Here are my observations and opinions on selected news items.
HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE A POLL, like the Fox News Poll, that shows 59 percent still approve of Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign and Russia; and that 40 percent say it is extremely/very likely Mueller will find that Trump committed criminal or impeachable offenses?
There’s more. On the condition of the economy, 67 percent (Democrats and Independents) view it as only fair/poor.
And get this. ObamaCare is more favorable than the GOP tax cut, 58 to 48 percent.
Finally, the poll indicates that just 38 percent of Republicans will vote for the Republican candidate in their district. In other words, they are willing to relinquish control of the House to Nancy Pelosi. Unbelievable.
SPEAKING OF POLLS – A new Gallup survey found that 57 percent of Democrats now hold a favorable view of socialism, largely driven by an emerging enthusiasm among young left-leaning voters.
“If they actually understood what destructive ideology socialism can be,” wrote Brad Polumbo in the Washington Examiner,” members of my generation wouldn’t be so quick to signal their support for it.”
In his piece, Polumbo cites a recent analysis by Brian Riedl of the Manhattan Institute, that shows things like single-payer health care, a federal jobs guarantee, and tuition free college would cost $42 trillion.
A YOUNG REPUBLICAN who doesn’t buy the socialism talk is Morgan Murtaugh, a Republican trying to unseat Democrat incumbent Rep. Susan Davis in California’s 53rd District. Davis has held the seat for 15 years. Murtaugh is the youngest person (in her 20s) running for Congress.
“I truly believe that young people who identify with socialism, a lot of them don’t know what that really means,” Murtaugh told Juliana Knot at The Federalist. “When I talk to people about my platform, many identify with it. Many millennials identify with lower taxes, equal opportunity, individual liberty. And, let’s be frank here … no one can live that “Instagram lifestyle” with socialism.”
SELENA ZITO is one of those rare true journalists I have written about here before. She roams the grassroots of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to learn what voters are thinking. I’m currently reading the book she co-authored with Brad Todd – “The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.”
In her latest piece in the New York Post, Zito interviews a woman in her mid-40s who lives just outside of Columbus, Ohio in an effort to determine the effect of the Manafort-Cohen trials on the Trump presidency.
“She summed up her continued support for President Donald Trump despite his morals, values and behavior not matching hers nor her expectations she had for any president,” writes Zito.
“Why does he hold her support?” Zito asked. “He delivers results. It’s just that simple,” the woman responded.
“This new conservative populist coalition is not the fluke the political class hoped it was,” she writes, “Donald Trump did not cause it, he is just the result of it, so no matter what he does, it continues. It is predicated on them, not him,” Zito adds.
MOVING TO SWEDEN? Eighty cars were set afire in Sweden recently in what police have described as a coordinated attack orchestrated on social media.
“I am really surprised,” said the befuddled Prime Minister Stefan Lufven, “what the hell are you up to? You’re ruining things for yourselves, for your parents, for the who community, for the neighbors and most of Swedish society is dead against this.”
I don’t expect that his remarks will have much impression on the hoodlums.
DEMOCRATS WHO ACCUSE THE PRESIDENT of politicizing the murder of Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa by an illegal alien haven’t been listening. Before he became president, he spoke during the campaign about the innocent victims of illegals, and has invited to the White House the parents and other loved ones who lost family members to illegals, most recently on June 22, 2018.
The media, too, has chosen to ignore the seriousness of the issue, failing to understand that the existence of these illegals in our country can be prevented with proper border security and visa control. Missing the point, USA Today published a feature, citing a fact that nobody disputes – immigrants don’t commit more crimes than US-born people – in a poster-size font.
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD how Retired Admiral William McRaven wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post attacking the president’s revocation of John Brennan’s security clearance, in which he said, “(Brennan) is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.”
AND, you may have heard that former Vice President Biden responded, saying, “I’m so incredibly proud of you.”
Those news items were approvingly covered by the media.
BUT MOST LIKELY YOU HAVEN’T HEARD about the compelling open letter responding to Admiral McRaven’s op-ed, written by Ray Starmann, Editor-in-Chief of U.S. Defense Watch.
“Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as nation,” Starmann wrote in his letter, too lengthy to publish here. You can read it in its entirety by clicking here.
May God bless the United States of America.
