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

NOT BAD FOR A LOSER – Generally, a losing candidate is forgotten after an election, but not Stacey Abrams, the black Democrat who lost her recent race for the governorship of Georgia. USA Today devoted nearly the entire front page and a quarter of page two to her with the headline, “Abrams will ‘certainly’ run for office again,” accompanied by a two-column, color photo.

Could it be that editors of the left-leaning paper heard the discussion on Joy Reid’s MSNBC show with guest Jason Johnson in which Johnson asserted that black women would be the most important constituency for Democrats in 2020. Quoting black women, he has talked with, he said they’re saying, “if there’s not a black woman on this ticket, I’m not voting. I’m not excited. I’m not voting.”

Reid jumped in with, “They can’t run two white guys,” citing the example of Biden-O’Rourke. “Women are going to be outraged if there’s not a woman on the ticket,” said Reid, without mentioning that the woman needs to be black.

Makes me wonder what the plethora of white Democrat candidates might be thinking – Biden, Sanders, Warren, Gillibrand, Harris, Klobuchar and O’Rourke.

‘DONALD TRUMP IS A GOOD PRESIDENT’ is the title of a piece by the French author Michael Houellebecq in the January 2019 edition of Harper’s magazine. I found it quite enlightening once I got past his personal feelings of the president, like “repulsive,” and “an appalling clown of a leader,”

America’s military interventions, nation-building and the activities of the CIA, with references to Kennedy and Johnson, make up the first third of his column.

But with this line – “Trump is pursuing and amplifying the policy of disengagement initiated by Obama; this is very good news for the rest of the world” – the tone changed. “The Americans are getting off our backs. The Americans are letting us exist,” he added.

“What’s most remarkable about the new American policies is certainly the country’s position on trade, and there Trump has been like a healthy breath of fresh air; you’ve ready done well to elect a president with origins in what is called ‘civil society,’” he writes.   “President Trump tears up treaties and trade agreements when he thinks it was wrong to sign them. He’s right about that; leaders musts know how to use the cooling off period and withdraw from bad deals.”

Houellebecq gave special attention to the president’s concern for America’s workers. “President Trump was elected to safeguard the interests of American Workers. During the past fifty years in France, one would have wished to come upon this sort of attitude more often.”

“President Trump doesn’t like the European Union; he thinks we don’t have a lot in common … and I call this fortunate. He’d rather negotiate directly with individual countries, and I believe this would actually be preferable.

“We in Europe have neither a common language, nor common values, nor common interests that, in a word, Europe doesn’t exist; and it will never constitute a people or support a possible democracy. Europe is just a dumb idea that has gradually turned into a bad dream, from which we shall eventually wake up,” he proclaimed.

The author talked about Trump’s support for Brexit, which he, too, supported. He pointed to the Brit’s courageous decision. He mentioned Trump’s managing “to tame the North Korean madman.”

He praised Trump’s statement that he was a nationalist. “Me too, precisely so,” he wrote, “nationalists can talk to one another; with internationalists (globalists), oddly enough, talking doesn’t work so well.”

“In summary, President Trump seems to me to be one of the best American presidents I’ve ever seen,” Houellebecq concluded.

A BRIT COMMENTS ON TRUMP – Steve Hilton, who served as the political advisor for former British Prime Minister David Cameron, and now host of The Next Revolution show on Fox News Channel, published his thoughts on President Trump in an opinion piece of his own online.

In his column, “’Hey, Trump haters (on both sides) could you just admit that this is a successful presidency?” Hilton focused on Trump’s view of climate change. “In the evil populist Trump’s America, here’s what happened to energy-related carbon emissions: In 2017, they fell by 0.5 percent, but in the saintly globalist European Union they went up 1.5 percent. In fact, per capita emissions in Trump’s America are nearly at a 70-year low.”

Hilton goes on with Trump’s deregulation effort, tax cuts, jobs, wages and growth, as well as his negotiations with North Korea and China.

Regardless of your personal opinion of Trump the man, Hilton says, “Fine. But could you just focus on the facts, on policy and substance, that this is, so far, a pretty successful presidency.”

LAUGH-OF-THE-DAY – While talking about his Christmas shopping, the humorous political and culture commentator Mark Steyn said, “I went by Mueller’s and picked up a of couple plea bargains.”

          May God bless the United States of America.