Politics Lacking Decorum is as Old as Politics Itself: Is the Current Political Atmosphere Anything New?

As can be said about so many things in life, "Perspective is everything." Most of us aren't necessarily historians. Even if we know a little bit about our past, we don't always remember it exactly for what it is, but for what we perceived it to be, based on what we see now.

The reality is that dating all the way back to the 18th Century in American politics, campaigns and politics in general, have always been nasty. And I think it's important to consider that as we get closer to the 2024 election, with so many people having this perception that somehow something has changed in the political discourse.

It really hasn't. It's just different faces and different names, and of course, a lot of how we see it all unfolding depends a lot on how the media portrays things.

And there's no question the media has a clear side and an agenda.

We feel like things are out of order and lacking a sort of decorum. But I think that's more of a perception than a reality. Again, I largely blame the media. They want to present danger, and the only way they can do that is to make things look like they are different now than they have always been.

When you think of all the name calling that has tossed around about Trump, it's really nothing new. In 1796, Alexander Hamilton wrote a piece under a pen name that was a scathing accusation against Thomas Jefferson that he was having an affair with one of his slaves.

Granted, that accusation turned out to be true.

But he also called Jefferson a coward, claimed if he was elected a Civil War would erupt sending the nation into a bloody chaos, and called him an atheist.

Even more telling of the "times," in comparison to the one we are in now, where Trump supporters have been labeled as deplorables, or MAGA extremists, racists and whatever other mean moniker you want to attach to what is being said, is Hamilton's saying of Jefferson supporters, "They are cutthroats who walk in rags and sleep amid filth and vermin."

That's a pretty ugly thing to say about your opponent's supporters. But again, this was 1796. Not 2024.

We act shocked when things like this are said. "Well, I never!" But of course, it's only our perception that ugliness is something new that makes us think that. 

And what about Trump's antics? How foreign is that to politics? Name calling, ridicule, and personal attacks were present in 1796 just like they are now, with Ben Franklin's grandson writing that another opponent, John Adams, was old, bald, querulous, crippled, blind and toothless.

If you simply wrote that line by itself, you might think it was from the pen of Donald Trump himself referring to Joe Biden in a mean tweet.

In 1828 Andrew Jackson was accused of being a cannibal and having eaten indians for breakfast. They called his mother a prostitute and claimed Jackson was the result of a British soldier who consorted with his mother for money.

Imagine these statements today. In fact, if you think about it, today seems tame compared. Has anyone been called a bastard child born from prostitution who ate indians for breakfast?

"Sleepy Joe" almost seems like a nice thing to say. It's rather benign. But of course, Trump gets labeled as dangerous, childish, and just downright mean. "This is so out of the ordinary," people claim. But of course, it's politics as usual. Nothing has changed. The history tells us the real story.

People said about Barry Goldwater that if you elected him the Soviets would drop nuclear bombs on your kids.

I think the thing that is important here is to consider the candidates not for what they say. Not for how they act. Not for the severity of their mudslinging. But for their policies and what they otherwise offer in terms of what they will do for the country. It is also important to restore our understanding of the way things are now so that we can have a better understanding that things really aren't any different now than they were.

We're not in as much of a chaotic, unhinged political environment as we think we are. If 1796 were today, the headline might have been, "Yo mama is a whore!"

Beyond that, it also offers a bit of a perspective into what have been come to be known as, "mean tweets." They didn't have social media back in the day to do their mudslinging and make wild accusations and engage in name calling. They did it in the papers. They did it on the campaign trail during rallies and speeches. The main point here is that they did it. Regardless of the forum. They did it.

Politics is as it has always been. Down. Dirty. Ugly. And nasty. The "pleasant" times of the past is something that only truly exists in our imaginations. And as I said, the chaos an unpleasantries we see today, compared to then, seem rather tame in comparison.

No one's mother has been called a whore and no one has been accused of eating indians for breakfast. Or Mexicans, for that matter, which might as well be the modern-day equivalent. On top of that, one must also consider that election interference is nothing new either. In fact, although Jefferson lost the election to John Adams in 1796, there was an implied notion that the French were interfering in the process to elect Jefferson.

Gosh. Doesn't all this sound familiar?

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

Unhinged Liberals: It's Because Their Day in the Park Was Denied, That's Why

I don't disagree with liberals because they are liberals. I disagree with liberals because what they say often doesn't make any sense. They simply rarely think things through. They speak off the cuff and from an angry and unhinged perspective.

I made the comparison in a recent political forum I was participating in that liberals are often much like a child who was told they could go to the park only to suddenly be denied their day in the park. To a child, this can't simply be moved on from. It's the worst thing that could possibly happen and without their day in the park, the world is effectively over.

Liberals are largely reactionary personalities. Rather than sit back and consider things thoughtfully and try to find any positives in what they perceive as negatives, they lash out. Their minds are wholly fettered by the infuriation of not getting their way.

And don't you dare disagree with them or try to dissect and disassemble their bumper sticker talking points. They may even seek to literally destroy you.

It sounds like an insult when I say liberals lack common sense. But it's true. You can see this clearly when someone on their side suddenly changes course and begins to think about things in a rational way. Take Bill Maher. A stalwart champion of the left. He's seen now as a bit of a traitor.

"He's lost his mind," some might say on the left. Why? Because he began to see through all of the craziness that has really gone off the deep end on the left, and he has been strongly outspoken about many aspects of the LGBTQ+ movement, particularly on gender identity issues.

What happened to Bill Maher, dare I say it, is that he suddenly was making sense, and this is an absolute no-no when it comes to lefty thinking (if you can call it thinking). You're not supposed to think about anything, or God forbid, consider the consequences of things. You're just supposed to sink both feet firmly in the sand and stay the course no matter what. And sing the praises. And try to force others to see sense out of things that make no sense. And, of course, belittle and undermine anyone who tries to make sense out of senseless things that make no sense.

I even sound like a crazy man trying to make sense of liberal thinking. It's like being forever stuck on a carousel in the park. You're dizzy as hell and some deranged kid won't stop spinning it and the only way off the ride is to let go of the handle and allow yourself to be whizzed through the air and hope wherever you land, you don't land on your head.

Robert DeNiro has of course been making headlines saying absolutely crazy things about Donald Trump. He's all in on the idea of Trump being another Hitler or Mussolini. It's crazy talk. He says Trump is a sick narcissist who has no business anywhere near the White House.

But what makes him think so? What about Trump's four years in office lead him to logically conclude this?

Only that Robert DeNiro is being denied his day in the park. He wants what he wants, and he doesn't care what it means to anyone else if he gets it. It is, for lack of a better word, a tantrum. It's what all liberals are engaged in now. A tantrum.

They aren't thinking about the inflation or what may have caused it. They aren't considering the devastating and disastrous pullout of Afghanistan. They aren't thinking about the consequences of an open border. They aren't concerned about the impact of inflation on poor families. They aren't even remotely interested in knowing what really happened in 2020.

They just want their win. They just want their way. It's all that matters. Any judgement is completely banned from their minds. Any logical thought is barred.

As Bill Maher put it on his change of opinion, he has expressed his opinion didn't change. The opinion of his side changed. It is to suggest that there was a time, and even I would admit this, when the two sides of the aisle were different on a variety of issues, but also the same on many of them. We have always disagreed. But not to the extent that we disagree now.

Dare I say this as well? There was a time when the left actually had more common sense than they do now.

The thing that I don't understand is how we got here? How have we gone this far to the crazy side? Because it happened super-fast. I mean it's been a complete 180 degree turn in hyper-quick fashion. It's to the point where you really have to question, did someone just open all the doors to the asylums and let everyone out?

Even the deep hatred toward Trump that the left feels. Where is it coming from? Why is it so penetrating? Is it that Trump truly poses a grave threat to our Republic? Or is it something else? Something in the water? Was there something in that jab? 

Liberals have always been a little crazy. But never like now. It's never been nearly this crazy that it would make sense to even a liberal that men should be allowed to compete in women's sports, or that we should do away with natural, common sense pronouns to describe genders. Or that we could see a completely and utter failure of a presidency and decide, "I think I will vote for more of that."

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The Voters Are Pulling Out Their Wallets for Trump

Anyone can say whatever they want in regard to Trump's campaign, but the reality is that it is in full force and the left is clearly in denial. Probably in panic too, but of course they would never admit it.

And it's not just the polls that show Trump is leading in key swing states and has been for a long time. It's not even the national polls that show Trump is also in the lead. It's not even the large headcount rallies he's been putting on which attract people in the thousands every single time.

It's the money.

And it's not only just the money itself, but it's where it's coming from is what matters more than anything. It's the grass-roots money we often talk about. That is, the money that is coming from the "regular folks." Money coming from actual voters who are energized and ready to go.

More importantly, it's coming from voters ready to fire Joe Biden and reinstall Trump back into the White House this coming November.

In March the Trump campaign raised a little over $65 million, and in April that number was surpassed, with the campaign having raised over $76 million. Not only are his campaign donations picking up steam, but half of the money also raised came from small donors.

The biggest problem the Democrats face, and it is something I think they squarely missed, is that voters are actually paying attention. They are ignoring the media because they know they haven't been given it straight.

They have tried very hard to paint Trump's past four years in office as a disaster, and to make Trump out to be a criminal. But we've lived through Biden's term and the story just isn't aligning with the reality. And no matter how hard the left tries to sell their story as being a better one, it's just not true and voters know it.

Voters are also not buying into the "criminal" narrative. 

As such, regular folks, even at a time when inflation is at decades high levels, when consumer confidence is beginning to show signs of weakening, and when discretionary spending is finally pulling back, are willing to send a few dollars Trump's way to help him on his journey back to Washington D.C.

It's not to say that you can buy a presidency. You can't. You have to earn it. But if the regular folks are sending money, it means they are also sending a strong signal of their support. Because the truth is Trump's presidency is more clearly seen now, and Biden just hasn't gotten the job done.

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To Jimmy Kimmel: It's Because America Doesn't Live in Your Bubble

On Wednesday night's broadcast, Jimmy Kimmel told viewers during his monologue that Trump is leading in key swing states and this, "Just gives me a headache." His delivery was slow and melancholy, with him adding, "How could this be?"

I say, it's pretty simple. Biden's just not gotten the job done, and no matter how hard the left tries to sell the nonsense about things going well, it's just not adding up for any thinking American voter—and that happens to be true no matter which side one happens to be on.

In many polls, even many Democrats have lost faith in Biden's abilities. And it's a hard pill for any of these late-night talking heads to swallow, and it shows.

On top of that, there's one thing these lefties and late-night talk show hosts don't get. America is not as woke as you think they are. These guys live in a Hollywood bubble where everyone thinks like they do. They have guests who come on their shows and talk about woke things and they get applause from audiences who are just as woke as they are.

For them, it is affirmation. We ARE America and we are sharing Her views.

The reality is, it's not true. Late night ratings have been in a virtual free fall for years. It's nothing like the old days when Johnny Carson and David Letterman ruled the airwaves and late night was actually funny and entertaining to watch. At the same time, a conservative viewpoint is also beating them out in the ratings with Gutfeld on Fox News leading the pack.

Jimmy Kimmel is getting a headache because he can't see outside the bubble he lives in. The American people aren't okay with high prices at the pump and skyrocketing food costs. They're not okay with having transgenderism shoved down their throats and seeing trans people reading books to school children. People do see the border crisis and understand the dangers it poses.

And the American people aren't okay either with the complete dismissal by the left that America is dying under horrible progressive and liberal agendas that are putting Americans last.

Trump is winning because his message resonates with the majority of the American people, and because most people can see that what they (the left) are doing to Trump is simply trying to take him out, because they know he can win. They can see through the lies being pushed by the media about Trump's threat to democracy, his supposed criminal acts, and this ridiculous idea that he wants to become a dictator—some on the fringe have even suggested Trump will literally kill his political opponents.

The thing is the left thinks the only thing that matters in this race is that Biden isn't Trump. But at the same time, they fail to recognize that Trump got things done when he was the president the last time, Biden has been a total failure, and the American people are confident Trump can get the job done this time around again.

You have to have real accomplishments to boast about and win elections. 

On top of that, more and more Americans are having second thoughts about what they have been told about the 2020 election as well. As they see things unfold, they start to wonder, "How did this guy ever get elected?"

It will happen across the board. From Kimmel to Colbert to Fallon. They're all going to start complaining of headaches. Because their bubble is bursting, and reality is being allowed to settle in. The world they have seen for the past three years is not the same world we've all been living in. And no matter how many monologues they spit trying to sell a bill of goods that all is well in the world...

The voters know better.

Jimmy, I'd tell you to grab a bottle of Tylenol. But I think what you really need is a dose of reality. Stepping outside your bubble and viewing the past three years with a clear head is probably going to help you more than the Tylenol will.

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Mike Pence Not Endorsing Trump Doesn't Matter

In a recent interview with Fox News, former vice president and presidential candidate, Mike Pence, said that he cannot, in good conscience, endorse former president Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but that he also cannot vote for Joe Biden under any circumstance, but that he is keeping it a secret who he will be voting for.

I might assume it would be for RFK Jr., but who knows? And frankly, who cares? It doesn't matter anymore than his lack of endorsement for Trump does.

This is not to suggest that I had issues with Pence when he served as vice president or that I took issue with his failure to question the certification of electors in 2020. I said then that I thought he carried out his duty in necessary fashion, and I continue to believe that today.

My preference would have been for Trump to have conceded the election and ask questions later. But that also does not suggest I don't believe that 2020 may well have been a stolen election.

We still need to get to that truth regardless of what we find in any outcome, because as I have said many times, our elections matter and the American people must have faith in them. A large swath of citizens have questions, and I think that demands answers.

Nonetheless, it's his decision to make whether or not he wants to endorse Trump. At the same time, I disagree with his assessments that Trump has walked away from confronting the national debt or is shying away from his commitment to the sanctity of human life. I also do not agree with him that some of these criminal charges sway his decision either—because at this time no GOP member should be okay with what essentially equates to the weaponization of our justice system for political reasons and is designed to remove choice from the American voter and stack the odds in favor of a competing party.

Is Trump the best choice for America today? That is a question that can be hotly debated. But is Trump the only choice for America right now? I think he is.

I continue to believe that we have some deeply concerning things happening within our government that has very deep roots, and threatens our democratic republic in ways that are unimaginable. Part of my support for Trump stems from that, believing that no other candidate in the recent pool of GOP contenders would have done a thing about any of it, but would have rather simply entrenched themselves into the very deep state we are fighting against and embolden it.

I also believe that Mike Pence is part of that establishment. And perhaps that's really what his motivation is to choose not to endorse Trump. Not to protect the Union. But to protect those who wish to maintain their control and power over our government and the people of this country.

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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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Donald Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth

I recall being captivated and mesmerized by the ever evolving and twisting plot lines of that TV show, House of Cards. Even if the show was pure fiction, one wonders how much of it was actually true? Not the story itself. But how politics really operates. Behind closed doors. What really goes on?

Especially in our current times.

A show like that gives us a deeper look into what power actually looks like, and what people may be willing to do to get it and hold onto it. It's a dangerous place, Washington D.C. And perhaps if House of Cards had any basis at all in fact, I'll be damned if wasn't a fictionalized documentary somewhat loosely based on the life and careers of the Clintons.

What we have unfolding before us now is a new show. Except that this one isn't fiction. It's a reality show unlike any other one we have seen before. And people are glued to their screens. There are twists and turns at every corner. And the plots seem to get crazier than ever.

It started at the first scene when Trump came down his escalator at Trump Towers to announce he was running for president. The fire of politics was set ablaze and the powers on both sides' insides churned. Perhaps the threat wasn't truly appreciated at first. Until one-by-one Trump toppled what would have been top contending opponents on the debate stage and all along the campaign trail.

He had to be stopped.

And they tried everything to do it. The GOP scrambled to find a reason to bar him being nominated. Even when it was clear he would be the nominee, they tried to find ways to deny it. The Democrats were already in talks long before Trump even won the election about impeachment in case he actually did win.

Ultimately Trump did get the nomination of course. In the end to deny it would have been a form of political suicide for the Republican party. "But he won't win," they thought and talked about in closed circles. "We'll just have to deal with the reality that Hillary will be the president and we'll work on the next election."

But he did win. Not by the popular vote. But he won the electoral college, and in the end that's all that matters. And he won despite what all the polls suggested that it was a practical shoo-in for Hillary Clinton.

The party had no choice but to rally around him. The people decided he was not only the president, but the presiding face of the Republican party.

But of course, his presidency was fraught with one challenge after another. He was caught in the crosshairs of investigations, impeachment hearings, a media onslaught and a long list of what became known as Never-Trumpers within his own party.

Not a single accomplishment would go without scrutiny and even denial it ever occurred. The Democrat party all but censured Trump, not by vote, but by their actions, dismissing nearly everything he tried to do, claiming his presidency was not only illegitimate. But that he stole it with the help of the Russians.

Without question, I don't think anyone can deny that Trump's presidency was perhaps the most sensationalized of any presidency ever. The entire term ran like a TV show right down to a Speaker of the House ripping up a State of the Union speech—something you would have thought you would never see in real life except on TV.

And then there was the election fallout. People went to bed with Trump clearly in the lead only to wake up the next morning and discover that Biden had won. And there were all sorts of controversy surrounding that. And then there was the "insurrection." 

This was a made for TV series of events unlike any other even the best writers could ever have dreamed up. And now we have all the king's horses and all the king's men once again trying to deny Trump's ability to even run with states sending cases to their state supreme courts to deny primary ballot access.

And of course, there are all the wild accusations of criminal intent and indictments stacked up against him—whether or not there is any merit to any of it isn't what matters. It's made the entire process a show that is impossible not to watch.

Because it's that power we're seeing coming front and center for us all to witness first-hand. This is the true nature of politics, or at least what it has become. 

It has been the greatest show on Earth, and we don't know how it ends yet. We're just in season 7. 

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The Democrats Are Poised to Lose More Than Just an Election

I swear they (the democrats and the media) have become more unhinged than ever before. And it makes it all too clear they know they are losing. It's not even really a question anymore. They simply know it and it is driving them literally insane.

Because they've tried everything, and nothing has worked. It's all falling apart, and they can't stop it. Not this time.

Yeah, I know. I'm one of those who seriously calls the legitimacy of the 2020 election into question. Either way, does it really matter now if they did or didn't? I mean, it's a dangerous thing if they did and could succeed in doing it again. But that's the thing. They can't do it again with the numbers so stacked against them.

So, it doesn't really matter anymore. The American people have the power to right the ship, and they are steering it correctly right now as we speak. The democrats don't have enough manpower to grab the wheel strongly enough to make it go the way they want it to.

They simply failed. The democrats. They failed. They failed to win over the hearts and minds of the America people to buy into their narratives. They failed to prove the criminality of Trump and they failed to prove that his ideas weren't actually better than theirs.

It's over. The fat lady has begun her song.

I mean, take the latest accusation as a measure of the insanity. Now they want to say he will be a dictator. They are comparing Trump to Hitler and the Nazi Party. 

Think about that for a minute. A former president who so strongly supported Israel and planted the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and all but declared it the Capitol of Israel. He's going to be compared to Hitler and the Nazi Party who sought to destroy Jews and wipe them off the face of the Earth in the worst genocide perhaps the world has ever seen.

And since when did communism, Marxism and fascism become good things? When did those espousings become akin to democracy and American freedom? Because that's what they are saying leads them to the comparison. Because Trump says he wants to root those things out.

The dictator argument is just the final straw to clutch for them. "Ooh, we'll really get people running scared now and thinking twice about putting this evil man back into the White House."

The problem is that the American people are not so stupid to actually believe this. Nor are they stupid enough to think that any of the things Trump is talking about rooting out is bad for America. These are exactly the problems we have, that have permeated certain aspects of current culture and dug in like a cancer.

These are things destroying America right now. 

The democrats are learning one thing. They can't unseat Trump. The more they try to knock him down the more firmly he stays upright. And people are listening to his message. They are examining their own lives and seeing the reality which is in stark contrast to what the Biden administration has struggled to sell them on.

I think even J6 failed miserably, the false narrative of what the democrats have tried so hard to convince the American people of. Even if you admitted that these were in fact Trump supporters, perhaps the realization by many is that what they actually were, were Americans who simply stood up for their values and principles and a country they love.

Who do you blame for it happening? Donald Trump? Or the government itself which caused the faith of the American people to be shattered in such a way that they felt there was a need to try to take back their country?

In other words, people simply had a reason to question 2020. Because after four years of relentless attacks on Trump by the left and the media, fostering manufactured hate that many, who voted for Trump, questioned the source and the strength of, were given enough reason to doubt the results that they went seeking answers.

Whether or not that's what was really behind J6, other than the other idea that it was manufactured by the democrats to hide the real results doesn't matter. You can see it both ways, and both ways still point to questions Americans have had about what really happened.

The bottom line here is that I think the democrats know the writing is on the wall. And the fact that they have lost their power to control the hearts and minds of the American people has them fit to be tied.

They can't throw Trump in jail. They can't kill him. They can't steal another election from him. They can't keep him off ballots. They can't bar him from running. And more importantly, they can't convince the American people of any of the wild things Trump has been accused of being.

And what's worse for them? They can't stronghold the advancement of their agenda which is to fundamentally change America into a country far removed from the aspirations of the founding fathers. And that bothers them too. That the vast majority of the American people can't be swayed. They can't be forced to adhere to a new way of thinking. They can't be convinced that the America we knew was the bad place, and wrong idea they've wanted so badly to portray it as.

If Trump wins in 2024, and I think he will, it sends a clear message to the democrat party that America is not dead and is stronger than ever. That the resolve of the American people has not been chipped away at. That there is still hope America stands just as strong and as proud as it did for so many generations before.

In an odd way I think one might be able to astutely compare the democrats to the old Empire of Japan, who falsely saw America as a nation severed from its values and strength to preserve Her. As Isoroku Yamamoto once rightly observed, "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant." I think that is exactly what the democrats have done here, and the majority is now poised and ready to bring down the evil regime that sought to bring the country to its knees and turn Her into an unrecognizable place far removed from who we once were.

If Trump wins, it may just be the end of the progressive agenda ever having the chance to succeed again.

And perhaps that's what the left fears more than anything. Not just losing an election. But losing their power forever and losing their ability to create the New America they wanted so badly to give birth to.

I guess I can relate to their pain and insanity. When you have lost everything, that hurts. And it makes you lose your mind. 

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Axelrod Says Biden May Have Worse than 50/50 Chance of Winning in 2024

I am no fan of David Axelrod, Obama's former campaign guru, but I agree with him when he recently publicly said that he feels Biden's chances of winning in 2024 are not only basically 50/50, but more likely much worse.

Granted, neither Biden nor Axelrod are fans of each other. Biden publicly called Axelrod a prick once. Either way, you have to at least give Axelrod credit for knowing a thing or two about elections and campaigns. 

Besides, I think one would actually have to be a fool to even consider Biden has any chance at all—despite who he is obviously running against and all the baggage that has been placed on Trump—if you use past history as any indication of what should happen here.

I mean, the guy's had a worse presidency than the worst president of all time, Jimmy Carter for Heaven's sake. It's been a literal disaster for the last four years. I think even many democrats, although they'd not be willing to state it out loud, would even admit things were much better when Trump was around than with Biden mucking the place up.

Nothing's working. That's the bottom line. And Biden's just not liked. Many don't even believe he's pulling the freaking reins here. So, who is? Who knows?

Either way, the country is going to hell in a handbasket and the people who vote simply can't ignore it. Beyond that, even while polls are often terribly unreliable, the polls are showing very strong leads by Trump in key swing states—states that are critical to win in any general.

Why do I find the polls a little bit more reliable in this case?

Two things to observe here. Polls are traditionally heavily weighted to side with democrats and many Trump supporters won't necessarily be openly vocal about their support for him.

So, if the polls are showing Trump leading, you have to run away with the thought that the numbers may be even bigger in support of Trump than the polls could even possibly demonstrate. I mean, I'm not going to call it now and say Trump might win by a landslide in 2024.

But I think Trump is going to win by a landslide in 2024.

Okay, okay. You caught me. I said that about Trump against Hillary in 2016 and that wasn't exactly a landslide. But it was an undeniable strong lead against her even if she ultimately beat him by 2 million votes in the popular vote.

You have a couple of things happening here. One is that Trump's popularity has only gained the more the democrats and the media have gone after him, and really, when you get down to the brass tacks here, there's simply nothing positive for Biden to even run on.

Sure, he can go out there and tout all those jobs he "created." But most people understand those were simply returning workers from the shutdowns. Not new jobs. He can go out there and talk the economy up. But Americans on both sides of the aisle can see their utility bills. They can see the final price at the gas pump higher than it was when Trump was president. They feel the reality of the economy any time they walk into a grocery store and fill their carts.

No matter which side you happen to be on, you have eyes, and you have a brain, and people can see and understand right in front of them that things aren't nearly as peachy as is being painted.

Not only that, but one has to wonder. Is Biden outright lying to us? Or is he just stupid? Maybe it's a little bit of both, actually. Again, who knows? Biden's a liar anyway, and he never did seem too bright. So, it could be anything.

The bottom line here is that it's not just David Axelrod ringing the alarm bells. Even when you look at approval ratings, it's just clear that practically no one thinks Biden is doing a good job. A recent poll also showed that more than 70% of those polled believes Trump is better equipped to handle the economy than Biden is.

And let's face it. The economy is sort of what Biden seems to want to be running on.

He simply has no solid ground to stand on. He can try to sell unicorns and rainbows, but nobody's actually buying it.

Speaking of polls, what's telling as well of Axelrod's rather grim prediction, is that not only is Trump beating Biden in nearly all of them. So are Trump's top 2 rivals. And they aren't small numbers there either. 

Both Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley beat Biden by several percentage points according to most polls.

Now, there is yet another dynamic to consider as well. That's the never Trumper or anyone who will simply not vote for Trump under any circumstance. This actually puts votes right in Trump's pockets. I mean, look at where RFK Jr. is. He doesn't beat Biden. Not by a longshot. But if he gets 2% or 3% of the vote?

It's curtains for Biden even if Biden has any chance at all without someone contesting him. And yet another poll, among democrats only, says 54% would prefer a different candidate than Biden.

For whatever it's worth, I think it is very clear (even if it still too early to tell) who will be president in 2024. And while I won't say it will be Trump, I can say it won't be Biden. But of course, I have a brain too, and so I think we can all agree it will actually be Trump who takes the win.

David Axelrod may be a prick in the eyes of Joe Biden. But in the eyes of the American people, Biden's a loser.

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Election Denial Is Not a Reason to Say No

Former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and many others in Congress on both sides, in this whole clown show we currently are watching unfold before our eyes as we once again can't seem to pick a speaker are citing Jim Jordan's "election denial" position as a key reason he simply can't be the speaker. 

But do we have short term memory problems here, folks?

Beyond just the tweet from 2017 from Nancy Pelosi that resurfaced after she publicly made the same assertion that denying Biden's win is a big reason to say no to Jim Jordan's bid in which she wrote, "Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to protect our democracy and follow the facts." What the hell was the entire four years about while Trump was president? What seemed to be the primary function of Congress under Speaker Pelosi's charge?

To deny the election of President Trump and get him out.

The odd thing to me is this. In 2016 there was no evidence that the election did not happen as the voters decided it. And I don't say that as a republican nor as a Trump supporter. I say that because there was literally nothing to suggest that Trump did not win in 2016 other than innuendo and accusation placed by Hillary Clinton and the democrat party that somehow Trump colluded with the Russians to seal the deal.

Something that was clearly debunked at every turn no matter how long investigations ensued trying to make their accusation valid. But of course, they couldn't because it simply wasn't true.

But that didn't matter. Not to the media. And not to the democrat party. In their eyes Trump simply was not the legitimate president under any circumstance and it was their job to oppose him no matter what and oust him from office whatever it would take.

The work of the American people, in their eyes, literally became the removal of a duly elected, sitting president against the will of the American people, and to convince the American people they were doing the right thing.

Going back to that "no evidence" argument regarding 2016, there seems to be quite a bit of it regarding 2020—or if it is not evidence per se, it's at least a lot of question marks that deserve a deeper dive look and some more definitive answers other than, "Biden won, just deal with it."

Look, I am not even so much an election denier as I am simply a concerned citizen who thinks our elections matter, and if there are questions, we ought to be interested in knowing what the real answer is. Perhaps if the media and the then leader of the House, and even the American people had been quick to dismiss the idea of a stolen election in 2016, I could accept a quick dismissal of the same in 2020.

But we have a complete reversal here, and we have since Biden was "elected."

Jim Jordan has simply been one of the more vocal congressmen asking questions and wanting answers. "Let's look into it," he has said. Because again, unlike the Russia collusion hoax which had all sorts of evidence pointing to "it didn't happen," the questions regarding to 2020 at least point to, "it possibly happened."

Without rehashing the suggestions I have made in the past, which I believe are legitimate questions; we know that Trump received 10 million more votes in 2020 than he got in 2016. We know that Biden supposedly got the highest number of votes for any elected president in the history of the United States, and that before mail-in ballots were counted, which were about 90% for Biden, Trump was winning the electoral college.

If nothing else, I think we need to know more about how those mail-in ballots were received. By whom and under what oversight? What checks and balances were there and how were they verified? 

Either way, what we have here is simply a mess of great proportion. And it is costing the American people valuable time. Not only that, but it's also thoroughly eroding any sense by Americans that we can rely on our government and our elected officials to get things done that are critical to our lives and to the nation's needs.

For the past 7 years what we've seen is chaos. Frankly from both sides. And right now, at least on our side, we're seeing massive division that is hurting us, and I think it may hurt us going into 2024 no matter who the nominee happens to be, even if I am convinced to this point it will be Trump.

We cannot be a party divided and stand any more than we can be a nation divided and stand. If the question barring Jim Jordan from the speakership is simply his stance on the 2020 election, well, we've been down this road before with Pelosi. No one complained about her attacks on the election which led to four years of investigations and impeachments. So, why should it be a problem for Jordan?

Granted, I don't want to see more of what we saw under Pelosi. But at the same time, I also think there is just too much work to be done that isn't getting done as bickering back and forth seems to be the only job Congress has any more.

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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.

Hell, I watch democrat debates all the time simply because I have always felt that in order to disagree with a democrat candidate, I need to know exactly what it is I disagree with. I don't have that answer if I choose not to tune in simply because I assume I will disagree with everything they have to say.

But I side with Trump on his decision not to participate, and it is not because I also happen to be a Trump supporter.

The question is, what substance would we expect to get out of Trump's participation? What could we learn about his plan for America? What could we learn about his thoughts on Ukraine and issues facing us regarding the border? About taxes. About the economy? About inflation?

The simple answer is, we'd learn nothing at all. Because those questions would not be the types of questions anyone would be interested in asking him. It would all be about the false indictments and bogus impeachments and the make-believe January 6th insurrection.

Not a single question he'd be asked would advance his campaign or offer us a better consideration of what he wants to do or will do if he were to be reelected.

Even when it comes to Fox News debates, no one ever bothers to put a real conservative on the panel. They always opt for the lefter leaning hosts. Chris Wallace in one of the 2020 debates all but tried to throw Trump under the bus and frankly trampled all over him disgustingly.

And that's me saying that despite my very real take-away from those 2020 debates that Trump did an extremely poor job at them. But I have been critical of Trump many times in the past for various antics. But it never wavered my thoughts about his presidency, which I think is important.

I continue to be displeased with some of his antics as I think it detracts from the real issues we face and his real answers as to how we solve them, and as I have said time and time again, sometimes his own antics leave him in a spot to make those antics the focus rather than the substance of his message.

People need to hear his message.

But that goes right back to why he's dismissed himself from the debate stage. Even if he does attend the debates, his message will be moot. Because again, no one will ask him about the message. What Trump would essentially be agreeing to by attending the debates would be to accepting an invitation to a literal non-comedic roasting which would focus entirely on things that matter very little to the American people.

In an odd way you could make a comparison here to a jury trial and the right decision many lawyers often make not to put the accused on the stand. Optics. Or the possibility of bad optics which would do more harm than good in defending their case.

In other words, while the optics of Trump's not attending the debates, in the eyes of some, is bad optics in and of itself, the fact is that if he were to attend, the optics may well likely be much worse.

Part of the problem is what debates have really become. Hosts are chosen essentially by what side the particular media outlet has decided they want to support and advance. And so, the questions themselves are often geared toward driving a particular narrative rather than getting to the heart of the important questions.

Trump has also realized this from the 2020 debates specifically. Even if his performance, by my measure, was horrible, I also had to honestly step away and ask myself, was his performance driven by just Trump being Trump, or was it driven by the manner and types of questions he was being asked?

The media has been rife with so much bias anymore that one might even rightly question whether or not debates are even an important part of the question of who is best to lead. As I said before, I have found them to be helpful in order to better understand where candidates are coming from. But is that really true anymore?

The real question is, does it hurt him? I don't know the answer to that. I will say that so far it doesn't seem to have done any damage at all, and in fact, may even be helping him tremendously. The closest second in the race is Ron DeSantis and by every measure he's so far behind Trump right now that in most cases we'd have already decided he stands no chance.

So, the likelihood that Trump will indeed be the GOP nominee appears to be almost imminent. Which is perhaps another reason Trump has decided to bow out of the debates. It's already been decided and so why bother with the debates at all? Just focus on the campaign and reaching out directly to the people who are interested in his message and be able to freely offer the message he wants to deliver instead of the message the media would rather be heard.

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