Tag Archives: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

Mark Caserta: It’s time for liberals to put America first

16 Jun

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

Jun 16, 2017

best flag

 

Liberal Democrats are allowing the sheer hatred of President Trump and his supporters to render them senseless to the needs of our country.

Let’s be clear. It’s not the Russians destroying our Democratic electoral process; it’s liberals.

And this isn’t a war on President Trump; it’s a war on you!

Americans decided overwhelmingly, in the manner governed by our Republic, to elect someone who was the antithesis of his predecessor. Anyone willing to be intellectually honest would admit our nation was in a death spiral both economically and on stage in the global theater. Americans knew we needed a true leader, one who would never place political correctness over the needs of our country.

America needed Donald J. Trump.

Liberals realized immediately after Trump won his party’s nomination that something was wrong. How could this outsider possibly have come this far in the race? Surely, this was a fluke. But nevertheless, something had to be done. So, they began the process of delegitamizing Donald Trump, the man.

Every step Trump took, it would be his last. Every time he tweeted, he’s surely crossed the line. Every time he said something politically incorrect, it was the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.

But it never happened. The more he resisted pressure to align with the Washington norm, the more popular he became.

But the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election set the stage for the ultimate shocker for liberals. Not a single progressive talking head could find a path to victory for Donald Trump.

Democrats and the mainstream media were certain Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide. Her pompous arrogance and assurance of victory prompted a feckless campaign which failed to propose any significant strategy beyond perpetuating the failed policies of Barack Obama.

Even when Hillary’s success within her own party became shaded after the Democrat National Committee website experienced a cyber-attack exposing Democrats attempting to undermine the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary’s faithful stood by her.

But in the wee hours of the morning, on Nov. 9, 2016, the walls of the DNC started to crumble. As final election returns were confirmed and reported by the news outlets, it appeared Donald Trump was winning. And not just barely winning. He was winning “big time.”

Liberal Democrats were livid, but not finished. After coming to terms with the results of the election, they had to do something to regain power, despite the unintended consequences. So, the current strategy to undermine the presidency of the United States and our electoral system began.

Even as jobs are returning and the world leaders are once again recognizing the leadership of the United States as legitimate, progressive anger flourishes. We see liberals acting erratically, using foul language and despicable displays of hatred against the president.

Is this the future you want for our country? Hate has never succeeded, and love never fails. It’s time for liberals to put America first.

It’s time to love our country more than you hate the president.

Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Liberal hypocrisy over Russia is telling

9 Jun

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

russian-flag

Jun 9, 2017

 

Liberal activism has been taken to an entirely new level in 2017 in terms of what progressives are willing to compromise to protect their movement. And it’s quite disturbing to observe where our nation and its citizens fall on their list of priorities.

Liberal hypocrisy, for example, leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to U.S. relations with Russia. But for perspective, let’s look at a couple of examples.

In March 2012, when Barack Obama was running for re-election, a live microphone picked up his private conversation with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a gathering in Seoul, South Korea.

President Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.”

President Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ”

President Obama: “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”

President Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir, and I stand with you.”

Can you imagine how liberals and the major news outlets would have lambasted President Trump if he had been covertly recorded making such a remark? We would likely have millions of liberals marching in Washington calling for the president’s immediate impeachment for obvious and shameless Russian collusion.

In March 2009, during a trip to Geneva, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a small red button meant to represent a “Russian reset” of sorts between the U.S. and the Kremlin. While visiting Moscow in March 2010, Hillary explained the “reset’s” purpose: “Our goal is to help strengthen Russia,” as reported in an April 7 column by Deroy Murdock in National Review.

While the reset was a total failure for the U.S., many believe the ultimate Clinton/Russia relationship became profitable for the Clintons. In a deal known as “Uranium One,” Bill and Hillary may have sown some of their “entrepreneurial” oats for personal gain.

In April 2015, a story by Jo Becker and Mike McIntire in The New York Times detailed tens of millions of dollars in donations made to the Clinton Foundation following the approval by then-Secretary of State Clinton of the Russian acquisition of a company holding 20 percent of America’s uranium.

And Bill Clinton reportedly received a $500,000 speaking fee from a Russian government-connected bank during this time, as written by Jerome Hudson of Breitbart in March 2017.

Can anyone say liberal Russian collusion? Imagine, for a moment, the field day progressives would have if someone had even suggested Donald Trump or any one of his surrogates were involved in such deals!

Yet, progressive “snowflakes,” as they’ve been called, run around crying “election foul” when they don’t have a single shred of evidence, all the while ignoring fact-laden events of potential collusion that don’t support their ideology.

Frankly, this liberal hypocrisy and selective focus is very telling. One could surmise that progressives are only concerned with winning for their cause, regardless of the impact on our country.

Is there anything less patriotic?

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Trump’s overseas journey a huge success

2 Jun

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

  • Jun 2, 2017

 

melania

Our 45th president, Donald J. Trump, just completed his first overseas trip as commander-in-chief.

What an overwhelming success for the administration and the American people!

Unlike the “appease and apologize” tours Americans were accustomed to seeing under the Obama administration, President Trump delivered what the world has been waiting to see from the U.S. for eight agonizing years – unwavering leadership and a reliability in partnering with our global allies.

The president and his wife Melania’s first stop was in Saudi Arabia, where they received a warm welcome by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. During his two-day visit, President Trump signed a major weapons deal with the Saudis, essentially freeing American soldiers from the field of battle in the region by supplying high-tech weaponry to the Saudis. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was reported by Al-Jazeera as saying the arms agreement will help Saudi Arabia deal with “malign Iranian influence.”

The president also attended a summit of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders to discuss the fight against “extremism,” as reported by multiple news agencies. Trump’s bold speech on Islam called for increased unity in the fight against “radicalism” while characterizing the effort as a “battle between good and evil,” wrote The Associated Press.

On the second leg of his journey, President Trump visited our strongest ally in the region, Israel, where he helped strengthen the U.S. relationship with Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to Middle East peace. He became the first sitting U.S. president to ever visit and pray at the Western Wall, considered by the Jewish people to be one of their holiest sites. Trump was accompanied by the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, who was complimentary of the president’s commitment to the Israeli people.

“(Trump) said that he understands the significance of the Western Wall for the Jewish people and that’s why he decided to visit here during his first trip to Israel,” Rabinowitz said. “He is certain he will come here again, perhaps many times. He was very moved,” Reuters reported.

“America’s security partnership with Israel is stronger than ever,” Trump said during his visit. “Under my administration, you see the difference,” the president was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.

The third leg of the president’s overseas trip included a visit to Rome, Brussels and Vatican City for a meeting with Pope Francis, where they cordially discussed terrorism and the radicalization of young people, per a multiple-authored column last week in The New York Times.

Sadly, yet increasingly predictable, the mainstream media included in nearly all “news” reports of the president’s monumental trip an intentionally distracting reference to the firing of James Comey and the progressive propagation of the conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign which liberals propose “must” be the reason Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election.

Frankly, liberals are rapidly conniving their way to irrelevancy.

Regardless, President Trump continues leading the United States back to greatness.

And our “broad stripes and bright stars” are gleaming brighter for many Americans.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Trump busy negotiating on behalf of Americans

28 Apr

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

April 28, 2017

 

trump-contract

As President Trump rights the ship of U.S. foreign policy steered dangerously into troubled waters by the Obama administration, both friends and enemies alike are rapidly re-assessing their relationship with the United States.

Trump’s execution of his “America first” policy is something the world hasn’t seen in over eight years. And while it’s the antithesis of his predecessor’s “apology and appeasement” ideology, it may also be the most resolute approach we’ve seen from any U.S. president since Ronald Reagan.

Throughout his entire campaign, Donald Trump was harshly critical of China, accusing its leaders of manipulating their currency, making it difficult for America to compete economically. As president, he’s maintained his tough stance on trade relations, but is working to build a relationship with Chinese leadership that will be conducive to fair trade negotiations.

You see, what liberals portray as failure, Donald Trump sees as simply the first step in negotiation. Successful negotiations often begin with incredulous offers and distant terms. That’s simply a natural part of the process. Afterward, if there is enough at stake, accomplished negotiators will work toward “win-win” solutions for both parties.

Trump’s recent meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was reportedly a huge success and helped foster an unexpected relationship between the two men. A recent Fox News column by Andrew O’Reilly shared an expert’s perspective.

“This meeting will set the tone in looking at the strategic framework between the U.S. and China for the next few years,” Robert Daly, the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, told Fox News. “China wants to know what President Trump’s framework toward Beijing will be and if he is a man they can work with.”

Following Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent Moscow meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Russian government surely came away with a clear understanding that despite liberal and mainstream media attempts to brand President Trump as a Russian “apologist,” they’re no longer dealing with an ill-prepared community organizer, but rather with a man determined to successfully negotiate on behalf of the American people.

A recent U.S. News column reported, “President Donald Trump says the U.S. is ‘not getting along with Russia at all’ and relations between the two global powers are at an ‘all time low,'” following U.S. response to the Syrian chemical weapons attack. The piece went on to say Trump is “hopeful he can improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin but ‘we’re going to see what happens.'”

And following eight long years of declining U.S. – Israeli relations, a column in The Times of Israel by Gavin Rabinowitz reports officials are enthused about the prospect of making the alliance between the two nations “greater than ever.”

As a skilled negotiator, Donald Trump understands negotiating from a position of strength. He’s currently establishing a principled foundation from which to advance his agenda.

Right now, world leaders are simply taking it all in, trying to figure out how best to deal with this new U.S. president. But rest assured, he’s negotiating on behalf of Americans.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger and Cabell County resident.

Tags: , , ,

Mark Caserta: Trump fulfilling promise to protect borders

22 Apr

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

  • Apr 21, 2017

failure 1

Like him or not, Donald J. Trump says what he means and means what he says regarding illegal immigration and making America great again on the world stage.

Trump’s recent job approval ratings are soaring! A Rasmussen poll shows 50 percent of likely voters approve of his performance since taking office.

A Washington Post column, by Maria Sacchetti, reported illegal immigration arrests rose 32.5 percent in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency. According to the report, this included illegals with criminal records, as well as those who are simply undocumented.

According to statistics requested and reported by The Post, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 21,362 illegals, mostly convicted criminals, from January through mid-March, compared to 16,104 during the same period last year.

Liberal Democrats like to use the word “compassionate” when weighing the dilemma of removing illegal immigrants from our country. As with nearly every other progressive position that places the weight of “pivotal political posturing” on the shoulders of law-abiding citizens, liberals constantly kowtow to any demographic that can envision pulling a voting lever.

Simply put, when weighing compassion against national security, one must make the tough call, for a compassionate decision for one group of individuals can result in devastation for another innocent sector. It’s called unintended consequences.

Here are some dreadful examples of serious crimes from the Federation for American Immigration Reform website, committed by illegals, not far from our readers.

In December 2015, a 40-year-old illegal, Michael Garcia, was sentenced to four life terms for the rape and sodomy of two children in Alabama. In August 2016, a Salvadoran illegal gang member was convicted of murder in Virginia for the brutal stabbing of an individual suspected of being an informer for law enforcement. Jose Torres was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 20 years.

In February 2017, 29-year old Ricardo Garcia was sentenced to 20-29 years in prison after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in North Carolina in 2015. Garcia lured the girl into his car on the pretense of giving her a ride.

Four decades of mass, illegal immigration have devastated our nation, largely due to the passage of Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Reform Act of 1965, changing immigration laws and widening the gate of entry into the United States.

Additionally, in 2012, Barack Obama signed an executive order providing deportation amnesty to illegal immigrants already in our country. His order expanded the concept of “prosecutorial discretion” allowing millions of illegals safe harbor.

Liberals have been working for years to increase illegal immigration in the U.S.

According to the Pew Research Center, there were over 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2014. Who knows how many there are now?

Thank goodness, President Trump expeditiously wiped out nearly all of Obama’s immigration policies in January with executive orders unleashing ICE agents to enforce immigration laws and punishing sanctuary cities by withholding government funding.

A nation must protect its borders. And we must know who is here illegally.

President Trump is working to fulfill that promise, and Americans are pleased.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

Tags: , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Liberals find Trump’s success disconcerting

14 Apr

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

April 14, 2017

 

trump-contract

It’s interesting that progressives portray the Trump presidency as being in disarray and that he’s struggling with the rigors of being commander-in-chief.

The truth is, President Trump’s accomplishments the last two months have been directed toward making America great again and reversing the damage to our country by the Obama administration.

It is, after all, what Americans hired him to do. Here are only a few significant achievements:

In January, as reported by the Washington Post and other news agencies, President Trump reinstated a rule, first instituted by President Reagan, blocking U.S. aid to foreign organizations that use the funds to perform or advocate abortions.

The ruling gives entities a choice to either stop providing abortions or any information regarding abortions, or lose valuable dollars from the U.S. This is a huge win for the pro-life movement.

Living up to his campaign promise to increase domestic energy production, Trump also signed executive orders breathing life to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. The projects, which have been squelched by liberal activists for years, are a monumental win for jobs and U.S. energy independence.

A February column in The Hill, by Devin Henry, reported on a Trump executive order ending a key Obama administration coal mining rule. At the signing, Trump called the regulation “another terrible job killing rule” and said ending it would save “many thousands of American jobs, especially in the mines”.

It’s laughable that liberals who’ve probably never employed a person in their life ridicule Trump’s action as ineffective in returning miners and those impacted by the industry to their jobs. Sadly, many progressives, including some local, hope it’s true.

In the crme, de la crme for constitutional conservatives, the Senate voted last week, 5445, to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. As the president promised, he nominated a judge in the spirit of departed Justice Antonin Scalia who will protect and uphold the Constitution.

While many believe the 2016 presidential election was, in part, a referendum on the Supreme Court, this was a major blow to the progressive movement. The procedural change in the Senate requiring a simple majority for a justice’s confirmation paves the way for more conservative appointments during Trump’s presidency.

And on his 75th day as president, Donald Trump proved to the world that Obama’s indecisive, “lead-from-behind” strategy was over.

Following a horrific chemical weapons attack by Syria’s Bashar Al Assad on his own people, President Trump ordered U.S. warships to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian airbase responsible for the attacks.

No empty “line in the sand” threats, no politically correct oratory, no gauging the winds of opinion – just action. It’s been eight years since the world has seen such decisive leadership in the U.S.

Of course, liberals are furious and have excoriated President Trump in every way imaginable. But frankly, it’s a litmus test of his success.

So, if progressives really believe Trump hasn’t been successful so far, they have a long eight years ahead of them.

He’s just getting started.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger and Cabell County resident.

 

Tags: , , ,

Mark Caserta: Will Trumpgate become a modern-day Watergate?

7 Apr

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

 

April 7, 2017

watergate

 

It was arguably the biggest political scandal in our nation’s history.

In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C., attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents.

Subsequent investigations would reveal the crime was connected to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. Ultimately, 40 government officials would eventually be indicted or jailed and the president of the United States would be forced to resign in 1974.

 The Watergate affair was a dark event in the history of U.S. politics. Could we be reliving this political nightmare with the consummation of “Trumpgate.”
Days before leaving office, President Barack Hussein Obama suspiciously decided to broaden the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying the required privacy protections.

In January, a New York Times column by Charlie Savage, reported “the new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the NSA may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations.”

The column detailed methods by which information may be acquired such as satellite transmissions, phone calls, emails and messages between people abroad. The ultimate result would be more officials searching through more data containing private information about innocent people.

But, why, after eight years in office, did Obama feel compelled to change this intelligence sharing just before leaving the White House?

Allow me to share what many believe transpired.

These new rules were signed into effect just weeks after Obama and the Democrats were shocked by the stunning presidential victory of Donald J. Trump. Reeling from their sense of loss and hopelessness, I believe there was an initiative to begin gathering any available information that would help delegitimize the incoming administration.

And liberals are so pleased with themselves, some just can’t keep their mouths shut about it.

On March 2, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Mika Brzezinski interviewed a former top Obama administration official who acknowledged efforts by “colleagues” to gather intelligence on Trump’s ties to Russia before Donald Trump took office and to “conceal the sources of that intelligence from the incoming administration.”

 In the interview, Evelyn Farkas, the former administration’s top Russian expert, described a “rush to spread the material before Trump took office,” citing fear that if the Trump team became wise, information would quickly be cut off.

Predictably, liberal Democrats and the mainstream media have attempted to deflect the real story of illegal wiretapping and sharing of information with a bogus narrative suggesting the Russians influenced the 2016 presidential election.

Yet, not an ounce of proof has been submitted that the Russians influenced a single vote in the election.

If the Obama administration committed a premeditated act to acquire intelligence on Donald Trump, and the required privacy protections were not enacted before disseminating, the Justice Department must hold them accountable.

Democrats may, indeed, have “re-enacted the villainy” of Watergate, with this so-called Trumpgate.

If so, indictments and jail time should be forthcoming.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger and a Cabell County resident.

Tags: , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Is shadow government trying to derail Trump?

24 Feb

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

  • February, 24, 2017

 

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-INAUGURATION-SWEARING IN

The double standard by which liberals comport themselves, on a local and national level, when holding politicians accountable for the truth, is shameful. And it’s damaging our country.

For the past eight years, our nation has been deluged with debilitating lies from the Obama administration and the GOP establishment. In addition to calling out the GOP for their feckless behavior, I’ve often called for progressives to address this “protocol of prevarication” which seems prerequisite for driving their agenda.

But the silence has been deafening. Liberals seem content to cower beneath the progressive banner of shameful innocence and plausible deniability.

Obamacare, for example, was passed on a series of undeniable lies and is now faltering beneath its own weight of unsustainability, yet progressives are still telling us it’s working and that most Americans support it.

With so many lies never having been adequately addressed by the left, it’s the epitome of hypocrisy to rally behind destroying Donald Trump one month into his presidency!

Could this “rebel yell” to sabotage President Trump be an orchestrated one?

After eight years of “not” seeing the need to make this change, days before President Obama left the White House, he issued an executive order making it easier for the nation’s intelligence agencies to share information.

Per a “New York Times” report, in its final days, the Obama administration expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share “globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies, before applying privacy protections.”

Obama’s timing is interesting, considering in the last few days, several intelligence insiders have come forward to describe a “shadow government” of sorts, purposely leaking classified information designed to derail the Trump presidency.

Last week, multiple news sources, including the The Washington Free Beacon, reported top members of the Obama administration national security team may have pre-emptively “launched a communications infrastructure” that would benefit them after leaving the White House, and have told reporters they’re using this network to “undermine Trump’s foreign policy.”

Last week, national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned following his apparent “misreporting” of his conversations with the Russian government, which were illegally exposed through information leaked from intelligence sources.

Could this have been the shadow government’s first victory?

The Beacon reported Flynn’s resignation was the result of a “secret, months-long campaign by former Obama administration confidantes to handicap President Donald Trump’s national security apparatus” per multiple sources in and out of the White House.

The notion that Barack Hussein Obama and his liberal conspirators would plan and orchestrate, for all intents and purposes, a coup d’tat, against the Trump administration is beyond the pale and could easily be described as traitorous, if it’s true.

How ironic that such an action is reminiscent of the failed Soviet Union, when it’s liberal Democrats now claiming it’s President Trump with insider ties to Russia.

This isn’t simply an attack on the Trump presidency. It’s an attack on our freedom!

If America ever needed the voices of patriots to be heard above the fray, we need to hear them now.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

Tags: , , , ,

Mark Caserta: Liberals trying to slow down the Trump train

10 Feb

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

February 10, 2017

trump-train

Winning the 2016 presidential election was possibly the single most important conservative victory in my lifetime, for many reasons. But paramount to the win is the pending balance of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Liberals, having been reduced to lamenting, ad nauseam, the election of Donald J. Trump, will no doubt seek to bog down the pace at which our new president is working to re-align our nation with our founding fathers’ original intent.

And look for them to do so using the federal court system.

The progressive movement has been notorious for attempting to fundamentally change interpretation of the U.S. Constitution for political gain. The assertion that “any” individual, regardless of religious affiliation, has a constitutionally protected right to enter our country illegally, without comprehensive vetting, is fundamentally and constitutionally unsound.

Citing the First Amendment as justification for violence, property damage and rioting in the streets is simply unabashed lawlessness and nothing short of domestic terrorism.

Understand, our nation’s top security leaders already have told us we don’t have an adequate system of vetting individuals from terror-ridden countries. Last year, FBI Director James Comey told a congressional committee that we could “query our database until the cows come home” but if Syrian terrorists have never been on the law enforcement radar, it won’t do any good.

As a candidate, Trump pledged to protect Americans through “extreme vetting” of people from countries representing significant terror concerns. His recent executive order temporarily banning travel from these countries was simply fulfilling a promise to the American people.

But despite the fact voters decisively elected a president willing to compromise Washington political correctness rather than the lives of Americans, some on Capitol Hill are willing to stay the course.

Last Friday, a federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide restraining order on Trump’s executive order, questioning its “rationale.” The Department of Justice is appealing the ruling, but this may be one of many such cases eventually decided by the Supreme Court.

Currently, the Supreme Court (operating shy one justice since the passing of Antonin Scalia) is fairly balanced. Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are arguably extremely liberal, while Samuel Alito, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas are widely considered conservatives. Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy could be considered moderates.

But two of the justices (Ginsburg and Kennedy) are over 80 years of age, and Breyer is 78. The remaining justices range in age from 55 to 67. Besides the replacement of Justice Scalia, we could see any number of Supreme Court nominations by the current administration.

President Trump intends to nominate Supreme Court justices who will not attempt to “legislate” progressive views from the bench. And obviously, a GOP-controlled Congress and conservative-leaning Supreme Court would be beneficial to his cause.

Trump could, in fact, determine the court’s balance for decades!

So, while the left may be successful at “slowing down” the Trump train, Americans will ensure he succeeds.

Liberals can get on board, but they may have to “sit in the back seat,” just as President Obama suggested in 2010 that Republicans should do in likening running the economy to driving a car.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Doug Smith: May “all those responsible” choose well.

22 Jan

doug-for-fsp

Doug Smith: Author, historian, patriot and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

 

Doug penned this column on January 20, 2017, before, during and after the Trump inauguration:

president-trump

 

This is the last article I will begin to write during the Obama administration.

Later today, Donald Trump will be sworn in as 45th POTUS, and the liberal progressive statist utopian leftists will be doing a lot of swearing as well.

But I digress.

Barack Obama leaves office today, causing many on the right to breathe a great sigh of relief, after being somewhat fearful 8 years ago that we might not survive him. Many on the Left are in tearful hysterics, certain we will not survive a pragmatic semi conservative succeeding a dedicated Leftist Radical. Everyone, just take a big deep breath. We survived 2 World Wars, are fighting a 3rd one, survived several Depressions, the Soviets, numerous economic downturns, and attacks on our way of life and our core institutions from within and without. The Snowdults (my own term, do you like it? These are folks over the age of 18 who apparently have none of the requisite skills or knowledge to function in the world as what were previously called adults, do, despite many their age pounding the ground with a rifle, driving a Submarine, or holding down 2 jobs to support a family.) retreat to color and play with puppies and weep inconsolably that things are not fair, like a 3 year old, but yet here we still are.

We have survived Barack Obama. We are about to start cleaning up his mess. We did not get the POTUS to do so that many wanted, but we did reject one who was more of the same, with less charm and more greed. I was not a Trump guy, but found him clearly and vastly preferable to HRC. I remain a conservative and patriot, believing in this country as truly exceptional and unique in history, and believing the values we have mostly espoused are those most likely to move us in a better direction.

As Ooopsicus, that 4th century Roman mostly remembered for his quotes, “Jupiter’s nose hairs, look at all the Visigoths! And, Honey, get the kids, we’re moving to Britannia. “once said “Goth Darn it, nobody is too big to fail. “

And so, I have a few observations on this day of transition, which will perhaps be a cusp in the history of our nation.

  1. There have been several cusp events in the last century that shaped us. Kennedy and Vietnam, Carter and Iran, Reagan and Russia, Bush and 9/11 key among them. These were significant emotional events, and shaped how we perceive and act. This could be one of those. We shall see.
  2. When you’re in command, Command! When you win, act like you’ve won. Don’t apologize for governing differently than your opponents. People elected you based on what you said you believed, and they expect you to act reasonably like it. When someone like the GOP tries to win with one idea, then move away from it because their opponents talk badly about them for it, their friends and supporters will play a trump card. ( I couldn’t resist)
  3. “The Crown must not only act generously, the Crown must be seen to be acting generously. “ In short don’t let your enemies or your adversaries control the narrative. The biggest mistake the Bush 43 administration made was the choice to “ Stay above the fray, “ and not respond to the lies and character assassinations of the opponents on the Left. Conservatives have paid the price for that for over a decade, as the Left got away over and over with characterizing him as an incompetent fool of a cowboy. Even today, after years of recounts have shown that Al Gore did, indeed, get thumped in 2000, despite trying to suppress military votes (No, Big Al, we have not forgotten that), despite using the courts, which are the ballot box of choice of the Left, and spending millions, and even the NYT conceding quietly that Gore lost, Bush won, Lefties will still parrot the narrative. So, despite the jokes and shaking heads about Trump Twitter, he should not let the Left control the narrative.

 

As I continue this article, Donald Trump is now the 45th President of the United States. Regarding the Liberal Women’s marches this weekend, a few notes.

  1. Conservative women or women’s groups were systematically disinvited from the march.  But it is all about women’s rights. And Donald Trump’s mouth. Sure.
  2. Most who marched voted for Hillary or Jill. Typically, they don’t accept the results of the election, and so they march. Screaming in the streets is not how we distribute power. If they voted, their votes were counted, and that is that. (But what of the ones who marched in other countries? Answer? I don’t care. It is not your country. You don’t get to pick our leaders, or our policies.)
  3. I note that there were no marches in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, or Nigeria. I note that none of the crowd from this weekend marched against Boko Haram, who quite literally captured schoolgirls and forced them into slavery. But at least they held up some signs on Twitter. Thank God for their help. Otherwise, all those victims would still be in slavery. Oh, wait…
  4. So, since we are debating numbers who attended the Inauguration, are there more or less women protesting the boorish behavior of Donald Trump than there were protesting the boorish behavior of Bill Clinton? Oh wait, that’s right. Leftie women went on the talk shows to insist that they would take the place of the objects of his peccadillos. As long as he voted right. Or rather, left. Hypocrisy, anyone?
  5. Also on the subject of how many attended the Inaugurations of Trump vs Obama, remember all the threats of violence, protests, and violence actually perpetrated around Obama’s weekend? Of course you don’t. But you know what, keeping Andrea Bocelli from singing at the event (Classy, Lefties, very classy. You made death threats and threatened to end the career of an enormously talented blind man. Oh well done. Bask in the pride of your accomplishments.) doesn’t change one thing. Maybe it is high time we got away from having the Hollywood A-listers involved. But with or without Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, or Meryl Streep, Donald Trump is still President of the United States. Maybe he will get back to a Teddy Roosevelt tradition, a day a year on the lawn with a lemonade just chatting with the folks who want to come and greet their President.
  6. Since I have been politically aware, and able to vote, we have had Reagan, Bush, Bush, and Trump. It seems, according to the Left, that they all wanted to kill grandma, starve children, enslave minorities, start a nuclear war, and take the vote away from women. Evidently they all fell short, in that women, and minorities, and grandmas continue to flock to the US, not away from it to the socialist utopias of Russia, or Cuba, or even Venezuela. The US is still, 8 years of damage by Obama s radical leftism notwithstanding, the best place in the world to live regardless of your race, or sex, or class. Rosie O Donnell has not, and will not, keep her promise to leave the country if her favorite liberal is not elected because there is no better place to go. I remember all too well the hysterical lies and misrepresentations of the left when, under Clinton, the Dems proposed increasing the amount spent on school lunch programs, and the GOP countered with a smaller increase. HORROR! The GOP wants to cut school lunch programs. Please, I can’t learn if I’m hungry. Don’t make me go to school hungry. Disgusting, and typical Lefties.  Thus has it been, and thus is it still.

 

You know, after a while, it stops resonating with a lot of people. The Left, like Nancy Pelosi weep about how many are going to lose insurance when Obamacare is repealed, but never admit how many have lost, or given up as unaffordable the insurance they had because of Obamacare. They tout the low unemployment, but ignore that 90 plus million not working, the much higher percentage of jobs that are part time, temporary, and lower wage than they were before. They ignore that the average Joe has not seen a real increase in take home pay in a decade, but has lost ground. They point to the handful of cherry picked successes, and ignore the larger, broader failures.

But when it comes to “kitchen table issue”, the folks trying to pay for food, and insurance, and medicine, and rent, and energy, the folks know how it is for them.  The folks know how it is for their neighbors. The folks no longer have much interest in what liberal millionaires have to say about how great things are.  The folks are not impressed by rioters, and the same old stuff of the Left. They shake their heads and think, Wow, these guys really miss the 60s, don’t they?  Then, they look in their bank accounts, and their refrigerators, and they know.

And they say so. And Said so. They said so in 2010, 2012, 2014, and last November. They said, you guys are not getting it, and we are going to vote for a change from what you are doing.

Obama s administration was a failure. It damaged the country. It damaged the Democrat Party. And the very vocal ones, the ones who get on TV, continue to double down on the same bet, and shriek and weep for the Halcyon days of Obama.

So we as a nation, and the GOP as a party, and Trump as a President have a moment of real opportunity. It has taken 3 elections, but the legacy of Obama has been decimating the Democrat Party and giving Trump the Presidency. The hard Left is still hysterically trying to reclaim what has been resoundingly rejected in 3 successive elections. 4, if you count the fact that the Clintons in the person of Hillary have now been rejected twice.

If they continue as before, and I’m sure they will, and if the GOP and Trump take the message of these elections and govern according to the promises they have made, they have a chance to prove the validity of ideas of limited government, individual responsibility and liberty, American exceptionalism, strong defense, and identifying and hitting hard at our enemies, and being the greatest friend to our friend.  If they are true to their promises, the country can bounce back and be even stronger than ever. A President Trump can ask in a debate in 2020, Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago, and get the answer on Nov 8, absolutely!  The Democrat Party, having cast its lot as the party of fringe interest groups, and abandoning its traditional constituencies of working class Americans, and failing most of the groups it claims to support, is poised to be marginalized for a generation.

It is a time to choose wisely, and consider what is truly important to us as Americans. That is true for the GOP, the POTUS, and we, the people. In 2008, Barak Obama had the White House and both Houses of Congress. He made choices with that political capital, and we are where we are.

The people have spoken, and now here we are.

Choose well, Mr. President.

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →