What If Nobody Won?

I just saw the latest approval numbers for Joe Biden and K-baby Harris. Biden slipped 7 points from 45% to 38% according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Harris is worse than Biden. She currently sits at 36% according to the same poll.

Donald Trump doesn’t fare much better. His approval numbers according to Five Thirty Eight sits at 41%. And when asked if they wanted Joe Biden to run for office, only 27% said yes. When they asked the same question for Donald Trump, it was slightly higher at 28%.

So, my question is, what if they held an election and nobody won?

It seems to me that nobody wants either Joe Biden nor Donald Trump to be the nominee in their respective parties. Or at least very few people do. If that is the case (and frankly I’m not sure how much credibility I can put in polls any more), then one would have to come to the reasonable conclusion that neither should be seeking the nomination. If anyone decides to run against them, they should be defeated, right?

But that’s not the case. This whole thing in New York with Alvin Bragg trying to decide whether or not to indict Trump over paying hush money to a porn star for an alleged sexual affair actually boosted Trump in the GOP primary. And Biden has had a very difficult time in his own party after he signed the Republican backed bill to deny Washington DC’s city council or district council, or whatever they call themselves, their crime bill that called for an “easing” of prosecution for crimes like car-jacking, which is at an all-time high in our nation’s capital.

Trump is currently leading Ron DeSantis, who sits in second place among GOP hopefuls 54% to 28% according to a newly released Morning Consult poll. So, to understand this (and it’s difficult to grasp logically), only 28% of Republicans want to see Donald Trump run again, yet when paired against a whole slew of Republicans that either have announced or possibly could announce their candidacy, Trump basically has doubled up on the guy in second place? Where is the logic in that?

Of course, Biden is looking at trying to sew up his nomination and reelection by running to the center. He’s trying to take a page out of the Clinton playbook. Speaking of Clinton, while the GOP will be looking at possibly twelve people running for the nomination, Democrats have very few. Marianne Williamson is the only announced Democrat to run against Biden so far, and she doesn’t even show up in the polls. But something interesting is happening. A lot of these polling firms are putting out “what if” scenarios. For instance…if Hillary Clinton ran against K-baby Harris, Harris wins by 13%. If Michelle Obama runs against Harris, she beats Harris by 5 points. But if Biden runs against Obama, Joe wins by 7%. So much for being the savior of the Democrat party!

And what if Biden runs against his own Vice President? Don’t laugh. It has happened before. But it was a long time ago. Thomas Jefferson, as VP, ran against John Adams, who was the sitting president. As you know from your history class, Jefferson beat Adams.

But to answer the question above, what if nobody ever voted and nobody won? Well, of course, the House of Representatives would decide, which means that at this point, it’s most likely a Republican would defeat the Democrats, at least if they could agree on who they would be backing.

I can’t imagine at this point a Biden/Trump race if less than 30% of each party wants to see them be the candidates. Here’s hoping some semblance of sense arises in the voting public over the course of the next 19 months or so. Either that or we are in for a lot more of the current atmosphere in the country. This is why people on drugs shouldn’t be allowed to vote!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Five Questions Trump Must Answer

The Hill has come out with an interesting article written by Niall Stanage about the upcoming presidential campaign. Basically it says there are five questions that must be answered before Donald Trump gets the GOP nod to be it’s presidential candidate again. And they are questions that every American, Republican or not, should be asking.

First off, what is the affect of an indictment on Donald Trump? Manhattan’s District Attorney is readying charges that Trump paid off porn star, Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The big questions I have regarding this are, did Trump pay off Daniels? Is it actually illegal to pay “hush money”, and hasn’t this thing hit the statute of limitations already? It’s been seven years! Of course, what the affect is on Trump’s campaign if he is indeed indicted is something that’s already being hotly debated, and we’ve discussed it here earlier. I think it will have some impact, but the true Trump supporters are going to hang with him. They’ll see it as he paints the picture…it’s another witch hunt.

Second question that would need to be answered is just how solid is Trump’s support? He didn’t fare very well in the November elections as far as his endorsed candidates are concerned. Oh, the majority of the won, but the candidates in the swing states didn’t do all that well. Herschel Walker lost in Georgia, Kari Lake lost in Arizona. Blake Masters also lost in Arizona, Adam Laxalt lost a close race in Nevada. Mehmet Oz got beat by John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, and Doug Mastriano got swamped in the Governor’s race there. That’s six very key races that Trump lost…in states that he lost to Joe Biden in. He obviously hasn’t been able to turn the corner in those states just yet.

Of course, a lot can be made out of this past election cycle. If you look at the candidates that I listed above, really only Adam Laxalt was a quality candidate. Maybe you can throw Mastriano into the mix, but even he was a little squirrely in his campaign. Walker, Lake, Masters, and Oz, were all just terribly weak.

The third question that needs to be answered is the question of age. You know it’s going to be a factor for Joe Biden. Hell, he’s even said it would be a factor moving forward. But Donald Trump has been able to skate on that question so far, for pretty much one simple reason. He is in his mid 70’s right now, and would be 82 if he wins and serves a full second term. But he doesn’t look like he’s in his mid 70’s. And he’s got a lot more spring in his step than Biden does. He also doesn’t make as many mental errors. So, yes…while a lot of the country is saying its time for us to find younger, more in touch leaders, and let the old guard retire to their pastures, you have the top two contenders for their party’s nomination in Trump and Biden, well past retirement age in any other industry. That is going to be a question going forward.

The fourth question is very simply, is Trump still electable? The last thing any Republican, or conservative wants to do is waste yet another election cycle on a candidate that doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting elected. We’ve seen the GOP do that time and time again, just because “it’s someone’s turn”. Look at Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, all losers and very weak candidates. But all ran and never had a ghost of a chance of winning. My question for Trump isn’t his policies, I’ve been in favor of most of them during his first term. My big question is, can Trump do something to reverse the hatred toward him. Currently, his approval rating is just 34%. And Joe Biden isn’t faring much better at 38%. That tells me there is an “Anybody but 2020 candidates” mentality going on out there. This is probably going to be the toughest question for Trump to answer.

Finally, the question looms about Ron DeSantis. He’s as conservative as Trump, if not more-so. He’s a LOT younger at only 44 years old, so he is able to get around the age question, and would make Joe Biden look like a walking zombie. If DeSantis gets into the race after the Florida legislative session later on this spring or early summer, he is going to be probably the only candidate for the GOP nod that Trump really has to worry about. If he is as big of a rock star in political circles as it looked last November, he is going to rival Ronald Reagan’s appeal. He says all the right things, and as long as there aren’t too many skeletons in his closet (something Trump has always had to worry about), he should give Trump a run for his money next year at this time.

There you have it. Five questions that Donald Trump needs to answer to the American people before we decide on whether or not he’s worthy of getting another shot at the Oval Office. And to be honest, I’m not all that certain that he’s going to be able to do it!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Did Trump Learn A Lesson?

If you go back to the way Donald Trump ran for the presidency in 2016 and watch how he handled Hillary Clinton, he was brutal to say the least. “Crooked Hillary” became her nickname, and Trump dispatched with her, just as he did with the 17 other Republicans that wanted to get the job that he eventually got. He was masterful in his destroying of those people.

Then we got to 2020. Donald Trump, as president, tried to run the same type of campaign against Joe Biden. The problem was, he was the incumbent president. He needed to shift his campaign strategy to run more as the experienced politician who knew more about what was going on than anyone in the country, and less like Guido from Cleveland after a guy that refused to pay his loan shark. He lost because that’s what people thought of Donald Trump…he was Guido from Cleveland, not the president of the United States.

So, as Trump starts running for reelection in 2024 against what appears to be a weaker, frailer Joe Biden, is he going to be Guido, or is he going to be a former president? It appears that maybe The Donald has learned his lesson. I said it appears. I’m still not sure.

Normally, when Trump would have gone into an area where disasters had hit, he would be talking about it, and then switch over to bash people that disagreed with him, or talk about how he himself could solve any problem. It was one of the less endearing qualities that he had as president. But when he visited East Palestine, Ohio, other than wondering where Pete Buttigieg or K-baby Harris, or gasp…Joe Biden himself were in this disaster, he pretty much stuck to the script of listening to people, caring about the people (at least giving that persona), and telling the people what the government should do to help them out.

Add to that the fact he has hired top-tiered people to go to work for him in Iowa, has come out with several proposals about what he would do as president, and talks about America and Americans more than he does himself, you have to wonder if he’s learned from past mistakes. If he has, he could very well become a formidable force in the next presidential cycle.

I’ve always said that Trump had the right ideas, the right policies the right resume to be president. He just didn’t have the deportment and the demeanor that Americans look for. They want someone to be well-adjusted, reserved but forceful, and at the same time make them feel safe, make them feel proud. That’s where he fell apart. If Trump wants to get back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he needs to be that person not just in policy and ideas, but in his persona. He needs to earn that respect back. He needs to not tweet at 3am bashing people that don’t agree with him.

I’m starting to believe that maybe…just maybe, Donald Trump took a hard look at what he did wrong in 2020 and decided that if he wants to win back Georgia, and Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and Nevada, and Arizona, he needs to give the people what they want. They want a president to be proud of. One that doesn’t take any crap from anyone to be sure, but one that is also measured in response, and adult in tone. Maybe, Donald Trump is starting to feel that is the character he needs to become to win.

Note that I said the “character he needs to become”. I’ve seen it in the past where people have role-played their way into the White House. Ronald Reagan did it. He was an actor, and by all accounts, not a great one, but he was able to play the role of president for eight years. He was able to convince the American people that he was indeed the guy they saw. I’m just waiting for Martin Sheen to step in and try and become president…or God-forbid, Kevin Spacey (if you haven’t watched House of Cards, you need to!)

Will Trump change or be the same Donald we watched three years ago? Only time will tell.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

She’s BAAACK!

It looks like Joe Biden is going to get some competition for reelection from a Democrat after all. Oh, I wouldn’t say that it’s one of what is referred to as “top-tier” Democrats. No, but it’s competition, ala Hillary Clinton running against Marty O’Malley. Which means it’s cursory at best.

I really don’t think that you’re going to see anyone like a Sanders or Warren, or someone like Gavin Newsome running against Biden. They’re going to be “good Democrats”, bide their time and wait. But in order for Biden to sharpen his political skills, someone has to run against him, or the GOP will chew him up in the general election.

That someone is Marianne Williamson.

Yes, the same Marianne Williamson that ran for the White House back in 2020. She actually finished better than a lot of those that are sitting in the Biden administration (I’m looking at you, K-baby Harris!). Besides, there were 24 announced and “major” candidates for president on the Democrat side. Williamson is a self described liberal, not all that happy with Biden, and worth more money than probably ever single one of the readers of this blog’s net worth. So, for her to lose a few million on a failed presidential bid is no big deal. Hey, it’s only money right?

For the record, Williamson lasted until January 2020 in the run up to the White House. She never made it to any of the primary states, and never made it through the Iowa Caucuses. She dropped out on January 10th. Williamson said she ran out of money for the 2020 race, after not qualifying for more than one or two of the Democrat Primary Debates. This time around, however, she’s there to fight for a victory. She thinks she has what it takes to beat Biden in a head to head matchup. As she put it, “I wouldn’t be running for president if I didn’t believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time.” I have no idea what that means, but then again, I had a very hard time understanding her platform back in 2020 as well. It was filled with social justice gobbledygook and a lot of liberal-speak. I have to apologize, but I took French in high school, not liberal-speak.

Now, Williamson hasn’t officially announced. That is officially set for 2pm on March 4th in Washington, DC. Apparently, she feels that Saturday is a great day to get press coverage because Congress won’t be in session, and everyone else will be getting ready for spring break.

Frankly, I am baffled why in the world, after getting slapped around three years ago, she would even want to consider running this time. I don’t think she ever polled higher than 1% in the primary polls, and never really made much of a splash with anyone. But hey, anyone running for the Democrat nomination against Biden should provide some relief, and if there IS a debate because there are only two candidates, she at the very least will get the shot of making it to a debate stage, which she only made one in her last campaign. And I’m sure you’ll remember, her rambling diatribe that on her first day as President, she would call the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and say, “girlfriend, you are so on…the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up”. She was roundly mocked.

In fact, Williamson was mocked so much that a member of Ted Cruz’ campaign felt obliged to call for people to donate to her campaign to get her on the debate stage more often. His wishes however, fell flat, and soon, the author and “politician” was on the sidelines thinking only about what could have been.

Williamson is, along with Harris, probably some of the weaker candidates that entered the fray last cycle, and will no doubt pose no threat to Biden this time around. It’s like Mike Tyson choosing a six year old for a sparring partner.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Time To Get Off “The Pot”?

Ron DeSantis has a decision to make, and he doesn’t have all the time in the world to make it. There are a bunch of people that are waiting in the wings to jump into what The Hill calls, the GOP Conga Line of potential nominees for president. But a lot of those folks are waiting to see what Ron DeSantis is going to do.

His time is running out.

The longer he waits, the more people will feel that he isn’t going to run, and they’ll announce their candidacy. And the more people that are running, most pundits say the better it is for Donald Trump, who likes to take on each candidate individually, and blow them out of the water until he’s the only one left. At least that’s the way he did it in 2016.

What’s DeSantis got to lose by joining the fray? Well, for one thing, if he isn’t successful at beating Trump, he goes back to being just the Governor of the nation’s newest “red state”. But he also loses a lot of that “superstar” power he got in kicking Charlie Crist into a retirement home this past November. He is most certainly the golden boy in Republican politics nowadays, and I’m sure that’s a status that he doesn’t want to give up all that easily.

So, why wouldn’t DeSantis want to jump into the race? There aren’t that many reasons. I guess the first would be he doesn’t think in his own mind, or through whatever research he’s done, that he could outlast Trump in a primary. It would indeed be costly, and Trump could most certainly outspend him without batting an eye. But I think there are more reasons that go beyond that. First is the fact that DeSantis may very well be content to be the Governor of Florida. I don’t think every politician that gets elected to an executive leadership position has their eyes set on the Oval Office. DeSantis may be one of them. Maybe he doesn’t like the weather in DC in winter? Maybe he fell in love with Tallahassee? Who knows?

But another reason is just that DeSantis may not be done reshaping Florida into the Republican juggernaut that he thinks it can be. After all, Florida is a growing state. It’s getting a ton of people moving into it from places like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. And it is going to face the growing pains in the coming years that all states like the Sunshine State have faced. Look at Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada. They’ve all seen incredible growth over the past decade. Granted, Cali is losing about 300,000 of their people a year to states like Texas, Arizona, and Utah. But it may be that DeSantis thinks Florida can actually be a bigger state than any of them except maybe California.

Whatever reason is going on in Ron DeSantis’ mind, I think personally, he’s already made up his mind one way or another. It’s a timing thing now. He needs to wait for the proper moment to decide when to announce if he’s already decided to get in the race, and I think he has. The problem with waiting too long is that you become one of the guys at the back of the Conga Line, and you are then having to fight your way to the front of it. If DeSantis announces before the end of February, he can be assured that he will be next to Trump when the music starts.

I do think it’s going to be a crowded field this year and next for the Republicans. I’m not going to say there will be 17 or 18 people trying to get the nomination, like there was back in 2016, but there will be quite a few folks vying for it. If Ron DeSantis is one of them, he does have a half decent chance at dethroning Trump. If he decides not to run this time around, then basically he’s giving the nomination to Trump. It will be the former president’s nomination to lose. No one of the other Conga Line dancers is even close.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Haley’s Opening Gambit

I’ve made no bones about it. I like Nikki Haley. I’ve always thought she was well spoken, had conservative ideas that would be great for this country, and frankly, isn’t bad eye candy. But do I think she’s ever going to be the President? No. Not a chance.

Look, she made a couple of really good comments at the opening rally after she announced her candidacy. She wants to put term limits on Congress. I’m all for that. We have term limits on the presidency. There are 38 states that impose some sort of term limits on the Governor’s job. So, why don’t we have term limits in Congress. It would put an end to the Diane Feinstein’s and Nancy Pelosi’s of the world. Give them a chance to serve, and then return to their districts, just as the Founding Fathers intended. They never thought serving in federal government should be a lifetime job or a career. It’s a duty…just like getting called to sit on a jury.

But Haley didn’t take that one far enough. It isn’t just the mere fact you’ve been in Congress so long, it’s also the fact that a) we spend a TON of money on retired Congressmen and women. It’s not a lot when you consider the trillion dollar plus US budget, but it’s over $30 million per year! And there are hundreds of people on the pension plan. What is amazing is that we pay them anything. The average net worth of people serving in Congress is just over $1 million. So, why are we paying them a pension?

The part b) to that is Haley’s promise to include mental acuity screening for anyone over the age of 75. While that’s nice, and a jab at Joe Biden, it’s not enough (again). You should have a retirement age of 65 in the House, and 70 in the Senate. No president should serve past their 75th birthday. If they turn 75 during their term, they become ineligible to run.

While a lot of people thought Nikki Haley’s presidential run is a good thing, and I think it’s better than not having anyone run against Trump, there is the popular idea out there that the more people that run, the better Trump’s chances are of getting the nomination. That’s because he has a solid base already. If you get more people in the pool, his base doesn’t decline, but the total number of voters would be split among more people, making it less likely that someone would defeat him. That’s a flawed theory. In short, it’s true that would happen if everyone stayed in the race. They don’t. They run out of money, they get tired of seeing small crowds, they don’t qualify for the debate stage, and they realize they don’t have a chance in hell of winning. As those folks leave, their supporters go somewhere else. And the likelihood of Trump’s numbers being high and the rest being low decrease.

Columnist Kurt Schlichter has compared Nikki Haley to K-baby Harris saying that she’s the Harris of the Republican party. He thought her opening rally was overblown, saying she’s just wrong for the party (comparing her as “Jeb-lite”). That may or may not be true, but you’ve got to give her the chance to run and find that out for herself. Remember, when Donald Trump came down that escalator at Trump Tower in 2015, everyone thought he was wrong for the Republican party as well. I think Schlichter is wrong on that one point. But he is right that Haley isn’t going to win, as I said in an early blog.

If Ron DeSantis fails to get in the race, I’d be happy to support Haley. But, as I said before, I fully realize that I’m supporting someone like I did in 2016 with Scott Walker. I ended up having to switch candidates a few times. I think the same thing would happen with Haley. But I have a feeling DeSantis will get in and will give Trump a run for his money. Don’t get me wrong, Nikki Haley would make a much better “First Female President” than K-baby Harris or Hillary Clinton would. But I think she may have missed that opportunity. She should have been in the race in 2016.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Haley’s In

Nikki Haley became the first woman, and second politician to enter the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday. She posted a video that made the announcement. It was widely speculated that Haley would be jumping into the fray against her old boss, Donald Trump.

In Haley’s video, she echoed the mantra she’s been using for quite some time…that it’s time for NEW leadership not only in the GOP, but in Washington. She could not be more correct on that one. “Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change. Joe Biden’s record is abysmal, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. It’s time for a new generation of leadership.”

I’ve personally always thought Haley was a good politician, and has done a great job, be it as South Carolina’s governor, or as the ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. She speaks her mind, she’s intelligent, she’s conservative, and she knows how to play the game. That said, I wonder how long she’ll be able to stay in the race.

Look, there are a lot of people today that are contemplating jumping into the race along with Haley and Trump. Most of them don’t have a chance in hell of winning the nomination, and personally, I don’t think Haley does either. She is at this point, my second choice behind Ron DeSantis, who has the experience, the political savvy, and the wherewithal to make the run successful. While I like Haley, I really liken her to Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin. I liked his policies, I liked his background, but he didn’t have the “oomph” behind him when he ran. I doubt that Haley will either.

Still, you have to give her credit. Nikki Haley loves to mention that she’s won every race that she’s ever run and doesn’t intend to start losing now. Of course, what else would you expect someone entering the toughest race in their life to say? Would you expect her to say, “Well, I don’t have much to do right now, and I’m tired of living on the pensions I got from South Carolina and the US Treasury for serving both of those jobs. So, I might as well increase my name recognition.”? I think not.

Still, I don’t think she’s going to be the one to cross the finish line. All of the polls currently show her in single digits with most of the folks out there either going for Donald Trump or DeSantis, and that should be a close race either way. In the end, my hunch is, there are going to be enough folks liking what DeSantis has to say, enjoying the fact that he is almost half Trump’s age (Trump is 76, DeSantis is 44), and his personality is a “take no prisoners” type of Republican. I think that plays well against the Trump base as well as what he’s done in Florida. Beating Charlie Crist overwhelmingly in Florida for the governorship this past November made him the GOP’s golden boy. I don’t see much that could tarnish that mantle.

There are going to be quite a few challengers to Donald Trump’s nomination for 2024 however. Currently pondering the race are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who all ran in previous contests, as well as former Vice President, Mike Pence, former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, DeSantis, Texas Governor, Glenn Abbott, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and a couple of longshots. Those would be former Wyoming Congresswoman, Liz Cheyney, and Fox News host, Tucker Carlson (has he even talked about a run???). That’s a pretty well loaded field.

So, Haley is going to have her work cut out for her. Everyone except DeSantis and Trump are in single digits so far. It’s going to be difficult for anyone to chip away at the two frontrunners and get enough of the support away from them to make a difference. But it is early, and at this point in 2016, no one in their right mind, except maybe Ann Coulter thought that Donald Trump had a chance in hell. We’ll have to wait and see.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Are Dems’ Fed Up With Harris?

It would seem that K-baby Harris is up to her neck in problems these days. She has been unable to hide from the bright spotlight that usually doesn’t shine on the Vice Presidency. But she’s caused most of it. Her lack of speaking ability has led to the phrase “word salad” being introduced into our lexicon. And the fact that she cackles whenever she can’t think of anything she feels is cogent to add to the conversation has made her a laughing buffoon. The question is, why was she chosen in the first place, and if Joe Biden IS seeking a second term in the White House, is he thinking of making her his VP choice again, or is he looking for someone else?

Democrats are starting to voice their opinions and it isn’t pro-Harris.

I guess it started with Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). She was doing an interview for Boston Public Radio, and mentioned that Joe Biden would put on the ticket “whomever he wanted”, leaving the world to think that she was calling for K-baby to be bounced. That brought screams from Harris’ camp, forcing Warren to apologize and say that it was taken out of context. But several other Democrats have come forward to say that yes, while Harris is a nice person, she doesn’t have the chops to sit in the Naval Observatory, and certainly doesn’t have the gravitas to sit behind the Resolute Desk.

Dropping a Vice President during a re-election campaign isn’t something new. It’s been done a total of four times in our history, the last time occurring in 1888. Abraham Lincoln was the first president to drop his VP when he got rid of Hannibal Hamlin in 1864 and brought in Andrew Johnson, who was a Democrat. Under Ulysses S. Grant, Schuyler Colfax got involved in a scandal and was replaced as VP at the 1872 convention by Henry Wilson. When Grover Cleveland was elected, he chose Thomas Hendricks to be his VP on the ticket. Hendricks died in 1885. Cleveland then ran for re-election, with Allen Thurman as his running mate, but they lost to Benjamin Harrison. Harrison had Levi Morton as his running mate, and when he ran for reelection in 1888, he switched things up by going with Whitelaw Reid, but he lost to Cleveland…so far the only president to be elected twice in non-consecutive terms.

Rumors continue to swirl around whether Biden actually wants Harris to be on the ticket with him, or whether he’s looking at someone new. There are arguments for both. Harris has been a trainwreck in all of the jobs she’s been given. Typically, a VP is there to do whatever the President doesn’t want to do, and that was the way it started out, with Harris being given the task of being the “border czar”. That hasn’t worked out so well. Neither has any of the other trips and duties that she’s been asked to fill. So, Biden may want to find someone better suited to take some stuff off of his plate. He will be 82 in 2024, after all.

But there is a reason that Biden may want to keep Harris around, especially in light of the classified document scandal, and the Hunter Biden scandal. If you’ve got a person that everyone feels is terrible, and you want to insure that you won’t be impeached, having a trainwreck like Harris on the ticket could be a solid enough reason to go that route. Even though Biden’s staff hates her, she’s had trouble actually keeping her own staff together, and most Democrats say, while she’s a nice person, but she can’t be trusted to do the simplest of tasks, she does serve a purpose. You don’t want her as president, giving Biden an extra bit of insurance.

Either way, we’re going to find out soon enough. If Biden sticks with her, it won’t be out of loyalty. It’ll be because he feels that he’s going to be toast at some point in his second term should he get re-elected.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Republican Keys To Victory In 2024

It looks like Joe Biden will announce his candidacy for president right around the State of the Union after all. Classified documents found in the garage be damned. And that should actually bode well for the GOP. While the Democrats will want to at least show that they are rallying around their incumbent president, the Republicans will be able to have a true primary, and get a ton of ideas out there that should prove to be winners. Let’s examine those issues today, shall we?

The one caveat in all of this is the dollar. You can’t win a campaign in America today without the cash. And Democrats have been able to out-fundraise the Republicans in the last two cycles. So, it’s going to be key to get the money in the bank for the GOP. A lot of that has been Ronna McDaniel’s fault as chair of the RNC, but weak candidates that are supposed to be good fundraisers, but aren’t is a big problem as well.

That said, there are issues there that if the GOP can overcome the funding problem, they should be able to actually win big with the following issues.

Lack of Competence: This needs to hit at Joe Biden squarely in his face. He’s bungled several attempts to right the economy that he caused to go sideways. And the fastest way to do it is you hone in on the lies Biden has told (and you call them lies to his face) on how great of a job he’s doing. Call him the worst president in American history.

The Southern Border: One big issue is going to be the southern border and not following federal law. You get Biden to admit that the border is secure, and that there isn’t a crisis under his watch. Compare Trump’s numbers to Biden’s as far as the numbers of people illegally crossing into the country, and compare the number of deportations under Trump with the number of deportations under Biden. According to ICE’s own numbers, deportations under Biden dropped 90% from Trump’s last non-pandemic year in office.

Inflation Rate: Biden is going to argue there is a world-wide inflation rate and that we are better off because of his policies than the rest of the world. That’s false. Republicans need to point out the amount of money printed by Biden, and the total cost of the bills passed by Congress and signed by Biden in 2021 and 2022. That has been the real cause of inflation. Also the GOP needs to point out that inflation was not a problem under Trump…only Biden.

Interest Rate Increases: The GOP can hammer this one home all day long. Interest rates continue to increase into 2023 as the FED wants to try and attempt a “soft landing” of the economy. That’s a rare treat and hasn’t happened that often. In fact, soft landings of the economy have only occurred in 1964, 1984, and 1993. Three times in our history.

Crime: The crime problem in this country is out of control. People don’t fear the repercussions of getting caught because government and the justice system are forced into letting people go when they commit crimes thanks to “cashless bail”. Leftist District Attorneys have made it so that the victims aren’t the people suffering, they’re the perps that did the crime in the first place. It’s another thing that can be hung on Biden and his Department of Justice.

87,000 IRS Agents: Instead of hiring more border patrol agents and sending them to the southern border, Biden has decided to hire more IRS agents. And why? Because he needs more tax dollars to spend. He has managed to increase the federal debt over $4 trillion in just two years. We don’t need more IRS agents. We need better fiscal responsibility.

Classified Documents: This one only works if Trump ISN’T the nominee. I’d hammer the living crap out of Biden taking classified documents home with him, as he’s been doing since the Nixon administration. Get him to say WHY he took them home, and ask him how he got them out of the Senate Skiff without people knowing about it?

There you go. Seven issues that are sure to upset Biden and force him into a corner. Of course, things change, and we’re still just under two years out from the election. A lot more can be added by then!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Does Trump Step In MORE Problems???

In 2016, when Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower in New York City to announce his candidacy for president, I was like a lot of you. I was amused. I didn’t think he was going to be any more than one of those celebrities that decides that they need something better to do with their life, and so they run for office. The country is full of them. Think about it. You’ve got people like Ronald Reagan (not a great example, he turned out pretty well), Sonny Bono, Fred Grandy, Jesse Ventura, Clint Eastwood, and Matthew McConaughey. I at first, put Trump in the same boat. He turned out to be a pretty decent president from a policy standpoint. From a political standpoint, he was a trainwreck.

And now he’s back…sort of.

The left obviously doesn’t want anything to do with Trump after his one term in office. Oh, they laughed at first, thinking he was just like all of the other celebs that think too highly of themselves. But they stopped laughing when he beat Hillary. Now, he’s decided that he’s going to run for a second term. And of course, the Dems couldn’t have rushed any faster to have the January 6th committee in the House finish up their investigation into his involvement in the Capitol riots of 2021 and get their report out there before losing control of Congress.

Personally, I don’t think the Democrats needed to worry. Trump is doing more damage to himself than they could ever do to him. His latest problem is he’s starting to jump on the evangelical leaders that were so enamored with him back in 2016 and 2020. Last week, Trump said that these leaders were showing “signs of disloyalty” toward him because they haven’t endorsed his third presidential run yet.

But influential evangelical pastor, Robert Jeffress said at a recent conference that he didn’t see the need to endorse a candidate two years out. He’s exactly right. First of all, you have no idea who in the world is running on either side of the coin. Second, even if Trump was your guy, you wait until the players are in before you start dishing out endorsements. I don’t really know anyone other than Kari Lake that has endorsed Trump yet. And she doesn’t carry a lot of weight in my book.

The problem with Trump right now is that he is a guy from the past. Biden is a guy from the past. Clinton is a guy from the past. These folks aren’t the future. You may have heard Nikki Haley say recently that it’s time for America to look to new and younger leadership. Trump and Biden are both going to be in the 80’s during the term of 2025 to January 2029. That’s not something a lot of people are clamoring about. You also have a lot of folks like me. They loved Trump’s policies, they hated his mannerisms. You don’t necessarily want a president that’s going to rely on name-calling, and bashing their opponents. You see with Biden, every time he pulls that stunt and starts talking trash about the Republicans, his poll numbers drop. It’s just easier to bash than to come up with creative ideas on solving the country’s problems.

So, I don’t think Donald Trump was in line at all with his comments. It’s not Trump’s place to scream at people that are “disloyal” to him. It’s more his place to EARN their loyalty once again. There will be a whole new field of candidates a year from today. Trump is once again going to have to show the world why he is the best candidate for the job from those that have chosen to run. The rest is all conversation. And you don’t assume (except maybe in your own mind) that America is going to run to your side this time, just because they did so eight years ago. That was a lifetime ago in politics. And Donald Trump’s chances for getting them back appear to be fading.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!