Commentary

(Parts 1 and 2 were published November 14 and 15)

The Voters

In my brief post-election blog, I said “the people have spoken.”  Since then, I have been doing some thinking about those people.  Who were they and what were they thinking?  I gave you the numbers in Part 1.

Unbelievably, Democrats bought into the fantasy of controlling climate change, considering it a bigger issue than the economy for them by 55 percentage points?  Just 10 percent were concerned about immigration. And what about those 29 percent who thought the country was on the right track?

They were convinced by President Biden’s threat of losing our democracy if Republicans were allowed to win, all while he freely ignores our institutions – Congress – by illegally announcing student debt forgiveness in an effort to gain votes. A federal court blocked the plan and within two days of the midterms, loan forgiveness forms were no longer accepted.

Initially, one wondered why the voters in 2020 didn’t anticipate the cost of gas at the pump and the realization of higher home fuel oil costs when President Biden spoke of moving the country off fossil fuels. When it became a reality, they just swallowed deeply and voted Democrat anyway. 

Easily bamboozled, they were impressed with the Democrats legislative win with the Inflation Reduction Act, even though it will not reduce inflation.

Despite the influx of some four million illegal immigrants and tons of fentanyl pills allowed to cross under Biden’s open border policy, that too was ignored by voters.

Arizona voters returned Democrat Mark Kelly to the Senate despite his inattention to the issue, and turned back Republican Kari Lake, who pledged to secure the border   In Texas, too, Democrats reelected Rep. Henry Cuellar despite his two-year inability to gain an audience with Biden on the issue.

Those are but a few examples of apparent voter apathy.

Conclusion

“We, his fans, see the good in him (Trump) and the evil in his enemies,” wrote fellow blogger Don Surber, who also wrote several books on Trump. “But the majority doesn’t and never will. It is a sale that cannot be made.  There will be no second term from The Donald.  It breaks my heart to see this.”

Trump supporters cannot deny the fact that he had no coattails in the midterms. I covered his failed endorsements in Part 2 of this positioning statement. Further proof of the voter’s distaste of Trump was revealed with the loss by Kari Lake for governor in Arizona.  Clearly the best candidate, her tie to Trump caused her defeat.

At one time, I suggested that Trump could be the GOP standard bearer, something George W. Bush could never attain.  With his failed endorsements, however, that now appears to be out of the question.

So, what’s the position of Kramerontheright?  With a long list of ground-breaking accomplishments, I continue to believe Trump was arguably the best modern-day president of my time. 

He was the architect of Warp Speed during the Covid pandemic, he achieved energy independence, he appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court, he took on peace in the middle east with the Abraham Accords, there were no military war deaths, and we had a border that was more secure than ever, and the economy was booming.

We all recall how he was under attack from the time he decided to run, from within his own government – the Deep State – and the leftist media.  It was unrelenting.

Who can forget Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer’s warning just two weeks before Trump’s inauguration – “You take on the intelligence community and they have six ways from Sunday of getting back to you.” 

There were the efforts by the FBI to keep him from the presidency and just before the 2020 election, 50 former intelligence officers signed a letter warning of Russian disinformation, while keeping the Hunter Biden laptop under wraps.

I was disappointed when Trump attacked Mike Pence after the 2020 election.  Pence is a decent man, who did an admirable job as vice president.  He didn’t deserve that.

Fox News’ Shannon Bream believes Trump is chomping at the bit to get back into the position of dominating every headline and every news cycle.  I don’t doubt it.

Still on the horizon, however, is the release of the House Select Committee Report on January 6, along with the findings of the document raid on Mar-a-Lago. In addition, a multitude of lawsuits and appeals will continue to provide more negative press.

There was a time when I wanted Trump to come back.  He was a businessman willing to take on the Washington establishment. But he has become a polarizing figure with an obsession over a stolen election he is unwilling to relinquish.  I believe we need to move ahead.

Personally, I hope that if DeSantis decides to run in 2024, he isn’t intimidated by Trump to sit it out.  Trump has already threatened to reveal things about DeSantis “that won’t be very flattering … I know more about him than anybody, other than perhaps his wife.“  That’s quite rich, considering Trump’s past.

Trump’s Decision to Run Again

During an hour-long appearance at Mar-a-Lago before an audience of several hundred supporters Tuesday evening, the former president began by reviewing his accomplishments and Biden’s failures in a concise, dignified, presidential manner.

Only an occasional chant, like U-S-A, U-S-A, were reminiscent of his rallies.  

Twenty minutes into his speech he announced his decision to again seek the nomination for president. “It will not be my campaign, it will be our campaign,” he said as he described it as a “greatness movement.”

Referring to the past two years under Biden, he declared it doesn’t have to be this way.  America will be first again.

I was reminded of 2016, impressed with his coverage of topics on all of our minds.

As I listened to the former president, I was reminded of the NBC poll in which GOP voters consider themselves 62 percent supporters of the party against 30 percent who consider themselves more supporters of Trump.

It will be interesting to see if he can regain the support he once had.

The pressure is on.  During an interview with Australia’s Sky News, Lara Trump played the heavy, issuing a warning to DeSantis.  “I think that Ron DeSantis is very smart.  Look, he’s a young guy.  There will be a lot of opportunity for him in the future.  I can tell you those primaries get very messy and very raw.  So, wouldn’t it be nicer for him, and I think he knows this, to wait until 2028?”

While a primary between Trump and DeSantis would be welcomed by the media, it’s hard to imagine it would be good for the party.  Some are already referring to it as civil war.  It might satisfy Trump diehards.

The Republican Bench

Unlike the Democrats, the Republican Party has a bench with quality candidates in addition to DeSantis – Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence among the leaders – but they don’t have what it would take to beat DeSantis. They just might decide to run to gain exposure for the running mate spot.

The Two-Year Agenda

Leadership – The Speakership of the House and Senate leadership is already a hot topic.  Will Kevin McCarthy put in place an agenda, and deliver on it like a party that wants to win the presidency in 2024.

Climate/Energy Independence – With the majority of the House now in hand, Republicans will be able to rein-in much of what the Biden administration has put forth.  Clearly, spending on climate change needs to be brought to halt and our energy independence needs to be restored.  This will take some negotiations.

Accountability must be seriously addressed by calling for hearings on the rogue activities of the FBI and the one-sided “investigation” of the January 6 raid on the Capitol.

Immigration – With another quarter of a million illegals crossing our border in October, immigration needs to be addressed.

Abortion – Misleading polls led Republicans to believe abortion was not a major issue on the minds of voters, but it was.

With Biden conceding that he would not have the votes to codify Roe v Wade, I believe Republicans should allow the states to decide their own positions, and those seeking a nationwide abortion policy should back off.

Early and Mail-In Voting, a product of the pandemic lockdown,needs to be addressed in the states.  Extended voting periods, ballot harvesting with mail-ins accepted and counted after Election Day is not voting as it was intended in our democracy. While Democrats used the midterms to persuade voters that Republicans were a threat to democracy, they, in fact, were guilty of taking down this institution with misinformation.

Infighting –Just as the Democrats have Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Ilan Omar, the GOP has Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Bobert.  The Republican Party must refrain from admonishing its own and unite. 

The Senate hangs in the balance until the December 6 runoff in Georgia.

My Hope – I sincerely hope I haven’t lost you as a reader because of my position on former President Trump. I tried to be objective. I simply believe that the election results reflect that his influence was a major reason our party missed an opportunity for that red wave.  And now, as we consider the next two years and the 2024 elections, we don’t need party divided.

“Americans long for calm and normalcy.” Ben Domenech in The Transom

                 May God continue to bless the United States of America.