Archive for the ‘elections’ Category

With DeSantis Out It’s Time to Endorse Donald Trump for President Again.

Posted: January 22, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, elections, politics, primaries, primaries
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If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly:

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7

In 2016 I was a supporter of Ted Cruz for the GOP Nomination and I stuck with Cruz till the moment he pulled out.

I had reservations about Trump at the time but made a point of endorsing him before the convention making the following argument:

But while Trump will occasionally disappoint me (when he does I’ll call him on it) I am convinced he will neither persecute me nor strip me of my rights for holding my Conservative Catholic beliefs and acting on them.

I am very sorry to say I can not make that same statement about Hillary Clinton, and I’m even sorrier to see the day when I would say this about a presidential candidate.

And I was so convinced that voting for Trump was necessary when almost every other blogger/pundit ran for the hills after the Billy Bush tape I actually re-endorsed him

No this is about convincing those who still have to values to allow the election of someone who not only is directly opposed to all you hold dear but will persecute you on every level.  This is about tricking you into letting go of your one chance to stop your own destruction.  They want you to lose your nerve. Furthermore they want the GOP to lose their nerve and the press will do all they can do enable it.

In other words they are counting on you to be suckers.

I’m still voting Trump and I’m still encouraging you to keep your nerve and do the same.

You all know how that story ended but alas he didn’t take the best advice I ever gave just a few days after the election was won: Get Ready for Fraud in 2020:

Democrat Bosses in Wisconsin Michigan and Minnesota had no inkling that the election was close, that being the case there was no reason why, in an age where proof of a federal offense is a cell phone video away, Dem bosses in Detroit or elsewhere felt the need to take any risk.  They figured those states were won (and they were right about Minnesota) and by election night it was too late to change it.

However that won’t be the case in 2020,  I’ll wager that in 2020 the bosses in Milwaukee, Detroit, Madison and elsewhere will be ready, we’ll see plenty of mail in ballots and absentee ballots that we didn’t see before in those states and plenty of voters looking to go for the GOP will be in the same spot that Steven Kruiser was on election night.

We have four years to prepare for this so we’d better get ready because as our friends on the left have demonstrated in the past, they play for keeps.

After all you don’t think Soros has been quietly sinking millions into AG races, you know the people who would be protesting election fraud on a local level, just because it’s fun?

And while Trump much to my surprise and delight governed like a conservative until he fell for what Fauci sold him (I suspect this is because he was from a generation that trusted Doctors to worry about life and death vs serving China for fun and profit). he failed to take that good advice and thus “lost” in 2020. Looking at his presidency the day Biden was sworn in I rated him the 4th best president who ever served.

You literally have to go to Lincoln and Washington to find a president who did as much in the face of adversity Lincoln’s adversity being the civil war and the hatred of his own party and Washington having to do it all from scratch with a new country and constitution and nothing to back him up.

Trump in my opinion is below both Washington & Lincoln but right now with passions where they are while I’m not solid where in this group he goes. If you forced me to name a spot my gut says above Cleveland and Polk by a hair and sparing with TR for that 3rd spot as both had a personality that rubbed many the wrong way but I’ll have a better perspective in four year unless he wins in 2024 then I’ll have to completely reevaluate his position based on a 2nd non-consecutive term. A bad enough job in a 2nd terms and he could drop to the 3rd tier easy. A good enough one and he could solidify the bronze but I would doubt he could take the silver or Gold from Lincoln or Washington, but with what is likely coming from the Biden and Harris administration coming (or what is actually Obama’s 3rd term) I suspect Trump’s stock will only rise in comparison.

As time went on two things came out, one for and one against him. The information about the deep state both during Obama’s term and his own trying to sabotage him makes his accomplishments even more impressive, but his failure to fire and or restrain Fauci combined with his embrace of the untested COVID vaccines hurt him. I think they’re a wash and so I leave Trump ranking where it is (pending a 2nd term).

Meanwhile Governor Ron DeSantis impressed me by his actions in Florida and continues to do so. He’s the type of guy who gets things done and deals with reality and most important of all when he had a chance he did the vital thing that Trump did not, election reform. His election reforms destroyed Democrat thievery in the state which contributed to his overwhelming re-election almost as much as his record.

He was a prime candidate to run in 2024 and Trump realizing this started attacking at once. The Democrats realized this as well and I suspect Trump’s attacks on him were one of the prime reasons why platforms like Facebook suddenly found him acceptable again.

It was a touch call between the pair for me. I’ve compared it to choosing between Williams and Musial in Left, but there was one factor that decided it for me. The fact that there are voters Blue collar conservative voters in swing states who irrationally hate Trump and will vote against him even vs Biden:

Bottom line DeSantis draws votes that Trump can’t and doesn’t lose votes suffering from Trump fatigue and proved this by turning his squeaker election the first time around into a landslide, a landslide that came not despite his strong conservative record but BECAUSE OF IT. No matter how much you might dislike those voters who reject Trump this ability to expand one’s electorate is in fact a feature, not a bug but not as big of a feature as the fact that the left (and the Lincoln Project crowd) are scared to death of him.

We’re conservative we deal with facts. These are the facts, and these facts need to be put before GOP voters NOW before the voting begins and before all the lesser candidates dogpile on DeSantis which for most if them is the only reason they are in the race at all. There is no time to wait on this.

Like Kurt Schlichter I got a lot of pushback over this but someone had to sound the alarm.

Well in the end it didn’t matter. Trump took over 50% in Iowa which is really impressive when you consider his showing from 2016 and while I think it would have been worth staying in for a bit, mostly due to Trump’s age, DeSantis being DeSantis decided to act on the basis of reality rather than wishful thinking:

So what was the reaction of Trump people now that DeSantis is out and endorsing Trump. I expected some ribbing which is the prerogative of the winning side but I didn’t expect stuff like this:

The next few days will be fraught with demands to unite the clans.  However, please remember the proven and demonstrably accurate axiom:  Never Trust a Never Trumper. 

The Ron DeSantis campaign was built upon a foundation of fraud. Long planned as an effort to destroy the threat that MAGA represents to the Republican apparatus, nothing about the DeSantis campaign was grassroots, authentic, natural or real.  The Sea Island organized campaign was a specific and detailed approach driven by the professional political class.  Ron DeSantis was a vessel, a willing vessel, for the deliberate schemes and Machiavellian intents of the worst elements in USA Republican politics.

WE CANNOT UNITE with that group.  Think about it.

Think about this for a second. We are heading into a general election with a candidate who the left has already stolen one election from and is willing to steal another, furthermore we are running a candidate that is irrationally hated by a segment of the population to the point where they are willing to vote against their own welfare and beliefs in order to defeat him.

In such a situation the only prayer we have is to win beyond the margin of fraud. 

Maybe it’s just be but I think given that situation telling the 20% of the GOP who voted DeSantis to go to hell just might be a bad idea. I called it idiocy on his site and frankly that’s an understatement.

However in the end that stuff doesn’t matter. Reality matters and the reality is that we need to get the socialists and communists out of office. Schlichter nails it here:

And what you need to do is get on board and fight for the guy who won fair and square. Yeah, fair and square. In primaries, you go out, you make your case, and part of that means cutting down the other guy. If you can’t get your head around that reality, you probably shouldn’t be involved in politics. This is a tough game. It’s not for the faint of heart. Donald Trump doesn’t take it personally. As soon as Chris Christie dropped out to take on his new role as spokesman for Golden Corral, Trump was saying nice things about him. And after Ron DeSantis dropped out and properly endorsed the President in one of the best and most gracious concession speeches I’ve ever seen, Trump said he was “honored” by the endorsement of Ron DeSantis. Why, after so much acrimony? Because it’s not personal, it’s just business.

Look, I will not start sugarcoating it for you now. I still believe Donald Trump has an uphill fight to win in November. He’s got a chance to win, probably a little higher than he did a year ago, but the advantage still lies with that desiccated zombie pervert because of the irrational hatred of Donald Trump of so many people. Republicans shouldn’t add to that challenge because they are ticked off. Maybe you don’t like Donald Trump‘s tweets. Maybe you don’t like his behavior. Maybe you have some rational critiques of his policies. Whatever. Get over it.

For me it comes back to what I said the very first time I endorsed him. Yes he had a good record, yes he has a list of accomplishments worth singing about, yes if he is re-elected we will likely see the end of the war in Ukraine and possibly the final destruction of Hamas. All that is great but the bottom line is still this:

Donald Trump will neither persecute me nor strip me of my rights for holding my Conservative Catholic beliefs and acting on them.

That is the reason why I now again endorse Donald Trump for President and urge you vote for him. You may not like Trump, nor might you like the Laura Loomers of the world, but in the end your rights as an American depend on electing a president that will respect those rights.

And for all the shouting from the surrogates of the Biden administration about dictatorship in the end we’ve seen the current administration use Government as a tool to suppress the rights of political foes. Donald Trump has demonstrated he will do this, even when greatly provided he didn’t do this when he had that chance. 

If you fail to do this then you will get the pleasure of Obama’s 4th term with a government that knows the voters will not punish them for abusing their rights. You will get the government you deserve, good and hard.

You have been warned.

I’ll close with the same words I ended my endorsement of DeSantis with:

Closing thought: I’m convinced that if we nominate Donald Trump we will lose but if my advice is ignored and he wins the votes to be the nominee I will support him in the general election and make the best possible arguments for Trump (there is no lack of good arguments for his re-election) to convince those Blue collar folks to abandon their irrational hatred and vote for him, even though I think said effort is doomed to failure.  After all with God all things are possible.

Short of my sons each finding a nice Catholic wife there is nothing that is likely to make me happier then to be proven wrong in my assessment of our chances come November 2024.

Cue the Donald Trump song:

♫  Oh Trump he's a bastard,
he offends us every night,
He's tweets out very nasty things
and there's no end in sight,
and we're embarrassed in return
while he triggers up such fuss,
what has the Donald ever done for us?  ♫

♫ What has the Donald,
what has the Donald,
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

The tax cut?
What?
...he, he gave us the Tax cut...

♫ Yes, he did give us that, that's true
And Isis is crushed and now they're through
The tax cut I'll grant is one
thing that Donald Trump he may have done
And the regulations he's cut right back too
And the embassy move ♫

♫ Well, apart from ending ISIS and regulation,
And the Jerusalem relocation
And safety from terrorists for all the nation
Apart from those, which are a plus,
what has the Donald ever done for us ?♫

♫ What has the Donald,
what has the Donald
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

The Wall?
What?
...He's built hundreds of miles of real wall...

♫ Oh, yes, he did... ♫ 

♫ The southern border now is more tight,
and the New Space force will be ready to fight.
Vets now have choice instead of grief
The China travel ban and COVID relief
Killed the deal funding the Iran terror hoards
and new stock market records ♫

♫ Well apart from China and the VA choice,
Space force, Iran, relief and 401k rejoice,
And the wall stopping the immigration fuss
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

♫ What has the Donald,
what has the Donald,
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

Justice Reform?
What?
...Criminal Justice Reform...

♫ Oh, yes, yes... ♫

♫ Criminal Justice reform made a wrong a right,
and new trade deals mean a fair trade fight.
Abundant Energy for our needs,,
Right to try and NATO deals
the great new judges for all our nation
and funding black education ♫

♫ Well apart from, Health, Judges, trade and NATO deals,
Independence from Arab oil fields,
And black colleges funded instead of handcuffs,
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

♫ What has the Donald,
what has the Donald,
what has the Donald ever done for us? ♫

Brought peace.
Peace, Oh, shut up!

Risk and Reward Under the Fedora: Gun Crime, Electric Car Compliance Credits, China Lab Theory, Victory Speeches and Jesus and Gaza

Posted: January 18, 2024 by datechguy in business, crime, economy, elections, Israel vs Hamas, media, medicine, middle east, politics, primaries, under the fedora
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A report out of Florida tells us that despite dire warnings from the left about “constitutional carry” adopted in Florida concerning violence the opposite effect has taken place:

Now, more than six months after the law’s adoption, evidence contradicts Democrats’ fearmongering that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a loaded gun for self-defense would result in more “senseless tragedies.”

Since the legalization of constitutional carry in July 2023, Florida’s biggest cities saw a significant decrease in violent crimes, including shootings. In Jacksonville, murders and homicides dropped 6 percent in 2023 from the previous year.

Apparently in Florida the increased risk of getting shot by an armed citizen is no longer low enough to justify the reward of crime to many. Fortunately for criminals NYC doesn’t have said risk.

The move by Hertz to sell of 20,000 electric cars (just to Whom they will sell them to and how much on the dollar they will get we don’t know) illustrates something that drivers who jumped on the electric car bandwagon have been discovering to their regret. The risk of not having sufficient battery to get where you are going in the time allotted does not match the reward of the “efficiency” of an electric car.

And apparently it turns out that said “efficiency” has as much science behind it as the 6′ social distancing business:

When carmakers test gasoline-powered vehicles for compliance with the Transportation Department’s fuel-efficiency rules, they must use real values measured in a laboratory. By contrast, under an Energy Department rule, carmakers can arbitrarily multiply the efficiency of electric cars by 6.67. This means that although a 2022 Tesla Model Y tests at the equivalent of about 65 miles per gallon in a laboratory (roughly the same as a hybrid), it is counted as having an absurdly high compliance value of 430 mpg. That number has no basis in reality or law.

For exaggerating electric-car efficiency, the government rewards carmakers with compliance credits they can trade for cash. Economists estimate these credits could be worth billions: a vast cross-subsidy invented by bureaucrats and paid for by every person who buys a new gasoline-powered car.

If you ever wondered why carmakers were willing to take the risk of making cars people didn’t want to buy without the reward of actual buyers, now you know.

The times are a changing for the government COVID crowd who forced all kinds of rules upon us while censoring those who might speak out about risks.

One of those bits of censorship were hitting or de-platforming folks who theorized that COVID came from a lab leak in China. The whole Fauci team was big on going after such folks with the help of a compliant media.

One of that team doing the insisting was Dr. Francis Collins who had no problem calling such statements a “very destructive conspiracy” for years. But apparently the reward of such a stance disappears when one is asked about it under pains of perjury when testifying under oath:

In a significant U-turn, House Republicans who led the hearing revealed that Dr Collins, 73, told them that the lab leak hypothesis was not a conspiracy theory.

His answers were similar to those of Dr Fauci, who sat for a marathon 14 hours of questioning last week when he finally acknowledged that the lab leak theory — that Covid escaped from a Chinese biolab — should not have been so easily dismissed.

As we mentioned on Tuesday President Donald Trump decisively won the Iowa Caucus losing only a single county in the state (which by an odd coincidence ran out of party change forms giving democrats who had no caucus to attend a chance to influence the GOP results)

While I found the result interesting compared to 2016 given that Donald Trump now had a record as president vs speculation as to how he would govern. CNN cut away from his speech right away and MSNBC made it a point to not carry his victory speech at all.

“At this point in the evening the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech,” Maddow began, oddly avoiding Trump’s name. “We will keep an eye on that as it happens. We will let you know if there is any news made in that speech, if there is anything noteworthy, something substantive and important.”

I find this the most interesting thing of all because the small MSNBC audience is about as far left as they come yet even among such an audience they find the risk of such people hearing Donald Trump speaking live so great that they dare not allow him to challenge the narrative that they’ve been sold.

That’s really something.

Finally as Israel continues to discover more and more terror infrastructure in Gaza and continues to systematic take out both Hamas and the terror infrastructure pressure continues to rise among western allies of Hamas and Joe Biden in particular to hold Israel back before the destruction of Hamas becomes complete.

Hamas apparently did not foresee this result figuring they would be able to weather an Israeli response in their incredible terror tunnel network. (Frankly they should all go to an underdeveloped nation that needs miners as they certainly know about digging) which is odd because Hamas claims Jesus as a prophet and apparently didn’t take these words of Christ on risk and reward to heart:

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.

Luke 14 28-32

Of course if Hamas actually followed Christ they would be taking the whole “love your enemies” business seriously and stop trying to slaughter Jews, but to Hamas et/al the risk of defeat, humiliation and the devastation and death of their people does not compare to the reward of slaughtered Jews.

(At least among those who do not have billions in cash and live far from Gaza that is).

Five After Iowa Caucus Thoughts Under the Fedora: No Bust, Stalking Horses, The 50% Solution, Two Ignored Historic Firsts and the Scythe in the room.

Posted: January 16, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, elections, politics, primaries
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Well the Nikki Haley boom turned out to be a bust. Did the MSM and Bill Kristol really think their (Temporary) support would carry her over the top in Iowa? The real question is how long will she remain a stalking horse to make sure that moderates who don’t want President Trump as their nominee have someplace other to go than DeSantis? I suspect Trump will want her in through Super Tuesday although a poor showing in South Carolina should finish her off.

I hoped to see a better finish by DeSantis but 2nd will do for now. Given the size of Trump’s victory the real question will be how long there are 2 alternatives to Trump rather than three. The squish republicans in NH don’t want Trump but I suspect they hate DeSantis more because he has the potential to be trouble for a lot longer and as he has proved as Governor of Florida, he really means it.

That why Gov Sununu will likely decide to die on Haley hill.

President Trump drawing 50% in the caucus is significant for several reasons:

  1. It indicates that he is the preferred candidate of a majority of Iowa republicans.
  2. It indicates that a majority of the GOP in Iowa approved of his performance as President
  3. It indicates that neither the rantings of the media have no effect on the majority of GOP voters
  4. It indicates that at the very least a majority of GOP voter don’t give a fig for the “interesting” charges against him

If the President keeps up with 20 or 30 point wins in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina this primary will be finished before we reach the first of the court cases against him.

There are two historic bits concerning yesterday’s primaries that would have gotten a whole lot more play if it had not been for the unprecedented and despicable tactics being used in an attempt to drag Trump off the national stage.

The first is that Donald Trump is the first ex president in over a century to appear on a primary ballot against members of his own party.

It’s a big difference from the last time President Trump won in Iowa when he was an incumbent running unopposed or the first time he ran in Iowa in 2016 when he was simply a businessman and one could only speculate has to how he would govern as president.

His victory in those circumstances would have been a great story even without the frantic (and highly satisfying) cries of the left and the relentless attempt of the left to eliminate him as a candidate.

The 2nd Historic event or lack thereof was the absence of a Democrat primary. This was a step taken to protect Biden from any primary challenge in a state that might have been iffy for him. While it’s not all that unusual for a party to make sure the slate is clear Biden’s record even among Democrats is not all that secure and a caucus would have been an excellent and useful test of his strength among the party.

That the party did all it could to chase away folks even driving RFK Jr. away from the democrat primaries to run as an independent speaks volumes as to how they percieve Joe Biden as a candidate.

Presuming he is the candidate that is.

Finally nobody is talking about what is normally called the Elephant in the room but in this case is the scythe in the room.

Donald Trump is 77, Joe Biden is 81. Most men their age…are dead.

Now it’s true that Donald Trump is a very vigorous 77 and Joe Biden is a comparatively frail 81 but no matter how you slice it if either one dropped dead tomorrow it would not be a gigantic shock, though perhaps it might be a bit of a surprise in Trump’s case.

The life expectancy of a man born in 1946 is under 66 years. In fact according to the CDC if you were a man born in 2015 your total life expectancy is less than Donald Trump’s age today.

People can say 60 is the new 40 but the reality is 60 is still sixty, 70 is still seventy and Bill Belichick interview not withstanding very few men of their age are generally hired to do a job of such responsibility.

Of course given the mechanisms of the dishonorable deep state left to try to disqualify Donald Trump from the ballot and the hints that Joe Biden might be replaced by a candidate who doesn’t need to face voters age might be a moot point but in the end all the scheming and shenanigans are nothing if the call that all men face demands an answer.

What Kurt (and Sununu) Said

Posted: November 30, 2023 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, politics
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Back when I endorsed Ron DeSantis I explained that the primary reason I did was because he was the best choice this time around but that I was fine with Trump as my 2nd choice and considered him not only the best president of my 60 years but in the top 5 (4th) all time.

That’s gotten me a lot of hate from Only Trumpers who don’t seem to get that picking DeSantis over Trump for 2024 is not saying something bad about him any more that taking Musial over Williams means that Teddy ballgame stunk.

But I don’t think I can express my feelings on the matter better than Kurt Schlichter who feelings on Trump mirror my own to wit:

Let’s examine why Trump can’t win. Here’s the big reason: About 53% of American voters hate him. They shouldn’t, not only because he was a generally good president but because you are not voting for Chief Pal but Chief Executive. I think his nickname is embarrassingly stupid, and I am bored by his social media rants, but neither matter. Will he kill our enemies, pump the economy, and own the libs? Yes, yes and yes. I support Ron DeSantis because I think he’s more likely to win in general and because he’s more ruthlessly conservative, but if Trump somehow wins, I will Lionel Richie it and party all night long. I think he’s got a 20% chance of winning, and I would be thrilled to be wrong.  If listening to a bunch of tubby doofuses with usernames like @MAGAStudBoy420 and avatars of 80s action movie heroes with their faces photoshopped in tweeting “I TOLD YOU SO!” for the next four years is the price for having a Republican win in 2024, I’ll happily pay it.

That’s pretty much it, but there is a slight bit of movement, at least in New Hampshire:

In a shocking turn of events, notoriously never-Trumper Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) admits he would vote for former President Trump over Biden in the upcoming 2024 election. 

During an interview with Puck News’s Tara Palmeri, Sununu– a notable Trump critic– hinted that he would swallow his pride and vote for the 45th president, noting he always votes Republican. 

I suspect the governor doesn’t bring all that many votes with him but it can’t hurt, but the important thing he said is actually this:

“The party that chooses to move on from Trump or Biden first wins,” the governor predicted. “If the Democrats choose before the Republicans to move on from Biden — before the Republicans choose to move on from Trump — Democrats will win. America is just looking for something new — a new generation, enough of this old, old-school crap; we need to move forward. And so any new candidate on either side is going to win this election.” 

This raises a good point. The biggest asset Trump has in a potential 2024 general election race is Joe Biden and his administration who are doing their best to move the NeverTrump vote toward swallowing their pride in 2024.

Me I’d just as soon nominate DeSantis and solve this problem before it comes but that leads to another question:

Both Kurt and I and have bluntly stated we’d vote for Trump and be delighted with a 2nd term, Governor Sununu has said so too (without the being delighted part) but if DeSantis actually wins in the primaries will the @MAGAStudBoy420TM crowd decide to take their balls and go home?

We shall see.

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