Archive for June, 2018

After reading this article, I’m certain that the DFL doesn’t have any visionaries running for governor. In fact, I’ll say one more thing. It’s clear to me that the DFL candidates aren’t top tier candidates.

I started wondering if the DFL had any top tier candidates when I read “Erin Murphy, who’s represented her St. Paul state House district since 2007, said she grew up around politics “that were about improving people’s lives” and said she wants to return to that if elected. ‘We should be doing all that we can to make sure that we’re building a future for the people of Minnesota,’ she said. But lately, ‘I see us moving in a direction more toward a Washington, D.C.-style of politics where we’re thinking too much about how to beat the other side, how to get to the next election and the things we need to do together are falling behind.'”

This was confirmed when I read this:

Walz too talked about changing political culture. And just as Murphy often references her nursing profession, Walz often cites his time as a social studies teacher. “We believe in education and we do it in that classroom because it doesn’t have to be a pejorative to talk about government,” said the six-term member of Congress from Mankato. “It’s us. It’s the people who make decisions in communities. But we have to make sure those most impacted by decisions are at the table.

“The behind-closed-doors thing is undermining our basic faith…we’re a very polarized nation and that is holding us back,” he said.

Perhaps Walz is complaining about what happens behind closed doors because he’s never been invited to closed-door negotiations. That’s because he’s never been a committee chairman. That’s because, for 12 years, he’s been a nobody in Congress.

Quick rule of thumb: Nobodies in Congress aren’t visionaries.

Thankfully, there was a visionary at the debate:

Johnson complained of “arrogance” in state agencies and said he seeks to change “the very culture in St. Paul. I got into this race almost 14 months ago and I got in for a very simple reason: to give people more control over their own money and over their own businesses and over their own kids’ education and over their own health care and, frankly, over their own lives,” Johnson said.

With Johnson, at least you know there’s something substantive that he wants to accomplish. There’s no question that he has a number of goals in mind.

This video is worth watching:

It’s worth watching even though they don’t poll the match-up between Erin Murphy and Tim Pawlenty, which is the likely match-up this November. Murphy is the DFL favorite because, in my opinion, she’ll dominate the Twin Cities vote while Lori Swanson and Tim Walz split the rural vote.

The poll shows that Tim Pawlenty leading Jeff Johnson 54%-20%. That isn’t a position Johnson is likely to rebound from.

The more Democrats insist on abolishing ICE, the more Democrats are turning 2018 into the ‘Immigration Election’. It isn’t that people won’t care about the increasing prosperity. It’s that women will care more about the dangers represented by MS-13, the opioid crisis and the human trafficking crisis.

According to this op-ed, there’s a solution to these crises. Unfortunately for Democrats, they steadfastly reject that solution.

Brandon Judd’s op-ed opens by saying “If Democrats and the media elite truly cared about the safety of illegal immigrants, they’d be down on the border right now working to build the wall President Trump wants America to have. As a veteran Border Patrol agent, I know firsthand that a secure border with the big beautiful wall the president is building is the only humane and permanent solution to the crisis at the border.”

Democrats keep pushing the message that Republicans are tearing illegal aliens’ families apart. Republicans have started pushing the stories that angel families are getting torn apart thanks to MS-13, drug cartels and opioid overdoses. Let’s not kid ourselves. Suburban moms won’t like it that their friends’ kids are dying as a result of the Democrats’ unwillingness to build the wall.

Despite Democratic obstruction, President Trump is building the wall now, and he will play hardball with Congress to ensure that the necessary funding to complete the wall is secured. Without a completed wall, thousands of illegal immigrants will continue to put their lives at risk.

As long as people think they can cross the border illegally, they will continue to try. The journey is dangerous enough due to the natural conditions alone. Traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles on foot, often in extreme heat and without adequate water, is no easy trip for an adult – let alone for a child.

But those who try to cross our southern border illegally are subject to much worse than just the elements – they are at the mercy of brutal criminal gangs. The illegal immigrant smuggling trade is dominated by predatory “coyotes” connected to Mexico’s worst drug cartels. They care little for the lives of their human cargo. These are the sorts of people who don’t think twice before leaving illegal immigrants to die in locked trailers under the desert sun.

Democrats feel compelled to disagree with everything President Trump. It isn’t smart policywise but it’s the Democrats’ foolishness. That’s just who they are. The closer we get to the election, the more Democrats will see people shift away from their candidates.

I’m not surprised. Stupid policies make for terrible politicking. You don’t get much more stupid than abolishing ICE.

This article introduces a frightening thought to Republicans — “the Maxine Waters brigade.” Actually, conservatives should be happy for such a phenomenon.

This paragraph should explain why. In it, it talks about “Even before the prospect of a conservative SCOTUS majority, progressives were already chasing Republicans out of restaurants. Now that Roe v. Wade is theoretically at risk, what will the Maxine Waters brigade do now—start throwing them out of airplanes?”

As I highlighted in this earlier post, Democrats are losing it. Watch 15 seconds of the videos of Jeffrey Toobin and Chris Matthews losing it and you’ll know what I mean. To use an old cliche, a little paranoia goes a long way. This week especially, Democrats are living proof of that cliche.

Here’s a bigger problem for Democrats:

Yes, that’s turned around a bit in the Trump era, most notably in Alabama where a solidly red seat flipped to blue. But unfortunately for Democrats there are only so many Judge Roy Moore’s to go around. What’s happening this November is that Democrats like Joe Manchin (WV), Joe Donnelly (IN), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), and Claire McCaskill (MO) have to run against quality, non-crazy Republicans in states that Trump carried by double-digits.

And now, thanks to Justice Kennedy’s retirement, those same Democrats have to vote against a conservative Supreme Court nominee…on the eve of an election. It’s like a felon robbing a bank on his way to a parole hearing—it confirms everything they feared about you to begin with.

For people who understand things the game of Cribbage, they know that a hand with all even cards is close to worthless. The old saying is that the only right way to throw such a hand is away. Democrats are looking at the political equivalent of an all even cards Cribbage hand this year.

Think about this: Joe Crowley had hoped to challenge Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House. He was defeated by a socialist who wants to abolish ICE. She’ll win that election but New York Republicans should drape her around the necks of every so-called moderate in New York. I can’t picture that turning out well for Democrats.

Think about this, too. How many voters think that getting rid of ICE is the pathway to a safer, more prosperous America? A: Virtually no one. When closing arguments are made this October and November, expect this to be part of the Republicans’ closing arguments.

Don’t expect the Maxine Waters Brigade to win that fight.

I’ve been writing for months that Democrats aren’t anything close to moderate. I’ve written about how Democrats unflinchingly sided with environmental activists during the Obama administration rather than side with miners or pipeline construction unions. I’ve written about Salena Zito’s observations from the campaign trail showing how disconnected Democrats are with Blue Collar America. This article highlights how immoderate Democrats are and how they aren’t pretending to be moderate anymore.

The article’s second paragraph says “Socialist Bernie Sanders is unquestionably the spiritual leader of the Democratic party, which is radicalizing itself in his image, and on the strength of her blowout Democratic-primary win over liberal incumbent Joe Crowley in the party-ruled NY-14 congressional district, soon-to-be-congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now one of the most prominent faces in the Democratic party. A poll last fall put support for socialism at 44 percent among Millennials, and even more disturbingly, 23 percent of this group agreed that Joseph Stalin is a “hero.” Socialized medicine, i.e., Medicare for all, is the hottest issue on the Left (unless you count hating Trump as an “issue”).”

There’s no questioning whether Bernie-mania is running wild within the Democratic Party. What’s getting questioned is whether Bernie-mania will help or hurt Democrats. At this point, I’m betting that it’ll hurt Democrats. Imagine how upset entrepreneurs will be when watching this video:

Imagine being a small business owner working 60+ hours a week but then being told that they aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. To most people in that situation, they think they’re paying too much taxes while working too hard.

If Democrats want to preach the gospel of tax fairness while the economy roars, that’s their option. I’ll just predict it won’t turn out well.

Let’s be blunt. I could use that title for 20 articles per day if I wanted and each of those articles would be about different articles. This time, I’m talking about the Democrats’ reaction following Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement.

Nan Aron’s op-ed is a classic example of the left’s coming unhinged. Aron wrote “While the news of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement is not entirely unexpected, it still comes as a thunderclap. This is even more true now than it would have been last June, when speculation also swirled around his possible departure. Since then, we have had another year to observe the Trump administration’s downward spiral into cruelty and incoherence, an approach to governing that has not spared the judicial branch. Trump has continued to target courts and judges with the crudest of insults, even as his White House works overtime to push forward lower-court judicial nominees who are among the most ideologically extreme and professionally underqualified we have seen in nearly 40 years in this field.”

Aron’s opinion is based solely on the fact that none of the likely candidates are wildly liberal whose rulings aren’t utterly predictable before the lawsuit gets to the Supreme Court. Aron isn’t alone. Watch CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin totally lose it in this interview:

That’s a stunning prediction. It’s also wildly inaccurate. By comparison, though, his prediction is mild compared with Chris Matthews’ diatribe:

Wow! That’s what unhinged looks like. Couple those videos with the Left’s increasing calls for abolishing ICE and you’re looking at a political party that’s too unhinged to be given the reins of power. Speaking of which, the first 2 Democrat presidential candidates (Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand) have joined in calling for abolishing ICE.

Why would anyone think that these people are fit for office? What proof is there that they aren’t permanently unhinged? It’s one thing to disagree with the opposition about policy. This isn’t that. This is about people losing it emotionally.

In fact, check out Maxine Waters lose it:

Do these people look like anyone you’d trust with your pet? If you wouldn’t trust them babysitting your pet, why would you give them control of any of the levers of political power? I surely wouldn’t.

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pummeled Joe Crowley, it’s likely that Bernie Sanders did a dance. Though it’s unconfirmed, it’s likely that House Republicans quietly celebrated, too.

Why wouldn’t Republicans celebrated because she’s now the highest-profile Democrat to call for abolishing ICE. While the American people want children re-united with their illegal alien parents, that doesn’t mean they want open borders, which is what abolishing ICE would trigger. (Like Yassir Arafat, Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.)

Nobody I know faults Ocasio-Cortez for celebrating. They’re just thrilled at the opportunity to tie the open borders tag around the Democrats’ necks. Certainly, Nancy Pelosi isn’t happy with this development. She’d hoped to convince the American people that the Democrats were centrists/moderates like Conor Lamb. Thanks to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Mark Pocan and other Democrats pushing for the destruction of ICE, that wish disappeared. Whether Ms. Pelosi wanted to pretend she was a centrist isn’t up to her.

Republicans should send special thanks to MSNBC for highlighting Ocasio-Cortez’s victory. Then again, it’s impossible to hide Joe Crowley’s defeat.

Make no mistake about this. This is the Democrats’ worst nightmare. How do Democrats explain away Pocan’s bill calling for the abolition of ICE? It’s one thing to criticize the harsh treatment of children of illegal aliens. It’s another to call for open borders.

Imagine the world without the United States. Better yet, imagine the world without a superpower whose stated national goals of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” are found early in that nation’s Founding Document. Then picture the consequences of not having such a superpower. Picture the oppression that wouldn’t be called out. Then picture the despots that wouldn’t be singled out.

There’s a need for the United States. We are the example to the world of what’s possible. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ vision isn’t one of a great superpower that other nations gravitate towards. Their vision is of a nation that doesn’t believe in the rule of law, that prefers chaos over order, that picks appeasement over strength on the international stage.

The Declaration of Independence isn’t just a founding document. It’s a statement that shouts to the world what our national goals will be:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

It’s true that most people want immigration reform. That being said, it’s equally true that that people want order, not chaos. Who can look at what’s happening at the Tex-Mex Border and call that orderly?

In this post, I wrote “I triple-dog dare Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to meet with a group of angel families and explain why they won’t build President Trump’s wall. Democrats won’t do that in a million years. That’s because they’re too indebted to the special interests to do the right thing.” Here’s a panel of Angel Moms whose children were killed or murdered by illegal aliens:

What are Democrats thinking? They’re actually siding with the drug cartels, gangs like MS-13, human traffickers and sex slaves. Why isn’t the MSM reporting on this part of the immigration issue? There isn’t a justification for not covering this aspect from a financial standpoint.

Do-nothing Democrats deserve to get questioned about their immigration policies. If they aren’t willing to a) close the loopholes in our immigration laws, b) build President Trump’s wall and c) virtually eliminate the flood of illegal immigrants, then people need to throw the bums out.

The Declaration of Independence that we have the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If Democrats aren’t willing to guarantee those rights with their immigration plan, then they need to be thrown out.

Imagine a political party implicitly saying that they don’t want this nation’s laws enforced. Imagine if this same political party also implicitly said that they wouldn’t lift a finger to help fix problems. Imagine if that political party wanted to run a re-election campaign based solely on their obstructionism.

Actually, you don’t have to imagine it. It’s what’s happening this minute. It’s what Democrats intend on doing. This minute, Democrats are standing in the way of fixing the loopholes in this nation’s immigration laws. If the loopholes were about gun control, Democrats would be demanding that those loopholes be closed. If we were talking about taxes, Democrats would be demanding that those loopholes be closed. When it comes to this nation’s immigration laws, Democrats insist that those loopholes remain open.

Beyond that, Democrats actually think that they can win back control of the House and possibly the Senate by being obstructionists. At a time when the American people are demanding solutions, the Democrats’ message to those voters is that they proved daily that they hate President Trump. They’re unanimously opposed to Republicans’ reasonable attempts to fix our immigration laws. That’s after Democrats unanimously voted against the Trump/GOP tax cuts that have this economy running stronger than at any time during the Obama administration.

Consumer confidence is sky-high. Wages are steadily increasing. Unemployment is microscopic. Unemployment for women is the lowest it’s been in 50+ years. Minority unemployment is the lowest it’s been in history. Think of this: these major accomplishments have happened without a single Democrat voting for any of the policies that have caused this regeneration.

The only thing worse than the Democrats’ obstructionism and insistence on not enforcing this nation’s laws is the MSM’s treating this position as routine. I’ve scoured Youtube in an attempt to find a single video of the MSM criticizing the Democrats’ obstructionism. I didn’t find a single video showing a network news anchor or correspondent criticizing the Democrats.

Let’s put this before the American people. Let’s tell them that the Democrats insist on not enforcing our borders. Let’s tell the American people that the Democrats won’t lift a legislative finger to stop MS-13 from entering the country. Let’s tell the American people that Democrats won’t lift a finger to prevent human trafficking, sex trafficking or drug cartels. Let’s point the finger at Democrats for the murders of Kate Steinle, Grant Ronnebeck and others.

I triple-dog dare Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to meet with a group of angel families and explain why they won’t build President Trump’s wall. Democrats won’t do that in a million years. That’s because they’re too indebted to the special interests to do the right thing. The Trump/Republican campaign slogan is exceptionally simple:

The Democrats’ slogan would be slightly different. The Democrats’ slogan would read ‘Putting the Special Interests First.’

President Trump didn’t officially endorse Tim Pawlenty during his rally in Duluth this week but he helped Pawlenty’s campaign by mentioning his running mate in the opening minutes of the rally:

Trump said “I also want to thank Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach for being here. She has been so great. Got a big race coming along. She’s gonna do great. The Johnson campaign tried downplaying the mention:

Johnson campaign manager Justin Arnold dismissed the significance of Trump’s mention of Fischbach. “She’s the sitting Lt. Governor of Minnesota and was there in that capacity,” Arnold said in an email. “It’s not surprising at all that she would be mentioned.”

With all due respect, President Trump didn’t just mention Fischbach as the sitting lt. gov. of Minnesota. President Trump also mentioned that she’s “got a big race” and that “she’s gonna do great” in that upcoming race.

The bigger point is that Jeff Johnson travelled to Duluth in the hopes of getting Trump’s endorsement and came away without getting mentioned. That’s noteworthy considering the fact that he’s the Republicans’ endorsed candidate for governor.

I don’t dislike Jeff Johnson. I think he’s a good man who’s solid on policy. It’s that I like Tim Pawlenty more. Pawlenty has clearly had a better run of things in terms of fundraising than Johnson. President Trump’s mention of Lt. Gov. Fischbach won’t help Johnson’s fundraising.

On the DFL side, Erin-Squared will likely win the DFL Primary because Lori Swanson and Tim Walz will likely split the rural vote while E-Squared will feast on urban votes thanks to the DFL primary in the Fifth District. That primary will be way in the rear-view mirror by the time November rolls around.

By all accounts, Wednesday night’s Trump rally was a major success for Pete Stauber. First, President Trump is wildly popular in the Eighth District. Next, Stauber got a ton of positive attention during the campaign rally. Third and perhaps most importantly, President Trump drew a ton of people to the rally. Check out the people gathered at a parking ramp near the arena:

So sorry, people wanting to get into the already packed arena - I LOVE YOU ALL! pic.twitter.com/PFvXrsvgkA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018

Stauber’s campaign manager must’ve smiled after seeing that picture. Stauber’s campaign manager must’ve been pleased to see Pete handle the big spotlight this beautifully, too:

That doesn’t guarantee a Stauber victory this fall but it’ll guarantee him tons of favorable press. This report noted something incredible:

At least 25 percent of the audience was under the age of 30, and around 40 percent were women. The senior citizen percentage was less than 10 percent — the lowest I’ve ever seen at a Republican event. Other than the hundred or so party leaders, this was a vastly different crowd from the Minnesota Republican Convention that I attended in Duluth three weeks ago. None of the attendees I spoke with in the concession line at the rally were politically active (other than voting) and none were born-and-bred Republicans.

If that’s the case, then I’m inclined to move this race from the toss-up category to the slightly leans GOP category. That isn’t good news for the DFL because they’ve got 3 top-tier candidates who are beating the daylights out of each other through the mid-August primary.