No New Tariffs: Told You So

I AM NO MORE A FAN OF TARIFFS THAN ANY OTHER RIGHT MINDED CONSERVATIVE IS. Tariffs are bad, we all know it. So, you would think when I first heard President Trump utter the word "tariffs," I would have immediately and rightly cringed.

No sir. Don't do it. PLEASE don't do it. You will destroy every single economic gain you have achieved.

But I paid close attention to what Trump was actually saying. You had to dig deeper into the context of Trump's language to fully understand what the aim was here.

President Trump did not want to impose tariffs. What he wanted to do was bring some of these other countries, whom with we have serious trade deficits with, to the table to negotiate. 

You have to start somewhere. And for him, the place to start was to simply say, "Look, we have the economic might and power and we also have a very strong and robust consumer base that you (these other countries) have a strong desire to be able to gain access to. You are going to want to work with us to level the playing field a little bit."

More dollars in the American economy by providing more jobs to Americans also ultimately offers an opportunity to create more buyers for foreign made goods.

I had a strong, sinking suspicion that we would not see the tariffs Trump was supposedly wanting to impose. That sinking suspicion is even more now after the USMCA announcement which will replace NAFTA provided the three congress's can ratify it, and the announcement that Trump will delay raising Chinese tariffs for 90 days while more negotiations are underway.

The tariffs aren't coming, folks. Not from what I can see. And this will only further bolster the economy and lay more groundwork for increasing American jobs, increasing access to these other countries' consumers, and so the wheels of commerce will turn.

Everybody involved will see a benefit here. Everybody.

This Is NOT Obama's Economy

TO ALL OF THESE LIBERALS WHO ARE NOW TRYING TO LAY DOWN THE CLAIM THAT SOMEHOW FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREAT ECONOMIC STATE WE ARE IN—let me just say very clearly and with great emphasis...

That is just a total load of frigging hogwash!

The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama was not able to achieve 2% GDP growth over his entire presidency. Not just that, but when you add in the words—and these are not verbatim—that President Obama said, "This is the new normal folks," fully suggesting that we would never, as a nation, see 3% growth again, it sort of helps to make it all too clear that Barack Obama had no frigging clue how to grow the economy.

If the president had any confidence whatsoever that his economic policies would ever allow the American economy to see the light of day the way it is now his words may have been more something along the lines of, "Folks, these things take time, but stick with me and my policies and we can grow the American economy eventually."

He may have even been able to toss in a little add-in to say, "It may be well after I leave office for my policies to really get going."

But the fact of the matter is that it is Trump's economy which has laid the foundation for the exciting economic boom we are seeing. Barack Obama simply had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

Look, I am as fair and honest as anyone. We all know that presidents are more beneficiaries of economies, good or bad, than drivers of them. But we also all know that policies and other actions presidents make can either help or stall an economy.

When President Trump pulled back thousands of business crippling regulations, this helped businesses to open themselves up to new opportunities, and free themselves of other expenses which they were able to redirect into growing their businesses, and passing some of those cost savings on to employees, shareholders, and yes...to consumers as well.

You add in the major tax cuts the president made, and you have a recipe for growth, which is being proven every single day with the economy hitting the ceiling.

Jobs are plentiful, the labor participation rate is showing major signs of improvement, retail is doing great, the stock market is soaring...

These are a direct result of the Trump administration. NOT the Obama administration.

Is it any shock that the liberals would take this stance regarding the success of the Trump administration's economic policy? It shouldn't be if it is. When Obama could not make any inroads it was all Bush's fault. For an entire eight years the Obama administration could not do a thing to get the economy moving. And when Trump accomplished this task, of course it would not be due to Trump, but due to Obama.

Again. What a load of utter hogwash! Guys, I'm sorry. But you simply cannot have it both ways. You are full of crap. You know it. We know it. Everyone knows it!

Quick Shout: Trump To Attend Bush Funeral

It is well known that former senator John McCain and president Trump had their differences. Despite that, I was quite surprised that when John McCain died, the president was not invited to McCain's funeral.

In my view, this was completely out of the realm of respect for the office of the president, and totally unbecoming of someone who otherwise (depending on your views) was an accomplished man. It was even borderline puerile for me.

So did president Trump and the Bush's have their differences, and still do. But, it seems that the Bush's also have a bit more decorum and dignity than John McCain did, and president Trump will be attending the funeral of former president George H.W. Bush.

I send my condolences to the Bush family, and am thankful that at least some of the legacy of George H.W. Bush will not be tarnished by the childish, winy behavior that was displayed by the McCain's.

Kid Rock SHOULD Have Been Kicked Out of the Parade

So look, I fully agree that Kid Rock made an err when he slipped the tongue a bit the other day on Fox & Friends on live TV and called Joy Behar a bitch. But should he have been pulled as Grand Marshall for a parade in Nashville?

I say yes. And that may be somewhat surprising since I happen to support Kid Rock, and I also happen to be a conservative republican.

But that's part of the point isn't it?

I complain all the time when people on the left get to say whatever they want and get away with it. I complain all the time about the fact that, on the left, it is acceptable to say whatever they want and get away with it.

Is Joy Behar a bitch?

I have no idea because I have never met her. I can draw conclusions about her of course based on things she has said in the past and the way she conducts herself on air.

Is she a bitch? Again, I would not know, and personally I would refrain from classifying her as harshly. But what I do know is that she clearly does not have her head on straight, and she's dead wrong about more than just a few things, and she does not seem to have a full grasp of her faculties.

Did I just call Joy Behar and idiot?

Yeah. I think I just did. Either way I made it very clear that I supported Fox News making an apology, and I also supported Fox New's Steve Doocy immediately asking Kid Rock to apologize for what he had said on air. We, the conservatives, have a higher standard, and that's an important thing to recognize.

How can we go to anyone else and yell and scream, "Hold them accountable," if we do not also hold our own accountable? We have to better than the left. We have to have better decorum.

I say it all the time that what the left resorts to when an argument does not go their way is to start calling names. And that's exactly what Kid Rock did. His entire argument when he introduced Joy Behar into it, and called her a name, lost his entire argument.

Nobody heard what Kid Rock said before he called Joy Behar a bitch. All anyone heard was him calling Joy Behar a bitch.

It effectively made anything else Kid Rock said moot. Unheard. Dismissed. Irrelevant. It's the only thing making the news. What he called Joy Behar. Not what he said about the president or what he is doing for the country. Not why he values conservatism. Not why he thinks this country is on the right track and great.

I recently posted, regarding the whole Kid Rock thing, "You will always have to remember that one unique thing about conservatives, is that we don't look the other way when someone on our side says something not quite right, nor do we condone such actions." I stand by this statement. We do hold our own accountable and it is part of what separates us from the liberals. We do have decorum. And we don't want to be the ones who resort to shutting down an argument by tossing out name calling like Kid Rock did.

Because again, no one heard anything else but what he called Joy Behar.

We are conservatives. We have no need to rely on the tactics of the left to make our points known. We want to be the civilized side, and we need to be able to cite our beliefs and our values without tossing in jabs and calling names.

Anybody with half a mind who listens to Joy Behar can already determine her head is not screwed on very tightly. We can simply point to what she says, and then definitively explain with intellect why she is wrong.

So Kid Rock gets removed from the parade. I have to say if the shoe were on the other foot and Joy Behar was going to be the Grand Marshall, and called Kid Rock a bastard, or some such other dumb thing, and she was removed, I'd be applauding the action just as I applauded the actions taken against Kathy Griffin when she published a tasteless photo of her holding up Trump's severed head.

I cannot complain about there being a double standard if I do not also complain that the right should never be given a free pass like so many on the left often times do. So no. Kid Rock said something that was tasteless and rude, and he should suffer at least some consequence for that.

Murphy Brown Cancellation

SHOULD IT BE ANY WONDER that CBS is pulling the plug on the recent Murphy Brown reboot?

Look, the one thing that the liberals just aren't fully grasping is that despite their ill feelings, and their own misguided Trump Derangement Syndrome, President Trump is a far more popular president than anyone on the left will ever be able to come to terms with.

It's just a fact.

And despite what CBS is claiming, that the show was only ever intended to be a 13 episode run, the truth of the matter is that the show was so over the top with Trump bashing that it just turned audiences completely off.

CBS is not unlike any other network. It's aim is to put out shows and other programming that people will want to watch, and that advertisers will want to shell out their dollars to pay for. It's all about money and ratings. And if Murphy Brown would have captured an audience greater than it did the show would not be getting yanked off the air. It would be getting renewed.

I said it a long time ago that one thing Hollywood and all of the so-called holier than thou elites and superiorists are failing to see is that their uber liberalism is more and more going to start hitting their bottom lines.

You've already seen it with the fall of the NFL, and the near abysmal ratings of all of the other liberal media outlets like MSNBC and CNN.

People are just simply tuning out.

They are tired of the unfair attacks, and the completely biased approach to programming. It (liberalism) is simply not resonating with the American people, and Hollywood and the democrats are doing more damage to their brand than they could ever imagine.

Keep in mind, though, that they (the liberals) can't see it. They are so blinded by their hatred and so self-involved in their rhetoric, that they could not see reality if it hit them square in the face.

Will the result of the Murphy Brown reboot be the wake up call for the left that they need to severely tone it down? Will it be any affirmation for the left that their message is not resonating?

I suppose the answer to that question is anyone's guess. My guess? It will be business as usual. In an odd way I tend to think it might not matter to them if their wallets grow thinner in the process of making complete fools out of themselves.

Kid Rock Bitch

You will always have to remember that one unique thing about conservatives, is that we don't look the other way when someone on our side says something not quite right, nor do we condone such actions.

For us, that's one big separation from liberals who tend to defend their side even in the worst of times.

So, when Kid Rock on Fox & Friends on Friday called Joy Behar a bitch on live TV, not only did the host, Steve Doocy, who was with him at the time at Kid Rock's new restaurant in Nashville ask him to apologize for the remark, he also apologized stating that Fox News did not condone the remark, nor did they stand by it.

I commend Fox News for doing the right thing.

Should Kid Rock now be barred from future guesting on Fox News? Maybe. I mean, the remark was crude, and frankly unnecessary. I have always said of politics, when it gets ugly, that is when we need to call it out no matter what side it pertains to, and say, "Hey, that's not right."

Let's also not forget that not only has Joy Behar, but several other members of The View's cast made very crude remarks about republicans and President Trump. 

But two wrongs don't make a right. Right? I mean, that's what most of us have been taught.

No matter what anyone thinks of Joy Behar, the cast of The View, or liberals in general, it's just a line that should not be crossed. Of course Kid Rock is going to get some backlash for the comment. But let's also be fair and say that the left will hold him way more accountable for the remark than anyone on the left who has ever made crude remarks.

It's just the way it works.

Joy Behar did offer an invitation for Kid Rock to come onto their set and "have a beer" with them. Will he go on? I don't know. So far he has not responded to the invitation. Should he go on? I think he should. If nothing else it can be an opportunity for Kid Rock to at least get his point across about why conservatism works and liberalism does not. He probably wouldn't be able to get through to anyone anyway. But hiding from the remark, and hiding from the liberals it was aimed at is also not a good idea.

I should point out that the remark does not rise to the level that a severed Trump head joke did recently. So, I don't think that a move should be made by Fox News to not allow Kid Rock on the show ever again.