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

THOSE EXPECTATIONS FOR MCSALLY – Arizona Republic editorial columnist Phil Boas hit the nail on the head when he surmised that it was Sen. Martha McSally’s support of the president that has put the pressure on her as she assumes the role of junior senator.

Writing about “the heat” the left still throws at McSally, he asks, “what’s wrong with her,” as he checks off – congresswoman, former Air Force colonel and Air Force Academy graduate, and advanced degree from Harvard.

Skipping over her being a Republican, defense hawk and her attacks on her opponent Kyrsten Sinema, Boas writes that he would “lay money” on the fact that she supported President Trump. “Because to Democrats and their friends in the media echo chamber, there are few sins as despicable as embracing this particular president,” he remarks.

“It’s not only Democrats who dislike McSally,” Boas notes as he writes about the chill in the air from Camp McCain, where a bitterness still hovers. When Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Mc Sally, Cindy McCain’s endorsement was viewed by local political journalist Howard Fischer as “lukewarm.”

Boas hints that the McCain family will oppose McSally when she runs in 2020, but says they will be “making a mistake.”

I agree.

It’s imperative that McSally focus on supporting the Trump administration’s agenda. If she abandons her party, as McCain did on his ObamaCare repeal “nay” vote, and becomes a RINO in fear of her reelection, she will lose and deserve it.

WHILE ON THE SUBJECT of supporting the president’s agenda, Brandon J. Weichert wrote an insightful piece in which he believes “Donald Trump is hated even more by the Republican establishment than he is by the Democrats.”

Writing of what he views as the greatest legislative retreat in history, given all of the advantages that being in the majority offers, Weichert says that (House Speaker Paul) Ryan squandered every single one of them – from repealing the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) to building the wall.”

In response, Weichert notes, “the voters awarded the Democrat Party control of the House of Representatives.”

As the clock ticked down prior to the shutdown, he referred to Republicans as “cowards,” who for the most part “hate (Trump) with extreme prejudice (more than the Democrats do).”’

Citing a recent poll by Harvard University, Weichert points out that 80 percent of all voters say the U.S. needs a secure border- including 68 percent of Democrat voters.

In addition, the poll seems to side with the president’s wish for legal immigrants of merit, as 79 percent of the voters want immigration to be conferred to those who have the “ability to contribute to America.” Eighty-seven percent of Republican voters agreed with that claim, while 72 percent of Democrats agreed.

Clear thinking Americans have to believe that President Trump is on the right side of this, one of the pressing issues of our time, says Weichert.

Considering how popular the Trump immigration policies are with the American electorate – notably the Republican base – it is the GOP, more than the Democrat Party, that is the greatest impediment to resolving the immigration issue.

The president must hold strong on this issue even if it means keeping the limited part of the government closed indefinitely. “Trump cannot waver, even in the face of horrible GOP opposition, “Weichert asserts.

If not resolved, immigration will be a defining issue in 2020.

MITT ROMNEY, the newly elected senator from Utah, it appears, plans to follow in the footsteps of Jeff “The” Flake as a RINO President Trump cannot count on. In a dissenting op-ed in The Washington Post, Romney assailed the president’s character. While he said he looked forward to working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and said he’d work with the president, he would not be a rubber stamp and would call out Mr. Trump on excessive incivilities.

“I do not intend to comment on every tweet or fault. But I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions,” he wrote.

PAY ME NOW OR PAY MORE LATER – I recently wrote of the pittance – $5 billion – the president has asked for to begin construction of a wall, fence or whatever to provide a secure border. That’s about 10 percent of the annual cost taxpayers incur to provide services to illegal immigrants, according to David Catron, writing in The American Spectator.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) recently stated that in total, illegal aliens cost us $116 billion annually.

About five years ago, Heritage Foundation placed the burden at around $54.5 billion.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF DEMOCRATS by Donald Trump is the subject of a piece by Jonathan Turley, a Democrat who is a law professor at George Washington University, recently published in The Hill. I found it quite interesting.

“The remaking of the Democrat Party was evident last week with the reaction to the decision to withdraw troops from Syria,” Turley notes, “There was a time when a sizable number of Democrats opposed undeclared wars and unending military campaigns. Now they are appalled that Trump would not continue a war in one of the myriad of countries with American troops engaged in combat operations. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the withdrawal a “Christmas gift to Vladimir Putin.”

The recriminations over withdrawing was quickly picked up by the liberal MSNBC, where Rachel Maddow criticized the withdrawal despite the fact that Trump campaigned on a promise to withdraw from such wars, Turley commented.

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, always quick to attack Trump, denounced him as a “quivering coward” who failed to understand that we must fight enemies like ISIS.” Never mind that it was Trump’s military that drastically reduced the ISIS footprint in the Middle East.

It is in the current investigation involving the FBI that Turley relates another transformation of Democrats. California Democrat “Adam Schiff, expressed shock that the FBI was not given deference in withholding the information in the surveillance investigation,” says Turley while noting, however, that when the FBI’s dirty deeds were uncovered, they embraced expanding definitions of crimes in support of the investigation of Trump.

Just as the Democrats will now turn up the heat on investigating Trump, Turley says the party requires more than hate and must stand for something.

“So, the question is not what the Democrat Party will do but what it will be after Donald Trump eventually leaves office,” Turley concludes.

            May God bless the United States of America.