Here are my observations and opinions on selected news items of the day.

MY THOUGHTS ON OUR ALLIES can be summed up simply by saying they need us more than we need them.

However, Democrats and their complicit media have been having a field day with former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ resignation remarks in which he was critical of President Trump’s relationship with our allies.

Mattis wrote of his belief that “our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships.”

He cited his views on “treating allies with respect … (and the need to) advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”

Much of the criticism aimed at the president is derived from his America First policy; his effort to restore America’s influence around the world. He believes in American exceptionalism, and during his appearances around the world, has said that he believes each country should similarly believe in themselves.

Although candidate Trump was critical of NATO, President Trump has since worked to improve the alliance, cajoling each member to do its part by contributing their fair shares.

While his foreign policy doubters worried about his antagonistic remarks made toward North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, he quietly went about arranging a face to face meeting with him. While their nuclear ambitions have not been stopped, tensions have been eased. Prisoners have been released and our Korean War dead are being returned to us.

His relationship with Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron has cooled somewhat because of the president’s prediction that they would face serious problems with their immigration policies. They are. And they didn’t appreciate America’s pullout of the Paris Accord. Both leaders, slipping in the polls, recently announced their willingness to surrender their country’s sovereignty.

At least Trump hasn’t tapped Merkel’s phone as Obama ordered.

Meanwhile, Trump’s relationship with Great Britain’s Theresa May, while strained, has been cordial.

He is currently dealing with China’s Xi Jinping on trade and intellectual property issues and has stated that the U.S. will no longer be the “sucker” when it comes to trade as he promotes fair and reciprocal trade around the globe, with the American worker in mind.

The president appropriately disposed of the miserable deal Obama’s former Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated with Iran, and put that country’s leadership on notice while adding sanctions.

Now, with the attention on Syria, where the president is considering a pullout, the critics seem to have amnesia when Obama caved after drawing a line in the sand over Syria’s use of chemical weapons.

We can be comfortable with Trump on the global scene, despite the Beltway critics. His boldness and eagerness to resolve issues is backed by one of the best advance men our country has had in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

DON’T THINK THE MATTIS DEPARTURE will damage the president’s relationship with the troops. His reception by our troops in Iraq and Germany within days of the Mattis announcement was enthusiastic as he posed for “selfies” and signed autographs. And it didn’t hurt that the First Lady joined him.

An Associated Press poll released on December 30, 2018 revealed that 59 percent of veterans believe him to be a “strong leader,” and 56 percent approve of the job he doing. Sixty-two percent approve of the job he is doing in trying to solve the border issue.

WHAT BORDER CRISIS? – Soon to be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to set up a select committee on the “climate crisis” that will “spearhead our effort to engage the American public on the urgency of the climate crisis on public health, on reducing air pollution, on the economy for America to be preeminent in green technologies.”

MERCEDES SCHLAPP, White House advisor, responded with a tweet @mercedesschlapp: “What about creating a select committee on the border crisis?”

LOOK FOR LEGISLATION on carbon tax from the Democrat leftists.

NBC’S CHUCK TODD is on board. In promoting his special on climate change, he revealed that “we’re not going to debate climate change. The Earth is getting hotter, and human activity is a major cause. Period. We’re not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if public opinion is not.

To which Mark Finkelstein, writing in NewsBusters, asked, “Did democracy die in darkness and certain positions verboten from public speech?” He imagines Todd opening a future edition of Meet the Press on immigration with “the matter is settled; open borders are good. Period. We’re not giving time to wall advocates.”

JOHNAH GOLDBERG, an anti-Trump columnist, attempted to put down columnist Chris Buskirk’s American Greatness piece on the “Death of The Weekly Standard Signals Rebirth of the Right,” with ugly trash talk about Buskirk and American Greatness that I will not repeat here

As I have noted in the past, The Weekly Standard and its founder Bill Kristol, have tried over the years to damage conservative thought by inserting its vision of neoconservatism.

Applauding the failure of The Weekly Standard, Buskirk wrote of the dwindling influence of neoconservatism. Ed Morrow covered the feud in The American Spectator.

Buskirk believes that neoconservatism “led America into unnecessary wars while failing to contain the growth of government, defend our borders, or promote traditional American beliefs and institutions. While America was trying to build democracy in foreign lands with our blood and treasure, America, at home, was being transferred into something unrecognizable.”

Goldberg attacked Buskirk for ignoring the good works of neoconservatives. Morrow focused on their inability to produce results from their radical ideas.

As The Weekly Standard began going south, Kristol spent most of his time tweeting odd thoughts. You may recall one I published: “If it comes to it, (I) refer the deep state to the Trump state.”

Morrow jabs anti-Trumpers, especially Goldberg, for continuing their attacks on the president. “Logic would suggest,” writes Morrow, ”if you have a choice between A. – backing a president who is pushing policies you have claimed for generations to want, and B. – tearing that president into a million pieces because you don’t like his imperfect persona, you choose option A.

“Millions of Americans understand this but Goldberg doesn’t and disregards their concerns.”

            May God bless the United States of America.