, Stein, West, or Manchin, instead of for Biden. Any support that these candidates receive could easily be fatal to Biden, who needs to hold together all, or almost all, of the anti-Trump coalition from 2020 to succeed in 2024.

Incidentally, polling averages compiled by RealClearPolitics bear out the assumption that a bigger field of candidates helps Trump. In polls where only Trump and Biden are named candidates, Trump leads by an average of 2.1%. In polls that give voters the choice of Trump, Biden, Kennedy, Stein, and West, Trump's lead expands to 4.8%. This is a very significant difference!

Of course, the mainstream media, as well as Biden loyalists and agents of the institutional Democratic Party (three categories that overlap to a considerable degree) will do their best to undercut the public appeal of third party candidates. Journalistic hit pieces will discredit them, political ads will point out the futility of voting for them, the debates (presumably) will exclude them, and even their ability to appear on the ballot, especially in swing states, will be, and has been, sabotaged. Nonetheless, these also-rans do not need to attract much public support – a few points in total would be more than enough – to upend the political dynamics of a critical election cycle.

For this reason, those who wish for a Trump victory would be wise to lend their support, rhetorically as well as financially, to some of these other candidates for the presidency, no matter how quixotic and farcical their candidacies may seem. A million dollars sunk into the coffers of the Trump campaign would barely be noticed, at the end of the day, but a seven-figure shot in the arm to the West or Stein campaigns, by contrast, could dramatically improve their visibility and their ability to poach votes from Biden and the Democrats.

This year, Republicans, conservatives, and Trumpers cannot afford to become mired in obsolete binary thinking. The 2024 presidential election will be a dynamic multiplayer game, and only those who understand this will be in a position to win it.

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.

 

https://www.wnd.com/2024/02/candidates-will-benefit-trump-november/ 

 

***

 

In other news, speculation is rife about DJT's choice of a running mate.  He appears to like the cut of Tim Scott and Kristi Noem's respective jibs.  I can see why.  Either one would be a solid choice, politically.  Now, whether either is ready to assume the duties of the presidency is a somewhat different matter.

 

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/04/trump-vp-pick-tim-scott-kristi-noem 

Mitch McConnell appears to be sounding the death knell for the compromise "border" bill now circulating in the Senate.  It's hard to know which analysis of the bill to believe, but obviously I'm rooting for a fundamental change of direction at the border, and we're unlikely to get that unless we have a change in presidential leadership.  My strong suspicion is that all Biden and Mayorkas want to do is temporarily reduce the flow of migrants so that they can take a bit of the political heat off themselves.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/05/mitch-mcconnell-turns-border-bill/

 

Finally, it looks like China's losses are India's gains, at least financially.  That's fine by me.  It's about time that the Chinese economic miracle lost some steam, and I would much rather see the West pumping investment dollars into democratic and peaceable India than authoritarian and (rhetorically) aggressive Red China.  I invested in India years ago, and I may have been a bit early, but any fool can see that the growth potential there is vast.  Let's hope that the Indian government won't do anything to blunt the country's momentum.

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2024/02/05/investors-turn-to-india-as-chinas-economy-flounders/

What Goes Up Must Come Down?

 

Friends, today I share you with this intriguing economic analysis, which compares the current bull market for stocks in the U.S. with the bubble that burst in Japan in 1989, and from which that country has still not recovered.  In essence, Japan has spent more than a generation without any appreciation in stock values whatsoever -- if one measures current performance against the all-time high.  What does all this mean?  Not necessarily a lot for the United States, because the two situations are so different, but what it does mean is that one of the verities of American investing -- that the stock market is a good bet, because "in the long run" it always goes up -- is not entirely bulletproof.  National economies and equity markets can stall over the long run, with very serious consequences for investors and for society as a whole.  Japan has been doing a lot of soul searching because of its economic and financial malaise, not to mention the prevalence of depression and the low birth rate, which also seem symptomatic of a culture that's run aground.  Note that one problem that hasn't afflicted Japan, despite its economic woes, is a lack of credit.  Interest rates have remained low, and government borrowing hasn't been constricted, despite the fact that Japan shoulders public debt levels considerably higher than ours.  That may mean that we spendthrift Americans can fritter away a whole lot more public money before that particular chicken comes home to roost.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/stocks-for-the-looong-run-could-japans-lost-decades-happen-in-america-71d9e17c?mod=hp_lead_pos5

Deutschland Uber Nichts

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show trolls through all the hot topics: Trump's ongoing tussle with E. Jean Carroll, the prospects of a U.S. retaliatory strike against Iran, RFK Jr.'s views on political corruption, and the likely campaign strategy of Sleepy Joe, given his obvious, uhh, weaknesses.

When we get to This Day in History, we consider Richard Nixon's big political comeback in 1968, Germany's fateful and ultimately disastrous decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the contentious process that led eleven states to secede from the Union in 1860-61, and the cultural significance of racial integration in the decade of the 1960s.

 

In short, we leave no stone unturned in the effort to enlighten YOU.  You're welcome!

 

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-1-2024-dr-nick-waddy/ 

 

***

In other news, Michael Barone aptly summarizes in this article some of the reasons why the establishment's guardians of the "truth" are increasingly distrusted by many average Americans.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2829997/systemic-lying-corrodes-once-great-institutions/

 

Our old pal Cornel West is starting his own party, and you may be inclined to scoff, but the fact is that every vote West wins is, in practice, a vote for Trump and the GOP...so get out your checkbooks and be generous in your support for "Justice For All"!

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/01/presidential-candidate-cornell-west-announces-new-justice-for-all-party/ 

For better or worse, House Republicans are moving forward with articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Mayorkas.  Presumably, that means they believe they have the votes to impeach him in the full House.  Oh boy!  Mayorkas certainly won't be convicted in the Senate, if it evens deigns to hold a trial, but I predict this will indeed "open the floodgates" and lead to many more impeachments of many more federal officials in the years to come.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayorkas-impeachment-articles-house-homeland-security-vote/

 

Finally, despite the fact that the global establishment has ganged up on Russia in an attempt to punish it economically for invading Ukraine, Russia's economy seems fairly unperturbed.  Of course, this is partly because major economies like those of China and India aren't playing along, but all the same Russia's resilience is impressive and suggests that the Russian war effort in Ukraine can be sustained -- and escalated -- indefinitely.

 

https://www.ft.com/content/21a5be9c-afaa-495f-b7af-cf937093144d?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9