Category: Politics and Issues

Why do many Americans ready to support Trump/Vance ticket? For many in the middle class, they view the system is rigged and inflation has hurt their overall income as any rise in salary has been neutralized by rising inflation. 

In a report conducted through the Americas Majority Foundation, “The U.S. is still a country where wealth and income earned through hard work and personal risk taking is respected. Our national survey found interesting dynamics. 71%  of Blacks, 79% of Whites and 66% of Hispanics believe that hard work is still rewarded but when asked if the economic system rigged against the Middle Class, we see the results reverse. 71% of Blacks, 65% of Whites and 61% of Hispanics believe the economic system is rigged. In a survey among Michigan voters in August of 2016, two of every three voters viewed the system rigged against the Middle Class with two/thirds of White and Black voters along with 55% of Hispanic voters viewing the system as being rigged against Middle Class. Even with that cynicism, four out of five Michigan voters believe that to increase economic opportunity and a fair opportunity to succeed, you must grow the private sector, which is the position taken by Republican candidate Donald Trump, the first Republican who won Michigan since 1988.” 

We found that many Americans are of two minds. They think that hard work is still rewarded and support the proven principles of productive work, delayed gratification and personal responsibility and they also fear a trend toward the system being rigged against them. A system where the proven principles are not enough. While they respect the entrepreneurs who start up their companies, they have less respect for executives who manage long-established companies. The heart of the complaint is executives who are paid millions while seemingly running former power-house companies into the ground. This entrepreneur/manager divide is part of the explanation on whether a person sees it as a system that allows people to pursue their passions or a system where only the top benefit. If they see a manager-stock-trader economy, they will likely think of it as a rigged system where only the top benefit. If they see an entrepreneur economy, they are more likely to think in terms of pursuing passions.  Many Trump Republicans like other Americans view the system rigged against them.

President Trump showed a commitment to the concerns of “Populists Capitalists” who did not fare well under many trade agreements and past economic policies.   Which is what underlining the tension within the GOP from speaker race to the presidential campaign, as the populist wing of the party feels unwanted and outside as many within the GOP just as soon be rid of Trump supporters.  The GOP is going through the process of defining what kind of Party it will be in the future.  Will it be a populist party or a conservative party?  Or a third way, a constructive collaboration of the populist and Conservative party?  Trump own administration did combine both with his tax and regulations reduction plus his only trade deal was NAFTA Two, adjusting work rules to benefit blue collar while keeping trade flowing.  Trump foreign policy was a more modest approach, concentrating on China and not adding any new involvements.  His trade policy more protectionist than previous Republican administrations but there was enough that united the Party and even today, there is more that unites the MAGA and more traditional Republicans than divide.   Republicans can’t win without the populist wing and the populist wing must understand that it is part of a conservative/populist coalition.

The one issue down the road is Entitlement reform, as it is agreed that we need to tackle Medicare and Social Security but as noted, many of the Trump coalition are among those who are not prepared for retirement and since 2007, the investor class declined, in particular among the Middle Class.  The Middle Class and upper Middle Class saw significant drops in participation in the investor class since the Great Recession. Two thirds of those with incomes between $30,000 to $74,999 were members of the investor class but this was reduced to 54% by 2017 for a drop of 13% and those earning between $75,000 to $99,999 declined from 85% to 75%.  The Stock market lost half of its value during the Great recession and many investors removed their money from the market or they took money out to survive periods of economic difficulty. The rise in the stock market has made up the difference in what was lost, many of the Middle class did not reinvest and did not participate in the market’s rise. This has helped in the decline in income and wealth of many within the Middle-Class during Obama’s recovery. Both College graduates and those without college degrees saw reduction in investor class participation but those without a college degree saw bigger drop in participation as members of the Middle Class and many blue-collar workers not only saw themselves without jobs but they also saw their nest egg disappear. Eighty-three percent of College graduates were members of the investor class before the Great Recession but after only 78% of College graduates were members of the investor class. Those without college degree went from 53% to 43%. Many of these workers became Trump Republicans during as Trump made significant inroads among blue collar and no college graduates voters. 

While 2024 Republican convention moved toward the populist wing, the synergy of conservatism and populism continues and the definition of who the Republicans are continues. Many Republican governors have shown that their free-market approach worked better than their Democratic counterparts. Texas and Florida have been the beneficiary of the exodus from the major Democratic states just as California, New York and Illinois.

I had a chance to interview Powerline blog and president of Center of American Experiment John Hinderaker whose Center of American experiment offices were torched.  During the interview, he reminded me that on during Trump inauguration, Antifa terrorists torched buildings and conducted a riot of their own. CNN reported ,“Six police officers were injured, and 217 protesters arrested Friday after a morning of peaceful protests and coordinated disruptions of Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony gave way to ugly street clashes in downtown Washington…At least two DC police officers and one other person were taken to the hospital after run-ins with protesters, DC Fire Spokesman Vito Maggiolo told CNN. Acting DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officers’ injuries were considered minor and not life threatening…Bursts of chaos erupted on 12th and K streets as black-clad “antifascist” protesters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hammered out the windows of a limousine and eventually launched rocks at a phalanx of police lined up in an eastbound crosswalk. Officers responded by launching smoke and flash-bang devices, which could be heard from blocks away, into the street to disperse the crowds…“Pepper spray and other control devices were used to control the criminal actors and protect persons and property.” As a footnote, all charges were dropped, something that did not happen with J6 defendant and as John Hinderaker observed, this riot on Trump inauguration was worse than January 6^th.

Ian Tuttle noted about Antifa in National Review, “Here is currently, on the streets, smashing storefronts and setting things on fire, a group called “Antifa,” for “anti-fascist.” Antifa are not a new phenomenon; they surfaced during the Occupy movement, and during the anti-globalization protests of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Antifa movements began in early-20th-century Europe, when fascism was a concrete and urgent concern, and they remain active on the Continent. Lately, Antifa have emerged as the militant fringe of #TheResistance against Donald Trump — who, they maintain, is a fascist, ushering into power a fascist regime. In Washington, D.C., Antifa spent the morning of Inauguration Day lighting trash cans on fire, throwing rocks and bottles at police officers, setting ablaze a limousine, and tossing chunks of pavement through the windows of several businesses.”

The assassination attempt on Trump should not surprise anyone for the past decade, much of the political violence has been instigated by the left.  As I detailed in my book, America at the Abyss, Will America survive?, I had liberal friends in a 2019 conversation on Donelson Files,  arguing that Antifa was not comparable to the various Neo Nazis and white supremacists, and one even mention they were “anti-fascist” since they have it in their name . Among the data I used to counter the “peaceful nature” of Antifa was 32 reported incidence of violence this group had done, including at least six attacks on journalists covering them . They were right, Antifa is not the equal of these supremacists or racists, they are worse .

 As Andy Ngo noted in his book Unmasked, they are well-trained para-militia who know self-defense and how to use weapons plus they have a political movement covering for them . When the right-wing rioters went into the U .S . Capitol, they were condemned by many in the conservative movement and no major political party supports rightwing ex neo-Nazis, but there are political movements that work with Antifa and support them. (I will add that there are many within the Democratic Party and their supporters who have supported Hama, which is 21^st century version of the Nazis Party. Many also supported the phrase “From the river to sea” which translate to the destruction of Israel.)  In Democratic-controlled cities like Portland and Seattle, they were allowed free reign to do what they wanted . They called the shot while their left-wing patrons merely looked on. .Antifa were the spear used by the left to intimidate and strike fear in not just their opponents but in some cases people who are presumably their allies .

While the media intensively covered the January 6th Capitol riot, the reality is the vast majority of riots in 2020 were linked to Black Lives Matter and United States saw three to four violent actions somewhere in the United States throughout the summer of 2020.  That means throughout the summer of 2020 to election day, there were three or four violent actions as bad if not worse than J6 . One study conducted by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), found that 95% of riots in which there was information available involved Black Lives Matter . This study was originally designed to minimize violent activities conducted by the left yet; they produced overwhelming evidence that the left was responsible for the vast majority of violent activities in the summer of 2020.

Andy Ngo has been one of the few journalists who has penetrated Antifa and discovered a terrorist group protected by much of the media and many prominent Democrats who either commend the group for being “antifascist” or pretend that Antifa doesn’t exist . Rep, Jerry Nadler (D—New York), stated that “violence from Antifa” was a myth . But Andy Ngo has found the truth that Antifa is indeed a violent group . Ngo, in an interview with PJ Media, stated that “Antifa was able to move to the mainstream aided by new liberal allies because collectively they all had a shared enemy: Donald Trump,”  Antifa convinced themselves that Trump was Hitler and they needed to respond or face a new Holocaust . Andy Ngo tells of Mike Strickland, the first journalist attacked by Antifa . When Strickland defended himself against Antifa in Portland in 2016 with a legal concealed weapon, he was the one prosecuted. Portland was protecting Antifa . It also sent a message that violence worked and Antifa could get away with it . Andy Ngo himself would be beaten three years later nearly to death and a couple of years later, he was beaten a second time by Antifa . As he was getting beaten, Antifa merely laughed out loud . Andy Ngo was attacked by national publications as a racist extremist and many on the left excused Antifa’s brutality . Ngo pointed out the symbiotic relationship between Antifa and left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center who would put Antifa targets on their own enemies list including Andy Ngo, whose only crime is telling the truth about Antifa and BLM . Andy Ngo observed, “For their world to live and thrive, America has to die .”  Damages in BLM riots between May 26 and June 8, 2020 resulted in as much as two billion dollars paid in insurance claims . In Minneapolis alone, 1500 buildings were destroyed  and much of the damage took place in minority communities on whose behalf they rioted for . Violent riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin left 50 million dollars in damages and nearly 60 buildings destroyed . The biggest damage occurred in the city’s most diverse areas that included where most minorities lived . Like Chicago and Minneapolis, minority areas were the hardest hits in the Kenosha riots

Antifa and BLM movement riots destroyed many minority communities and when the police were defunded, it was minority communities who felt the brunt of increased crime . Antifa were and still are a domestic terrorist’ group and in 2020, street violence was the result of leftist gangs and a major political party that was prepared to ignore the violence since it served their purpose, in promoting leftist policies, and helping to elect Joe Biden

After the leak of Roe vs Wade, there was nearly 100 attacks the following two months afterwards on Catholic Churches and pregnancy crisis centers..  One report by Catholic vote noted, “Beginning in early May, vandalism attacks against Catholic churches, pro-life pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and other pro-life organizations have been reported across the country. These attacks have taken the form of vulgar graffiti, property damage, threats, theft, and even arson…Though a rise in vandalism and intimidation of Catholic and pro-life organizations has been documented since at least 2020, the current spate of attacks has been spurred on by the June 24 overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme court, which returned the question of abortion policy to the states, leading to abortion bans in many parts of the country. ..Some of the reported vandalism incidents we’ve tracked appear to be copycat attacks. For example, several of the graffiti incidents featured the threatening phrase “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you,” which seems to have first appeared on a pro-life pregnancy center in Wisconsin in early May. The U.S. Catholic bishops have documented more than 100 church attacks since 2020, and are pleading for an end to the violence.”

The leftist violence continued unabated  throughout 2023 and 2024 as Pro Hamas protest and occasional riots that resulted in death of one Jew, occurred in 45 of the 50 states. In many cases, Jewish students on college campus have been harassed and forbidden to go to classes and outside acts of intimidation is often MO of these protest.  Roadways have been closed and Jewish businesses targeted.   Leftist ADL center on Extremism, reported 400 percent increase in attacks on Jews just in the first couple of weeks after October 7^th and including 312 reported incident and 190 of those were directly related to the protest between the war between Israel and Hamas. That includes physical assault, and violent online messages.  And let’s be blunt this antisemitism is coming from the left. 

The real issue is if you call someone a Nazis or a threat to democracy even though his own record shows the complete opposite, don’t be surprised if what we witnessed in Butler Pennsylvania will happen again.  The Democrats has made a center piece of their campaign that Trump is a threat to democracy and his supporters bunch of Nazis nor was he the only one.  From the past eight years, Trump was declared a fascist, a Nazis and threat to democracy but the irony he was the victim of the Russian collusion hoax and then the use of this to try remove Trump from office.  If Biden is replaced, it won’t be any difference for the next candidate will continue the Trump is a threat to democracy chat

Trump is not perfect and in many ways, he causes many of us to shake our heads, but he also wants to change this country and understands what is at stake.  His opponents have used lawfare to try impeaching him,  throw him in jail and then bankrupt his business.  What irritates the ruling class is not that he won but his knowledge of them, that many of them are not that particularly smart and have led this country to the precipice of disaster.  He may not have all the right answers, but he has at least asked the right questions about what is wrong with America.

His opponent has supported censorship in the name of stopping misinformation even though the biggest practitioner of misinformation are his opponents and their efforts to censor is merely to shut down debate.

What we can conclude is that for the past decade is that much of the violence has come from the political left from the riot at Trump inauguration which  along with James Hodgkinson who less than six months after Trump election attempted to kill GOP lawmakers working on the theory that many Democrats proclaimed Trump a fascist and threat to democracy.  In the summer of 2020, the left as already documented led a series of riots in many cities as result of the George Floyd death and America averaged 3 to 4 riots as bad if not worse than January 6^th including in Washington DC  from end of May through the elections. 

You can trace essentially two violent actions and the right, Charlotteville in 2017 and January sixth but hundreds have been associated with the left.  In the case of Charlotteville the organizer of the event, Richard Spencer, endorsed Joe Biden for President in 2020 so maybe he found a home within the Democratic Party with office holders like Representatives like Tlaib of Michigan.  Under the Biden administration, there is Charlotteville every week.

John Hinderaker in my interview with him wondered if we are not headed to a split or at least involved in a cold civil war presently with both sides not even on the same page when it comes to what it means to be an American.  What we have witnessed is one side and their supporters being compared to Nazis and Fascists as well as a threat to democracy.  The January 6^th investigation was not designed for truth but to make Trump supporters as insurrectionist and certainly they chose not to investigate all form of political violence the previous years and any one was suspicious of the goal of the investigation was eliminated to participate which is why Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were allowed since they were GOP never Trumpers and allowed the Democrats to claim this was a “bipartisan” investigation. Bernie Thompson and other members of the Democratic caucus, tried to strip the secret service protection from Donald Trump in April.

Our politics is poison but there are three people who have played a significant role in this poisoning: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama.  Hillary Clinton, who managed to get away with compromising national security with her personal server, also invented the Russian collusion hoax.  Her campaign set up the false story that Trump was a tool of Putin, even though she began the infamous “reset” which reversed the tougher Bush’s policy.    Most have forgotten that Obama did truly little when Russian invaded Ukraine in 2014 and in an interview, Obama stated, “We have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for.”  Nor did Obama/Biden administration provide lethal military assistance to Ukraine. You can argue that Obama administration was correct in their analysis but what you cannot argue is that Obama administration was tough or even tougher on Putin than Trump administration proved to be.  As for Biden, we know that he got a prosecutor fired who was investigating Burisma, a company paying his son about million dollars a year.  Biden family got their cut from Ukraine. Hillary Clinton fake dossier became the basis of Trump prosecution and everyone in FBI, CIA and higher ups in the administration knew that this was fake but yet no one came forward and stated there is no evidence that Trump was a Putin’s puppet.   This was known in 2016 during the election but yet neither Obama nor Biden stated it was not true. 

For past eight years, Hillary Clinton continued to lie about the Russian collusion, but she yet been called out. Obama could easily have stopped this by simply saying, “there is no evidence that there was collusion between Russian and Trump.”  He refused to do so, and, in the process, the Democrats and the left began a campaign to undermine Trump administration with special council investigation.  Many Democrats still to this day believe the Russian collusion hoax and much of the media spent the entire Trump administrating feeding the lie and many members of the Obama administration appeared on television repeating the same lie.

What if Obama told the truth?  The environment would be less contentious, and Trump would have been more willing to collaborate with the Democrats on issues. Issues like the border wall might have been solved or dealt with as many Democrats during the Bush administration actually supported a wall.  Politics has always been contentious, but we have gone beyond the contentious stage and moved toward the outright hatred stage where half of American hates the other half and now the other half is returning the hate.  The fall out of the 2020 elections is a direct fallout of the 2016 Russian collusion hoax as many Republicans viewed the 2020 election as illegitimate and there is certain more evidence that 2020 was rigged than 2016.  We now know that FBI pressured social media and the general media not to publish information about the Hunter Biden laptop which provided evidence of Biden’s corruption that reached to his father.  Voters were denied access to information as the FBI hid this evidence and many in the “retired intelligence” declared any mention of the Biden’s laptop was Russian misinformation.   One survey done showed that many voters were not aware of the Hunter Biden’s laptop controversy and enough may have changed their vote had they known.  There were enough voter irregularities to be concerned including stopping counting voters in the middle of the night only to resume it later. (Note that this doesn’t mean that Biden did not win the elections or what voter irregularities exceeded the margin of fraud. I have seen numbers to indicate that what voter irregularities did exist but did not exceed the margin of Biden victory even in battleground states.  There were enough irregularities to be concerned about election security and the media attempts to censor stories negative to Biden have been established) 

The MAGA voters that Biden and others view as a threat to democracy are men and women who struggle every day to make their life work, dealing with inflation that makes life more expensive while decreasing their actual income. The are not violent one and if you can come up one riot over eight years associated with the MAGA movement compared to thousands on the other side, there is no other conclusion. 

Those on the left and what is left of the Never Trumpers movement on the right, need to understand their own role in the poisoning of the political process.  They promoted the Russian collusion hoax, the impeachments, the various lawfare against Trump, and falsely accused their opponents of being threat to democracy and Nazis.  If they are genuinely interested in restoring civility, they musth denounce these positions and if not, they are the ones with blood on their hands and they represent the greatest threat to democracy.   As for Trump supporters, when Trump was shot, the one man who was murdered died while protecting his family and when Trump left the stage, they didn’t panic but shouted USA, USA, USA.  That is who they are, a man who died protecting his family and patriotic Americans who love their country and came to see the man they wanted to be President.  They are not the threat to Democracy. 

In Great Britain and France, the right suffers losses but there are lessons to be drawn from both. In the case of France, the political establishment of President Macron worked hand in hand with hard core leftist, socialist, communist, and Islamist to oppose Ms. LePen National Rally.  Macron joined with these radicals to frustrate the far right.  This required whichever groups finished third, the candidate dropped out and allowing both to consolidate their support against the right.  The result was a disaster for France but great for the left as they will now dominate the Assembly and Jean-Luc Melancon is ready to be the new Prime Minister.

A more natural alliance would be the Macron Party working with Le Pen Right alliance to oppose the socialists and Islamist, but he chose to support those who oppose unlimited immigration. John Hinderaker noted, “So the establishment united to block what it considers to be the ultimate horror–a sensible immigration policy. It is revealing, I think, that the French establishment was happy to unite with Communists rather than allow the “far right” to gain power. They certainly don’t want any extremists in the government!” This is the high-water mark for the genuinely conservative parties in France, but it shows that the establishment prefers the policies of the hard left. 

Great Britain also moved left but barely.  If the Tories did not have to deal with the reform Party, this election would have been closer and maybe, the Tories may have prevailed.  The Reform Party kept the Tories from any chance of winning.  Mark Steyn observed, “Across the United Kingdom almost every constituency voted for lefties of various stripes – not just victorious Labour lefties, but also Scots nationalist lefties, Irish republican lefties, eco-lefties, Islamo-lefties and, of course, duplicitous pseudo-conservative lefties: you can get it in any colour as long as it’s red. So, if you’re one of those Britons concerned about, say, transformative mass migration or the right to freedom of speech, things are going to spend the next few years getting worse before there is any prospect of course correction… Sir Keir has lost four sitting Labour MPs (and potential Cabinet ministers) to “pro-Gaza independents” – by name, Shockat Adam (in Leicester), Adnan Hussain (in Blackburn), Ayoub Khan (in Perry Barr) and Iqbal Hussain Mohamed (in Dewsbury). … Four “pro-Gaza” MPs doesn’t sound like a lot, but, for purposes of comparison, it’s exactly the same number as Nigel Farage’s Reform party managed to elect.”  What you see is radical view sweeping British and Labour have their own problems as they lost seats to independents who are supporters of Hamas and now Labour may find itself in supporting the hard-core Islamists who are bringing antisemitism into their political movement. 

Why did Reform refuse to step aside in 2024 when they did in 2019 allowing Boris Johnson to win a massive victory?  The reason is simple, Tories promoted lockdowns in the pandemic, net zero policies and did nothing to stem immigration.  Nigel Farage decided it was time to form a new conservative movement that profoundly move to restore sound immigration policy and oppose net zero.  The lesson in Great Britain is that when conservative don’t follow through on promise, they lose and the lesson in France when the establishment and political center choses to oppose the right in favor of the left, you end up with worse policies.

Much of the establishment in the US, like the French are perfectly willing to allow socialism to triumphs and willing to eliminate our borders with unlimited immigration than put up with a populist version of conservatism.  When I read “conservative” never Trumpers just as Bill Kristol, they are merely behaving like Macron, willing to allow the left to triumph because of an irrational hatred of  Donald Trump even though what the left has promoted was open border, unlimited immigration, net zero sum, and this administration has been willing to stretch the rule of law by lawfare against their political opposition which the “Never Trumpers” applaud.  As Glen Reynolds observed much of the establishment cabal worked tirelessly to elect Joe Biden and our FBI and CIA lied about the Hunter Biden laptop as the media covered it up, just as they covered up Biden’s health issues.. 

For the GOP, to win and then govern effectively, give the voters what they want beginning with immigration reform that closes the border, reduces the administrative state, and move forward with policies that enhances the middle classes income.  Keep your promises and you won’t find yourself in the position of Great Britain conservative and splitting your coalition and allowing the left to win.

For those in the conservative establishment, abandon your hatred of Trump and the MAGA movement but understand the left is far worse,  Biden was worse than Trump ever could be and if Biden doesn’t survive does anyone think for one second that Harris or whoever the left puts up will be better?

Francis Menton in his blog Manhattan Contrarian, “This is not at all a close contest. President Biden is actually a huge threat to “our democracy,” and has shown that by his actions in many contexts over his three plus years in office. And I haven’t even gotten to things like his (or his family’s) taking large bribes from the likes of China and Putin-ally Burisma. The constant repetition of the “threat to our democracy” theme only emphasizes how little of substance Biden has to run on.” 

The right must unite to win and accept that Trump is not perfect, but he is the horse the right is riding and that the alternative is worse.  French and British voters will soon find out that their political establishment betrayed them and in the case of the British voter, it was their conservative establishment that betrayed them not the reform Party.   This little aside from Powerline blog shows the immediate results of Labour victory, “Migrants in northern France celebrating a Labour victory have given Sir Keir Starmer a nickname and have vowed to cross the Channel at the “first chance” they get…Speaking to the Telegraph, some of the migrants welcomed a new government and said they would risk crossing the Channel in small boats as soon as weather permitted…Amir, 23, a bean seller from Kurdistan, said migrants had given Sir Keir a nickname that roughly translates as a man who works for refugees or workers.

He said: “We are calling him [Starmer] ‘Party Krekaran’ because we have heard that this guy is really helpful to the refugees.” Amir added that he would make the crossing “as soon as possible” now Sir Keir Starmer is in power.I’m not sure the Brits are going to like that for which they voted.

This is the story of two people, one who I follow on twitter and one I got to know during times on the Donelson Files. One is a conservative who has extreme doubts about Trump and the other a woman of the left. 

In the case of the conservative, he has made a case against Trump for the past few years and why he should not be our nominee and added we should leave the President slot empty.  Unlike many never Trumpers I have observed, he is under no illusion that Joe Biden is simply bad and wont’ pull the lever for him.   The problem that I have is, what choice do we have since one of these two will be President. 

And my liberal friend is intent on believing that Trump is a fascist.  As I wrote last August, “It can be argued that we have to fear the present administration more and its violations of civil liberties including working with social media to censor stories.  We saw during the end of the Obama administration, our FBI pursuing an investigation to keep Trump from winning the election and then later, uses the same false story of Russian collusion as the basis for impeachment.  The FBI continued the investigation despite knowing the story was false as did President Obama and Vice-President Biden. Of course, Hillary knew since she was the one who started the false stories…In the Biden administration, we have seen pro-life arrested on the flimsy of excuses or parents viewed as domestic terrorists and of course the massive censorship efforts on the Covid.  I could go on, but you would be hard press to find a similar record during the Trump administration for it was Trump who was the victim of the Deep state machinations.” 

If anything, there is a far greater threat from the Democrats and Joe Biden of America slipping into a dictator ship than under Trump.  Trump was President for four years and I don’t remember the concentration camps being set up or did I miss that?  Trump had a chance to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her wanton disregard for national security and lack of protection classified information with her personal server but chose not to.  This good deed has been rewarded by Democrats attempt to bankrupt Trump and his family while trying to put him in jail on the flimsy of evidence.  A sign of a Banana Republic is when you attempt to jail your political opponents especially if they have a chance to defeat you.

The conservative twitter friend has noticed Biden foreign policy and his abandonment of Israel and the rise of antisemitism on the left.   I wrote after October 7^th, “The recent Hamas attack on Israel may have expanded as it is being reported that Iranian backed Hezbollah are attacking from the North.  The pincer movement if true shows Iran making a bold mood to attack Israel while sending a message to the Sunni states the price they pay if they work with Israel, directly or indirectly.  What is obvious is that Obama/Biden strategy of an integrated Middle East with Iran as a centerpiece has been a disaster and one of the most ill-conceived foreign policy mistakes, period.  World is more unstable today it was under Trump, and it is getting worse.  What we are witnessing the complete failure of Obama/Biden worldview…This disaster had its roots in the Obama Administration. The Obama view was ascendant Iran would be a counterbalance to Israel and like previous administration, view the Middle East problems through the prism of Palestinian-Israeli conflict plus this move toward Iran was also supposed to counter our allies just as the Saudi’s.  A balance of power existing among the powers of the region and this balance of power would force Israel hand in dealing with the Palestinians and reduce America’s footprint in the Middle East…This regional restructuring was Obama’s version of realism, but it was not that.  If you want to reduce your presence in the Region it would help to have energy independent policy but both Obama and Biden went green which depends upon minerals produced by China.”

It has gotten worse as Biden restricted intelligence to Israel, delayed arm shipment if they went into Rafal and Biden has yet to condemn the antisemites in his own party but instead is begging them for votes.  Representative Tlaib, who is a real Jew hating Marxist, has not once been condemned by Biden but he is sure anxious that her constituents vote for him.  He is willing to sacrifice Israel for votes of Jew haters.

Consider how Israel is treated compared to Ukraine. Joe Biden and Democratic leaders (I am looking at Senator Schumer) have called for regime change in Israel but has told the Ukrainian government they can cancel elections. He has impeded Israel almost every step of the way including Rafal, but he has given weapons to Ukraine to strike Russian proper.  Russia under Putin is now part of an Axis of evil like Iran and Iranian proxies including  Hamas so there is a legitimate reason to be made to support Ukraine.  Biden is still hoping to strike a deal with Iran who is the puppet master behind Hamas. 

We can debate what United States policy in Ukraine. I wrote January of this year, “Ukraine is interesting case point and not necessarily an easy case study.  The one thing that everyone agrees or should agree, that it is not in our interest to involved American troops in Ukraine. The problem has been that the Biden Administration has failed to garner bipartisan support among the American people for aiding Ukraine nor have there been an endgame defined for what is considered a victory or acceptable to our side and Ukrainians.  There are many who will not view this in our national interest, but others could argue that if Russia succeed in Ukraine, this could encourage China to move against Taiwan.  Using the ideas behind Weinberger doctrine, policy makers need to make case if this is in our interest and how our long-term interest is being served.  If China is our number rival, does this enhance or disrupt our objectives against China? It is the responsibility for Biden to explain to the American people why Ukraine matters and what support for Ukraine need to prevail.  For many Americans, there is no real national interest in aiding Ukraine when our own borders are open and wondering when the billions flowing to Ukraine will end? …As for the Ukraine, is it similar to helping mujahideen to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan? After the Russian invasion, we aided the mujahideen against the Russians and they provided the blood and we the money and arms.  In the case of the Ukraine, there is no support for American troops to be involved in the defense of Ukraine and that Ukraine fate is up to the Ukrainian people.  Since Ukraine is not NATO country, there is no reason to involved European troops nor will NATO get involved as they already rejected Ukraine acceptance in NATO as long as the war continues. Any acceptance of Ukraine into NATO has to wait until the conflict ends…Within the Republican primary, Republican candidates shows differences, but there are some similar takes.  Nikki Haley’s argument is that there is a connection between Tawain and Ukraine, if we fail to support Ukraine or China may view Taiwan as vulnerable whereas others fear that our we are concentrating on the Ukraine at the expense of the Chinese threat?  The reasoning begins with using up our own military stock and the billions we have spent with no end game in sight.  The one thing that everyone agrees with, no United States troop will enter the conflict to aid the Ukrainians and it is their war to win or lose. ..The question is how much support is too much and what is the end goal?  Has the aid been parcel out bits by bits and in a half-hearted fashion?  Has Biden’s administration delay in providing M-1 tank and F-16 fighters violated the dictum that forces should be committed wholeheartedly or not at all?  And what are the clearly defined political and military objectives?  What is victory?  And how does the definition of victory change in the course of war?  During Korean war, once the Chinese joined the fight, the objective went from unifying the entire the Korean peninsula as one entity favorable to the West to merely defending the status quo of independent South Korea not controlled by communists. South Korea has zoomed ahead of North Korean since then and is not just a developed nation economically but is a leading military power in the region.  The Weinberger doctrine makes it clear foreign policy and military activities need to be reassessed. ..In the case of the Ukraine, a NATO official hinted that a negotiated peace would allow Ukraine to be part of NATO and Russia in control of eastern portion of Ukraine.  Ukraine gets the protection of NATO in the future and aligned with NATO and EU, has a chance to provide its own economic miracle as a counter to Russia.  Certainly, having a military power of quarter of million soldiers with armed citizenry behind it will provide security for much of central Europe, the Nordic and Baltic states along with Poland which is in the process of strengthening their military.  The Polish-Ukraine alliance will include a minimum of 500,000 soldiers, well trained and with the latest military equipment.  Poland economy is on the verge of overtaking Great Britain by the end of the decade and many of the Baltic and Nordic states have their own sound economics bordering Russia.  This gives both United States and NATO option if Central European nations are capable of defending against Russia in the future.  This could be seen as a military objective in which followers of a modest foreign policy could get behind.  This is one policy that both Haley and DeSantis could agree on along most Republicans.    There will be some debate on whether Ukraine should be a member of NATO, but the reality is that in order to gain a peace treaty, Ukraine has to be guaranteed some security arrangements against future excursion from Russia.”

 As I stated on the Frontier of Freedom weekly report, we have three options, one surrender Ukraine to Russia and face future wars in Central Europe and Scandinavia. (Recently one of Putin’s allies mention it would be nice to have Poland and Finland part of Russia. When these people say these things, believe them.)  The other two options begin with complete removal of Russians from Ukraine but is that still possible?  As long Putin is in charge of Russia, he will fight to the last Russian to conquer Ukraine. The other is a truce. The latter is similar to Korean solution not perfect, but it will allow Ukraine to rebuild their country and more importantly, as long as the West is prepared to secure Ukraine borders that exist, then we are talking a well trained 250,000 soldiers combined with other NATO including Poland troops against any future Russian invasion.  If you put together Sweden, Norway, Finland, Polish Army along with Ukrainian army, you are talking at least 750, 000 to nearly a million men guarding central Europe and even the Artic ocean, armed with latest technology.  That essentially means that Americans troops may not be required to defend Europe.  (By the end of this century it is estimated that the Polish Army will have the largest land army in Europe.)

That also means both political parties need to rethink their own objectives for many in American first movement who been willing to ditch Ukraine as not in our national interest may want to reexamine the idea that a truce will give us NATO plus Ukraine in a position to defend Europe without American troops, giving America more liberty to pursue a more rigorous foreign policy in the Pacific and Indian Ocean against China.

In the Middle East, the Trump policy of forming an alliance between Sunni states and Israel was working before Biden blew it up.  Can we go back to that policy?

And it is time to realize that while terms like Nazis and Fascist are thrown around, we might want to examine what a 21^st Nazis regime looks like.  Strategy page detailed Hamas plan for Israel, “Documents collected, and interviews conducted by Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that senior Hamas leaders had a plan for what they would do if they somehow invaded and conquered Israel. First, Palestinian occupied Israel would be divided up into several cantons, each ruled by a Hamas leader. The plan included details on which Israelis would be killed, expelled, or forced to remain because they were educated Jews and experts in the areas of medicine, engineering, technology, and civilian and military industry.”  The end of Israel and along with their sponsor Iran Hamas is what Nazis regime looks like. Winning: What Hamas Planned To Do In Israel (strategypage.com)    Trump may be many things but a Nazis or Fascist he is not.  Hamas as a group are Nazis and those politicians like Representative Tlaib and others who are vocal supporter of Hamas are supporting Nazis rather they realize it or not. Tlaib does know what Hamas is and yeah, I will say it, she is Nazis. 

Which leaves us when dealing with Trump and Biden?  I didn’t vote for Trump in the 2024 Iowa caucus but will vote for him in 2024 for the simple reason, Biden is far worse.  Trump did not instruct his DOJ to put his political opponents on trial, but Biden has.  Trump left Biden with a safer world than what Biden will leave Trump if Trump is elected.  Ukraine was at peace under Trump, but now we have witnessed the bloodiest war in Europe and at least a million of civilians and soldiers on both sides have already died. Middle East was as peaceful as Middle East could be when Trump left office, but not now under Biden.  Iran was suffering economically and there was a chance for a coalition left in place to confront Iran but now that has to be rebuilt.  China is threatening Tawain and the Philippines under the brilliance of Biden’s foreign policy team. I could go on.

I criticized Trump handling of Covid and was right with my criticism but then so was Ron DeSantis, Kris Noem, Kim Reynolds, and Brian Kemp. The lockdown were a failures and various Vaccine, and mask mandates were equally a failure so hopefully a Second Trump term will learn but I know Biden was not better on Covid and you can even make the case that more people died from Covid under Biden equally inept leadership and much of the policy followed in the wake of Covid has led to our present inflation and other issues with the economy.   Biden has proven to be a threat to civil liberties, his foreign policy has been a disaster including his treatment of Israel and that alone will be enough to vote against him.  His energy policy against fossil fuels and his promotion of renewables will end up aiding China and hurt the cause of cheap domestically energy here at home.  Then there is the half century of Biden’s family profiting from Joe Biden’s time as a public official. We had no more corrupt politician as President than Biden in my lifetime.   You may not like Trump but then who do you vote for? Because the alternative is Biden.

Notes

Trump Should he be elected. – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

Election 2024 and Trump vs Biden – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

To Vote For Trump or Not – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

Foreign policy for GOP – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

Biden/Obama approach to foreign policy is a failure (substack.com)

Will a Second Trump term lead us to a dictatorship? (substack.com)

Grand Strategy – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

On our weekly report, we talk Vice President possibility in particular Ron DeSantis, Tulsi Gabbard, and Tim Scott.  The recent meeting with DeSantis and Trump dealt with moving forward in winning 2024.  As for Ron DeSantis, he would be the best choice for the Vice President since his record on Florida showed his ability to lead.  As the campaign progressed last fall,  DeSantis became more comfortable and he showed in winning one on one with Newsome and Haley, he is capable of taking  the fight to Biden and Harris.  His advantage is the following.

1. He was right on the Pandemic and by the fall of 2020, Florida was open for business. This could help with the one weakness Trump has, his failure on the pandemic including the lockdown which was economic disaster and did little to stop pandemic.
2. He has served in the military.
3. His economic record as governor of Florida. 
4. His record on taking on the bureaucracy in Florida and it can be transferred to Washington.

The disadvantage is as follows.

1. Both live in Florida and so one of the two has to move and won’t be the governor. Trump does have one option, Virginia, where the attorney General will not try to arrest him.  He has a winery in Virginia and property in DC which he can watch from Virginia.  New York is out of the questions since he is already under target in the state.
2. Both men are Alpha and could Trump co-exist with DeSantis and how would DeSantis work with Trump?
3. DeSantis is neither a woman or a minority.

Tim Scott has one attribute he is black.  Now the question is he tough enough to be Vice President and potentially President? He did get engaged recently so no more questions on why a 57-year-old Senator is still single. Plus, a nice touch for a man who might be a Vice President.

1. Scott is a nice guy and likeable, something that Trump is not.
2. He is black and man who came up from poverty to become a United States Senator.
3. He will not compete for being alpha in an administration run by an alpha male.
4. Vice President usually are attack dogs, but Trump is his own attack dog and having a nice person as second on the ticket is a benefit.
5. He will give comfort to any social conservatives that their view will be represented.

The disadvantage for Scott

1. Is he tough enough to be taken on the swamp and administrative state?

Tulsi Gabbard has made it clear she is ready to become a Republican if Trump asks her to join the ticket.  The advantage of Tulsi is that she still serves in the reserve and like DeSantis served in the Middle East. Tulsi is the riskiest of the candidates since her own view seems to be evolving and there is no certainty on the big issues where she presently stands.  Among the advantages include:

1. She is a veteran that has served, and her foreign policy may fit the modest foreign policy desire of Trump.  She is big supporter of Israel but not sold on Ukraine being in our nation interest.
2. As a woman who is more social liberal than most in the Republican party , she might appeal to the suburban female.
3. She destroyed Kamala Harris in the 2020 Democratic primary in one of the great put down in debate histories.  There is no reason that she would not repeat.
4. She is advocate of free speech, oppose censorship, and understand the extent that Democrats will go to win.

What are the disadvantages?

1. There is still much to learn about her views and evolution of where she now stands versus when she was Democrat. 
2. Is she too much of a non-interventionist in foreign policy? 

Tulsi Gabbard has made it clear she is willing to serve as Trump Vice President and while I am not sold as Gabbard as VP since the VP will be odds on favorite to be 2028 nominee, and more importantly, Trump legal issues only intensifies and let be blunt, he is 78 years old and there is a possibility that he could die in office. You better sure who the VP is ready to be President and just as important in tune with the grassroots of the GOP.  Tulsi may not yet part of the new conservative revolution.  There is a toughness with Tulsi that you also see in DeSantis.  Unlike DeSantis, she may not be as threatening to the chief Alpha dog but somehow I get the impression, she would be willing to stand up to Trump if she thinks he is wrong.  If I had a choice, DeSantis would be the top candidate simply because he is the most prepared to be President, but Tulsi could integrally part of the Trump administration.  However, there is little chance to pick DeSantis and not sure Tulsi will be

This article is inspired by an exchange by a Liberal friend and instead of writing a few words on social media, I would write a more detailed piece why I will be voting for Trump.  She asked if I was following British politics and the decline of the conservative party. And of course there is the old line, Trump is a dictator or fascist. 

I will begin with the decline of the conservative Party in Great Britain, and yes there is a lesson, and the lesson is that a conservative party should govern conservatively.  When Boris Johnson won his election in 2019 he had the opportunity of a lifetime to cement the conservative party as the party of the common person but alas, the pandemic short circuited those goals and like Trump, Johnson made the mistake of locking down the economy and unlike Trump, adopted the zero sum/ green agenda which made energy cost higher.  When the conservative attempted a U turn with Liz Truss, the establishment ended that quickly and the present Tory party is now led by the hapless Rishi Sunak. The conservative will lose the next election in UK and they have earned the loss. If I lived in UK, I vote for the reform party before I pulled the lever for the present British conservative party.

 Trump mistake in the Pandemic was not firing Debbie Birks and Tony Fauci when it became apparent that by April that the lockdown would be an economic disaster and that the virus would be not as lethal as originally thought.  The good news for Republicans was that many GOP governors moved away from the bad science of Fauci and Birks and toward the superior science of the Great Barrington Declaration. (While DeSantis was considered the leader of this movement, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem never closed the state economy  and Georgia governor Brian Kemp opened his up before April ended.  DeSantis did popularize the views of the Great Barrington Declaration and showed there was another way. Doesn’t guarantee victory but if the GOP wins, there is a new generation that is beyond Washington with the experiences of being effective. (Meanwhile in Washington, the Republicans in the House have been less than effective in governing.)

From August 2020 to the end of 2022, Republican states outperformed their Democratic counterpart economically and Americas Majority Foundation which I work for conducted four studies by Wilfred Reilly and myself that showed  this and other studies have confirmed this.  As mentioned in my book Americas At The Abyss, Where America Survive? and previous book, the Rise of National Populism and Democratic Socialism, the Democratic party is the socialist party of America even if the majority of Democratic office holders won’t admit it but in the case of Republicans it is a battle over populism, conservatism and how best to combine the two. Many Republican states have proven to be effective in pushing reforms that can be transfer to Washington and Trump biggest successes came when he combined his populism with Reagan conservativism.  His foreign policy was not isolationist but a modest foreign policy. 

As the recent college campus riots, “protest,” and various tactics to interfere with most normal people life like blocking roadways have shown, the left has now unleashed the Anti-Semitism as part of their ideology and we are now within that moment in America history where forces of evil are being released, threatening the very fabric of our society.   The left revolution is declaring war on what made American works and yeah, add antisemitism to the mix, we are now traveling in areas not seen in decades.  

As someone who did not vote for Trump in the Iowa caucus, the choice is clear not because so much of Trump qualities but lack of qualities in his opponent.  We have seen over the past several years should wake up Americans, the war on Democracy is not being committed by Trump but by his opponents.   We had a fake Russian collusion hoax used as  pretense to try remove Trump from office despite this hoax began with a fake dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton campaign.   Is Trump a dictator?  Well, we had four years of Trump as President, and there were no concentration camps and when Trump DOJ had the opportunity to punish Hillary  Clinton for her misuse of classified documents, he chose not to.  Maybe he should have; she was guilty of violating classified comments just as the present President.   Certainly, we are witnessing lawfare against a political opponent, never witnessed in my lifetime with Biden and his DOJ along with working  with local politics, are trying to jail a political opponent.  Or as a friend of mine who has taught constitutional, trial in New York is a trial in search of crime.

As for January 6^th, I make this point.  On January 7^th, I condemned the violence and observed that when people no longer view that elections are fair or that their government no longer cares, this is the result.  Since then, I have not changed my mind that that many should have been arrested but we are witnessing people being thrown in jail for merely walking in the Capital or outside.  It is overkill and let be blunt, most political violence has been caused by the left and not the right since 2016.  We can trace two acts of violence tracked to the right on January 6^th   and 2017 Charlottesville riot ¹, but there were some 500 to 700 riots that responsible for billion of dollars of damage to cities and at least 30 deaths by the left under the BLM label. That  represented 2-4 riots as bad or worse than January 6th .  In Washington DC,  January 6^th wasn’t even the worse riots in DC as rioters under the BLM banners put the White House under siege and attacked law enforcement with makeshift weapons as many were attacked on January 6^th. and buildings including a local historical church.   Today, a friend observed to me we are witnessing at least one Charlottesville every day only the Nazis are not “right wingers” but hard-core lefties with congressional support from the congressional “squad.”   We are seeing support from many elite universities for what can only be described as Nazism.  If you are Jew hating Marxist, then you can make the case that you are national socialist and if you are national socialist, then you are Nazis.  Something to think about when one hears the phrase Trump is a Fascist.  There is one party that has an elected officials who has openly called for a Palestinian state from the river to the sea which is another phrase that means the elimination of Israel.  That is Tlaib from Michigan, and she is a Democrat and part of the squad led by Alexandra Cortes.  So, if a Party tolerates an anti-Semite like Tlaib, is not in a position to judge who is a fascist or Nazis and who is not.

Here is what we have seen from this administration has been censorship as they worked with social media to censor those who disagreed, we saw during the 2020 election in which law enforcements pressure social media to keep the Hunter Biden laptop off their media and when NY post broke the story, twitter blocked Post on twitter for over a week. Right now, this administration has given the Supreme Court the middle finger as Biden is still releasing college students from paying their debt after the Supreme Court told them it was unconstitutional and of course, they have ignored all laws dealing with enforcing the border.  There have been efforts to remove Trump from ballots of state until the Colorado attempt was derailed by the Supreme Court.  The problem with Trump derangement syndrome is that you fail to see that the Left is attempting to undermine freedom of speech and the Pandemic open the door for massive government power to control even what is considered an essential businesses and churches closed down while gambling casinos kept open.  On this, Trump played his role but Biden continued into is administration including vaccine and mask mandates even though the vast majority of studies fail to see any benefit of mask and the vaccine didn’t even prevent transmission and there are still questions on its efficacy.  (Depending on the study you read, it may have impacted the severity of the disease but there was no reason to force people to lose their jobs over this and forcing many young people to have a vaccine despite that the benefit outweighed the risk. )

In foreign policy, Biden policy has been a disaster beginning with Afghanistan withdrawal which sent a signal to Putin that Ukraine was available, Biden like Obama before him has attempted to reignite Iranian deal and those billions released have been used to arm their proxies including Hamas and the present war between Hamas and Israel began in part of Biden appeasement of Iran. 

China is now threatening Philippines and Taiwan contrary to popular view and media narrative, we were safer under Trump than under Biden where a wider war in Europe and Middle East is becoming a possibility.   Under Trump, we had peace in the Middle East and Europe while Pacific was quiet.  Trump left Biden with alliances of Sunni Arabs and Israel against Iran while Iran was economically strapped. In Europe, Ukraine was not at war and NATO began to increase defense spending.²

For three years, Trump economy was fine as majority of Americans saw increase in their living standard and if the Pandemic not occurred, we would be in the midst of non-inflationary growth.  While we lost 20 million jobs  in April due to the lockdown, we saw nearly 55 percent of all jobs returned by the end of 2020 and unemployment dropped by more than double and below all expectations.  Biden inherited a 20 percent growth in GDP from July 2020 and million plus jobs returned from the April peak.   Trump made his share of mistakes in the pandemic and many of those Republicans governors who ignored Fauci/Birks fallacy were proven right. 

Biden is a corrupt politician who used his power to enrich his family and as a former Secretary of Defense noted, there wasn’t a foreign policy Biden got right in his career. Still true.  And at the age 81, there is no doubt that Biden is not as sharp as in the past and there may be even dementia setting in.  Trump may be 78 but so far the deterioration in mental capacity has not been seen as we are witnessing with Biden. 

Trump will not provide miracles and face challenges, but Biden has been a disaster in foreign policy and the average American has seen their income decline due to inflation and Biden is placing future burden on the economy starting with debts exceeding 34 trillion dollars,  the war on American energy will add to the burden of average American with higher energy prices and finally, our basic civil liberties are under siege as already outline. 

I voted for DeSantis in Iowa and in November will vote with Trump not because he is the right man for the job in 2024 but Biden has been the worse President in my lifetime beginning with Eisenhower administration. And it is time to end the real war on Democracy, send Biden packing back to Delaware where his family can enjoy their wealth created by corruption. 

It is time to be rid of Trump derangement syndrome and recognize that Trump maybe imperfect who may have paid a porn star to keep quiet about an affair may or may not have happened is not illegal but unseemly.  Something the voters should decide not the courts and if challenging the result of an election a crime then Hillary Clinton who has spent the last several years blaming Putin for Trump victory or Stacy Abrams who made a career of challenging the 2018 elections even though her losing margin was nearly five times what Trump lost in 2020.   If Trump should be punished for classified documents then what about Biden who according to Hur did in fact state Biden was guilty of mishandling classified documents since he was a Senator, but he didn’t want to put an old doddering old man on the stand in a DC court, figuring that the pursuing the case against a old man who can’t even remember when his son died would be fruitless. (My lawyer friend view is that Hur should have allowed the case to proceed if he felt that Biden was guilty regardless of Biden mental health.)  The problem is that if Biden is incapable of being indicted due to his possible dementia maybe he shouldn’t be President.  The world we live in, a world in which a man is determine not to be of sound mind to stand trial but to be of sound mind to be President.   You can criticize Trump for his views or what you criticize for his performance during the pandemic (I have) but he less of a Nazis or fascist than his opponent. He did not put his opponent on show trials or did his party attempt to keep his opponent of the ballot nor has he called for destruction of Israel unlike some of his opponents.   And the world was more peaceful under Trump than Biden.  Case closed.  Put country upon politics, vote for Trump.

1. Richard Spencer, who organized the Charlottesville unite the right in 2017 and supposedly inspire Joe Biden to run for President, tweeted his support for Biden because “Democrat are more competent.”  He might even be more impressed how openly some of the squads have shown their anti-Semitism openly and gotten away with it.   Noted former KKK and anti-Semitic David Duke gave his support of the squad member Representative Omar as well.  There is whole of lot of racist supporting Democrats. I detailed this in my two most recent books. 
2. Toward a Modest Foreign Policy – by Tom Donelson/ F of F (substack.com)

In 1983, Ronald Reagan proposed what he called Strategic Defense Initiative and his opponent called it star wars with disdain. One United States Senator spoke at the National Press club in 1986, “Star Wars represents a fundamental assault on the concepts, alliances and arms-control agreements that have buttressed American security for several decades, and the president’s continued adherence to it constitutes one of the most reckless and irresponsible acts in the history of modern statecraft.”  This past weekend, this Senator found himself working with Israel to knock down those missiles.  Yes, Joe Biden should be thankful to Ronald Reagan for his foresight.

 The goal was to defend America against ballistic missiles.  In 1988, I ran a congressional campaign in Missouri 5^th district and my candidate, Mary Ellen Lobb, reviewed data on SDI and as we talked about the concept and how to use it in the election.  We wrote up a position paper and she insisted that we must include regional powers about Iran. Ms. Lobb was prophetic about the importance of SDI, and it use against Iran. This was 1988. 

Israel realized the importance of missile defense and within two years of Reagan announcement, Israel began working with the United States and this past weekend, the world watched in real time how SDI worked in protecting Israel population.   While United States didn’t develop a space-based system, the technology has put together an arsenal of ground, air, and sea basked interceptors and Israel developed an iron dome to protect the population from short range missile along with David’s sling protection includes medium range missiles and the Arrow 2 and 3 hit missiles at high attitudes.   

Now that we have a  spaced based force, it should be obvious that a space-based system will protect American population from missiles but maybe also protects our satellites as well. 

Maybe it is time to review the Reagan years for on many issues, Reagan was ahead of the game and SDI was one area.  He understood that keeping a world on the edge of mutual destruction was not the long-term strategy, but SDI allowed something different, a defense against missiles.

Israel has showed the ability to protect their population and shown how SDI does have a role in future of the warfare.  

Biden foreign policy is the extension of the Obama’s foreign policy and in comparison with the Trump years, there is no comparison for Trump era was superior to both Obama and Biden’s years.  In the Obama years, Russian took a piece of Ukraine while Joe Biden’s son was making money working with corrupt oligarchies.  Obama never viewed Ukraine as part of our national interest and while you can debate the merit of his views, the 1994 Budapest accord made it clear that Ukraine sovereignty would be respected in exchange of giving its nuclear stockpiles.  Obama essentially ignored the Budapest accord.

Obama Middle East policy was to appeased Iran and work on the false assumption that Iran could be a partner of stability in the Middle East.  Obama pull out in Iraq would be the model for Biden’s disastrous Afghan retreat. Obama declared victory and ISIS ended up in control of good portion of Iraq in quick order and Syria ignored Obama’s redline on use of chemical weapons.   Obama had to send troops back in. 

When Trump came into office, ISIS was in control of significant territory, Russia was embedded in the Middle East after decades of foreign policy keeping Russia out, Iran was going for a nuclear weapon and collecting money courtesy of Obama’s administration and using that largess to sponsor terrorism.  Russia penetrated Ukraine and the world was less safe.

Under Trump, ISIS defeated and due to reimposition of sanctions, Iran economy was in a shambles. Trump left Biden’s administration with the Abraham accord in which Israel making peace with Sunni states against Iran.  Europe was quiet and no Russian further encroachment of Ukraine.   Trump left Biden’s with a more peaceful world. 

Now the world is on fire, thanks to incompetence of the Biden’s administration and it should be noted, Biden followed Obama initiative in the Middle East of appeasing Iran and providing Iran with the money to create instability once again in the Middle East.  The present Israeli war against Hamas is the direct of results of Obama/Biden foreign policy and the disastrous pull out of Afghanistan left billions of dollars of military equipment in the hands of the Taliban. Putin viewed the rest of Ukraine fair game after the Afghanistan pullout and Biden’s weakness led to the worse military conflict in Europe since World War II and the war still in doubt as the debate on further aid is in jeopardy. The Middle East war has expanded to Yemen threatening our trade routes,  Hezbollah raining missiles on Northern Israel along with Gaza. Iran launched their own attack from their soil directly against Israel.

Our border is a disaster as 8 million plus have crossed the border into the United States and we have an immigration policy that has at least two illegal immigrants coming into the United States compared to one legal immigrant.  This is unstainable. 

We were told that Biden’s administration were the grown-ups to bring normalcy and “sound foreign policy” but they have failed to bring normalcy and their foreign policy has been a disaster.   Decline is a choice for nations and the Biden administration is choosing decline.