Here are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.
WITH APOLOGIES TO WILLIE NELSON, it was on the road again for President Trump Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While he spoke for nearly two hours to a less than packed house, however, the crowd liked what he had to say as he gave his traditional “promises kept” speech. He was in his usual form, often going off the teleprompter with stories.
As expected, the crowd of thousands outside of the arena faced protests by Black Lives Matter supporters and other leftist groups.
Trump travels to Yuma, Arizona on Tuesday to mark the completion of 200 miles of border fencing. Then on to Phoenix to meet with the young Americans of Turning Point USA and other groups in Phoenix.
IT’S NO TIME TO GO WOBBLY, friends. As November 3, 2020 draws nearer, the left is getting desperate. After three years of failures in their attempt to bring down the Trump presidency, the left continues its attacks from the flanks.
We have been witnessing attacks on his handling of the virus and the protests, and retired generals voice criticism, and now the Bolton book has been tossed into the mix. The attacks are endless. Thank goodness, we have a resilient man in the White House.
Writing about her hope for a vaccine to stop Covid-19, the liberal syndicated columnist Froma Harrop quickly leaped to saying, “But the greatest hope right now rests on Nov. 3, when Americans have an opportunity to supplant the president and his ramshackle administration with competence.”
“Joe Biden” and “competence,” now there’s an oxymoron.
We hear that Joe Biden is leading in the polls and that he has raised more money than the Trump campaign. It’s simply not believable.
Listening to Rush Limbaugh this week, he said, “I realize a lot of you are just pulling your hair out. You’re at wits end. You voted for Trump, you knew exactly what he wanted to do, you wanted him to succeed. You had no idea the opposition to Trump would be this bad.
“You had no idea these people would never give up. But you can’t quit, can’t surrender. You reelect Trump, and you keep at it.”
DESPITE DAUNTING POLL NUMBERS nationally and in the battleground states, the Trump campaign says it hasn’t given up on its drive to increase the president’s share of the black vote from the 8 percent he won in 2016, according to W. James Antle III, in the Washington Examiner.
Nearly half of the 50 surrogates of the Trump campaign are members of the Black Voices for Trump advisory board, and four of the group’s co-chairs, were on hand for the president’s resumption of in-person “Make America Great Again” events in Tulsa Saturday.
The president has tried to take a middle ground on police reform, attributing incidents such Floyd’s death to isolated bad actors in uniform rather than systemic racism.
HOW’S THIS FOR A UNIFYING STATEMENT? – During her appearance on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell, former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice was asked about her being one of the Black women considered as a running mate with Joe Biden.
She opened saying it should be “Somebody who can heal and unify the nation and remove Donald Trump and consign him and those supported him to the trash heap of history.”
SPEAKING OF A BLACK WOMAN on the Biden ticket, leftist Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe faced backlash and had to apologize for his comments about Biden’s running mate choice, saying that Biden’s choice should be based on each contender’s qualification and reputation, not skin color. WHOA, Larry.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Tribe called the selection of a Black running mate would be “symbolic,” adding that “I think African-Americans above all would be the first to say they are more interested in results than cosmetics.”
Tribe, a regular guest on MSNBC, was among signers of a letter to Biden, urging him to choose Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.
SURPRISE! – Only 55 percent of 1007 likely voters polled by Zogby International “most likely” believe Joe Biden could be suffering from dementia – Republicans – 77 percent, Independents – 56 percent, and Democrats – 32 percent.
Sixty percent of men considered it “more likely,” while 50 percent of women believed it “more likely.” Interestingly, 60 percent of younger voters (18-24) believe it “more likely.”
A BOOK FAVORING TRUMP – While the name John Yoo isn’t as familiar as that of John Bolton, Yoo’s upcoming book, “Defender in Chief,” will be an eye-opener for many, because he said, “voting for then candidate Donald Trump in 2016 was a step too far.”
“My study of the separation of powers, and my time in the three branches of government, led me to worry that Trump would test, evade, or even violate the Constitution,” he writes.
“Boy was I wrong,” Yoo states, “Trump campaigns like a populist but governs like a constitutional conservative.” He points out that despite constant criticism that Trump was destroying the Constitution, he was actually propping it up and using it to defend the presidency.
“Even though he had not had any previous government or military office or public policy experience, Trump has defended the constitutional text, structure, and design for an independent, vigorous executive,” he writes.
Yoo served in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration. Shockingly, in 2009, two days after taking office, Barack Obama issued an executive order repudiating and revoking all legal guidance on interrogation authored by Yoo and his successors between September 2001 and January 2009.
Today, as a Republican, Yoo is a rarity as a professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley. He frequently makes guest appearances on Fox News Channel.
INCIDENTALLY, have you heard that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, among others, has issued a statement regarding the John Bolton book:
“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, full-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods. It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trusts with its people. To our friends around the world: you know that President Trump’s America is a force for good in the world.”
AT LEAST ONE GENERAL understands President Trump’s management style. It’s Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.), now Chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, and a national security analyst for Fox News Channel, who I have long-admired for his concise analysis of Trump’s actions, even though he isn’t always in agreement.
Keane recently commented on the retired generals, who agreed to speak out against the president in The Atlantic magazine, analyzing their inability to work with Trump, a business man, after their decades of military experience working with establishment politicians and bureaucrats.
Kramerontheright sees them as creatures of the Washington swamp, satisfied with the status quo, and unable to cope with an outsider, who wants to bring about change.
MORE CRAZINESS – You’ve probably heard that the familiar labels for Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s and Mrs. Butterworth are now undergoing change because they are culturally insensitive. But did you know that the near century-old ice cream brand, Eskimo Pie, will also be changed, because the term “Eskimo” is considered a disparaging term for the indigenous people of the Arctic regions of northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Siberia. Oh, my.
May God continue to bless the United State of America.