If you’ve ever been driving in hill country on virtually unmarked roads and lost your way -- and nearly panicked -- you probably understand how president Joe Biden feels these days.
Of course, the 78-year-old first term chief executive must experience a similar phenomenon a lot. The six-term former senator from Delaware and Barack Obama’s veep for eight years has never seemed like the type of leader who could guide a group through a tricky spot in unknown territory. The ravages of age and half-century long charter membership in the Washington swamp have seemingly robbed the man of any faculties he once possessed.
Contrast Biden with former president Donald Trump, who not only has kept everything he always had, he’s adding to it daily. There’s much for the de facto leader of the Republican Party to talk about as he sees bumbling Biden and the over-the-top socialistic Democrats struggle to force their will down the throats of an unwilling American public. The recent bipartisan “agreement” on a trillion-plus “infrastructure” package brought another pithy comment from the New Yorker the other day. And there will be more from where that came from if the GOP’s current congressional leadership continues to act stupidly in the political arena.
Despite this, there are some observers who insist Trump’s political brand has taken a beating of late. Seth McLaughlin reported at The Washington Times:
“Former President Donald Trump’s brand — the political superstar persona that fills stadiums and upstages the Republican Party — is showing signs of weakening.
“In Texas, Mr. Trump’s preferred candidate in a special congressional election was defeated. Analysts are studying the race to see what it means for the former president’s endorsement powers. In Washington, enough Republican senators ignored Mr. Trump’s attacks and complaints about a massive infrastructure package to advance the deal. The Republican support gave President Biden a shot at an infrastructure victory that eluded the previous administration.
“What’s more, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol opened with no Republicans present to defend Mr. Trump or offer a counterperspective to charges that he fomented the riot. The trio of setbacks for Mr. Trump took place within one week.”
Last week, that is. And anyone who believes these minor bumps on the long road to success signify an irreparable dent in Trump’s virtually impregnable armor are mistaken and opening themselves up to embarrassment and potential ruin. Simply put, many a skeptic has suggested that Trump’s political brand is losing its power and today, or yesterday, mark the beginning of the end.
While it’s true that the Trump endorsed Texas candidate, Susan Wright, did lose her race, it was hardly a full-on rejection of his word. It was a special election to replace the late Ron Wright in Congress, with former Navy pilot and combat veteran Jake Ellzey ending up the winner. I follow politics pretty closely and I hadn’t heard much of anything about either of them, other than Trump had selected Susan, the widow of a congressman, based on the say so of certain advisors.
In other words, it was a local race between unknown candidates in terms of national significance. Texas pundits might be able to explain why Susan came up short, but it’s not for the judgmental media to attribute the loss to a man like Trump.
The true measure of any would-be endorser is how many candidates are in pursuit of the name recognition and message quality that you offer. If that’s the value of having the backing of someone like Trump, his say-so must be worth its weight in gold, since every GOP office hopeful wants the MAGA brand next to his or her name and craves an endorsement from the last Republican president. Put it this way -- who wouldn’t want Trump behind them? Liz Cheney? Lisa Murkowski? Susan Collins? Hardly a representative sample of authentic conservative Republicans.
Put another way, how many candidates are begging Jeb or George W. Bush for an endorsement?
And thankfully, the infrastructure bill is far from a done deal in the Senate or Congress in general right now. Heinous Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear she won’t even bring up the bipartisan package in her chamber unless it’s coupled with the much larger, pork loaded $3.5 trillion welfare deal that “Chucky” Schumer and his merry band of socialist goons devised a couple weeks ago. Seventeen Republicans gave the go-ahead to debate the compromise bill -- meaning it got beyond a filibuster -- but that doesn’t mean the final version is a certainty to pass.
Conservatives must ensure that it doesn’t. It could ultimately lead to repealing the Hyde Amendment and forcing Americans to pay for abortion. That can’t happen.
Keep in mind the “bipartisan” proposal was thrown together by “moderate” Democrats (if there are any) and a who’s who of RINOs, Trump-haters who voted to impeach the man last February after he’d already left office. Outside of the mainstream liberal establishment media, no one listens to the likes of Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski. Their efforts are not suggestive of the greater loyalties of the grassroots.
“Murder turtle” Mitch McConnell didn’t indicate whether he planned to vote yea on the actual bill after it was fully written, which leaves wiggle room to reverse course. Democrats crowed about how they finally squeaked something through and are now busying themselves with delusions of grandeur on the much larger budget resolution, which is really what they were after all along. The $3.5 trillion monstrosity, which could conceivably be passed through the reconciliation process, contains the vast majority of the Democrats’ socialism schemes.
There’s everything in the thing for big government types to brag about -- funding for a couple years of “free” community college, money for pre-kindergarten so the Critical Race Theory propounding education establishment can sink their hooks into the minds of impressionable kids before they even reach the public schools. Translation: free babysitting for welfare moms. There’s also amnesty for illegal aliens, more fluff to prop up Medicare, and, billions for boondoggle “climate change” fantasies. The Democrats’ motto in putting the proposal together must have been, “If you can dream it, you can do it!”
Trump didn’t lose this round to Biden. The current president is so bewildered by everyday existence that he doesn’t have a clue what is in either bill. All Joe knows -- or has been told -- is that his approval ratings have begun their slow inevitable decline and that Americans aren’t as wild about his gal pal VP, Kamala Harris, as he figured they’d be last year. All of Harris’s cackling and mad grinning hasn’t served to ingratiate herself with people who are smart enough to see beyond what she looks like and where her ancestors came from. Kamala’s an empty pantsuit and the Democrats are stuck with her.
Lastly, the Nancy Pelosi inspired January 6 Commission witch hunt has “backfire” written all over it. Since the beginning, Democrats have sought out the magic silver bullet that would permanently remove Trump from the political scene. They still haven’t found it. Pelosi’s group will get its share of coverage from the Trump-envious media but it’s highly doubtful it will sway anyone’s opinion. Like with Romney and Murkowski, no conservative gives a hoot what Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger has to say.
Donald Trump has plenty of “brand” left and he knows it. It’s no secret that many establishment media news outlets have seen their ratings nosedive without the great orange villain to vilify and sling mud at on a minute-to-minute basis. The second Trump releases a statement, the same sources that got fat and satisfied during his four-year term and 2016 GOP primary campaign are crawling over broken glass to feature it.
Donald Trump equals readers for newspapers and viewers for boring and repetitive cable news shows. Who else would they get to plaster all over their front pages and newscasts? Joe Biden? Nancy Pelosi? Chucky Schumer? Bernie Sanders? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Kamala Harris?
Its evident that most if not all Democrats are hiding these days -- except maybe for Barack Obama, who had the gall to schedule a huge 60th birthday extravaganza at his seaside (no windmills in sight!) Martha’s Vineyard estate this upcoming weekend. Maybe Ted Kennedy’s ghost will show up, sample the booze and then offer to lead tours of his wild night with Mary Jo Kopechne along nearby Chappaquiddick creek.
It all goes to show, Donald Trump isn’t the one who’s lost, and his brand isn’t suffering nearly as badly as some status quo defending establishmentarians hoped it would be. Joe Biden’s mental incapacity is a legend that grows everyday with no signs of ever getting better. If Democrats are counting on him to lead them to the promised land, they’d better pack plenty of food for the impossible journey.
Republicans
infrastructure bill
Democrats
Trump brand
Susan Wright
Joe Biden agenda
Kamala Harris approval rating
Nancy Pelosi infrastructure
January 6 Commission