From Rejection to Reelection: What Changed?

I don't want to rehash my thoughts on the unresolved questions surrounding the 2020 election results. However, there are questions worth exploring without necessarily having to dive directly into the big question. If Joe Biden won the election in 2020, and we have no real evidence to prove otherwise at this point, Joe Biden's election was essentially a rejection of Trump, right?

Without any evidence to suggest otherwise, that's all we can go with. Despite Trump's numerous achievements—unless you ask Democrats, who are deeply riddled with Trump Derangement Syndrome—there was apparently something about Trump that didn't sit well enough with voters to give him a second term.

Until now, of course. Trump's reelection was clearly a decisive rejection of Biden. Or at least, voters rejected his agenda. Biden conceded his nomination to Harris after that abysmal debate performance, which confirmed what the right had been saying all along that the left vehemently denied.

Joe Biden was suffering a serious mental decline.

And what was the agenda laid out by Kamala Harris on the campaign trail? Basically, it was Joe Biden part two with some extra liberal policy thrown in for good measure.

So, one has to ask. What just happened here? How did we come full circle?

Did Trump's stage presence or demeanor change? No. Did he offer different policies than those in his first term? No. Is his vision for America different this time? No. Are the prospects for America's future different than they were at the end of his first term? No. 

So, if it wasn't good enough then, why did voters sing his praises so decisively now? What changed? Aside from Biden's abysmal term in office, which sent the country backwards 40 years with skyrocketing gas and energy prices, inflation through the roof, and the world at war. What happened?

Did voters see the light and have a change of heart? Did we suddenly realize a colossal mistake? When we look back at Biden's election, we're not talking about small numbers. He received 81 million votes, the highest number of votes a president has ever been elected with in American history. In that context, voters' rejection of Trump was equally on a historical level we've never seen before.

Granted, it makes his comeback quite remarkably historic as well, all things considered.

It would be one thing if Trump's presidency would have been laden with disasters and failures. But that wasn't the case. So, are we to presume Trump was rejected simply because people didn't like him, despite his highly successful policies? Is that why people came out to vote in such high numbers?

Let's not discount the fact that Trump's popularity did not wane. In fact, it grew by 11 million votes. That's right. Trump got 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016—a feat that, for any president before him, would have guaranteed a second term without question.

I will grant that in the beginning, we may have had doubts about Trump's running again. For a while Ron DeSantis seemed to be the Knight in Shining Armor to save us. But his popularity quickly waned, and before you knew it, Trump was front and center again. 

This, despite all the added baggage thrown into the muck pile by the media, the left, and the courts, indicting him with anything they could find, trying to slice and dice him the court of public opinion, even convicting him. 

Trump's reelection almost forces us to believe, once again, something the left has vehemently denied. That the election was stolen. Trump never wavered from that belief. He continued to say it on the campaign trail, even telling the American people to make sure 2024 was too big to rig. And as the American people watched the Trump drama unfold before their eyes, it almost seems to suggest, considering his win, that more people agree with Trump about the possibility of a stolen election than disagree with him. 

Something was up. Even if we can't point directly at what that something was. It's there. Lurking in the shadows. Especially when you consider that, again, Trump never lost popularity once throughout any of this. 

He got 62.9 million votes in 2016. He got 74.2 million votes in 2020. And he won with 77.2 million votes in 2024. Regardless of what the truth is here, the only question I have is, how did Biden ever win in the first place against a man whose support has only been on an upward trend since day one?

Really. I am truly asking. What changed?

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

It's Like it Never Really Happened

It's not necessarily that what Kamala Harris is saying is wrong. The economy sucks, inflation sucks, the border sucks, we're lacking opportunities, and it's harder than ever for the American people to succeed and achieve the American dream. America is in bad shape, and we need someone in the White House who can recognize the problems, offer the right solutions, and turn it all back around.

I am so glad, Mrs. Harris, that you have finally awakened to the reality that we've got some serious problems here. Where have you been all these past four years?

Oh, wait. Weren't you in the White House? 

Wherein, not only was she party to all of the no-good policies and bad decisions that got us here, but she also defended them all along, right out there standing alongside Joe Biden telling us what our eyes and wallets knew damn well was a lie was wrong.

"Everything's running superbly. This is Bidenomics, folks. Isn't it wonderful?"

She's saying the right words. What she is saying is true. Things are bad and we need to take a different course. But the amazing thing to me is that, at the core of her campaign, it's as though Biden never happened. He's been wiped out of memory completely. Joe Biden, who? The way you hear Kamala Harris talk about it, Trump was the guy in the White House all along, these past four years, Harris is the newcomer on the block, and it's Trump's fault that all of what went wrong in America happened.

The remarkable thing is that I think the Democrats believe it, and so does the media. It's remarkable to me how quickly Joe Biden has been erased from the political landscape. Do we even feel like he's president anymore? Has anyone in the media even mentioned his name?

If they have, it's been in passing. "Oh yeah, he's still president."

The thing that scares me is that, even if in my heart I don't want to believe it's as tight at race as the media portrays it, maybe it is. Trump suffers from a lot of hate out there, and when all that hate is clouding judgements about what Biden did and what Trump will fix doesn't matter.

Even if, in their hearts, anyone who wants to cast a vote for Harris, they know it's all a lie. That it's all a big game of smoke and mirrors. The magician has pulled the rabbit out of the hat, and everyone is convinced that the rabbit wasn't there all along.

They'll still vote for her and hand over the keys to the Oval Office.

The second part of the problem is that while Trump has the right ideas and even the proven track record, the reality is that he's not a great orator, and so his message gets trapped in the mud. In a moment in time such as this, what we need is a Reagan-like delivery. 

On spot. Front and center. Straightforward. Here's the problem, here's who caused it, and here's why these are the people responsible for it.

The hope is that the American voter has become accustomed to Trump's style enough that they understand that he means more than what he says and will do more than what he doesn't say. The hope is that memories have not failed, and that voter's don't fall for the rouse.

Harris isn't the solution. She's the problem.

With all that's happened in the past four years, this should be the markings of a landslide victory for Trump, but here we are looking at polls suggesting Trump may actually lose the election. I do think the voters are smarter than all of this, and I have trust in my cynicism of what the media is trying to sell us.

Can you really erase Biden's four years and pass the blame onto the guy that wasn't there through it all? I guess we will find out in November.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

The Debate is Critical for Both Candidates

So, folks. We have a debate. For emphasis, you need to say that like the Arby's, "We have the meats," guy. The scheduled debate, which will air on ABC, will be held on September 10th between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and I have to say, it will either be a defining moment for one or the other or an end to the honeymoon period Harris has enjoyed since Biden announced he would be stepping out of the race, making Harris the presumptive nominee for the Democrat party.

What will be interesting first and foremost, for me, will be how well Kamala Harris, unscripted and without a teleprompter, can command her words. She is, of course, well known for her many word salads, and from what we have seen in previous debates, she typically does not perform well in that setting.

In the Democrat primary debates leading up to the 2020 presidential election she never even made it to Iowa before being forced to drop out of the race.

The key thing for me is that Trump needs to maintain a sharp focus on the issues, especially the ones he is winning on, according to all polls. Those would be inflation, the economy, and the border. Regardless of how Kamala Harris tries to sell the success of so-called, "Bidenomics," the American people already know that it didn't work.

Trump needs to dial in on that and make it clear that it didn't work, and why. 

As for Kamala Harris, the hurdles for her are many fold considering that among former vice presidents, her favorability ratings were literally in the tank, and she trailed far behind even Joe Biden's. She's not a likeable person. If she cackles one time too many, it's going to make her appear as she has appeared in the past.

Out of touch and a little bit unhinged, and not to mention, not a serious person.

The thing is that this is "a moment" for Kamala Harris to try to erase any preconceived ideas about her, which she has largely been able to duck a bit from since the announcement of Biden stepping down. She's made no major media appearances and held no interviews. So, aside from some very well scripted rally venues, this will be the first time following Biden's departure that the American people will get to see, what presumably would be an attempt to showcase, a newly refined Kamala Harris, complete with some policies she is trying to distance herself from.

Including her own policy stances, by the way, which by even the most conservative measure are so far left, a walk to the center would take years.

She's going to try to deliver two direct messages, "I am not Donald Trump, but I am also not Joe Biden."

The first one is an easy one, of course. But what about the second one? For the past going on four years, Harris told the American people Biden was doing a remarkable job and touted success after success of the Biden administration, even joining in on the big stretch lie that Joe Biden is a president who accomplished more than any other president in past history.

The problem is, if she distances herself too far from Biden's policies, it is a de facto admission of sorts that it was all a big lie. Granted, she might get a small pass considering she was, of course, the vice president. But she still went along with the program, and she still owns the policies of the man she served under.

This inflation, this economy, and this border are all hers. Not only does she need to explain to the American people what her plans are to fix these issues, she needs to explain why they are issues after four years of her time in office.

If ABC asks the right questions, maybe we get to hear what she has to say about that. But it's the media, and if there's one thing you can bet, they probably won't ask the right questions. 

Either way, both candidates have a major opportunity to make an appeal for their cause, and both candidates, admittedly, have some issues in that regard. This debate, I think, has far more importance than the previous one held between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The outcome of it, I think, determines the election, and because of that, both candidates have to be at the highest level of their game ever in their political careers.

Everything is at stake on September 10th for their future prospects. Literally, everything. Especially considering, I believe this may be one of the most watched debates ever in the history of American debates.

All eyes will be on. Neither one can lose sight of that. Especially Trump.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer 

Biden's Not Handling His Richard Nixon Moment Well

For the Democrats what's happening with Joe Biden right now really is quite akin to a moment in time that former President Richard Nixon once faced, albeit under a different set of circumstances. Richard Nixon was facing an impeachment conviction as he had lost all of the support he had from his party.

Whether or not it was nobility on Nixon's mind when he decided to step down, handing over his resignation and giving the Oval Office to Gerald Ford, he knew the writing was on the wall and there was only one course of action to take.

And he did.

In Biden's situation you have to wonder what is on his mind through this latest string of calls from senior Democrats, news media and others asking him to step aside and resign from his campaign for reelection.

Here's a guy who has forever warned of the extreme dangers we may face if Donald Trump were put back in the White House. As he said to George Stephanopoulos in a scathing interview, "We are at an inflection point. Whoever wins now determines the course of our country for the next 60 or 70 years."

That seems pretty dire. So, if that's what he believes, and it is clear his chances of winning now are almost completely erased from reality, why would he continue to run if the only likely outcome of him doing that is that Trump wins?

If Nixon would have refused to step down, the Senate would have convicted him of impeachment, and he'd have been forced out of office, leaving the reins to Gerald Ford anyway, and leaving an even bigger stain on his legacy than resigning did, or even all the things about the scandal that haunted him to the very end.

His fall from grace would have been amplified many times over.

Sure, Biden thinks he can do the job. He thinks he's earned reelection. But the American people disagree, and so does his party. It's an arrogance, in a way, that sort of flies in the face of the arrogance their side has long accused Trump of.

"Trump doesn't care about you or about the country. He cares only about himself and his desire for power."

But what separates Biden from that argument? If he has no support and can't win, and feels that this is one of the most important election decisions in the country's history—why else would he allow that to happen other than to consider his own personal interests over the people and the country?

As I have said often, sometimes you have to do things that are in the best interests of the country even if your side has to lose. Country and America first are not just slogans. They are very important things to consider above all else.

Granted, the Democrats seem assured that replacing Biden is all they have to do to beat Trump. I think they are right to decide Biden's not their guy. But I think they are wrong to think that they will have the support of the American people if all they do is replace Biden.

The thing that seems to be becoming clear in the minds of most people is that the Democrat party made the wrong choice from the very start, and now it's come to rear its ugly head. The country is in a mess despite the claims coming from the White House that there are all of these accomplishments to account for. Americans have been lied to and hidden from the truth on purpose. And top contenders like Gavin Newsome don't have great records either.

Kamala is also a hot mess with approval ratings far below Biden's, and she is probably one of the most disliked vice presidents in America's history. She's also far from qualified to take on the job. Even then, pushing her aside would be considered a slight, and I think that would also leave a bad taste in many American's mouths despite her being an awful replacement choice.

The key takeaway is, how can we trust the Democrats? How can we trust anyone they might pick in Biden's stead? For three and a half years your side has pounded the drums telling us Donald Trump is the world's most dangerous man and the biggest threat to democracy this country has ever faced, and all you've done is do everything to make sure he wins?

Biden should step down. If not for the good of the country, but for the good of his party. It's the right thing to do when you have lost all of your support. It doesn't change the outcome even if he does, mind you. The ship that would bring them to safe shores has long sailed.

But at least go out with some dignity left. After countless lie after lie Biden has told to the American people time and time again, why make the last lie, "I can do the job?"

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

Just One More Excuse for Biden's Awful Debate Performance

Are we to the point of the Biden administration desperately clutching at straws? And how stupid do they think we are? Because I think we have to start asking that question along with, of course, a plethora of others.

We're being played, and we've been played for a very long time. For the most part, Joe Biden and his camp, including the media, have gotten pass after pass after pass. From his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan to his insistent lies that the border is secure, and that any issues we have on the border are Trump's fault, it's one thing after another.

All the other issues notwithstanding—we can't forget those—and the way it's all been spun. From job creation claims that were actually just jobs coming back after Covid to inflation, gas prices and whatever else you want to add in there.

There is a long trail of disaster behind almost everything the Biden administration has touched.

Of course, in the beginning they did all they could to try to deflect and turn American's attentions to more "serious" matters. The threat to our democracy, for example, because Trump is supposedly an evil man hell bent on becoming a dictator on day one.

In his final State of the Union address to the nation, he literally compared the 2024 election to the days of Hitler.

It's to hide things. That's all it's really about. To hide Biden's numerous failures and more importantly, to hide the obvious decline in his mental health that has been evident to many people over the course of his presidency.

The problem is that big lie, the one about Biden being on top of his game, came to its head during the debate. Everyone saw it, and no one could deny it anymore. Even CNN. Something was wrong with the president.

He keeps saying he must continue to run to save the country. But how can a country be saved by a man who doesn't even know where he is? How can the country, at its very foundation, be preserved as the founding fathers intended if the leader that we know to be the leader isn't actually the one leading?

The White House was quick to dismiss any claims of mental decline and criticized the media for "jumping the gun." And they continued to plod out their narrative that, "The man you see is not the man we see every day in the Oval Office doing the hard work for the American people."

As Bill Maher put it, "Tape that so we can all see it too."

"The president was suffering from a cold," was of course the first thing they passed along as sort of an explanation of sorts as to why he performed so badly during the debate. Okay, that explains his voice, which was frail and weak and raspy. But it doesn't explain why he could not put a complete sentence together or get the facts straight.

Which, by the way, after being reminded of Trump's many lies by the news media and even the White House, is also a "clutching of straws."

Biden lied several times during the debate. He lied about Trump wanting to get rid of Social Security. He lied about the insulin cap. He lied about the Medicare cap. He lied about his job creation. He lied about what unemployment was when he took office.

Oh, and the 800-pound gorilla in the room. He lied about no troops dying during his watch. In fact, there have been several. The most glaring of which were the 13 service members who died on the tarmac in Afghanistan during that horrific withdrawal.

Now they come out and tell us, "Well, he's a 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. president, and during those times he's sharp as a tack." Okay. Fine. But what if he gets that proverbial call at 3 A.M. Then what?

Beyond that, now Biden is claiming he was suffering from serious jet lag from recent overseas trips and that he "nearly fell asleep on stage." It's one more clutch. And frankly, one more outright lie. I think at the end of the day everything should be crystal clear to the voters right now. His record, and his ability. But the reality is that everything about him is in question.

He's sitting on abysmal approval ratings with only 38% of Americans believing he's doing a good job, and when you ask the question of his fitness to be president, it's even worse. 72% of Americans feel Biden is not up to the job.

It reminds me of that age old idea that the more you have to tell people you're this, the more the reality is that you are something else entirely.

The fact is that the American people more than ever know now that they have been being lied to all along. By the media. By the Biden administration. By everyone. And it's beginning to really rub people the wrong way. No one wants to be taken for a fool.

A cold. Jet lag. What's next when no one buys that?

How about you're simply not the man you used to be, Mr. Biden? How about it's just time to pack your bags and really do your duty and serve the country's best interests by ensuring we are not led by people other than you? But an actual president, able to do the job, making the critical decisions, who was elected by the People?

Because let's face it. Desperation is not an admirable trait either. And that's the other trait being put on full display here. The president and the people in his camp are desperate to win, at any cost, and regardless of what's in the best interests of the American people.

The more the Biden administration continues to deny, deny, deny the truth, the more the American people become convinced their worst fears are, in fact, true. And the angrier they become about that.

Sorry, Mr. President, but the chickens have come home to roost.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

...and now, for something completely different.

Suggesting Trump Will Seek a Third Term is Stupidity

I swear, sometimes the left can be so stupid. Yes, I said it. even though it does break my rules just a little bit. I try very hard to avoid name calling since I usually believe it kills the argument. But sometimes the left just does things, or especially says things, that are just stupid, and you can't do anything else but call it out for what it is. 

This is particularly true when it comes to things Trump says that the left just hangs on and spins this way, that way, and the other.

Do they really believe what they say Trump is saying half the time is true? It seems they do. Or they are trying very hard to convince people that Trump is saying things he's actually not saying at all. 

When he said, "I will be a dictator on day one," it spun their heads around and the next thing you know it was all the left could talk about. For them it was confirmation.

"He's Hitler! Here's the proof!"

The thing is, we all know what he said. We all know what he meant. And we all know the context of what he said. He was not saying he wanted to be dictator at all. It was tongue and cheek. It was not meant to be a proclamation. And it wasn't one.

So, what's the latest? The 3-term president comment. I don't even think the left is really paying attention. He said, "I might even be considered a three-term president." He did not say he was intending on changing the rules even though he did reference Franklin Delanor Roosevelt who died in office during his fourth term before changes were made limiting presidents to two terms.

Granted, and I have said this many times, sometimes Trump does say things that can be easily misinterpreted or read wrong. But at the same time, one simply has to understand Trump and how he talks to get through to what he is actually saying.

He believes he won the election in 2020. Whether or not you believe that doesn't matter. But he believes it. And he knows that many Americans, especially many of his supporters, also happen to believe it. 

During the entire time he has been out of office he has done presidential things. He's met with world leaders. He's headed his party. He's endorsed candidates and campaigned for them. He's kept talking to the American people. He's gone to places where disasters have occurred affecting Americans.

In the eyes of some he's the legitimate president. Some people across the oceans believe it too. And that's the context one need to add to what he said about the three terms.

If Trump was president in 2016, and he was the acting president in 2020, and then is reelected in 2024, that would be his presumed third term holding office. Again, perhaps his wording makes it difficult to grasp that. But that's essentially what he is referring to.

"I might be considered a three-term president."

In other words, historians one day might make the assertion that even if the published result was that Biden won the 2020 election, in the eyes of many Americans, Trump never really left office. He just governed from somewhere other than the White House. If he wins in 2024, it's sort of a confirmation that Americans were really on his side all along even if the face at the podium bearing the Presidential Seal belonged to Joe Biden.

It is patently stupid to suggest that Trump is saying he will seek a third term in 2028. For one thing, Trump has always been a champion of the Constitution, and constantly talks about the government as The People's Government. He never says, when referring to the White House as his house, but rather our house.

He's not a dictator. He has no interest in the power. He simply wants to do what's right for the American people and continue the work he started in 2016 that went on pause in 2020.

Granted, it may just be another tactic rather than stupidity. But it sure should make anyone being sold this line feel like at least their own intelligence is being challenged. The left has no record. I've said that a million times. They know it. So, all they can do lacking a record is try to scare the American people into voting against Trump.

If they can paint him as an evil man wanting to be a ruler as opposed to being a president, they will pull out all the stops to do it. In the meantime, it gets really frustrating even though I happen to think that most Americans aren't dumb enough to fall for any of it—and their displaying of their stupidity on the left actually helps Donald Trump.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

Did HubPages Shadow Ban Me?

Is it about quality, or is it something else? As you are probably aware, I also write for HubPages, which is a community of several sister sites including HubPages itself. And just like here, a lot of the content I write is regarding conservative politics. 

Something that is not necessarily discouraged over there, by the way. I think that's important to point out. I don't want to be unfair to HubPages at all. Several of my conservative posts are what they call, "featured." In other words, a featured post is one that HubPages has determined meets certain quality standards such as good, solid content that is a certain length, that is generally well put together and worthy of being "listed" on their main page, or becomes published on one of their sister sites.

Unfeatured posts are almost invisible. 

I say almost because of course, over the years I have a bit of a "built-in" audience. So, it's not like no one will see a post that is not featured. And even though I have my profile settings set to only show featured articles, I can still physically include an unfeatured article in the highlights, and I did that.

When I look over the article in question, "We Must Put Our Country Before Party," there is nothing about it that seems to obviously separate it from anything else I may have written on the site that has been featured before it.

Although in it, I mention (or question) the mental capacity of President Joe Biden. Could that have something to do with it? Is it an article lacking quality? Or is it one they simply don't like what it implies? I don't even do it in a particularly mean way. In fact, it was not accusatory in so much as it was simply suggestive.

The question for me is, am I being shadow banned simply because the editorial team dislikes the context of my content rather than it being an issue of "quality," as was suggested in the form letter that is often provided when an article on HubPages is not featured.

In the letter it says, "It's possible that your article is not featured because it contains spammy elements." The post promotes nothing at all and in fact, contains no links at all. Neither does it make any reference to other articles on their site or elsewhere.

They go on to say, "If you don't see any spammy elements in your article, then it was likely defeatured for failing to meet HubPages' general quality standards." That is a fairly generic statement, especially considering I have been writing for HubPages for 15+ years and am quite aware of their quality standards and how to write and structure an article that meets them.

Over 50 of my articles are featured, and of the ones that aren't, they were featured at one time. The reason they are not now is due to their age and their current relevance, since many of my articles are not evergreen, and became unfeatured over time simply due to a lack of traffic to them.

How many people today are reading about the presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama?

Other suggestions regarding quality they suggest is that the article may have been too short or underdeveloped. It far surpassed the 700 minimum word count, and it was not laid out any different than previous similar content. "It may have had formatting issues, broken or unrelated links, and/or significant grammatical errors."

None of those are at issue. Granted, that's based on my own personal assessment. But again, the article follows the same general manner in which I write all of my pieces, regardless of where I happen to write them.

The point of my discontent here is not that my article was not featured. I have been writing long enough to know that not everything is the highest quality, and even I can admit when I may not have put my all into something. 

It happens. I get it. It doesn't bother me. 

What does bother me is that if it appears to be the case that a form of censorship, outright or simply making something hidden, is what's happening—that's where I take issue. I write opinion. Sometimes it's not a popular one. But it doesn't mean it doesn't belong somewhere.

And that's not to discount the fact that I actually appreciate the high standards by which HubPages determines its content. It makes the site better. It drives more traffic to the site because even though it is a mostly self-publishing platform, there are still eyeballs making decisions in back rooms to determine what they show to readers to find.

Like I said, I have a built-in audience. But that organic traffic which can help to build and grow that audience comes from articles that are featured. So, what happens to an unfeatured article and why does it matter? Why could it be considered a form of shadow banning? 

Featured articles enjoy increased visibility is one reason. For example, an unfeatured article lives on HubPages. But it's not on their "Discover" page, which is the main page everyone sees when they go to the site who do not have an account. If something is not featured, only your existing audience will ever see it.

Featured articles are showcased on topic pages and appear as "Related Articles" on other similar featured posts. They are also made available to search engines. In other words, if your article is not featured, it lives on the site, but it is kept from searches. It is internal to HubPages, but is deeply buried and much harder for anyone to find.

As I said before. It is almost invisible.

Just like any media is going to be, there are many within their office walls who tend to be liberals and of course, carry on with a very liberal agenda. Conservative speech is not banned on the site. Not hardly. But it's also not the first time very specific speech has been shadow banned by the site.

To me it is a matter of that slippery slope. Free speech is free speech, and all opinions, even if we strongly disagree with them, deserve to be heard. If you're not careful, eventually only certain selected speech is ever allowed.

I don't think that my comments in the article in question were harsh or mean. I also do not think they were unfair or didn't at least provide some context and explanation behind why I made them. I think they just made an editorial decision to keep the opinion as quiet as possible.

I did send a response asking if they could provide a more detailed explanation. But often times those go unanswered. 

The important thing for me is that all voices be heard and that even if the content does not agree with the opinions of the editorial staff, articles should not be hidden from view based only on that alone. At the same time it is their site and I respect what they do, and what their site allows me to do. I will respect their decision regardless. 

But of course, I will also publicly share my opinion on what I think about it.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

2020 Was All About Covid, Fool

Nearly every time the mail in ballots in the 2020 election are brought up as a matter of suspicion and concern that there may have been some nefarious goings on there, the left jumps up and waves their arms. "Hey! Over here! You do realize there was a pandemic, right?"

Covid. The infamous Covid. It's always there as an argument.

The left tried to make the same argument to explain the Biden rallies which no one attended. "Of course, there was no one there, you fool. No one wanted to die, unlike the idiots on your side."

So, brilliant one as you are, tell me; out of the potentially hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters who attended his rallies are dead and gone now? Not only were they Trump supporters attending rallies during one of the deadliest pandemics of our time, they were probably also unvaccinated and doomed to death from that too.

Of course, some people may have gotten Covid. Maybe even some people died. But if the rallies were the supposed "cause of death," I am sure that would be front page news and every bit of the 24-hour news cycle.

Rachel Maddow would have been tossing up images of lines of coffins heading for their final resting spots screaming, "Count the bodies in the wake of Trump's rallies! The stupidity! The abomination!"

It didn't happen. And furthermore, for all the efforts of the left and the media Covid wasn't even that big a deal. Okay sure. It wasn't good. People did die. I'll never discount that. But when you compare Covid to the Spanish flu, it wasn't even close.

The Spanish flu killed 10% of the entire world population. Covid took only 0.08% of it. How does it even compare?

It doesn't.

So, essentially the mail in ballots were just common sense because no one wanted to get Covid and die. Duh, right? Only it isn't the duh moment the left really wants it to be. By their measure of the threat and danger going to the polls in person might have posed, Trump probably would have lost the 2020 election simply because all of his supporters were dead from attending his rallies.

Only he got 11 million more votes in 2020 than he got in 2016. So, I guess that argument is kind of out, isn't it? Let's say just 10% of the 76 million people that voted for him attended his rallies at some point during the pandemic. That would be potentially 7.6 million people at risk.

The entire world death toll was only 7.046 million out of a world population of nearly 8 billion people.

Regarding Covid as well, the left and the media likes to banter on about how bad Trump bungled it. I mean, we all know now that during the entire time of the pandemic the WHO and the CDC kept changing their minds and got a million and one things wrong about it.

Tell that to a Democrat and they readily say, "It was a new thing. How could they know?" Except, Trump was supposed to have all the answers, right?

And tell me, what did Biden do better? Covid deaths doubled during Biden's watch. How come the left didn't jump on him for doubling the death count? Even when he was mandating the vaccines? That didn't work, by the way.

Oh, I suppose so long as it wasn't Trump making the bad decisions it was okay. God only knows how much worse things might have been if it wasn't Joe Biden screwing it up.

The thing about the 2020 election is that so many things simply didn't add up. Not the vote counts. Not the mail in ballots. Not the fact that the majority of the mail in ballots were votes for Biden. Not that Trump was winning before the mail in ballots were counted. Not that Biden got the most votes ever in the history of American elections.

Nothing to see here, folks, Biden won. Get over it.

And then of course, when you question anything the left likes to point to judges and prosecutors and this guy or that guy who all tell us, "The election was fair. Just deal with it, accept it, and move on." 

As I have said many times before, this is like asking the foxes how the hens are doing. "The hens are fine," say the foxes. There may be nothing left in the coop but feathers and bones, and perhaps a few sly foxes went into the coop and learned how to cluck, but it doesn't mean we can be assured the hens are actually fine if no one bothers to go inside and check.

We have been lied to about Covid. We have been lied to about the election. We have been lied to about the insurrection. And all that's being offered to answer the questions is to go and rely on what the liars tell us?

Who's the fool?

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

Trump This, Trump That; Biden Just Can't Stop

"Release the murder hornets." Remember when that was a thing? Memes abounded that covid had lost its scariness and so in order to maintain control over the minds of The People, you had to bring something scarier to get it back in control.

Isn't the latest attempt by the Democrats, to say that Trump will refuse to accept the election results in November if he loses, sort of along the same lines?

I swear, it's one thing after another with these guys.

He was a racist. Then he was a homophobe. He was a misogynist. He was an election denier. He was an insurrectionist. He incites violence. He seeks revenge. He wants to be a dictator. He's a criminal. He's a rapist. 

You name it, he's all of these things according to the left.

Does no one notice one glaring thing? The Biden administration and the media aren't talking about what Biden's done to earn reelection. They aren't talking about the real problems everyday Americans are up against and what he will do to resolve them.

It's all about Trump. It's all about the threat Trump poses. It's all about the danger to democracy if Trump is allowed back into the White House. It's all about the end of the country. 

So, what is the threat? Simply that he can win in November and Biden cannot. It's really that simple, folks. People may have short term memories; I will grant you that. But people are living now, this very moment in Biden's America, and it's awakening the reality that things actually were better when Trump was president. And by leaps and bounds.

That can't be hidden. It can only be distracted from. Or at least they can try. And try, they are.

Even stalwart Democrat voices like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart aren't convinced Biden's up to speed enough to be president. And it's not like their comments are an endorsement for Trump. They're just not an endorsement for Biden.

Even Jon Stewart joked recently, "If you're telling us behind the scenes, he's sharp and full of energy and on top of it...you should film that."

As is more often than not, the case, Trump did not actually say he won't accept the results. He simply said he won't accept them unless the election is fair and square. "If everything's honest, I'll gladly accept the results," Trump said.

How is that scary? How is that a threat to democracy? And by the way, does anyone other than me get tired of that word being tossed around? We're not a democracy and never have been. The United States of America is a Republic.

The fact is, Trump is a threat to Biden's reelection. But that's because the American people are smarter than the Biden administration and the news media will ever give them credit for. 

When the entire focus of your campaign is on the "other guy," it just leaves everyone wondering what the hell you really have to offer for anyone to support your campaign. Aren't you supposed to have three years of vast accomplishments you can brag about, and that Americans can believe happened?

When I worked in sales, I didn't sell my product by talking bad about my competitors. I sold mine by talking about why my product was the best choice.

So, "He won't accept the election," is just another straw in their clutches that they hope will turn people over to their side. "Bad, scary Trump is a mean guy," they want to say. They really are clutching at straws. But rest assured, it's not the final one. Because this one won't work any better than any of the other names he has been called, or any of the other accusations they have made.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

Call Me What You Want, In the End I Am Simply an American

The Democrats have called us every name in the books. Well, they've made a few things up too. Like MAGA extremists. And one recent one they seem to like to lob is to call us faketriots. But we've been called deplorables, racists, Bible thumpers, homophobes, misogynists and bigots.

We've even been called a cult.

The reality is that the only reason they call us these names is because they don't really have any position they can state articulately. Moreover, their side has no real victory to argue against our side's points.

It's simply nothing more than a tactic to try to insult us and shut us down—and stop the conversation, of course. It's what they think is their drop the mic moment. If any commonsense statement is made, you just call them a name, wave your arm and walk away.

If I have said it once I have said it a million times. You can't fill a three hour talk radio show with just talking points, and that's why liberal radio has never worked. Liberal ideology only ever fits on a bumper sticker.

Liberals like to tell you what something should be. They are never able to fully articulate why. Or how we do it. On top of that, they rarely are willing to think about any of the many variables that might be important to consider if we do what they want.

Take the idea of a minimum wage increase. The reality is that both sides want to see people making more money. However, our side thinks that it should be a natural process while the other side thinks it should be a forced process.

The left doesn't consider small businesses who may be severely impacted by higher labor costs, or even whether or not the smaller businesses can even afford it. They don't consider the impact on the costs of things or whether or not it could wash out any pay increases. They don't consider there may be pushes for more automation, or that service may be compromised as businesses are less able to fully staff their operations.

They just tell us, "You don't care about the poor." Drop the mic.

The reason we stand with Trump is quite simply answered. We were better off under Trump than we were under Obama, and we were certainly much better off under Trump than under Biden. 

We want to see law and order. We want secure borders. We want better opportunities for American workers. We want cheaper gas and independence from the oil cartels. We want unity. We want to be proud to be Americans and fly our flags with honor. We want to support our police, military and veterans. We want to be a country free of threats from foreign enemies.

And we want our government to act in our interests. Trump does that. Trump did that. Mean tweets and other antics aside. That I think we can all agree, distracted from what was good. It gave the media too much extra to focus on. But what Trump also gave us is someone who mostly is like us. He doesn't act like nor talk like a politician. He says what's on his mind, good or bad, and one thing I have always said about that is that that's the greatest transparency you could possibly have.

Biden has sat there for three plus years telling us the economy was doing great, that he created all these jobs, that inflation would be transitory, that the border is secure and any number of other outright lies he's told.

You can't tell us things that our eyes can't see and expect us to believe it.

All the name calling aside, what it shows is something else. Desperation. Because again, there is no valid argument. It's all they have to give. They can't tell you why we're supposed to see what they see. That Biden's policies have worked.

We are simply racist if we are against illegal immigration. We're misogynists if we are against abortion. We are homophobes and bigots if we believe there are only two genders. Yet at the same time we are science deniers if we don't believe in man-made climate change. We are bootlickers if we support the police—and racist there too, of course.

What is MAGA really? If that's the group you want to lump us into. What are we?

We are country loving Constitutionalists who want to restore and honor the core foundations of our founding fathers who created this great country. As Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana put it once, we have created such a successful country that everyone wants to come here, and even those who hate it don't want to leave.

At the end of the day, we don't really care what names we're called. It doesn't matter because we know our side is right—at least it is now. There's only one name anyone will be able to call us come the November election.

Winners.

Because no matter how hard the left has tried to break down the resolve of the American people and real patriots, the American people are stronger than those who wish to destroy the nation that's been built, and it's our country, and we want it back.

No matter what you decide to call me, the only name that applies to me is American. I signed up to fight for my country once, and even if I no longer wear the uniform today, I never once gave up my commitment to fight for Her to my dying breath.

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They're Stepping Up the Campaign, But Not Stepping Up the Game

Is it any wonder that Donald Trump is winning in key swing states, and not just by a little? It's by a lot. At the same time, one demographic, the black vote, that Democrats heavily rely on, is showing signs of deep attrition. They are also losing Hispanic votes. And let's not ignore the reality that they lost the blue collar vote to Trump before, and they really haven't gotten it back since.

And it's not just on one issue that the Biden administration is flailing. Bidenomics has been an abject failure as a campaign centerpiece because no matter how hard they try to sell Americans on the idea it has worked, people aren't seeing the results when they open their wallets or pay their bills.

Then there's the border crisis, ongoing supply chain disruptions, and of course billions of taxpayer dollars being sent over to Ukraine to aid them in what can only be classified as a losing battle.

People are also seeing all of the chaos that seems to be rampant across America, and they are blaming Biden largely for most of it.

Protests are happening on nearly every street corner from every issue imaginable. LGBTQ+ flags being displayed on the White House, even in one case overshadowing the American flag, doesn't sit well with most Americans, despite the Democrats and the media trying to convince us it's a "mainstream movement." We have had multiple disasters in infrastructure and travel from train derailments to bridge collapses and in-flight mishaps. The same guy heading these disasters is still there and they say he's doing a good job. Crime rates in nearly all metrics have risen, and dramatically.

Very little is good, right now.

Of course, as poll numbers continue to be abysmal for the Biden administration, they are ramping up efforts to try to convince people that voting for them is the answer to all of the problems we are faced with now.

The question is, how do you sell this? It wasn't like this four years ago when Donald Trump was president, and everyone knows it. Even some staunch Democrats. If they don't know it, they have their heads buried in the sand. 

To top it off, everyone knows who is at fault for all of it as well. And it's not Donald Trump. The issues we have now that are important to the American people to be solved were caused by the Biden administration and their policies. 

Interestingly, Biden isn't doing much of this campaigning. They are sending out Kamala Harris to make the appeals. The problem is, she is disliked more than Biden is. How is her message going to resonate when she is considered to be worse, and moreover, when Americans have to consider that if Biden wins, she may well become the president?

The thing that the Biden administration seems to have missed in all of this is that in order to win elections—at least to fairly win one—you have to deliver the goods. They haven't done that. In other words, it's too late. The record is the record and it's not a good one. You can't sell a man a car with no wheels and suddenly convince them you can make it drivable.

The damage has already been done. Beyond that, to have a situation where it is clear their ideas weren't better than Trump's makes it even harder to convince people, "Well, now we've got it. Just give us another four years to prove it."

One key issue Kamala has been sent out to address is the economy. Especially into the black communities where they are trying to shore up some of the attrition. It's a disaster, though. And it's that way because of their policies and their actions. 

And what is she going to do? She's going to try to talk up Biden's initiatives and plans for the future. Except, those initiatives and plans already caused the economy to be an issue Americans are concerned about. It's already siphoned off wealth and opportunity. 

You mean you want to do more of what hasn't worked? And even if you come up with a different plan, if you had no idea the cause and effect of the old one, what makes us believe now you have the right idea this time?

I think the bottom line is that all the campaigning in the world can't and won't undo what they have already done. Like I said before, it's just too late. Going out now and promising gold and silver in the next four years is a moot effort, because your effort should have been exhausted in the last three years with provable results to show for it now.

Voters are essentially thinking, "You keep telling us things will be better. We keep waiting for you to show us that."

Meanwhile, at the same time they keep promising results, they aren't doing the actual work that will produce them. And voters haven't missed that little point either. It's one thing to say what you are going to do. At some point you have to actually do it.

It seems that what their campaign has been reduced to is, "But, but, but." They are going to make excuses for their failures, pass blame unfairly for the problems, overstate the dangers if they don't win, and promise more "solutions" they don't actually have.

The question is not really, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" It's, "Why aren't we better off now?"

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When it Comes to the Economy, The Democrats Did That

"What magic wand do you have?"

That was the question posed by Barack Obama in response to Donald Trump in the 2016 election when Trump said he could restore the economy and bring back American manufacturing. Of course, this was after eight long years of a virtually no-growth economy under Obama's reign, and it was his contention that the United States was simply transforming into a new economy.

What it was, essentially, was his excuse to try and explain what he was never able to do, and that was to lift the economy out of the throes of the economic crisis he faced when he took his first term in office. "Some of those jobs just aren't going to come back," he said. "Well, I'm going to negotiate a better deal. How are you going to do that?"

Of course, President Trump did in fact, negotiate better deals. Granted, it can be up for debate what real impact some of these deals had on actually bringing back manufacturing in a significant way, but many jobs did return, and certainly the policies that were implemented by Trump had a major positive impact on the economy itself.

Obama's comments signaled, to me, a capitulation and an admission (although quietly) that he had no idea how the economy actually worked, or how to fix it. It certainly showed in his results. And time and time again when he was asked about why the economy was experiencing one of the slowest recoveries in history, he simply pointed blame back at the Bush administration before him.

He blamed Republicans for the economic crisis in 2008 that was largely a result of Bill Clinton's, "Every American should be able to own a home," and blamed Republicans for hurting his economic efforts, and of course went on to simply blame the "new economy." 

It was very clear that he felt that this was just the way things are now, and we're going to have to accept it and adapt to it. That was the capitulation part. "I can't fix what can't be fixed. We now just have to deal with what we have."

Only to turn around when Trump's economy soared and proved Obama very wrong and claim, "I did that."

Now Democrats are fit to claim that all of the economic woes we face today are the result of Trump's policies coming back to bite us in the butt. So, which is it? 

On top of that, what Democrats are doing now is outright dismissing the first three years of Trump's rapid economic successes and only pointing to the last year. "See what he did? See what his policies left us with?"

Only it misses one big point. Covid. Because that was what sunk the economy in Trump's final days. But not through his policies. But through the recommendations of people like Dr. Fauci and Democrat leadership that insisted that businesses be shuttered, and the country should be locked down.

Of course it killed the economy. How could it not? Suddenly we had to print all sorts of money we didn't have to shore up business owners and workers who were sidelined by the shutdowns. It set the wheels in motion to face one of the biggest supply chain crises we've seen in decades.

The odd thing is that right before Trump left office, we actually began to see a massive uptick in the economy. It can only be argued that policies were implemented quickly by Trump to ensure we could get things moving again post-pandemic. They would have worked.

But Biden turned it around and stopped it in its tracks with new policies that made no sense, such as introducing the American Rescue Plan and reversing Trump's energy policies, both actions which catapulted us into 10% inflation by the end of 2021.

Whose fault is it we're in the boat we're in now? According to Biden and the Democrats it's Trump's fault. 

It's the usual Democrat game. Blame someone else when things are bad and take the credit when things are good. Only there's one big problem here.

If Barack Obama wants to claim that Trump's stellar economy was a result of Obama's policies, and Biden won the election in 2020 and essentially continued Obama's policies, why is the economy not ten times better today instead of ten times worse?

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Hey Catturd, the Running Mate Does Actually Matter This Time

Catturd, a social media influencer who has made quite a name for himself over the past 5 years sharing his conservative viewpoints on X, formerly known as Twitter, was recently in studio with Tucker Carlson on his Tucker Carlson Encounter show and was of the opinion, when asked who he thought Trump should pick as his running mate, that the Vice President doesn't really matter all that much.

Most of the time I find myself in agreement with much of what he says. And I mostly agree with him regarding his statement with Tucker Carlson as well. Except for one thing.

Trump can't run again in 2028.

He mentioned he likes Vivek Ramaswamy. Certainly, he's been saying many things people want to hear, and challenging the status quo in similar ways to Trump. But can he win in 2028? Would he be the one to carry on Trump's agenda and capture the hearts and minds of staunch Trump supporters?

Because that's, I think, what we (or rather, Trump) needs to strongly consider regarding who he ultimately picks as his running mate. Who can carry the torch at the end of Trump's final term? And win!

If it were Trump's first turn at bat, maybe it wouldn't matter as much. Much can be said about Pence as his first pick being questionable whether or not he wouldn't have been just another George H.W. Bush after Reagan. 

Ultimately, Pence, I think it is safe to say, didn't matter. Besides, he was a polar opposite of Trump anyway. Had the election gone the way we wanted it to in 2020, Trump would have had his second term, much of the agenda would have been in place and working, and things in place would have been harder to undo.

What the country needs more than anything, and very clearly is a major turnaround, and it needs to be one that can stick. And that means we need to have not only a strong four years ahead with a Trump administration, we need someone who sits in the office of the Vice President who can carry that turnaround into another eight years after Trump's final day in the White House.

Unfortunately, I think this rules out many current known members of the Republican party, especially even the ones who ran against him in the primaries.

In order for Trump's legacy to succeed him, whoever is set to take his reigns in 2028 needs to be someone who aligns well with Trump's plan and vision, and who has the tenacity and strength in which that all gets carried out, who can gain the appreciation and respect and support of Trump supporters in a way that those voters can have confidence that the successor will be the right man (or woman) for the job.

Maybe Ron DeSantis is that guy? Who knows? I have to say I was not very impressed with his campaign even if I continue to think he's been a fantastic governor.

Catturd has it mostly right. At least in theory. Vice Presidents don't usually matter. But this is a different set of circumstances in that this is not a consecutive term for Trump if he is elected back into office. This is the only four years we are going to get. And Trump needs to pick someone we can have confidence in to carry us through a strong 12-year run of leadership that hopefully permanently reverses the attempt of progressive politics to change America into an unrecognizable place that we may never be able to escape from.

The running mate matters more than ever right now.

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More and More, the Reasons to Question 2020 Grows Stronger

"Jim, don't you ever worry about looking like a fool for believing that the 2020 election was stolen?"

No. I don't. The thing is, for anyone who has followed any of my commentary on the issue, I have never said I believe that the election was stolen. What I have said is that I strongly suspect that the election was stolen.

"Why can't you just accept your loss and move on?"

Believe me. I would like to. In past elections I have done just that. Moved on. What makes 2020 hard to move on from are the details. I am an analytical guy. Things, for me, have to add up. Things have to make sense.

It should matter to someone on the other side of the aisle when I say, "This is the only election I have ever questioned in my lifetime." I am not questioning the election because Trump lost. I am not questioning the election because Biden won. I am questioning the election because there are too many details that simply form the question in my mind that lead me to strongly suspect something may not have been right, here.

My statement that this is the only election I have ever questioned matters because, as I have also said many times in the past, I am an American first before all else. Sure, I may be considered to be a staunch conservative Republican. But that's not something that is going to make me turn my back on my country.

Our system of electing presidents, of electing anyone, is an important part of the foundation of who we are as a country. As a people.

It needs to work for the people.

I can look back at any of the earlier elections I have seen in my lifetime and understand the wins and losses and can find reasons why they were wins or losses, even if I desired a different result. Most recently, the two Obama wins were obvious to me why they happened.

John McCain and Mitt Romney were less than desirable candidates who had no appeal and ran horrible campaigns.

Even when it came to George H.W. Bush, it was clear why he wasn't given a second term. He was not Ronald Reagan, for one. And his presidency did not deliver the results. Bill Clinton was the better choice in the eyes of the American people and his win made sense.

Whether or not Bill Clinton was better in terms of his policies can be open for debate. At the same time, even I can admit that four more years of George H.W. Bush would have left us in a worse situation than what we were left with after two terms of Bill Clinton.

It's obvious.

Which brings me back around to 2020. Did I want Trump to win? Of course I did. But not because he was a Republican. Not because he was my guy. I wanted him to win because I genuinely believe he did the work of the American people and was able to achieve righting the slightly listing ship that Obama left us with.

Biden was not the better choice. We didn't need an alternative like we did when George H.W. Bush ran for reelection. Or even back when Jimmy Carter was president for that matter. When we look at the two terms each of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, it makes sense why they were all given two terms.

Trump should have been given two terms looking at his presidency—again, we didn't need an alternative.

I think in order to understand where the strong suspicion of a stolen election comes from, you have to start at the beginning. The idea of a stolen election, in other words, did not come from one day in November of 2020 and the result it presented.

It came from the four or five years leading up to the 2020 election and all of the things that happened during that time.

Trump talked a lot during his campaign in 2016 about the Deep State and about the Establishment. Things that, at another time, perhaps could have been overlooked as just fodder for powerful speeches. Only, you began to see it. Early on it wasn't as clear. But when the Republican party first considered denying Trump's nomination and looking for ways to deny it, it was the beginning of a head scratching moment.

Wait a minute. If the Republican voters decided Trump was their guy, WHY deny it? Why deny his nomination?

Ultimately, he was nominated, of course. But the question I think took its roots there. For anyone today who questions the election, that's where the question started to form. We may not have known it then. But we know it now.

Then there were the four years of accusations that the Russian's were colluded with. There was the denial by the Democrats of Trump's legitimacy as the President. There was the non-stop news cycle lambasting and ridiculing Trump at every turn. 

There were the impeachments.

All of these things were founding the question. They (the deep state and the establishment) wanted him out. And they were working very hard to find any way they could to do it.

And then the election happened, and Trump was out.

But, and this was a very big but here, how did it happen? When some people packed it in the night before as the results dragged on into the wee hours of the morning, Trump was winning. He almost had the election wrapped up. It was down to five states, and he was winning in all of them.

Until, that is, everyone woke up in the morning, and only after the mail-in ballots, a hot area of contention, were counted. Biden won. 

For many, without a doubt, it was of course a victory. But at the same time, and not only just on the Republican side, and not just with Trump supporters, it was a bit of a surprise. It was an absolute turnaround. 

When you looked at the results and saw that Donald Trump had gained voters—he received 11 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016—and Biden received the most votes ever in American history in an election, the growing question was getting some more juice.

Was Trump just that unpopular that he drove voters out to vote against him in record numbers? And there were the rallies to consider. While Trump was attracting throngs of people to them during his reelection campaign, Biden hardly campaigned at all.

There were the flags, and the hats, and the yard signs. 5 to 1 in support of Trump for President. You could see Trump supporters everywhere. You could hear them in breakrooms and in kitchens at gatherings across America. 

"I support Trump."

And yet, just like that, Biden claimed the victory. I think more people questioned what happened than the media would ever have us believe. But the results were in and that was that, and we were supposed to just lie down and accept it despite all of the questions. 

Questions, by the way that seemed only to deepen after the events that occurred on January 6th and the way it was portrayed, and the silencing of anyone who laid claim to the idea that something wasn't right. From shadow bans to outright bans on social media for even the suggestion that 2020 was stolen to the process beginning of also taking down anyone who made the claim. From investigations of wrongdoing to financially bankrupting anyone speaking out against 2020—the deep state and the establishment seemed hell bent on ending the question.

"Just accept the result," was the message being sent. "Or else."

You add in all of the events that have occurred against Trump up to now, and for a good many people it just adds fuel to the question, making it a much stronger one. Why are they trying so hard to get him out of the picture?

What does he know? What is his threat? And if he is to be believed by them to be as unpopular as "they" will have us believe they think he is, what do "they" have to worry about? If 81 million people said, "Biden's the guy and Trump is done," what's the threat? Why not just let him campaign and let the American people decide?

After all, he's unpopular, right? He lost, right? For good reason, right? People think he's dangerous, right? People even think he is ridiculous, as ridiculous as his claims of a stolen election, right?

Yet now he is winning. Much like he probably was in 2020. Much like I think many Americans were sure he'd get two terms.

Which brings us to all of the indictments and all of the other civil cases brought against him. The efforts to keep him off ballots. The unprecedented nature of all of these things, and it just begs the question harder. 

Did he actually lose the election?

Because if he did actually lose it, why are they trying so hard to drive that point home? Shouldn't it be obvious to the American people like it was obvious in every election before it? Why would it be necessary to try to send him to jail if the voice of the American people seems so clear in their minds? And how could it be that Trump is more popular than ever with such a strong chance of actually winning in 2024 if he was a liar who made such a horrendous false accusation back in 2020?

I think the answer is pretty clear. The infamous question of whether or not the election was stolen is a valid one to ask, and there is a strong indication that they, the deep state and the establishment, know there's a reason to ask it.

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Donald Trump Crushes Iowa Caucus

Does the result of the Iowa caucus signal a virtual shoo-in for former President Donald Trump to win the GOP nomination? 

I think it does.

Normally we'd be at this particular point in the race and use the age-old line, "It's still too early to call anything." But that's when things are still rather undecided. Usually, even with a victory in Iowa, it's still a long race ahead.

But Trump won Iowa by a whopping 51% with Ron DeSantis taking a very distant second place and Nikki Haley running close to DeSantis. You can almost call that a no-contest race. It is not to say that the other candidates don't matter in the race for the GOP nomination. But let's face it. Do they?

I think it is clear that, at least when it comes to Republican voters, there were too many open questions about 2020, and regardless of where anyone stands on the idea of whether or not the election was stolen or won legitimately by President Biden, Republicans clearly want a do-over. 

And it seems apparent they are going to get it.

Vivek Ramaswamy has also ended his bid following the caucus results and turned to endorse Trump. A wise move, if you ask me, and I think it is quite possible Ramaswamy earns a position on Trump's cabinet if Trump should win the White House in 2024.

So, that really, mathematically speaking, only leaves two. DeSantis and Haley. I think based on the Iowa results, it is clear that the next primary coming up on January 23rd in New Hampshire will also go to Trump. And it will be another massive margin victory in my opinion.

I think DeSantis will likely maintain his position in second place—there's just not enough time for Haley to make a stronger case for her own bid—and I think after the New Hampshire primary Haley may also likely drop out of the race.

Especially if Trump wins similarly in New Hampshire as he did in Iowa, which I think he definitely could.

Like I said, this race is essentially already decided. Which is unusual, but considering all that's happened since 2020, it is clear where the interests of at least Republican voters are. They want Trump to be the nominee.

As I alluded to before, it's not even really a race. Trump is just too far ahead of the pack that even thinking anyone else can even come close to catching up is mathematically impossible. The primaries will still happen of course. But this time around, I believe, just as a formality. 

I think I can confidently declare that it's over for everyone else vying for a position on the stage. Trump has clearly already won. As for where the Ramaswamy voters go? I think they go to Trump. So, I also see no boost to Haley's campaign via Ramaswamy's departure.

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OTHER COMMENTARY BY JIM BAUER

Evaluating Politics Has to be On the Basis of Honesty and Openness, Not Party Divisions
Let's face it, political discussions are hard. What gets in the way is either denial, defiance, or outright bias. Often times, there's just no winning—but having an open and honest political dialogue is important because so much of what happens in politics has a direct impact on our lives and even our livelihoods. 

One of the REAL Reason Trump's Skipping the Debates
Normally, and under normal circumstances, I'd lambaste someone for not attending any presidential debate, regardless of the side. While I don't think debates are the end all to be all, I do think that they are important to better understand our candidates and what they are running for or on.

The Uprising of the American Party
These days, being a lifelong republican is met with some angst. Many times in the past I have written about the disarray of the democrat party and how that ultimately effects their standing with the voters, and of course, how it effects elections.